Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/822139844414118669/episodes/822139846614504782
The bustle of the banquet continued.
Laughter, the clinking of plates, and light cheers.
A sense of relief among the students who had survived the conquest of the Primordial Labyrinth filled the great hall.
Looking around the standing reception area, small groups had formed here and there: some patting each other on the shoulder, others laughing as they stuffed their faces with food, and even some raising their glasses while still wrapped in bandages.
In the midst of that sea of people, I spotted a figure whose lapis-blue eyes stood out strikingly.
Her school uniform was neatly pressed, but traces of battle still lingered on her cuffs, and white bandages were wrapped around her slender fingertips. Even so, she stood with her back straight, her deep purple eyes fixed unwaveringly ahead.
Surrounded by students, she exchanged words with them in a calm manner.
“President! Thank you so much!”
“Your leadership this time was amazing!”
As words of gratitude poured in from all sides, Elisia shook her head slightly.
“It’s too early to be thanking me.”
Her quiet voice carried through the commotion.
“The Primordial Labyrinth isn’t over yet. Our real battle is just beginning.”
After saying that, she gave a gentle, fleeting smile.
“—But you should rest tonight, at least. It’s a day to be proud that you survived.”
At those words, the students’ expressions brightened even more.
Mesmerized by her dignified presence, the students were left speechless. Someone murmured softly, “That’s our Student Council President for you,” and several others nodded in agreement.
She was, without a doubt, the ideal student council president.
She certainly deserved that title. But—
“……”
It was the moment the crowd parted.
The smile vanished from Elisia’s face.
Just for an instant. A subtle change so slight that no one would have noticed.
The way she twisted her face as if suppressing something deep within her chest was a sight I had seen many times before—both during the time we’d spent together as fiancés and, in a past life, even through a screen.
Elisia exhaled softly and began walking as if nothing had happened.
She weaved through the crowd, heading toward the cafeteria exit.
As she left, her deep purple eyes glanced my way for just a split second.
Faced with that gaze—a mix of desperate hope and lingering anxiety—I set the plate I was holding down on the table.
“Rai? What’s wrong?”
“I’m just going out for some fresh air.”
She must have really liked it. Ciel takes a big bite of the fruit tart.
I answer her question and start to walk toward the exit where Elisia had disappeared, when suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I catch Liene’s gaze.
Her eyes, the same light brown as her hair, were fixed on me, but her gaze shifted ever so slightly toward the cafeteria exit—in the direction where that lapis-blue figure had vanished.
Then Liene adjusted her plate—and quietly took a half-step to the side.
“……”
There were no words.
She was simply wearing her usual gentle smile, but her eyes trembled slightly, as if betraying the anxiety and a touch of loneliness hidden behind that expression.
For just a moment, something lingered in the depths of my chest. But deciding that Elisia’s well-being came first, I looked away briefly and began walking toward the cafeteria exit.
Pushing open the heavy door and stepping outside, a cold night breeze brushed against my cheek.
As the door closed behind me, the clamor of the banquet receded instantly, and the silence of the night took hold.
“…I knew you’d come.”
A stone terrace bathed in moonlight.
Leaning lightly against the railing, Elisia murmured as she gazed up at the night sky. A hint of relief seeped into her voice.
I walked slowly toward her and stood beside her.
The school grounds below the terrace were softly illuminated by the moonlight. The faint buzz of the banquet drifting in from the distance felt like something happening in another world.
“Have you finished your speech as president yet?”
After saying that casually, Elisia shrugged her shoulders slightly.
“I don’t know. Things like that never really come to a clear end.”
Then, she let out a soft sigh.
“But… I just wanted to get out to a quiet place for a little while.”
Her gaze remained fixed on the night sky.
Her lapis-blue hair swayed in the night breeze, softly reflecting the moonlight. Her profile looked different from the dignified face of the student council president she’d shown moments ago; she seemed somewhat weary.
“…I can’t show my vulnerable side in front of everyone, after all.”
Those words fell, one by one.
Her deep purple eyes slowly turned toward me.
“…Rai.”
For just an instant, her lips paused as if she were swallowing her words.
Her deep purple eyes wavered slightly, and her composed expression twisted ever so slightly.
It wasn’t anger or sadness.
It was an expression tinged with a bitter emotion, as if she were somewhat exasperated with herself.
“I’ll say this now—I thought I could stand by your side. As your fiancée, I believed we were equals…”
I looked up at her as she let those words slip out.
