LMHS 31

Chapter 31

[Overlaying Viewpoint 1 onto the present moment.]

After saving my viewpoint, I moved the body I had hidden in the bushes and headed toward Elysion.

Perhaps because I walked straight toward him in long strides,
Elysion quickly noticed me approaching and gently curved his lips into a smile.

He gestured for me to come over, as if welcoming me.
His actions were completely unpredictable.

When I finally reached the rock he was sitting on, he laid a handkerchief beside him as if he had been waiting.

“Tania, sit here.”

…Where on earth did this kid learn tricks like this?

Was Raspi like this too, or are all kids these days like this?

An old-fashioned thought crossed my mind for a moment,
but being treated like a lady by a little gentleman didn’t feel bad at all. It was even kind of cute.

I sat beside him with a demure expression.

[Overlaying the present moment onto Viewpoint 1.]

While I was busy saving the viewpoint, Elysion spoke first.

“Tania, you know…”

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to be adopted by a duke’s family?”

The bluntness of the question caught me off guard instead.

There was no wariness or suspicion on his face.
He genuinely just seemed curious whether I wanted to be adopted by Duke Papiope.

“…I joined the Papiope Talent Institute and entered the battle royale because I want to be adopted.”

“Why? With your precognitive ability, it seems like you could live comfortably even without becoming a noble.”

Elysion tilted his head slightly, curious.

He spoke as though he already knew I wasn’t particularly interested in becoming a noble.

It felt like he could see straight through me.

“Being a noble just means more eyes watching you and more ears listening. You always have to keep up appearances and worry about other houses.”

“……”

“And nobles are the worst when it comes to being two-faced. They’re people who’d do anything for their family’s利益 and honor.”

“Sion, you talk as if you’ve experienced being a noble.”

“…That’s what I’ve heard.”

I brushed my hair behind my ear as it fluttered in the wind and gave an answer that would satisfy his doubts.

“Honestly, I didn’t plan to become a noble at first either. Just like you said, I thought it would only make life more annoying.”

“…Then why did you change your mind?”

“Because I realized that protecting someone isn’t something money alone can do.”

The death of a commoner on the street doesn’t even become a single line in the newspaper.

But what if it were a noble?
What if it were a knight of Duke Papiope?

Covering it up would be impossible, and no one would dare touch them lightly in the first place.

“I want to gain both money and power so I can keep my people safe. My dream is to live happily with them for the rest of my life.”

After hearing my honest feelings, Elysion asked an unexpectedly strange question.

“Tania, when you say ‘your people’… how far does that include?”

“Huh? Ah… well, probably family and friends.”

“Then are those two your friends too?”

I naturally followed where Elysion pointed with his index finger.

At the end of his gaze were the twin siblings, ruthlessly smashing other people’s eggs as if they were in water.

“…I guess?”

More than friends, they were closer to a hero and a princess, weren’t they?

Of course, if they called me their friend, I wouldn’t bother denying it.

But if you asked whether they were people I wanted to be with for the rest of my life… that was different.

We’d only met two or three times, after all.

“I only have one real friend.”

“…Who?”

Elysion asked, and I stared straight at him with complicated feelings.

Who else could it be but you?

But looking at Elysion, who remembered nothing about me, made me feel like I was about to cry.

Even when Uncle Aiden didn’t remember me, I hadn’t felt this emotional.

Pretending to yawn, I wiped away the tears forming at the corners of my eyes and answered curtly.

“Someone who’s more handsome than you.”

For some reason, that made Elysion grin in satisfaction.

“That’s a shame. I’ve never lost in looks before.”

Of course.

Silver hair like woven silk.
A high, straight nose and neatly shaped eyebrows despite his young age.
Eyes glowing with a mysterious blue beneath long lashes.

When I looked at him, he didn’t even feel human.

He looked like an angel who had descended straight into the human world.

The only person who could rival him was Elysion in his adult form.

“You are pretty too. But I like older guys, so…”

“Hmm. From what I’ve heard, you’re about three years younger than me. Doesn’t that make me older?”

“Ah, they have to be older mentally too.”

That was why my future marriage was such a headache.

My physical age was seven, but my mental age was nineteen.

Even if I didn’t count my memories of my past life since they felt dream-like…

A twelve-year gap was enormous.

To meet someone who was mentally my age, I’d have to wait until I was legally an adult at eighteen and marry a thirty-year-old man.

But if I matched my physical age instead, I couldn’t bring myself to date someone so ridiculously young.

Thinking of this kid as a man?
Not at all.

Whatever he was thinking, Elysion’s ears turned red.

“…Are you confessing that I’m your ideal type?”

“What?”

What was he even talking about?

My head filled with question marks, and I shot back in disbelief.

“I said they have to be older mentally.”

“That’s me, then.”

Elysion said that, his eyes curving into crescents in delight.

I pressed my lips together with a sulky expression.

It seemed he really believed he was more mature than me, physically and mentally.

Well… from his perspective, that wasn’t wrong.

But why was it so infuriating that he confidently declared himself my ideal type?

“Tania, if this was a beauty-trap strategy, I think it worked. My heart skipped a bit.”

Excuse me?
I haven’t even started the honey trap yet.

“Anyway, I understand how you feel now. Since we’ve talked, shall we start moving? There are only three of us left.”

Startled, I looked around.

Sure enough, everyone else had already entered the safe zone.

Except for Raspi.

He had eliminated everyone and was standing still, staring at Elysion and me.

“Ah…”

I felt like a cheating wife who had told her husband to go earn money and then flirted with her boyfriend.

No, I mean—
I wasn’t trying to play around.

I know it looks that way, but that wasn’t my intention.

Unaware of my turmoil, Elysion casually stood up and held out his hand to me, telling me to take it.

I glanced at Raspi, hesitated, then sighed and took Elysion’s hand.

It wasn’t like Raspi would get jealous over something like this.

…Or so I thought.

The moment I grabbed Elysion’s hand and stood up, Raspi’s eyes blazed as he charged toward us.

“Step away from Lady Tania at once, you insolent scoundrel!”

“What, are you her boyfriend or something? Why are you freaking out?”

“…She is my master!”

What?!

Startled by Raspi’s sudden declaration of a master-servant relationship, I waved my hands frantically as Elysion shot me a suspicious look.

“No, that’s not something we agreed on. He’s just thinking that on his own.”

Only then did Elysion’s strange expression relax.

“Ah, so he’s just a delusional nutcase.”

N-no, you don’t have to put it that extremely…