MLLTM Chapter 20

When I arrived at the rooftop after a while, I finally knew why I was climbing up so smoothly. I couldn’t see it before on the ground, but it seems that Emily was pulling the rope.

I thought she just tied the rope to a pillar or column of some sort...

“Emily, you’re really strong!”

“It’s the food okay, the food.”

I’d rather not be doing these kinds of things ever again, but if ever something happens again, I’m going to make sure that Emily eats a lot first in case we need her brute strength again.

Afterwards, Emily and I went down and found a door leading inside the building.

Unlike the student dormitory where the rooms were marked with numbers, the professor’s rooms were marked with their names respectively.

Thanks to that, we easily found Professor Bentley’s room.

“Emily, what else did Violet and Natalie give you?”

“A candle, one little skewer…”

“Take out that one.”

I thought Emily wouldn’t come in with any preparation. That’s why I am thanking Natalie and Violet with all my heart and soul.

I think this skewer is from the cafeteria, the one we used when Emily and I were doing sword fights.

I didn’t expect it to be used this way.

Though I’m glad that I could use this instead of a wire.

The skewer might be thicker than a wire, but it can still fit into a keyhole. But since I’ve never picked a lock on another person’s door ever, I grunted without any knowledge on how to do so.

“Marilyn.”

“Wait a minute, Emily. I need to focus now…”

“No, I can hear footsteps.”

Only then could I hear footsteps in my ear. It was also quite close.

“Hurry!”

“I’m also in a hurry!”

Clack. Clack. Clack.

Ahhh! It’s getting closer and closer!

“Where can we hide right now…?!”

Clack.

“……”

“……”

When I pulled my hand out to run away, the lock suddenly clicked.

After exchanging eyes for a moment, Emily and I hurriedly opened the door and went inside before the owner of those footsteps emerged.

Slam!

I closed the door hard because I was in a hurry.

“Oh my, Professor Bentley. Are you in there?”

The literature professor knocked into Professor Bentley’s room to see if he already came home.

Inside, Emily and I swallowed our saliva as we grabbed the doorknob hard. Even though we closed the door immediately, we were still anxious.

“Professor Bentley? I thought I heard the door close though…”

Fortunately, the professor soon gave up and left.

“Phew–”

“We are already having difficulties right now…”

As soon as the literature professor left, Emily and I leaned against the door and sighed in relief.

“Marilyn, I can’t see anything. Can we turn on the lights?”

“No, what if we get caught? The security guard knows that Professor Bentley hasn’t entered yet.”

“But it’s too dark…”

“Just hang in there for a little while, Emily.”

Thanks to the moonlight coming through the big window, we were able to get used to the darkness to a certain extent, and even though it wasn’t that bright because the curtains were closed, it was better than nothing.

“Students who pay the tuition are only given a small room, while the professors live in some kind of a fancy apartment.”

“What’s an apartment?”

“It’s a building where there’s a lot of big and well-furnished rooms like this.”

I thought it was just a bit spacious, but it’s really like a big apartment house.

“Can we just light a candle?”

Unlike the living room, the room was too dark. We couldn’t see what was ahead of us, so whatever we wanted to find, we couldn’t find it.

Thus, Emily and I were forced to light some candles in order to search every nook and cranny of this room.

There were about three rooms except for the bathroom, but none of these rooms were unexpectedly suspicious.

We even searched the desk, but it was the same.

I’m sure there’s still something here… 

“Marilyn! Come here, quick!”

At that moment, Emily urgently called for me, and I immediately headed to the room where she was.

“What’s wrong?!”

“There’s another room behind the closet.”

“What did you find in here?”

Instead of responding, Emily opened one of the three closets in this room.

“…What is this?”

It was not a closet at all but a door disguised as one leading to another room.

“Let’s go inside.”

Emily and I took one step at a time as we put out the burnt candle and lit a new one.

We went inside with caution.

“…Oh my goodness.”

We were shocked to see the walls beyond the closet door filled with paintings of someone.

“If what I’m seeing isn’t wrong, those paintings on the wall. It’s Lariensa, right?”

“I don’t think you’re wrong, Emily. I’m also seeing the same thing as you are seeing right now.”

We then searched the desk.

“Isn’t this Lariensa’s hair tie?”

“Her ribbon’s also here.”

“Aren’t these Lariensia’s items? Trivial things, in fact. No one would notice if these things go missing.”

“That’s why I didn’t notice that Lara had lost her stuff even though we’re in the same room.”

“Ah, there’s a diary in here, too!"

As Emily said, there were three thick diaries found inside the desk drawer. We picked any of the three and opened it.

『Year XXX, Month XX Day X 

I had found my destiny at first sight at the entrance ceremony among the new students. Isabella Ronis. Ahhh, her name is as beautiful as she is…! Alas, her brilliant blond hair reminded me of my first love. Maybe she will become my last love. You don’t know how lucky I am to have the ability to recognize our fate at first sight, Isabella.』

T-this dirty little…!

“You ****** bastard, I will **** the **** out of you! Then I’ll *****– your **** until you’ll be barren for life, you ****!!!”

“…Emily, calm down.”

“This ****–”

I was also angry that I was about to curse but I was able to calm down after hearing Emily's swearing, which was both acrimonious and terrifying.

