[X]
The box opened at once. A letter, presumed to be written by Aurora, came out of it.
As I handed it to Raffaelo, Ghieuspe looked at me with surprised eyes.
“Okay, let’s start the explanation now. Everyone, focus!”
As I clapped my hands like I used to do during my teaching days, Raffaelo looked bewildered.
“I’m not sure if she’s fearless or just clueless.”
“Stop talking over there!”
“……….”
“Stop taking notes! Understanding comes first! Don’t just jot down things randomly, understand them in your head!”
“What?”
“Focus, focus! There’s only a month left until the exam, it’s not the time for this. Don’t you want to see me again next year? I do!”
“Viviana, why suddenly informal?”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
I got too immersed in the lecture. After clearing my throat, I started explaining.
“Since you mentioned the date changed a minute ago, Aurora must have written this letter around midnight.”
“Does that mean we can guess what day it is?”
“No, because 72 hours later is still midnight, so the sun won’t rise…”
“………”
They all wore expressions of disappointment at that.
Ghieuspe sighed, accepting his defeat.
“Thank you… We’ll be leaving now…”
Raffaelo said with a disappointed expression.
“Well, you shouldn’t get the same question wrong again, right? Go home and write down the mistakes in your notebook.”
“What?”
“You also want to go to SKY, don’t you, SKY? Everyone can go to SKY if they try.”
In the South Korea where I lived, ‘SKY’ was the dream university for everyone.
It combined South Korea University, Korea University, and Yonsei University to call it SKY.
I myself was a lecturer from Yonsei University. Well, there’s probably no place where academic background matters as much as the private education industry.
“What have you been saying all this time?”
“If you don’t understand, just let it pass.”
While unconsciously teasing my lips, I’ve been feeling a strange discomfort since earlier.
The leading men weren’t as intimidating as I thought!
These are completely different people from the original work.
I should try to appeal to them about my harmlessness while I’m at it.
“Hahaha, I’m really worried about how delicate and frail Aurora is doing. I hope we can find Aurora soon.”
Arkhangelo gave me a strange look, but I didn’t stop talking. I had to appear concerned about Aurora in their eyes.
“Of course, Aurora wouldn’t want to be caught, but I support you all. Live happily with Aurora.”
However, when I said that to establish a friendly relationship with them, their expressions entered the realm of bizarre.
Ghieuspe openly frowned, and Raffaelo chuckled and asked, tilting his head.
“What are you talking about?”
“Huh?”
“Why should we live happily with Aurora?”
“Uh… because you all love Aurora?”
And the ensuing reactions from the leading men were unbelievable.
“What nonsense, eww!”
“Eww, why would we love that!”
“………”
They even pretended to vomit as they rejected my words!
No, this is strange. No matter how you look at it, that behavior seems far from love.
“What? Are you crazy? Why would I love that Aurora person?”
“Huh? No? You don’t love Aurora? When you see Aurora, my heart races, your face turns red, you want to tease her for no reason, and yet you can’t stand it when someone else bothers her…”
“Stop talking nonsense! I absolutely don’t love her!”
If this was acting, he should immediately leave the army and pursue a career in theater. That’s how sincere he was.
“Are you insane? Me, loving that crazy person?”
Arkhangelo also shuddered in horror.
“……?”
Look at Ghieuspe’s reaction too! That was real!
So, they really didn’t love Aurora?
“Then, you didn’t harass Aurora because you loved her?”
Excluding Simone, the only affectionate man from the original, Raffaelo, Arkhangelo, and Ghieuspe could truly be considered the three clueless brothers.
Raffaelo threatened Aurora’s only friend to have her and destroyed that friend’s family.
“Hold my hand, Aurora. Then everyone will be happy.”
Arkhangelo blackmails Aurora, saying that if she becomes his possession, he will allow her to pursue singing as she wishes. Otherwise, he warns her that she will never dream of singing for the rest of her life.
“Ha, I don’t understand why you’re giving up on a way to achieve your dream.”
Ghieuspe leverages his position as a rare dark wizard to pressure the Marquess of Shae. He forces her to come to him.
“Aurora, there’s no escape.”
So, what did the last main character, Simone, do? He rejects Aurora when she asks for help.
“Haha, Aurora… This puts me in a bind too.”
It’s a long story, but ultimately, Simone ends up committing just as heinous acts as the other three main characters.
As a result, Aurora escapes from the three clueless brothers, no, the three clueless brotherhood!
“No, where on earth did you hear such nonsense? Find the one who spread those rumors! Ugh, just thinking about it gives me the creeps!”
