Before I even realized it, I was already standing in front of a particular locked door. It was such a surreal experience to me that I momentarily turned into a sculpture as I held my counterfeit keyring in silence.
My entire school day had progressed at a glacial pace as I anticipated this moment, but I felt differently now at the pearly gates before me. A subtle emotion took hold of me, trying to reign my racing thoughts. And as much as I wanted to deny it, the truth was painfully obvious to me.
It was fear. I was afraid now that I knew who the person beyond this door really was. Over the last two years, I had made enemies with all manner of imbeciles in this academy. Of these idiots, a vast majority of them were children of powerful families and future inheritors of financial powerhouses.
But they were but small fish compared to what lay inside the room in front of me. A true white whale of legendary myth laid at my feet, such that it made me tremble both in awe and fear.
Butterflies churned in my stomach in a swarm of unease, but there was no going back on what I had done. To go back on my word to a member of the LeDeloux family was something only the most deranged lunatic would ever conceive of doing.
...Shit. I don't think I've felt this afraid since I got "broken into" for the first time inside of the Mistress's Bedroom. When I thought about what happened in that abominable prison, I felt a thin veneer of sweat form on my face. Terrible memories threatened to resurface if I dared to contemplate what occurred during my initiation.
In comparison to what I had to endure back then, opening this door should've meant nothing to me, and yet...
My hands were trembling imperceptibly, as if today was going to be my first time meeting the Mistress herself.
I'm calm. I'm focused and in control. I'm prepared.
I'm calm. I'm focused and in control. I'm prepared.
I chanted the mnemonic trigger I had been instructed to recite under stressful conditions. The still echo of a forgotten voice slowly mingled with my own voice until... she finally took over.
A warm, velvety voice whispered to me in an unutterable tongue that I was going to be fine.
That I was prepared for what was to come. That I had nothing to fear anymore.
Her voice was a bug in my brain that had nestled itself so far in my mind that I would never be able to get rid of it for the rest of my life. A memento of a better time when I had a place to call home.
My beloved mentor's echo took hold of my soul and rooted me in permafrost where I belonged. A cold rush of indifference flooded my veins until I could feel no more aside from the slow, rhythmic cadence of my heartbeat within my ears.
I opened the door into the study room I called my personal sanctuary and I saw...
Her.
Lyla Malvano LeDeloux.
The granddaughter of a family so inconceivably wealthy that it could, in a literal sense, buy the entire planet itself and still have money to spare.
Were I to make an educated guess, I don't even think that the LeDeloux family even cared about money anymore.
All of this world's gold can't even begin to match what they're offering.
Gold doesn't mean shit if you'll die in a couple of centuries, after all. What's the point in hoarding shiny trinkets if they'll eventually be someone else's, right?
Such was the LeDeloux family's core maxim and, at the same time, the source of their immense wealth.
When she heard the door open, she turned towards me and said, "...I was wondering when you'd show up, Mr. Thief. Have you come back again to steal more books, or is there something else in my library that has attracted your attention?"
I'm still a thief? And wow, nice self-compliment and unnecessary flex right there, you little twat. Did she even remember my name from last time?
There was a lot I wanted to tell her already, but I firmly kept my mouth shut. Making an enemy of this girl was a no-go, for a single malicious utterance from her could ruin my life.
To be very fucking clear, I do not enjoy the prospect of becoming a verbal punching bag, but at the same time, I'd prefer not to simply disappear one day out of the blue...
And never see natural sunlight for the rest of my natural lifespan. I've heard horror stories of what the LeDeloux does to those foolish enough to make an enemy out of them.
For the lack of better words, it's speculated in the Underworld that the LeDeloux family has bought a little slice of Hell itself for their own purposes.
An ominous chill ran down my spine, almost as if the grim reaper himself had run one of his bony fingers down my back.
"I would never dare to steal anything from this library, let alone even imagine it. One only need to hear the name 'LeDeloux' to understand that something is untouchable," I said.
Lyla smiled with a knowing expression and shrugged her shoulders in a defeated manner. She took a glance outside and said, "You'll never know if you don't try at all. To be honest,.. though, I'd pegged you as a man with more initiative than this. You didn't disappoint last time, after all..."
She knows. Of course, she'd know about me, why the hell wouldn't she? With her family's resources, looking up my file should have been a breeze.
The question, though, is how much does she know. How far has she dug? Only through the police records or all the way through to the bedrock?
