Chapter 275. The Savior of Eva (4) (1/2)
He saw a familiar scene— Roselle’s dream world.
As this was his third time coming to this place, he was no longer surprised. Only, he wondered why she summoned him.
Roselle was sitting at a table in the garden, drinking tea. On her opposite side was a half-eaten cake and a teacup. It clearly showed that someone else was there just a moment ago, and Seol Jihu had a good idea who that was.
“I finally got her to go back just now.”
Roselle took a sip of tea before speaking calmly. For some reason, her voice seemed to be trembling very faintly.
“How was it?”
“How was it, you ask?”
Tang. She placed the teacup down on the plate, hard.
“I had to listen to her story for twelve hours. We didn’t talk, I just listened.”
Roselle took a deep breath, making her tiny chest puff out a little. Then, she said in an exhausted tone.
“How should I say this… I must have underestimated that child a bit.”
She continued with a haggard look.
“I guess you could say she has a frustrating personality. Ah, fuck, just thinking about it is pissing me off.”
“Excuse me?”
Seol Jihu doubted his ears.
“Did you just curse?”
“No, I didn’t.”
Roselle replied with a straight face.
“No, you definitely did. Was it that bad?”
“Ah, a flower petal fluttering by must have said that. How frustrated must it have been to blurt out like that?”
“How can a petal talk?”
“Anything can talk in this dream world. Right, petal?”
[Yes, Lady Roselle.]
One of the flower petals fluttering in the air really talked. Seol Jihu jumped in surprise.
[But I had nothing to do with it, lady. I, Little Petal, did not cuurrrrssse!?]
The petal suddenly screamed in the middle of talking and flew far away.
[Aaak. Aaaaaak. It’s too strong!]
Seol Jihu stared at the petal being torn apart by the wind, then snapped out of his daze at the sound of Roselle clearing her throat.
“Kuhum, anyway, it wasn’t too bad.”
He felt like Roselle was trying to change the subject and gladly went along with it.
“If I lived in the same era as that child, I would never have taken the time to acquaint myself with her. That said, her talent was just as I expected. And judging by the way she went off with that big mouth of hers, she seems to be good at focusing as well.”
‘Now she’s just insulting her outright…’ Seol Jihu smiled faintly.
“So the talk went well?”
“Would I be saying this if it didn’t?”
She sounded strangely hostile. Roselle pressed her forehead, then shook her head.
“My apologies. I should not be getting angry at Seol Jihu-nim like this. It’s just that thinking about her keeps pissing me off…”
On the other hand, Seol Jihu was amazed at Charlotte Aria. Since Roselle spent hundreds of years by herself, she should have been hungry for human interaction as well. So to make her lose her self-control and react inthis way, he couldn’t help but praise Charlotte Aria’s ‘strength’.
‘Well, Lady Roselle can read other people’s thoughts, so that must have multiplied the pain.’
“Anyway, what I can tell you is that rigorous management is needed for that child to grow.”
“Management?”
“I am not saying that she is a bad seed. There are people who cannot become anything even if they receive the utmost care and attention from the world’s best manager. However, this child’s talent is guaranteed.”
“I agree fully.”
Seol Jihu easily agreed.
“Thank you for your understanding.”
It was then that Roselle showed a feeble smile.
“And for that reason, I would like to shamelessly ask for your cooperation.”
“Cooperation?”
It wasn’t until the next day that Seol Jihu understood what her words meant.
*
“Seol Jihuuuuuu!”
The lobby resounded sonorously first thing in the morning.
Seol Jihu looked down from the 6th floor with an ominous foreboding, and lo and behold, he saw a girl dashing across the lobby.
He had gotten a message from Sorg Kühne saying, ‘The queen has left. I am sorry.’ At first, he failed to realize why he was apologizing, but now he knew.
He didn’t think things would turn out like this.
“What the? Who’s that brat?”
Chohong, who had just finished breakfast and was walking down from the cafeteria, asked as she looked down from the guardrail. Seol Jihu answered calmly.
“Eva’s queen.”
“Haha, funny. Who is it?”
Chohong didn’t believe him easily. It took Seol Jihu a while to convince her that he was telling the truth.
“Wow, she’s really the queen?”
Chohong couldn’t hide her surprise as she stared at Charlotte Aria, who was asking, “Where is he? Where is Seol Jihu?” while shaking Kim Hannah, who had gone down to meet her.
“I thought I was back at Haramark for a second. No, even Teresa and that old king weren’t this bad.”
She sniffled while shaking her head. Then, she patted Seol Jihu’s back before turning around.
“Well, good luck, Princess Collector. Wait, should I say Queen Collector? No, it’s both.”
“The heck is that… Where are you going?”
