The Guilty

– You’d better tell me clearly what it is!

Wang Ning urged her.

But a few traces of a mischievous smile leaked out from Boli An on the other end.

– I was lying to you. There’s no such thing as a forecast. It’s just something I made up.

– You didn’t actually believe it, did you?

Wang Ning shot up from her seat, suppressing her anger. “Then, what was that news article?”

– Which one? Oh, the unlucky fool who died in the car crash at the hotel?

When she said the last few words, Boli An’s voice took on an ambiguous tone.

– Doesn’t that just prove the forecast didn’t come true?

She still had that same nonchalant tone.

Wang Ning: ‘You’re still trying to fool me!’

Wang Ning forced herself to calm down.

She watched the clock’s pendulum push time forward, drop by drop.

The infirmary was empty, and the white space slowly calmed her.

She said to Boli An, “Whether it’s real or fake, you have to tell me what happened at 12 p.m. today. And what did you mean by ‘deviated’?”

When talking to a person like Boli An, it was easy to get led astray, to unconsciously forget what you wanted to say in the first place, and just let her dominate the conversation.

Wang Ning had to know the inside story of this matter, regardless of whether it was true or false.

The quiet space amplified the breath of emotion.

Wang Ning sat back down in the chair, tilting her head back to look at the ceiling.

The beeping of the equipment, the ticking of the pendulum, and the sound of Boli An’s breathing—the originally quiet space was now dense with sound.

– Originally, I just wanted you to have a clearer understanding of the weather so you wouldn’t get caught in the rain again.

After a long time, Boli An spoke.

“Mhm, I know. You’re very good to me. But why can a weather forecast app… forecast a person’s life and death?”

Wang Ning’s voice also grew softer.

– Do you believe me if I say it was an accident?

Boli An let out a breathy laugh.

“I believe you,” Wang Ning also smiled. “I believe that if you wanted to create a convincing accident, you could easily do so.”

‘Ah.’

‘That’s really…’

Boli An wasn’t sure what she was thinking anymore.

She looked at the scenery outside the window.

Looking down from the tallest building in the Empire, past layers upon layers of buildings, she could even see Alice Girls’ Academy in the far distance.

Her thoughts were always changing, and she did things on a whim.

Much of the time it was a sudden impulse, but most of the time, she just felt bored.

Entering Alice Girls’ Academy was just a thought of “What would it be like to experience it as an ordinary student?”

It was a sudden idea that came to her right after she left that family, when she was wandering aimlessly.

—And as it turned out, it was just as empty and boring.

Attending classes like a normal student didn’t bring her any sense of accomplishment or surprise.

That knowledge seemed so outdated to her that she even wondered why people were still using such backward and inefficient methods to educate others.

Her thoughts strayed far away, and she only snapped back to reality when the person on the other end of the phone called her name.

‘…Oh, entering Alice Girls’ Academy wasn’t entirely fruitless—or rather, it gave me a surprise.’

– Boli An, have you made up your mind? Also… when are you coming back to class?

‘It’s really interesting. I haven’t heard that kind of questioning tone in a long time.’

– Alright, alright.

Her words were a compromise that surprised even herself.

– I know. I’ll be back soon.

Wang Ning saw the door to the treatment room open.

She stood up and called out, “Dr. Ruixi.”

The school doctor looked at her and nodded, saying seriously, “That little student’s injuries are quite severe. She also has many old injuries under the surface. I can only say… it’s a good thing her body’s self-recovery ability is strong.”

Wang Ning’s heart tightened.

She pushed the door open to look.

Chloe was lying on the hospital bed, sleeping soundly.

Boli An’s voice came from the phone.

– These forecasts are just small-scale deductions. I… know a little bit, enough to deduce the most likely future.

– Generally speaking, it won’t deviate.

She described the ability to dominate the fate of others in a light and understated manner.

Wang Ning held her phone, replying with “mhm, mhm” to show she was listening.

She looked at Chloe’s pale face and reached out to take off her glasses—to let her sleep more comfortably.

– But there are two situations that can interfere with this calculated future.

Boli An was no longer looking down at the city.

