Chapter : 08
Outside the window was a palm-sized sloth, formed entirely of mana. Even though it was fake, it perfectly mimicked the animal’s traits—the way it tapped on the window was unbearably slow.
They said speak of a tiger and it will appear, and sure enough, the mana I sensed belonged to the very person I’d been thinking about just moments ago.
When I opened the window, the sloth drooped forward and entrusted itself to my hand. It looked incredibly at ease.
After enjoying my touch for a while, the sloth soon transformed into a single slip of paper.
[On the verge of starvation. Need food. Please retire already.]
You’re starving to death and you chose a sloth as your rescue animal? Are you insane?
And it even included unnecessary commentary. I tossed the note into the air and disintegrated it, then turned my gaze to Adele, who had been watching me from the sofa with curious eyes.
“Adele.”
“Yes, Lady Louisa.”
“Let’s go.”
“Huh? Where to—waaah!”
Without giving her time to explain, I scooped Adele up in my arms and gathered every bit of food in the refrigerator.
Adele stared at my actions for quite some time, trying to grasp the situation, but eventually gave up and quietly nestled into my arms.
With Adele in one arm and the groceries in the other, I headed out.
With both hands occupied, it would’ve been easy for someone to pick a fight, but the people on the street merely stepped aside, as if they had no intention of approaching me.
Adele, seemingly unbothered, drifted into a light doze in my arms.
“So the tasty one is that kid?”
I snapped my eyes open at the sudden sharp voice.
“Lady Louisa…? Where are we?”
After checking whose arms she was in and letting out a sigh of relief, Adele noticed a purple-haired boy in her field of vision and immediately tensed up.
The boy sitting on the sofa across from us—who had just turned sixteen this year—shot Adele an irritated glance before sharply turning his head away.
“Since it’s your first time meeting, say hello. Adele, this is Noah. Noah, this is Adele. You’re about the same age, so get along.”
“Do you seriously think it’s normal to introduce people when someone’s about to die? Are you crazy? Or are you already senile?”
His cutting remark made me tighten my grip on the groceries.
If I weren’t holding these, I would’ve already punched you.
“I’m still nineteen.”
“Exactly. You’re only nineteen—what are you going to do if you’re already senile?”
That brat clearly wants to leave this world today.
Unaware—or perhaps fully aware—of my thoughts, Noah glanced at Adele clinging tightly to me and smirked, lifting only one corner of his mouth.
“Disgusting.”
“…….”
“Where did you pick that thing up?”
Noah asked while locking eyes with Adele. I debated stopping their pointless staring contest, but answered Noah first.
“I picked her up.”
“Where.”
“From the ground.”
“…Then where else would you pick a kid up, the sky?”
Noah immediately frowned and shot me a sideways look.
“I saved her from Merihen. And I didn’t come here to give her to you.”
I continued speaking while patting Adele, who was enduring Noah’s intimidating glare.
“I want you two to be friends. You don’t have any friends anyway.”
So you won’t use her as a test subject.
But Noah clearly had other ideas. The moment he heard that, his face twisted like he’d been forced to chew on spoiled food.
“You expect me to be friends with some snot-nosed brat like that?”
Adele shot back without backing down.
“Me… with some weird man?”
“Ha! Listen to that kid talk! Louisa, dump her! Right now!”
“Am I… being abandoned?”
Noah sprang up like a wildcat. I slowly stroked Adele’s hair as she stared at me with her round eyes.
“I said I’m not abandoning you. And Noah—why are you so angry?”
“Because you keep bringing back weird things! And of all things, something so gloomy and filthy!”
“Watch your mouth.”
“Wow. Unbelievable. Who exactly am I supposed to side with right now? I’m literally about to die! Maybe you’ll come to your senses once I’m dead and you realize how important I was!”
He never even goes outside—where does he learn to talk like that?
I sat Adele down on the sofa across from Noah, who was sprawled out on his personal couch, rubbing his face.
Stacks of Noah’s research materials were piled throughout the room, making it hard to clearly see the children’s faces.
I moved the documents piled on the sofa and table onto the floor so they could see each other properly, then stood up.
“Talk for now. I’ll make something to eat.”
“…Can’t I come with you?”
“Well. Noah’s going to be your writing instructor from now on. While I’m away, he’ll also look after you. So take this chance to get to know each other.”
