Chapter 74
Monica burst out of the luncheon hall and ran down the stairs connecting the second and first floors, but stopped once she reached the bottom.
She got terribly winded after only a short run due to her lack of exercise. Monica leaned against the wall and steadied her ragged breathing.
(......That was startling.)
Needless to say, this was the first time anyone had ever proposed to her.
Roberto had not been attracted to Monica's appearance or personality. He had simply seen her skill at chess and proposed to her so they could have more opportunities to play.
It was the sort of thing that would make most people frown and say it was outrageous. But Monica was even impressed by how rational it was.
Being told that someone had fallen in love with her or loved her meant little to Monica, who knew next to nothing about romance.
Rather than being told that someone had fallen in love with a person like her—plain-looking, unsociable, and unable to say anything clever—it was much easier to understand when they bluntly said they wanted to marry her so they could play chess.
...That said, she had not the slightest intention of accepting the proposal.
(What a predicament...)
If she went back to the hall now, it was obvious she would attract unwanted attention.
Perhaps she could hide somewhere until the next match against Minerva... As she considered this, she saw something flickering up ahead.
"......Huh?"
They were arrows made of flame. Five of them floated in the air ahead of Monica.
The instant Monica made a sound, the flaming arrows flew straight toward her. It was an attack no ordinary person could evade.
But Monica instantly raised a barrier without chanting and blocked the flaming arrows.
"So it really was you after all...... Monica."
The voice echoing from the top of the stairs sent a chill down Monica's spine.
She slowly raised her face and looked up the stairs. There stood Barney on the landing.
The light streaming through the landing's glass window threw Barney's face into silhouette. Even so, the cruel smile on his lips was clearly visible.
Barney slowly descended the stairs and stood before Monica. She remained rooted to the spot, unable to move even a single step.
Barney sneered at her.
"Why is one of the Seven Sages playing student here? Was the rumor that you were holed up in a mountain cabin a lie?"
"......Ah, uh......"
Monica desperately opened and closed her mouth, but the words would not come out properly. The world before her eyes spun.
"Ah, or perhaps you're hiding your identity and starting over as a student? Playing student at Serendia Academy, the most prestigious academy of them all—that's a luxurious little game, isn't it? And on top of that, playing at romance while keeping several men at your beck and call... Ha! It looks like you're enjoying yourself quite thoroughly."
Monica was stunned by the words "keeping men at your beck and call."
Maybe—no, without a doubt... this was about that.
(It's Nero and Lin-san!)
Barney had apparently taken the familiar and the spirit's all-out prank seriously.
But Monica could not tell him everything honestly. Her mission to guard the Second Prince was highly classified.
As Monica lowered her head, Barney reached out and plucked the ribbon tied into her hair.
"You've changed quite a bit, haven't you? Until I heard your name, I never once thought you might be her... You've certainly started caring about your appearance. Even though you can't have a proper conversation with people. Getting all dolled up, are you?"
"...Uh... ah..."
"How nice for you. You even got a proposal from someone from a neighboring country."
"......!......"
Each of Barney's words tore into Monica's heart.
The more hurt Monica looked, the deeper Barney's smile became.
"Ah, I get it. You pretended to be a powerless student so you could ingratiate yourself with the Second Prince, didn't you? That's exactly the sort of thing you'd do... Pretend to be helpless, latch on to someone... and suck them dry of every drop of sweet honey, like a parasite!"
Monica stood there in a daze beneath the barrage of vicious insults.
(...Did Barney really think of me that way?)
That tiny, foolish hope that they might be able to talk as they had in the past... Barney trampled it beneath his ridicule.
Barney hated Monica Everett. He was repulsed by her and held her in contempt—that was the reality.
The backs of Monica's eyelids slowly grew hot.
(Don't cry.)
Clenching her teeth, Monica desperately swallowed her sobs. Even so, the inside of her nose stung. Overcome by despair that felt as though it would bring her crashing to the floor, she wanted to collapse and weep pathetically.
"A devious person like you is bound to be ignored by everyone before long!"
(I know, Barney. I know that someone like me will never be noticed by anyone.)
Even so, the Monica of those childhood days had been happy that Barney reached out his hand to her.
That was why she had wanted to be his proud "friend"... That was all.
(It was presumptuous of someone like me to want to be your friend.)
