Episode 12

To me, who had understood that a penalty would only be imposed if I refused all three missions, being given one now was utterly shitty.

At least… at least it was only twelve hours. Was that a relief?

In an instant, my breathing grew ragged. My body became so heavy it was hard to stand, and I could feel a fever rising.

“Rene…?”

Perhaps puzzled by the sudden change, Anastasia carefully called my name in a worried tone, but I couldn’t answer.

Through my wavering vision, I could vaguely see the nobles who had been enjoying the banquet looking at me.

Ah, no. There are too many eyes on me.

I hadn’t come to the banquet to draw attention, so I had to hurry up and act normal. Besides, I wasn’t supposed to let Reuden find out.

No? So what if he finds out? It’s not like I caused trouble right now. I’m sick right now!

The continuing headache made me feel petulant, like a child.

“Rene, you’re sweating… What’s wrong? Your face has been pale for a while, so I was wondering—are you ill?”

“A-Anastasia….”

In desperation, as if clutching at a straw, I called her name, but perhaps she couldn’t hear my voice well, because she bent down.

“What did you say, Rene?”

“Let’s… go over there.”

What I could see through my spinning vision was a place at the edge of the banquet hall where curtains were drawn. It was probably a terrace.

That seemed like the only place people’s gazes wouldn’t reach, so when I pointed to it, Anastasia supported me without complaint.

Sure enough, beyond the curtains was indeed a terrace with a clear view outside. Perhaps it was a resting area, because a small table and chairs had been prepared there.

There was no reason to hesitate. I immediately sat down on one of the chairs and gasped for breath.

Cold air I hadn’t felt at all earlier touched my skin. I felt like I could live.

“Rene, what’s wrong? Is it that the illness you had last time still hasn’t gotten better?”

“Last time…?”

My head wasn’t working well enough to understand what she meant, and only after a long while did I realize. She was probably talking about when I’d suffered from a fever for a week.

“How do you know about that…?”

My mouth wouldn’t move properly, so I asked with slurred pronunciation, but she somehow understood. Looking slightly flustered, she answered honestly.

“W-well, Lord Reuden told me… Are you hurting like you did back then?”

“Mm, I’m fine. They say it’ll get better after twelve hours.”

“They say…? What does that mean?”

It was hard to open my mouth, so I couldn’t answer. I just wanted to keep whining because I was in pain.

Damn mission. This piece of crap never lets anything slide.

As I was cursing the mission with every insult I could think of inwardly, I heard a scraping sound nearby. When I shifted my dazed gaze, I saw Anastasia pulling the chair from across the table to my side and sitting down.

In my narrowed field of vision, I could see Anastasia hesitating. My curiosity about why was soon resolved.

She placed her hesitant hand on my forehead. Her hand, which I thought would only be warm, was as cold as ice. It was unexpected, but it felt good.

“Your fever is severe… This won’t do. Let’s call a physician.”

“I’m fine.”

“How are you fine…?”

“Anastasia.”

I hadn’t intended it, but a whiny voice slipped out. Anastasia gave no answer, but I continued. My mouth was moving on its own.

“I honestly don’t understand.”

“…What?”

“I know you’re kind, you know? I know it so… so well, but I still don’t understand.”

How can you treat me, Rene Blair, so well?

I was someone who had acted like a scoundrel to everyone. Someone who had done insane things to everyone equally.

Everyone else, even Reuden, who was my own blood, had given up on Rene Blair and busied themselves with avoiding her. If I wasn’t remembering wrong, Anastasia, too, was in the middle of growing exhausted by Rene Blair’s behavior.

So I thought opening Anastasia’s heart would be difficult.

But she was this worried just because my fever had risen a little? Even if she was the protagonist of the novel, wasn’t she too kind?

Could it be because I hugged her on the day I possessed this body? Did she open her heart because of that one thing?

Of course, since she was such a kind child, it might not be that she had opened her heart, but that she was worrying over me out of courtesy.

My head was heavy, and my thoughts bounced all over the place. Then the chain of thoughts trailing one after another was cut off by Anastasia’s voice.

“I’m… not kind at all.”

“What? Hey… even the devil knows you’re kind.”

As if my words were funny, Anastasia let out a small laugh, then murmured.

“…If I were kind, wouldn’t I not have lied to you, Rene?”

What did that mean?

As I looked at Anastasia with a face full of questions, she smiled faintly.

“I’m sorry, Rene. The truth is… I intercepted the invitation that was supposed to go to you.”

“…Huh?”

“I didn’t want you to come to the banquet… so I intercepted it.”

“….”

“Lord Reuden didn’t give me yours too when he came to the banquet today. I had it from the beginning.”

As if confessing a wrongdoing, Anastasia’s face was a little dark.

To be honest, Anastasia’s words were a little shocking. She had gone as far as intercepting the invitation because she hadn’t wanted me to come.

Then that meant she had known all along that the shameless things I’d said before entering the banquet hall were lies.

I felt newly embarrassed.

