I’m Not Doing This With A Friend Chapter 160

My heart dropped with a thud.

 

I should have been overjoyed to hear that the man responsible for spreading the Monstera plague had turned himself in.

 

Strangely, I couldn’t help but smile.

 

The trial was scheduled to begin tomorrow.

 

With only one day to wait, the culprit turned himself in.

 

It was as if he had turned himself in hastily to prevent my trial.

 

I locked eyes with Carson, looking like I might cry at any moment.

 

“Caon. No… It can’t be… It can’t be what I think, right?”

 

He looked confused, as if he hadn’t been expecting this, but then his lips curled into a smile.

 

A small shiver ran down my spine.

 

Carson pursed his lips repeatedly, as if he was debating whether to tell me.

 

In frustration, I grabbed him by both shoulders and spoke pleadingly.

 

“Just tell me.”

 

He wouldn’t. Tell me it’s not him.

 

Carson calmly pulled my hand away. His grip tightens as if he’s trying to calm me.

 

“I don’t know who it was that turned himself in, but you have to admit it, Leen.”

 

He looks me straight in the eye. It’s a look of determination I don’t see often.

 

“You know.”

 

‘Who the real culprit is.’ The words scraped out, burning my ears.

 

A sense of reality slammed into my head.

 

“Caon, I, I, I…”

 

I’ve not forgiven Arcandus for killing my parents.

 

There was no way I could ever forgive him. I just didn’t want to accept that I’d been betrayed by him.

 

I pitied the old me for trusting and relying on him.

 

So I hoped Arcandus would lie to me.

 

As if to fulfill my expectations, he told me he wasn’t the killer, and I believed him.

 

But if it really was Arcandus who turned himself into Lagras…

 

I had to ask him why.

 

Why he’d killed my parents, why he’d taken the life of our family.

 

🍃

 

After the news from the servant, I was informed that the trial had been postponed.

 

In fact, it was as if the trial had never happened.

 

The culprit who showed up in Lagras had produced indispensable evidence.

 

A schematic of the Monstera virus.

 

Research on the demonic mosquito, experimental results, and even the evidence of his involvement in spreading it.

 

Each one was evidence that no one but the real culprit could have produced.

 

My mouth turned bitter.

 

The man responsible for spreading Monstera had turned himself in to the Lagras Imperial Court, not Abascanthus.

 

That meant I would have to travel to the Lagras Empire to find out who it was.

 

Magic was convenient. It allowed us to cross borders without having to go through checkpoints.

 

Of course, magic was used to catch the criminals who did this…

 

But magic always proves useless in the face of a more powerful wizard.

 

Carson and I waited until nightfall to depart for Lagras. I was officially known to be staying at the manor of Potitua in Abascanthus.

 

Therefore, I had to move carefully to meet him.

 

When I was ready, Carson held out his hand to me.

 

“Shall we go now?”

 

Suddenly, I realized that I was entering the country illegally, sneaking into an imperial prison. I gripped Carson’s sleeve tightly.

 

“We won’t get caught, will we?”

 

He glanced away from my grip, his eyebrows knitting together in a frown.

 

“Leen is so cute…”

 

He didn’t show an ounce of nervousness.

 

“We won’t get caught.”

 

Carson smirked, the corners of his eyes crinkling.

 

“You know, my magic.”

 

As he pressed his lips to my forehead, a massive magic circle rose at my feet.

 

My vision spins, swallowed by darkness. I don’t know how much time has passed.

 

My eyelids closed, and I instinctively realized we’d arrived.

 

The smell of mold and rusted iron stung my nostrils.

 

It was the prison of the Lagras imperial court, where he was being held.

 

As I gradually opened his eyes, the first thing I saw was a guard lying on the floor.

 

It seemed as if Carson had made his move upon arrival.

 

As I turned my gaze, I saw a familiar face.

 

Arcandus.

 

I glanced back at Carson.

 

The coordinates were chosen with precision, as if a tracking spell had been cast. I expected to have to wander around a bit to find him.

 

Our eyes locked, and he took my hand firmly in his.

 

It was an overwhelming comfort to know that he was with me.

 

I looked away once more.

 

Arcandus was in a cage, his limbs trapped in one corner.

 

An indescribable emotion swirled through me as I realized it was the man in the prison. I don’t know if it’s sadness or anger.

 

“Arcandus.”

 

His golden eyes turned to me.

 

Innocent eyes that seemed to have never known sin in their lives.

 

His lowered lids made them look even more so.

 

When he spotted me, he smiled as sweetly as he always did.

 

“You’re here, Leen.”

 

What was that nonchalance, as if he knew I was coming?

 

Surely he knew why I’d come to him. He must have known what I was going to ask.

 

With Carson’s help, I made my way into his prison cage without difficulty.

 

“Why did you do that?”

 

I expected my voice to tremble, but it was as calm as ever.

 

Arcandus gave me a troubled smile.

 

“I don’t know what you’re asking.”

 

“…You do know.”

 

“That I spread the plague, that I lied to you about not being the culprit, or that I turned myself in now, or that…”

 

“…”

 

“That I killed your parents?”

 

Oh. Now you know how I feel. It must be…

 

Anger.

 

“Do you know how many people you’ve killed?”

 

The words that started calmly erupted into a scream the further back I went.

