Raphne Bell Martinez had already been trapped in the tower for almost a year.
“Everyone… good morning!”
The morning sunlight poured in through the window, shining down on her.
One year since she had been trapped in the tower.
And the number of times she had spoken with people…
Zero.
“Today’s weather is nice… right, Mari?”
And the number of times she had talked to living beings…
Zero.
“Hehe, Susan likes the rain, so maybe she won’t mind?”
She spoke cheerfully to someone in front of her.
But the light had long left Raphne’s eyes, which were now vacant.
The eyes that had lost their spark stared blankly at her companion.
That companion was a doll.
Even in response to her greetings and questions, the lifeless doll maintained a manufactured smile.
But she lovingly brushed its hair, as if it meant the world to her.
“…Today, let’s welcome our new friend, okay?”
Raphne Bell Martinez was cursed.
The reason she ended up like this was due to a sudden trait that appeared a year ago after her duel with Emily Epiris.
[Unique Trait: Curse of Fear – Inflicts extreme stress and fear on any living creature within a 50-meter radius.]
The curse cast upon her isolated her.
At first, it was as if she was expelled from the academy, sending her back to the Martinez residence.
She thought she would find a way to break the curse while recuperating there, but…
The problem was that even the prestigious Martinez family could not handle her curse.
“What a disgrace… How can I bear this shame? I’ve already contacted the academy, so you can go back.”
That was the dry message from the new golem form.
She had been abandoned.
At first, she was rejected by the academy, which she accepted. After all, it was because of the curse.
But on the day she was expelled from her home, she could not accept it.
“Huh…? Why… me…?”
Until she returned to the academy, she blankly stared into space.
After that, at a national level, she was punished to remain here, under house arrest by the academy.
House arrest, but it was actually imprisonment.
The door was tightly locked, and the tower was high enough that she couldn’t jump out of the window.
She was abandoned in the old tower.
By the academy, by her family, by the state.
At first, this fact was painful.
It hurt to think that everyone was turning their back on her over just one curse.
Wasn’t she treated like a plague patient?
She didn’t stink, her body wasn’t rotting, and she couldn’t spread infection.
At first, she wept over her fate of being abandoned.
But then she realized.
The painful part was not that.
“Wow… the friend who came today is a wonderful boy, huh?”
Since being confined in the tower, she hadn’t had contact with anyone.
Of course. Because of the curse, anyone who approached the tower experienced extreme stress.
So food and necessities were delivered through magic golems from the academy.
These were simple magical creatures in the shape of birds.
With a smile, Raphne took the boy-shaped doll that it handed her.
Her smiling eyes were lifeless.
No one needed her.
No one tried to help her.
No one came looking for her.
She was isolated.
“Now, what should I name my new friend?”
Raphne’s dead eyes softened as she received the doll, tears welling up in her eyes.
But Raphne, trying to deny her sadness, immersed herself in playing with dolls.
In her imagination, the dolls began to talk to her.
[How about Kyle?]
[No, that looks more like Bill!]
[I, I like the name decided by Raphne.]
The newly created doll also called her name.
They were her only friends.
But she must never escape from her imagination. She must never look back at reality.
For in that reality, there lay only loneliness, sadness, and a cold space.
“… Haha, ahahaha….”
She didn’t want to die. She wanted to live.
She wanted to keep on living.
But everyone around her isolated her as if to urge her death.
In a grim reality where just a moment of distraction could lead her to jump, in a dark future.
When would this curse disappear? She always prayed, but nothing ever changed.
And so, she remained trapped in the tower.
For a whole year.
“…Huh?”
Then one day, a change came.
It felt like a miracle from the gods had happened to her.
Creeeeak…
The door that had been tightly shut for a year opened.
The door that had never opened once screamed as it moved.
And the one who appeared at the entrance was a person.
“Mu, mud…!”
A fat man with a face contorted in pain, gasping for breath while sweating profusely.
Soon, the man collapsed with a pig-like scream.
“…P, person… P, person…!”
But his appearance didn’t matter to Raphne.
She thought she must’ve gone mad and was hallucinating.
