Chapter 6
* * *
I don’t know what kind of mood I have while coming back to my room.
“Melin, why are you so late?”
“……”
“Melin?”
Tepeo was waving in front of my eyes when I came to my senses.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, it’s not a big deal.”
I lay down to the bed in answer. My thoughts continued to hang on and bother me.
What was the relationship between Melinia and Karen?
‘Karen, she did something to you.’
Even the supporting character T didn’t tell me what Karen ‘had done’ to me.
There was no other way but to meet the person involved as long as everyone was unwilling to say what happened.
“Tepi, I’ll be late after dinner.”
“Why?”
“I have to meet a girl.”
Tepeo’s expression became strange for a moment.
“……Who?”
“Huh?”
“Who is it? The girl you need to meet.”
Is it my illusion that his purple eyes look darker than usual?
“Karen.”
“….Ah.”
Tepeo looked more calm when he heard my answer.
“What’s wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
See you later.
I asked Tepeo why but he just smiled and avoided my question. It wasn’t just my accident that I had to ask Karen.
But that evening, the only thing that welcomed me at the table was Karen’s empty chair.
Hope opened his mouth as if it had been talked about in advance.
“Karen said she was sick today.”
Sick? No way.
The kid that had been fine until morning suddenly became sick. She’s just embarrassed to see my face.
“Why don’t you go, Melin?”
“What?”
What are you talking about?
“Karen likes you so much.”
Karen ‘likes me’.
I wondered if it could be explained by saying that she likes me.
Karen’s behavior was rather dark to simply show affection for her favorite friend.
Besides that, my perception of Karen had become even worse with the story I heard from the supporting character T.
“I’ll be in her room after dinner.”
Hope nodded reluctantly. I had to visit Karen anyway to check out what the supporting character T said.
The children raced up to the stairs as usual when dinner was over.
It was just after I passed the second floor and the third floor. Someone shouted ferociously from above.
“Everybody out of the room!”
I hurried up to the stairs when Edina shouted.
The angry-faced Edina was at the middle of the hall kicking all the children out of the room.
Among them was Tepeo.
Tepeo looked around with an anxious face and welcomed me as soon as he saw my face.
“Melin….!”
“What happened? Why are you shouting?”
“Edina knew.”
“What….ah.”
Medication. Edina’s going to notice the medicine is missing from the locker.
Edina told us her point as the children gathered up at the hall.
“The medicine disappeared from the locker. Who the hell is it!”
My mind was busy.
Did this happen in the novel? Why did Edina suddenly find the medicine box? I wouldn’t have taken it out of my usual.
Hope’s words suddenly crossed to my mind.
‘Karen said she was sick today.’
Oh, that’s why she took out the medicine case.
“I’ll kill you if I find out who it is!”
Your finding the drugs you stole? It was a little funny.
But Tepeo was shaking a little and looked scared.
“Don’t worry. No matter how hard Edina goes through the room, she won’t find the medicine.”
“Will it be all right? If it’s caught on the floor…..”
“Tepi.”
I took Tepeo’s hand when I called his name. Maybe he was very nervous because his hands were quite cold.
“Edina will notice you if you show your nervousness.”
“……”
“It’s okay. Take your time to breathe.”
I don’t know how effective it was, but Tepeo’s expression became more calm after I said that.
All right, let’s take care of this.
All that was left now was on Edina’s side.
Edina entered our room one by one.
I told Tepeo that it was okay, but I couldn’t help feeling a little nervous. Tepeo held my hand a little hard.
It was still quiet inside.
Yeah, I can’t be caught….
“Melinia!”
I can’t be caught.
I rushed towards the door.
No way, I don’t think so. I arrived at the door with my heart beating so hard.
Edina was holding something in her hand.
Oh, that’s…..Why didn’t I think of that?
“What is this?”
Edina asked me with her scary eyes. What she had in her hand was a map to Duke Hillderox I drew.
I’ve always taken it out and hidden it under the bed, and I never thought Edina would find it.
“It’s just……a paper that I scribbled on.”
I talked calmly to her.
It’s a poorly drawn map, so you probably don’t recognize it unless you take a closer look.
“Why is this from under your bed? Are you not cleaning the room?”
Edina didn’t pay attention to the paper much as I thought.
“I think it went in there when I was playing.”
“What the hell, get rid of it now!”
Edina handed me a piece of paper and walked out of the room with rough steps.
Anyway, she looked angry.
I found that the secret space was undetected when I checked the floor by turning my eyes slightly and I sigh with relief.
It would be troublesome if she found out about my secret space.
“Did she find out?”
Tepeo came into the room and asked me. It was a low voice so that anyone couldn’t hear it.
“No. Fortunately.”
Tepeo’s face became bright when I said that.
Was it that scary?
I felt a sense of difference because it was something that I could not see in Tepeo Hillderox in the novel.
As far as I know, Tepeo has been acting like a madman who has no regrets about his life when it comes to the heroine, Azley.
I didn’t want to recall it, but my useless good memory finally brought a scene from the novel to the surface.
【Tepeo hugged the cold Azley.
It’s cold. Your body is too cold.
Tepeo shared his warmth with Azley’s locks on his arms.
I felt like he’s going to twist my body right now, but why isn’t it moving?】
And in the next scene, Tepeo…..
Well, it’s kind of creepy.
“Tepi.”
“Yes?”
“You shouldn’t think about bad things when you grew up”
“….What?”
Tepeo snorted his head as if he didn’t understand what I said.
Okay, what’s the difference if I say it now?
But if you think about it, Tepeo Hillderox was the most normal of the three male lead candidates.
The other two were really extraordinary lunatics……
The heroine, Azley. And three male leads.
This novel became a ruined novel with a dark background because of the villains. It all happened because of the big influence of supporting characters A, B and C.
(T/N: A is Melinia when she died, B is Edina and C was Karen. I don’t know why Karen is here but she’s the supporting character C.)
The male leads were obsessed with Azley for their different reasons.
Tepeo is just obsessed with Azley because he always remembers Melina.
【Sometimes, Tepeo called Azley as ‘Melin.’ He just remained silent as if he had made a big mistake or as if he had been hurt whenever Azley asked Tepeo about what he meant or whose name is that.】
The same goes for male leads B and C. They all wanted Azley, but that didn’t mean they love her.
That’s probably why this story ends in a cruel way.
The male characters who don’t love the heroine.
I glanced at Tepeo in front of me.
If I don’t survive here, will Tepeo be ruined like in a novel?
“What is that?”
Tepeo broke my thoughts and asked. What he was pointing at was a map in my hand.
“Do you want to see it?”
I handed him the paper without saying anything.
Tepeo opened his eyes as if he was taking the map and looking closely.
“What is this?”
“What does it look like?”
“…….Drawing?
You’re a little slow-witted.
“It’s a map. Can’t you see it?”
“How can this be……”
“It’s a map.”
Tepeo did not ask further when I said it point by point. Instead, he asked another question.
“Are we here?”
Tepeo pointed his hand to the most clearly drawn place on the map.
It was the part where I marked Duke Hillderox estate.
“Are you curious?”
He nodded his head.
All right, let me know if you’re curious.
Without any explanation, I approached the window and opened the window. A cool night rushed into the room.
Tepeo looked at me with a blank expression, and as soon as I climbed onto the window frame, he freaked out and hugged my waist.
“What are you doing?”
“I thought you were curious about where it is?”
“What nonsense is that……”
Oh, come to think of it, he doesn’t know I’ve been around on the roof every night.
I stepped out of the window as if it would be faster to show it directly than to speak.