<<Previous Chapter | The Mellow and Mysterious Life of an Exiled Villainess and a Reincarnated Baron (Happy Marriage) | Next Chapter>>
Translator: Nonon
Proofreader: Silavin
I received a few check-ups from Doctor Greenery, who had looked after me on a few occasions in the past. To be honest, even though I did collapse, I woke up immediately while being carried, even answered questions and was deemed to be fine… I don’t really want to remember how I was carried. It was too embarrassing.
And Ms. Mary, who had carried me for the check-ups, was sitting in a chair next to the bed where I was resting. So, since the doctor was gone to,
‘I’ll be gone after I silence the people outside. Heartfield, you stay put until I return.’
Silence the noisy bunch outside, it was just Ms. Mary and I in the infirmary…
“… Ms. Mary, your face is red.”
“… You’re the one whose face is red, Mr. Clo.”
“Haha, please.”
“Haha, as if.”
Ms. Mary and I were covering our faces with our hands, looking down.
We both had the same reason, it was because of the voices we heard from the outside.
Calm down, Clo. Hasn’t Lady Violet always been the type to express affection like that, just like when we first caught Rivers or after we first met His Highness? What’s the point of being embarrassed now? Besides, before our departure, I also suggested a kiss—let’s stop. I got embarrassed about it a lot later.
Rather, why is Ms. Mary also red?
She must have been told things like that a lot until now too.
“Ms. Mary, up until now His Highness and the others have whispered words of love to you, right? Senior Ecul even princess carried you, so isn’t it too late to be embarrassed now?”
“Erm… as soon as I started to understand that this isn’t the game world… until now I only looked at it as game events… but to be liked by real men like that is very embarrassing… in my previous life I was a recluse who barely went outside.”
… In other words, thinking of this world as the game was a kind of defence mechanism for Ms. Mary, and as she recalled all the things she did because she thought it was a game, she got embarrassed to have pretty boys shout out their love to her like that. Their voice and appearance truly makes them devilish men. Wait, she was a shut-in in her previous life?
“—Ha! As I thought, this is a game world! So it’s not embarrassing!”
“It would be better if you came back. If you try to escape reality, the emotions will rush over to you at once later.”
“… Right.”
Ms. Mary’s head dropped at my words.
… Still, even if she thought it was a game, would things go so well with just that? Even if she took the same actions and choices as in Ring of Fire, and the other people also responded in the same way, it’s still very difficult to “follow the best course of action in the game”.
Besides, from our earlier conversation, it seems like she was trying to lead everyone, including the minor characters in Ring of Fire, onto the right path. In the end… it was probably going well. Except for Rivers, who was caught in an unrelated place.
Ms. Mary excels in every aspect, including academics, magic, and beauty… I wonder if she was given some kind of reincarnation perks unlike me.
“Oh, right.”
Ms. Mary then raised her head, as if she had remembered something, looked around to make sure nobody was listening, then clasped her hands together and looked at me.
“Nice to meet you once again. I’m Mary Sue who was a Japanese shut-in Ayase Shiro in my previous life. I was a girl in my previous life too and died at 17 years old. I’m currently attending Azalea Academy.”
“Ah, pleased to meet you. I’m Clo Heartfield, who was Isshiki Kuro in my previous life and worked as the pattern maker at a Japanese company founded by my friend. I think I lived until 24 years old, but frankly speaking, my memories are kind of blurry. I was a man in previous life too.”
“You seem to have the same name as your previous life.”
“Yes, and on top of that, the place under my government is called Shiki. To be honest, it makes me feel complicated.”
Ms. Mary incorporated details from her previous life in her introduction, so I also ended up introducing myself while answering with things from my previous life… I don’t think there are many people who introduce themselves like this.
“..So you were a man in your previous life too…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, it’s just that, you also played the game of this world— similar to this world, ‘When the Ring of Fire is lit, World is painted red’, right? It was just unexpected that a man would like an otome game…”
It seems that she thought I also played Ring of Fire in my previous life. Well, otherwise our previous conversation wouldn’t have made sense so it’s natural she would assume that.
“…No, I was living in a one-room apartment with my Little Sister, who was 8 years younger than me. I just used to watch her play from behind when I was at home.”
“Your younger sister, huh. I see…”
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m just repeating myself, but thank you very much, Mr. Clo.”