"Wait just a minute!!"
A spirited girl's voice rang through the hallway.
Monica looked up with a start and saw someone running toward them. The girl racing forward with her skirt billowing dramatically was──Lana Colette.
Lana darted between Monica and Barney and glared at him with razor-sharp eyes.
"I couldn't hear what you were saying, but what exactly is going on here? You're from Minerva, aren't you?"
"Ah, my apologies. Are you a student of this academy?"
"I asked what exactly is going on, mister. Would you care to answer? ...Or is cornering a girl in the hallway and making her cry considered proper etiquette at Minerva?"
When Lana tipped up her slender chin and glared at Barney, he pasted on a flimsy smile and shrugged.
"I apologize for failing to introduce myself. My name is Barney Jones, Minerva's representative. Monica and I are old acquaintances. We were reminiscing about the past, and she was so overcome with nostalgia that she became quite moved and teary-eyed."
Lana glared at Barney as though she were looking at something suspicious.
"...Hmm. So you're the person Monica didn't want to see."
Lana muttered this and looked at Monica, who was on the verge of tears.
"I'll fix your makeup. Come with me to the dressing room."
"...O-okay."
When Monica nodded, Lana gave Barney a refined ladylike smile.
"I'm sorry, Jones-sama. I want to fix my friend's makeup, so please excuse us."
"......Friend?"
Barney's thin eyebrow twitched at Lana's words, and a crooked smile appeared on his lips.
"You'd be better off not becoming friends with that person. You're certain to end up regretting it. She pretends she can't do anything on her own, then uses other people."
Monica's body shuddered as though she had been struck by a whip.
And Lana...
"Wha... what?"
Her refined smile had become strained, and a blue vein throbbed on her forehead.
"Monica isn't the sort of person who would do that."
"She's just putting on an act. She pretends to be powerless while secretly making fools of other people."
Lana's eyes turned cold as she looked at Barney.
"You really have no eye for people. Why don't you get those utterly tasteless, ridiculously tacky glasses of yours remade?"
This time, Barney's face twitched.
Both Lana and Barney wore polite social smiles, but their eyes were not smiling, and their eyebrows were twitching.
Barney was the first to break the explosive tension.
"You'll regret this. You saw her chess match just now, didn't you? She's more intelligent and talented than anyone else. And yet she puts on a face that says she's helpless and can do nothing, hides her identity, and leeches off other people."
At the words "hides her identity," Monica sucked in a sharp breath.
Barney was right. Monica was concealing her true identity as one of the Seven Sages. She was lying to Lana.
As Monica stood frozen, Lana gripped her hand tightly.
Then she turned a scathing gaze on Barney instead of Monica.
"Hey, why don't you just admit the truth? ...You're jealous of Monica, aren't you?"
Barney froze for an instant at Lana's accusation.
Barney's smile crumbled further and further. Beneath the smiling mask that peeled away, what emerged was... anger and hatred.
"Someday, you'll understand. Once you're forced to see the difference in ability between yourself and her, whether you like it or not."
"If my friend were talented, I'd brag about her to my father! I'd say, 'My friend is amazing! She's my pride and joy!' You have such a narrow heart!"
"Ah, people of mediocre intellect don't even have the capacity to feel frustrated when the gap between them and a genius grows too wide, do they?"
The instant Barney sneered at Lana, Monica opened her mouth before she had time to think.
"Barney!!"
At Monica's rare shout, Lana and Barney both looked at her in surprise.
Monica could not gather her thoughts, but she still desperately forced the words out.
"If you say bad things about my friend...... I won't be able to forgive you, Barney."
Barney looked as though her words had caught him off guard.
"And what if you don't forgive me? Do you think your words could hurt me now?"
His words were poisoned, but they no longer carried the force they had before.
He must have been surprised.
After all, Monica had never once stood up to Barney.
Monica slowly steadied her breathing and spoke the words she had never been able to say.
"...I... always relied on you, Barney, so I wanted to become someone amazing enough for you to rely on me..."
Barney had always been the one leading Monica by the hand.
That was why she had wanted to become the sort of friend who could one day stand shoulder to shoulder with him as an equal and laugh together.
"...I wanted you to call me your proud friend, Barney... That's all I wanted. I wanted you—not someone else—to tell me that I was amazing and that I had done my best..."
