It was the next morning when Yuria remembered everything and calmed her excitement. She was so focused on it that she didn’t feel tired even though she stayed up all night. Yuria got up from her seat and walked closer to her cage, and the knights heard the sound of her robe rubbing against the stone floor. They turned back to the sound they called. The girl who stood firm stared at the two with a more firm gaze.
“I’m going to Duke. Take me to where she is. Not my sister, only me.”
The prison door opened and a girl stepped into the hallway.
“What are you doing… Yuri?”
Layla, who was lying still on the floor, moaned and got up. She looked up at Yuria, who was clinging to the cage and approaching her.
“Lala, I am going to tell the Duke what I heard from Count Nigor.”
“… What?”
“I thought I had never heard of slavery. But when I think about it, I must have heard a story about it from the Count. Something bad happened that day and I was just trying to forget…”
“You, you, did you remember what happened back then? Why did you…? Even if I try to recall the past, it’s just painful…! When you heard the story of the Count, you trembled and couldn’t go out because you were afraid you would run into them…. But are you going to tell others about it?”
“That’s right. To be honest… I’m still scared.”
Yuria is confident as she grabs her trembling body. She said she would be afraid of Count Nigor all her life. She may forget for a moment or reduce the size of the fear, but the memory of that day, this fear will never go away. maybe… it will torment her until she grows old and dies. If it could be easily forgotten, it wouldn’t have had the dreadful name of fear.
Layla cried and shouted.
“It’s scary, but why?! Are you, by any chance, trying to escape from here? Then I will think about it. Or maybe you feel sorry for the people who said they were slaves…? What does that have to do with those people… ?”
“……”
“… You won’t do anything. Even if you go, my mouth won’t fall out. So don’t go… ”
“… Lala.”
“… Please don’t go, Yuri. Just leave it to me as usual….”
Yuria grabbed her hand that was reaching out to herself.
“What do you mean? You’re right. I want to get out of here… I am going to get you out of here.”
“…Noo……”
“… It’s not just that… Yes, I want to change. I don’t want to live as a coward who only cries and trembles over the past. I don’t want to depend on you. I don’t want to be your burden. I want to stand proudly by your side, I want to help… and….”
‘And…?’
Yuria remembered her past for a moment.
There was a small school in Nigor’s estate. It is a place where basic studies are taught to common people. Miranda’s calm and peaceful daily life, who is her teacher there, is filled with astonishment and shock by an incident that happened during her school day today. After she had dismissed all other children except for one girl, she handed her exam papers over the girl’s seat and began to mumble.
“Oh my God, a hundred points? Who did you help with this? This is cheating…. No, you won’t. Because this is a classroom only for juniors.”
“I don’t understand what’s going on right now… What are you talking about?”
“Oh, I see. I’m sorry, Layla. I’ve been distracted for a while… . This is an upper class math problem that I accidentally distributed! All the kids got so low scores that I thought something was odd. When I checked, I handed out the wrong math test paper today! I took all the children and got roughly 10 or 20 points, but you didn’t cheat and solved it completely by yourself, and you got 100 points. How did you know? I can see all the formulas written here. Ha, what a miracle it is. I’ve never seen a child so good at math.”
“Aha…”
Layla put her chin and let out her small sigh. Her expression was openly annoyed and turned into an innocent smile as soon as she met her teacher’s gaze. Right next to it, the girl’s older sister, Yuria, was watching the whole scene.
“It’s just a coincidence. I’ve only solved a few problems that I had learned from my sister in advance. right, sister?”
“Uh? yes….”
“The rest were all taken, I didn’t know it would fit.”
“Oh, then, shall we prove it?”
Miranda took her new test paper out of her arms. This time, they were difficult problems that the capital academy students were trying to solve.
“Can you solve this problem? What is this formula? Why don’t you try it once?”
Layla pretended to solve the problem by scribbling the letters with her pencil. With the wrong formulas and wrong answers, Miranda’s face gradually turned into disappointment. There have been several tests since then, but Layla has not been able to solve them. Miranda sighed and patted Layla’s head. Putting candy in her hand was a bonus.
“… I’m sorry I caught you. Just go.”
“Yes. Good-bye.”
