“Let me ask you first. What would you do in this situation?”
“Hmm… I think I'd tell Monday I already had plans and couldn't meet him. You said keeping them separate was important, and if I messed up the schedule and everyone found out, I'd be in trouble.”
“You've still got a long way to go. That's something only amateurs do.”
Apparently finding the answer far too conventional, Madam Rosalie clicked her tongue.
“Think about it from Monday's perspective. He normally can't take weekends off, right? But suddenly, he gets one off. He goes out of his way to tell you, and wouldn't he be disappointed if you turned him down? He's telling you he wants to spend this rare, precious weekend with me.”
“That's true…. Then how did you handle it? Did you meet him?”
“Listen carefully. The key to separation isn't the separation itself. It's taking the initiative. Instead of letting the situation drag you around, you become the one who designs the situation. First, tell Monday you're so excited that you want to book a wonderful hotel. Get him all worked up about spending the entire weekend together.”
“Then what about Saturday? And Sunday?”
“Obviously, you have to see them too. Ah, you're annoying me, so stop interrupting for now. Listen until I'm finished, then ask questions. You're ruining my rhythm.”
“…Yes.”
Madam Rosalie answered irritably, as though wondering why Elysia was asking something so obvious.
Book a hotel with Monday.
However, naturally meet Saturday and Sunday as well.
For now, Elysia wrote down exactly what she had heard in her notebook.
“But tell Monday that since everything was decided so suddenly, there's some work you haven't had time to take care of yet. Tell him you'll come as soon as you're finished and have him go to the hotel first and relax. Then he'll sit obediently in that room without budging, like a dog waiting for its owner, right?”
“That's kind of cute.”
“Right? Meanwhile, you meet Saturday as planned. But then you pretend to feel a little sick.”
“…What?”
“So you act terribly disappointed but pretend you have to go home early. Men are strangely weak when it comes to sick women. If you say you're ill, what's he supposed to do about it?”
Madam Rosalie shrugged and laughed.
“Then you tell Sunday that you want to see him early and go meet him on Saturday night. Sunday couldn't hold his liquor. I deliberately got him completely wasted by telling him I'd found an excellent wine especially for him. Enough to knock him out until the next day.”
“Isn't that… a little too much?”
“What the hell is too much about it? He was touched, you know? I came to see him early and even prepared excellent wine for him.”
Madam Rosalie did not seem to feel the slightest guilt about her actions. Elysia wrote ‘conscience’ in her notebook and drew a huge X over it.
“And once Sunday passes out, you go to the hotel room where Monday is waiting at dawn. Climb on top of Monday while he's asleep and kiss him while apologizing for being late. Then you make it up to him with some very long morning sex. By then, Monday has spent so long desperately waiting that he's practically given up, so when he finally gets his reward, he'll think he had an absolutely ecstatic weekend. Saturday will remember that even though you weren't feeling well, you still came to see him.”
“What about Sunday?”
“He barely remembers anything. I told you, he was drunk. He actually apologized to me for passing out first.”
“Ooh…. An expert really is different.”
Just listening to her exploits was enough to make Elysia's head spin. She could barely keep her wits about her with two men, yet Rosalie had managed six at once. Clearly, they were on entirely different levels. Elysia thought inviting Madam Rosalie to become her teacher had been an excellent decision. After hearing all this, it seemed less like Rosalie had been confined here because she caused trouble and more like the world had confined her because it simply could not handle her.
“You design the entire board intelligently. You separate the time and place while making sure no one's feelings get hurt.”
“Ah….”
Making sure no one's feelings get hurt. Those words bothered her more than anything else. Elysia naturally remembered what had happened in the infirmary last night.
“I'll be honest with you. I didn't want there to be a misunderstanding. Especially… not with you, Valentin.”
“After what happened by the wall before, I suddenly got scared you'd misunderstand me the same way again. Lord Loch and I have been friends for a long time. There's absolutely nothing like that between us.”
She had only said it to get herself out of the situation, but in the end, her words had hurt Tristan.
She had managed to escape the crisis, but the wounded look in his eyes still would not leave her mind.
