I Possessed a Character in an Academy Without a Protagonist – Chapter 89

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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I should have opened Emilia’s chest and engraved a formula on her heart after all.

No matter how I thought about it, that was what I should have done.

“This is crazy…”

I only now realized how stupid I had been.

I had anticipated that those who wanted to sabotage my midterms might send crows or thugs to harm me, but my preparations had been incomplete.

I thought it would be enough if I holed myself up inside.

I thought it would be fine as long as I didn’t go out.

But even with my goldfish-like brain, a little thought made it clear that the target wasn’t necessarily limited to just me.

There could be hostages even if not me, and currently, the most suitable person to be a hostage was…

“Ms. Emilia!!!”

It was Emilia.

No matter how much I shouted after coming up from the training room, there was no answer.

She had said she was going grocery shopping this morning.

It seemed she had already left the house.

I rushed frantically towards the entrance.

“Ha…”

A letter had been pushed under the door.

An ominous feeling suddenly came over me.

I didn’t want to read it.

I didn’t even want to touch it.

I wanted to pretend I hadn’t seen it, but of course, I couldn’t do that.

“Huff… Haa…”

Taking a deep breath, I opened the letter with trembling hands.

It was scrawled hastily with these words.

“Damn it…”

A clump of hair came out in my hand.

I didn’t even realize my head hurt.

I was just angry.

At myself.

At my stupid, no, still stupid self.

At my complacent self.

Damn it.

If I had just implanted the formula in her chest earlier, this wouldn’t have happened.

It was clear that this happened because I got weak-hearted and tried to be too accommodating.

“I have to go.”

There was no time to blame myself like this.

I rushed out of the mansion immediately.

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“Hmm. Hmmm…”

Humming a tune.

Emilia entered the market with her shopping basket hanging from her elbow.

Soon, the view of a bustling street filled with people unfolded before her eyes.

“Oh my, Emilia! Here for groceries?”

“Ah, yes. We ran out of ingredients at home.”

Merchants who recognized her appeared at every store she passed by.

The maid-uniformed girl who always came around this time to shop.

She couldn’t help but stand out, and combined with her friendly personality, she had quickly become a well-known figure in the market.

“I hear you’re the only maid working in that big mansion? It must be tough.”

“Haha. It’s not…”

She had mentioned working in a big mansion at that store over there, and she had said she was the only maid at that store on the opposite side.

The speed at which rumors spread seemed tremendous.

‘Seafood, huh. Mr. Hain… Schlus oppa… liked seafood.’

Emilia fell into contemplation as she looked at the fish-filled tank.

Schlus definitely liked seafood.

Even when he returned from visiting the Imperial Palace, he couldn’t resist stopping by a seafood restaurant for a meal.

The problem was that Emilia didn’t know how to cook seafood.

“Seafood doesn’t come in often. If it all sells out this time, we’ll have to wait another two months.”

“Hmm…”

Hearing that made her even more conflicted.

Should she ask for cooking instructions?

But from whom?

There was no one around who would likely know how to cook seafood.

“Give me two, please.”

“Make sure to preserve them with cold magic as soon as you get home, or they’ll spoil.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

In the end, she bought them.

She figured that if she followed her instincts, it would turn out delicious somehow.

Emilia always managed to cook tasty meals even with ingredients she was handling for the first time.

In fact, she had never failed at cooking before.

‘Should I grill the fish? Or make a soup?’

Recipes using fish meat suddenly sprang up in her mind.

Surely Schlus oppa… no, Mr. Hainkel would like it.

‘But when will he start calling me more casually?’

Suddenly having that thought made her a bit irritated.

They had lived under the same roof for quite some time now.

Wasn’t it about time he addressed her more comfortably, informally?

It felt like he was deliberately keeping his distance.

Could it be that he had figured out she was an Intelligence Agency spy?

If so, why had he gone so far as to risk his life to save her?

Why had he said she was someone he absolutely had to protect…

‘Should I call him first? Schlus o… oppa…’

Just thinking about it made Emilia’s face heat up instantly.

No, that was too much no matter how she thought about it.

The psychological burden was still too great.

Maybe she and Schlus weren’t that close after all.

Thinking this, Emilia forced herself to calm down and kept walking.

“Huh?”

Until she noticed something strange about her surroundings.

She had definitely been in the market just a moment ago.

How long had she walked for it to turn into a dark alley?

Emilia dropped her shopping basket with a thud.

“What?”

Emilia was quite surprised when she turned around.

The way back was blocked.

By a high wall.

Breathing heavily, she turned her head, and the front was the same.

The path that had been open just a moment ago was now blocked by bricks.

“What, what is this?”

Magic?

No, she hadn’t felt any formulas being activated for that…

Emilia tapped on the wall.

Even as she clutched her hand, hurt by the rough texture, Emilia felt something was off.

It was a barrier.

“Haa…”

Stepping back, she lifted her skirt and then she drew out the dagger stuck in her left thigh.

It was something called a Magic Breaker.

The one her brother had given her…

Holding the dagger in one hand, Emilia calmly felt along the wall.

It was to find the core of the barrier.

Reading the flow of mana to find the center where all magical power converged, that is, the core, Emilia-

“Here it is!”

Without hesitation, she plunged the dagger into the wall.

The blade went in without resistance.

Then the scenery surrounding her began to crumble.

