SWNOVELXO Chapter 122
TLed by NolepGuy
Chapter 122
Within a story not included in the viewing.
Olivia was searching for Ricardo, who had vanished before her eyes. With anxious eyes, she sought Ricardo, who had disappeared after uttering a foreboding farewell.
He was gone.
Foolish.
Stupid.
The insolent butler who teased his master…
Vanished before her eyes with a bitter smile.
The warm embrace of Ricardo, who had held Olivia, gradually cooled. The warmth that had nestled in her heart scattered into the cold breeze, fading away.
“Ricardo?”
Olivia looked around, searching for the vanished Ricardo. Annoyed by the butler who had disappeared after putting on such airs, she kept looking around.
“Where did you go…?”
Olivia’s pupils trembled with unease.
“Don’t joke around. Okay?”
Her heart was pounding strangely.
It felt like tears might spill from her eyes, so she desperately called out Ricardo’s name, but the only response was the hollow sound of the wind.
Something…
Something felt strangely unsettling.
She was scared.
“Ricardo…”
Olivia convinced herself that it was just the butler’s foolish prank.
She thought it was another one of his events to lift her gloomy emotions, as always.
Because it had to be.
If it wasn’t Ricardo’s prank…
She wouldn’t be able to handle it.
Clutching her trembling heart, Olivia desperately called Ricardo’s name.
“I’ll get mad. If you don’t come out in three seconds, I’ll really get mad… Okay?”
Humans possess various senses.
The five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Among them, an additional sense was weighing heavily on Olivia’s chest.
Hunch.
A hunch that whispered she would never see Ricardo again was pressing down on Olivia with terrifying force.
An overwhelming suffocation began to constrict Olivia’s chest.
It was stifling.
The oppressive emotions slowly began to redden Olivia’s sharp eyes.
With trembling eyes, Olivia touched the ground where Ricardo had disappeared with her bare hands and murmured.
“This is strange… Ricardo was just here a moment ago…”
Olivia looked at the academy students who had hurled malicious insults at her.
“Huh?”
Even if they insulted her, even if they threw rotten eggs at her, Olivia, filled with desperation, asked in a trembling voice, hoping they would answer her question.
“I can’t see him.”
“I said I can’t see him…?”
“He was definitely right next to me just a moment ago. Ricardo even played a prank… But I can’t see him.”
Her heart…
Was pounding as if it would burst at their silence.
Her mind denied it was the butler’s prank, but deep within her heart, buried in the depths, a negative answer kept surfacing.
It wasn’t a prank.
What you’re denying is true.
It kept whispering in Olivia’s ears.
“Huh…? I’m asking you.”
“I’m asking you….”
“I. I. Am asking you! Okay? Why aren’t you saying anything? Why!”
Even as Olivia’s loud question echoed, the crowd remained silent.
Olivia was afraid of the silence.
“Why aren’t you saying anything… After all that chatter, why won’t you speak now…”
-Step… Step…
The academy students, Mikhail, and Ruin, who had been murmuring about Ricardo’s sudden disappearance, fell silent as they saw a woman walking toward Olivia.
“I…”
Yuria gritted her teeth.
Standing weakly in front of Olivia, Yuria’s shoulders began to tremble slightly. The vibration of emotions that refused to accept the situation weighed heavily on Yuria’s shoulders.
Yuria looked at the spot where Ricardo had disappeared and muttered softly.
“Did you think I’d thank you for leaving like this…?”
“Did you think I’d be happy that a bad person like you got what you deserved?”
“Why didn’t you give me a chance… Saying you were sorry… Saying you regretted it, why didn’t you even talk to me?”
“What is this.”
Olivia looked at Yuria, whose fists were clenched.
Thinking that if it were Yuria, she might know where Ricardo was, Olivia extended her trembling hand toward her, believing that someone as beloved as Yuria would surely know where Ricardo was.
“Hey…”
“…”
“I can’t see Ricardo.”
“…Let go.”
“Ricardo was definitely in front of me. He wasn’t supposed to touch that thing… The person who gave me that stone said it was really dangerous and told me to keep it safe.”
“I said let go.”
“Hey, Yuria, I can’t see Ricar—”
Yuria roughly pushed Olivia’s hand away.
“I said let go…!”
Yuria’s eyes were brimming with tears. As Yuria’s rough gesture shook off her hand, Olivia’s body collapsed onto the cold floor.
Yuria glared at Olivia.
“Do you still not get it?”
“I’m a fool, so I don’t understand. So…”
Olivia steadied her trembling heart and looked at Yuria. Because she was a fool. No matter how much of a genius she was called, she was a fool when it came to relationships.
Olivia asked the person she least wanted to rely on—Yuria.
“So… Tell me.”
Thump, thump…
Olivia pounded on her stifled chest.
“It’s so suffocating… It feels like something’s wrong with my heart…”
“It’s like… My heart is shrinking… And now I feel like I’ll never see Ricardo again…”
Hot tears began to stream down Olivia’s cheeks. Even though she tried to convince herself it was a trivial thing… Even though she whipped herself into believing it was nothing, the anxious feeling whispered chilling words into her ears, and the tears wouldn’t stop.
