I woke up at dawn.

In my half-dreamy state, I recalled that I had been dreaming.

In the dream, I was in a small room.

It was a strange room with walls on all sides, but only one wall was transparent.

There was no door in sight, but I didn’t feel trapped, it seemed.

A frog in a well wouldn’t know it’s trapped in the well.

To the frog, that narrow well would be the entire world.

In the same way, that confined space was the entirety of my world in the dream, so it couldn’t really be said that I was trapped.

But just as the frog can see the sky beyond the well, in that dream, I could sense that there was something outside that narrow world through the transparent wall.

On the other side of that transparent wall were two pairs of eyes watching me.

They were observing me with utterly expressionless eyes.

Reflected in their pupils was a girl with red eyes and black hair.

That was how I appeared in the dream.

Even in my dreams, I was turning into a girl now.

Muttering to myself about that, I fell back asleep.

*

Maybe because I woke up once at dawn and then went back to sleep, when I opened my eyes, the sun was already high in the sky.

Well, it was Sunday, so sleeping in didn’t really matter.

Sighing, I took out the bean sprouts from the refrigerator to make a stir-fry for lunch.

This was due to the realization I had while preparing dinner after going to the supermarket yesterday.

The oyster sauce and cooking oil were nearly empty.

If I made a stir-fry for lunch, it would leave barely enough for one last dish.

I had gone to the supermarket on Friday to buy bean sprouts and went again yesterday to buy a pastry bag.

I could have gotten them then, but instead, like a fool, I ended up creating a reason to go back to the market.

Lately, a few bothersome things had been on my mind, causing me to overlook these little details.

If I wanted to head out, I had to prepare a bunch of things, which was quite bothersome.

I briefly considered stopping by the supermarket on Monday after school, but thinking about having to eat boiled bean sprouts twice more made it impossible to hold off on going out.

I had become a person who couldn’t be satisfied with anything other than a bean sprout stir-fry…

Since I was going to the market anyway, I thought I might as well restock on the ingredients for macarons, which were also running low.

With that thought, I had my lunch, changed my clothes, and left the house.

The streets were bustling on the weekend.

Today was the last Sunday of March.

This meant it had been almost a month since I became Scarlet Evande; my first day here was March 1st, the first Monday of the month.

As I arrived at the market, reflecting on the time that had passed, I got a little sentimental.

There was a time when I was grateful just to have boiled bean sprouts with my daily budget of 300 wons…

Now, the fact that I could come to the market to buy cooking ingredients because I didn’t like what I had made me deeply appreciative.

…Truth be told, if my guardian hadn’t given me any pocket money, I might still be living like that now.

But I didn’t need to worry.

A month had passed, and in a few days, I would soon receive a cool sum of 300,000 gold.

In other words, I was a future millionaire in the making.

I was set to be someone about a third as rich as a millionaire.

The units seemed a bit different, but let’s not get caught up in that.

Thus, I walked into the market with the confident stride of someone awaiting payday.

And as soon as I entered, I quickly noticed a familiar white-haired figure.

“Hey, Scarlet. Here to shop?”

“……”

I tried to casually slip out of the market, but, lacking the finesse in moonwalking, I got caught.

Sigh…

I sighed inwardly and nodded.

Yoon Si-woo, who greeted me, looked at my left arm and said,

“……Want some help?”

I could handle my shopping solo.

Thinking that, I shook my head, and Yoon Si-woo smirked as if he expected that response.

Even though he had an indomitable holy sword that boosts his recovery rate, he looked exhausted.

Seeing him made me tremble with anxiety.

I had wondered if I had misjudged during school, but now that I saw him up close, I was certain.

What on earth had happened to him to make him look like this…?

“Alright then. See you later at school.”

“Wait a minute.”

Feeling like I had to take some action, I grabbed Yoon Si-woo, who was about to leave after our goodbyes.

“I’d like to talk a bit. Can you wait until I finish my shopping?”

His eyes widened in surprise, and Yoon Si-woo slowly nodded.

As he nodded, I noticed that both of his pupils were white.

That was my biggest concern lately.

