Chapter 61: Taking the Initiative

“Phew… finally some peace and quiet.”

Pelleti leaned against the door and let out a long sigh of relief. The room had surprisingly good soundproofing—once the door was closed, not a single sound from outside could be heard.

They had only walked a few steps, and those two had already started arguing again. It seemed she really couldn’t let them stay together.

In the end, the reason Feiye and Josuna behaved like this was because of her. Both of them were waiting for Pelleti to give them an answer they would be satisfied with.

But Pelleti didn’t want either of those choices.

So she decided to simply not choose at all—and run away whenever she got the chance.

Feiye still had her blood mark on Pelleti’s body. That child definitely wouldn’t be in a hurry; she would simply wait quietly outside the door until Pelleti came out.

Josuna was different.

From the tone she had just used, it was clear that what she wanted was a private world for just the two of them, without Feiye interfering.

A beautiful idea.

But reality was cruel.

How could Feiye possibly agree to something like that? An argument was inevitable.

Pelleti suddenly felt that Josuna was like a useless husband who could only stare helplessly when faced with this situation, standing outside the door with no idea what to do.

Meanwhile, Pelleti still had to rack her brain over the two of them while standing behind the door. She even suspected that she might collapse before they did.

Josuna wanted to protect her from harm.

Feiye wanted to stay by her side and not be abandoned.

Logically speaking, those two requests didn’t even conflict with each other.

So how had things escalated to this point?

Why did they insist on forcing her to choose?

These two non-contradictory requests—Pelleti could clearly satisfy both at the same time.

She really couldn’t understand how yanderes thought.

If only there were some way to make them get along peacefully.

But she knew that was nothing more than a delusion.

After waiting for quite a while and confirming that no knocking came from outside the door, Pelleti finally relaxed and began looking around the library.

The space inside was huge. Directly opposite the door was a massive floor-to-ceiling window that nearly filled her entire field of vision. Bookshelves were arranged in neat rows, with wide aisles between each row.

This library was far larger than the one in Falisar she had seen before.

As expected of the church—they really were rich.

Sunlight streamed in diagonally through the window, covering the entire space with a sacred atmosphere.

“Are you… here seeking knowledge?”

“Who’s there?”

Pelleti followed the voice and looked over. She saw a hunched old man with white hair and beard slowly putting down the book in his hands. A kind smile rested on his wrinkled face, giving him a somewhat crumpled appearance.

When had he appeared?

She hadn’t noticed him at all.

“Don’t be nervous, child. I’m just an old man past his prime.”

“The two outside the door… they seem to have a very good relationship with you.”

“Not that good. It’s just…”

Pelleti paused.

What exactly was the relationship between her, Feiye, and Josuna?

It was a question she had never seriously thought about.

Feiye’s older sister?

Or Josuna’s elder?

Neither seemed quite right.

As a “sister,” she often had to read Feiye’s mood instead. She only accepted the title because Feiye liked calling her that.

And as for being Josuna’s elder, in reality Josuna saw her as the one who needed protection.

That hardly resembled what an elder should be like.

“Looks like you don’t know either.”

The old man at the wooden table slowly stood up, leaning on his cane.

“I’ve been observing you since the moment you came in. You’re afraid.”

“Afraid of the two girls outside the door.”

“Young people are wonderful—full of energy and ignorance, doing whatever they want.”

“Who are you? Why are you asking about my business?” Pelleti stared at the strange old man with caution.

“Oh my, it’s been so many years. A rare visitor finally comes looking for books seriously, and you won’t even chat with an old man for a while?”

“Uh… alright. Go on.”

Pelleti felt speechless.

Why did this old guy feel like some mischievous old child?

And the way he talked felt oddly modern.

For an old man, he sounded surprisingly young.

“You can call me Amo, or Old Mo. Not many people come here, and someone like you is even rarer. I’m bored every day, so when something interesting shows up, this old man gets curious and asks a few questions.”

“Who knows? Maybe I can help.”

Amo spoke slowly, as if each word had to be pushed out one by one.

“What could you possibly help with?” Pelleti looked doubtful.

“Amo” obviously sounded like a fake name.

There was no way it was real.

“Kid, I’ve lived much longer than you. How do you know I don’t understand?”

“Back in my day, I was beloved wherever I went—flowers bloomed when they saw me, and the girls who liked me could line up from here all the way to the imperial capital.”

Pelleti didn’t believe a word of it. She assumed the old man was just bragging.

“Let me guess. Two girls both like you, and they’re fighting over you?” Amo said while leading Pelleti between the shelves.

“More or less… but their minds are a little abnormal.”

“Then that means very abnormal.”

“Have you ever heard stories about taming wild animals?” Amo suddenly asked.

“No. What does that have to do with me?”

“It has everything to do with you. When dealing with situations like this, you should read more books about that sort of thing and learn properly.”

Pelleti understood.

This old man was telling her to treat Feiye and Josuna like wild animals and tame them.

“What nonsense are you talking about? They’re people, not animals.”

“Ah, wrong.”

“Humans are animals too—just slightly smarter ones. Though not that much smarter.”

“You have to let them know who the master is. Then naturally they won’t dare bare their teeth at you.”

“No, no. I can’t do that.”

“Then you can wait to be bitten to death.”

Amo spread his hands helplessly and pulled a book from the shelf.

It wasn’t the magic book Pelleti wanted, but a Book of Light.

Although puzzled, she accepted it.

“Wanting everything is exactly what caused the situation you’re in now.”

“When you do things, you must understand trade-offs. On the road to success, you always have to give something up.”

“So what does that have to do with what I want?” Pelleti frowned at the Book of Light in her hands.

“It does. Of course it does.”

“If you want to learn magic, you must first understand where magic comes from.”

“Come, let’s continue.”

“Are you afraid?”

“Why ask that all of a sudden?” This old man jumped topics way too much.

“Then it seems you really don’t understand. At least from what I see—you’re afraid.”

“Don’t joke. How could I possibly be afraid? I’m super brave, okay?”

“Then do you dare go outside right now and face them?”

“…”

“See? You’re afraid.”

“Fear solves nothing. Eventually you must face your fears—you have to confront them directly.”

“Consider this a bit of help from a senior. I hope it’s useful to you.”

“They are afraid of you—afraid you’ll walk toward a path they don’t want to see.”

“At times like this, you must learn to seize the initiative.”