"Arte, wake up. Arte."
"Snrk... snrk..."
"...Arte? Arte?"
A voice reached my ears. Someone trying to wake me up.
How dare they wake me when I’m this exhausted.
Annoyed, I rolled over, and the voice disappeared, which improved my mood.
The pillow was firm yet warm and soft, giving me a sense of security.
Smiling in satisfaction, I groped around for the pillow I was hugging, but my hands found nothing.
...That’s odd. It should be right here.
"What if talking wakes her up?! In times like this, you should just gently stroke her hair!"
"...But my leg’s starting to hurt."
"You can’t even endure that for the one you love?!"
"Love or not, it’s been four hours already."
"Shh. She might wake up."
Just as I was confused by the missing pillow, the voices seeped back into my ears.
I was about to roll over in protest again when I froze at the content of their conversation.
...Leg?
Wait a second. Did I even have a pillow this hard at home?
I didn’t, did I?
"...Thankfully, she didn’t wake up. Just let her sleep, Yu Siwoo. She looks exhausted."
"Fine, fine. I just wanted to ask about what happened yesterday."
"You can do that later. Let’s just let her sleep for now. She must’ve been really tired."
Amelia’s suggestion to let me sleep longer was met with agreement from Dorothy and Siwoo.
But it was already too late.
My sleep had fled long ago.
To be honest, I wanted to sleep more, but I couldn’t.
...Why the hell was I sleeping between these three?
Unable to make sense of the situation, I tried to recall what had happened before I passed out.
Hmm, let’s see.
I couldn’t sleep at all last night, so I ended up pulling an all-nighter.
But I couldn’t skip the Academy, so I forced myself up and left the house.
I remembered stumbling around, and Hayul and Laira giving me weird looks.
...And then?
When I arrived at the Academy, I saw Yu Siwoo and Amelia talking about something.
As soon as I saw Yu Siwoo, I’d had a thought.
The reason I couldn’t sleep was because I’d been cold.
And when I’d been in Yu Siwoo’s arms yesterday, I’d definitely been warm.
I’d definitely thought that, and then... and then...
I could feel my face slowly heating up.
It all came back to me. Why I was here. What I’d done.
W-wh-what the hell?!
The thing my head was resting on right now—they’d said it was a leg.
It wasn’t Amelia’s or Dorothy’s. Their legs wouldn’t be this hard.
That left only one person.
The one who’d been complaining about his leg hurting. Him.
"She’s sleeping well."
"She said she pulled an all-nighter. Of course she’d sleep well."
"Is that so? Well, at least it’s a relief. Arte seems fine."
No one had noticed I was awake.
Even the teachers couldn’t tell if I was asleep or not.
This sure is convenient in situations like this.
"But... is it really true? That story?"
"If it’s hard to believe, you don’t have to. We know it sounds absurd ourselves."
"No, I’ll believe it. I trust that you wouldn’t joke about something like this."
"I appreciate that."
Dorothy let out a small sigh and muttered,
"The idea that Arte is actually a member of Arachne and has been causing all those incidents at the Academy... it’s hard to believe."
"If it’s hard to believe, you can just pretend you never heard it."
"No, I believe it. Absolutely."
"Why are you so certain?"
"Because I saw it. I saw Arte kill someone."
"...What?"
I nearly jolted upright in shock.
...She saw it? Me killing someone? When?
"Do you remember, Yu Siwoo? That Weaver Mensch dragon. The one who controlled the wind."
"...Yeah. I could never forget that."
"Me neither. Because that person... died right in front of me."
Only then did it click.
Why Yu Siwoo, who showed no signs of growth, had pushed that dragon so hard.
Why he had collapsed as if he’d been struck down after a single attack.
He must have received Dorothy’s reinforcement.
How? Where? None of that mattered. It was already long past.
"Arte killed that person in an instant. A perfect ambush."
Was she recalling the memory?
Dorothy’s voice trembled slightly.
