OHNIR – Chapter 14
Chapter 14: The Poisonous Snake
Now that the tool man had been chosen, it was time to arrange the mission.
During a boring history class, Kelusta, for once, wasn’t sleeping. Instead, she leaned back in her seat, spinning the quill between her fingertips at high speed, staring blankly at a point in the empty space before her.
Kevit gave her a few strange looks, but the history classroom was incredibly large, with enough distance between the students’ seats to fit a small river, so he couldn’t find an opportunity to ask her why she was so awake today—
No, that wasn’t right. Looking at her, she wasn’t that awake either. She was probably just forcing her eyes open because she simply couldn’t fall asleep.
Kevit sighed, turned back, and propped his head up with one arm, drowsily continuing to listen to the boring and lengthy history lesson.
Kelusta was actually busy with important matters.
She was looking through the original plotlines, trying to deduce from the timeline what exactly the 【Noble’s Invitation】 was all about.
This plot point had never appeared in any of the capture routes, so her search was particularly arduous. It wasn’t until she had listed more than a dozen lines of information that had been glossed over in the plot that she vaguely glimpsed a clue.
In Satrick’s route, because the male lead had taken an interest in her magical power, he would deliberately seek her out every day to increase her favorability. However, in the eyes of the other noble young ladies who admired the prince, this behavior was undoubtedly their dream man lowering his own status. Because of this, Kelusta found herself being given a hard time more and more often, until one day in class, a noble girl skilled in fire magic used the excuse of a “practice mistake” to singe her sleeve with a burning candle. It was then that Kelusta launched her first counterattack.
In the past, those nobles wouldn’t use such direct methods when bullying commoners. The Holy Light Magic Academy had rules: students using magic for private fights would be severely punished. If caught using a magical attack on a classmate, even a very prestigious noble would be made to suffer greatly.
But this girl, perhaps because she had heard too many rumors about Satrick and Kelusta, was overcome with rage and resorted to such a reckless method to try and harm the latter.
Danger and opportunity were two sides of the same coin. The girl’s viciousness also gave Kelusta an opportunity. The latter pretended to be startled by the flames on her sleeve, conveniently pulling over a large bottle of ink from the teacher’s desk to extinguish the fire. But just after dousing the flames and blackening her own sleeve, with a flick of her fingertips, she viciously splashed the ink all over the noble girl’s face.
Amidst the other girl’s miserable screams, the magic teacher who had witnessed everything only punished Kelusta by making her clean the ink-stained carpet and desk after class. The matter was then dropped.
As for that girl, not only was she greatly humiliated, but it seemed she was also severely punished by her father after returning home.
But if it were just such a cliché yet satisfying scene of comeuppance, it wouldn’t have caught the attention of Kelusta, who was searching for clues. What truly made her stop spinning her quill and start taking notes was an abrupt sentence from that girl.
She said, “A mere commoner who isn’t even qualified to attend the tea party thinks she’s worthy of His Highness the Prince’s favor?”
Kelusta narrowed her eyes. The tip of her quill slid across the parchment, writing down the words “tea party” and circling them.
In Musen’s route, before she saved the small, thin demon boy from being bullied by several noble male students, she overheard them discussing, “Just thinking that such an unclean thing exists in our school makes even the exquisite and delicious pastries at the tea party taste like wax to me.”
This was just an insult, but they mentioned the pastries at the tea party in a tone that was both expectant and somewhat proud.
And in Kevit’s route, there were also clues to be found.
One weekend, when Kelusta wanted to find her childhood friend for dinner as usual, she waited at the bottom of the tower until sunset but saw no sign of him. Just as she was anxiously about to go looking for Kevit, she unexpectedly ran into the boy from Seaside Town at the main gate, dressed in gorgeous formal wear and walking slowly toward her, his face etched with exhaustion.
The formal attire was well-tailored, made of expensive material, and even its adornments were of considerable value—definitely not something a commoner like Kevit should possess.
However, despite such an obvious point of suspicion, when Kelusta asked, Kevit irritably refused to talk to her and, for the first time, warned her in a harsh tone: “This is not a domain you should meddle in, Kelusta Breviou—you should learn to shut your mouth like a quiet canary, and squat back down in that nest made of withered branches. Stop prying into matters that are clearly none of your business!”
This was the first time since she could remember that Kevit hadn’t called her “Ruth,” but had used her full name instead.