Before leaving the classroom, Yuria looked at her exam paper once more. She was so full of problems that she couldn’t even solve it on her own level. Layla took Yuria’s hand and left the school as usual. Yuria asked before leaving her front door.
“Lala, did you really not know? ah… It’s not that I said you couldn’t solve it, it’s that Lala could have done something… Because she’s always good at things… just…”
“Yes. I can solve it. but I didn’t solve it. I’m afraid that I’ll be bothered if I unpack it for nothing.”
“The answer to the first question is 2, the second is root 3, the third is… I don’t really remember Well, don’t talk about this and tell me how it was today. Didn’t the boy bully you today?”
Yuria looked at Layla’s face and muttered quietly.
“… I was able to solve it…”
‘I don’t think I can ever solve it. Also Lala is great. me too… I have to work hard in math in the future. I want to be much better at math than Lala.’
It was no surprise that Layla was good at math. Layla used to help the merchant parents count their money, and she sometimes pointed out mistakes in their calculations.
She’s smart, and she’s even savage, so the grown-ups who listened to other children pretended to listen to Layla. The boys knew and teased Yuria, but they were scared of Layla and tried not to mess with her as much as possible.
She was the most tree climber of all the children, was good at fighting, and even had a talent for elevating her opponents with her excellent verbal skills.
She is a good cook too, so when our parents are out, she makes Yuria a delicious food. She is also good at knitting, All the scarves Yuria received every winter were woven by Laila.
What surprised her the most was that she also had a talent for designing her clothes. She still can’t forget her short mini skirts or the extravagantly designed clothes that she drew in an instant.
“How did you come up with this design…? Lala, are you a genius? It’s not like me, Lala, it’s much better for you to become a costume designer….”
“What a genius… I was just bored so I drew it. If you like the picture, take it with you.”
Layla was good at everything. Layla was Yuria’s absolute idol. Yuria always thought of her whenever she saw her gorgeous figure.
She’ll be smarter than Lala.
She’ll be better at designing costumes than Lala.
She’ll climb trees better than Lala.
You’ll be a better knitter than Lala.
Than lala
Than Lala
Than Lala!
‘And, I want to defeat you.’
Come to think of it, Yuria always wanted to defeat Layla.
Her love and compassion were separate. No, she wanted to win because she loved it. She wanted to put on a good look by putting the one she loves ahead of her, and she wanted to make her feel that ‘I’ve grown enough to beat you’.
Yeah, so maybe this moment…
“I will take care of everything. Now, Lala, you can count on me.”
This may be the moment when Yuria beat Layla for the first time.
‘… What… What face are you making?’
Layla frowned. Because she was invisible. Yuria’s face could not be seen as if there was smoke, as if only there had been crushed.
She said, ‘She always thought she knew what Yuria was thinking. However… Now I don’t know what Yuria is thinking. Will she save me? to rely on you? what are you… how are you, you are a coward! You’re the one I have to protect! Why, why are you acting like that? why?’
Why?
I want to understand that. I want to know what kind of expression she has.
At that thought, her hazy reflection of her face began to take shape.
Yuria was smiling softly. Her eyes were filled with determination and courage, and she felt even trustworthy.
“Wait a minute, I’ll get you out of here.”
Yuria let go of Layla’s hand and started moving her steps. It was then that Layla realized. She said that she was making a very big mistake.
She said that Yuria is not weak. She is stronger than anyone else. If she’s not strong, how can she go through the horrific past of her one by one? Will she be able to go tell others about some of her memories that aren’t good enough?
Can I do that?
‘Of course! it can be if it’s for Yuria….’
Really?
Sitting down at the sound of a whip? Just looking at Count aide Oberon makes you tremble? She’s been told that all she has to do is tell the duke about slavery and she’ll take us out, so why didn’t she do anything until now? Why doesn’t she grab Yuria and say I’m going to talk instead? Because she doesn’t want to remember that time. ‘Cause I’m scared. Thinking about it or telling it to someone makes me feel like I’m going crazy.
Scary.
Layla recalled the emotions she had been forced to press. The horror of his disgusting and terrifying appearance climbs up her body and licks her face. She had goosebumps all over her body. It resembled a slimy darkness, and Layla couldn’t take her eyes off Yuria’s figure, as if a light was emanating from it.