Chapter 100
"We'll be going to the Academy. All of us together."
A casually dropped bombshell statement.
At that, Elise wore a blank expression, then soon looked this way with trembling pupils.
It seemed she had belatedly realized the meaning.
Clear bewilderment was evident in her returning voice.
"Wait... what do you mean?"
"Exactly as you heard."
"But the Academy... besides being sudden, this can't possibly be possible."
"Why do you conclude that so definitively?"
I deliberately asked back shamelessly.
The rose with a confused expression.
While stroking the red hair spread across the bed, only a gaze of incomprehension followed, pricking at my cheeks.
I smiled calmly.
My whispering voice scattered gently.
"You don't need to worry about anything. Everything is already part of the plan."
"......"
A cunning tongue flicking.
I lowered my head close.
As our distance narrowed, our breaths mixed in the air, unable to be erased.
Timed with that, I gently stroked the rose's stomach.
"Your Highness."
Slip-.
As I subtly slipped between her nightclothes, the sensation of snow-white skin spread across my fingertips.
I pressed against it while feeling the subtle body heat.
Press-.
"Ugh..."
Pink lips added a pitiful moan.
Momentarily disturbed breathing.
Perhaps because she had received treatment over the past few days, now there was an automatic response just from placing my hand.
The explicit touch kneaded a specific area stickily.
"Wa-wait..."
Press-.
Press-.
Red petals crumbled beautifully.
Lips bitten as if holding back sound.
Above them, the pistil's depravity that couldn't be hidden glistened.
The cool air melted following hot breaths, and focus gradually loosened from eyes that had been clear until now.
The subtle heat was a fatal scene.
"Haa... huk, ah..."
Breathing that had grown rough before I knew it.
Confirming the girl was in a daze, I whispered in her ear as if casting a suggestion.
It was words establishing the relationship to follow.
"Your Highness just needs to trust in me."
The snake's tail coiled around the delicate neck.
The petals repeatedly scattered endlessly, finally stepping into a shadow they couldn't escape from.
Not even realizing they were being devoured.
"...I understand."
Elise nodded.
I stroked her head as if praising her.
Even her gaze that had been full of killing intent until days ago now showed a gentle brightness, perhaps because it had been greatly bent.
Though of course her characteristically fierce atmosphere remained.
"Huhu."
This much was enough.
The distance I wanted from the rose was a gap enough to fully intervene in her life.
It was enough if I could prevent her suicide.
I smiled with slight relief.
It felt like I had finally taken the first step in changing the tragedy.
"Everything will be fine."
"I said I understand... don't make me say it multiple times."
Elise pouted her lips needlessly.
We spent the coldest autumn night exchanging a few words.
On the verge of upheaval.
***
The next day.
As soon as morning broke, I discussed the matter with Charlotte.
Unlike with Elise earlier which was closer to a notification, the conversation progressed quickly thanks to giving advance notice to this side.
Of course, she didn't nod right away.
Like her sister, she too showed skeptical reactions to my proposal.
Blue pupils displayed slight doubt.
"Is it really possible?"
"Your Highness just needs to follow my instructions well. Everything is for Her Highness Elise's sake."
"If that's the case... alright."
Her characteristic sleepy atmosphere.
The girl answered.
Though she seemed to hesitate right after hearing the story, when told it was for her sister's sake, she nodded.
She left the room saying she would personally make the request to the Emperor.
Of course.
Balkaros didn't meet us.
Being busy was the reason given.
Instead, he sent one secretary our way.
He was both a close aide assisting the Emperor and one of the few who knew the confidential information about the rose.
The man conveyed his master's will in a stiff tone.
"His Majesty said he has no particular interest, so do as you wish."
As expected.
Balkaros didn't stop us.
He seemed to not have even a trace of lingering attachment.
When we mentioned Elise's recovered physical condition and going outside for continued treatment, permission was granted before half a day passed.
It seemed he would even help with enrollment in the academy.
Though at first glance it seemed like an attitude of throwing away trash, in another way it resembled a father letting go of his daughter.
I gradually revised my evaluation of him that had been jumbled.
'As expected.'
Cold Heart, Balkaros.
The fact that he was the worst father remained unchanged.
He was trash who pushed his own daughters into hell.
However, if my hypothesis was correct... perhaps there was room for extenuating circumstances.
I put aside my thoughts with a moment of bitterness.
"Well... if things go this way, the plan can proceed without any issues."
I said with a bright smile.
"......"
Was it because of the unexpected permission?
Charlotte made a somewhat complicated expression.
The girl hesitated before speaking, then threw out a few barely audible questions.
Only slight wavering shone beyond transparent pupils.
"...Will it really be alright?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm a bit worried."
She was talking about Elise.
