"What are you doing?"
"Arte? Uh… It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it."
…Suspicious.
Watching Yu Siwoo hastily avoid my gaze and hide something, a complicated feeling welled up inside me.
It’s not like I’m some parent nagging him about not studying.
Lately, Yu Siwoo had been hiding something from me.
And because of that, he’d started leaving my side more often, using every spare moment he could.
Before, he’d only step away when it was absolutely unavoidable.
But these days, he’d disappear without so much as an explanation.
"What have you been up to lately? You never used to go online much."
"Uh, well…"
"And you never used to check your phone, but now you’re always on it."
At first, I’d felt a little hurt, a little uneasy.
What if he grew lazy like this and failed to overcome the Author’s trials?
So I’d picked at his recent laziness, intending to voice my complaints.
His training time had decreased, and the time he spent on his phone and the internet had increased.
Yu Siwoo wasn’t the type to slack off like this.
…But now that I thought about it, something felt off.
There was no way he’d suddenly change like this.
This was Yu Siwoo we were talking about. The world’s protagonist. The one who would save the world in its time of crisis.
There was no way such a person would just grow lazy out of nowhere.
I trusted Yu Siwoo. There was no reason not to.
There had to be some reason behind this.
…And as I pressed him, watching the cold sweat form on his brow, I became certain.
He was hiding something.
"…A woman?"
What other reason could there be for Yu Siwoo to suddenly change like this?
I racked my brain, then blurted out the thought that had just occurred to me.
Yu Siwoo must have heard me. He’d even heard me speaking with the Author before his abilities had grown stronger—back when he was practically in his initial state.
As if confirming my suspicion, Yu Siwoo averted his eyes, looking slightly flustered.
Ah, so it was a woman. That explained it.
Had he been scouring the internet for date ideas? Had he been spending all that time whispering sweet nothings to a lover?
"…Who is she?"
"Uh, t-that, well…"
"Who is she?"
Amelia? Dorothy?
Had he already started dating one of them?
I hadn’t noticed any signs of that, though.
Maybe it was because we’d been stuck together for over a month. I already had a solid grasp of Yu Siwoo’s social circle.
As far as I could tell, neither Amelia nor Dorothy were in that kind of relationship with him.
"I-I’m not seeing any woman. I swear."
"Then why are you stammering?"
"···."
"It’s not Amelia, and it’s not Dorothy."
Neither of them had given off that vibe.
So it had to be another woman.
From what I knew, there were only two confirmed heroines so far. Just those two.
But if it wasn’t one of them, then who on earth was this woman Yu Siwoo was so concerned about?
"Ahaha. Why are you so flustered? I’m not trying to interrogate you."
I decided to drop the subject for now and reassure Yu Siwoo.
But even as I smiled at him, my thoughts remained elsewhere.
…She’s not the heroine.
After considering every possible angle, I couldn’t help but think that.
I knew Yu Siwoo and those two had been talking about something recently, but I’d let it slide since it was their private business.
But there was one scene I remembered clearly.
Yu Siwoo, Amelia, and Dorosi had been looking at something on a phone and chatting.
If it had been just one of them, that scene wouldn’t have happened.
…Maybe she’s not the heroine, but another puppet?
Since when? Since when had she started clinging to Yu Siwoo?
I’d been keeping a close eye on his surroundings, after all.
I hadn’t been active as Arachne. No, I *couldn’t* be.
How could I act as Arachne when I couldn’t even leave Yu Siwoo’s side?
Most of the current Arachne operations were Spira and Laira’s doing anyway.
"You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to."
"Uh, well… it’s nothing, really…"
I wonder how those two are doing these days.
They hadn’t visited in over a month, so I had no idea how they were holding up.
I should ask our investigator about them next time.
She practically had them on a leash, keeping them in check like a babysitter.
Spira, who’d get full of herself the second you took your eyes off her, and Laira, who pretended she wasn’t affected but always got swept up in Spira’s antics.
I knew it was exhausting to keep them in line, but…
It looked like I had one more favor to ask.
"…I’m going to do some laundry. I’ll be right back, so you don’t need to follow me."
"Arte? Wait, that—"
I grabbed the laundry basket and quickly left the room.
