“Sorry, but I'm not interested. I've always hated boring people. Just being around them gives me hives. I hate it that much.”
Madam Rosalie's reaction was rather lukewarm. She merely lifted her eyelids slowly, like someone reluctantly putting up with something terribly bothersome.
She had been hostile toward Elysia from the beginning, so this reaction was well within expectations. The constant stream of cigarette smoke was enough to make Elysia cough, but she steadfastly took out what she had prepared.
“I heard you haven't been sleeping well lately. I prepared something that's supposed to help with insomnia.”
“…Ha. So you're telling me to drink this and keep my mouth shut?”
When Elysia presented the herbal tea that was effective for insomnia, Madam Rosalie grumbled and pushed the teacup away.
“No thanks. I hate bitter things, so I don't even want to put something like this in my mouth.”
“Ah, I see.”
Elysia quietly added honey to the tea, slowly stirred it with a teaspoon, and offered it to her again.
“It should be sweet now. And it's not as though I want you to keep your mouth shut, so please drink it without worrying. Not being able to sleep is quite miserable, after all.”
“Then what the hell do you want?”
“What I want is you, Madam Rosalie.”
Madam Rosalie raised her eyebrows in surprise at the absurd declaration.
“Do you like women too? Even though you've already got two men. You've certainly got plenty of stamina, don't you?”
“No, that's not what I mean. I want to become your disciple.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
A disciple. From Madam Rosalie's perspective, that was even more ridiculous.
“That's a bit much. You're saying an exemplary nun like you has something to learn from a delinquent like me?”
“Of course. Goddess Arne said that there are things to be learned even from children. And you've already been through all sorts of hardships and experiences, Madam. You'd make an excellent teacher.”
Madam Rosalie asked again in disbelief at the audacious answer, but Elysia remained unwavering.
She had expected Elysia to simply bribe her into keeping quiet, or, if that failed, perhaps beg her to spare her just this once. Instead, the girl was irreverently making the most absurd proposal imaginable.
“You really are insane, aren't you?”
“Yes, I'm insane. But you saw what happened in the infirmary last night. Honestly, wouldn't that situation be enough to drive anyone insane?”
“What?”
“That's right. I'm caught between those two.”
Elysia readily admitted it. Then, looking Madam Rosalie directly in the eyes as she stared back at her in disbelief, Elysia spoke clearly and deliberately.
“I came all the way to a convent because I wanted to avoid a troublesome situation. But as you can see, this is what happened anyway. So I'm in quite a difficult situation right now.”
“So?”
“I want you to help me, Madam. I understand that when it comes to handling men, you're an expert.”
Elysia bowed her head politely.
“I'm asking you. Please.”
Madam Rosalie was so astonished that she could not continue speaking.
So she was actually serious about this insanity. There were limits even to shamelessness. Did it make any sense for this irritating girl, who had ruthlessly interfered with Rosalie's only source of pleasure in the convent, to suddenly ask to become her disciple and beg for her help?
“Sweetheart, I think you're misunderstanding something. I don't particularly like you.”
“I know.”
“Why should I help you? Am I under some obligation to do that?”
Madam Rosalie demanded.
“No, you're not obligated to. But it'll be entertaining.”
“What?”
“You might not like me, but you're interested, aren't you? You were having a lot of fun last night too. Weren't you?”
Annoying as it was, she was not wrong. They did say there was nothing more entertaining than watching a fire or a fight. And those three had practically caught fire as they fought. Rosalie had not been able to take her eyes off them.
“As you can see, I'm shameless. I've got guts too, and when I set my mind to it, I'm quite good at doing crazy things. I can guarantee you one thing—I'll keep you entertained.”
A guarantee of entertainment in this boring convent. It was certainly a tempting offer, but seeing this girl, who had done nothing but shriek about rules until now, suddenly acting like this made it difficult to trust her.
“Fine, let's hear your plan first. How exactly are you going to entertain me?”
There was no harm in hearing her out. Madam Rosalie rested her chin on the armrest and asked.
“I'll tell you everything that's happened between the three of us without leaving out a single detail. And I'll follow your advice as much as possible.”