The remaining two diaries were the resentment and memories of his first love, and one whom he has just recently begun which contains his story about Lariensa.

“Let’s take these.”

Emily then put the diaries in her bag. Now that the evidence was somewhat secured, I led Emily to the living room.

“We have to hurry. Professor Bentley will arrive soon…”

Click.

Someone is opening the door with a key.

We had to rush out now.

＊ ＊ ＊

‘The chair where she sat…’

Bentley sat down in the chair where Lariensa sat earlier.

‘The desk where she puts her books…’

Lariensa sat here, made eye contact with him, and listened to him.

‘Lariensa must have also felt the same way. She must have been so kind and gentle that she was concerned about the dangers of what we were doing despite her friends’ threats that’s why she was trying not to get close to me so that they won’t notice.’

“Marilyn Launer, if only that Ginger is gone…”

Bentley, who clenched his teeth, approached the window and looked at the night sky, which resembled Lariensa.

Then he happened to see something from a distance.

From the windows in the faculty room, he couldn’t see the professor’s dormitory, but not in this classroom.

There, Bentley saw…

Orange lights peeking through the windows of his house.

Although the curtains were closed, it was still clearly visible from afar.

‘There are intruders in my house.’

Surely, anyone would be afraid if your house was intruded. However, Bentley had his own reason to be deathly afraid of any attempts of people breaking into his room.

Because that was his only place where he could openly express his feelings for her.

Thus, Bentley ran out of the classroom at a faster pace than ever.

＊ ＊ ＊

“Quick, hide!”

Emily and I hid in different places.

I hid under the kitchen table, while Emily hid behind a pile of flowerpots near the door.

Not long after the door opened.

Tap. Tap.

A steady gait drew the curtains off the window across the door.

The footsteps once again came close and opened another door with a bang.

“It’s alright.”

As expected, it was Professor Bentley.

“I know you’re in there, so you don’t have to hide.”

What do you mean it’s alright? It’s not alright at all. 

He already looks like he’s half-dead.

“You still wanna live, right? Why don’t you guys come out first and then let’s talk, hmm?”

Under the table, I could see his feet slowly coming towards the kitchen.

I know I shouldn’t make a sound, but I kept breathing hard.

I think I’m going to hiccup…

Growl–

Huh? I’m not hungry though…

“Aha, did you hide behind the flowerpot?”

E-emily! So you were hungry huh?!

It was a physiological phenomenon, so I couldn’t blame her.

Suddenly, I heard a rustle.

I lowered my head to get a better picture of the situation.

Emily, who was hiding behind the pots before, had volunteered to come out. She already has been caught anyway…

But what’s that thing on her head?

“Looking at your clothes, I think you’re a student. How about taking that thing off of your head first?

“……”

“It’s alright, I won’t scold you.”

Emily wore a vase that looked a little heavy on her head. Her hair color wasn’t as noticeable as Lariensa and I, so if her face was covered like that, one wouldn’t know who she was…

“Let’s put down that weapon in your hand first, okay?”

The weapon that Bentley was talking about was a small pot that Emily had in her hand.

Emily, you’re not trying to hit him with that, are you?

Oh, no. I have to stop her. If something goes wrong and Professor Bentley gets hit with that, it’s Emily who’s gonna be in trouble later!

I heard the prison in the kingdom doesn’t even give food properly to the prisoners.

I frantically looked around. Just in the corner, there was a large paper bag that Professor Bentley had brought containing food bought outside.

“Did you see the back of my closet?”

“……”

“…So you saw it, huh.”

Professor Bentley’s face grew more and more violent.

Aish, I don’t care anymore!

With a paper bag on my head, I ran straight towards Professor Bentley. Even though my eyesight was obscured, I located him with my senses.

“These brats!”

But I was immediately overpowered by Professor Bentley.

“Do you want this Professor to see your face, huh?!”

I could hear the paper bag I was wearing flapping. However, my face hasn’t been revealed yet.

Then I heard something breaking.

“E–…!”

I was about to call her name reflexively, but I hurriedly closed my mouth. Emily seemed to have struck Bentley with a flowerpot. Afterwards, I smelled blood and heard a groan on the floor.

“Ah…!”

I then held her hand. Emily was able to quickly identify who I was. So we ran down the hall as we covered our faces, and sometimes, we would hit a wall along the way.

It was when Emily and I went up to the stairs that we threw off the flowerpot and paper bag we had on our heads.

“Huff, huff…!"

“You think he’s still following us?”

“I don’t know…”

However, as soon as we stopped to take a breath by the stairs, we heard a thud and someone staggering along from where we were before.

Tsk! That damn Bentley!

“Don’t stop, keep running!”

Without a moment to catch our breath, we ran up the stairs again. Even though we couldn’t see him, we could still hear him following us.

“Hurry, hurry!”

Emily, who went up first, opened the old rooftop door.

“Faster!”

Emily reached out her hand to me after I went up a couple of steps. When I held her hand, I felt a pull almost lifting me up.

Thud!

As soon as we passed through the door, Emily immediately closed it and blocked the door with a flowerpot and a chair.

But not long after, we heard a loud barrage of banging on the door.

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