 

“For what purpose did you do this horrible thing, why did you do it? For what?!”

 

“I hate Abascanthus and Lagras. I hate the two Empires that ruined my life.”

 

“So you took revenge?”

 

Arcandus laughed as if he could shatter at any moment.

 

“Leen. You don’t know my past.”

 

“Why should I know?”

 

Why should I pity you when I could barely pity myself?

 

“I watched my parents get stabbed to death with my own two eyes. I had nothing to eat, and I was always on the edge of death, wondering if I’d be beaten to death.”

 

A shudder runs down Arcandus’s spine as he recalls the horrors of his past.

 

“Then I finally got a chance to live a human life, only to find out that my friend’s father was the murderer who killed my parents.”

 

Professor Walter.

 

“I wanted revenge, and I wanted to make it all disappear, even if it meant taking my own life.”

 

“Hah.”

 

I don’t feel any sympathy for him.

 

If anything, I was disgusted that he would try to justify what he’d done with such words.

 

“Oh, well, I have a lot to say about my unfortunate past.”

 

‘But it all started with you.’

 

Arcandus, you created it.

 

“I watched my parents’ limbs rot away with my own two eyes, I was beaten every day and had to laugh like nothing happened, and the person I trusted the most was the murderer who killed them.”

 

Something clicked in my mind as I spoke.

 

My life sounds like his. It was so horrifying to think that his vengeance had turned my life into this.

 

“You said you didn’t.”

 

A surge of anger poured out of me.

 

“You said you didn’t do it, and I believed you! I even let you slip away!”

 

To never show up in front of me again!

 

I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.

 

“Why were they my parents, why…! Why did they have to be my parents!”

 

He answered faster and more bluntly than I expected.

 

“Because it was your mother who created the cure for Barmon Knirina.”

 

“…What?”

 

Shock hit me like someone slapped me on the back of the head.

 

Barmon Knirina.

 

I thought it was just a funny name.

 

But now that he thought about it, it sounded all too familiar.

 

“You still don’t know my real name, do you, Leen?”

 

No. I knew his real name.

 

“Bar… Mon.”

 

Arcandus smiled broadly at my involuntary stammer.

 

“That’s the first time I’ve ever called you by your first name.”

 

Crazy.

 

That’s crazy.

 

“You killed them for creating a cure for Barmon Knirina?”

 

That’s the reason my parents died?

 

Hah….

 

“Hahahaha!”

 

I laughed for a while, then stopped.

 

“Why didn’t you just kill me along with my parents?”

 

Arcandus’s face remained rigid. His eyes met mine, and for the first time, they fluttered.

 

“Shouldn’t I have been more of a nuisance to you?”

 

Of course, it should. I’m the one who created your cure for Monstera.

 

“You let me live, and now I’m here. Mosquito repellent, mana relaxant, all of your plans have gone awry?”

 

At this point, I was genuinely curious.

 

“Why did you keep me alive, and why did you turn yourself in before a trial could be held against me?”

 

“…”

 

“Answer me. Why did you do it?”

 

He closes his eyes silently.

 

“Why!!!”

 

“I wanted to protect you. Because you were my family.”

 

Slap—!

 

A harsh scraping sound filled the cell. Arcandus slowly snapped his head to the side. I didn’t know what I was looking like right now.

 

Seriously, how could he say that?

 

“Say it again. Who’s your family?”

 

“Leen, you’re my…”

 

Slap—!

 

Once again, his face turned.

 

“How dare you say whose family is whose. You’re not my family.”

 

I bitterly regret my past of thinking of you as family.

 

Despair fills Arcandus’s eyes. His head hangs low, as if he couldn’t meet my eyes anymore.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

I sense a certain fear in his demeanor.

 

Oh, that’s it. So that’s it. I know what you’re most afraid of right now.

 

“You know what, Arcandus?”

 

I grabbed the end of his chin and forced him up, forcing him to look into my eyes.

 

“I have a family I can count on without you.”

 

I wanted to drive him deeper into despair.

 

Deeper and further.

 

“You have no one by your side now. You could go to hell and not a single person would feel sorry for you.”

 

That’s the end of you.

 

“You know, Arcandus. Or should I call you Barmon now?”

 

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

 

“I don’t care what you call me, I’ll never see you again.”

 

“…”

 

“Did you think I’d be happy if you turned yourself in and proved my innocence?”

 

I giggled like a madman, then added.

 

“No, I stand corrected, I’m actually kind of glad.”

 

Then a tiny glimmer of hope sprouted in Arcandus’s eyes.

 

“So glad to be able to cut you off completely.”

 

“Ah…?”

 

I crushed his hope without hesitation.

 

“That’s a good thing, right? I don’t have any regrets left.”

 

After I vented my anger, I was strangely left with a sense of relief, not despair.

 

“I won’t get my hands dirty anymore, because there are plenty of people who want to kill you without me having to.”

 

Not wanting to see his face anymore, I turned to leave.

 

His eyes filled with tears, and he asked me, as if to ask me for one last hope.

 

The corners of his mouth twitched as he forced a smile.

 

“But… when you let me leave the other day, you actually wanted to keep me, didn’t you, Leen?”

 

My face twisted inwardly. It wasn’t the same.

 

“You’re delusional. You were denying reality because I was so pitiful that I had been betrayed by you.”

 

Do you understand?