Chapter 33 - I said something was impossible

When I woke up and started moving, I started stretching my creaky body. After all, I’ve been asleep for two full days, it seems that my body has gotten a bit slow.

After waking up I immediately went off to find the student council president, Sirius Deek, but…… I couldn’t find him anywhere at school or the dorms.

Everyone said that he must have known about me waking up and escaped somewhere, but…… That’s not what I thought.

He’s probably still in the school somewhere, I wondered if he would be where Maria was. Why I thought so, I couldn’t answer well at all, but even so I still believed it. He must be where Maria is. And Maria must still be safe.

That’s why, I headed to the hidden room where Maria was in order to rescue her.

“He’s the culprit who tried to steal your life, he’s dangerous. We’ll go find him together with the servants, so you rest here” is what everyone told me, but……

Since I caused Maria to fall into this pinch, I have to save her with my own hands. Also…… I have to talk to Sirius properly one more time.

The way Sirius seemed right before I lost consciousness - had been strongly burned into my mind. He had such a bitter and painful expression, and he had been crying without making a sound. Even though he had such bad intentions for me…… I still can’t help but worry about the way he seemed.

Also, what A-chan said at the end, about his real name - he must have some complicated circumstances, Sirius Deek.

That’s why, I - have to go myself to talk to Sirius properly one more time. That’s why, I myself headed to where he should be.

My friends were quite reluctant to go along with my selfishness. There was no way that I was going to be allowed to go by myself, so it was decided that everyone would go with me.

And so, together with my stepbrother and friends, we headed to where Sirius and Maria should be.

We advanced through the dim forest next to the school. In a location that’s closer to the ministry of magic than the school itself, is a warehouse that’s not used very often.

We opened the strangely heavy doors and entered inside. Inside it was about as large as the Claes family mansion guest room, and it was cluttered with various items that I didn’t know the purpose for.

I avoided all the clutter, and headed directly for the back. Then, I reached a large bookshelf on the opposite wall from the entrance. It looks too heavy to move by myself, but just like A-chan taught me, there was a button on the side of the bookshelf. I pushed the button. Then, the heavy bookshelf slid to the right with barely any sound.

And what the bookshelf revealed, was a sturdy-looking black door.

“There really was something here!” Everyone that came along with me exclaimed in surprise. I had said that “I saw this hidden room in a dream.”

At first their reactions were “what on earth are you talking about” with the way they looked at me…… I thought that I had been able to convince everyone…… It seems that everyone still had their doubts.

I placed my hand on the door that appeared. I thought that it might not be easy to open, but it opened right up when I put my hand on it. Behind the door was a room that was about the size of a dorm room.

Then, I set foot in the room. There was only one small window on the ceiling, it was quite dim inside.

I focused my eyes, and looked around the room. Then, I found a girl sitting by herself in a corner of the room. I immediately rushed over to her.

“Maria!!”

“……Katarina-sama……?”

There was a thin chain of some sort locked around her ankles, and while it pained me to see Maria locked up like this, upon closer inspection it seemed that Maria didn’t have any serious injuries. And although her complexion didn’t seem too good, she was able to properly look me in the eyes.

“……Maria, I’m sorry for being so late.”

I hugged Maria tightly. I’m really so late in being able to help her.

“……Me too, I’m really sorry to have inconvenienced everyone like this……”

Maybe it’s in relief or that she was really stiff, Maria lost all power in her body.

“No, you must have been thinking of doing something for my sake, I’m sure?”

Maria’s somewhat troubled face slightly nodded. As expected, Maria must have noticed something on the day of the incident, and had been thinking about doing something for me.

“Thank you. Maria.”

When I said so, Maria smiled a little and her cheeks became red.

I’m really so relieved that Maria’s safe, and I let go of my breath. However, I still haven’t fulfilled my other objective.

“Hey, Maria…… He…… Is Sirius Deek here?”

“……Yes. He’s still here. Behind that black door.”

Her face became a little grim as she indicated to another door. It’s a little hard to see, but I could just barely make out another black door in the wall.

“……Katarina-sama had been attacked by the president, you know everything now?”

“That’s right…… Is what I would like to say but…… There’s still a lot that I don’t understand.”

Thanks to A-chan’s revelation, I was able to discover this hidden location, but why was he doing the things he did? How’d he get dark magic in the first place? Will he really cause such a terrible bad end like in the game…… There’s so much that I don’t know. However……

“………No matter what, I can’t see him as a bad person…… That’s why, I want to properly talk to him one more time.”

Everyone was saying “you have no sense of danger at all. You’re too kind for your own good” and seemed to be troubled, but…… That’s what I honestly feel right now.

