I observed dream Cory for a while and got an idea of his current situation.
His family used to be happy and peaceful, but his parents grew busier with work as time passed, resulting in a lack of attention to Cory. Seeing how the only people who took care of him in real life was me and Hylli, it seemed that this was also true in real life.
Moreover, seeing Viedielle's self-centered, mischievous personality, there was a high chance that she took up all the attention that Cory should've gotten some of as well. It sounded like the marquis and the marquess were busy with some kind of work these days, and that meant that he had received even less attention than before.
To be honest, all of this was just conjecture instead of fact. As someone who had younger siblings in both my past life and my current life, I could draw some conclusions about Cory's situation.
But anyway, did that mean that Cory always spent his birthdays alone here? He didn't seem to have any friends who would celebrate his birthdays.
Seeing Cory's reaction, it looked like he had spent all of his birthdays alone.
I couldn't help but think of real Cory. Thinking back, real Cory's birthday was coming up soon too. Viedielle had looked for me because they were having a surprise party for Cory on his birthday, too.
Wait. Something suddenly popped in my head.
When I dreamed, I always dreamed of Cory, and Cory was the only one out of the four main characters that hadn't changed too much.
My dreams were going along centered around Cory, and even the date happened to be around Cory's birthday.
That meant that the [him] from the note was most likely Cory.
Seeing how things happening in the dream seemed to match the timeline of things happening in real life, I guessed that I would see what would happen to Cory in the dream and go back to real life and prevent it from happening.
I mean, I could be wrong, but that was the only idea that I could think of.
At first, I had thought that the [him] would be between Swanhaden and Cory, the two of them. But if Swanhaden was [him], I couldn't see any way of moving forward. Talking would be off the table, and I couldn't even get a feel of what I should help with.
I thought of the person who had left that note for me to read.
I didn't like how they had used the word [save] in the note. If the people around me were in danger, I was obviously going to help them to the best of my abilities. But that was only for the people around me.
Saving someone was slightly different from that. There was more responsibility within that word. I was trying my best because the [him] from the note seemed related to Cory, but if [he] didn't have any connection with me, I didn't have any intentions of saving them.
I wasn't someone who could swoop in and save whoever needed help. If I put something in motion, consequences followed, and I was the one who had to deal with those consequences.
I wasn't a saintess nor a savior, so I didn't like being told to suddenly save someone. I didn't have the mindset or luxury of doing so, either. The only people who could save others were those who had the capabilities to do so.
I didn't know who thrust all of this upon me, but I couldn't help but sigh. My magic was lacking so I was barely relying on the stones I had, and my sword skills were at a standstill. Even if I was good at using the two of them together, that is.
Anyway, regardless of my skills, having to save someone placed a lot of responsibilities on me. It was an incredibly scary statement.
But seeing as I was already in the situation, I was trying my best. But the moment I found out that [he] wasn't Cory, I wasn't going to budge.
For now, however, I would assume [he] was Cory and would observe dream Cory with more effort.
Cory kept staring at the spot where Viedielle had been standing, blank, for a long time. He stayed there for a bit longer before walking away.
He kind of looked excited.
Cory walked along the path surrounded by wine-colored Augran flowers back to the boys' dorm. He stared at the sky and trudged along the path, but his footsteps were lighter than before.
As he walked back to the dorms, Cory's magic contact device began to ring, emitting light.
Cory checked the name of the person contacting him and frowned. He had looked to be in high spirits just a moment ago, but his mood dampened immediately.
[Why.]
The person who contacted him had been none otehr than Yves.
[Aah, sir DuBois. Have you been progressing well with your work?]
[Mhm. I'm almost done.]
[You sound upbeat so I don't want to ask you, but there's something that you need to do for me.]
[Sure. If you organize it and send it my way, I'll work on it later.]
He was happier than usual because of what happened earlier, and it showed when he spoke with Yves. Cory stashed the device back into his pocket and continued walking.
For some strange reason, I couldn't return back to reality ever since Swanhaden mangled my magic circle. Usually, everything grew hazy in my dreams and I woke up in reality when it was time for me to wake up. But it didn't seem to be working like that this time.
Even when I grew sleepy and fell asleep, no matter how long I waited to wake up, I was still in the dream.
There must've been some kind of mistake when I drew the magic circle. It wasn't like I had a perfect memory of how the magic circle had looked, and I had been so rushed to finish drawing the circle that there was no way I hadn't made a mistake.
I was incredibly worried and frustrated now that I didn't know how to go back, but I decided to stay here for now. I stayed next to Cory and watched for any changes. I felt uncomfortable because this felt like stalking, but I tried to tell myself that this was a dream and it was okay.
