VIP Chapter 321: Yandere ÷ Yandere ÷ Yandere (3k)
“Iaar, one question…” Liya picked up the staff she had just put down. “Are you sure Will was forcibly taken by her, and not that he left… with her?”
Iaar was silent for a moment, then raised her head, a slight smile curving her lips… the slightly twisted smile Professor Will had taught her.
“Lingmeng Yilin…”
Treya’s hand went to her sword again. She felt another tinge of blackness color the atmosphere, slowly spreading through the air, originating from Iaar.
There was something they had overlooked. When they arrived, the person who initiated the attack… was Iaar. The most unhinged person Treya had seen when faced with a kidnapping… was Iaar. Therefore, of the three of them, the one with the worst mental state and the hardest to understand… was Iaar. It was Iaar, whose face had been adorned with the maid’s customary professional smile just a moment before. It was Iaar now, revealing the smile Will had repeatedly told him was his “favorite.”
“If he ‘ran away,’ what did you do to him?” Liya stared at Iaar. “Now, it’s your turn to explain.”
Treya also turned her head, looking at Iaar. “It’s impossible… how could it be? It won’t happen, Young Master wouldn’t leave Iaar’s side, because… because Young Master needs Iaar the most…”
Iaar’s smile grew ever “happier.” She narrowed her eyes, tilted her head, her perfectly erect ears swaying along. “Iaar did as he wrote in ‘Blackening 300 Questions,’ Iaar felt as he said, Iaar even… even thought of more and more supplements…” Although she wasn’t holding the book, her eyes seemed to have memorized its entire contents. “As for what I did…” “That was also something he approved of, you know?”
Iaar reached out and gently took the “pendant” from her neck. Because she was wearing a maid outfit, it went without saying that the pendant itself was tucked into the second layer of her clothes, its chain hidden beneath the collar of her maid uniform. If she hadn’t made that movement, Liya and Treya might not have even noticed she was wearing anything around her neck.
“That is…!!!” “As expected, Iaar, you—” As the dim setting sun cast its rays, the moment Liya and Treya saw what Iaar was so carefully protecting against her chest. Both of them finally understood what Iaar meant by “permission.”
*Boom.*
A flame bullet grazed Iaar’s ear but was blocked by the ice wall on her shoulder. *Clang.* A unsheathed blade sliced across her right shoulder, but it was parried by the shield she instantly raised. As the Shield Saint who bore the brunt of the enemy’s attacks for the entire party, she couldn’t be penetrated by two people in such a narrow room. Between the two blocked attacks, the pendant Iaar held in her left hand was exceptionally beautiful. It was a pure white tooth, still bearing traces of blood. Just by smelling the scent of blood on it, Iaar could pretend Will was still by her side.
“Iaar cannot explain her feelings; Iaar doesn’t have your abilities; Iaar doesn’t have your status; Iaar is just a maid who can only be by his side when he needs her…” She closed her eyes, as if Will were sitting opposite her at the table. “Iaar thought for a long time, in that old house filled with memories, the calmer she became, the more unsure she was how to maintain… Following the words Young Master planted in Iaar’s heart, following the questions he made so familiar to Iaar, she finally found a way to calm her inner self.”
She lowered the necklace she was holding, protectively tucking it back inside her chest along her collarbone. “…As long as he can do nothing, as long as he becomes a complete invalid, he will forever and ever stay by Iaar’s side, who has nothing.”
“…You’re a bit extreme!” “So, instead of a psychological and physical reliance, you made such… a very direct choice?”
Iaar raised her head. “Unlike the future you always talk about, what Iaar has always wanted, and perhaps what Young Master wants… is the past. The past when he needed Iaar by his side.” “When Iaar and Young Master were both weak, it was he who protected Iaar from the Hysterm Family.” “When he only had Iaar, he was as fragile as a feather that could float away at any moment.” “When he only had Iaar, he would constantly train Iaar, because he needed Iaar’s protection.”
She closed her eyes, as if Will were sitting opposite her at the table, and spoke to the empty air across from her. “It must have hurt, Young Master. Whether it was your tears, blood, or saliva that flowed from the pain, Iaar saw it all and felt that pain just as you did.” Then, she opened her eyes and smiled—not at the two beside her, but at the person who should have been sitting opposite her. “But you told Iaar it was okay to continue, to go a little further, to rely on Iaar—as expected, everything you taught was correct!!” “So, you won’t run away, because you’ve accepted all of this!”
