Chapter 08 …
Should I Avoid Rakash? Or Should I Not Avoid Him? That Is the Question — Part 3
Starting the next day, it was the weekend, so just like the other students living in the dormitories, I returned to the marquis estate in the royal capital.
As the carriage swayed along, I reflected on what had happened earlier.
Rakash—who had supposedly been an only child in the game—had a younger sister!
It was a shocking revelation, but once I accepted it, a lot of things suddenly made sense.
I see… when I locked eyes with the beautiful girl Celia earlier, I felt a strange sense of familiarity because her black eyes were exactly like Rakash’s.
And the reason Celia had been warning me off was because she was one of those girls who absolutely adored her older brother.
The reason the Crown Prince had seemed so relaxed around Celia also made sense if they were cousins.
Thinking all that over, I gazed solemnly out the carriage window.
Because I had realized something important:
This world differed slightly from the game’s settings.
And if that was true, then there was every possibility that my ending as the villainess could also differ from the game’s ending.
Maybe I won’t be exiled after all.
If I continue behaving myself after turning over this new pacifist leaf, then the chances of avoiding that fate should rise even more.
And perhaps…
There was also a chance that Rakash would not be attacked by monsters this weekend.
—In the game, Rakash had indeed been attacked by monsters.
One of his legs had been torn off, but thanks to healing magic, he eventually recovered enough to walk again. His life had never been in danger.
Even so, it still bothered me.
That was why I had tried inviting him on a date tomorrow in hopes of stopping him from returning to his territory somehow—but he had rejected me without hesitation.
So although I had already concluded there was nothing more I could do, I still felt restless knowing about the tragedy while being powerless to prevent it.
But perhaps this world was slightly different from the game after all.
And if that were true, then maybe Rakash would not be attacked by monsters either.
That thought finally calmed my heart a little.
Still, even as relief washed over me, I found it strange that I couldn’t shake the prickling sensation that I was overlooking something important.
I returned to the marquis estate, ate dinner with my family, soaked in a warm bath, and finally slipped into my equally warm bed and closed my eyes—
“AH―――――!!!”
I screamed at the top of my lungs.
“What happened!?”
The maids and guards rushed into the room in alarm, but when they saw me sitting half upright in bed with my hair in disarray and a blank expression on my face, they sighed in relief.
“You must have had a bad dream,” they said before leaving the room again.
But my heart was nowhere near relieved.
My heart pounded violently, and sweat poured down my body.
…There was. Maybe.
I widened my eyes and desperately searched through my memories.
And then, briefly, the image of a black-haired, black-eyed girl surfaced in my mind.
…Rakash may really have had a younger sister…
Pressing both hands tightly against my temples, I ignored the throbbing pain in my head and bit down hard on my lip.
In the game, Rakash had never once spoken about having a younger sister.
And nobody else had ever mentioned one either.
But…
There had been one moment.
When someone once said to him, “Rakash is an only child, after all,” Rakash’s supposedly expressionless face had twisted ever so slightly.
After an unnatural pause, he had answered:
“…That’s right.”
…Maybe there had been a hidden story route.
The Cinderella of the Magic Kingdom—the game this world was based on—had been a free-to-play online game.
But by spending money, players could buy beautiful dresses and items, and also unlock hidden storylines.
In my previous life, I had barely spent any money on the game, so I had never cleared Rakash’s hidden route.
But perhaps, within that hidden story, his younger sister had appeared as part of his past.
Come to think of it, during Rakash’s route, when I entered his private room, there had been a two-shot photograph displayed in the very best spot by the window.
It showed Rakash standing beside a black-haired, black-eyed girl.
I had found it strange at the time.
I assumed she was probably some female relative, but…
No, would he really display a relative’s photo in such an important place?
That sense of discomfort had stayed with me.
In the end, the main story never explained who that girl was, so I had eventually forgotten about her.
But if that girl in the photograph had been Rakash’s younger sister—and the image had been foreshadowing his hidden story route—then everything made sense.
And if that was true…
Then this world really was following the game after all, and…
…By the time the game begins half a year from now, Rakash will have become an only child.
A chill ran down my spine, and instinctively, I wrapped my arms around myself.
This was a real world.
It resembled the game world so closely, but it was still reality.
There were no retries here.
Fear hurt.
Pain hurt.
Everything had to be experienced for real.
…I had thought that Rakash being injured was still something I could perhaps overlook.
But could I really ignore the death of a young girl?
She was not some nameless NPC existing only as a symbol.
Her name was Celia.
She was a girl loved by the Crown Prince and by Rakash, a girl who adored her older brother. I had heard her voice.
If I knowingly ignored the tragedy awaiting such a girl…
Would I still be able to smile tomorrow as if nothing had happened?
…But with my weak magic power, what could I possibly do for those two, who were destined to be attacked by monsters?
But even so…
No…
My thoughts spun endlessly in circles.
I thought, and thought, and thought.
―――In the end, I welcomed the next morning without getting even a single moment of sleep that night.