Elisia was giving a wry smile.
“To be honest, seeing you do something as reckless as acting as a decoy… it made me angry.”
Her fingertips tapped lightly against the stone railing.
“I wondered, ‘Who do you think you are?’ Going off on your own without consulting me, risking your life like that—”
She shrugged her shoulders slightly.
“I thought you were arrogant.”
The night breeze blew.
She lowered her gaze just a little.
“…But I was wrong.”
Her voice was quiet.
“It wasn’t you who was arrogant—it was me.”
Her deep purple eyes shimmered in the moonlight.
“I thought I had the strength to do it.”
She exhaled slowly.
“The strength to bring you back…”
There was a brief pause as she seemed to choose her words carefully.
Silence reigned for a moment, but eventually she laughed self-deprecatingly and continued.
“Just between us, though… After I brought you back, I even considered locking you in my room for a while. So you wouldn’t do anything dangerous again…”
I couldn’t help but raise my eyebrows at Elisia, who casually said something so outrageous.
“You were planning to lock me up?”
“Hehe, yeah. That was the plan…”
Elisia replied without a moment’s hesitation. She was smiling, but her eyes were serious.
Suddenly, my knowledge of the original story flashed through my mind. Come to think of it, something similar happened in the original.
In the Elisia route, as Yu racked up achievements in dungeon conquests, the number of female students around him naturally increased.
Naturally—Elisia didn’t find that amusing.
Jealousy and anxiety. And the fear that someday he might abandon her and go somewhere out of her reach.
Was it to suppress those feelings?
Or was it really to make sure he didn’t get away?
One day, Yu was locked in Elisia’s room.
So he couldn’t get out. So he couldn’t see anyone.
—So he wouldn’t escape from her side.
(……Elisia really is the type who’d do something like that.)
Recalling that much, I shrugged my shoulders slightly.
As for what happened after that—well, if there’s one thing I can say, it’s that sweet voices echoed constantly from her room for three days and three nights.
The night breeze passed quietly between us.
After a moment of silence, Elisia slowly opened her mouth.
“…But what really happened? Far from saving you—I could do nothing but stand there frozen.”
Her deep purple eyes lowered ever so slightly.
“You remember the scene that awaited you at the top of the stairs, don’t you?”
A battlefield where massive black-iron figures stood side by side, and monstrous beasts of all shapes and sizes crowded together. She must be referring to when I was holding off the monsters all by myself.
“I’ll be honest. In that moment, when I saw those monsters, I realized…”
Her grip on the railing tightened slightly.
“…that we couldn’t win.”
Elisia gave a wry smile.
“…It’s a pathetic story, isn’t it?”
I shook my head slightly at Elisia, who was laughing self-deprecatingly.
“I don’t think so.”
“You’re still… so kind, aren’t you?”
Shrugging her shoulders as she spoke, Elisia turned her gaze back to the night sky.
“Even though I accused you of being arrogant, in reality—”
Her words trail off there.
Her deep purple eyes slowly lower.
“I was the one… who overestimated my own strength.”
In the quiet night, only her voice falls.
“As student council president, in my position to lead everyone, I’ve always believed… that no matter the situation, I could always choose the best course of action and bring everyone home alive. —That I was worthy of standing by your side…”
Her slender fingers clenched the railing tightly.
“But what is the reality?”
She let out a small sigh.
“If you hadn’t risked your life to buy us time, we would have all been wiped out right there.”
The night breeze blows, and her lapis-blue hair sways.
“…I’m weak.”
The words, spoken in a single, quiet breath, were swallowed up by the silence of the night.
I gaze silently at her profile.
Under the moonlight, Elisia’s deep purple eyes shimmered quietly.
Anyone who knew her normally would surely not believe it.
The student council president, who was more dignified than anyone else and walked forward with more certainty than anyone else.
To see her lower her voice like this and contort her expression.
—But I know.
I have seen this profile countless times.
After standing in front of someone else time and time again. After pushing herself too hard to fulfill her responsibilities. Elisia’s vulnerability—the way she takes everything on with a calm face, only to finally break down just before reaching her limit.
A side she never shows anyone else.
A true face she lets only me, her fiancé, glimpse.
Right now, she is certainly not the student council president.
She was simply Elisia—wounded, filled with regret, yet still holding herself together.
–
–
If you enjoy our content, feel free to donate, Thank you in advance !