“……Is that so…… Certainly…… Apart from restraining my feet like this, he didn’t really do anything bad to me…… And he properly gave me food and let me move around as I liked in here…… That’s why, he might not be the real villain…… But, it seems like he has some sort of mysterious power.”

As expected, just like I heard from Jared, Maria is able to perceive dark magic with her own light magic.

“As expected, Maria knows something about his power?”

“Does Katarina-sama know something?”

“I heard about it, but…… I don’t understand it. It’s only something that someone with light magic can perceive, or so it seems…… Does Maria know something?”

When I asked that, Maria firmly nodded.

“Yes. During that incident, around those girls and the president, I could see some sort of black mist floating around them…… And… Right now, the black mist around the president…… Is even stronger than before.”

Eh!? Why, did he use dark magic on someone again!? When? For what purpose? While I was confused, Maria continued on while thinking carefully.

“……It’s just that, the black mist I see now is different from the one I saw originally.”

“……Different?”

“That’s right. When I looked at it before, it felt like it was there a little as well on the outside of the black mist, but…… The mist now…… Feels like it’s enveloping the president…… It almost seems like the mist is trying to devour the president or something.”

What could that mean? He can’t completely control his dark magic and that it’s now out of control?

I tilted my head because I had no idea what was going on at all, and Maria also had a troubled face that seemed like she didn’t know the answer.

But, since we’ve come this far, “since it’s dangerous, let’s go back” is something I definitely won’t say.

And, it seems that everyone understands the way I feel, my friends didn’t say anything to oppose me but, they all seem to have a reluctant atmosphere about them of “there’s no way around it.” Well, since we’ve all come this far already, they probably felt like saying anything more would be useless and have given up already.

“……I’ll go together with you as well.”

Maria looked directly at me.

“But…… Maria had just been locked up in a place like this…… You should return first and get some rest.”

Even though she wasn’t treated roughly or anything, she’s still been locked up in such a dark place all this time. She should hurry up and leave here, and get her body checked. That’s what I thought as I refused her, but…

“No, I’m going as well! After all, I’m the only one that can see the president’s mysterious power. That’s why, it’s better if I come along.”

Indeed, Maria’s the only person here who can perceive dark magic.

“Even if you tell me no, I’m still going!”

Like usual, there was a very strong will contained within her eyes, and as she said so Maria joined all of us around the second black door.

When we opened the door, I had expected there to be another room, but instead there were some stairs leading to a basement. It was only wide enough for one person to pass at a time, and there was barely any light, Jared used some fire magic to create some light and descended first slowly. At the bottom, there was another black door. Jared placed his hand on that black, heavy-seeming door. The door opened without a sound.

It was a room that somehow gave off a bad feeling. Even though it was about the same size as the one that had been holding Maria…… There were no windows at all and no natural light whatsoever. In that room, on the walls lit up by Jared’s fire magic, there were sinister looking black letters written there. It really felt like the air down here was rather stagnant.

Also, he was standing in the middle of the room. His complexion that was lit up by the lamp he was holding, seemed even worse than the last time that I had seen him.

Standing in front of all of us that had come in, Sirius seemed so tired and looked like he was ready to give up on everything, but…… He met my eyes and opened his eyes wide.

“……Why are you here?”

He seemed to be extremely surprised. Huh? I definitely thought that he knew I had woken up and so he was hiding here, but…… Maybe he didn’t know?

“The sleeping magic has been cancelled out.”

If you don’t know, I guess I’ll just tell you.

“That’s not it! Obviously the magic’s been cancelled out! ……Meeting my eyes like this, why are you appearing in front of such a me again!”

He had a grim look on his face as he shouted.

“Ahh, that’s what you meant.”

What he meant was the same as my friends, when I had decided to come here myself, giving all of them such a hard time.

But…… This is unexpected, for he himself to also say such a thing……

Certainly, he had told me so many things full of malicious intent, and used dark magic on me. Sleeping forever until my life runs out is what he said, but……

Well, I was able to properly wake up, and no harm was done, and it’s only to the point where my body got a little creaky from sleeping too much. What’s more, I feel rather refreshed because I slept so much. Those are my honest feelings.

“I don’t really think that you did anything that terrible to me.”

“……You, do you not understand what I’ve done to you?”

Ahh, it seems that he’s looking at me like I’m an idiot or something. How very regrettable.

“No, I understand it properly. You used dark magic to make me sleep, right?”

“That’s right! And I was trying to take away your life!”

Sirius said so with a grim look on his face. However……

“Mmm~. That’s a lie.”

