Chapter 376
He did not merely record the fact that Erietta was daydreaming.
He documented the duration of her reverie, the pattern of her vacant gaze out the window, her unresponsiveness to the surrounding environment, and the overall impression of calmness that radiated from her.
"Ilux's impression of Erietta in the past was, in fact, very bad."
After approximately six thousand words had been manifested by Theo into ink forming each sentence inside the small yellow book, something strange occurred without his awareness.
His intense concentration on analysis and documentation blurred the boundary between inner thought and outward speech.
His mouth, which should have remained tightly sealed in the role of the cold Chairman, suddenly opened.
A voice emerged—not soft enough to be a whisper, yet not loud enough to draw the attention of the entire cabin.
The voice stated a conclusion he had drawn from his observations and perhaps prior data, that the closeness between Erietta and Ilux was not merely ordinary attraction.
Furthermore, Theo, still not fully aware that he was speaking aloud—and with Aldraya in disguise as the only nearby listener—continued.
His tone may have been flat, as though reading a report, yet its contents revealed a dark past.
He informed, or rather presented, that Erietta and Ilux had once been children of the same orphanage.
They had known each other and even lived together.
However, unfortunately, Ilux's impression of Erietta at that time had been very poor.
Ilux, with all his limitations that Theo described specifically—such as occasional shortness of breath due to asthma, a body that easily collapsed, and his inability to run even fifty meters—had instead become the target of Erietta's bullying.
Ironically, Erietta at that time was described as the most cheerful child in the orphanage.
Theo then detailed a cruel incident.
Once, Ilux had been deceived by Erietta, causing him to fall into a pool half a meter deep.
As Ilux, unable to swim, struggled and pleaded for help from Erietta who stood at the edge of the pool, she merely laughed mischievously.
She toyed with Ilux's fear, pretending she would help but deliberately delaying, at least until several critical seconds had passed before finally extending her hand in earnest.
There was another incident Theo recounted.
Ilux, who had been climbing a tree using a ladder, suddenly found himself stranded atop a tall branch.
The reason was that Erietta, in her mischief, had moved the ladder at her own whim.
When Ilux cursed and begged from above, Erietta made excuses and once again laughed while watching his escalating fear.
Ilux was finally rescued about three hours later, crying heavily from trauma and terror.
Most painfully, Erietta received no punishment whatsoever for her actions.
The justification Theo cited at the time was that Erietta was a girl, and coincidentally the ladder she had moved was also being used by a barber inside the orphanage, as though this provided her with a technical excuse to absolve herself.
"Little Ilux grew up without the confidence to approach anyone other than the orphanage caretakers."
Because such painful incidents repeated endlessly—and most severely, without even the slightest remorse from Erietta—Ilux's childhood became an unceasing torment.
Each day was a fear of a new incident, a small hell constructed by a girl who should have been a playmate.
As a result, young Ilux lost the confidence to approach anyone in the orphanage except the caretakers, who perhaps gave him minimal safety.
He became a solitary child, always vigilant, perhaps harboring deep emotional wounds.
Meanwhile, Erietta, after losing her primary "source of amusement" because Ilux actively avoided all contact, lived her days in boredom that may have driven her to seek other forms of entertainment—or perhaps gradually forget her past mischief as time passed.
Hearing all of Theo's statements that slipped out unintentionally—a stream of analytical monologue that should have remained internal—Aldraya chose not to react.
She remained silent, allowing Theo's words to hang in the air between them.
There was no nod, no blink indicating understanding, nor any expression of disgust or judgment toward Erietta's past.
Aldraya was a cold stone.
Her gaze, which had briefly shifted to observe Theo's face as he wrote while unknowingly speaking, now returned with full intensity to Erietta.
The stare grew deeper, as if she were attempting to project that cruel childhood narrative onto the face of the green-haired girl lost in thought, searching for remnants of that tormenting trait behind her present calmness and resignation—or perhaps seeking a crack of vulnerability born from delayed guilt.
'She is strange, but very strong. And because of her, my Gloom Realm is no longer merely raw talent.'
Once again, the focus returned to Erietta and her state of being frozen in reverie upon her luxurious seat.
The fast-moving world beyond the window and the announcements within the cabin seemed only a faint backdrop.
Erietta's mind drifted far away, leaving behind the physical pressure of tight escort and moving toward a more recent memory that perhaps granted her a sense of belonging or strength amid her current helplessness.
In the depths of her heart, Erietta murmured, reopening a page of memory not long past.
She recalled an achievement, a bright point amid her academic life that might have been filled with surveillance and pressure.
She told herself that she had not only succeeded in finding a teacher, but a special one.
This teacher had managed to unlock the hidden potential within her, potential connected to something called the Gloom Realm.
More than merely unlocking it, the teacher could easily develop that dark potential, as though he understood every corner and crevice of that power better than Erietta herself.
The memory carried mixed feelings—perhaps pride in her rapid progress, yet also slight bewilderment or even concern at the ease granted by her teacher.
Yes, that teacher was a depraved nineteen-year-old samurai named Theo Vkytor.
Another name once attached to him was Eshura Birtash, an identity perhaps more widely known in certain circles.
Erietta admitted in her murmur that she did not fully understand the reason behind the name change, or why Theo refused to be called by his former name.
Yet amid all the confusion and mystery surrounding her teacher, Erietta chose not to think too deeply about it.
'The bond that had just been built was suddenly severed.'
Afterward, within the current of her contemplation, Erietta shifted topics.
Her thoughts moved from her teacher and her power to a more personal and recent relationship that had ended.
She conveyed inwardly, in a tone perhaps flat or tinged with regret, that her closeness with Ilux had ended a few days ago.
This admission was not merely a statement, but an acknowledgment of a chapter closed in bitterness.
Of course, the end of that relationship was not without cause.
Erietta remembered the specific moment that triggered it.
She and Ilux had been walking—perhaps within the academy grounds—hand in hand.
In that intimacy, without intending to, Erietta revealed the bracelet she had worn since childhood.
To be continued…