Chapter 118: Chapter 18 - Preparation For The King's Game (2)

Titania, Shredica, and I were on the rooftop, discussing Shredica's request. We sat around a circular stone table, Titania and I on one side, and Shredica on the other.

"So, you wanna join this year's King's Game, huh?" Titania remarked. "But you don't have a participation ticket. That's tough luck. You do realize that by the time those tickets are handed out, the game's already started, right?"

Shredica nodded in understanding. There were only a hundred participation tickets available, distributed randomly to lucky individuals. That marked the start of the King's Game. Anyone who wanted in had to either persuade or coerce ticket holders to hand them over. The game was limited to a hundred participants, but anyone could try to get in.

"I don't think I'll be much help, to be honest. I haven't scored a ticket myself. How about you, Leon?" Titania asked.

"I did," I replied, producing the ticket for her to see.

"You're planning to jump in the fray too, right?" she inquired, already aware of my intentions.

"Yeah, that's the plan," I confirmed. "Which is why I can't hand it over to Shredica."

Shredica had been the one to invite me into the game in the first place.

"Hmm... This is tricky," Titania muttered, her brow furrowed in thought. Then, suddenly, her face lit up. "I've got it! I know someone who has a ticket!"

Shredica and I exchanged puzzled glances. As far as we knew, Titania wasn't particularly close to anyone. So who could this mystery person be?

***

The person Titania mentioned turned out to be Zeruel, who was seated alone in the cafeteria, voraciously stuffing her mouth with food. It was quite a contrast from her usual graceful demeanor during duels. Seeing her like this, hunched over at a table tucked under the stairs leading up to the second floor, filled me with a sense of melancholy.

As she shoveled food into her mouth, Zeruel suddenly caught sight of us and her eyes widened in alarm. Hastily, she tried to finish her meal quicker, hoping to avoid our approach. However, she still had a second plate to contend with.

When we finally reached her table, Zeruel slumped her shoulders in defeat, still chewing on the food she had crammed into her mouth.

"That's a lot," I whispered, eyeing the towering stack of ten plates she had devoured.

Zeruel shot me a glare at my comment. Oops. I hadn't anticipated her being sensitive about it.

"What do you want?" she grumbled, avoiding my gaze.

Titania slammed her hands on the table. "You've got a ticket, right?!"

Zeruel regarded her with suspicion. "How did you know?"

Upon arriving, I spotted a girl sitting on a bench, her face clouded with melancholy. Her resemblance to Zeruel was uncanny, from her features to her hair. It wasn't hard to guess that this girl was Zeruel's little sister.

"Hmm..." I pondered for a moment before heading to Leonamon's cake shop. I ordered a tart there before returning.

When I came back, I found the girl curled up into a ball, her head resting on her arms, which were folded over her knees. She was crying.

I approached her cautiously. "Are you alright?" I inquired softly. As she heard my voice, she looked up, her face streaked with snot and tears staining her cheeks. Embarrassed, she immediately covered her face.

"I-I'm okay..." she mumbled, though her shaky voice betrayed her true feelings.

"Did something happen to the person in the sanatorium that made you cry like this?" I probed gently.

The girl fell silent for a moment, then hesitantly replied, "My sister told me not to talk to strangers."

"Okay..." I nodded understandingly. "Mind if I sit beside you then? I won't talk to you. I'm just here because someone I know is also admitted there," I fibbed.

"It's fine," she murmured. "As long as you won't talk."

I settled down beside her, and a heavy silence enveloped us. Neither of us spoke, and I began to feel increasingly awkward about the situation. What was I even doing here, intruding on this girl's private moment?

Then, she spoke up suddenly. "My mother..."

"Your mother...?" I prompted gently.

"Yes," she nodded, her voice trembling slightly. "My mother is the one who's admitted in the sanatorium. She was the only one taking care of us because our father cheated on her. Despite her poor health, she worked tirelessly for us. But eventually, her health deteriorated to the point where she collapsed. And she never woke up again."

That's right. I recalled that Zeruel's mother collapsed two months after she was admitted to the academy. It was the same day I had confessed to her, hoping to gain her interest. Perhaps that's why she had lashed out at me so harshly and turned me down in such a cold manner.

She likely didn't mean to be so cruel, but the shock of her mother's collapse had shattered her composure, causing her to react that way. I couldn't help but feel guilty for adding to her distress during such a vulnerable time.

"Our family is poor. So poor that we can't even afford proper clothes," she continued, her voice tinged with sadness. "That's why we can't pay the bills at the sanatorium. But we can't bear to give up on our mother. So my sister and I have been working tirelessly to try to cover the costs. However, despite our efforts, we've only been able to scrape together a fraction of what we owe.

And our debt just keeps growing. The doctors at the sanatorium told us that if we can't settle the bills by the end of this week, they'll have no choice but to remove the magical intervention keeping our mother alive. But if they do that, she'll die. That's why my sister is planning to do something... something desperate."

"Something desperate?" I prodded gently.

"She's going to sell her body," she whispered, her voice filled with despair.