"I couldn’t step in back then. It was the first time I’d ever seen someone die... and I was terrified."
"...But wasn’t the killer listed as unknown?"
"It was. Because Arte never revealed it. But that’s not the point. Arte was... ecstatic."
"Ecstatic?"
"Yes."
Dorothy replayed the memory in her mind once more before speaking with absolute certainty.
It was ecstasy.
"How dare a doll lay a hand on someone it shouldn’t."
"...That’s..."
"Those were Arte’s words. ‘A doll shouldn’t touch people.’ Something like that."
Siwoo and Amelia realized then.
Why Dorothy had believed their story.
Because she had already seen it for herself.
Arte talking about dolls and people.
"...But Dorothy, why didn’t you say anything?"
"Hmm?"
"All this time, you acted like you had no idea. You even got along with Arte."
Right. I had no clue. Not until yesterday would I have ever imagined Dorothy had witnessed that.
She had carried on as usual, as if she’d noticed nothing at all.
"Because there was no need to bring it up."
"No need to bring it up..."
"She killed someone. Of course that’s wrong. But is it wrong to kill a villain who was trying to murder a friend?"
Dorothy treated us the same as always.
As if nothing had happened. Just like usual.
But she had known everything.
"Sometimes, covering for a friend’s flaws is the right thing to do."
"...I see. That’s how it was."
Now fully awake, I listened to their conversation.
Dorothy, Amelia, and Yu Siwoo—all of them believed in me.
They considered me a friend, justified my actions, and trusted me.
And yet, the only one who couldn’t trust them was me.
I was just comforting myself by insisting that everyone except Siwoo was nothing more than a puppet.
"You’re the key to helping Arte, Siwoo."
"…Me?"
"Yes. You’re the only one. The only person Arte considers human."
So she’d noticed that much.
I’d assumed Arte lacked a distinct personality like Amelia, that she was just a generic side character.
"She said an inhuman thing attacked her. Which means Arte sees everyone in the world as puppets… except for you."
"…"
"I don’t know why she thinks that way, or where she draws the line between people and puppets."
"Me neither. I haven’t figured that out either."
"If you want to stop her from hurting anyone else, you’ll have to make her see other people as human. It won’t be easy."
Because only then would she hesitate to harm them.
Dorothy said that, then ruffled my hair.
"…You’re pretty sharp, huh?"
"I’m a mage. Shouldn’t I have at least this much insight?"
"Ah, right. That magic stuff. Isn’t it just chanting or something?"
"It is chanting. It’s just for the vibe… But, did I look a little like a mage?"
"Yeah, Mage-sama."
"Hehe."
They were thinking of me.
Dorothy, Amelia—both of them saw me as a friend, talking about me like I mattered.
I knew that. How could I not?
Even before I was dragged into this world, I’d never had friends who cared about me this much.
It was almost surreal how many people had come to care for me in such a short time.
…But I still couldn’t trust them.
What if they betrayed me?
What if the Author changed their settings?
What if, for the sake of the story, a new villainous faction appeared, and it turned out Dorothy was actually a spy for them?
Then this entire conversation would be a lie.
Dorothy’s concern for me, her worry—it would all just be an act to deceive us.
That was why I couldn’t trust them. That was why I had to shut my heart away.
I suppressed the emotions clawing at the firmly locked door.
There was only one person I could trust.
The only person I could believe in was just one.
Siwoo—the one person the Author’s revisions couldn’t touch.
Amelia and Dorothy were my friends. But for how long?
The Author changed settings on a whim.
They’d even rewritten the world’s fundamental lore.
Turned a normal Academy world into one where the Gate had opened 500 years ago.
Who knew when Amelia and Dorothy’s settings might be altered just as casually?
I crushed the emotions that had been knocking at the door, trying to pry it open.
In the end, there was only one person I could rely on.
Only Siwoo.
Pretending to talk in my sleep, I burrowed a little closer into Siwoo’s arms.
I felt his warm body heat.