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Chapter: 2
How on earth could I survive this and return safely to my original world?
“Lady Heather! Lady Heather!”
Someone pounded on my shoulder, breaking me out of an hour-long daze.
My partner… what was it again? Oh, right, a little kid. Ah, it’s on her name tag: Kelly Hunt.
She seemed to be one of Irillin’s “friends,” though really she was more like a maid.
“It’s time to move for the next class. Let’s hurry and change seats.”
The first class must have ended while I was lost in thought. I groggily rose from my seat.
“Hurry, milady! We need to get a seat next to Sub-Lord Ortega!”
“Sub-Lord” is the title used for ‘bottom’ Bin Ortega.
Hmm… she’s very enthusiastic about her friend’s love.
“Milady, other kids will take the seats if we don’t hurry!”
Kelly hurried me along because I was dawdling. I didn’t particularly want to sit next to Bin… what a nuisance.
Sigh. Fine, I’ll go. I pushed my heavy body up and let Kelly lead the way. When I opened the classroom door…
“My goodness! What did I just see?”
A voice behind me gasped in shock.
“Milady… w-what is… happening?”
Even Kelly trembled at the corner of her mouth, unable to hide her astonishment.
What on earth is going on? Why is everyone acting like this? I want to know too!
“W-Why? Did I make some kind of mistake…?”
“No, it’s just… look at your hands, milady.”
“My hands?”
What about my hands? I was just holding the doorknob normally…
Ah, no way.
“You… actually opened the door yourself!”
“….”
“Usually, you’d never do such a trivial task yourself! You’d have someone else do it, being a noble of the Heather family!”
So merely opening a door with one’s own hands is astonishing to them? Next, they’ll be amazed I breathe on my own.
“Milady… there’s a rumor that you were hospitalized at Dr. Saint’s during the break… is that true?”
Dr. Saint’s hospital—a mental institution.
And the rumor Kelly mentioned was true.
Any ordinary actions—like eating without incident or refraining from swearing—had led Irillin’s family to lock me in a mental hospital.
“I’m actually from another world, so I can’t be exactly like the original Irillin!”
“It’s really a lie! I was just playing a prank!”
No one believed me.
I was released only after my miserable state caused me to scream and overturn my meals.
Apparently, Irillin’s parents hugged each other and rejoiced.
“Thank God! Thank you for returning our Irillin!”
“Finally, she seems to have regained her mind!”
…Truly abnormal parents.
Their child wreaks havoc, yet they’re happy about it.
Anyway, I had since tried to act as ‘normal’ as possible.
And yet now, I risk being sent back to the mental hospital for this trivial action again…
“…Why on earth did I do the laborious task of opening a door myself with these noble hands?”
“Well… maybe… did you cast a curse spell…?”
“You really know me well, Miss Hunt. But you should refine your sense a little. If everyone hears this, the prank I played will lose all meaning.”
A hasty, clumsy excuse, but they’re just kids—they probably won’t care. I calmed myself and exited the classroom.
At that moment, I felt a gaze from behind.
A shiver ran down my spine, and I instinctively looked back.
Among many children, one gaze stood out with a clear presence.
Deep blue eyes, calm yet intense, created by the author, fixed on me.
“Ah.”
The sound escaped me on its own.
A boy with neatly settled silver hair, blue eyes so deep it was hard to believe he was thirteen. His features combined elegance and sharpness, as if he weren’t of this world.
“Of course.”
The boy with blue eyes—Bin Ortega—muttered, and instead of using the front door where I stood, exited the classroom through the back.
“….”
A strangely chilling silence filled the room. I thought to myself:
Wait, “of course”?
Did he just get disappointed that I actually did a simple, kind act like opening a door myself?
If just opening a door astonishes them, doing something genuinely good… I’d definitely end up in a mental hospital.
And that, I absolutely want to avoid.
I was the first to arrive at the classroom for the next lesson. Everyone was still frozen, astonished by my act of opening the door myself.
“Hmm…? Why did you take a seat before Sub-Lord Ortega today?”
“…Bin wouldn’t want to sit next to me. From what I saw today, he’s been spending a lot of time with the Crown Prince lately.”
“Oh, right. They’ve grown pretty close.”
In this world, where homosexuality is extremely rare, no one would yet consider Bin and the Crown Prince as more than friends.
“Even without Your Highness, Bin wouldn’t like me sitting beside him anyway.”
Bin found Irillin somewhat burdensome. Naturally.
Who would welcome someone who attempted suicide just to get engaged, after all?
Even though he made his discomfort clear, Irillin relentlessly pursued him.
Little did she know it would lead to her death in the future.
Now that I know the fixed future, I refuse to just stand by and be subjected to it.
“So, I won’t trouble Bin anymore.”
“…What?”
The incredulous response didn’t come from Kelly.
It came from Bin himself as he entered the classroom.
I opened my mouth heavily.
“Bin… I have something to say… uh.”
“…What?”
Even that single syllable carried his discomfort toward me. Not exactly a pleasant feeling.
To be hated by one’s favorite character…
황태자의 연인 was my favorite BL novel, and Bin was my absolute favorite character across all genres.
Bin Ortega was literally created to fit my personal tastes.
Why the author had such influence on the story? The author is my older sister.
All the desires I’d shouted thoughtlessly near her were reflected in the novel.
Everyone has imagined meeting their favorite character at least once. I had, too.
Whether my favorite hated me or not, or if we met in childhood, my heart would naturally race.
“Th‑that is… um…”
It was fascinating just to see him at first, but now we were actually ‘talking’—a first.
My heart pounded as if it would leap from my chest, making words impossible.
“L‑li…”
“…You’re going to say you like me again?”
“No! I mean, um…”
The moment I opened my mouth with the word “like,” that thought came out immediately.
I could have sworn I meant a different ‘like’…!
No wonder Bin had received so many confessions from Irillin.
“If you have nothing to say, I’ll sit over there,”
Bin indicated the farthest seat from me. His bored gaze seemed to say:
“Same routine, I’m tired. Stop already.”
Desperate that Bin might leave, I closed my eyes tightly and shouted:
“I‑I don’t… like… you!”
“….”
“…I won’t bother you anymore.”
“What on earth does that mean?”
As expected, Bin looked utterly bewildered. His deeply furrowed brow clearly said so.
Ah… even thinking that his frown looked cute in the midst of all this—is that normal?
“Suddenly changing your attitude, thinking I’ll take notice? Remember what you did before the break. Don’t you feel shameless?”
Huh? Before the break? What does that mean? I wouldn’t know!
At that time, I wasn’t Irillin.
Wait… let me trace back the hints of Irillin’s past.