Though she had recovered her physical condition over the past fortnight, she still had to spend all day in bed.
She seemed to be asking if it wasn't too early to go outside.
It wasn't exactly wrong.
As she couldn't even take a light walk without a wheelchair at the moment, heading blindly outside the cage wasn't really a good choice.
This was also why the rose's enrollment was indefinitely postponed in the original work.
'But.'
This time was different.
Because I was here.
To stay safe in the rapids ahead, staying by the snake's side was wiser than anywhere else.
Being locked up like this would only worsen her depression.
"Oh my... Your Highness."
Though I understood the older sister's feelings, at this point I needed to be a bit forceful.
Driving a nail into her heart to make her depend on me completely.
So she wouldn't waver again when facing numerous hardships ahead.
I erased the smile from my lips.
Then I looked down with cold eyes.
"It's troublesome if you keep having such doubts."
"......"
"I'm doing my best to help, but if Your Highness has no intention of following along, it's discouraging."
"That's not what I..."
"At this rate, I'll have no choice but to withdraw."
"Please... not that."
Charlotte grabbed my sleeve.
Her transparent pupils shook as if hit by an earthquake.
Her eyes wavered particularly desperately.
Having finally grasped an opportunity after repeated despair, a desperation not to lose it seemed to sparkle particularly bright.
I carelessly stroked her platinum blonde hair with an extended hand.
"I don't ask for much. You just need to obediently follow my words."
"Sorry..."
"Do you remember what I told you last time?"
"You said only Yuda could help me."
"That's right. Ignore other people's voices. Only my voice won't betray your hope."
"Yuda won't betray me... only Yuda."
Charlotte muttered along while fidgeting with her lips.
Only then did I erase my cold expression.
Afterwards, a fresh smile hung on my lips as if nothing had happened.
I said.
"I'm glad your vision seems to have cleared. Anyway, I'll proceed with the cage matter according to my intentions."
"Yes... since I don't know well. Yuda, please take care of it..."
"Gladly."
The conversation concluded while sinking deeply.
Though shadows were strangling her neck, the girl received petting while held in embrace.
As if slowly melting to sweet whispers.
"I am by your side."
The plan proceeded as scheduled.
***
Two days later like that.
After finishing minimal procedures, we were now preparing to head outside the cage.
A carriage waited for people outside.
It appeared to be the same vehicle we rode when coming in.
"It's time to depart."
A brief announcing voice.
The rose sitting in the wheelchair came to her senses.
"Ah."
"The others have boarded first."
"We should get going too."
"Huhu... I shall escort you respectfully."
I gently began pushing the wheelchair that had been leaning against the window.
Such transportation was essential when going outside.
Though she wasn't unable to stand on her own, her body would be burdened if standing for long periods.
Being sickly required the primary physician's care.
As the wheels quietly rolled, suddenly the girl's muttering voice fell.
A faint soliloquy.
"I never thought... I'd leave this place while alive."
Those words were true.
Originally, the rose's fate never escaped this lonely cage for life.
Until the moment she hanged herself.
The CG cut of her last breath flashed before my eyes.
Realizing anew how things had changed, I answered her quiet voice just as it was.
Like gentle waves.
"Only good things will fill your future."
"If that could really happen."
"The world will be full of things you haven't experienced. Full of things to see, hear, smell, feel, and touch... you can have expectations rather than fears about living."
"...I wasn't particularly afraid."
A slightly bouncing response.
Still, seeing her eyes sparkle, it seemed she didn't entirely dislike it.
It was a moment no different from life's first wing-beat.
Living trapped in a cage until now.
How much must she have yearned for the blue sky.
It was something I didn't know.
All I could do was.
Make a bird whose wings were broken fly in the sky again.
Add freshness to flower petals that had lost their vitality, letting their red fragrance be conveyed to the world once more.
We walked through the fluttering garden.
"I don't understand."
"Pardon?"
"You. You seem too nice to me and my sister. No matter how much I think about it, I don't understand why."
"Didn't I tell you before?"
I showed a gentle smile.
Those lips spoke.
That I wanted.
For you all to be happy.
"That's all there is to it."
The gloomy story.
Because I wanted to overturn all those endings and gift a new world.
Perhaps it was proof to myself.
Some realization of a self lost long ago.
A greed to achieve what remained as regret.
Various expressions mixed in my mouth, but what came out was still the simplest words.
I swallowed the remaining letters and burst into laughter.
"Pfft... I think that might be too moving an expression."
"N-no it's not...?!"
The girl turned her head.
Weather remaining in an instant.
If emotions were a polaroid, one photo that would fall as a clear season.
The wheelchair advanced forward through the autumn wind.
Like that.
Outside the cage.
Toward the world.