Ever since Yu Siwoo and I started living together, I’d taken on most of the household chores…
Except for laundry.
Underwear and other… embarrassing things. We each put our own laundry in separate baskets and did it ourselves. That was the rule.
This was my first time cohabiting, so I wasn’t entirely sure, but I doubted it would be much different even with someone of the same gender.
That was why saying I was going to do laundry was the perfect excuse to slip away.
And as luck would have it, when I’d glanced over, there’d been enough laundry piled up to make it believable.
…Good. This should be far enough.
Even Yu Siwoo wouldn’t be able to hear our conversation from this distance.
If he could, his Ability would have to be something like cat ears, not Intuition.
Convinced, I clapped my hands to summon the investigator.
"…You called?"
"Sorry to bother you when you’re busy, but I have a request."
"Go ahead."
She’d really changed a lot, too.
When we first met, she’d been desperate to throw me in prison. Now here she was, working under me as a subordinate.
Along with Laira, who’d once been a heroine candidate, she was probably the person whose life had been flipped upside down the most because of the Author.
This world really was…
No, no. I didn’t have the luxury to waste time on gloomy thoughts like that.
There was information I needed to uncover as soon as possible. I shook the thoughts from my head and spoke to her.
"Can you look into Yu Siwoo’s past?"
"…His past?"
"Yes. As quickly as possible."
A flicker of confusion—*Why would she ask for something like this?*—crossed Hae-yul’s face for a moment.
But she quickly masked it, stiffened as if realizing her mistake, and nodded in agreement.
"Please look into his personal relationships."
Ever since I met Yu Siwoo, I had spent most of my time in this world watching him.
Yes, from morning till night. Even before I became dependent on him.
That was why I could be certain.
Yu Siwoo couldn’t have suddenly gotten a woman. Not at all.
If he had, I would’ve noticed instantly.
There was only one possibility.
…Something might have happened before he enrolled in the Academy.
"Understood."
"Please do it as quickly as possible."
I couldn’t say for sure, but as far as I knew, Yu Siwoo had no family.
His house was quite large for someone living alone.
And yet, even after watching him for over six months, I’d never seen a single family member.
So I assumed he had none.
Had his family been in some kind of accident? Or had the author removed them before Yu Siwoo’s settings became unchangeable?
Or maybe they were on a long-term business trip overseas, on the other side of the world.
Well, I didn’t really care about his family situation.
There was only one thing I was interested in.
"If something unnecessary is attached to him…"
No matter what kind of doll it was, I’d have to get rid of it.
"By the way, what is that?"
"Hm?"
"The thing in your hand."
"…Ah, this."
At Hayul’s words, I remembered the excuse I’d used to slip away.
Had I said I was doing laundry?
"It’s nothing. Just…"
"Hmm, I’m not sure if I should say this, but… carrying someone else’s laundry doesn’t look very good."
"Hm?"
What?
Confused by Hayul’s words, I checked the contents of the laundry basket I’d grabbed in a hurry.
…That’s odd. Why does it look so big?
"Well, if what Yu Siwoo predicted last time is true, then securing him early might not be a bad—"
"W-WHAAAT?!"
Startled, I hurled the laundry basket away, and the pile of clothes scattered across the floor in an instant.
G-Goddamn it!
I thought it was mine!
As soon as I threw the laundry in shock, I regretted it.
The dust on the floor had stuck to the clothes, making them even dirtier.
I’d ruined someone else’s laundry.
Feeling guilty for causing trouble, I was about to pick them up when—
"Oh dear. Let me help—"
"You can go ahead."
"No, but—"
"It’s fine."
"…Understood."
"…That was my laundry basket."
Yu Siwoo watched Arte hastily leave and thought to himself.
He had briefly debated whether to tell her or not.
And since the risk of not saying anything was too great, he’d decided to speak up.
But Arte had suddenly left before he could, so he ended up not telling her.
She’d rushed out with the excuse of doing laundry, her expression screaming that she had something urgent to do. He couldn’t bring himself to stop her.
And he couldn’t exactly tell her, *Hey, that’s my basket.*
She’d probably realize her mistake once she started doing whatever she was in a hurry to do, then come back.
Yu Siwoo decided to wait for her patiently.