Demons.
Beings that seduce humans and lead them to ruin.
Even Rina, a slave, had heard countless stories of demons.
The Mother of Demons, Leviathan.
The vilest of demons, Satan.
The King of Demons, Baal.
But she had never heard of a demon named Pureupureu.
Rina stared intently at Pureupureu.
Purple hair gleaming with luster and captivating black eyes.
A formal dress made of luxurious fabric.
She was the very image of a noble young lady.
It was entirely different from the demonic form she had entered with.
'A demon? What kind of nonsense is this girl talking about?'
Pureupureu's strangely arrogant expression grated on Rina's nerves.
In her mind, she wanted to smack her on the head,
but there was nothing she could do, because the girl looked every bit a noble young lady.
Then Pureupureu opened her mouth again.
"I introduced myself first, so isn't it polite for you to introduce yourself too, Miss Kitty?"
"..."
Rina decided to play along for now.
She lightly grasped the hem of her skirt and bowed her head in greeting.
"I am Rina, a gano of Viscount Orphen's household... My Lady Pureupureu...?"
"Rina. It suits you well, Miss Kitty. But why are you so gloomy?"
Pureupureu approached, her hands clasped behind her back.
Even up close, her face was beautiful enough not to lose to Rina's own.
"Could it be that the cute Miss Kitty needs the help of a demon like me?"
'What kind of weird way to address someone is "Miss Kitty"? Ha... She's like some noble lady roleplaying.'
Of course, to Rina's knowledge, there were no noble guests invited to the mansion at the moment.
But there were many nobles who enjoyed eccentric pranks, so one never knew.
'Argh! This is annoying. Why do I have to worry about something like this?'
Annoyed, Rina decided to ruin Pureupureu's prank.
Only, she was wary, so she would do so indirectly.
"I appreciate your words, My Lady Pureupureu, but a demon? This ignorant slave finds it hard to believe."
"Oh?"
"If it isn't too rude, could you prove to this lowly slave that you are a demon?"
At Rina's words, Pureupureu giggled again.
"Hehe, how bold. Very well, then place your hand on top of mine."
Pureupureu held out a small, delicate hand.
An ordinary appearance that didn't seem like a demon's hand.
Rina carefully placed her own hand on top of it.
But as if slicing through air, her hand passed straight through Pureupureu's.
"Huh?"
This time, she tried moving her hand upward from below.
The result was the same.
Pureupureu's hand passed through once more.
"I-It passed through?"
"See, isn't it amazing?"
"Wow!"
Rina moved her hand up and down repeatedly, as if fascinated.
"But how long are you going to keep doing that?"
"Ah...!"
Rina flushed, seemingly embarrassed.
"So, Miss Kitty. Is this enough to make you believe I'm a demon now?"
But Rina didn't want to believe Pureupureu was a demon just like that.
For some reason, it felt like losing.
Surely, she was being toyed with by some trick or another.
Just then, the mages from the Geumma Tower who had come to repair the mansion's magical tools came to mind.
They would often show her minor magical tricks to win her favor.
"That's right, magic! My Lady Pureupureu might be showing me a trick like this through magic."
"Quite the suspicious Miss Kitty."
Soon, Pureupureu furrowed her brows slightly.
"But being compared to mere mages hurts my pride."
"I-I'm sorry if I offended you..."
"Hehe, you're cute, so I'll let it slide this time. Then how shall I prove I am a demon? Ah! Shall I let you have a taste of a fragment of my authority?"
"Authority?"
"I normally only show this to the witch who has contracted with me, so be grateful. Miss Kitty, aren't you curious who your father is?"
At the unexpected question, Rina was startled.
'Father...!'
A being in whom resentment and longing coexisted.
"D-Do you know who my father is?"
"Curious?"
"Of course I'm curious! Please tell me! Who is it? Who is my father?"
Excited, Rina tried to grab Pureupureu.
But Rina's hand cut through empty air.
Pureupureu had vanished.
"Huh!"
Then, a voice came from behind Rina.
"Your reaction is even better than I thought? That expression just now was too cute."
When Rina turned her head, Pureupureu wore an ecstatic expression.
But Pureupureu's eyes were strange.
"My Lady Pureupureu, your eyes...?"
"Hm? Ah, it seems my transformation came loose a bit. But aren't these eyes pretty too?"
Inverted eyes.
The positions of the whites and the pupils had been reversed.
"Well, that's not important. Then let's go meet your father, Miss Kitty!"
Ting!
Pureupureu snapped her fingers, and a clear sound rang out.
The surrounding space began to twist like rippling water.
"Wait a moment! What are you doing right now?"
A shuddering harmony as the absolute bedrock of the world reversed.
The twisting scenery around them began to reconstruct piece by piece.
When she came to her senses, Rina was standing in the middle of an unfamiliar garden.
"What is this...! Where are we?"
Rina trembled as she looked at Pureupureu.
Pureupureu's eyes had returned to normal.
