Silver Lining Yesterday - Chapter 23
Jean first met Gemma when Gemma was ten years old.
At that time, Jean was a young genius who traveled freely between the halls of the Riholm Academy. However, due to the nature of Riholm, which was dominated by older scholars, Jean had never been able to make friends her own age, and she was in a particularly sour mood at the time.
The only person who had somewhat of a chance at getting through to her was Ernest, but even he couldn’t break Jean’s stubbornness.
Everything changed, however, when Jean happened to meet Gemma one day.
Gemma was the complete opposite of the scholars Jean had been surrounded by at Riholm. Unlike the scholars whose fingers were calloused from holding pens, Gemma’s palms were covered in calluses and scars. Her manner of speech was blunt, almost to the point of being self-righteous, and her eyes, already experienced in violence at such a young age, were desolate and worn.
What would typically make someone avoid Gemma became a magnetically appealing characteristic to Jean. The aesthetic of difference was something Jean had instinctively sought from a young age.
‘We fit together because we’re different.’
Jean would often say, linking hands with Gemma.
‘When I fit in, you stick out, and when I stick out, you fit in. That’s why we fit together like puzzle pieces.’
“Where the hell did you find such a girl?”
We’ll be together forever…
“People like her, who charm others, all have the same kind of vibe. They sing, dance, and beg with their legs wide open. They catch your eye and try to claim your heart, standing on top of others’ heads…”
Gemma, who had been chuckling, suddenly staggered as if she was about to fall.
Leroy hurriedly tried to support her, but Gemma firmly rejected his hand and lifted her red face.
Her bloodshot eyes were unfocused. The anger that had once dominated her face had melted into a vacant, unfocused expression.
Jean, who didn’t understand what was happening, soon found out why.
Gemma, attempting to step down from the stage, staggered again, and her knees buckled.
The servants rushed to help her, but seeing a battle-hardened knight unable to stand on her own seemed strange to Jean.
Then, there was a hiccup-like sound.
Gemma, who had been trying to shove the servants away, knocked over a wine bottle on the table. The bottle shattered on the floor, and red wine cascaded down beneath the stage like a waterfall.
The overwhelming smell of alcohol hit Jean’s senses, and it felt as though she was becoming drunk on a wine she hadn’t even tasted.
The sight of the intoxicated Gemma was utterly unfamiliar.
The ascetic knight, who would avoid drinking and only ever wet her lips on special occasions, and the drunkard in front of her, were simply hard to believe to be the same person.
Even though her face had aged, Jean could tell it was the Gemma she knew, but she didn’t feel like the same person at all.
Gemma, barely managing to stand upright with the help of the servants, shook her head and let out a bitter laugh.
She ran a hand through her tangled hair, looking at Nix with a face lost in drunkenness.
“Yes… I thought you’d been causing a stir here and there, but it turns out you’ve just been rummaging through brothels, haven’t you? Nix Heidegger, the name the family gave you is a disgrace. All the schemes you cooked up to turn my world upside down, and this is the level of your ambition?”
No.
Jean’s frozen face barely moved as her lips twitched.
“Take off that mask. I don’t care where you’ve been, but I’ll personally judge how much you resemble me.”
No.
“Nix, your taste in women is exactly like your father’s—”
That’s not what I meant! Jean was overwhelmed by the humiliation, when she suddenly realized she had shouted out loud.
Staring blankly at Gemma’s shocked face, Jean impulsively walked forward.
She forcefully ripped off the mask that Madame had carefully placed on her, and the eyes of the onlookers hungrily rushed toward her bare skin.
Finally, standing under the chandelier, Jean revealed her true face.
Her tearful, miserable eyes locked onto Gemma, standing above on the stage.
“I don’t understand… why you would say such things. I didn’t come here to mock you. I just wanted to see you again…”
“…?”
“We’re best friends, Gemma.”
Despite trying to sound composed, her voice trembled and was drenched in despair. The longing in her eyes, pleading only for one person, resonated deeply.
Gemma slowly began to feel her drunkenness fade away.
The world that had been spinning violently began to right itself, and the buzzing in her ears disappeared.
Gemma noticed the butler who had been supporting her muttering that cursed name. This was unusual for him, a seasoned butler who would never let that name slip in front of her.
Lost in vague thoughts, Gemma looked down again at the woman below the stage.
Jean Rohrbach, just like a figure walking out of a preserved memory, looked exactly as she had in the past.
The moment she saw her, Gemma’s head spun, and without thinking, she slapped her own cheek. Despite Leroy and the guards trying to stop her, she continued slapping her own face with an aggressive hand.
But still, the woman remained unchanged.
After confirming the stunned look on Jean’s face, Gemma muttered coldly.
“…It’s not a drunken hallucination.”
Her gaze, now fully sober, shifted sharply toward the knights standing awkwardly at the edge of the banquet hall.
A ferocious roar came out.
“What are you all doing! That’s magic that plays with the senses! Guard yourselves immediately!”
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