ALL NOVEL Chapter 91
A heavy silence settled over Doloret’s office.
Stop meeting? Leaving the club? The friends sat in silence, replaying Agnesia’s words in their heads, trying to make sense of what they had just heard.
“Nesia. What do you mean by that?”
It was Doloret, the eldest, who spoke first.
“Tell us everything, step by step. If you’ve been threatened or blackmailed in any way, we can—”
“No, it’s not that.”
Agnesia firmly interrupted her. Although there wasn’t a single curse word mixed in, her voice was clearer than ever, and it shocked everyone.
“I mean exactly what I said. This is a decision I made myself, and I don’t want to come to this club anymore.”
“So, are you saying you want to cut ties with us?”
The word ‘cut ties,’ which no one dared to mention, came out of Rosalli’s mouth like a scream.
No way, please, it can’t be. Everyone’s eyes turned to Agnesia, filled with desperation.
“…I guess you could interpret it that way.”
“…”
Their faces froze, reflecting a mixture of shock, fear, disbelief, and disappointment. Rosalli’s eyes narrowed in anger, Michi’s eyes welled up with tears, and Selleana stood with her mouth agape, unable to process it.
“Let’s hear the reason first.” Once again, it was Doloret who, even in this chaos, kept her sharp focus on Agnesia’s expression. “It’s been almost ten days since we’ve heard from you. You didn’t think I wouldn’t know where you’ve been, did you?”
“…”
“I know you’ve been avoiding us on purpose. So, tell us. What happened between your father and Margrave Gotenfrid? We’ve been through so much together. You can’t hide this from us.” Doloret’s voice was calm, though her tone carried the authority of someone who had run a business since childhood.
Agnesia’s light blue eyes darkened. “It started… the day I met my father.”
Father. It wasn’t the term Agnesia used fondly. The last time she had mentioned him…
Her father. The word didn’t carry the usual disdain it used to. The last time she had mentioned him…
“That XXX, as soon as I remembered my past life, I ran away and completely forgot about his existence.”
“A man who only sees his daughter as startup capital…”
The friends winced, and Agnesia quickly added, almost as if to defend her father. “He looked so much older than I remember, and… it didn’t feel right.”
Rosalli scoffed. “Your father’s aging has nothing to do with you. We all aged too, but thanks to growth hormones, we grew instead of aging.”
“…It’s not that simple. Hearing about how he suffered trying to find me made me feel guilty… and then I heard he squandered his fortune…”
“What?”
Selleana’s confused eyes turned to Doloret. She shook her head slightly, indicating that the reason Baron Merlin had gone bankrupt was different from what Agnesia believed.
Doloret had been keeping an eye on the Merlin family, just in case. However, pushing Agnesia too hard now could lead them to lose valuable information.
Doloret remained calm as she continued asking questions. “So, your father and Margrave Gotenfrid have been meeting often recently. Does that have to do with you?”
Changing her phrasing to match the tone, Agnesia nodded slightly. “It’s my father’s last wish.”
“To sell you off in an arranged marriage?”
“Rosi.” Selleana squeezed Rosalli’s knee to calm her down, though she felt the same way.
“Besides… The margrave has a reputation to maintain, yet he’s been humbling himself every day by visiting the great temple and asking for favors in front of everyone in high society. It made me think, who am I to hurt people like that…”
“Little strokes fell great oaks? We call that illegal logging.”
Ha
. Selleana let out a dry laugh, knowing that the letters she had delivered had gone unread and had probably been tossed aside. Michi could only cry, overwhelmed by confusion and betrayal. Rosalli, too, couldn’t find the words to respond. It was Doloret who stepped forward again.
“So, you’re saying you’ll go through with an arranged marriage with Margrave Gotenfrid to help your father’s declining fortune… Then what about the temple?”
“I’m planning to leave the priesthood.”
“Are the documents ready?”