...Ah, shit. This is the fucking worst. I hate the snooping people to the bone. Always have their noses up someone else's ass, since they have nothing better to do themselves.
"I don't know what you're talking about, 'Laela'. Keep your weird delusions about me to yourself. I won't stand for outright slander, even if it's from you." Rather than play into her bullshit, I deflected her bait and strolled over to the other side of the only table in the study room.
This felt wrong. It wasn't what I had anticipated. She was far more caustic than last time, to the point that I felt it useless trying to converse with her. What the hell happened to her?
...Wait, where did this table come from, anyway? She broke the last table when she slammed my ass into it, so where did this one come from? And the study room's all clean, too, as if nothing had ever happened in the first place.
I didn't clean the mess up. And I highly doubt this princess cared enough to do something as mundane as cleaning herself, so someone else must have come in here and cleaned up shop.
"You're quite the industrious young man, I must say though. Eight counts for the possession of a class-three weapon, five counts of extortion, nine counts of computer crime, six counts of aggravated assault, over a dozen counts for forgery, and the list just goes on and on without end," said Lyla as she rattled out a seemingly endless list of criminal charges, as if they were items on a demented shopping list for criminals.
When I saw her eyes widened in mock surprise as she stated at her holo-comp, I realized that maintaining my silence was only feeding her drive to mess with me.
To her, my reaction had probably riled up her competitive spirit. In essence, she had taken my reaction as a welcomed challenge to beat.
"Enough," I retorted harshly, "If this how it's going to be every day, then you can consider me gone. Don't think I won't do it; Keep your library for all I care, I'll find another place to bide my time."
There was a limit to how much I'd allow myself to be a punching bag for her. If she wanted to banter freely, that was fine with me as long as she didn't cross the line.
Lyla's expression changed when she heard my ultimatum. She had a beautiful smile on her face, but it felt like it was anything but a smile. Her eyes twinkled with a sort of debased amusement that put me on guard.
"I honestly don't know how long it's been since anyone's tried to give me an ultimatum," said Lyla as she slowly shut her holo-comp closed. "Only my parents and grandfather have ever done that. The water fleas in this academy wouldn't have even 'imagined' doing that to me, so to speak."
"Why is it so hard damn for you to understand that I'm not your flunky? I'm no aristocrat and have no ties to the Old World. What does it matter to me if I refuse one stuck-up princess and make myself scarce?"
"Galford Wisfern. 39 years old. Current President of Helix Logistics Inc. The financial reports I received indicate that it's a mid-sized company worth 347 million credits at the moment."
"Do not test my patience. I'm serious. It's going to end well for either one us if you insist on persisting down this path."
Honestly, I was fine with her spouting whatever she wanted about me. But my past and family were off-limits. You'd think this girl would've had a shred of common sense in her bones, but she's been a total psycho since this conversation began.
Who in their right mind would ever think it socially acceptable to say half of the shit she's said in the last ten minutes? What kind of insane upbringing did this girl endure to have come up so antagonistic? I feared for the rest of the world at large if every member of the LeDeloux was like this girl.
"What are you talking about? I haven't said anything offensive or malicious, aside from what I know about your father's booming business. What's with that crumpled expression on your face? Is something troubling you?"
You're the one that's making my life a living hell right now! Stop looking into my past and my goddamned family, it's creepy as hell! Normal people don't do that shit! They mind their own business!
"Does the LeDeloux family not understand the concept of 'privacy'? Or was that something you weren't taught to value as a child? I pity you, my pointy-eared friend, if you cannot comprehend such a fundamental social concept as, 'Don't dox the personal information of a friend because it makes you look like a creepy stalker."
Lyla looked unfazed by my bold accusation. She, in fact, even appeared mildly confused as she pondered over what I had said and retorted, "...Is it really that a terrible an act? The information was publically available so I don't see an issue here. Let me put it this way, is it not preferable to acquire more information on someone you're interested in, like a friend or relative?"
"Normal people don't look into their friend's parents or their business, you damn freak! They learn about each other by talking to one another, you know, like socially-cognizant people naturally do it?! You're not investigating up your arch-enemy's weaknesses here, so cut it out that shit!"
Oh god, what did I sign myself up for? This girl actually thought that running an in-depth investigation into my dad's company was what normal people did whenever they met someone new.
I thought that I had stumbled onto an exotic flower that no one else had ever seen before, but I think I got it completely wrong. This girl isn't a flower at all, she's more of a damned bear trap.