Although he came to apologize to her the next day for his overly harsh tone, this rebuke still became one of the most hurtful incidents for Kelusta in the childhood friend route.
The quill drew a horizontal line on the brownish parchment. The brown-haired girl’s fair fingertips moved slightly, writing two words on it.
“Formal wear” and “withered branches.”
The formal wear represented that Kevit had attended a banquet hosted by nobles, while “withered branches” referred to Kelusta’s commoner status. This incident implied that Kevit had already made contact with Starangui by this point and, through her, had successfully attended a secret gathering that only nobles were qualified to join.
In Wend’s route, because Kelusta had not yet encountered danger with the male lead in the forest at this point, there were almost no clues to be found. The only hint was a discussion she once overheard between two noble girls in the library after class, who were likely returning books after finishing their homework.
“I wonder if we’ll be able to see that esteemed—Second Young Master of the Silentdis family at the tea party. Speaking of which, he’s about the age to be engaged, isn’t he?”
One fantasized with a budding heart, but the other poured cold water on her: “In previous years, only Lady Gloria has graced the tea party with her presence; Young Master Wend never attends. Besides, Lina, don’t blame me for being blunt—with your family background, you want to climb up to the esteemed Silentdis family? Families like ours, viscount families, should just pick someone suitable from among the minor nobility to marry. Stop daydreaming here.”
The Kelusta of the original world, separated by a bookshelf, only heard these two snippets of conversation, but the name “Wend” left an impression on her heart for the first time.
At this moment, however, Wend didn’t cause the slightest ripple in the heart of the girl spinning her quill. She thought for a moment, then wrote “Gloria” on her notebook, stroke by stroke, adding a small note after the name: “graces with presence.”
…
Kelusta set down her quill, which made a soft tap on the desk.
After organizing these clues, she could basically conclude that the 【Noble’s Invitation】 referred to this tea party.
Point one: Attendees of the tea party must be nobles, or have received an invitation from a noble;
Point two: Attendees must possess a proper and sufficiently gorgeous set of formal wear;
Point three: Based on Kevit’s behavior upon returning from the tea party, it could be almost certainly determined that even invited commoners would not receive good treatment.
Among these three known pieces of information, setting aside the third point which she would only need to consider after confirming she could attend, the first two hard requirements alone were enough to make her frown.
“System,” Kelusta asked in distress, casually drawing a sloppy shell pattern in a blank space on the parchment, “if I take the initiative and ask Gloria for an invitation… will my favorability be deducted?”
The system was silent for a moment, then replied helplessly: “I’m very sorry, temporary host, I cannot calculate an accurate result.”
This was the answer Kelusta had expected, but looking at the progress of all her character relationships, the only one who could help her in this matter, besides Gloria, was probably Satrick.
Although she knew that if she asked the Prince of Nobili to attend the tea party, he most likely wouldn’t refuse, Kelusta had absolutely no desire to experience Gloria’s cold shoulder again.
Using disgraceful tactics like crying and making a scene was something you only needed to do once in a lifetime.
Kelusta lowered her eyes and picked up her quill again. The white feathered end lightly brushed against the cursive “Gloria” on the parchment. After doing this several times, she finally sighed helplessly.
There was no other way. She’d have to ask about it indirectly first. Since Kevit was able to be brought in by Starangui back then, given her current good relationship with Gloria, it probably wouldn’t be a big problem…
Probably.
Having decided to approach Gloria, Kelusta acted with impressive efficiency. That evening, she staked out the garden below the academic building and successfully waited for the duke’s daughter, who was walking into the cloister holding a book.
Unexpectedly, this time, Gloria, who was always alone, had someone else with her.
The moment she saw that person, Kelusta’s raised hand froze in mid-air. Her pupils constricted slightly due to the sudden shift in emotion. She drew in a sharp breath, quickly lowered her arm, and cast her eyes down, her long, light-brown eyelashes completely concealing her gaze.
But her movement was too late. The two women walking side-by-side had both noticed her. The blonde woman next to Gloria raised a slender eyebrow, her deep purple eyes staring straight through the concealing green leaves of the garden at the plainly dressed girl with her head bowed. Her expression held a hint of surprise, but more than that, a chilling sense of scrutiny.
Gloria glanced at her imperceptibly, then shifted her body slightly. It wasn’t much, but her slender and tall figure was just enough to completely block the purple-eyed woman’s gaze.
She curtsied and said lightly, “Your Highness, please forgive me for taking my leave.”
