Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 279: A Date? (Celestine Arc) ③:
Figuring out how to unlock the entrance had been easy—once the idea came to him.
It was based on the periodic table of elements. The so-called “Suihei Riibe” mnemonic.
He had learned it in middle school science class, and thanks to studying so hard for high school entrance exams in his previous life—to the point of peeing blood, in fact—it had stuck in his memory.
(The combination of “sailor” and “Clark” gave it away right away… I had to think a bit about “Berry,” but it must be “beryllium.”)
Fortunately, the code only required knowledge of the first 19 elements.
Most likely… Shouko Sanada remembered the same mnemonic.
Just like with the villa, she must have created this puzzle as a kind of riddle that only a Japanese person would be able to solve.
(With how she keeps slipping puzzles in whenever she can… maybe Shouko really liked solving riddles or puzzle games. Though honestly, she could’ve come up with something better.)
“I think I read about this kind of code in a book a long time ago…”
“…I see.”
Celestine gave a halfhearted response to Rest’s excuse.
She clearly didn’t believe him, but still chose not to press the issue—proof that she really was a refined young lady.
(Seriously… women like her are rare. Rodel, you fool—you really let a good one go.)
Muttering to his late rival in his heart, Rest pushed open the mansion door.
As the front door swung open, a musty, dusty smell rushed to meet them.
How long had it been shut?
For the first time in years, fresh air began to flow through the mansion’s halls.
The interior was fairly ordinary. It wasn’t trashed or messy.
The only strange thing was that from the entrance down the hallway, countless framed pictures were hung in perfect intervals.
“Are these… paintings?”
“…That’s how it looks.”
Rest nodded at Celestine’s question.
The frames contained various styles of art—some oil paintings, some watercolors, and even some monochrome sketches.
Numerous artworks lined the hallway.
“Did she collect paintings, perhaps? The signature says… ‘Sanada Shouko’?”
“Most likely, these were painted by Her Majesty the Queen Dowager herself…”
Besides the signature, the scenes depicted were also familiar to him.
All of the landscapes were from Japan. Many of them matched the imagery he had seen in her mental world before.
There were pictures of oceans and forests, but also elements like road signs, cars, and airplanes—things that didn’t exist in this world.
“I didn’t know Her Majesty had this kind of hobby… What strange townscapes. Where could these be from?”
“Who knows… I’ve never seen them either. Maybe she painted them from her imagination?”
Answering Celestine, Rest took time to observe each picture hanging on the walls.
Why had the Queen Dowager—Sanada Shouko—left behind these paintings?
The reason was likely the same as with the diary he had found before.
(She wanted to preserve memories of the world she used to live in… the one she came from.)
Shouko, like Rest, had been reincarnated. But there was a big difference between them.
She had lived a happy life in her past world.
In contrast, Rest had been raised by toxic parents.
A father addicted to gambling and alcohol, who used even his children’s tuition money. A mother who, unable to bear it, abandoned her children and ran away.
He’d had a few people he could call friends… but by no means had he lived a blessed life.
Shouko, on the other hand, had lived a quiet, uneventful life in the countryside, and longed for the excitement of the city.
But she had a loving family and good friends—her life had never been unhappy.
In fact, her true misfortune began after being reincarnated.
She caught the eye of a tyrant, was forcibly made his consort, and had her family slaughtered in the process.
For a Queen Dowager who had given up her second life for revenge, the happy days of her previous world may have represented the ideal life she still longed for.
(That’s why she secretly painted scenes from her old world. She probably came here from time to time, looking at her paintings of Japan, trying to soothe her homesick heart…)
Thinking of a friend who had come from the same home as he had, Rest felt a quiet, wistful sadness.