Now I was perplexed.
All the information I knew about ‘Try Running Away for Once’ was falling apart.
What’s going on?
Is this what they call ‘destroying the original’?
Okay, let’s summarize at times like this. When solving a problem, collecting clues is crucial.
(1) The main characters never loved Aurora.
(2) Therefore, they never harmed Aurora.
(3) Then why did Aurora run away?
“We were really close friends with Aurora! We were true, genuine friends! We could never have been like that!”
So, they were ‘real friends’.
“Then why are you going to find Aurora yourself?”
“Well, that’s…”
In response to my question, Raffaelo, Arkhangelo, and Ghieuspe all sighed simultaneously.
It seemed more like a sigh of exhaustion and weariness from life rather than the typical sigh of ‘the main characters worrying about the heroine running away’.
“Aurora was struggling a bit because of the engagement pushed by her family, and we might have teased her too lightly… ”
“What engagement?”
“We were planning to tease her a bit and then help her. But Aurora got really mad about it, sought revenge, and ran away from us.”
“What revenge did she take?”
“I can’t say. Simone will tell you when he comes.”
My mind was completely filled with confusion now.
Did Aurora spy on the main characters and then leave?
Then why should I join this group?
As I sat there with a dumbfounded expression, surprisingly, Raffaelo patted my shoulder and said,
“Hey, we will come back tomorrow with Simone, and he’ll tell you everything. That’s when you’ll learn the whole truth.”
Simone Monteverdi, the last main character and the rationality of this novel?
Why bring him back again?
“Why? Wasn’t my help already over? What more do you want from a commoner like me? You might as well fleece me.”
“Ah, Viviana’s tone doesn’t surprise me anymore. I just glanced at the contents of the letter, and it seems like we’ll need your help more.”
“Me? What do you mean?”
“There’s something like that.”
Without further explanation, the main characters left me after dropping the bombshell.
Having to see them again tomorrow felt like a thunderbolt to me, but there was no other way. I nodded in understanding and saw them off.
After the sudden storm had passed the mansion, I finally collapsed on my bed, utterly drained.
“Abigail…”
“Yes.”
“I wonder how much my property is worth?”
I was seriously considering fleeing from this family.
Thankfully, the main characters didn’t resent me.
But my father was extremely angry with me, believing that I had harassed Aurora. The Shae family was exerting strong pressure on me.
If I stay quiet, I might get kicked out.
In that case, wouldn’t it be better for me to leave with my property first?
However, the answer I received from Abigail was despairing.
“You invested all your assets last time.”
“What?”
“Earlier this year, you said you got some good information and invested all your assets in mining development. You said it would be a huge success if it worked out.”
“What?”
Seraphina Viviana, is this madness?
Does she have zero financial sense? Doesn’t she know what diversification means?
So, she can’t do math or use magic either! What if she loses everything by investing all her assets!
Thus, the escape route became elusive.
All that was left was to hope that the main characters would come looking for Aurora.
As I sat in my room, feeling like I was about to dig a burrow, someone opened my door wide.
“Seraphina.”
“Ah, Father.”
It was my father, who had shouted at me to repent this morning and then disappeared.
“I’m on my way back from talking with Lord Shae.”
My father said, even his nostrils flaring with excitement.
He was visibly agitated as he continued.
“Lord Shae demanded substantial compensation from us for the trouble he’s been through all this time! I raised you really wrong!”
“……..”
“Money isn’t the issue right now. I never knew you were capable of tormenting someone like that! How hard I worked to raise you alone after your mother left!”
…Mother?
No wonder she wasn’t around. It all makes sense now. Such a typical plot twist in novels.
“I’m sorry. I really regret what happened.”
Since I was the one who had to resolve this situation, I spoke up.
“I’m doing my best to handle things. Lord Shae won’t demand compensation from us, so don’t worry.”
“What?”
“It was suggested by Raffaelo Nesta of the Nesta family, Aurora Shae’s friend. He said if I assist in finding Aurora Shae, they’ll help too.”
“Wait, Raffaelo Nesta of the Nesta family?”
“Oh, famous friends of Aurora. Raffaelo Nesta of the Nesta family, Simone of the Monteverdi family, Ghieuspe of the Ascary family, and Arkhangelo of the Phyro family. I’ll help them find Aurora.”
At that moment, my father yelled so loudly that it felt like my eardrums would burst.
“No waayyy!”
“What?”
Enduring the urge to plug my ears, I asked again. My father responded with a flushed face.
“There’s no need to get close to those foreign men! They’re just fooling around because of your beauty!”
“Huh?”
