Seeing Ouga-kun gulp made me come to my senses — what am I doing?
This is just me banking on Ouga-kun’s kindness and trying to dump my past and my sin onto him.
What a horrible woman. Trash, even — I deserve to be called that.
To have caught the eye of such an ugly fool is a pity.
The calmer my thinking grew, the more self-recriminations welled up.
…… But. I’d already, beyond rescue, come to believe.
That Ouga-kun would be the prince to me.
In front of him, the outer wall I’d built around my heart was crumbling in pieces.
How can it be helped.
“Show me. I’m prepared to accept any kind.”
Ouga-kun had said that.
Today, his constantly looking at my chest must mean he knows.
What lies hideously here.
I’d long since understood his romantic preferences.
A girl with a big chest, kind, charming.
I match none of those.
The only reason he’d stare at my chest is this.
It may be that House Veret, in places we don’t know, has grasped something.
That possibility is entirely real.
And yet Ouga-kun said he’d accept.
The meaning of those words, the weight…… is reaching down toward the heart I’d sunken to the bottom.
“You truly won’t regret it……?”
“Yeah.”
“Even if it’s something else…… you won’t come to hate me?”
“Of course not. I never go back on my word.”
My heart was shaking at the straightness of his gaze.
Cheeks burning with unprecedented excitement, breath ragged.
”…… Understood. Please — never look away.”
Phew…… one deep breath in.
I wasn’t wearing one, so each time the air touched my skin, I felt a slight cold.
One more. One more button, and this would be visible to Ouga-kun.
At last, my world is going to change——
“——Wait, Reina!”
“Eh…… kya!?”
Suddenly, Ouga-kun stretched out his arm, pushed me off, and snapped his fingers.
In an instant, from the void, a white battle-coat appeared.
It floated down and covered my body as if to hide it.
The next moment, the sound of the door opening, then a bright voice.
“Ahaha~, I forgot my own room key~ — huh? Ouga, what are you doing?”
“When I went to move the table, I lost my balance and spilled water.”
When I looked, Ouga-kun was crouched down, wiping the floor with his own handkerchief.
Of course there was no actual spilled water.
He was only pretending to wipe.
From being so worked up, I hadn’t noticed Miss Liche approaching.
“You should change too, Reina. The water hit you.”
”…… Ah…… right.”
“Use those clothes as is. The lavatory is the door on the right.”
“My apologies. I’ll accept that kindness and borrow it briefly.”
Quickly gathering his clothes, I entered the lavatory and clicked the lock.
So that no one could come in.
”…… To avoid suspicion, I need to wet the pajamas.”
I twisted the faucet and caught the water in my hand.
To wet them suitably, I deliberately splashed it onto my face.
Without wiping the dripping water, I unfastened the buttons one by one, pop, pop.
I gently set aside the corset I wore to keep unnatural bumps from showing.
In the mirror, the figure of my naked-born self.
The water trickled to my cheek, my neck, and stopped at my chest’s lower portion, caught by a metal receiver.
A specially commissioned magical implement — built to be unbreakable by any magic — was embedded in my body.
In the glass vial the implement protects, a green liquid — the completed [Body-Strengthening Doping Extract].
The device that makes me Sensei’s spare body (me).
The thin tubes attached and buried into my abdomen circulated the liquid through my whole body.
”…… Truly ugly.”
Nobody would love a woman like this.
I’d gotten a little carried away.
I tell myself ugly every day…… anyone who looked at this would have the same impression, of course.
“I’m…… truly even hated by the gods.”
If a god truly existed, if Ouga-kun were meant to be my prince, he wouldn’t have allowed me to miss that timing.
If she’d only been back to her room for the blanket, I could have confessed my secret and been accepted.
Just like everyone else — that would have been enough……!
Hope was caught up by resignation, lost its heat, and faded.
It felt as if the world were telling me, you mustn’t be saved.
That’s right…… Father and Mother and Sister and little Sister — all of them were killed — and only I, surviving, must not be allowed to be happy……
The cold water against my face felt good.
…… Let me stop being tossed around by emotion.
As of this moment, Reina Milfonti has died.
She is merely Sensei’s spare doll, moving as Sensei tells her.
I’ll act as I have been.
That way, I won’t have to feel pain.
“My apologies. Sorry for the wait.”
“No, you didn’t take that long…… Reina. You……”
”……? Is something the matter, Ouga-kun?”
”…… No, nothing.”
“Fufu, what a strange Ouga-kun. Your expression looks stiff.”
With a practiced touch, I prodded Ouga-kun’s cheek with my finger and crafted his smile.
“There — a smile is best.”
The words were in my own voice, but they sounded like a curse.
◇ Ever since Reina first appeared, I wanted to write this chapter.
We’re at the midpoint of Chapter 2. Ouga’s turn begins. ◇