Ms. Mary seemed satisfied with my answer, and after a short pause she stood up and gave a deep, beautiful bow while thanking me.
To be honest, I still haven’t come to terms with everything. It may seem strange to say this after living close to 16 years in this world, but after being told that this is not the world of the game, I started to wonder what the things I did were for.
After all, even if she wanted to admit it, she couldn’t do it and was about to throw up… If it had been Ms. Kriemhild, she probably would have thrown up anyway. I can’t imagine her ever worrying like that though.
“I think that whenever I interacted with people until now, I used to think ‘if I apply the game story, they must have lived this way’. That’s why, when I confirmed that you were in the same position, I was happy for the first time, thinking that we could talk about this game, Mr. Clo.”
“That’s…”
“However, Mr. Clo, you were looking at the people living in this world, establishing your identity, interacting with others and treating them with care… it made me think that I was extremely lacking in self until now…”
In short, because I am an existence outside the scope of the setting, she felt uncomfortable with the fact that I treated people that were supposed to be game characters as living beings. Maybe she had sensed it somewhere before, but ignored it because it was a small discomfort, and it may have come back to her at once this time.
… It would be terribly sad if she perceived her parents and friends as entities existing only to fit the story of this world.
“„… In order to not become an anonymous person devoid of self, who has lost their persona, one has to become understanding of others and decide their own self, that’s how it is, right? …”
“Please don’t use difficult words, I’m not that smart.”
“Don’t declare it so proudly. Um, in other words, it’s the philosophy that interacting with others creates self. I’ve combined all sorts of ideologies though.”
I see. I kind of understand if that’s the case.
Ms. Mary herself didn’t fully interact with other people, or even when she did interact with many people, she still thought of them as ‘characters in a game’, so it was probably a little different from an actual interaction with other people. But what happened all of a sudden?
“Ever since I came to this world, I’ve had many first time experiences which I’ve never had in my previous life.I could do things I couldn’t do before and it felt like a dream.”
“Magic is a normal occurrence, after all.”
“Yes. In addition, I can taste things and I’m not in pain anymore. I think that’s why I felt omnipotent and my sense of self didn’t mature even when I interacted with other people. That must have been the reason why I didn’t find anything wrong with the idea that this was the world of the game.”
… Hm? She said it casually, but I feel like she said something important.
“As I said before, even if you thought that this was a game, your wish itself is correct. Please don’t say that you didn’t mature. Even if you thought that this was a game, you wouldn’t be able to charm anybody without putting in effort and it’s true that you’re liked by many people.”
“Erm… if you say so, but it’s hard to internalise that people like me. It makes me feel if I’m really a good enough person to be liked and it’s embarrassing…”
“His Highness and the others did declare their love for you loudly.”
“Please don’t say that! Didn’t Violet also shout her love for you, Mr. Clo?!”
“Please don’t talk about that!”
Kuh, I had intended to tease her, but she got back at me instead. If you think about it, it’s a natural reaction.
After a moment of embarrassment had passed, we both turned to face each other again.
“Anyway, my self was empty until now. That’s why, um… I’ve been thinking that in order to fill myself up, I should face everybody.”
“Face them, you say?”
“Yes. I want to face them in order to break the notion that they’re game characters as much as possible. I want to confirm the obvious fact that they’re living people.”
Even though she hadn’t finished sorting her thoughts out and her perception had only just begun to change, Ms. Mary continued thinking while looking forward.
Though when the switch happens so quickly, it’s worrisome in a different way.
“It’s not good to rush things too much, but what do you plan to do first?”
That being said, there was no point in denying her, so asked her what she was going to do while giving her a gentle warning.
Then, Ms. Mary clenched her fist and, with a determined look on her face, declared what she was going to do.
“Yes. First, I’ll start from Violet, who I only recognized as a character who couldn’t become happy and-”
“And?”
“Create a situation where we expose everything about ourselves to each other— in other words, I’m thinking we should punch each other naked! Not only would I be showing everything about myself to her, the accompanying pain would help me recognize reality better!”
“Calm down.”
Is this girl alright?
<<Previous Chapter | The Mellow and Mysterious Life of an Exiled Villainess and a Reincarnated Baron (Happy Marriage) | Next Chapter>>
