Aria sat down on the floor, observing the surrounding scene with a listless gaze.
"Sigh."
After being insulted by the young Aria for the first time ever, young Frey had now regained his composure and was quietly focusing on his work.
- Blaze...
Frey's ledger was already burning on the stove. Seeing the unusually large amount of ash, it seemed that quite a few papers had been dealt with in this manner.
"...Brother, I'm sorry."
As the day slightly darkened, young Aria hesitantly entered Frey's room.
"S-Sorry, I was wrong."
"..."
Then, she placed a ragged scrap of cloth on the desk.
However, Frey coldly glanced at the cloth and muttered.
"What is this rag?"
"That, that... I made it..."
"Enough, leave. I'm busy."
Following his words, young Aria glanced back and left, and soon after, a smile appeared on Frey's lips.
"A handkerchief she made herself? Nice..."
Then, he carefully picked up the rag and spent several minutes gazing at it with a grin.
Yes.
It was the first handkerchief Aria had made.
After she first insulted him, she felt that if their relationship worsened any further, it might become irreparable, so she made the handkerchief with everything she got as a gift.
However, Frey surely treated the gift like a rag and would have thrown it away...
Thanks to that, Aria secretly practiced sewing like mad afterward.
Then why did young Frey, reflected in Aria's sight now, look so happy with that piece of rag?
- Knock knock knock...!
"Ah."
Young Frey was gazing at the handkerchief for a long time, he even softly rubbed it against his cheek.
Suddenly, a knocking sound startled him out of his reverie.
- Slide...!
He hurriedly fumbled under the desk and pulled something resembling a handle, and a secret compartment popped open.
"Come in."
He quickly pushed the handkerchief inside the compartment and closed it, then composed his expression as he spoke.
"Frey, sir...? What happened to your face?"
"Idiot, you should call me 'Young Master.'"
"S-Sorry, Young Master. But why is there blood on your face?"
"...Don't worry about it."
As young Kania entered the room, he scolded her, and the scene hurriedly moved on...
"...Ugh."
But at that moment, Aria gasped for breath and opened her eyes wide.
The scene before her eyes had suddenly disappeared.
"...!?"
Soon, she was back in Roswyn’s room.
"Ms. Aria, what are you doing here?"
"Vener?"
"I came into the guest room looking for Ms. Roswyn, but why are you here, Ms. Aria?"
She had been absorbed in a book when Vener, grabbing her shoulder and lifting her up, had awakened her.
"Why are you looking for Ms. Roswyn?"
"Not just Ms. Roswyn, I was looking for you as well, Ms. Aria."
"Me?"
As Aria tilted her head in confusion, Vener responded with a slightly listless look in her eyes.
"There will be a meeting in the dining hall shortly. Please make sure you attend without being late."
With that, she quietly left the room.
"..."
Silence then followed.
- Clink...
In that silence, Aria, lost in thought for a moment, carefully took out a communication crystal from her pocket.
"...Yes, Kadia. You're at the mansion now, right?"
Soon after contacting someone, she spoke with a trembling voice.
"Let me ask you something."
- Swish...
After a few minutes of conversation, Aria disconnected the call and placed her hand back on the notebook.
And soon, silence fell over the room again.
.
.
.
.
.
"..."
Aria stood rooted to the spot, her gaze shifting rapidly.
After a brief interruption, numerous scenes continued to flash by quickly.
"Did you do something bad again?"
"...How long are you going to live like that?"
"I can't be with you anymore. Take care."
Aria was recalling memories from her first cycle, which she no longer remembered herself.
From abandoning Frey, who then began to destroy the world,
To Frey, who forced the five main heroines to their deaths and eventually poisoned their own father.
And ultimately, her brother, who perished with the Demon King, who then returned to start his second cycle.
"Ha, ha..."
Aria's breathing became ragged as she struggled to maintain her sanity.
- Zzzzz...
But the scenes continued to change, regardless of her state.
"Father collapsed because of you... Is that all you have in your brain?"
"Mother died because of you, and now Father is going to pass away because of you...!"
"Why?"
