Somehow, Liz Cather did not really understand her situation.
…How could she break the charm spell? I don’t think anything other than strong belief and will could break the spell.
It would be impossible for students who truly believe in her to realize this on their own. It would be difficult for them to question the values they had come to believe in.
“How far would you go to satisfy yourself?”
Her expression changed as I said this. It was anything but calm.
“I just…”
Liz Cather choked.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt“Just what?”
“I just…I just like Duke.”
She muttered weakly, her face filled with the most lonely expression I’d ever seen.
Liz Cather’s expression left me speechless. It was the look of a woman who was seriously in love.
“I know Duke likes Alicia-chan. I didn’t stop Alicia from being exiled because I didn’t want her to stay with Duke any longer… but his heart is still hers.”
Ah, well, Liz Cather was just in love.
She was fighting so hard to deal with her jealousy. She had many admirers, but for all these years, she had only cared about Duke.
She probably looks at Duke with sparkling eyes and loves him blindly, just as her followers love her.
So maybe she, who was said to be a saint, hated Alicia somewhere in her heart, and this was reflected in her magic. Well, this was just my imagination….
“I know I’m a mess, and while I want Duke to be happy, somewhere deep down, I want him to be happy with me. Why can’t it be me, even though I have more feelings for Duke than Alicia-chan? I’m aware that no matter how much I think about him, my feelings will never be returned. But I’ve been desperately telling myself that if I work hard enough, I’ll be rewarded. I won’t make it if I don’t. You know how difficult it is to lose the feeling of love?”
She looked at me with tears in her big eyes, as if she needed my help and support.
For the first time, I felt like I was hearing Liz Cather’s true feelings. The person she most wanted to be was Alicia.
I couldn’t say anything. All I could do was listen to what Liz Cather had to say.
“Curtis once said that I wouldn’t be able to compete with Alicia-chan. He said I’d never be able to surpass her. But it’s so frustrating. This is a battle of feminine pride. So, now that Alicia-chan has been exiled, why can’t it be my turn now? Is it because she’s going to come back here again?”
“Do you wish you had met him earlier than Alicia?”
I knew it was a dumb question, but it was all I could ask at the moment.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmLiz Cather shook her head.
“Duke is in love with her regardless,” she says. …”That’s why I’m so envious of Alicia-chan; it’s the ultimate honor for a woman to be liked by Duke.”
She smiled, wistfully.
I still couldn’t understand what she meant by “Being a Girl”. But even so, I can understand how Liz Cather is feeling right now.
I, too, often wonder if our relationship would have been different if I had been Alicia’s age and met her before Duke.
I know how heart-wrenching it would be to wish for her happiness and watch over her. …Well, things had already been blown out of proportion for me.
But Liz Cather continued to have feelings for Duke. No matter how much she knew, there would be no response.
She was desperate to leave her mark on Duke.
…which was very annoying for all of us.