‘How clever…’

It was a barrier so well-implemented that she might have accepted it as reality if she wasn’t careful.

Emilia held the dagger in reverse grip and focused on the other side of the wavering barrier.

Two men who looked quite surprised were visible in front.

“W-what?”

“How did she escape?”

“You’re pulling some interesting tricks!”

There was no time to hesitate against magicians.

The only option was to strike first.

Emilia quickly rushed in and swung her dagger.

The two men who were stretching out their arms, perhaps to cast magic-

“Aaaagh!”

“Uugh! My hand!”

Instantly collapsed, spurting blood from their severed hands.

“Who sent you?”

“As if I’d tell you…”

Thud!

The dagger plunged into the man’s neck.

The blade, which had turned half a circle following Emilia’s wrist-

“Gurgle! Ugh! Guk!”

Was pulled out, opening a fountain of blood.

The man lay face down on the ground, creating a pool of blood for a few seconds before going limp and motionless.

As Emilia tilted her head, the other man’s face turned deathly pale.

“So who sent you?”

“Eek! Hic! P-please! Just spare my life! Please!”

“I said I’d spare you if you just tell me who sent you…”

“H-help! Mur-”

Crack

The dagger was embedded in his forehead.

With the sound of his skull cracking, the man stopped moving.

“Why did you have to shout…”

Pulling out the dagger, Emilia made a sad face.

She thought if she killed one as an example, the other would talk easily.

She didn’t expect him to stupidly try to shout for help.

In the end, she hadn’t obtained any information and was left with troublesome corpses.

Holding the dagger soaked in blood and brain matter between her thumb and forefinger, Emilia searched her pocket.

“It’s not here…”

Her handkerchief was gone.

The pretty ribbon-patterned handkerchief she always carried.

After looking around once to confirm no one was in the alley, Emilia slightly lifted her skirt.

“Oh really…”

Her cheeks turned red as she thought about whether she really had to go this far.

But she absolutely hated the idea of putting the dagger covered in filthy blood against her thigh.

“Hup…”

She slowly lowered a piece of white cloth, lifting each leg to remove it.

Well, it wasn’t much different from a handkerchief, just with a pink ribbon attached.

Emilia wrapped the dagger and wiped it off, then carelessly threw away the piece of cloth.

As she was about to put the now shiny dagger back in its sheath-

“Uh. It’s breezy…”

She felt a sudden emptiness as the wind blew against her groin.

Although it was a temporary measure, it wasn’t something she would do again.

It was too embarrassing…

“Now, shall we head back. Hmm… I wonder if the road comes out that way.”

As if in a trance, Emilia started walking down the alley.

Surely there must be a way out of this alley somewhere.

First, get out of the alley and then think.

But no matter how much she walked and walked, no exit appeared.

Rather, it felt like the same path was repeating.

“It must be my imagination…?”

Even so, she walked on without worrying too much.

Thinking that an exit would appear eventually.

She didn’t doubt it at all.

Because it was natural for roads to have an end.

Because she just hadn’t walked enough.

Thinking that if she walked a little more, she would be able to get out…

“Huh? But why is my handkerchief missing?”

Emilia tilted her head as she unconsciously searched her pocket.

That handkerchief was definitely made of mana, so it should never have fallen off her body.

The fact that the handkerchief was gone meant…

“Ah.”

That she had been placed in a mana environment controlled by someone else.

The moment she realized this, Emilia let out a sigh.

She looked around in panic.

She had belatedly realized that she had been walking an endlessly repeating alley path all this time.

No, it was unbelievable that she hadn’t noticed until now.

“A double barrier…!”

Her teeth gritted.

Whatever trick they had put on the barrier, her head started to hurt when she tried to think complex thoughts.

If she hadn’t thought about the handkerchief, she might have been walking this path forever.

Feeling a chill, Emilia felt along the wall to find the core of the barrier.

“Wow. How did you figure it out?”

“…!”

At the voice that suddenly came from behind, Emilia instantly drew the dagger from her thigh and swung it.

But there was no one there.

As Emilia frantically looked around-

“If you keep doing that, I’ll have no choice but to put a strain on your body…”

“Aah! Ah!”

A sweet and melodious female voice seeped into her ear.

Her hand holding the dagger wouldn’t listen.

No, her entire body wouldn’t move as she wanted.

Taking advantage of this, a small glass vial approached and touched her lips.

Emilia had no choice but to swallow the unknown drug while remaining stiff.

“Ugh… Ah…”

Drowsiness came over her.

Despite her fierce resistance, her eyes slowly closed, and Emilia went limp.

“Oops.”

Someone caught Emilia from behind.

At the same time, the scenery of the alley crumbled away.

Suddenly, the two were standing in a secluded space behind a shop in the bustling market.

The hooded woman laid Emilia down and boldly walked forward to close the shop door.

Returning to the back and removing her hood, the face of a red-haired woman was revealed.

“Hehehe. What should I do with this…”

Looking down at the sleeping Emilia, she put both hands to her mouth.

Schlus Hainkel’s woman, huh.

What on earth should she do with her?

How could she make Schlus Hainkel fall into deep despair?

How could she make him crumble?

It was such a delightful dilemma.

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[not Emilia bro but srs this arc gettin good can’t wait for the misunderstandings to ensue when he saves her or something]