Time soon passed. It was the day of Cory's birthday.
There didn't seem to be any special changes since Viedielle's visit. Cory was just as lifeless, sleepy, and depressed as usual. But he did seem to be moving around with more effort these days.
"I heard that things were progressing well, does that mean that they have more time now?"
Cory, who looked exhausted from work even on his birthday, twirled his pen and muttered to himself.
"They don't need to care about me if they're all busy.]
Cory rested his chin on his hand and sighed, twirling his pen on his other hand. He buried his face in his arms on the desk. The pen fell onto the desk.
"I shouldn't expect anything..."
He was a bit, just a teensy weensy bit, excited.
After I regained some of my strength, I floated above him like before and watched him. Unlike the usual Cory who was dejected and low-energy, he was brighter than before. He even smiled once in a while. It was a familiar sight for me in real life, but seeing him smile here was surprising.
Suddenly, someone came running towards the bright and happy Cory. He caught his breath as soon as he saw Cory before calmly speaking to him.
"S-Sir Cory..... There's something I have to tell you."
The person ran towards Cory and began speaking, visibly nervous.
Today's Cory was gentle and slightly excited, so he nodded with a soft expression. Before Cory could even ask, "What is it?" the person spoke.
"The marquis and marquess were attacked last night and have passed away."
Even after hearing something so shocking and out of the blue, Cory's expression didnt' change.
Or at least, it didn't at first. He just blankly stared at the person in front of him and tilted his head.
"What are you talking about. I think I might have misheard it."
Cory's expression slowly shifted after a long period of silence. He forced the corners of his lips up as he smiled anxiously.
"That is, both them and Miss Viedielle were heading to the city to purchase your birthday gifts when they were attacked. The marquis passed away while protecting the marquess, and the marquess passed away as she tried to hide with Miss Viedielle."
"….."
Cory was speechless. He just stared at the person relaying the situation to him, eyes wide.
"Here are the items discovered near the bodies."
The person handed a wrapped gift to Cory, who was completely out of it. There was a dark patch of blood on the gift wrapper. When Cory received the gift and brushed the blood with his finger, it was already dry.
"Here, there's also a letter. Seeing how your name is written on it, this is…."
"Stop it!"
Cory shoved the hand of the person away from him. There was blood on the letter above Cory's name. Cory didn't receive or read the letter stained with the blood of someone we couldn't confirm. Or, more accurately, he couldn't receive or read it.
Tears ran down Cory's eyes.
"Stop it..."
Cory's voice was shaking as he barely got the words out.
"Stop talking...."
His green eyes grew murky from the tears.
As if he still couldn't accept the situation that he was faced with, he stayed there, blank, as tears fell from his eyes. He kept repeating to himself that this had to be a lie.
"Miss Viedielle returned to the academy immediately. She's currently at the sick bay, so please visit her."
With that last statement, the person left the room. Cory, who was now alone in his room, barked out a hollow laugh before his legs gave way and he fell on the floor. He held onto the wall next to him.
"Because of me…."
Cory didn't go to to the sick bay where Viedielle was.
As if something within him had broken, he just blankly stared at nothing as tears fell from his eyes.
I just quietly watched everything unfold. I was also shocked numb so I couldn't think or say anything.
Cory began to change.
He didn't sleep, he didn't eat, and his eyes burned with fire as he obsessed over one single thing. And that was revenge.
Cory poured everything he had to figure out who had killed his parents. I worried about his body and left food or snacks around him, but he didn't even glance at them. I thought he would grab something to eat when he grew hungry, but all the food I had left around him just became inedible.
Cory despised himself. He loathed himself so much that it was weird that he wouldn't kill himself. He had gained a purpose in life now, but now he was burning himself up. He had a mountain of documents atop of his chaotic desk.
Cory's eyes, filled with rage, despair, and a dangerous concoction of other negative emotions, only looked at one goal.
Cory's worldview grew narrow as he stood in the middle of his tumultuous emotions.
He was missing the most important thing. He wasn't looking at his current surroundings.
The biggest thing he was missing was about Viedielle. Viedielle, who was just a child, watched her parents die in front of her. And based on the rumors that were going around, she had also lost her legs.
Viedielle had an incredibly high self-confidence. Having lost her legs would be an incredible shock to her. And if she had to walk around campus with crutches, there was a high chance that mean bullies would throw insults and words that would hurt her. She could even be picked on.
Cory was Viedielle's lone guardian, but he was currently focusing on something completely different.
I was sure that Cory would regain his senses and would deeply regret the fact that he had abandoned Viedielle. If something even more devastating happened, Viedielle and Cory would both become more broken than they already were.