Episode 11
During his three years at the academy, Aidan was a perpetual runner-up.
No matter how hard he tried in an environment where he lacked nothing, he could never catch up to Cynthia Violeta, the unwavering number one student of the academy.
That woman was truly a tough cookie.
If you asked just how tough, there wasn’t a single day during her time at the academy that she didn’t show up at the library.
If you asked how Aidan knew that, it was naturally because he, too, went to the library every single day, except during vacations.
“Pfft, don’t you smell a gutter somewhere?”
“It feels like there’s a fishy smell, too.”
“You’re both wrong. That’s just the smell coming from a parentless beggar.”
Occasionally, a few nobility lacking in dignity bullied Cynthia.
The reason was simple.
Because she was an orphan, because she was a commoner.
Because despite that, she came to the academy and dared to receive better grades than they did.
Well, it was roughly for those childish and petty reasons.
When she didn’t even pretend to listen no matter how much they bullied her verbally, the intensity gradually escalated. They locked her in the bathroom, threw her swordsmanship training uniform into the trash can, and tore up her handwritten notebooks.
The male student in Cynthia’s class—what was his name again? Anyway, when that guy said a word, asking, “Isn’t this a bit too harsh?”, he was met with responses like, “This is just a joke between girls,” or, “Do you happen to like this loser?”
There was advice from his mother urging him not to create scandals with female students at the academy for no reason, and in the first place, since Cynthia hadn’t asked for help either, he had no desire to get involved.
Because studying during that time was far more efficient.
Up until then, to Aidan, Cynthia was nothing more than ‘Student 1’ blocking his way.
There was one incident that made him acknowledge Cynthia.
It was during the exam period. Over her pure silver hair, spoiled milk was poured.
“Hey, they say you’re studying like this to get a scholarship because you have no money, right?”
“I’ll give you the money, so would you mind getting the hell out of the academy? This is a place where kids of proper standing attend!”
Wondering if this wasn’t a bit too harsh, Aidan stole a glance; Cynthia’s purple eyes didn’t even waver, looking only at her book. She merely checked to make sure milk hadn’t splattered onto the book, and seeing no wet spots, she continued studying just as she was.
How could someone be like that?
A child with a delicate frame that looked as though it would blow away with a light puff of air was beyond solid—she was exceptionally mature.
In that way, Cynthia took her place in Aidan’s heart as a rival he acknowledged.
Indeed, Cynthia Violeta was that tough of a woman.
“Sob.”
Aidan looked at Cynthia, who had buried her face in the diary.
At a single sentence stating that her father had gone beyond the gate, she had been like that for quite a while now.
It was unexpected.
Did family hold that kind of meaning to all commoners?
Though they lived under one roof, he thought of his own family, who strictly speaking lived separately in different buildings.
A father he barely saw once a month because he was so busy, and a mother he deliberately avoided because every time he saw her, she thrust photos of prospective fiancées at him—it was a type of emotion Aidan could never understand.
‘Still.’
If someone cried with a face like that when he vanished, he felt he might be quite happy.
Of course, there was no one among his family who would do that.
‘Hmm, if I get married someday, will my wife cry like that?’
After thinking that, he found it funny himself. Looking at his own parents alone, it was obvious that the moment one died, they would instantly put a hidden lover in that place, so would his wife be any different?
“Phew, this is no time for this.”
As if her ruined face bothered her, Cynthia raised her head while rubbing her cheeks and wiping her nose multiple times.
“I’m sorry, my emotions got the better of me.”
“No, I understand.”
In truth, he didn’t understand at all.
Aidan looked down at the sentence she had written once more. If Ashford wrote the diary in order to leave that message for Cynthia, that man had been planning to cross the gate for at least several months.
“Still, this much has become certain. Since Dad entered beyond the gate of his own accord, it wasn’t Aclo’s doing.”
“That’s right. Although we can’t know how the gate was opened.”
A cool-headed judgment even amidst this.
As expected, she was worthy of being the rival he acknowledged.
“Can a person go beyond the gate?”
How on earth? Opening a gate wasn’t something one could do just because they set their mind to it, either.
Could the disappearance of the cores be a grand scheme to open a gate?
‘No, neodymium didn’t seal the gates. Gates are things that appear sporadically, without knowing when or where. Even if a gate had opened, monsters would have overflowed from inside it again. Yet there were no such reports anywhere.’
However, if Ashford really crossed the gate, the possibility that he utilized the cores was not nonexistent. There was a need to investigate a bit further.
Humans still did not know exactly what either the gates or the cores were.
“In my memory, there are records of something coming out of the gates, but there were no records of anyone going in.”
“Wouldn’t that be because they didn’t think of going in to begin with? It’s dangerous in many ways, after all.”
Cynthia answered coolly, as if she hadn’t just been crying. That statement was certainly correct.
Every time, various types of monsters came out of the gates. And in vast numbers, at that.
Since humans were always hard-pressed to deal with those monsters, they probably wouldn’t have dared think of exploring the inside of the gates, which were their nest.
“That’s true as well. That’s why, rather than an invasion, effort was put into developing the neodymium that closes the gates.”
“Why would my dad go to such a place…”
Her firm eyes wavered once again. It was fascinating that a child who looked that strong became as fragile as a flower before the wind when it came to stories about Ashford.
“You said Ashford was a great hero. He wouldn’t have crossed the gate thoughtlessly. He must have made thorough preparations.”
That was why such words came out of his mouth without him realizing it.
Even while thinking that if he really entered inside the gate…
The probability of him being alive was slim.
Cynthia probably thought the same thing. That was likely why she had cried like that. Because thorough analysis was what Cynthia did best, after all.
“That’s right, isn’t it? My dad isn’t that thoughtless, after all.”
Seeing her face wiping away tears with a resolute expression once more brought a sense of relief.
‘Relief? Why me?’
He felt a strange sensation. He rubbed the middle of his chest with his palm.
“Could it be that my dad taking the cores wasn’t in order to open a gate?”
“However, just because there are no cores—meaning the neodymium weakens—there’s no guarantee that a gate will open. Gates weren’t always open, but formed sporadically, after all.”
“Ah, that’s true as well. Hmm…”
A deeply thoughtful expression. The sound of her turning the gears in her head felt as though it could be heard all the way over here.
“Since we don’t know what kind of clue the cores might be, we have to investigate them first. The cores are objects that came from beyond the gate, after all. When I read the report Young Lord brought from the research institute back then, the components making up the core were clearly carbon, aluminum oxide, chromium, and…”
Watching Cynthia expand her thoughts one by one while blurting out the same thoughts as his own, he felt like he understood why he felt relieved.
To put it another way, should he say it felt like when doing a joint academy assignment, and his team had a member who earned straight A+s in every subject?
Of course, Aidan was that ‘A+ team member’ at the academy whom people referred to when saying ‘riding Aidan’s carriage’, but the students who ended up on the same team as him must have felt this kind of relief.
That was likely why seeing Cynthia brought him relief. Because of the conviction that as long as he was with that girl, this strange incident would also be resolved well somehow.
Having reached a conclusion, Aidan lowered his hand from his chest.
“Huh? Young Lord, it seems we’ve arrived.”
At Cynthia’s words, Aidan turned his head. The clattering carriage body was gradually slowing its speed before he knew it. Outside the carriage window, the neodymium was visible alongside lush thickets.
“I hope there’s any kind of clue. It would be even better if it’s about Dad, but even if it’s about the vanished cores.”
Looking at her purple eyes, which were once again firmly composed, Aidan also nodded his head.