And Pureupureu's finger was pointing somewhere.
"Shh, be quiet and look over there!"
There stood a middle-aged man in luxurious noble attire.
Hair so red it seemed to blaze.
A pert nose resembling Rina's.
Rina instinctively realized who the man before her was.
"I-Is that my father?"
Pureupureu nodded.
"That man is your father, Miss Kitty—Leonhardt de Flam. He is Count Flam of the Kingdom of Baltera."
Rina gasped in surprise.
She had wondered if her father might be a noble because of her outstanding appearance,
but she had never imagined he would be a count, classified among the high nobility.
Moreover, the Kingdom of Baltera was a powerful kingdom in the southern part of the Empire that even Rina had heard of.
'My father is a count of a kingdom?'
"He's the father you wanted to see. Are you just going to watch from afar? Go closer."
"What? Ah... yes!"
As if entranced, Rina approached Count Flam and called out.
"Excuse me... Father?"
She called out right in front of her father, but no answer came.
'Did he not hear me?'
Rina called to the Count again, but there was no reaction this time either.
It seemed the Count hadn't merely failed to hear her, but couldn't perceive her at all.
Rina reached out her hand toward the Count.
But her hand passed straight through the Count's body.
"Wh-What!"
It was the same situation as when her hand had passed through Pureupureu's hand moments before.
Pureupureu reappeared behind the bewildered Rina.
"It's because this is a world of a different fate."
"A world of a different fate?"
"Yes. We are currently here in the position of observers. In simple terms, you could say we're in a ghost-like state?"
As she spoke, Pureupureu ran her hand over a bush in a corner of the garden.
The bush passed straight through Pureupureu's hand.
"See? Those existing in a world of a different fate normally can't affect each other. It's thanks to my power that we can observe them like this, hehe."
Pureupureu giggled again, as if delighted by something.
"Look over there. Something interesting is coming again."
Rina turned her head in that direction.
There, a noble young lady was running toward the Count, followed by gano.
"Wow! Father, when did you return! I've missed you!"
The young lady ran into the Count's arms and embraced him tightly.
"Hahaha, Erina. Did you miss this father of yours so much?"
Rina's gaze was stolen by the young lady's appearance.
Vividly blazing red hair and blue eyes like jewels of the sea.
A face far too familiar.
"Is that... me?"
That young lady was Rina.
A Rina wearing a luxurious green outing dress rather than gano clothes.
"Wh-What is going on, My Lady Pureupureu?"
"I told you. This is a world of a different fate. So wouldn't there be a Miss Kitty of a different fate too? That's her."
Pureupureu grinned and whispered into Rina's ear.
"To be more precise, that Miss Kitty isn't Rina, but Erina de Flam. Isn't it a pretty name?"
"Erina de Flam? De? De!"
A 'de' had been placed between the name and the surname. There was only one thing that meant.
"Wait a moment. I'm a noble?"
"Hehe. That's right."
"But my mother is a prostitute. How can I be a noble, and a legitimate one at that?"
"Really, you've been impatient since earlier. Watch a little longer. Then the world will tell you the answer itself."
At the reproach, Rina looked back at Erina.
Erina was chatting happily with her father.
Stories from the banquet, stories of playing with the retainers, things she had learned from her tutor.
Rina watched the scene blankly.
'I'm jealous. I too...'
Then, a new voice came from the back of the garden.
"Erina, you are an adult now. How can you act so uncultured and spoiled like a child toward your father?"
The owner of the voice was an elegant silver-haired noblewoman.
A beauty with blue eyes like Rina and Erina.
But she was not a person in Rina's memories.
"Who...?"
Before Rina could finish her question, Erina provided the answer.
"Mother!"
At Erina's words, Rina's eyes widened.
"Mother! But Father returned after almost a month. And because he came so suddenly, I couldn't help being happy!"
"Hahaha, my dear. What's the harm? She hasn't even had her coming-of-age ceremony yet, so surely we can overlook this much?"
The sight of a harmonious family that Rina had longed to see even in her dreams.
But no such happy sight entered her eyes any longer.
'She's her mother? But that woman isn't my mother. What is going on?!'
Even if it was a different fate, could one's mother change?
The Countess Flam, said to be Erina's mother, looked nothing like the mother Rina knew.
After all, the mother in her memories had red hair and green eyes.
'But something feels similar. Especially those eyes.'
Jewel-like blue pupils.
It was something she always heard whenever she was praised for her appearance.
Meanwhile, the Countess Flam sighed at her childish daughter and turned around.
"Still, I am so glad you returned safely. Rebecca, is the grand banquet for the welcome party prepared well?"
There stood a woman who looked more like a retainer than a gano.
"My Lady, it is proceeding without issue."
A female retainer with red hair and green eyes.
Rina looked at her with trembling eyes.
"Mom...?"
The atmosphere was slightly different, but
Rina could never forget that face and voice.
Her mother—a prostitute who had been strangled to death by a noble—was standing right there.