IBFLS 04

Roselina Mush, the female protagonist whose introduction in the game had declared her the most beautiful woman in the entire world.

“Everyone’s busy groveling at your feet. I wonder if they’d still do that if they knew you were a fake? Right now, they firmly believe you’re the real duke’s daughter. If the truth came out, that’d put you in quite a bind. Or would they claim you’re insane? I bet they’d summon the priests and gang up on you, saying you were possessed by an evil spirit.”

A devil with an angel’s face approached me with a sinister smile.

“Those idiots, honestly. They don’t even realize they’re being fooled.”

“Are you threatening me right now?”

“Well, I suppose they’d believe you. There’s no way those idiots would ever suspect you.”

“……”

“Ah! Or would they?”

I think that was the moment I had felt the most nervous since arriving in this world.

“When did you become possessed?”

“The morning you came to the baron’s estate. Why are you suddenly asking that?”

In other words, this person had been possessing Roselina for only a year.

If that was true, the likelihood that he possessed any evidence capable of proving that I was also a transmigrator was extremely low.

‘But he could be lying about having possessed her last year.’

All my efforts to bluff my way through the situation with a show of confidence had been for nothing. My mouth snapped shut.

If she hadn’t suddenly burst into hearty laughter, I probably would have remained frozen the entire time.

“Hey, hey! I’m just kidding! Laugh!”

She swaggered toward me with an ungainly, bowlegged gait.

Then she casually held out her palm in front of me.

“Now hand over the money.”

Money?

The subject of our conversation was changing so quickly that I could barely keep up.

“Why do you need money?”

“Your family’s loaded, aren’t they? As for me, there’s not a damn thing left to squeeze out of my rotten family.”

“I’m asking why you need the money.”

She looked at me as though I were an idiot for asking and gave me an exasperated expression.

“I’m getting the hell out of here.”

As she spoke, she repeatedly pounded her fist against her chest.

“I don’t want anything to do with that red-eyed bastard, and I don’t want to waste my time doing stupid shit like events and whatever else. Who gives a damn what happens to this godforsaken, batshit-crazy game world? I’m leaving right now.”

“Where are you going?”

“Where else? Back to my original world! First, I’m going to poke around everywhere and see if I can find a way back.”

“You’re not wrong, but something like that…”

“Fuck! I’m a man!”

“……?”

The world’s most beautiful woman, the adorable female protagonist with the voice of a songbird, roared at the top of her lungs.

“Living as a broke-ass nobody is already boring as hell! How the fuck am I supposed to live like this?!”

The man wearing Roselina’s skin returned to his original spot and flopped down on the sofa. He was still sitting with his legs spread wide in that unsightly manner.

Suddenly, I felt dizzy as I wondered whether he had always sat like that and I was simply the only one who had never noticed.

“Where do you think I should start looking?”

His question left me momentarily speechless.

Although I had lived here for five years, I knew next to nothing about the world beyond the Karzen Empire.

“I’m not sure. As far as the game mentions places outside the empire, the only one is the Kingdom of Sandrigo.”

“Sandrigo?”

“It’s the setting of this game developer’s previous title. They only mentioned it in passing to make players who had played the earlier game feel nostalgic. I’ve never played the previous game myself, either.”

“That sounds like our best bet. Is it far from here?”

“Probably not that far.”

“Damn, this is frustrating. Hey, how am I supposed to learn about other countries? Should I just take off like some backpacker with absolutely no plan?”

His two jade-green eyes were still sparkling brightly.

And as I gazed into those eyes, which seemed capable of sucking me right in, I thought to myself:

‘Wait a minute.’

In fact, Roselina Mush was involved in every single death ending for Bianca Barddensia. That was why I had gone out of my way to find her and take care of her.

And if she was harboring such an arrogant, unpredictable soul, she was all the more dangerous.

‘But now she’s telling me she’ll leave of her own accord?’

So I immediately changed my approach.

When it came to living as someone who had possessed a character, quick decisions could determine whether you lived or died.

“Wouldn’t it be better to prepare properly before leaving? Even if the place is close, we have no idea what might happen.”

“Oooh!”

“More importantly, coming up with a large sum of money right away won’t be easy for me, either. Let’s take things one step at a time and get ready. I’ll help you.”

“You were acting like you weren’t bothered earlier, but I guess you were scared after all?”

By the time our conversation had reached that point, the two of us were facing each other with our arms folded.

