Chapter 106
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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106.
I suppressed the desire to lean further into Cassian Artez's embrace and released my hold around him.
I had come to understand just how catastrophic the consequences were for the tasks I had carelessly postponed.
Cassian Artez, true to form, accepted my withdrawal without displaying the usual reluctance.
He must have sensed something as well.
If I had vanished and Original Roselita had come to this world instead.
Though I had given Original Cassian no words or information, he might have conversed with her regardless.
In the original story, she was quite a dependable person, and rather than sitting idle in the face of problems, she was someone who sought solutions.
'Of course, this place might not have been entirely unpleasant for Original Roselita.'
As Cassian Artez had grown more cunning, she might have found it comfortable that his demands on her were fewer.
But I was certain that the current Cassian Artez would never be to her taste.
I had never particularly liked Original Cassian, yet she had loved him with her life on the line, had she not?
She had abandoned the peace of the Salice Barony and endured every hardship and adversity imaginable.
Being a true 'protagonist,' she was bold enough that she might have found some way forward even before the family fell into debt.
Her temperament was entirely different from mine, after all.
As I recalled Original Roselita in this manner and opened the slightly warm scroll, an unusual message awaited me.
It was formatted identically to the one I had received at the very beginning, ordering me to resolve the first trial.
The moment I read the scroll, I furrowed my brow.
These insane fools!
If they caused trouble, they should think of helping me instead of imposing penalties on me.
And at the same time, I grew suspicious.
'Could the world merging just now have been shock therapy?'
Did they think I wouldn't comply quickly if they only sent a message?
I'm not someone so negligent of my duties, nor do I have any intention of becoming a fraud.
As I glanced about in this manner, I caught sight of a faintly written '...' notation.
I hastily opened the corresponding summary.
Unlike when I was thrown into the original story, there was no hesitation whatsoever.
Standing beside me now was Cassian Artez, whom I knew very well.
However, unlike the upper portion which printed cleanly, the section attempting to explain the reason for the phenomenon was corrupted, as if riddled with errors.
Still, the lower section remained intact and legible, allowing me to confirm its contents without difficulty.
After skimming through to the end, I understood something crucial.
The true penalty for failing to resolve this series of phenomena was not that I would become a fraud.
Though the Cauldron Stirrer never stated it outright, that section had essentially revealed that they could prevent it by any means necessary.
'...That doesn't mean my resolve to solve this has weakened, though.'
Having directly experienced worlds bleeding into one another, I grasped it even more clearly now.
This was a catastrophe beyond measure.
'So this scroll isn't meant to threaten me—it's guidance, sent to help me understand.'
In a way I could comprehend.
Even as I pulled Cassian Artez's shawl tighter around myself, a bone-deep chill pierced through.
My hands trembled against my will.
Of course, I could resolve this.
I simply had to thrust my neck toward death's door and survive.
I'd weathered near-fatal incidents countless times before, so this time too—
"Roselita Salice."
In that moment, a large hand grasped mine firmly, as if to reassure me.
"...Ian."
Despite my composed recitation, the fear was very real.
When I first awakened to the truth that I was a tragic protagonist, the Salice Barony and my parents had softened that dread.
When I felt the terror of being thrust to center stage in the Capital City, unlike the original story, a demonic superior and grueling work had swept it away.
But this cutting, searing sensation now was more overwhelming than any of those moments.
"You'll be fine, Roselita Salice."
Yet Cassian Artez spoke to me with eyes full of trust, despite my pathetic state.
"You will do well, and I will help you."
All the pretense that had surrounded me seemed shattered, yet he whispered to me without a shred of doubt.
"So what can I do for you?"
Use me, as he always had.
*
That day, I didn't hide anything from Cassian Artez and told him everything I'd been thinking.
Just as he always had, he listened to my words without a trace of dismissal or doubt crossing his face.
And just as I'd suspected, Cassian Artez said he'd met the Original Roselita.
"She seemed confused too, though perhaps not as much as I was."
Sitting on a bench in the Garden, I comforted Cassian Artez as I spoke.
"At first she asked me a few probing questions, but soon she straightforwardly sought my cooperation."
His expression grew slightly bitter.
"It was a strange feeling. There was someone before my eyes who looked exactly like you, yet she regarded me with different eyes than you do."
"What kind of eyes were they?"
At my question, Cassian Artez gently stroked my hair as he spoke.
"The complete opposite of how you trust and entrust yourself to me now."
At those words, I managed a faint smile.
The thought that even if the Original Roselita had loved Cassian Artez, she still hadn't trusted him deeply.
Of course, she'd believed in him in certain ways, but when it came to dealing with people or scheming, she couldn't have trusted him as I do.
"So your feelings were hurt?"
"I can't express it in such simple terms."
Cassian Artez shook his head firmly at my interjection.
"She isn't you. That one fact alone..."
Cassian Artez paused as if emotions were welling up inside him.
Then he gazed directly at me, his eyes tender with the desperation of someone unwilling to let go.
"You truly have no idea what I was thinking during that short time."
"Why wouldn't I know."
I shook my head as I leaned closer to him in response to his insistence.
"I felt it too, so how could I not know."
Cassian Artez, who possessed nothing but a lack of cunning and a decent sense of propriety, could be impressive as a novel's protagonist, but he meant something entirely different to me.
Cassian Artez hesitated at my words.
"May I ask you something?"
I nodded quietly at his hesitation, having already laid bare his own feelings.
The anxiety that had plagued me until moments before had eased thanks to Cassian Artez's honest expression of his feelings about my absence.
So I too wanted to tell him, even if it meant appearing embarrassed and somewhat ungraceful.
"If I couldn't return, I was going to run away."
"...That's..."
"When I said I'd be by your side, I meant beside Ian here."
The superior who was cunning and meticulous, who didn't shy away from desk work and steadily filled the space beside me, was only you before my eyes.
I wanted to convey that feeling to you more effectively than anything else.
"...You truly have no idea how relieved I am right now."
He accepted my feelings without leaving a single trace behind.
I carefully leaned against Cassian Artez and offered a small rebuttal.
"Don't assume my feelings, I was also comforted by Ian's words."
*
Through our conversation, we managed to calm our anxious hearts and discuss in earnest what we would do next.
I pointed to the phrase about forced progression and shared several theories, and before long, those theories began to materialize into reality.
Among the three remaining trials, the subject of the one I'd deemed least likely to occur had revealed their name before us.
"...Look at this—truly a terrible personality, isn't it?"
Whether this person was the hidden mastermind of this world, or the one orchestrating this affair from the shadows.
Either way.
My superior clicked his tongue and opened his mouth after reviewing the application.
"I had hoped they would apply after we'd filled our positions, but so did I."
And the two of us shared not worry, but as always, only cunning smiles.
As we discussed that ruthlessly efficiency-focused plan to exploit this application in the assistant recruitment examination.
And so, body and mind and intellect.
With every preparation in place, a day of turbulence dawned before us.
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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