Seeing that Talulah had already arranged everything properly, Steven found that there was little left for him to worry about. That she could think things through to this extent was a good thing.
"Then… I've got one last question."
Steven glanced around the small room, carefully taking in his surroundings.
"Where's Alina?"
Yes, Steven had noticed it from the mont he arrived. That gentle, adorable little deer was practically inseparable from Talulah, like a pair of twins. More often than not, the two of them were always stuck together. Seeing only one of them was, frankly speaking, rare.
And if Talulah had truly run into such a troubling dilemma, the first person she should have turned to was undoubtedly Alina—her personal political commissar, so to speak—not him.
Following that line of reasoning, there was only one conclusion Steven could draw: at the very least, Alina was not by Talulah's side right now—or sothing had happened that prevented her from eting that gentle girl.
"Discussing the whereabouts of another girl right in front of your girlfriend," Talulah said lightly, "isn't exactly gentlemanly behavior."
"She went to the Infected camp to teach the children as usual," she continued. "You know how it is—so many people, so many kids. Naturally, she doesn't have ti to spare."
The mont Steven heard Alina's na, a trace of awkwardness appeared on Talulah's face. Her eyes flickered away, and her voice lacked the confidence it had monts earlier.
"That's not the answer I'm hoping for," Steven said calmly. "And you don't really look like soone who's good at lying."
"Let guess," he went on, tapping his chin. "Combining this with sothing soone said earlier… could it be that a rather willful individual didn't want her best friend to experience the pain of becoming an Infected again, and so chose to distance herself—sending her friend sowhere safe instead?"
Steven was absolutely certain of one thing: Talulah would never harbor any intent to harm Alina. She would never hurt that gentle little deer. The only plausible explanation was exactly what he had just described.
Given Talulah's personality—one that could be downright willful in certain respects—this was absolutely sothing she would do.
But by the sa token, it was also sothing Alina would never agree to. In other words, it went directly against Alina's own wishes. Steven even suspected that, under certain circumstances, Talulah might be capable of sothing as extre as placing Alina under house arrest.
Especially now, when she had decided to take on sothing extrely dangerous. Locking that little deer away, keeping her from worrying herself sick… from Talulah's perspective, it was indeed a rather sound decision.
"…Seriously," Talulah sighed, seeing how Steven had practically reconstructed the entire process, outco, and even her inner thoughts. "Does your intuition really have to be this absurdly accurate sotis?"
"Her life right now is far more peaceful and safe than if she stayed by my side. Keeping her away from the affairs of the Infected—how is that not a good thing?"
"She didn't resist?" Steven raised an eyebrow. "Alina looks soft, sure, but when she gets stubborn, she's no less hardheaded than you. If you managed to make her stay sowhere far away from you without a fuss, I'm going to start wondering whether you did sothing… questionable."
Steven knew those two girls of the snowfields far too well. One hid softness beneath a strong exterior; the other carried unyielding strength beneath a gentle appearance. Them being best friends was no coincidence—it was only natural that their personalities would draw them into becoming the closest of friends.
That was why Steven was certain that if Talulah hadn't used so kind of trick, Alina would already be standing quietly at the side of the room, watching him and Talulah with her usual warm, gentle gaze.
"J-just so Originium Arts," Talulah said hesitantly. "The kind that absolutely won't hurt her. You don't need to worry about that."
Her eyes darted around, but when it ca to insisting that Alina wouldn't be hard, her tone was unwavering—completely sincere, without the slightest hint of a lie.
And Steven believed her. If anything, Talulah would rather hurt herself than ever do sothing that could harm Alina. In fact, protecting Alina from harm had been her intention from the very beginning.
"Mm. Like making her temporarily lose part of her mories?" Steven continued casually. "Or forget a certain soone? Now I'm actually curious—if I showed up in front of Alina as she is now, would she still recognize ?"
Hearing Talulah's explanation, the answer had already taken shape in Steven's mind. If Alina hadn't been hard, yet was unable even to notify him, then simple confinent wouldn't explain it. The only possibility he could think of was mory alteration.
In other places, such a concept might sound absurd. But on this land—where all kinds of bizarre phenona could be explained away as Originium Arts—it wasn't particularly special at all.
"…I really shouldn't have contacted you," Talulah sighed. "Your intuition is way too sharp. The mont you know even a little, you just keep pulling at the thread until you unravel everything."
She'd known it would be hard to hide things from Steven—but she hadn't expected him to co back without a word, leaving her no ti to prepare, and no room to co up with a better explanation.
In the end, it was her own weakness. If she hadn't longed for his understanding and help, then even if he were to find out, it would have taken much longer.
"Alright, I'll take that as a complint," Steven said with a small smile, before steering the conversation back to business. "So—where is she? And what exactly did you do to her?"
No matter what, the missing little deer needed to be found first.
"Can't we just leave her out of all this?" Talulah asked quietly. "Let her be an ordinary elentary school teacher?"
"Of course we can," Steven replied calmly. "But the premise is—you have to get her consent first, don't you?"
< >
Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
sdrive.google/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
< >
If you want to see more chapter of this story and don't mind spending $5 monthly to see till the latest chapter, please go to my Patreon1.
Latest Chapter in Patreon: Chapter 521: Is That Sothing a Normal Person Would Say?1
Link to the latest chapter: spatreon/posts/152281351?collection=557131
spatreon/collection/55713?view=condensed1
spatreon/collection/55713?view=condensed
spatreon/posts/152281351?collection=55713
spatreon/posts/152281351?collection=55713
spatreon/collection/55713?view=condensed
User Comments
0 comments from readers