“It hurts strangely… So please, okay? Tell me.”
Olivia grabbed Yuria’s hand again.
“I’m begging you like this. I’ll stop liking Mikhail too. So please, tell me.”
Kneeling before Yuria, Olivia cried out desperately.
“I can’t live without Ricardo.”
“That fool was so good to me. I couldn’t do anything for him, and now letting him go like this doesn’t make sense.”
The emotions of losing someone precious began to unravel the thick bandages Olivia had wrapped around her heart.
The feelings, friendships, and lingering attachments she had built over 13 years were collapsing all at once.
“I couldn’t even give him a proper gift. I said so many harsh things… This isn’t how it’s supposed to end, right?”
Olivia pressed her forehead against Yuria’s hand.
“Please… Just! Say something!”
Yuria glared at Olivia with bloodshot eyes. She bit her lip tightly, looking down at Olivia, who sat pathetically on the floor, unable to control her trembling shoulders.
“I clearly told you.”
“I told you Ricardo was sick… That he was so sick he felt like he was dying!”
“I was scared of you, terrified of what you might do to me because of a single word I said! But I told you because Ricardo looked like he was going to die. Do you understand?!”
“And yet, what did you say?”
“I…”
“What did you say?!”
“I was such a fool…!”
Yuria let out an empty laugh as she grabbed Olivia by the collar.
“You know why I can’t speak… Why are you pretending not to know?!”
Yuria’s eyes were filled with the emotion of a grudge as she glared at Olivia.
“It’s because of you.”
Olivia bit her lip firmly and shook her head.
“No… I didn’t know.”
Ha… Yuria let out a hollow laugh, as if she found it absurd.
“Ricardo died because of you.”
Ricardo’s face kept appearing in Yuria’s mind.
The image of Ricardo, clinging to a fragile straw rope of hope, smiling even as he seemed ready to break at any moment, kept flickering before her eyes.
No matter how much she hated him.
Even though he was someone who had tormented her.
Because he was her first love.
Her heart ached so much.
“He was someone who always did cruel things…”
“Someone I thought I wouldn’t care about.”
“Someone who tormented me whenever I tried to like him…”
Drip… The sky began to darken, and before long, the clouds burst into tears.
The falling rain shower drenched both Yuria and Olivia.
“Why does it hurt so much?”
Yuria looked up at the sky with a heavy heart.
“Ricardo was in so much pain.”
“…”
“He couldn’t even walk on his own, his body was covered in black scars. His breathing was so rough… and his eyes were lifeless.”
“My chest hurts so much…”
Overwhelmed by the relentless questions of responsibility, Olivia shook her head frantically.
Because she hadn’t known.
Because she thought it couldn’t possibly happen.
But.
The reasons for Ricardo’s suffering pouring out of Yuria’s mouth pointed solely to her own responsibility.
“Like a fool, he didn’t even say a word about being in pain…”
“Like a fool, he smiled and said he was fine… How could you not know?!”
In the pouring rain, Yuria shouted at Olivia.
And.
The arrows of blame were not solely aimed at Olivia.
“What do you mean Ricardo came?”
A platinum-haired silhouette emerged, cutting through the crowd of students.
Princess Chartia.
Having just finished her busy work, Chartia stood before Olivia, who was the focus of everyone’s gaze, breathing heavily.
“Where is he?”
Chartia looked around.
Silence.
Seeing the people crying, Chartia spoke with a voice filled with anger.
“Where is that guy?”
No answer came.
Yuria lowered her head.
Olivia could only stare at her trembling hands.
“I’m asking you! Where is that fool?!”
Chartia asked Yuria in a trembling voice.
“The Student Council made a wrong judgment.”
“What…?”
“Three days ago, that guy handed over a strange bundle of papers.”
Chartia was flustered.
The contents of the documents she had been too busy to review were vastly different from what she thought she knew.
Chartia, who had uncovered the truth of the meticulously hidden events Ricardo had concealed, couldn’t help but be shocked.
“The incident in the dungeon. The arson at the Academy. Everything we thought was Ricardo’s doing…”
“…”
“Had nothing to do with him. Those bastards kept blaming Ricardo, so we issued disciplinary action… Damn it.”
Chartia looked at Yuria with trembling eyes and said.
“He wasn’t involved.”
Chartia asked Yuria in a trembling voice.
“Don’t you remember anything? You should know.”
“I…”
“You said Ricardo saved you. Mikhail, you also said you saw Ricardo saving Yuria back then.”
The arrows of responsibility began to scatter in multiple directions.
And.
“You idiots.”
A chilling voice tightened their breaths.
“Do you even realize what we’ve done?”
Chartia delivered the hard truth to them.
“If it weren’t for that guy here…”
A cold, hard truth.
“You would all be dead by now.”
***
Olivia opened her tightly shut eyes and stared at the ceiling.
“Ricardo…”
She felt a warm touch.
A comforting warmth brushing over her head.
“Did you have a nightmare?”
When she opened her eyes, Ricardo was there, smiling gently.
As always, Ricardo smiled warmly at her with his kind voice.
“But I still don’t have any chocolate.”
Like a fool.