Instead, she looked up at the azure sky.

The transparent window was wide open.

She sat on it lightly.

Behind the bay window, the curtains billowed in the wind, which also blew her misty-blue hair and the hem of her clothes.

The glaring sunlight seemed to want to pierce through her irises, leaving a burning mark.

But she continued to gaze at the blue sky and said, “The first is when the person in the forecast also possesses the ability of deduction.”

“Huh?” Wang Ning was surprised. “Then what about the second type? It can’t be that the people in both forecasts just happen to know deduction, right?”

– Of course not.

Boli An’s eyes began to sting.

She could only tilt her head back and close them, saying bluntly, “The person in the first forecast is… a member of the Yorksonlos family. A very small number of people in their family have mastered this… innate ability.”

“Innate ability?”

– It’s something special their bloodline gives them.

She said this with a subtle mockery.

“Then what about you? Why can you…?” Wang Ning pressed, then immediately shut her mouth.

This was Boli An’s secret.

She shouldn’t be asking so directly.

But Boli An paused for a moment and, instead of minding, said nonchalantly, “It’s nothing. It’s not some big secret.”

– The same blood as them just happens to flow in my veins.

Wang Ning’s mouth opened, but no words came out.

– Let’s not talk about that family.

She said, her interest waning.

– There’s really nothing good to say about them.

Wang Ning sensitively felt Boli An’s dislike for that family and changed the subject.

“Then what about the second type you mentioned?” Wang Ning asked curiously.

Boli An, on the other hand, pondered for a moment.

The second situation was very special—or rather, the second situation shouldn’t exist in this world at all.

Drip, drip.

The IV tube dripped.

The person on the hospital bed seemed to be waking up.

Chloe’s brows furrowed tightly, her lips moved, and her pale, beautiful face sank into the pillow, as if trapped in a nightmare.

Wang Ning freed her other hand and gently held Chloe’s, to prevent her from moving around and knocking out the IV tube.

That hand was very cold.

After being touched by Wang Ning, it was as if a person in the dead of winter had found a source of heat.

It tightly gripped her hand back.

Now, Wang Ning didn’t dare to move even if she wanted to, and could only obediently act as a human warmer.

“You were saying?” Wang Ning hadn’t heard a follow-up for a while and couldn’t help but urge her.

– Who else is there with you?

Wang Ning: “Hm?”

– You’re not focused when you’re listening to me.

Boli An’s upper body leaned forward.

She was sitting on the windowsill.

If she accidentally fell, her body might not even be pieced back together completely.

She heard Wang Ning say, “It’s just a… familiar classmate. She was cornered and bullied in the restroom. I was passing by and helped her out. Now I’m with her in the infirmary.”

– You’re really so kind.

Coming from Boli An’s mouth, this sentence sounded sarcastic no matter how you heard it.

Wang Ning couldn’t help but say, “Hey, isn’t it normal to help when you encounter a situation like this—”

– —Because that’s you.

Boli An interrupted her, saying word by word,

– Here, only you would think that way.

– A normal person passing by would only think of getting away quickly, because this is Alice Girls’ Academy, not some other ordinary school—no, even in the most ordinary of schools, you shouldn’t do that.

Wang Ning retorted, “Your values are the strange ones! When you encounter something like this, a normal person’s first thought should be to help, not to ignore it! Even if, even if…”

She was so angry she couldn’t speak.

But Boli An listened to her quietly, and then, still in that calm to the point of being cruel tone, said, “That’s a nice thought, but do you know what you’ll face? Do you know what level of power the noble you’ve provoked has? Do you know if you’ll be targeted until you’re dead?”

Her questions were relentless, almost sharp by the end.

Wang Ning was speechless.

She hadn’t thought about this problem, or rather—she had been protected too well.

A person with no power or influence, who also possessed an attractiveness she was unaware of.

If it weren’t for the overly powerful people guarding her, she might have already been forcibly taken away by some noble—erasing a person’s existence from society was not very difficult for them.

Silence fell between the two.

Boli An looked at the dizzying height.

A strong gust of wind blew past, as if wanting to blow her off the windowsill.