“Who decided that?!”
Noah shot upright and yelled.
“If you want to die as you are, you can refuse.”
“You’re threatening someone’s life? Isn’t that crossing the line?!”
“Tell me what you want. I’ll give you that too.”
“…Well, I guess I have no choice then.”
As if he’d been waiting for that exact line, Noah’s face brightened instantly.
It felt strange, getting completely fleeced by a sixteen-year-old, but I ignored it and soothed Adele, who was trembling with anxiety.
“Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
Ah. That’s the kind of line people use before abandoning someone.
I felt even worse for Adele.
* * *
Once Louisa disappeared into the kitchen to prepare Noah’s food, silence settled heavily between Noah and Adele.
Adele still looked uneasy. Noah, his face twisted with dissatisfaction, opened his eyes.
Adele filled his vision completely. His irritation doubled.
“Hey.”
“…….”
“Stop acting. You’re making me want to puke.”
Sharp words flew straight at Adele.
Noah sneered as he looked at Adele, who was still pretending to tremble in fear.
That kid’s way too good at acting.
From the moment he first saw Adele, Noah had known. He knew exactly what that gloomy, filthy thing was hiding.
“A guy forcing himself to endure a curse like that, pretending to be innocent.”
“…You’re pretty sharp, huh?”
At Noah’s words, Adele’s expression changed. She brushed away the fragile look she’d worn until now and curled her lips into a crooked smile.
Of course.
Noah snorted.
Adele reeked of an alchemical stench so foul it made him nauseous—the smell of a curse, detectable only to an alchemist like himself.
If she had truly been an ordinary, clueless child, that horrific curse would have shattered her mind long ago and killed her.
“Who are you? And why are you sticking so close to Louisa?”
Noah snapped.
Something that monstrous couldn’t possibly be ordinary. Louisa had plenty of enemies—who knew if she’d picked up another walking bomb somewhere.
But despite Noah bristling like a cornered wildcat, Adele remained calm.
“You’re wrong.”
“What?”
Adele shrugged casually.
“I genuinely don’t know who I am.”
What kind of nonsense is that?
Noah’s face twisted instantly.
* * *
The first thing he saw was a pair of strangely small feet.
Following them upward, he saw the hazy silhouette of someone standing right in front of him.
“Do you know who I am?”
The voice was thin and soft. Only then did he realize the person before him was a woman.
Though she stood close enough to touch, her voice sounded distant, muffled, as if coming from far away.
He stared blankly at her for a long while.
He couldn’t help it. His mind was completely empty—there was nothing he could remember.
Not the woman’s name. Not what he was doing here.
Not even what he himself was.
“How does it feel to be trapped here without knowing anything?”
The woman spoke with barely contained excitement, but Adele felt no fear toward the situation itself.
Well. He didn’t really feel anything.
His common sense remained, so he understood this wasn’t normal—but emotionally, there was nothing.
“Judging by your expression, it seems survivable. Even after losing your memories, that arrogant personality of yours hasn’t gone anywhere.”
“…….”
“But things will be different from now on.”
With that, the woman pulled out a vial from her clothes.
The black liquid inside the transparent bottle made his skin crawl just looking at it.
With a soft pop, she opened the lid and fed it to Adele.
At the same time, his hair—still visible even in the darkness—began to burn away into an eerie color.
“Ugh…! Aaaagh!”
Pain crashed over him. Though brief, it was intense enough to leave his head spinning.
Tap. Drip. Tap.
Tears fell onto the dry earth. He couldn’t even think to wipe them away—he could only stare at the ground.
His thoughts wouldn’t come together.
Though his state was pitiful enough to inspire sympathy, the woman merely stroked his singed hair while making a sound that was neither a laugh nor a sob.
Through tear-blurred vision, he saw her—crying just as hard as he was.
But only for a moment. Coldly, she forced the rest of the potion down his throat.
“This is all because of you.”
“…….”
“So blame yourself. If you’d been a good person, none of this would’ve happened.”
Unlike before, her voice rang clearly now, as if someone had pulled it directly out from inside his ear.
Click, click—the sound of her heels echoed faintly as his consciousness faded. Adele desperately tried to cling to his slipping awareness.
He could never forget what happened today.
He had to remember it clearly—and take revenge.
So he had to remember. Repeat it endlessly.
Where this place was.
And what he had become.