"In my hands are the lives of tens of thousands... No, the lives of everyone in the world are at stake. If I were to break down... Ugeuk?"
Frey gave a little love tap on Aria’s forehead and gave her a stern look.
"..."
It was the gaze filled with kindness that Frey often had when lecturing Aria when they were younger.
"A-Actually... It was tough."
As Aria looked into those eyes, she eventually opened her mouth with a poignant expression.
"I, I learned swordsmanship to use the Hero's Armament. B-But I'm a mage..."
"Yeah, I see."
"It was agonizing not being able to have a conversation with you again. I just wanted to talk, even just once."
"I see."
"And, the training was tough, and the... politics were tough too. Enduring the cold stares of those around me was scary and difficult..."
"The cold stares?"
Frey, who had been listening to Aria's words like when they were young, with a gentle smile, tilted his head.
"P-People found out the truth about you... Now, there's no one in the world who doesn't know."
"Hmm."
"I-I was scared, but I stepped forward and told them the truth. That way, I thought, maybe I could ease my guilt even just a little, cowardly as it was..."
“You idiot, you shouldn’t have done that.”
"Ugh, uuu..."
Aria flinched when she saw her brother's slightly angry expression.
"Since I failed, you should condemn me as a real villain and blame me for it."
"...What?"
"I left it in the will. If I fail and die, make me a real villain and use it as a means to strengthen your power."
"H-How could... I, I can't... no one should do such a thing..."
Frey sighed and pinched Aria's cheeks.
"Geez, you're impossible to deal with."
"Ugh..."
"Instead of being divided into useless factions, it's better to gather everyone's anger into one... Hmm."
Frey, who had been muttering with a regretful expression, softened his words as he saw Aria’s tearful face.
"B-Brother is so kind... You've never changed..."
"..."
"Honestly, I'm not confident. I'm still too weak compared to Brother. This isn't right... I, I am..."
Aria murmured, looking at Frey with eyes full of regret.
"Aria, don't worry."
Embracing Aria even more tightly, Frey patted her back and whispered softly.
"I can handle everything."
"Huh...?"
"It's okay. Your brother will take care of everything."
"Brother...?"
Aria, hearing those affectionate words after a long time, began to shed tears of sadness.
"I'll definitely give you a happy ending."
"W-Where are you going...?"
"It's okay, we'll meet again soon."
Then, Frey wrapped Aria’s head in stellar mana and whispered softly into her ears as her eyes slowly closed.
"No matter what happens, I'll always love you, so rest assured now."
"Ah..."
With those words, Aria lost consciousness.
"Hmm."
Frey, who had moved her onto the bed, soon sighed and muttered to himself.
"Is it only Clana left now?"
That was the last record Aria glimpsed.
.
.
.
.
.
"..."
Having reviewed all the records and withdrawn from the notebook, Aria sat still, her eyes vacant.
- Beep, beep...
Quietly, she reached out for the communication crystal resting on the desk.
- Ms. Aria! Just as you requested.
After a moment, a lively voice echoed from the communication crystal.
- I opened the secret space under Mr. Frey's desk as instructed!
- Just like you said, there was quite a complicated black magic, but I erased it with my purification magic!
- Uhm... But there's nothing but miscellaneous things?
Upon hearing those words, Aria asked with a trembling voice.
"B-By any chance, is there... a rough piece of cloth?"
- There are too many of those here?
"I-Is there a... B-Bloodstained ones or..."
- Hmm...
As Aria struggled to find her words again after the mention of many pieces of cloth, Kadia, who had started rummaging through the space as Aria described, finally spoke up.
- I found it!
Before long, Kadia's cheerful voice reached Aria.
- A piece of cloth with blood on it...? It's a piece of rag!
"..."
- And there's a date written on it? June 24th? What's this?
Tears began to fall from Aria's eyes.
- Now that I think about it, all the junk have dates attached to them? What are these things?
This was the moment when everything Aria had seen until now became true.
"B-BROTHERRRRR..."
With her face buried in the notebook, Aria sorrowfully wailed for her brother.