“I've been thinking too much… about my own position.”
“No, thinking about yourself comes first. You're the most important one. You need to stand firmly at the center, or you'll just get swept away.”
“…….”
“From what I can see, the bigger problem is that you don't even know where you stand.”
Madam Rosalie tilted her head and looked Elysia directly in the eyes.
“What do you want to do?”
“I….”
“If you treat them with that kind of ambiguous attitude, of course they'll become even more anxious. That's why they keep chasing after you. Understand?”
“…….”
“So make up your own mind first. What do you want? Do you simply want to get away from them?”
It was true that she wanted to escape from all this. Hiding herself in the convent and spending all her time until last night desperately avoiding the situation in front of her had both been for the same reason.
The reason was simple.
She had been afraid.
But she had also realized that simply running away in fear would ultimately solve nothing.
“For now, I want to maintain things with both of them. If possible, the way you did, Teacher.”
“Right, so for now, your goal is ‘maintaining the two-timing.’ Got it.”
Madam Rosalie slowly nodded.
“But do you even like them?”
“What do you mean….”
“You keep doing nothing but avoiding them. I wondered if maybe you disliked them. If you don't like them, there's no need to force yourself to play along.”
“Do I have to like them?”
“Of course. Do you think they're idiots? If you're only pretending, they'll eventually sense it. So tell me honestly.”
Even if she lied, there was probably no fooling those sharp eyes anyway. If she had to put it into words, she had only been frightened by the sudden situation. She had no particular reason to dislike them. Of course, unless she was Elysia Gray herself, she could never fully understand everything. And falling in love with someone immediately after possessing another person's body would be ridiculous in its own way.
“Honestly, I'm not sure whether I like them.”
Still…. This was not a situation she could avoid. If she needed a reason, then she would have to find one.
“…At the very least, I think they're both attractive as men.”
“So, have you slept with them?”
“What?”
“I'm asking because it's important. Have you or haven't you? Just answer that.”
Elysia felt as though she had been caught completely off guard. She hurriedly waved her hands.
“Of course I haven't. How can you say something so irreverent… I'm a nun, Teacher….”
“I was just checking. Good. Then have you kissed them?”
“…I haven't done that either.”
“Ahh, then that's actually perfect.”
There was something strangely ominous about the grin curling across Rosalie's lips. Elysia tightly shut her mouth, afraid that if she asked any further, she would receive an answer she could not handle. Madam Rosalie, however, was visibly delighted, as though she had discovered some tremendous weakness.
“Handling two at once is difficult for now, so you should meet them separately, one at a time. Who do you want to meet first?”
“I….”
After thinking for a moment, Elysia spoke.
“Tristan first.”
It seemed better to deal with the one who had been weighing on her mind first.
“Good. Then come over here for a moment….”
“Yes?”
Madam Rosalie beckoned her closer. It looked as though she intended to whisper something into her ear.
There are only two of us here. Why would she need to whisper?
It was strange, but the moment Elysia approached as though drawn in, Madam Rosalie's fingertips lightly brushed behind her ear. Elysia flinched at the burning heat where they touched her skin.
“Ugh, wh-what did you do?”
“A blessing.”
Madam Rosalie whispered as though it were nothing remarkable.
“It's a gift I give to the people I handle.”
“Are you really a witch, just like the rumors say?”
“Who knows. Think whatever you want.”
Madam Rosalie carefully adjusted Elysia's nun's veil to cover the back of her neck, then let out a long yawn.
“I suppose the medicine is starting to work. I'm getting sleepy. Go on, get out. I need a nap.”
In the end, Elysia left Madam Rosalie's room as though she had been pushed out, one hand pressed against the stinging spot behind her ear.
Something about this feels unsettling. I haven't gone and done something unnecessary again, have I?
Her heart was restless. She had only tried to struggle somehow because it seemed that running away would never solve anything. Yet the future remained as opaque as a dense fog.
After walking quite a way down the corridor, she checked her reflection in a window.
Behind her ear, a mysterious pattern—whether it was a blessing or a curse, she could not tell—had been clearly branded into her skin.