Please Don’t Die, My Lady

Chapter 41

Every morning, just as the sun began to rise, Ariana left the room.

It was far too early for school.

When I rubbed my sleep-blurred eyes, I could see her adjusting her uniform.

What was she doing, leaving so early?

The classroom wouldn’t even be open at this hour.

I felt a twinge of curiosity, but I knew there was no point in asking. She wouldn’t give me an answer.

So I gave up and waved her off.

Clink, clink. The handcuffs jingled in rhythm with the motion.

Ariana noticed me and gave a faint smile.

“I’ll be off now.

I think I’ll be back a bit late today.”

“Be careful. Don’t die.”

“I don’t die that easily.

You take care too, Lady.”

“Alright.”

It was a rough sort of farewell, but by now, it no longer felt strange.

After all, this had become a daily routine.

At first, I had seen her looking a bit more flustered about it.

These words didn’t carry any deep meaning.

They were just practical greetings, that’s all.

If she died out there, I’d wither away and die in here, too.

It might have been an unnecessary worry, but humans often die for absurdly insignificant reasons.

When someone is out of sight, it’s only natural to have uneasy thoughts.

“…Once again, alone.”

With a dull clunk, the door closed, and silence descended on the room once more.

I slowly rolled my eyes, pulling my knees up to my chest.

Even though the temperature was the same as before, the atmosphere made the empty room feel colder.

I felt lost.

What was I supposed to do to pass the time today?

There really was nothing left to do now.

At night, I could at least look at the moon, but during the day, looking at the sky just made my eyes hurt from the sun.

Looking down at the ground was no better—it was just the dull and uninteresting expanse of the academy grounds.

I could just sit still and let my mind wander, but that would only lead to hollow despair, making me want to die even more.

Not that I could move my body anyway, so wanting to die in this state would just add to my suffering.

There was really only one option left.

I closed my eyes again.

Pushing the blanket aside, I curled up tightly, knees tucked under me.

I planned to stay asleep until Ariana came back.

I’d have to skip my midday medicine, but that was a necessary sacrifice.

Of course, Ariana wouldn’t see it that way.

She was overly concerned about my health and always managed to catch on whenever I tried to hide something worsening.

In that sense, skipping my medicine so often probably made me the worst kind of patient.

“I’m going to get scolded again…”

Still, it felt a little unfair.

If she was so worried about my condition, then she should just stay with me instead of leaving all the time.

When you’re confined like this, you end up sleeping more, just to kill time.

At least I didn’t have insomnia, despite all my illnesses.

If anything, sleeping too much was a problem, but at this moment, it felt like a blessing.

Even if I had nightmares, reality was more painful than any dream.

The ability to escape, even temporarily, into a dream—how precious was that?

It was sweet enough to make me wish I could sleep forever.

So, let’s sleep.

Let’s cut off reality with dreams.

As my tangled thoughts began to dissolve in the pull of sleep, drowsiness overtook me.

The grip of slumber drained the strength from my body.

Today was just another moderately dreary morning, and soon I would sleep away this unwanted time.

If only I hadn’t heard that voice.

“As expected.

Ariana’s a clever one.”

It was a voice I had heard before.

Startled, I sat up, and what I saw was a mouse sitting on the bed, scratching its ear.

Not a scruffy gray sewer rat, but a small, white mouse with red eyes—the kind you’d expect to see in a laboratory.

“Oh dear, did I startle you?

There’s no need to rush; you can go back to sleep if you’d like.”

The mouse’s mouth opened and closed in sync with the voice that came from somewhere.

It was hard to believe in my right mind, but the voice seemed to be coming from the mouse itself.

The sight of a small animal, which should only be capable of squeaks, speaking in a soft, adult male voice was surreal.

What made it even more bizarre was the voice itself.

“Professor of Magic Studies…?”

“Ah, you remembered me.

I thought you wouldn’t recognize me, considering how different I look now.”

“Why… Why are you a mouse?”

“It’s not that I became a mouse, of course.

This is my familiar. I call it Number Twelve.”

The mouse stood on its hind legs and bowed like a gentleman.

It wasn’t particularly impressive, but rather, it looked adorably awkward.

Only then did I recall that this world was a fantasy one.

Since I couldn’t use magic properly, it often didn’t feel real to me.

…Thinking about it, this wasn’t all that strange.

There were people here who claimed to have memories of past lives or believed they’d crossed worlds. A talking mouse wasn’t even that unusual by comparison.

When I let out a sigh and bowed my head, the mouse professor chuckled softly, as if finding my reaction amusing.

“Well, since you seem to have accepted it, let’s move on to the main point.

Right now, Miss Adelian is in a very precarious situation.”

“Anyone can see that. I’m being held captive.

I thought you’d come to rescue me, but weeks went by, and there was no sign of anyone.”

It made me wonder if the academy was always this incompetent.

Even if they tended to be a bit hands-off, this place was part of the Emperor’s dominion.

Surely they couldn’t ignore it if someone crossed a certain line.

I never imagined they’d let a student disappear from the dorms without so much as a search.

For about a week, I’d held out hope.

But no one came.

So I gave up and turned to Ariana for survival.