*

After finishing my shopping and stepping out of the market, Yoon Si-woo was waiting for me.

“Sorry for making you wait.”

“It’s fine, I didn’t wait long,” Yoon Si-woo replied, shaking his head.

Since it felt somewhat awkward to talk while standing, we turned our feet towards a park we occasionally visited.

After finding a bench, I sat down and placed my shopping bag next to me; naturally, Yoon Si-woo sat a bit apart from me with the bag in between us.

……An awkward atmosphere hung in the air.

It was the first time I initiated a conversation with Yoon Si-woo, so it was only natural for it to feel like this.

So far, I had kept my distance from him to avoid potential dangerous situations.

But after deciding that I wanted to save people, I felt the need to improve my relationship with Yoon Si-woo, who would be at the center of these events.

I knew it, but……

Just seeing his face brought back the memory of him crying and asking me not to worry about him!

Aaargh!

Even when I visited him in the hospital, it was awkward to face him…

But I couldn’t let a trivial thing like that get in the way, so I asked Yoon Si-woo.

“Why are your eyes like that? One of them was black originally, right?”

“Oh, this… this? It’s probably because of a power… Hehe, it just happened somehow…”

Yoon Si-woo stuttered, clearly showing that it was hard to talk about.

It seemed that it would be difficult to pry into the reason behind this change.

The change in Yoon Si-woo’s eye color was evidence that he formed a contract with Lucia, the Sword of Humility, to unlock the true power of the holy swords.

To explain, it was some kind of power-up event.

If it was just about getting stronger, that would be good news, but these events usually occur after the protagonist endures considerable trials.

The death of a heroine, nightmares every night.

Such events happen when the protagonist’s mental state is pushed to the extreme.

The fact that it occurred just days after my visit to the hospital was entirely unexpected.

He still bore faint dark circles under his eyes, and he looked extremely tired, making it clear that he had gone through something tough.

In the original story, after that change, he was shown struggling daily, so if he was already like this, Yoon Si-woo might collapse mentally at some point.

If Yoon Si-woo, the protagonist, were to break down, it would genuinely be the end.

Just thinking about it made my body shiver.

Yet, for some reason, Sylvia seemed a bit upset with Yoon Si-woo, and normally, those who would join our class due to the deaths of other students were still in different classes now.

So, the only one left to play the role of caring for Yoon Si-woo’s mental state was me.

It’s funny, considering he told me not to worry about him…

Sigh…

I sighed internally and spoke to Yoon Si-woo.

“You look really exhausted these days. Is there something bothering you?”

He flinched as if I had hit the nail on the head.

“Ah, it’s nothing special. It’s just that I worked hard on my training, that’s all…”

Yoon Si-woo said that with a hint of embarrassment.

Knowing that he wasn’t the type to tire easily from regular training, I had no choice but to see it as him forcing himself through something tough.

In the first place, Yoon Si-woo wasn’t the type to let others know when he was struggling.

He was the type to bear his burdens alone, trying to solve his problems by himself.

If such a person can’t resolve their troubles, they might not realize that they’re festering inside until they eventually collapse.

Worried about what would happen if Yoon Si-woo ended up like that, I muttered softly.

“… I’m worried about you, even if you say that.”

I looked straight into Yoon Si-woo’s eyes.

“Even if I don’t show it, I care about you quite a bit.”

I was so focused on him that I didn’t even notice I was running low on cooking oil and oyster sauce.

Anyway, Yoon Si-woo had to be okay.

For that, I could endure a bit of awkwardness.

With that feeling piled up, I looked at Yoon Si-woo and said.

“If you have any troubles or concerns, let me know. I’ll listen.”

As I said that, Yoon Si-woo seemed a bit burdened and avoided my gaze.

Then he turned his head away to hide his face and said in a small voice.

“… I’ll tell you later, next time.”

With that, Yoon Si-woo abruptly stood up and ran off somewhere.

…Since he said ‘next time’, maybe he would say something when it gets harder.

Looks like I’m going to end up in the role of an unwanted counselor.

As I picked up my shopping bag and headed home, I lamented my pitiful situation.

sniff