She thought she had finally created such an illusion due to her extreme loneliness.
But no matter how she thought about it, his ugly appearance only made the reality feel stronger.
The fat man looked at her and, with a squeezed voice, said,
“Um, um… please… water…”
At his small plea, Raphne snapped back to reality.
“Wa, wa, wa, water, you say?! Ah, okay! I’ll get it right away!”
It was a miraculous conversation with a person after a whole year.
Filled with overwhelming emotion, Raphne searched for water.
By the time Raphne returned with a bottle of water, the man had lost consciousness.
“No, no, don’t die! You can’t die!!”
Raphne, pale with fear looking at the unconscious Ken, hurriedly lifted him onto her lap.
Feeling the sensation of a real person, Raphne carefully brought the water bottle to him.
Water flowed into his open mouth.
Despite being unconscious, Ken instinctively drank the water, and soon his expression turned calm.
‘What a relief…’
Seeing him look like he had survived a crisis, Raphne felt reassured.
If he had died here, she wouldn’t have been able to recover anymore.
‘R-Really… a person…?’
In disbelief at this reality, Raphne carefully reached out.
As she gently brushed his hair aside, she felt a realistic touch. If it felt this real, she was okay with it being an illusion.
She patted his cheek. The soft texture felt nice.
Even though he was dripping with sweat, giving off the typical manly scent, Raphne didn’t mind at all.
In fact, she felt happy to finally catch a whiff of a person’s scent after such a long time.
‘But… how did Ken Feinstein end up here…?’
Raphne knew his face.
No, she couldn’t possibly forget him after the torment she had endured a year ago.
He was none other than the male student she had been bullying.
Umm…
I felt moisture in my mouth.
Feeling the dampness, I opened my eyes.
In my sight, two giant mountains loomed large.
Yes, after possessing Ken Feinstein, looking down brought forth a different human mystery than the welcoming mountain from before.
A chest.
“Gah, gasm?!”
“Ah…”
I shockedly sat up in a hurry.
As I regained my senses and looked at the place I had been lying in, there sat Raphne Bell Martinez in a lotus position.
Was that where I had been lying?
The neatly crossed legs formed a soft pillow.
It was her thigh.
Whoa, if I stared too long, I’d be committing a crime!
I gazed at the one who had provided me with such a soft sleeping spot.
‘Wow… I could feel it even in the illustrations.’
The real Raphne was truly beautiful.
Normally, she would have a majestic and dignified presence, but oddly enough, she looked shy right now.
Something she wanted to say seemed to get swallowed down, and her shadowed, lifeless eyes cautiously looked at me.
Should I at least greet her?
“Um, thank you for helping me, Miss Raphne.”
“…Uh, huh?”
Since she was the one who had saved my life, it was only natural to express my gratitude.
But she had a strangely shocked expression.
“D, do you not remember me…?”
“What? Of course I remember you. You are Raphne Bell Martinez.”
“Y, yes.”
That was a strange question. In terms of setting, she and I should be familiar with each other.
At my answer, she looked surprised for a moment, then smiled joyfully.
Her eyes soon grew moist, and tears welled up.
“Y-Yeah! That’s me! I’m Raphne!”
“Wha, wha?! Why are you crying?!”
She wiped her flowing tears with her arms. She was crying, but somehow looked happy.
“T-That’s because… huhu, you thanked me even after I did such things to you…”
Oh, thinking back, that’s right.
The reason she and Ken were familiar was because she had continually bullied him.
But my attitude just now must have felt quite strange for her.
The sudden use of polite language must have been awkward.
… But it’s not like she needed to cry, right?
Maybe she had her own guilt to bear.
Truly, beneath that beautiful exterior, she had a kind heart.
Surely, there must have been some circumstances that led her to bully Ken. She certainly couldn’t have done it without reason.
“Um, but why is Miss Raphne here…?”
“Huhu, um…”
With a natural question, she slowly began to explain.
After hearing her story in full, my impressions were…
Stunningly shocking.
‘So that’s why the reactions I had before make sense.’
The sudden curse, the reality of being dumped in a tower, lonely days, and then, a year later, the arrival of a person.
