Refuse Harem
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Prius
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 048 – Dear Tenma, This is Sudden, But Do You Know Fujoshi? III
Christina was perplexed.
From the way Sophie said she couldn’t meet that person even if she wanted to, it seemed to imply the person in question was no longer in this world. However, Christina couldn’t understand why she would pray for such a person’s safety and happiness in that case. She could understand if Sophie meant praying for the dead. But, from the way Sophie said it, it was as if she was talking about a person who was living in a completely different dimension. It was as if she wished for the happiness of someone who lived in an entirely different world altogether.
What a mysterious girl… but I’m sure she didn’t lie to me.
The thing Sophie said to Christina should be a fact. Christina could tell when a person lied or tried to deceive someone; there would be a minute facial or limb movement. Sophie was telling the truth without a doubt.
She doesn’t lie to me. Even so, I wonder what that pain I felt in my chest was?
She wondered why her chest felt painful. Christina covered her mouth with a fan and slowly thought over it. Not only could she analyze other people, but she didn’t shy away from analyzing herself either.
…I see, it seems I felt envious that that person is “special” to this girl.
Not long ago, she was jealous of “a certain person.”
Although it was just slightly, she was jealous of “a certain person” who met Sophie before she did.
Because that person told Christina about Sophie, Christina came to be interested in Sophie and made her into her “little sister.”
As unreasonable as it sounded, Christina felt indignant at why it wasn’t her who first found Sophie.
Neither resentment nor indignation were emotions Christina ever had before. However, she didn’t hate it when she considered Sophie was the reason for it.
Christina was looking at the girl in front of her who worried Christina might feel offended by her words and smiled gently. Then the girl smiled as she felt relieved.
It didn’t matter to Christina who that “special” person in Sophie’s mind was.
After all,
Right now, I am the person in front of her. I will eventually become her special person myself.
Sophie brewed hot tea for Christina, unaware that the beautiful person in front of her was having such a confident conviction.
After the tea party with Christina, as Sophie walked down the hallway to return to her room, Lilina stood at her door as if waiting for her.
“Lilina-sama, are you not returning to your room yet?”
“I have something to tell Sophie…”
“Eh…?”
Don’t tell me she got bored of me because I’m unable to read between the lines and considers our friendship is no more?!
As Sophie stiffened, her hand was taken.
“Sophie, since you always listened to me regarding what I liked about the ‘The Golden Knight and The Obsidian Boy,’ I ended up not knowing what kind of story you liked! I’m worried that you are bored of me because of my selfishness…!”
“Heh? …Eh?”
That’s what you worried about?!
As Lilina had suddenly held her hand, Sophie blinked more due to happiness than surprise, despite her dumbfounded expression.
“Of course, I do think that ‘The Golden Knight and The Obsidian Boy’ is a wonderful story, but there are still many other stories out there. How about we both search for your favorite stories together?”
“Search for it… together?”
As Sophie tilted her head, Lilina pulled her by her hands. As Sophie wondered where they were going, they arrived at the library.
Sophie often used the library to do her research. However, the place Lilina led her to was the back door of the library.
Beyond the small door was a large room with bookshelves covering all of the walls.
There were several desks and chairs at the center of the room, with several students transcribing books there.
There were easily several hundreds of books even as Sophie only took a quick look. No, perhaps there were thousands of them?
There were a number of books lined up beautifully, enough to fill the large bookshelves.
There were all the stories transcribed by generations of students.
“Is this all…”
If one looked closely at the titles of the books lined up there, one could find a wide variety of books, including serial stories, short stories, and those with a massive number of pages.
“Look, ‘A Short Yet Happy Dream’ and ‘The Dream Songs for the Young Flowers’. These are the stories my mother read during her days as a student here. These books are transcribed in my house and I often borrow and read them. This one, ‘Falling in a Hurry,’ was written from an earlier period.”
“Amazing…”
There were stories from years and even decades ago still stored there. Sophie swallowed her breath and took a book from a shelf, still impressed by such a fact. As she turned the pages over, she could feel how old the book was from the age of the paper. The beautiful words spelled a beautiful story inside.
“The reason our mothers were desperate to have their daughters enroll in ‘The Queen’s Rose’ was also because of this. They wanted their daughters to transcribe the stories they can’t read in here. I have transcribed many books and promised to give them to my mother.”
“I see. That’s a wonderful thing.”
Once they graduated, they could no longer freely read the books stored here. Everyone would be curious of possible continuations and finales of the stories they had to leave hanging.
Perhaps I should write a letter to Viscountess Harris and ask her what stories she wanted to read?
If Viscountess Harris had something she wanted to read, Sophie would transcribe it and bring it during the next vacation to convey her gratitude for the days she spent at this academy.
“But it’s somehow sad that I won’t be able to read here anymore once I graduate. Also, seeing as there are these many stories, I think many people would like to read them.”
“Yes. But that time is still far from now.”
Lilina said it with a lonely tone.
The stories the girls wrote freely would probably not be well accepted by the aristocratic society. Things like love stories and books that depicted class discrimination were likely to be excluded because they weren’t good for education.
“But you see, I think that some day in the future, the day these stories will be read by many people will come!”
It was an uplifting tone unlike before.
“Did you know? Thanks to Her Highness the Queen, women could now ride on horseback. Her Highness the Queen is promoting women’s freedom! Christina onee-sama is also the same. They both think that the women in the Orlando Kingdom ought to be more free and allowed to spread their wings! They would like women to be more valued and allowed to do more things.”
Lilina was looking at Sophie with glittering eyes, similar to the time when she was talking about Nicole and Leold. The strong brilliance that dwelled deep in her eyes shimmered like jewels.
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