“……A lie, you say……”

Sirius’s expression became even darker, but I ignored it and continued on.

“I mean, if you really had intended to kill me, it would have been much easier to just kill me right there while I was asleep.”

There were no witnesses at all in the garden, it was probably just the two of us, it would have been much easier to take my life there than going to all the trouble of putting me to sleep and waiting for such a long time. Even for me, who’s not that smart, I noticed such a thing, there’s no way that the prodigy in front of me shouldn’t be able to realize that as well.

That’s why, he wasn’t really trying to kill me, is what I concluded.

“………”

While Sirius just stood there at a loss for what to say, I continued speaking.

“I came here because I wanted to properly talk to president one more time.”

“……Talk……”

“That’s right. At that time, president…… Had such a painful expression on your face…… And because you were crying……”

Honestly speaking, the words that he said at that time, I’ve already mostly forgotten, but…… Well, there’s no way about it because I had been in such a deep dream for two days.

However…… Before I fainted, only the bitter look on Sirius’s face, and the way he was crying, I couldn’t forget at all. Why is it that he seemed to be in such pain…… I had always been worried about it.

“……That’s why, one more time, I would like for you to hear me out……”

When I said so and looked at Sirius, his face became really distorted.

“……You hypocrite…… So what you’re saying is, you’re going to save me like how you’ve saved everyone else? Saint Katarina Claes-sama.”

He spat out the words like he was being sarcastic.

Hypocrite? Save? Saint? What is he talking about, I have no idea whatsoever. Come to think of it…… A-chan said it as well during the end…… “You’ll save the president as well.” But……

“That’s not possible!”

While looking directly at Sirius, I flatly disagreed.

“After all, I’m not the heroine. I’m just an evil villainess rival character, there’s no way I can save anyone!”

My words must have been too unexpected, since Sirius was frozen solid with his mouth wide agape.

Everyone that came along with me was raising questions like “rival character? Evil villainess?” as well.

Although I let it slip involuntarily, everyone doesn’t understand what I meant as well. They might just think that I said something weird is all.

Even so, those words were the truth. In this otome game world, I’m just one of the heroine’s rival characters, a noble girl villainess. What’s more, the other rival characters are beauties like Mary or Sophia, with strong magic and smart as well, I can’t even compare. I’m not really much of a beauty, my magic is shabby, I’m not smart, I’m such a regrettable rival character. That’s me, Katarina Claes. For such a me, being able to overcome other people’s traumas like a heroine, and healing their wounded hearts is impossible to do.

Even so, if there’s one thing that even I can do, it’s -

“Although I can’t save you from your suffering, but…… But, I can stay by your side.”

Since I’m just an evil villainess, I have no power to save others. But, I can stay by his side.

“If I’m by your side, when you’re sad, or having a hard time I can listen to you, and be together with you until you’re feeling better again.”

Suddenly remembering my memories from a previous life, and realizing that I was a villainess with only destruction flags, I’ve worked so hard every day. I’ve had hard times and painful times as well. And, everyone had always been there for me. They would be with me and listen to me until I felt better again. That’s why I was able to work hard up until now.

And by my side, are friends that are really reassuring and can do anything. Someone like me doesn’t have the power to save him but, if it’s my friends, I’m sure that they’ll be able to do something for him.

Little by little, I got closer to Sirius.

“That’s why, don’t cry by yourself.”

Almost as if a dam had broken inside, Sirius was crying painfully. I wonder exactly what he’s suffering about, why is he in so much pain? Right now, I still don’t understand anything.

But…… In a dark room like this, it’s too sad if he has to withhold his voice and cry alone. It would just increase his pain more and more.

Then, when he reached his limit, he might really start off onto such a terrible bad end.

In order for that not to happen - In order to prevent such a bad end -

“Let’s go together - Rafael.”

I reached out my hand to Sirius who was crying all over the place, and I called out his real name that I had heard from A-chan. When I called it, Sirius - Rafael, opened his tear-filled eyes wide.

Honestly, I don’t really understand what it means by his real name, but…… Even so, it does seem like he has such a name as well.

Rafael nervously took my hand that I was reaching out to him.

Because his hand that touched mine was very cool to the touch, I wrapped his hand in both of mine.

“It’s alright.”

To Rafael who kept crying, I smiled in order to try and cheer him up. All the while trying to make sure it didn’t become a nasty villainous smile.

“The black mist is gone……”

I didn’t really understand the meaning of the words that Maria had muttered behind me, but……

When I looked at Rafael’s sopping wet eyes, they had a gentle look to them that I knew well.