The blonde, purple-eyed girl fixed her gaze on Gloria, composed her expression, and revealed a sweet smile. She asked in a soft voice, “That young lady… did she come specifically to find you, Lady Gloria?”
After speaking, without waiting for Gloria’s reply, she moved a little closer, her nose less than two inches from the other’s. She seemed very satisfied with this distance. Her deep eyes blinked once, and she continued speaking as if to herself.
“What a lovely commoner miss. Lady Gloria… I heard before that a little girl in the first year had quite captured your favor, enough to make the great lady of the Silentdis family personally cancel her punishment for returning late after curfew—I originally thought it was just a distorted rumor, but today… hmm, could it be this one, waiting for you in the garden?”
Gloria smoothed the hem of her skirt, which had been slightly wrinkled from her curtsy, and didn’t reply directly, only saying lightly, “The Second Princess has always been occupied with a myriad of state affairs. To think you now have the time to show concern for a subordinate like myself truly brings great honor to the Silentdis family.”
Kelusta stood in the distance, taking a long time to calm her state of mind before finally managing to suppress the hatred that was involuntarily pouring from her eyes.
Blonde hair and purple eyes, a beautiful face with a slight resemblance to Satrick. She clearly possessed a sharp beauty, yet always put on a gentle and soft demeanor, creating the illusion of being harmless…
She was Satrick’s half-sister, the Second Princess of the Nobili Kingdom, the villain who operated in the open in Oceanum, Starangui Nobili.
—And the poisonous snake who led the iron cavalry to sweep her homeland into ruins.
Compared to the true mastermind, Gloria, the person Kelusta hated more was actually Starangui.
Initially, when the system took up residence in the heroine’s consciousness, there were many parts of the plot data it transmitted to Kelusta—that is, the dreams she had—that she had actually misunderstood due to the fragmented, pieced-together images.
It wasn’t until she reviewed the world lines again that she discovered Gloria only wanted to seize the Holy Force Source; she had no strong desire to destroy Seaside Town. In Wend’s route, she made her first direct appearance as a villain, and although Seaside Town was also tragically destroyed, the root cause of the destruction was a tsunami triggered by the Magic Fluctuation between her, Kelusta herself, and Wend.
In the other ending routes, the destruction of Seaside Town was always because Starangui’s own magic was not powerful enough to extract it directly, so she drew a magic circle to forcibly extract the Holy Force Source from underground by sacrificing the townspeople.
But if Gloria had done it herself, it wouldn’t have needed to be so cruel—she possessed dark magic supplied by Persedoro, comparable to that of a god, and would have had no need for a sacrificial magic circle classified as a forbidden art.
It was precisely because of this, coupled with a vague sense of familiarity and the drive of her mission, that Kelusta was able to so quickly set aside her reservations and begin earnestly trying to raise Gloria’s favorability.
But Starangui was different. Kelusta could never forget how in her dream, this Second Princess, who appeared so gentle in public, could watch the crying and struggling people of Seaside Town in the magic circle with her deep purple eyes, her lips actually curving into a pleased smile.
She was a madwoman, and an out-and-out poisonous snake.
And now, beneath the cloister, Starangui concealed that snake-like, cold, and dark gaze in front of Gloria. Like a truly gentle young girl, she softened her voice and, with a somewhat fawning tone, tried to persuade her, “Lady Gloria, you know, I just don’t want you to be deceived by a villain with ulterior motives—”
Before she could finish, Gloria interrupted her with another curtsy. Her farewell was flawless, every word filled with a respect that was completely at odds with her tone: “Please forgive my impoliteness, Your Highness. I will take my leave now. I will be sure to apologize to you in person next time.”
With that, the silver-haired girl turned away crisply. Her long hair traced an arc in the air like flowing water, or like the softest swan feather slipping unhesitatingly through the gaps between one’s fingers when the breeze blows.
Starangui watched her departing back and bit her lip. A black mist rose in her deep purple eyes, like a ferocious snake baring its fangs as its body writhed.
A long while later, after Gloria had finally walked over to Kelusta and gently patted the commoner girl’s hair, the second heir to the Nobili royal family instantly concealed the look in her eyes. Just as always, when Kelusta looked over, she offered her a smile.
Then, she turned and left, the smile on her face unchanging. At first glance, it was still soft and sweet, but upon closer inspection, amidst the shadows cast by the cloister—
it revealed a sinister and terrifying quality.
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