“Of course, you’re not the kind of person who wouldn’t come just because of that….”

“You know me well… In the end, I came, didn’t I?”

Though it was because of the mission….

When I swallowed the rest of my words and muttered, Anastasia bit her lip slightly and squeezed her eyes shut.

“What are you doing?”

“Huh? Ah, I thought you must be very angry….”

“Did you think I’d hit you or something?”

“…You’re not angry? I deceived you.”

“If you put it that way, I deceived you too. Shamelessly asking if Reuden had taken it. I’m sorry too, for lying. I absolutely had to get into the banquet hall earlier….”

It seemed my mumbling voice didn’t reach her properly. No answer came from her. Ah, I don’t know anymore. I just want to sleep….

But I couldn’t sleep now. I still hadn’t succeeded in a single mission, and if I spent the day like that, I would definitely receive a week’s worth of penalty.

Burrowing into her hand, which was still cold to a strangely remarkable degree, I asked as if in passing.

“So, why didn’t you want me to come?”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. That’s such a stupid question. The reason you wouldn’t want me to come is obvious. Because you were afraid I’d cause a scene….”

“What? No…! That’s not it….”

Ding.

At that moment, there was something I could hear clearly even in my dazed ears.

It was obvious without even looking. It would be the third mission.

Frowning, I barely lifted my eyes.

Today’s Final Mission

“Many people have gathered at the banquet! Let’s hurl abuse at the exact hundredth person you meet and slap them on the cheek!”

Accept / Reject

As for hurling abuse, I wanted to hurl it at that damned, endlessly irritating mission.

‘It really is obsessed with that damn cheek-slapping!’

If I had my way, I wanted to refuse, but when I thought I would hurt even more, I was too afraid to press it. Besides, the hundredth person. Could it be that the reason Rene died in the original work was because of this mission?

What if the hundredth person I met was Daiwen Fergus? And what if Rene hurled abuse at him and slapped him, making Daiwen so furious that he killed her?

Caught in a situation where I could do neither one thing nor the other, I was groaning inwardly when the curtain covering the terrace was lifted. Someone had entered the terrace.

My vision was too blurred to see clearly, but from that brilliant blond hair, I had an idea who it was.

“Your Grace?”

Right. The person Anastasia would call Your Grace. It was obvious. Aiden Burwards.

“Anastasia, what are you doing here?”

“……Rene suddenly developed a fever, so we were resting for a moment.”

“Why are you concerning yourself with that?”

“My point exactly.”

Gasp. What I’d meant to think had come out of my mouth. Thanks to that, my mind snapped awake as if I’d been doused in cold water.

Aiden’s dark crimson eyes turned fiercely toward me. I rolled my lips inward and fell silent, and he stared hard at Anastasia’s hand on my forehead before opening his mouth.

“Lady Blair seems displeased as well, so Anastasia, come out with me.”

“……But Rene is sick…….”

“Anastasia.”

Huh? Why is the mood between those two like this?

Sensing that something was off, I stayed still without even parting my lips, and I saw a slight crack appear in Aiden’s controlled expression.

And just as he opened his mouth as if to say something, a booming voice rang out from beyond the curtain.

“All members of the Hugo Knights are now entering!”

The Hugo Knights?

Aiden clicked his tongue and lifted the curtain to look outside. Anastasia, on the other hand, unusually knit her brows sharply and glared beyond the curtain.

“You must go out. The Hugo Knights have arrived, so His Majesty will be here soon as well.”

Aiden wiped the crack from his expression and spoke gently again. Of course, not to me, but to Anastasia.

Ugh. I’d only meant to show my face and then go home, so how did it end up like this? My head hurt as if it were going to split, but there was nothing I could do.

I was about to get up to leave the terrace, but Anastasia, whose hand was still on my forehead, did not move an inch.

I was not the only one who questioned that attitude. Aiden looked down at her silently.

“What are you doing, Anastasia?”

“…….”

Instead of answering him, Anastasia looked at me.

“Hm? What’s wrong……?”

“Rene……. Since you’re not feeling well, do you want to just stay here?”

“What? How could I?”

“No, I think it would be better for you to stay here. Even if you’re gone, no one will notice.”

With those words, Anastasia suddenly placed a finger in the air and twirled it in a circle. Then blue light was etched along her fingertip, and a radiant pattern was completed.

No one explained it to me, but I could guess easily enough.

This was magic!

Even in the midst of my pain, my eyes sparkled as I watched her magic. Then the pattern burst apart and vanished, and a piece of ice, frozen solid, appeared on her hand.

“I’ll wrap it in a handkerchief for you, so will you hold it to your forehead? It’s ice that doesn’t melt, so you don’t need to worry about water dripping.”

“……Thank you, Anastasia.”

I didn’t know where she had gotten the handkerchief, but as she silently wrapped the ice, she looked at me for a moment at my murmur, then smiled.

It was a smile with her brows drooping low, somehow as if she were about to cry.

“There’s no need to thank me…….”

For some reason, that quietly whispered voice made my heart feel strangely ticklish.