Lies.

Sylvia hated people who lied.

That’s why she asked Scarlet, who was lying in bed and didn’t seem well due to what happened yesterday.

“…You never thought of me as a friend?”

Scarlet slowly nodded her head.

If she was going to say something like that, she should at least wear a cold expression, but with such a sad face, what was Sylvia supposed to do?

Sylvia’s face twisted in discomfort.

She had always hated those who approached her with lies, pretending to be her friends while using her for their own purposes.

She hated them!

But when the person she considered her first and most precious friend said she had never once thought of her as a friend, the first thought that came to her mind was:

Even if she had lied all this time, she wished she wouldn’t have to say such things.

So, half pleading, Sylvia asked, “Is this a lie?”

“…”

“Please, tell me it’s a lie…”

However, Scarlet remained silent.

Realizing that Scarlet wasn’t lying, a single word slipped from Sylvia’s lips.

“…Why?”

That single word expressed all of Sylvia’s feelings.

What was the purpose of her approaching her, saying she wanted to be friends?

And if there was a purpose, why confess it now instead of keeping it hidden until it was achieved?

As if to answer Sylvia’s question, Scarlet muttered in a small voice.

“…I wanted to live. So…”

That brief answer struck Sylvia like a punch to the head.

Wanting to live, the primal desire that every person possesses.

She had come to her for that reason.

Sylvia recalled the words Luke had told her yesterday.

Scarlet had gone through unspeakably horrific experiments at the hands of Sator.

She probably burned down the lab and escaped because she didn’t want to die.

Finally able to live a normal life, she met the heir of the family that had tortured her on her first day at the academy.

What was going through Scarlet’s mind?

In a situation where she could possibly return to that terrible life again.

Maybe she thought that if she became friends with Sylvia, she wouldn’t have to go back?

If she approached her because she was the heir of Astra, then Sylvia would be of no value to her.

At that moment, Scarlet murmured again.

“…I’m sorry, Sylvia. I’m really sorry…”

Her voice was filled with regret and guilt.

She might have approached Sylvia for the same reasons as those people she despised.

But Sylvia felt no desire to blame her at all.

She just felt a pain in her heart.

Who could blame her?

She just wanted to live, and the guilt should lie with Sylvia, not her.

She was the cause of Scarlet’s suffering.

Yet, Scarlet continued to say she was sorry.

Just as Sylvia was about to tell her it was okay, she realized something was off with Scarlet.

Scarlet’s body, drenched in cold sweat, was struggling to breathe.

“Scarlet! Are you okay? Ugh…! Your body is like a furnace!”

Holding Scarlet’s hand, Sylvia was taken aback by the heat radiating from her.

Even though flame manipulators tend to have higher body temperatures, this was far from normal.

Frantically, she grabbed a towel from the bathroom, soaked it in cold water, and placed it on Scarlet’s forehead, but her fever showed no sign of diminishing.

Her heart raced like it was about to explode.

Three years at the longest.

Scarlet was a kind of patient given a terminal diagnosis.

And the phrase “at the longest” also meant that there was a risk she could die even sooner.

Trembling with sudden fear, Sylvia looked at Scarlet, who was gasping for breath.

No, I don’t like this idea of dying, absolutely not.

Desperately trying to think of a way to bring the fever down, Sylvia remembered there had been a pharmacy on her way here.

Couldn’t she bring down the fever with some medication?

“Just wait a bit! I’ll go get some fever-reducer!”

The moment she thought of it, her body was already moving.

Running out, she belatedly realized it was raining.

Soaking wet from the pouring rain, her clothes sticking to her body – her usual elegance was nowhere to be found, but that didn’t matter right now.

“Fever-reducer, please! Hurry!”

Startled by the sudden shout of a soaked customer bursting through the door, the pharmacist handed over the medicine, and Sylvia threw some cash from her wallet without counting, then grabbed the medicine.

“A check?! Excuse me! Miss, your change!”

“I don’t need it!”

The pharmacist gasped at the bizarrely high check amount for just one medicine, but Sylvia was already rushing out the door, medicine in hand.

Had she ever run this fast before? It felt like a desperate dash.

In no time, she was back at Scarlet’s house, opening the fridge to find some water to take with the medicine.

And she shouted, tears welling in her eyes, “What kind of house doesn’t have any water?!”

Leaving the fridge door open, she hastily filled a cup with tap water and handed it to Scarlet along with the medicine.

But Scarlet, still gasping for air, looked like she didn’t have the strength to take the medicine.

Thinking it might help a bit, Sylvia cast a calming spell.

A sphere of starlight rested on Scarlet’s forehead.

After a moment, her breathing seemed to stabilize slightly, as if her condition had improved.

“It’s fever-reducer, so please take it quickly.”

Scarlet struggled to swallow the medicine with the water.

Sylvia felt the heat radiating from Scarlet’s body gradually cool down.

It seemed they had passed the urgent stage.

With a sigh of relief, Sylvia approached to close the still-open fridge door.

