OHNIR – Chapter 22
Chapter 22: Painstaking Effort
“…”
Kelusta surveyed the absurdly large “dorm room” once more and asked cautiously, “Won’t I be bothering you too much, Senior?”
“How could you be?” Gloria blinked, dismissing the notion with a smile. “I’m certain the first-year tower administrator won’t give you any trouble for not returning for one night… Just rest here peacefully—you shouldn’t have any classes tomorrow morning.”
It was true she had no classes on Monday morning, but Kelusta was too preoccupied to wonder how Gloria knew her schedule so intimately. She was busy trying to be subtle as her eyes darted around, taking in the entire room again. After a long moment, her gaze settled on Gloria, and she asked, a little tensely, “So… I’ll stay in the guest room?”
She had just looked around. Besides Gloria’s bedroom, there were at least two other rooms that could be guest rooms!
How could it be this big!
…But this was good. If she could stay in a guest room, she probably wouldn’t lose her composure completely. Just imagining herself sharing a bed with Gloria had been enough to make her feel her cheeks rapidly heat up.
Silky, silver-white hair spread across the silk-like sheets, a feather-light duvet resting on her chest. Those usually gentle eyes would be closed, their light-colored lashes casting faint shadows on that flawless, exquisite face. Gloria’s well-defined fingers would be interlaced, wrinkling the quilt between them. Following that line down, one could easily trace the outline of her slender waist and perfect figure…
System: “I have noted that you appear to be on the verge of drooling, Temporary Host.”
Kelusta: “Ahhh, stop talking!”
How could she be so embarrassing!
So, to avoid her image shattering in a single night… it was better for her to sleep in a guest room.
Ignoring the faint sense of disappointment and unwillingness in her heart, Kelusta looked up at Gloria, her golden eyes shimmering like a sunlit surface of water, refracting the light.
The duke’s daughter, sitting primly across from her, had taken in every bit of Kelusta’s astonishment, dissatisfaction, and indecision. A ripple of amusement surfaced in her deep, sea-blue eyes. She glanced at Kelusta’s unconsciously wringing fingers, deliberately adopted a more serious, troubled expression, and said apologetically, “I don’t have a guest room here.”
“Huh?” Kelusta blurted out, stunned. “But you have three rooms here, Senior!”
Gloria replied gracefully, “Oh, those… one is my bedroom, one is my study, and the other—”
She paused. Under the girl’s suspicious gaze, she lowered her eyes slightly to hide her emotions and continued calmly, “That is my younger brother, Wend’s, room.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Kelusta pouted, disbelief written all over her face. She argued righteously, “Even if I’m hopelessly uninformed, I know the duke’s son is a first-year student this year. According to school rules, he should be living in the first-year tower!”
Kelusta wore the air of a master detective who had just solved a case, puffing out her cheeks unhappily and giving Gloria a tiny eye-roll.
Her vivid expression successfully made Gloria laugh. The latter covered her lips with her fingertips while using her other hand to pick up a cup from the table. After taking a sip of the slightly cooled black tea, she frowned faintly, placed the no-longer-perfect cup back on the table, and then coolly responded to Detective Kelusta’s deduction.
“Do you know who Wend is?”
“The son of Duke Silentdis, the future heir to the title, and your biological brother,” Kelusta recited obediently. To avoid trouble, even the most ignorant commoner could recite the personal details of highly renowned nobles like Wend and Gloria.
But this time, after she finished speaking, she came to an abrupt halt.
Under Gloria’s smiling gaze, the plainly dressed commoner girl slowly turned her head, once again surveying the understated yet luxurious suite. As if realizing something, she met the other’s eyes and wilted like a radish. “…So, that’s why he doesn’t live in the tower with the other first-year students?”
“Obviously,” Gloria said with a smile. “He’ll be back in a little while. If you find him troublesome, you can just ignore him.”
With that, she stood up and pointed to a wooden door with exquisite carvings. “That’s my bedroom,” she said thoughtfully. “You must be exhausted today. Rest for a bit, then take a bath, and we can go to bed early.”
We… can go to bed early…
Kelusta felt like her entire being was turning yellow with indecent thoughts.
How could she say something so strange so naturally!
As Gloria carried the two teacups toward the kitchen, Kelusta’s mood was first balanced by the bizarre thought that “even people who live in mansions have to do their own chores,” but then she grew restless again.
After a long while, defeated by the dust and faint smell of soot on her clothes, she wondered why Gloria was taking so long to wash the cups. Hesitantly, she stood up and walked to the door Gloria had pointed out earlier. After a lengthy internal struggle, she finally pushed it open and went inside.
A faint fragrance filled the room. A four-poster bed with deep blue silk sheets was veiled by layers of curtains. The setup here was much more normal; aside from the bed being far larger than her own, the layout was no different from her own small dorm room.
…“Small” dorm room.
This bed was half the size of her entire room!
As Kelusta, having been dealt successive blows by power and materialism, decided to clear her head with a stream of water, she was unaware of what was happening in the kitchen. Gloria had stopped washing at some point. The two gleamingly clean teacups were tossed aside as she waved her hand casually. In the next second, an exquisite small mirror floated out from nowhere, its ornate handle landing securely in the duke’s daughter’s fingers.
Gloria murmured something to the mirror. The surface, which had been reflecting the silver-haired girl’s face, suddenly rippled like a calm pond disturbed by a pebble. Circles of ripples spread outward from the center.
“…Sister?”
A muffled voice came from the mirror. When the ripples finally subsided, a handsome face appeared. The silver-haired boy’s blue eyes, the same color as Gloria’s, were filled with confusion. Behind him, a brilliant sunset painted the entire sky. A spire of a tower stood tall, seeming to hold up the clouds, its tip faintly obscured, leaving only a silhouette.
Leaning against the stove, Gloria gave Wend a cool command. “You’re coming to stay at my place for a while.”
“…Huh?” The boy, who was always cold as ice in front of others, widened his eyes. He deliberately held the mirror higher, his voice incredulous. “I’m almost at my dorm… Why are you suddenly telling me to come over now? What are you planning? Weren’t you the one who told me to experience life among the new students?”
“…”
Knowing she was in the wrong, Gloria fell silent for a moment. She gave her brother a smile that didn’t reach her eyes and calmly stated, her voice full of confidence despite her lack of justification, “You don’t need to experience it today. Thirty minutes. I want to see you in person, in front of me.”
After giving the order, she added a threat. “If I don’t see you after that time… Wend, you’d better watch yourself.”
Wend pressed his lips together, his expression slightly strained. “I understand,” he said hastily.
The moment he finished speaking, he, like Gloria, whispered an incantation to the mirror. Ripples spread across its surface just as before, and a few breaths later, the silver-haired boy’s image vanished. Gloria’s noble and beautiful face reappeared in the mirror.
She sighed, walked out of the kitchen, and carefully placed the mirror back in its original spot. Lifting her gaze toward the bedroom, her eyes held a complex and unclear mix of emotions.
…Such a painstaking effort, indeed.
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