When I arrived at the rooftop after a while, I finally knew why I was climbing up so smoothly. I couldnât see it before on the ground, but it seems that Emily was pulling the rope.
I thought she just tied the rope to a pillar or column of some sortâŚ
âEmily, youâre really strong!â
âItâs the food okay, the food.â
Iâd rather not be doing these kinds of things ever again, but if ever something happens again, Iâm going to make sure that Emily eats a lot first in case we need her brute strength again.
Afterwards, Emily and I went down and found a door leading inside the building.
Unlike the student dormitory where the rooms were marked with numbers, the professorâs rooms were marked with their names respectively.
Thanks to that, we easily found Professor Bentleyâs room.
âEmily, what else did Violet and Natalie give you?â
âA candle, one little skewerâŚâ
âTake out that one.â
I thought Emily wouldnât come in with any preparation. Thatâs why I am thanking Natalie and Violet with all my heart and soul.
I think this skewer is from the cafeteria, the one we used when Emily and I were doing sword fights.
I didnât expect it to be used this way.
Though Iâm glad that I could use this instead of a wire.
The skewer might be thicker than a wire, but it can still fit into a keyhole. But since Iâve never picked a lock on another personâs door ever, I grunted without any knowledge on how to do so.
âMarilyn.â
âWait a minute, Emily. I need to focus nowâŚâ
âNo, I can hear footsteps.â
Only then could I hear footsteps in my ear. It was also quite close.
âHurry!â
âIâm also in a hurry!â
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Ahhh! Itâs getting closer and closer!
âWhere can we hide right nowâŚ?!â
Clack.
ââŚâŚâ
ââŚâŚâ
When I pulled my hand out to run away, the lock suddenly clicked.
After exchanging eyes for a moment, Emily and I hurriedly opened the door and went inside before the owner of those footsteps emerged.
Slam!
I closed the door hard because I was in a hurry.
âOh my, Professor Bentley. Are you in there?â
The literature professor knocked into Professor Bentleyâs room to see if he already came home.
Inside, Emily and I swallowed our saliva as we grabbed the doorknob hard. Even though we closed the door immediately, we were still anxious.
âProfessor Bentley? I thought I heard the door close thoughâŚâ
Fortunately, the professor soon gave up and left.
âPhewââ
âWe are already having difficulties right nowâŚâ
As soon as the literature professor left, Emily and I leaned against the door and sighed in relief.
âMarilyn, I canât see anything. Can we turn on the lights?â
âNo, what if we get caught? The security guard knows that Professor Bentley hasnât entered yet.â
âBut itâs too darkâŚâ
âJust hang in there for a little while, Emily.â
Thanks to the moonlight coming through the big window, we were able to get used to the darkness to a certain extent, and even though it wasnât that bright because the curtains were closed, it was better than nothing.
âStudents who pay the tuition are only given a small room, while the professors live in some kind of a fancy apartment.â
âWhatâs an apartment?â
âItâs a building where thereâs a lot of big and well-furnished rooms like this.â
I thought it was just a bit spacious, but itâs really like a big apartment house.
âCan we just light a candle?â
Unlike the living room, the room was too dark. We couldnât see what was ahead of us, so whatever we wanted to find, we couldnât find it.
Thus, Emily and I were forced to light some candles in order to search every nook and cranny of this room.
There were about three rooms except for the bathroom, but none of these rooms were unexpectedly suspicious.
We even searched the desk, but it was the same.
Iâm sure thereâs still something hereâŚ
âMarilyn! Come here, quick!â
At that moment, Emily urgently called for me, and I immediately headed to the room where she was.
âWhatâs wrong?!â
âThereâs another room behind the closet.â
âWhat did you find in here?â
Instead of responding, Emily opened one of the three closets in this room.
ââŚWhat is this?â
It was not a closet at all but a door disguised as one leading to another room.
âLetâs go inside.â
Emily and I took one step at a time as we put out the burnt candle and lit a new one.
We went inside with caution.
ââŚOh my goodness.â
We were shocked to see the walls beyond the closet door filled with paintings of someone.
âIf what Iâm seeing isnât wrong, those paintings on the wall. Itâs Lariensa, right?â
âI donât think youâre wrong, Emily. Iâm also seeing the same thing as you are seeing right now.â
We then searched the desk.
âIsnât this Lariensaâs hair tie?â
âHer ribbonâs also here.â
âArenât these Lariensiaâs items? Trivial things, in fact. No one would notice if these things go missing.â
âThatâs why I didnât notice that Lara had lost her stuff even though weâre in the same room.â
âAh, thereâs a diary in here, too!â
As Emily said, there were three thick diaries found inside the desk drawer. We picked any of the three and opened it.
ăYear XXX, Month XX Day X
I had found my destiny at first sight at the entrance ceremony among the new students. Isabella Ronis. Ahhh, her name is as beautiful as she isâŚ! Alas, her brilliant blond hair reminded me of my first love. Maybe she will become my last love. You donât know how lucky I am to have the ability to recognize our fate at first sight, Isabella.ă
T-this dirty littleâŚ!
âYou ****** bastard, I will **** the **** out of you! Then Iâll *****â your **** until youâll be barren for life, you ****!!!â
ââŚEmily, calm down.â
âThis ****ââ
I was also angry that I was about to curse but I was able to calm down after hearing Emilyâs swearing, which was both acrimonious and terrifying.