“You don’t have any reason to cooperate with me this much.”

“I’m helping you because we’re both people who’ve possessed characters. Besides, I want to go back, too. Since you’re going to look for a way home, I’m just planning to hitch a ride on your efforts.”

Naturally, that was a complete lie.

Why would I abandon a life that would be smooth sailing as soon as the female protagonist disappeared, especially after I had worked so hard to pave the way for myself?

Even if I returned to my original world, all I would have waiting for me was a tiny studio apartment of barely ten pyeong—roughly thirty-six square meters—and a mountain of debt to pay off.

“I had given up on the idea. With my father and older brother watching over me, I couldn’t even imagine going somewhere far away.”

“Honestly, you’re not in as much danger as you seem to think. You do tend to overreact a bit. Are both of them right in the head?”

“……Anyway, I’ll provide the funding, and you’ll share information with me. Neither of us will have anything to lose.”

I nearly died trying to suppress the familiar thrill that surged through me whenever I twisted the story away from its original course.

“We should also start researching Sandrigo in advance.”

“Damn it. So I have to keep putting up with this body a little longer. Whatever. As long as I can get back.”

He flopped backward onto the sofa.

He didn’t seem to care in the slightest that his skirt had ridden up to his knees.

“Anyway, help me adjust to this place until I’ve saved enough money. I don’t know this game, so tell me things like the characters’ backgrounds and hidden storylines. I need to avoid stepping on land mines, too, don’t I?”

“Now that I think about it, aren’t you the land mine yourself…?”

Rattle!

The carriage, which had been bouncing along the uneven road, suddenly came to a halt.

I had been so absorbed in my memories that I nearly pitched forward.

“We’ve arrived.”

With that flat, emotionless announcement, the carriage door swung wide open without the slightest care.

Instinctively, I straightened my clothes and waited for someone to help me out.

But no one came.

‘……?’

There was no one to bow politely and escort me out, as they normally would have done.

‘What the hell? I know all these people.’

Even when I had still been the duke’s daughter, I had ridden in Baron’s carriage several times.

Every time, these people had treated me with the utmost courtesy.

‘Of course, I was his friend, but it was probably also because I was the young lady of House Barddensia, the ducal family.’

At any rate, I understood perfectly well now that I was no longer a duke’s daughter.

‘Even if my family is insignificant, I’m still a noblewoman. And this is how they treat me?’

It was amazing how something as simple as getting out of a carriage could make me feel the brutal reality of my situation so keenly.

“Phew.”

I didn’t bother suppressing the sigh that escaped me. Instead, I gathered up my skirt.

Then, amid the silence, I carefully stepped down from the carriage.

The moment my feet touched the ground, I raised my gaze and looked around.

Something about the scene felt strange.

‘It’s almost as if they’re deliberately trying not to look at me.’

Could they have known that their master had threatened to tear me to pieces?

Just how far did this something I knew nothing about extend?

At that moment, I noticed the man standing at the very back of the group.

‘Sordi!’

Sordi Malvern.

He was from Sandrigo. When he was a child, he had nearly been sold into slavery, but Baron had taken him in and raised him to become a knight of the empire.

—Young Lady!

—You don’t call me Big Sister Young Lady anymore?

—How long ago was that, exactly…?

To me, who remembered him as a child, he had always been like a little brother.

‘I promised I’d give him a good sword for his birthday this year.’

But now, I could no longer keep that promise.

‘Everything that had seemed so certain just yesterday has turned into a mirage.’

As the thought crossed my mind, my stomach began to churn.

The past five years suddenly felt meaningless. Overnight, without even realizing it, I had lost far more than just my title as the duke’s daughter.

I frowned as my eyes began to sting with tears.

‘Not just Sordi. Everything. Every single thing.’

It felt as though a sandcastle I had painstakingly built had been swept away by a wave and reduced to nothing in an instant.

Even if everything I had done had been a desperate struggle to survive, there had undeniably been genuine feelings mixed in with my efforts.

‘Even if I manage to find a way to survive as Roselina, I’ll have to bury all of it as though it never happened.’

Lost in these hollow, bitter thoughts, I drifted into a daze as memories from the past resurfaced.

The relationships I had built. The time I had spent for my own sake.

‘But none of it matters anymore.’

I was still drowning in those damp, melancholy feelings.

Tap.

“Hey, you. Young Lady Mush.”

And so I remained, at least until the knight standing beside me lightly shoved my shoulder.