But that dream would never come true.
Surely, wanting such a thing in the first place had been wrong.
"...But I'm giving up on having you praise me, Barney. I won't expect anything from you ever again."
Monica closed her pale eyelids as though severing every connection between them. When she opened them again, they no longer reflected the boy she had once believed was her best friend.
As Monica turned her back on Barney, he reached out to her and began to say something.
Lana knocked his hand away without mercy.
"A man who can't let go is pathetic, you know?"
Lana tossed the words over her shoulder and linked her arm with Monica's.
Barney said nothing. He simply stood there.
After the two of them had walked a short distance side by side, Lana snorted in satisfaction.
"You managed to say what you really thought."
Lana grinned, and Monica gave a shy little nod.
"I'm a little stronger today."
Monica looked down at her uniform and smiled, lifting the corners of her lips.
"The corset keeps my back straight, and since I'm wearing makeup, when I felt like crying, I was able to hold it in by thinking that crying would ruin my makeup... It's all thanks to you, Lana."
"I'll make you even more adorable next time."
When Monica nodded vigorously, Lana smiled cheerfully and hugged her arm tightly.
＊ ＊ ＊
The instant he heard Monica's declaration, something cracked in Barney Jones's mind.
Two years ago, after telling Monica that he wanted to sever all ties, Barney had thought he felt genuinely relieved.
Even so, he had always kept an eye on the Silent Witch's activities and read every paper she published.
Whenever the Silent Witch, one of the Seven Sages, was praised, Barney would think somewhere in his heart:
──I was the one who once took care of her.
──I was the one who hurt her and trampled her into the dirt.
He had taken a dark pleasure in seeing the genius girl who had even been chosen as one of the Seven Sages sobbing as she begged him for forgiveness.
But Monica no longer wanted anything from Barney. She no longer expected anything from him.
She had declared this and turned her back on him.
The sight of her back receding was the opposite of what he had seen two years ago.
Back then, Barney had left Monica behind. Now Barney was the one being left behind.
(No, no, no.)
Monica had to keep Barney in mind.
She should keep thinking about him, focusing on him, and trembling in fear of him more and more and more.
"...I won't accept this."
Barney strode down the hallway, searching for Pitman-sensei, Minerva's supervising teacher.
Pitman had said, "I don't do well at fancy gatherings," and had not shown his face at the luncheon. When Barney headed to the waiting room, he found Pitman reading a book alone, just as expected.
"Pitman-sensei."
The instant Barney entered the waiting room and confronted him, Pitman looked up from his book and stared at him wide-eyed.
"Oh my, what happened? Why are you making such a frightening face?"
"Make me the first player in the next match."
"What!? Wait, you can't change it at the last minute... We'd get in trouble if you did that!"
"It should be possible with the signatures of the supervising teacher and a teacher from the host school."
Saying this, Barney dragged the flustered Pitman toward the staff room.
Ordinarily, he should have obtained a signature from Serendia Academy's Boyd-sensei, but that would require returning to the luncheon hall. The other Minerva students were there as well, and Barney did not have time to persuade them one by one.
(Any teacher from Serendia Academy should be enough.)
When he opened the staff room door, an elderly professor was sitting there waiting. Barney recognized him. It was McLagan-sensei, who had taught practical subjects at Minerva until a few years ago.
Perfect, Barney thought, lifting the corners of his lips in a smile. McLagan-sensei had poor eyesight.
"McLagan-sensei, could you sign this document for me?"
"...Hmm? Who might you two be?"
"We're participants in the chess tournament. We urgently need a teacher's signature concerning the venue."
Barney rattled off a few convenient lies and handed the document to McLagan-sensei.
Pitman, who had been half-dragged there, stared in bewilderment and asked, "Do you know this elderly gentleman?" but Barney ignored him.
"A signature? All right, all right. Is this okay? Did I stay inside the box?"
"Yes, it's perfect. I'll submit the document to Boyd-sensei myself, then."
"Oh, yes. Say hello to Boyd for me."
Having successfully secured McLagan's signature, Barney smiled smugly.
Now he could be the first player in the next match──he could play against Monica.
(I won't allow you to look away from me.)
Monica Everett had to remain frightened of Barney Jones, cowering before him forever—past and future alike.