I Don't Know The Playthroughs Of The Returned Villainesses - Chapter 27

“That’s quite a mess you’ve made.”

Moments later, Aslan emerged from the forest, strolling leisurely as he surveyed the scene.

“You seem… remarkably calm?”

I couldn’t help but question his nonchalant demeanor as he stood amidst the devastation, the forest reduced to nothing but tree stumps, a result of what Sephir called “training.”

‘Shouldn’t he be surprised to see a forest in this state?’

Instead of panicking, he was walking around with his hands clasped behind his back.

“Ahem.”

As if sensing my pointed stare, Aslan cleared his throat and offered a simple explanation.

“I’ve burned down quite a few forests myself.”

“What have you burned down?”

“Forests.”

“…Huh?”

“It reminds me of when I first gained my aura characteristic. I used to accidentally set the surrounding forests on fire quite often.”

As expected of a duke. Even his accidents were on a different scale.

I narrowed my eyes, giving him a pointed look.

“It wasn’t that much of a disaster. The few forests I burned down were nothing compared to the messes Gwen made.”

Seeing my look of disapproval, Aslan started making excuses, even bringing Gwen into it.

‘What kind of mess did Gwen make that even he, who burned down several forests, feels justified in using her as a comparison?’

In the original story, the only descriptions of Gwen’s past were her duels with Aslan, so the implication that there was more to her story piqued my interest.

‘I’ll ask Aslan about it later.’

Asking Gwen directly was too intimidating.

As Aslan and I continued our banter…

“Did you forget about me?”

Sephir, who had approached without a sound, suddenly stood beside me, tugging at my clothes to get my attention.

“Maybe?”

I replied jokingly.

I had slightly… very slightly, forgotten about her. How could I not be distracted after witnessing what looked like a single-handedly orchestrated deforestation project, completed in minutes by a woman smaller than myself? Forgetting about Sephir amidst the shock was only natural.

Anyway, it was a playful joke.

She smiled brightly and started pulling on my sleeve with increasing force, her cheeks puffed out like a hamster’s.

‘Aren’t you a wolf?’

It felt like a voice in my head was saying it didn’t matter whether she was a wolf or a hamster, as long as she was cute.

I finally gave in and bent down, following the pull of my sleeve.

Her soft voice whispered in my ear,

“Then, shall I make you remember?”

She spoke with a cheerful lilt, a bright smile on her face.

Yet, a chill ran down my spine, sending a cold sweat trickling down my back.

“No.”

Moments later, I understood the reason for my unease and wisely lowered my head.

“Tch.”

She pouted, sticking out her lower lip in a sulky expression.

What was with the “tch”? Put away the menacingly sharp daggers hidden behind your back first.

Perhaps my gaze was too obvious. Sensing that I was looking past her face, she quickly hid the daggers inside her clothes.

“…I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It definitely sounded like a threat.”

“No, it wasn’t!”

“…”

If she hadn’t been holding those daggers, I would have called her cute.

“Hmm…”

First, I needed to deal with Aslan, who seemed to be having some strange thoughts while watching Sephir and me.

“What are you staring at?”

“I’m wondering if Ninian and I looked like this to others.”

What insightful observation.

“Probably similar.”

“I see. I’ll have to be more careful in the future.”

“Why?”

“Because the woman glaring at me from beside you is the Empress of the Underworld…”

I turned to look at Sephir.

“What.”

“…”

I looked back at Aslan.

“She’s certainly lacking in gravitas, isn’t she?”

Even I had to admit, the current Sephir was quite different from the Sephir I remembered.

Aslan nodded slowly, closing his eyes as if agreeing with my assessment.

Sephir’s reaction to this scene:

“You bastards.”

Ah.

She was sulking.

*

Since we had only gone to the mountain after classes ended, it was already a star-studded night by the time we returned to the dormitory.

“Aslan, thank you for today.”

I bowed to Aslan before we parted ways at the back of the dormitory.

I wouldn’t have learned about the problem with my aura path or gained information about my time limit without him.

Aslan straightened me up and replied,

“Express your gratitude moderately. Constantly bowing like that diminishes the weight of your thanks in the future.”

He was advising me against my repeated, exaggerated displays of gratitude.

My response:

“That’s what Ninian meant when she told you to stop bowing so much.”

A bit of mirror therapy.

He froze, his hand still holding mine, then burst into laughter that echoed through the quiet night, loud enough to potentially wake the entire dormitory.

“HAHAHAHAHA!”

“Um, Aslan? It’s the middle of the night.”

I quickly grabbed his shoulders and tried to stifle his laughter.

‘That’s inconsiderate, Aslan. Most of the students are probably asleep!’

Of course, even if dozens of awakened students rushed out and confronted him, they would probably just end up groveling at his feet.

“Ah, my apologies.”

He seemed to regain his composure, stopping his laughter, which would have been considered hearty during the day but was now just noise pollution. He apologized.

“I always told others to express gratitude moderately, but seeing you demonstrate it so perfectly made me realize how frivolous I’ve been. I couldn’t stop laughing.”

