Chapter 52
'He understands.
Erietta knows, even if she does not fully grasp the reason.
She knows that my steps are not heading to the bar, not to the freedom of the night, but toward the shadows of Aldraya and that boy.
That I intend to follow them, to ensure something that even I do not dare to admit the reason for.'
Strrrrt!
'Damn.
Even without an angry tone, her question sounds like the most honest accusation.'
For a moment, the world between them seemed to halt.
The morning air, usually gentle, now tensed, narrowing in the space between two pairs of eyes silently measuring one another.
Theo was still half-bent, trying to cover the remaining wound on his chest with a thin shirt, yet the sunlight falling across it revealed the scratch clearly—a trace from Erietta Bathee's Honor Severing Technique, not yet fully healed.
He gave a small, stiff smile, wanting to laugh at the reality that this wound now stood as the most honest proof of the strange bond between them.
But before he could open his mouth, Erietta's voice pierced the air.
'How important is Aldraya that you must go to him?'
Soft yet cutting, her voice was like freshly sharpened glass.
She narrowed her eyes, and for the first time, Theo caught something resembling emotion in that gaze—not anger, not jealousy so obvious, but a kind of disappointment too silent to explain.
She did not shout, nor did she chide with a loud tone.
It was precisely that calmness that made Theo almost lose control.
Erietta knew.
She knew all the lies.
She knew where Theo's steps would truly lead, even before he could clarify his intention.
Theo fell silent.
For a moment, he considered returning to his old ways—responding with cynicism, twisting words, laughing at everything to lighten the mood.
But not this time.
The wound on his body still burned, and the new wound on Erietta's chest—somehow—was even harder to conceal.
'Now be honest with me … what just happened?
No, this is not part of the script.
This girl should not have reached this point—not yet.
In the first arc, middle episode eight, Erietta should still be neutral, still slow to grasp the meaning behind my actions.
But what I just saw—was different.
Not only quick to respond.
It was sharp.
It pierced.'
Fuuuuuh - faaaaaah!
'I cannot deny that my hairs stood on end, truly.
Her gaze is not merely that of a student seeking answers, but of an observer ready to dissect the truth to its core.
As if behind her silence, there is a mind that has already surpassed all the calculations I made for her.
Damn, even I am not ready to see this version of her.'
Khuaaaaaahh!
'Insanely fast, perhaps even more.
In the original scenario, this sharpness of thought only emerges in early episode twelve, after a series of traumatic events, after dozens of nights on the edge of death and betrayal.
But even then, it only reached a basic level, merely quick to understand irregularities?
But now? She has bypassed her destiny entirely.
Without signal, without cue.
All components unite.
Intellectual sharpness, critical response, speed in recognizing inconsistencies, and an analytical approach to solving problems.
All four fused, compactly engraved in the seventeen-year-old girl before me.
Now, I can no longer tell who truly authors the path of fate unfolding.'
Hiiiiiih!
'And though my mind tries to rationalize this shock, my body still refuses.
A cold sensation crawls up my nape—a kind of primal instinct whispering that I have just witnessed something that should not yet exist.
Erietta Bathee, you have developed this fast and this insanely, haven't you?
I have not even had the chance to be ready to be your new teacher.'
In his heart, Theo could hardly contain his astonishment.
He tried to keep his breathing steady, attempting to appear calm on the surface, yet something roiled violently inside his chest.
Not anger, not shame, but a creeping chill, like a subtle current of electricity piercing skin and bone.
The girl before him was no longer the same as in the scenario.
She should not have reached this point.
Not yet.
Yet Erietta Bathee, standing a few steps away, was no longer merely a student newly stepping into the Realm of Gloom.
Her gaze was sharp, her mind clear, and the way she fired words just now—as if she knew exactly where Theo's honesty was concealed—made him lose his footing between reality and the written script.
In the original notes, an Erietta with that level of sensitivity would only appear in early episode twelve—a phase where experience, trauma, and spiritual insight had accumulated enough to produce a new understanding.
But now, in middle episode eight, all of it appeared prematurely.
So fast.
Theo knew for certain that something breaking the sequence like this could only happen if a character's consciousness had pierced the limits of the scenario, stepping into the space between narrative and free will.
And that thought alone was enough to make Theo's blood run cold.
Then Theo realized one more thing.
He remembered that Erietta should only have reached the stage of 'quick to notice irregularities'—not the stage of 'critical and sharply responsive' she was now displaying.
The difference seems minor on paper, but in reality, it is like two dimensions that cannot intersect.
'One still bows to the scripted line of fate, while the other is writing her own destiny.'
Theo gazed at Erietta longer, searching for a gap to ensure this was only coincidence.
But in that gaze, he found something more terrifying than a mere plot shift—he saw living consciousness.
'Calm, Theo.
Breathe first.
Do not let her see you falter.
She may have sensed the lies, but that does not mean you must bow in defeat.
That gaze, so sharp?
Certainly not to be met with panic.
Just respond calmly—act as if you know what you are doing.
Haaaah - hiiiiiih!
Control your heartbeat.
Do not let your hands tremble.
Erietta may be beyond bounds, but that does not mean she cannot be guided.
Simply redirect your thoughts, plant doubt within her newfound certainty.
If she begins to doubt herself, then you are safe—at least for now.'
Fuuuuuuush!
'Just twist simple logic, Theo—make it seem as though her question is too shallow to discuss further.'
"Does it matter for your training and results? Or do you just want to prevent me from unleashing my manhood tonight?"
'Good, say it flatly.
Do not give Erietta a clue that half your sentence is just a shield of lies.
As long as the reason 'going to the bar' still sounds logical, there is nothing to suspect.'
Theo straightened slowly, reorganizing his presence within the narrowing space and time.
His gaze briefly shifted to his faint reflection in Erietta's metal training sword lying on the table—and there, he saw a faint smile that was almost not his own.
A smile constructed from pretense, from layers of control masking confusion crawling through his mind.
He knew the girl had pierced the illusion of his words, knew that the lie he lightly built was already shaky, yet its balance had to be maintained.
This world was too fragile to be shaken by one small truth.
Therefore, he exhaled, posing his question in a nearly flat tone, trying to sound like his usual self.
To be continued…