“So you're telling me to use you like a doll?”
“Yes. Except you'll be using me to toy with those two as well, so that makes three dolls. One woman and two men.”
Telling her to play with three living people, including Elysia herself, as though they were dolls. It was an outrageous proposition.
“Of course, I can't be the only one having fun. In exchange, you can invite your lovers over too. I'll take full responsibility for getting them in and out without anyone finding out. I'll provide airtight security. I have a way to do it.”
Elysia ostentatiously jingled a key in front of her.
“There's a small delivery door behind the herb storage room. Nobody goes there at night. That area is my responsibility from now on, so there's absolutely no chance of anyone catching you. Call them over whenever you want after work.”
Apparently finding the offer rather tempting, Madam Rosalie burst into hearty laughter before moistening her lips with the tea.
It was supposed to be herbal tea, but it was as sweet as honey.
“First, tell me exactly what's going on. In as much detail as possible.”
***
Naturally, Elysia could not tell her about the game. She explained everything as indirectly as possible. Two people she had known in the past had appeared at the convent at the same time, and the more she avoided them, the more relentlessly they came looking for her.
Madam Rosalie merely smoked throughout the explanation without saying much. Only after listening to all of Elysia's troubles did she finally speak.
“I understand what you're worried about. Having two of them chasing after you at once is too much to handle, right?”
“Exactly.”
“Simple. You're the cause of the problem anyway. All you need to do is change, and it'll be solved.”
Madam Rosalie ground the shortened end of her cigarette into the silver ashtray and extinguished it before adding,
“You do nothing but run away, so of course they keep chasing you. Naturally, they're going to come looking wherever you are.”
Elysia paused.
“That's all?”
“Yeah. That's all. What else did you expect?”
“No, it's not that… I suppose I'm just a little taken aback because you're only saying something so obvious.”
Madam Rosalie snorted with laughter.
“And you've only just realized that obvious thing, haven't you? Because you've been too preoccupied with running away.”
“…You're right about that.”
She could not deny it. She had spent all this time overcomplicating everything. It felt as though someone had struck her hard over the head. Elysia was glad she had found herself a suitable adviser, even if only now.
“Then what should I do? Honestly, my head is such a mess that I don't really know how to handle this.”
“Don't wait for them. Take the initiative and arrange the meetings yourself. Start by separating the time and place. That'll make things easier for you to manage.”
“Separate them?”
“Yeah. When you're dating several people at once, that's the most efficient method.”
As Elysia took notes in a notebook, Madam Rosalie lit a fresh cigarette and continued.
“In my case, I had six lovers at once.”
“Six at once? Just remembering all their names must have been exhausting.”
“Exactly. Honestly, even memorizing their names was too much trouble, so whenever we were together, I always called them ‘darling,’ and when they weren't around, I called them Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.”
“What about Wednesday?”
“That was my day off. A day exclusively for myself.”
Good heavens. The management method was efficient, but it was far more insincere than Elysia had imagined. And yet she had actually managed to maintain six relationships at once? Elysia tilted her head and asked,
“But they were still your lovers. Isn't that a little careless?”
“Careless? It's considerate. Imagine accidentally calling one of them by the wrong name. Wouldn't that be an even bigger disaster? Standardizing how I address them reduces the risk of such accidents. Just think how considerate that is.”
“You… did love all six of them, right?”
“I did. Of course I did. What do you take me for?”
Elysia was frankly somewhat skeptical, but Madam Rosalie seemed confident about that particular point.
“Would they really agree to only meet you on that specific day? Even though they were your lovers?”
“Of course not. Those were just the days we regularly met. They'd whine about wanting to see me all the time. You think having six lovers was easy? That's why you need to separate the locations too.”
“Could you explain that in a little more detail?”
“Look. Say it was Saturday. Naturally, I was supposed to spend it with Saturday, right? But then Monday, who normally worked weekends, suddenly got time off. He said he wanted to spend the whole weekend through Monday with me. So what do you think I did?”
“That must have been awkward. What did you do?”
Madam Rosalie deliberately exhaled a long stream of smoke in front of Elysia and grinned.
It had to be some ingenious method. Elysia gulped nervously.