“Back to my room.”
“Come with me. The queen is here. You can take this opportunity to introduce yourself.”
“An ordinary member like me? Naaaah. The higher-ups can take care of it.”
Chohong hastened back as she replied like she couldn’t bother with it.
“Plus, my sense of smell is telling me not to get involved.”
“Your dog nose?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
Chohong disappeared quickly. Seol Jihu sighed and then went to the reception room to wait for the queen.
While he was counting to 100 in his mind, the door shot open and Charlotte Aria ran in.
“Seol Jihuuu!”
“Ah, you’re here?”
Before Seol Jihu could even get up from his seat, Charlotte Aria spread her arms out.
“You were right! You were really telling the truth!”
She grabbed his shirt and jumped excitedly.
“You must have met Lady Roselle.”
“Un, un! I’ve never had such a mysterious experience! My goodness! A dream world where you can achieve anything you imagine!”
Seol Jihu tried to get the excited Charlotte Aria to calm down and get her to sit, but she did not budge an inch and focused on spitting out words. In the end, Seol Jihu gave up and asked helplessly.
“D-Did you become her friend?”
“Un! You were right. She understood me sooo well.”
‘Obviously. Lady Roselle can read her thoughts, so she must have said exactly what the queen wanted to hear.’
“She was a really good person!”
The depressed look she had just a day earlier as she refused to eat and drink was nowhere to be seen. The way her cheeks were flushed in excitement and her eyes were sparkling like stars, it looked like she was dying to speak.
“Ah, yes, is that true?”
“Excuse me?”
“That the dream world isn’t everlasting.”
Charlotte Aria told the story: Roselle used the Eternal Light of Wisdom before her death to create a dream world, but mana was not an infinite resource. Once the mana maintaining the dream world ran out, both Roselle and the dream world would perish eternally.
Although she coincidentally met Seol Jihu and was able to maintain the dream world from disappearing, it was only a temporary solution as the fundamental problem had not been solved. So to resolve this problem, she needed someone to help her research.
Roselle seemed to have tricked Charlotte Aria as such.
‘What a brilliant idea!’
Teresa had described Charlotte Aria as an unconditional ally.
Although she was reckless and without a guiding principle, what if they could apply this personality of hers directly to the study of sorcery?
Roselle must have lied with this in mind. After all, Charlotte Aria would do her best to stop her friend from perishing.
‘As expected of Lady Roselle.’
Seol Jihu nodded his head in approval. With just one meeting, Roselle had noticed Charlotte Aria’s idiosyncrasy and even came up with a good method to use it. Such brilliance was truly befitting of a witch who existed for hundreds of years.
“That is correct.”
Seol Jihu played along.
“Ah! I knew it.”
Charlotte Aria looked regretful.
“The problem is that sorcery, the discipline that created the dream world, is a very unique and special discipline.”
“Un, un, that is what I heard as well.”
“In this current time, Magicians have become rare, and not even they can understand Lady Roselle’s profound discipline. You see, to the current school of thought, sorcery is something like heresy.”
“The Empire was like that. They rejected the use of mana for anything other than magic. They were especially strict about persecuting witchcraft. I find that very regrettable.”
Although this did not matter now since the Empire had fallen, Charlotte Aria replied positively to just about everything. She was quite easy to deal with for situations like this.
“So Lady Roselle needs a Magician who can understand her school of discipline. Charlotte Aria-nim is like a blank slate right now, which is precisely why you won’t be influenced by the existing discipline. Since you’re talented on top of that, Lady Roselle said you will be able to absorb her teachings like a sponge.”
Once Seol Jihu started praising her, Charlotte Aria began to laugh gleefully like a little kid. Seol Jihu then continued in a serious tone.
“Please, I beg of you. Because I am not a Magician, I am limited in the ways I can help her, but Your Majesty is different. Please help the dream world not disappear.”
“I shall grant your wish!”
Charlotte Aria took her hands off Seol Jihu’s shirt.
“You’ve laid out the mat, how can I just stand still and pretend it doesn’t exist? Do not worry. I will learn this sorcery thing and prevent Roselle’s annihilation!”
She clenched her hands and swore resolutely. Judging by the way she was so full of fighting spirit, she seemed to really be invested in it.
Seol Jihu smiled inwardly in satisfaction.
“Thank you. Both Lady Roselle and I have great expectations of you.”
“Yes, yes. Oh right, come to think of it…”
Charlotte Aria looked around the room before finally sitting down.
Seol Jihu blinked rapidly. What else was there to talk about? Didn’t they discuss pretty much everything?
“Come sit next to me. Come and hear me out.”
Charlotte Aria said as she tapped on the chair next to her. She made it sound like she was only getting started.