“N-no, you’re mistaken, Your Highness! Raze is someone precious to me. I was just so happy to meet her that tears spilled out, that’s all!”
Carne jumped in to cover for her when she saw Ruben was suspicious of Raze.
“Raze…?”
But hearing the informal address from Carne who rarely called anyone without honorifics, Ruben furrowed his brow. This just fanned the flames.
Without a word, Ruben walked over to them.
(My peaceful, happy school life is…)
Raze was completely frozen in place.
And Ruben, who had come right in front of her, passed by Raze’s side and sat down next to Carne instead.
“I see… If that’s the case, then it’s fine. But don’t show that defenseless face of yours to other guys.”
“Eh?”
Then saying that, Ruben easily picked up the crouching Carne in a princess carry.
“W-Your Highness?!”
“Stay still.”
(Uwahhh…)
Having to directly witness this scene piled more damage onto Raze’s heart. She somehow felt a weight in her chest.
“Um, Raze-san!”
With red ears but docilely settling into Ruben’s arms, Carne called out to the left behind Raze.
[I’ll hear you out later?]
[Of course. I swore to Carne-sama that I would protect my important friend. …Ah, I’ll take your bag to your room.]
Realizing from the Japanese that she hadn’t told Ruben about the otome game either, Raze intuited.
At last she understood why Carne had only been saying troubling things to Ruben. But the problem was what would happen from now on. If she hadn’t called out to Carne just now, what would have become of her? A chill ran through Raze at the thought of the goddess unknowingly to her proceeding down the path of ruin.
“Oh, thank you.”
Carne shyly gave her thanks, clearly not someone suited to be a villainess lady. Despite dealing with nobles, there was a mysterious lack of awkwardness or discomfort. That was likely due in part to her memories, but also because Carne herself was a kind person.
Raze lightly waved as she saw her off, vowing that if the prince ever tried to take a mistaken path, she would side with Carne.
“……The destruction flag has already been folded, hasn’t it?”
Oblivious that Raze had been chilled by Ruben’s cold gaze as she left, she muttered.
(From any angle it looks like His Highness has fallen for you though)
The girl left behind racked her brain about how to handle Crown Prince Ruben with his strong possessive tendencies, worried for what was to come though the academy life had only just started.
“No use thinking about it… First I need to retrieve Carne-sama’s bag and go get Folia.”
In any case, she first had to confirm whether this place really was the stage of an otome game.
(As a soldier, I should report if I have powers of divination… But considering the content, I might be seen as spouting nonsense or should I just watch over things?)
In Cyan, it was obligatory for the state to protect those gifted with powers of foresight.
A good example was the old lady who had received a revelation that the Child of Blessing would be born in the ‘Year of Hilaran’. She was living lavishly with bodyguards in a mansion. Raze envied how carefree her life seemed, but it was unclear if Carne desired that.
However, if some incident occurred and it turned into “Why didn’t you report it!”, that would be tremendously frightening.
“Wait a minute…”
Raze then realized a possibility.
(If I’m also a character appearing in the otome game, Carne-sama might know my true identity?)
With things taking a turn for the worse, Raze frowned.
That night.
“Good night. I’m going to take a bath.”
After bidding Folia who was already in bed good night, Raze left the room. When she finished having the bath to herself as always, she went up not to the second floor but the third floor.
Stopping in front of room 307, she lightly knocked on the door.
“I’ve been waiting. Come in.”
The one who appeared was Carne in a pure white silk negligee. Raze entered Carne’s room before any other students could spot them.
“I’m sorry for the late night visit, but were you alright?”
“It’s fine. I sometimes stay up late too.”
Raze was gently smiled at by Carne but she didn’t let down her guard at all.
(I need to properly confirm if my identity has been exposed…)
Wanting to share information about the otome game as soon as possible, they had arranged to meet in Carne’s room after Folia went to sleep. Raze felt like she was doing something bad meeting privately in an ojou-sama’s room, but she had to turn a blind eye since her mission was at stake.