But then, she caught sight of something inside she hadn’t noticed before in her haste.

The fridge was filled with ingredients like whipped cream, butter, and chocolate, which were a bit too fancy to be considered simple groceries.

The only things that could be deemed as actual food were a couple of eggs and some sprouts.

Closing the fridge door, Sylvia went into the bathroom to dry herself off with a towel when she sensed an uncomfortable feeling.

Then, realizing the source of her discomfort, she returned from the bathroom and opened the fridge door again.

As she inspected the contents one by one, it felt like it was hard to breathe.

Except for one thing, just a single sprout.

Everything else was for making macarons.

While staring into the fridge, she heard someone behind her stirring.

Sylvia quietly asked, “…Scarlet, do you just eat sprouts at home?”

From behind came the answer, “…Well, I like sprouts…”

Elves in stories don’t survive on just those greens.

Moreover, she knew better than anyone that Scarlet was a big eater.

She ate so much for lunch at the academy.

An old, narrow house.

Meager meals.

Yet, she was the one making macarons for her.

Even when it was hard to do so without one of her arms.

Scarlet had said she wanted to live, but if that were the only reason, she wouldn’t have had to go through so much trouble after already becoming friends with Sylvia.

It was both sad and happy.

Sylvia closed the fridge door and turned her body gently to look at Scarlet, who was now sitting up in bed, looking at her.

Usually, she maintained a near-expressionless face, but today, Sylvia felt like she was seeing many expressions that Scarlet rarely showed.

Expressions like the sad smile from earlier or the troubled look she was wearing now.

Sylvia murmured, recalling her memories with her.

“…When we first met, it was you who asked me to be your friend.”

From the very first day at school, when Scarlet had asked her to be friends, Sylvia had asked her to buy macarons from the store.

Back then, she had thought Scarlet was approaching her to use her, just like everyone else.

“…Every time you gave me macarons, you always said without any reason that it was just because we were friends.”

She must have known Sylvia was being sulky, yet she always presented her with macarons, saying it was because they were friends.

Sylvia thought there must have been some reason for her to approach her in that way.

“Do you remember when I said I never considered you a friend and that you didn’t need to buy me macarons anymore? So, you made them for me yourself, right?”

Yet she had been the one to hurt Scarlet first, but it didn’t faze her, and she reached out her hand to Sylvia again.

Thus, she thought Scarlet genuinely wanted to be her friend, as she had been consistent from the beginning.

That was when Sylvia had fully opened her heart to her.

Though she had a motive, she had put in so much effort to become friends with Sylvia.

But then, suddenly saying she only wanted to live, there could only be one reason for that.

“I thought you were unconscious yesterday, but you must have heard our conversation. Probably until then, you didn’t know.”

As she said that, she saw Scarlet’s eyes flutter slightly.

The real reason Scarlet confessed she had a motive was that she was kind.

Every time Sylvia thought about wanting to eat macarons, Scarlet noticed almost like a ghost and would give them to her.

Knowing that she was perceptive and kind-hearted, she must have realized how much it would hurt Sylvia if she were to die, and was trying to end their relationship to spare her that pain.

That’s right.

No matter who she was or why she approached Sylvia, it didn’t change the fact that she was that kind of person.

At the very least, Sylvia liked her for that.

She felt so frightened by the thought of Scarlet dying.

And she earnestly wished to remain her friend until the very end.

“You said earlier that you’ve never thought of me as a friend from the start, right? Then let me ask you one thing. Please answer honestly.”

So she didn’t want to give up.

“Then, have you never thought even once about wanting to be my friend?”

Scarlet’s head paused for a moment before it started to shake slightly.

Not up and down, but side to side.

That was enough.

“I also said the same thing last time, right? So it’s fine. Let’s start over. Let’s pretend today is the first day we met.”

Sylvia smiled as she held out the ring she had been cradling in her hands.

On the day they first met, the words she had spoken to her.

The day she had opened her heart to her, repeating the same words.

“Scarlet, will you be my friend?”

Then, Scarlet’s head slowly moved again.

Once more,
From side to side.

It was the expected answer.

“I’m sorry…”

Scarlet lowered her head like a sinner and said that.

What could she possibly be apologizing for?

Sylvia understood.

She knew that Scarlet had not yet opened her heart.

As she smiled, Sylvia placed the ring back into her pocket and said,

“Next time, instead of hearing an apology, I’ll hear a thanks, so be ready for that.”

After saying this, Sylvia left Scarlet’s house.

On her way back to the mansion with her umbrella, Sylvia stared quietly at the sky before closing it.

Raindrops trickled down her face.

As the cold rain flowed over her face, warmth seeped in.

What she had anticipated was one thing, but feeling regret was another.

However, Astra does not forget debts and grudges.

She had worked so hard to open her heart to Sylvia.

So, all Sylvia had to do was try even harder to open Scarlet’s heart.

In the pouring rain, the girl made her resolution.

Of course, after returning to the mansion, she received a thorough scolding from Sebastian.