He ran a hand through his hair.

“Well… we’re not adults yet.”

I smiled faintly, responding to his unintended self-deprecation.

“It’s fine to make mistakes. We can learn from them. We’re still students, after all.”

I shrugged, concluding my statement. Suddenly, a voice from beside me—

“…Pfft.”

Sephir, who hadn’t even looked at me since we descended the mountain, was now covering her mouth, trying to suppress her laughter.

“What.”

“Nothing… it’s just… so like you.”

She spoke with her head down, but the upturned corners of her mouth and the tremor in her voice were clearly audible.

“What do you mean ‘so like me’?”

“You know.”

I wasn’t sure what she meant, but judging by her amused reaction, it wasn’t a compliment.

“Aaron.”

“Yes.”

I turned to Aslan, who had called my name.

“What you just said… it sounded nice, but wasn’t it just a sugarcoated way of saying ‘we’re young and immature, so we’ll be more careful from now on’?”

“Ah.”

“Saying that to another duke with a smile on your face could be considered blasphemy.”

“I understand.”

I hadn’t considered that. I would be more careful next time.

“Well, it was somewhat comforting.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

If the person who heard it found it comforting, wasn’t that enough?

“Then, I’ll see you at the academy tomorrow.”

“Yes. See you tomorrow.”

I watched Aslan walk towards the dormitory entrance, then turned to Sephir, who was standing beside me.

“Aren’t you going in?”

“I’ll go in with you.”

“We’ll just end up parting ways at your door anyway.”

“Why would we? We can sleep in your room—”

“I’m uncomfortable when you’re there.”

Why wouldn’t she leave me alone?

Looking at Sephir like this reminded me of that character from the isekai gag manga, the blue-haired goddess who was a beauty as long as she kept her mouth shut and could only heal.

The way she was stubbornly refusing to leave, arguing with me, was similar to that character throwing a tantrum on the floor. Was it just my imagination?

“Sephir.”

I couldn’t handle any more of her antics, so I spoke firmly, putting an end to the discussion.

“Go in first. I have something to do.”

She finally seemed to get the hint.

“…Okay.”

Her voice lacked its usual energy, her ears and tail drooping as she walked towards the dormitory entrance.

“Sigh…”

Seeing her like that made me wonder what kind of relationship we had. If it was an act, then I had been fooled. And if it wasn’t… then I had been fooled in a different way.

“Still, I’m glad.”

That she wouldn’t see this.

[Fatigue has increased drastically.]

The warning had been ringing since Aslan channeled aura into me. It was probably due to the massive influx of aura into my damaged path.

On top of that, I hadn’t deactivated body reinforcement since I woke up in the infirmary. All because of Sephir.

I had managed to hold on until we descended the mountain, but now the pain was becoming unbearable. That was why I had sent Sephir away, even if it meant speaking harshly to her.

“Ugh!”

A groan escaped my tightly clenched jaw, the pain too intense to suppress.

I ran back towards the mountain, away from the dormitory, and began to deactivate body reinforcement.

The familiar sensation of my mana circulation slowing down. Like the sudden emptiness after turning off a fan that had been running for hours on a hot summer day, the feeling against my skin changed the moment I deactivated body reinforcement.

“Cough!”

A wave of exhaustion, accompanied by a mouthful of blood, washed over me. My arms and legs twisted involuntarily, as if seized by cramps. Blood flowed up my throat, and I coughed and sputtered, spitting it out.

“Ugh…!”

I coughed up so much blood that I wondered how I was still alive, creating a small puddle at my feet. Fortunately, it quickly seeped into the soil, easily concealed with a bit of dirt.

“Gasp… Gasp…”

The accumulated fatigue finally began to subside, and the flow of blood slowed to a trickle of saliva.

“That was close.”

I was truly grateful.

If Sephir had seen me like this…

“She would have been a little disgusted, wouldn’t she?”

My pained expression gradually softened into a smile.

“Disgusted by a woman I’ve known for less than a week.”

I chuckled to myself.

“I’ve become quite meddlesome, haven’t I?”

Like the broken hand of a clock, twitching and struggling to move, yet forever stuck at the same time.

I could only laugh, broken.

*

“This is why I didn’t want to go in.”

From atop a distant giant tree, Sephir watched Aaron, his back against a tree, catching his breath, his eyes hollow as he stared at the night sky.

She sat on a branch, her knees pulled up to her chest, her head buried between them.

“I already know…”

He was an idiot. He always told others to lean on him, yet he leaned on no one himself. He foolishly tried to hide his pain.

When she finally learned about his condition…

“I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you’d worry.”

He had even tried to shield her from the burden of his suffering.

“Can’t you… lean on me, just this once…?”

She had wished he would lean on her. Just as she had found strength by leaning on him, she had hoped he would find support in her.

But he didn’t.

He didn’t lean on anyone. He stood up on his own.

And he would continue to do so.

Until he couldn’t stand anymore.

“…Idiot.”