The sun was also blocked by a passing dark cloud.

The light was no longer glaring.

She looked up at the dimming sky.

For a moment, she thought she saw a kite.

Her eyes were a lush, verdant green, but a wasteland lay beneath.

Even though she knew she had already escaped that family, destroyed that confinement room, and held the power to destroy them, that way of thinking had already been branded into her mind and soul.

The assimilated pollution would forever only make her feel sick and pained.

‘So annoying. So disgusting.’

Her breathing became rapid.

That feeling was coming back again.

She stared at the distant ground, imagining the sensation of landing.

In a daze, she heard Wang Ning’s voice.

– …No, even if it happened again, I would still do the same thing.

– …What?

She heard herself say.

Wang Ning squeezed Chloe’s hand to make her feel warmer.

She lowered her head and said into the phone, “I don’t know why you think that way. Maybe your way of thinking is right here… but why must I follow the ‘correct’ answer?”

“Maybe I was just unlucky, to have happened to run into this bullying, for the bullies to happen to be powerful, and for me to happen to choose to help…”

– —But so what?

Her clear voice landed in Boli An’s mind. “Kindness has a price. I know that very well. But why, when I myself am willing to bear the cost, must I be told by others, ‘You can’t do that’?”

Wang Ning’s eyes curved into crescents. “Boli An, I know you think I’m too weak and you’re just trying to kindly remind your deskmate, which is why you’d say such things to me.”

“That’s why you’d think… that I’m naive and foolish for acting this way.”

‘No.’

‘That’s not it.’

Boli An felt a roaring in her brain.

She had lost all her senses, yet her throat felt blocked, unable to make a sound.

‘It’s not like that.’

‘I never thought that.’

Her mind kept denying it, but there was still a voice in the bottom of her heart, whispering in her ear—”Yes, that’s exactly what you think. Right now, you’re no different from them.”

[“An, you did very well this time. Yes, only by always being first can you avoid being locked in the dark, dark room.”]

‘Shut up.’

[“What did you do! Why did you hesitate to use the knife at the end?! …Sympathy? You feel sympathy for her, so why don’t you feel any sympathy for your mother! Do you still want to live?! Did I give birth to you just so you could give things away to others!”]

‘Shut up!’

[“This is your final trial. Only the child who survives to the end will have the right to choose… An, do a good job.”]

‘Stop talking!’

Boli An’s hand suddenly clamped around her own neck, tightening.

Lack of oxygen.

Until the instinctive will to survive, triggered by suffocation, overcame the desire to jump.

– Boli An?

Wang Ning hadn’t heard her voice and called her name in confusion.

She slowly lowered the hand from her neck and moved the phone a little further away, so the person on the other end wouldn’t hear her ragged breathing.

– I’m sorry.

Boli An squeezed the disjointed words from her throat, then smiled, even though she knew the other person couldn’t see it.

– I was too harsh just now. I mixed in too many… personal feelings.

Wang Ning expressed her understanding. “It’s okay. After all, I know you were just concerned about me, and I was indeed a bit thoughtless.”

After saying that, she added, “Senior Karin knows about this matter too. I believe she can make a fair judgment.”

– …Is that so?

Boli An’s voice was intermittent, carrying a light, airy laugh.

– That’s good. Karin, she’ll handle it well.

– I was the one who worried too much.

After this whole ordeal, Wang Ning had also forgotten to ask her what the second situation was.

“Cough, cough.” Wang Ning heard a sound from the person on the bed and hurried to look.

Boli An was still talking on the phone.

– I don’t know why the second forecast deviated, but… you don’t need to worry about it too much.

—‘After all, what happens to the person in the prophecy has nothing to do with you. You shouldn’t care too much about irrelevant people.’

She didn’t say the last part out loud.

She had a feeling that if she said it, Wang Ning… might hate her even more.

She didn’t want Wang Ning to hate her.

The sunlight fell with a gentle warmth.

Boli An stared intently at the even more beautiful, deep blue sky.

She continued, “I can tell you what the blurred-out words in the forecast were.”

– Punishment. The Guilty.