But that beloved, precious person just happened to be the one she had tormented.
“S-So… huhu, I’m scared that if I see you again… you’ll run away… huhu, that’s why I’m scared…”
As she explained that part, she continued to cry. It seemed her emotions were overwhelmed, whether it was relief or fear.
By the way, there was such a story in the game’s backsetting. So that’s why we hadn’t seen Raphne after Part 1 ended.
Huh? But wait, something’s strange.
If her curse causes rejection on any living being within a 50-meter radius…
Why was I fine?
Could it be because I was the possessor?
As if to respond to my thought, one state window caught my eye.
[Raphne Bell Martinez’s trait effect is inhibiting Ken Feinstein’s immersion.]
Could this also be related to her curse?
But what if Ken’s immersion was accepted without the trait effect? What would have happened then?
Hmm…
“Um, um…!”
While I was lost in thought, Raphne spoke to me.
“…Huh?”
“Have you eaten breakfast? There are a lot of delicious things here… Wanna eat together?”
She carefully asked, like a clumsy elementary school student trying to make a friend for the first time.
And upon hearing that, Ken’s body naturally reacted.
Grrr~
A small earthquake rocked the giant mountain.
“…Well, I guess I’ll take you up on that offer?”
“Y-Yes! What do you like? Just say it! I can make anything for you!”
With a cheerful smile, Raphne seemed happy.
She hurriedly stood up and headed somewhere, probably towards the storage area for food.
‘… So cute.’
She was originally a beautiful girl of my taste.
A character that might seem fiery and passionate with a gallant personality, but even that was seen as appealing.
But this shy, girly side of hers was a different, charming twist.
“Just give me whatever Raphne is having~.”
I told her as she hurriedly prepared something.
Then I began to look around.
The room was far too wide for just one person. It was constructed entirely from bricks, containing only a desk, a bed, and a storage cabinet.
And the place Raphne had just headed towards was probably the kitchen area, with a small nook.
There were also numerous kinds of dolls scattered around.
‘So she spent a year in a place like this…?’
And all the while, in a state cut off from the world.
Before possessing Ken, I had also been something akin to a reclusive hermit. Locking myself in my room, barely stepping outside while being consumed by game after game.
But even I had the internet to survive.
I was able to live because I could communicate with someone.
If not through the internet, then via TV, or even video games, which allowed me to meet someone indirectly.
Whether those were virtual characters or any kind of someone.
But in this old, cold space with no method of communication at all, to endure the agony of being abandoned alone for a year…
It must have been a pain beyond what I could ever imagine.
Some time later, breakfast prepared by Raphne began.
“So, that teacher called the bullies and…”
“Yeah, yeah!”
While eating breakfast together, I kept chatting away, trying to fill the loneliness she must have felt over the years.
Even though the topics were trivial and not particularly nutritious, Raphne responded with joyous laughter.
She kept nodding her head, her face clearly moved.
After all, her eyes were glistening with unshed tears the entire time.
In this entirely unexpected situation, she looked like she had been saved.
And because of that, I spoke even more zealously. I hoped that somehow, she could find solace.
“Wow, by the way, the breakfast you made was really delicious. Thank you.”
After finishing breakfast, I patted my full belly and said.
That was no empty compliment; it truly was tasty. After intense exercise, my body craved calories.
And for her long-awaited guest, Raphne prepared an astonishing amount of food.
A feast fit for royalty.
“Y-Yeah… If Ken is happy, then I’m happy too. Oh, I can always prepare more for you…!”
“Oh really? Then can I ask you to do that?”
“…… Y-yes!”
At my response, she looked pleased. Of course, she would want me to continue visiting for breakfast.
And my agreement implied that I’d keep coming back here.
That was enough.
Her punishment would end with this.
The disconnection from the world would end today. Now, she would not suffer anymore.
All I had to do was come to see her regularly.
Seeing her happy smile made me happy too.
“Alright, now that I’m full, I think I’ll head out.”
But…
“…Um, huh…?”
That was just my assumption.
“…You’re leaving?”
It was my miscalculation.