Even with such a smile, even in the dimming sunset, her eyes seemed devoid of light. Her gray irises, instead, appeared purer. Without a sound, in the stagnant air, anger exploded in an instant. Understanding what Will had endured at Iaar’s hands, the two, already at the peak of their “sick” mutual acknowledgment, picked up their weapons.
“Unforgivable—Will, I absolutely… absolutely won’t just obey you alone.” “Incomprehensible. I must force your head to apologize to him.”
*Bang!* Treya struck first, cleaving the table in the middle, creating more space for her to maneuver. *Screech—* Liya slid behind Iaar, taking advantage of Iaar’s inability to turn around to begin her incantation. She wouldn’t suppress her anger any more than she would suppress her love. A rational alliance could crumble at any moment if “disagreement” arose— Treya deliberately chose to strike from the side of Iaar’s shield and outside Liya’s attack. Liya’s flames were aimed at Iaar’s head.
However… “You both seem to not understand.” Treya’s sword struck heavily against the armor on Iaar’s free arm. Against Iaar’s defenses, the blow seemed so weak. “Don’t you understand him? Guess why… why someone like him would agree to such an excessive and wrong condition from Iaar in the end? You’re smart, you must know—” Liya’s flames did indeed chip away a little bit of Iaar’s ice armor, scorching the edge of her maid outfit, but it was still like throwing a drop of water into a burning fire.
“Because we were all too excessive, did the wrong things, but cannot turn back, can we?” *Crackling.* The objects in the room slid off amidst the explosions and the vibrations of clashing shields and swords. The “alliance” that had just been formed through “understanding” and the escalating illness, along with the “crimes” Iaar confessed, crumbled. The three stood in a straight line in the room. The setting sun dipped below the horizon in that instant, plunging the entire room into a dim twilight.
“…” Treya remained silent, breathing slowly, her sword trembling in her hand. “What is it? Your Majesty Treya, he came to you with the sword he painstakingly forged. You made him drown in his dreamscape, destroying his life’s dream, you didn’t know, after waking from your dream, how he couldn’t distinguish reality from illusion.” Liya frowned. The love in her eyes, upon hearing this, began to fade. “And you, Teacher Liya? Forcing him to obey his blood’s instincts, making him lose his basic rationality, aren’t you changing him too? We all know, the appearance he dislikes the most is that of a beast, isn’t it?” Finally, after saying this, Iaar, holding her shield, stood between them.
“Of course… Iaar also knows…” “Iaar did wrong more than anyone. Iaar will cry and apologize to Young Master, Iaar will make lots and lots of delicious food for Young Master to forgive her, Iaar will let him feel the happiness of the past again.” “But there’s no turning back now.” After saying this, Iaar gasped for air in large gulps. Then, she felt that under such intense emotions, her tears were falling in large drops. As a maid who had followed Will, she rarely showed herself so forcefully, and rarely expressed all her inner thoughts like this. In the messy room, the three looked at each other in silence, neither of them speaking. The only sound was Iaar’s gasps, the first to cry.
“You’re right,” Treya was the first to lower her sword and her head. “…What is truly right for him? He… he ultimately… chose to believe me.” “…I don’t know. He taught me this. If… if he didn’t like it, why did he do it?” Liya put down her staff. “He responded to me, I gave him my blood. No matter where we go, he will always be my student.” *Thump thump.* After all the commotion, the three actually became a little calmer. All three knew their own and each other’s “mistakes.” But… Now… The most crucial person, the one who could always break through their confusion, was simply… not here. The long silence extinguished their emotions. Finally, everything seemed to have returned to the starting point. Except for the “state of mind” each of them had prided themselves on, which had become extremely delicate amidst their mutual bragging and belittling. Especially… their persistence in what they firmly believed.
“Let’s find Shuna and talk to him first,” Treya sighed. “If he were to run away, where would he go?” “Young Master… might leave something behind… He didn’t take anything when he left, and he hasn’t come back here.” “Leave behind… something…” Muttering the word, Liya seemed to recall something. “I… I remember.” “That book, the one he always kept close, the one he wouldn’t let us see…” “The red-covered book.”
