Sophia got up on the bed and stared at the small, dark-haired escort.
Orion is Sophia’s escort in the otome game―
“Perhaps… Do you remember yours too?”
“Yes.”
As Orion nodded in response, Sophia clasped her hands.
“No way! Then, can you help me out a little? I don’t want to be a villainess! Ah, my name is Kaon Shinohara in my past life! You had played this game too, right?”
Orion’s eyes widened.
“…Kaon Shinohara?”
Orion covered his mouth then looked up at the ceiling and muttered, “Wow”.
“Is it really you, Kaon? I can’t believe it. What kind of coincidence is this? Well… it’s true we we’re together when I died but…”
“…huh?”
“What I meant was, I also got caught up in the road collapse due to land subsidence.”
“Aah!”
Sophia snapped her hands. The cause of death in her past life that she couldn’t remember! It was said that the road suddenly collapsed several meters on the way to school, and Kaon, who was going to school, fell head on and died!
‘Hmm? Then―’
“Eh? Wait a minute. But I was with her at that time…”
Sophia pointed to Orion with her quivering finger.
“Is that you Yukina?! You’ve been reincarnated as a man!?”
“No, I’m not a man.”
“…what?”
Orion sat down on the edge of the bed and began to untie her long black hair.
“Well, when I realized that I was reincarnated as Orion, instead of a man, for some reason, I’m still a woman. My family has been escorting the imperial family for generations, right? When my father heard that my mother was too weak to bear too many children, he decided to raise me as a man.”
Orion regained her memories of her past life when she was ten years old, and decided to pretend as a man and enjoy herself as a mob of the game as Orion. Orion is Sophia’s escort, and since Orion was not punished or killed in the ‘Glastona’s Snow’, she decided to consider herself lucky to be able to see the game up close.
“…Good, you. in Orion.”
“You are a disaster, in Sophia.”
Sophia was frustrated at Orion who said it as if it were a trivial matter.
“Don’t use the word ‘disaster’ to describe it! I let it stay this way, I’ll be on my way to ruin!”
Orion managed to pull Sophia’s hand away and said, “That’s not what I meant”.
“You’re lucky you regained your memories. The game started when you and Keira were eighteen, so you still have four years to go! If you manage to change the plot before then, you might not be able to turn a villainess. Moreover, this world doesn’t exactly match the game anymore, because I’m still a woman. Which means, there’s still a way out!”
“…do you really think so?”
“Yeah, I think so!”
“Then you’re going to help me, right?”
“I’ll at least listen.”
“…”
“It’s a lie, I’m just joking! I’ll help you out!”
Sophia was skeptical but she knows she cannot wait for her damnation to happen. As Orion said, Sophia’s ruin can be avoided if she managed to change the flow of the plot before the original story began, four years later.
“So, what are your plans?”
Sophia sat upright on the bed and approached Orion.
Even if Sophia is thinking of ways to avoid her original ending… and continues to live in the palace for four years, ‘Wouldn’t that solidify my role as the villainess who will be hostile towards Keira?’
Sensing Sophia’s uneasiness, Orion grinned.
“Aren’t you forgetting something? You will be engaged a year from now.”
“I haven’t, with Randall, right?”
Duke Randall Voltio. Three years before the original story began, he became Sophia’s fiancé and one of the heroine’s targets.
Randall still suspects that Sophia is the King’s illegitimate child. The King told Randall that if he is so concerned about Sophia, he should take her as his wife and watch over her for the rest of his life, which led to their engagement. The King takes pity on Sophia, and while he has her engaged to Randall under the guise of surveillance, he has actually chosen him so that Sophia will not be at a disadvantage. However, both Sophia and Randall took the engagement literally as a way to keep an eye on Her Highness and so the relationship between the two is at its worst. Randall continues to be cold to her which is one of the reasons why Sophia is so twisted.
‘Randall huh?’
Sophia was disappointed.
Randall is one of Kaon’s favorite characters in ‘Glastona’s Snow’. He may seem ruthless at first glance, but when he dotes on the main character, he is affectionate. But when it comes to Sophia, he only gave her a cold shoulder. ‘How can I not be saddened by this?’
“What are you saying? Should I prevent my engagement with Randall?”
Orion waved his upraised index finger, tsk tsk
“No! What am I saying is that you need to marry Randall within four years and get the hell out of this palace!”
“What?”
“If you get married instead of staying engaged, you won’t have to go through the ‘breaking of engagement event’!
‘I see. Orion has a point, but will it be that simple?’
Sophia crossed her arms and groaned, Orion gave her the final word.
“You like Randall, right? If you marry him, he’s yours.”
‘Randall is mine.’
Sophia replayed Randall’s smile in her mind that he had shown in the game.