“Make yourself at home. I thought you’d come around this time, so I prepared tea too.”
After hesitating a little, Raze sat in the study chair.
The room felt very spacious even with the same layout since Carne had a two-person room to herself.
“Here you are.”
“Thank you.”
Accepting the steaming cup, Raze caught a gentle floral scent.
“Is this Marierose tea? Quite rare.”
She was knowledgeable about plants that could be eaten or had medicinal effects. Seeing Raze identify it, Carne nodded impressively.
“That’s right. This tea is my favorite. It’s something that only exists in this world, so it caught my interest since it didn’t appear in the game. And of course, it has a lovely flavor too.”
Carne placed a tray with a cup on the bed and sat beside it.
“It’s nice to have tea in the dorm rooms like this. I’ll have to buy some cups too.”
“You definitely should try it.” Prompted by her, Raze thought she would prepare a set for three.
“Well then, let’s get to the main topic.”
Carne took out a notebook and handed it to Raze.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a notebook where I wrote down everything I can remember about the otome game Blue Orcid. The game itself come out in my previous life, so I was drawn in by the curiosity.”
Raze’s gaze fell upon the string-bound notebook.
“May I open it?”
“Yes, of course.”
With Carne’s permission, she untied the string and checked the contents. After quickly flipping through it, Raze nodded.
“I see. So that’s how it goes…”
“You’ve already read it?”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
Carne was surprised at the speed, but to steal enemy intelligence for her missions, Raze had to at least be able to do this much. For now, she had only grasped the general flow of the story. There were those among the special forces Shadow Eyes who could memorize everything at a single glance. This was nothing special.
“I’ve roughly understood it. So the handsome sons of top-ranking nobles in Class A are the capture targets, correct?”
“That’s right. They’re all unrealistically good-looking. At first I was in agony over how they managed to break through the wall between 2D and 3D.”
In addition to Ruben, Claude, and Adis, there was Ian who Folia had danced with at the welcoming party for new students. And then there was still Luca, the Minister of Finance’s son who she hadn’t interacted with yet. Those five were the capture targets of the otome game Blue Orcid.
And the protagonist who would make them fall head over heels was the angel Folia. Aside from Carne being the villainess lady, it was perfectly sensible casting.
As Raze listened to the story, she diligently checked the pages summarizing the game’s characters. Then she slowly opened her mouth.
“Um, there doesn’t seem to be anything written about a person called [Raze Granoll]…”
She watched Carne closely so as not to miss any change in expression.
She didn’t want others to know she was a soldier. She didn’t want to resign from the mission that had only just started. She hoped to remain friends with Carne and the others, if only superficially—Conflicting emotions churned within her.
“That’s true. There were never any characters like Raze-san in the game.”
“So Carne-sama doesn’t know anything about me?”
“Yes.”
Hearing that, Raze was deeply relieved.
(Thank goodness…)
The tension left her shoulders.
“This might be a rude way to put it, but I think Raze-san was probably a mob character not touched on in the game.”
Carne hesitantly continued speaking.
“If Carne-sama who knows about the game says so, then it must be true.”
Yet Raze didn’t feel sad at all upon learning she didn’t appear in the game.
“The title Blue Orcid is a play on words with Hilaran’s Year. If the secretly born son of the principal who was early to bloom ended up being called a capture target, it makes you feel like all the well-bred people in otome games are targets, doesn’t it?”
Relaxed that her identity hadn’t been exposed, Raze laughed wryly. She probably would have believed it if she was told later that even the teachers were included as capture targets.
“Fufu. You’re right about that. If routes were added after the previous me died, the candidates would be endless.”
Carne nodded in agreement. But Raze was curious about one thing.
“Does Carne-sama have another self from your previous life, by any chance?”
“Huh? Well… How should I put it? When I regained my memories, I felt like [me] as Mihou, the college student job hunting at the time, fused with my current self. Since I was still young then, you could say my psyche was painted over by Mihou.”
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