She wore the face of my junior and grinned, leaving utterly unable to adapt.
Isolette had rely inherited a part of the junior’s mories, yet she drank the “Hyde Potion” and transford into his exact appearance, leaving sowhat flustered.
I couldn’t rember the last ti I had been this emotionally shaken.
Since the mories of being trapped as a “newborn” during my childhood, I had found it difficult to be moved by anything.
But Isolette’s… “past life,” showing the image of the person she had loved most, stirred even those long-forgotten feelings.
As a form of mory.
“…How did you get the potion?”
“Gallen Rennion.”
“Ah.”
She t the alchemist, huh.
“So, what do you think?”
“About what?”
“About the person who loves you wearing the face of the one you loved. Is she worthy of being your partner?”
“……”
What should I say to that?
Her straightforward words made it impossible to feign ignorance any longer.
It must have taken considerable courage for her to say that.
But.
Even though I intellectually understood the necessity of “love”…
“I guess I find it hard to imrse myself in the concept of living my own life.”
“……”
“Sorry. I find it difficult to love you fully.”
If it’s a book, I can imrse myself the mont I read the first word.
If it’s a story, I can dive into its world by the ti I finish the first sentence.
If it’s written in text, I can love it, even if it’s just a single consonant or vowel.
But.
Living my own life, deciding my own story entirely…
Is just too.
Demanding of creativity for soone like .
“…Pfft. Ha… Ed, you really are the worst.”
“That’s fair.”
“Seriously, what do you take a woman’s heart for? Ed, you have no charm whatsoever as a human being, you know that? Isn’t that response to a confession far too… disconnected?”
“Hm.”
“But, well, it’s so you. You’ve always been like that…”
For so reason, Isolette’s expression, not of disappointnt but relief, made it hard to guess her feelings.
What could she be thinking?
I couldn’t fathom why she was smiling.
Thankfully.
I didn’t have to guess.
She herself, mumbling as if organizing her thoughts, eventually explained what was on her mind.
“Ed.”
“Yeah?”
“Your indifference… it’s not because it’s , right? I an, you don’t especially hate or resent ?”
“That’s right. In fact, you might be among the few I like.”
“…Huh.”
“Hm?”
Isolette smirked mischievously, just like my junior in her past life.
“Then, even if you can’t love , will you grant one request?”
“If it’s within my power.”
“From now on, there will be many people confessing to you, right? When that happens, think of and say this.”
And then.
As my junior had confessed to in her past life.
In a terribly forceful tone, she declared:
“I already have soone in my heart, so I can’t accept your confession. I’m sorry.”
“……”
“You don’t have to love completely… Just beco my partner.”
Even if you don’t love .
Even if I don’t receive your love.
Even if it’s one-sided, I don’t mind.
Just tie this bond with .
It was such a familiar and nostalgic confession that…
“……”
I hesitated for a mont before nodding.
“If that’s enough to satisfy you.”
“…Pfft, you really are the worst.”
.
.
.
“What’s the problem with that?”
“Pardon?”
As per Isolette’s request, I turned down others by saying I was “already promised in marriage.”
And.
Lady Es, as usual, shalessly visited the publishing house to et .
“So, what you’re saying, writer, is that you can’t marry anyone else because you already have soone in mind?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“In other words, you do consider the idea of marrying a woman. You’re not into n, after all.”
“Well, I suppose that’s accurate.”
Lady Es was, quite literally, her usual self.
Her expression, her laughter, the way she leaned on the sofa and swung her feet, and her casual tone as if discussing sothing trivial.
Everything.
Being the sa as usual made it even harder to guess what she intended to say.
“Then, I’ll be honest.”
“Excuse ?”
“I like you. I’m not particularly fond of playing the role of a princess who falls in love at first sight with the prince who saves her… But, in the end, I turned out just like that.”
“Mm.”
After a mont of hesitation, I spoke the phrase Isolette had asked to use as an “excuse.”
“I already have soone in my heart, so I can’t accept your confession. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Even if you already have soone in mind.”
“Excuse ?”
.
.
.
Lady Es.
She was given the na “Idris” at birth, but she chose to remove two characters and called herself “Es.”
Her life was a process of thoroughly denying everything promised to her from the womb.
Her gender as a male, her na Idris, her status as a prince—all these noble promises were rejected, and only then could she finally beco her “true self.”
A person unable to live as they were born, destined to shed their old self to allow for a distorted tamorphosis.
Because of this.
“I’ve never been able to have sothing from the very beginning. I’ve always desired what I couldn’t have.”
The usurper who finally broke free from the royal shackle that denied her control over her destiny.
Her fate was entirely in her own hands.
Among the royal family, she alone had the right to decide her destiny for herself.
“So, in the past, I just gave up and lived like that… But you’re the one who taught I don’t have to give up, that it’s okay to take what I couldn’t have. Haha.”
“……”
Lady Es slowly rose from the sofa and approached .
Between the chair I sat on and the sofa she had been sitting on was a small table, but she casually pushed it aside and walked straight toward .
As if creating her own path.
As if no matter the problem posed, the answer would always be whatever she desired.
She approached with determination.
“So, well, here’s the thing! I’m a greedy person. When sothing I really like is in soone else’s hands…”
Finally, the distance between us narrowed to about a handspan.
She let out a slight chuckle and rested her hand on my shoulder. Her breath tickled my ear.
“I want to take it away. Really.”
Her declaration, coiling around my ankle like a viper, left frozen like a frog before a snake.
No.
Wait.
Really? Is she actually suggesting… an affair? No, a forced marriage?
But her next words were slightly different from what I had imagined.
“I’ll let you have the first.”
“Excuse ?”
“Go ahead. Get married. To Lady Isolette, right? I’ll yield the first spot… for now.”
She took a step back, her serene smile showing no trace of falsehood or dissatisfaction.
Instead.
Lady Es pulled a vial from her pocket and shook it before .
“Do you know what this is?”
“I’m not sure.”
“They call it the elixir of immortality. If you drink it… they say you won’t age or fall ill. Haha, could that really be true?”
“Mm…”
It seed Gallen Rennion was up to sothing mischievous again.
She opened the vial in front of and drank its contents. A faint strawberry scent wafted out.
And then.
“Gasp?!”
Leaning forward, she pressed her lips against mine as I sat in the chair.
The elixir she held in her mouth flowed into mine as she kissed . The taste of the elixir… well…
“Gulp. Haa… So this is what a first kiss tastes like. Strawberry-flavored.”
…It was strawberry-flavored.
“What on earth—”
“I’ll wait. Whether it’s fifty years from now or a hundred years from now…”
“Pardon?”
For a mont, my brain stopped working.
Whether it was from the shock of the kiss or the incomprehensible words Lady Es was saying, I wasn’t sure. My mind was simply in chaos.
“Loneliness is sothing I’m used to. So, I’ll wait. For however long. When you part ways with your first love, you can co to . And if I don’t suit you the second ti, well… the third ti is fine too. I might get a little angry if it’s the third ti, though. Haha.”
“What are you even saying—”
“From now on, ti is eternal. Even if my turn is delayed, as long as I endure and survive, it will eventually co, won’t it? You and I will live forever, and Lady Isolette won’t. Don’t you think that puts at an advantage? A re hundred years isn’t nearly enough ti to fully love soone, after all.”
So, right now.
What Lady Es was saying…
“…Are you suggesting that when I part with my lover, you’ll claim afterward?”
“Haha…”
Her ever-childish smile turned into the most mischievous voice I’d ever heard from her.
“I’m a greedy person, after all.”
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