It was my way of staying sane. I sacrificed a lot, but the first priority was to avoid wanting to die.

So whether you came to rescue me or to handle the situation, you’re very late.

What is this? Some kind of cruel joke?

While you weren’t here, I was losing my mind trying to decide whether to live or die.

“It’s not that we didn’t come to rescue you—we couldn’t.

As soon as we heard about your disappearance, we attempted to force our way in, but no matter what we tried, it was impenetrable.

It took quite a while just to deduce that a concept-blocking array had been installed.”

He must have sensed my distrust from my expression.

The mouse professor began speaking rapidly, his tone almost uncharacteristically earnest, as if to explain himself.

It was basically an excuse, but the reasoning was sound.

Honestly, even if it was a lie, I didn’t care much.

At least he’d provided an explanation that made sense.

It wasn’t like I had the means to verify whether it was true or not. Doubting him would only make me more exhausted.

So instead of nitpicking, I asked a question.

“What’s a concept-blocking array?”

“To put it simply, it’s a spell that restricts access to everything except a specific concept.

In this case, it likely only allows access to ‘Remia Adelian.’

That would explain how you’ve been confined here.”

The explanation was clear enough, but it raised more questions than it answered.

Ariana was just a student. Was she really capable of using a spell that even a professor couldn’t break?

Even if it was a lie, it was an oddly convincing one.

If it were true, then the cost of such a spell must be immense.

Powerful magic always comes with a hefty price, after all.

“The secret techniques of the Warton family likely required a corresponding sacrifice.”

It seemed that was indeed the case.

Whatever was sacrificed, I hoped it wasn’t something like life or physical health.

Burning oneself to trap a single doll? That’d be absurd.

Why was she doing this in the first place?

She claimed it was for my sake, but she never explained anything in detail, so I still didn’t understand.

If she’d told me everything from the start, I wouldn’t be so suspicious of this strange mouse now.

Then again, maybe not.

Even if I knew everything, I’d probably follow blindly anyway.

I can’t blame her for not wanting to explain things to someone like me—a spineless, irritable, and inconvenient woman.

“Thankfully, there was a loophole that allowed me to sneak in.

A hole that was already open cannot be closed.”

“…A mouse hole.”

“Exactly!

Seems the department that pocketed the annual budget for pest control is finally about to get some recognition.”

I let out a hollow laugh.

For such a grand spell, this was a pretty glaring oversight, Ariana.

The professor, who had been chuckling along with squeaks, suddenly returned to a serious tone.

Now came the core of the matter.

“From the outside, Miss Adelian is being treated as a missing person.

Her attendance is not being recorded.

Given her accumulated absences, if this continues for a few more weeks, she’ll be expelled.

The academy doesn’t officially acknowledge deaths, after all.”

What he said next was as shocking as it was dire.

Expulsion.

They were going to act as if I’d never been here in the first place.

The academy wouldn’t admit to a death.

I couldn’t accept that.

I’d rather die here and now than be cast out and forced to return to the organization.

Among all the grim possibilities I had considered before coming here, that was the absolute worst.

My body trembled.

I barely managed to suppress my ragged breathing and lowered my head toward the mouse professor.

There had to be a way.

There must be, or he wouldn’t have come this late. Right?

Say there is.

Please.

“No…! I can’t be expelled.

I don’t… want to go back.”

“Do you want to stay in the academy?

Then you’ll need to escape as soon as possible.”

“…Is there a way?”

The mouse professor smiled, as if he had expected my desperate reaction.

Though a mouse’s face lacked expression, the atmosphere he projected was enough to make me perceive it as a smile.

As always, the professor exuded calm confidence.

And as always, I was the one clinging desperately.

So, it was natural that his smile felt like a ray of hope to me.

“Of course. We’ll need to bide our time, but since an external rescue is impossible, you’ll have to break out on your own.”

I forgot even to blink, focusing entirely on the professor’s every move.

He stuck his front paw into his mouth and pulled out a small, round metal object from his cheek.

Then, scurrying over, he placed the metal object he had just taken out into my hand.

As I clenched my fist around it, hiding it, I felt a surprising warmth—not what one would expect from metal.

There was even a strange texture to it, almost like a liquid.

It was an unusual item.

What could this be?

“This is a magical artifact called a Replication Key Talisman.

If it comes into contact with the key to Ariana’s handcuffs, it will immediately transform into a duplicate key.

Once the cuffs are off, you can open the door without resistance.

Wait for the right moment, copy the key, and escape when she’s not around.”

“But—”

Before I could finish speaking, the mouse professor scampered off, disappearing beneath the bed.

His actions seemed to imply that from this point on, it was up to me to think it through and resolve it myself.

“I’ll wait in your room,” he said, just before vanishing from sight.

With that final statement, silence settled over the room once more.

Even after he left, I sat there for a long time, staring blankly into space.

A Replication Key Talisman.

So, I have to make the choice myself.

Even a doll has been given a choice now.

If only he’d just given me an order.

Well, this was hardly different from an order.

For me, not escaping wasn’t a real option—it would lead to a result far worse than death.

Still, just a little…

Hmm.

Sighing, I rolled the small metal object around in my cuffed hand.

What can I say? My head hurts.