It took a very long time and an incredible effort on my own behalf, but after much discussion, I ironed out a variety of misconceptions with my otherworldly little fellow about what commoners, such as myself, did when we met each other to chat.
We did not talk about our family's ludicrous profit margins, the inter-familial politics of the various Old World families, and their most recent actions, public and private, or about the emerging technical fields within the industry they governed.
No, normal people did not talk about how "this nephew of mine is going to be wed off to the daughter of so-and-so family in order to secure a merger between two companies or settle a recent (several hundred-year-old) family feud in private" and the like. That has NEVER happened.
In the simplest words possible I slowly said, "Normal people talk about the weather today, Lyla. They talk about their favorite musicians, books, and hobbies. Under no circumstances do they meet to talk about creating a stranglehold on the aeronautics industry together in the near future."
Lyla pensively stared up at the study room's ceiling and said, "Hmm, I would have never known that it was like that for the common person. It's difficult to imagine a life with that much... freedom. I find that sort of luxury very enviable, were I to be honest with you. But it was not fated for someone such as myself."
"Just do it, then. Excuse my Elvish, princess, but stop being a little bitch. You're telling me that the daughter of the wealthiest family on the planet can't do what she wants? PLEASE... don't tell me that your home is some sort of draconian hellhole and your folks are over-demanding assholes," I replied.
I refuse. Deep down, I was going to break if she admitted that she had tiger parents. Because it was no different for myself. What did it matter if she was born a child of the richest and most powerful family if she had to deal with the same bullshit as the rest of us?
Even now, I couldn't go back home. Not after all that I had done. Every time I returned, my mother always flinched slightly as if she'd cast her eyes on an unknown stranger that had broken into her home.
She always tries to cover it up with a warm smile afterward, but that's never worked.
My father won't even meet me anymore. Hasn't since the day he met me in jail.
Were it not for my precious siblings, my younger brother and sister, being at my parent's house I would have never returned to that damned place again. But I can't just abandon them, so I visit that wretched house once a month to see their little faces and remind them that I'm still there for them.
They don't even know what I did. As far as they're concerned, their older brother just wanted to have a place for himself and moved out.
But that's enough about me and my stupid mistakes.
Lyla brushed a rebellious strand of hair out of her melancholy face and said, "...No, they aren't like that all. They're very kind to me and have always given me whatever I desired. All I needed to do was utter the word and I'd have it delivered to me on a platter. It's just..."
"Don't force yourself. If you can't say it freely, don't force it out. You're just going to open a can of worms that you won't be able to re-seal."
And I would know. There was no one better to dispense this little fact of life other than myself. In a strange way, it felt as if I was atoning for my tainted karma by telling her what I had learned upon reflection of all that I had destroyed up to now.
Perhaps my words resonated a little too strongly with Lyla because she seemed much more focused on me after I had said that. Her eyes were akin to blazing stars threatening to pierce two holes straight through my skull.
"...W-What's the matter with you? Something on my face, or are you constipated? I got the key to the bathroom if you need it."
"Hey... will you do something for me?" said Lyla in a whisper that I almost couldn't hear it.
Where did I put that damn keyring? Don't want this little princess to dirty my beloved sanctuary, especially after it was cleaned up so well by the guardian angel of this library.
"...Hmm? Yeah, whatcha want? Want me to buy you some Zeetos or something? You still haven't paid me back my fifteen credits, you know. I'm still waiting on that, if you thought I forgot."
"Listen to me seriously, Katché."
When I heard her say my name, I automatically stopped looking for the keyring and looked up at her. It caught me off-guard, again. Her voice had changed. She had stopped using the artificial voice that the magic veil produced by default.
This was her real voice.
It was as clear as the chime of a bell and purer than the snow on the first day of winter.
It was a cool, refined voice that had possessed an ethereal timbre to it. So familiar was this voice to me that it had begun to overlap with another voice I held irrevocably precious.
The bug in my head laughed as it slithered its way inward into my cerebellum.
"My being here is no accident. When I found out about you by accident and looked into your past, I knew you to be the one I was searching for. You have the skill required to pull off what I desire most."
She gazed at me with a determined expression and said, "I have come to you... because I need your help. I need you to... kill me, Katché Wisfern. It must be a death that can leave no room for suspicion."
I didn't even know how to respond. How does one even formulate a response to something like that? The only thing I could do was stare into her eyes with a horrified expression on my face.
"I. Must. Die."
The look on her face was dead serious. She really did have a death wish. And she had come to me, of all people, for help with that.
...What was I supposed to tell her?