The remaining two diaries were the resentment and memories of his first love, and one whom he has just recently begun which contains his story about Lariensa.
âLetâs take these.â
Emily then put the diaries in her bag. Now that the evidence was somewhat secured, I led Emily to the living room.
âWe have to hurry. Professor Bentley will arrive soonâŚâ
Click.
Someone is opening the door with a key.
We had to rush out now.
ďź ďź ďź
âThe chair where she satâŚâ
Bentley sat down in the chair where Lariensa sat earlier.
âThe desk where she puts her booksâŚâ
Lariensa sat here, made eye contact with him, and listened to him.
âLariensa must have also felt the same way. She must have been so kind and gentle that she was concerned about the dangers of what we were doing despite her friendsâ threats thatâs why she was trying not to get close to me so that they wonât notice.â
âMarilyn Launer, if only that Ginger is goneâŚâ
Bentley, who clenched his teeth, approached the window and looked at the night sky, which resembled Lariensa.
Then he happened to see something from a distance.
From the windows in the faculty room, he couldnât see the professorâs dormitory, but not in this classroom.
There, Bentley sawâŚ
Orange lights peeking through the windows of his house.
Although the curtains were closed, it was still clearly visible from afar.
âThere are intruders in my house.â
Surely, anyone would be afraid if your house was intruded. However, Bentley had his own reason to be deathly afraid of any attempts of people breaking into his room.
Because that was his only place where he could openly express his feelings for her.
Thus, Bentley ran out of the classroom at a faster pace than ever.
ďź ďź ďź
âQuick, hide!â
Emily and I hid in different places.
I hid under the kitchen table, while Emily hid behind a pile of flowerpots near the door.
Not long after the door opened.
Tap. Tap.
A steady gait drew the curtains off the window across the door.
The footsteps once again came close and opened another door with a bang.
âItâs alright.â
As expected, it was Professor Bentley.
âI know youâre in there, so you donât have to hide.â
What do you mean itâs alright? Itâs not alright at all.
He already looks like heâs half-dead.
âYou still wanna live, right? Why donât you guys come out first and then letâs talk, hmm?â
Under the table, I could see his feet slowly coming towards the kitchen.
I know I shouldnât make a sound, but I kept breathing hard.
I think Iâm going to hiccupâŚ
Growlâ
Huh? Iâm not hungry thoughâŚ
âAha, did you hide behind the flowerpot?â
E-emily! So you were hungry huh?!
It was a physiological phenomenon, so I couldnât blame her.
Suddenly, I heard a rustle.
I lowered my head to get a better picture of the situation.
Emily, who was hiding behind the pots before, had volunteered to come out. She already has been caught anywayâŚ
But whatâs that thing on her head?
âLooking at your clothes, I think youâre a student. How about taking that thing off of your head first?
ââŚâŚâ
âItâs alright, I wonât scold you.â
Emily wore a vase that looked a little heavy on her head. Her hair color wasnât as noticeable as Lariensa and I, so if her face was covered like that, one wouldnât know who she wasâŚ
âLetâs put down that weapon in your hand first, okay?â
The weapon that Bentley was talking about was a small pot that Emily had in her hand.
Emily, youâre not trying to hit him with that, are you?
Oh, no. I have to stop her. If something goes wrong and Professor Bentley gets hit with that, itâs Emily whoâs gonna be in trouble later!
I heard the prison in the kingdom doesnât even give food properly to the prisoners.
I frantically looked around. Just in the corner, there was a large paper bag that Professor Bentley had brought containing food bought outside.
âDid you see the back of my closet?â
ââŚâŚâ
ââŚSo you saw it, huh.â
Professor Bentleyâs face grew more and more violent.
Aish, I donât care anymore!
With a paper bag on my head, I ran straight towards Professor Bentley. Even though my eyesight was obscured, I located him with my senses.
âThese brats!â
But I was immediately overpowered by Professor Bentley.
âDo you want this Professor to see your face, huh?!â
I could hear the paper bag I was wearing flapping. However, my face hasnât been revealed yet.
Then I heard something breaking.
âEââŚ!â
I was about to call her name reflexively, but I hurriedly closed my mouth. Emily seemed to have struck Bentley with a flowerpot. Afterwards, I smelled blood and heard a groan on the floor.
âAhâŚ!â
I then held her hand. Emily was able to quickly identify who I was. So we ran down the hall as we covered our faces, and sometimes, we would hit a wall along the way.
It was when Emily and I went up to the stairs that we threw off the flowerpot and paper bag we had on our heads.
âHuff, huffâŚ!â
âYou think heâs still following us?â
âI donât knowâŚâ
However, as soon as we stopped to take a breath by the stairs, we heard a thud and someone staggering along from where we were before.
Tsk! That damn Bentley!
âDonât stop, keep running!â
Without a moment to catch our breath, we ran up the stairs again. Even though we couldnât see him, we could still hear him following us.
âHurry, hurry!â
Emily, who went up first, opened the old rooftop door.
âFaster!â
Emily reached out her hand to me after I went up a couple of steps. When I held her hand, I felt a pull almost lifting me up.
Thud!
As soon as we passed through the door, Emily immediately closed it and blocked the door with a flowerpot and a chair.
But not long after, we heard a loud barrage of banging on the door.