“Not yet… This is the first time I’m telling anyone about it…”
Was this something they should be thankful for? The friends struggled to control their expressions, their emotions in turmoil. Perhaps because her friends were listening more calmly than expected, Agnesia relaxed and continued speaking more openly.
“I don’t know why I suddenly felt this way. Looking at my father and Karl… I just felt strange. Like I’ve been hurting others for my own comfort.”
“…
Ha
.”
“Rosi, shush.”
“I guess I’ve been really lonely. When I think about it, I’m the only one without a family. At least Rosi has Glen, Michi has her adoptive parents, and Lea has her family…”
As the conversation went on, the friends found themselves unable to respond. After all, Agnesia wasn’t entirely wrong. While she had grown up with others at the temple, whether they were close enough to replace a family was a different matter.
“I also thought about this. Right now, I have you all and the sisters of the temple, but… Will I regret this choice someday?”
“Hey, do you think you’ll die without a man? Sometimes, having one can kill you. If you’re worried about being lonely, just hire a servant…”
Agnesia’s every word was completely opposite to her usual way of speaking. How could a person change so much in a short time? The friends hadn’t anticipated any of this when they arrived at the hideout, and now they were unsure how to handle it.
Don’t say we’re breaking up.
If anything happens, come find us.
Make sure to say goodbye before leaving the capital.
Doloret could only murmur these words, struggling to hold herself together. None of the other friends could come up with anything meaningful to say before Agnesia left, saying she needed to make her curfew.
That night, the group stayed in Doloret’s office and opened a bottle of Barodonyu wine, a VIP product from Benichi, to match their awful mood. Even Michi, who usually got excited about discussing wine, and Rosalli, who often joined in, remained silent. Selleana, who typically led conversations, couldn’t find her voice either.
After the group silently finished a bottle of wine, Doloret finally spoke. “…Nesia already knew about her father’s financial troubles. I have been giving her updates.”
As Doloret swirled the deep red wine in her glass, the bitterness lingered, no matter how fine the wine was. The friends felt the same way.
“But why is she acting like this all of a sudden…?”
“Exactly. It’s really puzzling.”
“No matter how much she resented him, her father is still her father, so maybe she couldn’t help it?” Michi sniffled, her voice muffled from crying after Agnesia had left. Her nose was so stuffed that she couldn’t even enjoy the aroma of her favorite wine.
“It felt like she was a completely different person from the Nesia we knew.”
“…It’s frustrating, but I don’t think we have the right to judge her choices.”
Selleana and Rosalli’s comments followed, summing up the group’s shared feelings.
“I guess she must have felt really lonely all this time.”
No one could refute that one statement. Even though they met almost every day, laughing, chatting, and scheming, the time they spent apart was entirely different.
Thinking of Agnesia, whom they had been with for eight years, her current choice seemed foolish. It was heartbreaking to think that Agnesia would sever ties with them as part of this. But despite all this, they couldn’t bring themselves to completely hate Agnesia.
After they emptied the second bottle, Doloret spoke calmly. “First, I’ll check up on Charlotina. We need to make sure she doesn’t go crying to someone else’s husband.”
Charlotina was Agnesia’s childhood friend, who was madly in love with Margrave Gotenfrid.
“Yes. Since Nesia chose this life even if it meant betraying us, she better at least be happy.”
“If that margrave makes our Nesia cry, I swear…”
“And I…”
As her friends made their vows, Selleana also shared her own plan.
* * *
“Are you asking if there’s magic that can control people like that?”
It was the next day, in the office of the Tower Master.
“Yes. I was thinking maybe it could be some form of cognitive disruption magic, like hypnosis. Could you manipulate someone’s beliefs to follow values that are completely opposite to their own blindly without question? Is that possible with magic?”
Selleana elaborated, while Michi, who had cried herself to sleep the night before, nodded vigorously. Her eyes were so swollen that she didn’t even need glasses today. Selleana didn’t look much better either.
“
Hmm
, mind control, you say…”
Rakrensius furrowed his brows as Selleana and Michi’s eager eyes locked onto him.