chapter 12

12th year since Reincarnating.

I am now 17 years old. I will be married to the royal family when I reach the age of 18 on my next birthday. Half-a-year earlier, Prince Glenn came to the Arch region for a premarital visit.

In the game, he should have started seeing Eugenie at that time. He would continue to see her a few times in secret, and if enough flags were raised in those encounters, she would enter the Prince Glenn route.

I don’t like Prince Glenn as a person, but from an objective point of view, he is an attractive man. And Prince Glenn doesn’t see Eugenie as a mere possession. For him, Eugenie is the one and only person who’s truly authentic amid all the superficiality and facades of the nobility.

(To be fair, I understand where he’s coming from.)

But it’d awkward to enter the Prince Glenn route. So before I meet him, I have to establish a strong relationship between Randolph and Eugenie, but ugh, it’s so painful. By this time, I was fully aware of what I felt for Eugenie:

I love her, and I don’t want to give her to anyone.

But, there was no Yuri route in the original game, and I’m to be wed to the royal family next year… no matter how much I tried, my efforts would bear no fruit. I’ve even begun to constantly sigh again. Fortunately, the relationship between Randolph and Eugenie is going well so far.

At the tea parties, they exchange jokes and other witticisms with each other.

“Eugenie, will you go to the forest with Rosalind again after this?” Randolph asked.

“Yes, I love that place,” Eugenie said. “But Lady Rosalind told me that I would be dangerous to go alone without her.”

“Yes, it’s quite the tragedy that people die in our forest,” I said.

“Ah, Rosalind,” Randolph said. “I’m sorry you’ve had to put up with her, Eugenie, she’s naive but I swear she’s got a good heart. She also seems to like you quite a bit and she talks about you all the time. Though, I hope she hasn’t gotten mad at you for being immature even if she can be so immature herself!”

“Randolph!” I cried.

“Oops, my apologies, it appears I’ve angered our hostess,” Randolph said. “Hahahahaha!”

“Agh!” I yelled. “Let’s go, Eugenie!”

“O-Of course!” Eugenie said. “Please excuse me, Lord Randolph!”

“Aah, just leave him be!”

After the tea party, we enter the forest as usual. Thanks to my teaching, Eugenie is no longer scared around horses and can ride on Neptune with me. “You know, Neptune doesn’t like to carry anyone other than me, but you seem to be the only exception,” I said.

“Is that right?” Eugenie said. “I’m honored.”

Eugenie and I are so close together, swaying along the rhythm of Neptune’s movement. I want to touch her soft hair, it smells so good. I feel the heat of our skin through our clothes, the beating of her heart. Eugenie probably felt the same, but I have yet to confess the feelings deep inside my heart:

“Oh, I love Eugenie.”

I had fallen since the moment we first met. She’s the heroine of an Otome game, and she has the power to draw people in simply by existing. How foolish of me to forget, my favourite character in the game was her…

Otome game heroines attract all kinds of people, even from the same sex. Even if you start the game with the aim of capturing characters, you may end up falling for the heroine in the end. I’m the type who could go for men, but that was usually because of the girls motivating me as well.

If Eugenie entered Randolph’s route, I would be safe. My brother and Eugenie would be happy, and me and her would become good friends and sisters-in-law. However, when I imagine that scene, my chest hurts.

I’m so stupid—my plan is going so well but my heart is no longer in it.

“Lady Rosalind, are you alright?” Eugenie asked.

“It… it’s nothing…” I reply.

“Lady Rosalind…”

When we reach the spring at the back of the forest and dismount.

“You mentioned it before,” Eugenie said. “Even though a horse is just an animal, when you’re in close contact with each other, you can feel what they are feeling. Well, it’s even more true for humans. Lady Rosalind, what’s troubling you? Tell me if you would like. If you confide your worries to another, it will ease your mind. “

“… You’re so innocent,” I said.

She was not my enemy. After thinking and biting back a smile, I began to talk: “Have you heard that I will get married next year?”

“Yes… your fiance is Glenn, the second prince. I think you’ll make a good-looking couple. I’ve only seen Glenn in pictures, but he seems like a sturdy and handsome man. I’m sure he’ll make you happy, don’t you, Lady Rosalind?”

“… I really don’t he will.”

“Eeeh?! B-But why…?”

“Don’t you know who I am? I’m not an actress that can play the role of the graceful Queen in the royal palace. And—there is someone else I love.”

“Ah… i-is that true…?”

“Yes,” I said. “I don’t think I can choose my spouse because I was born a woman, my opinion doesn’t matter. This marriage is, after all, just a contract to strengthen the ties between the Arch region and the royal family. That is why I have to go through it.”

“… Lady Rosalind, what’s his name?”

“I can’t say,” I said. “There’s nothing I can do about it. The air is getting chilly. Shall we return?”

Eugenie spoke again as we were riding home on Neptune’s back. “I have someone that I love, too.”

“D-Do you? Who is it? My brother?”

“No, it’s not him,” Eugenie said.

I feel relieved and ashamed at the same time… I shouldn’t be feeling like this!

“When I was little, I used to visit my uncle’s house to play,” Eugenie said. “I can never forget the person I met in this forest then.”

“A childhood friend?” I asked.

“No,” Eugenie said. “It’s a girl about the same age as me, who helped me while I was being chased by monsters. She appeared on a white horse and attacked the monster like a mythical lady of war. I could only cry and run away, but she managed to slay it. She was so beautiful and cool… I kept thinking that I wanted to be with her forever.

“And then my dream came true.”

“…”

“That day, Lady Rosalind: it was you who saved me, wasn’t it?”

Eugenie found me out. I could not say anything, confirm nor deny anything as Eugenie eloquently laid out the facts, then gently closed her eyes.

“I understand…” Eugenie said. “I’m a commoner, and it’s unreasonable for me to have these feelings for you. It’s been an honour to have been your friend. It’s wrong for me to want more. I told myself that so many times, but you always treated me so kindly, and every time I met you, my feelings only grew stronger.

“And Lady Rosalind… when you gaze at me, I can’t put it into words properly: your eyes feel so kind, yet with a hint of something so painful underneath. And every time I look at you in turn, my heart tightens more and more.”

Eugenie open her eyes, I find myself staring into them. In that moment, I understood what she wanted to say, her gaze and the heat radiating from her body saying far more than words ever could.

Eugenie knew of my feelings. That’s why she confessed. It took courage that I couldn’t imagine to open her heart to someone of the same gender but different abilities and status. But, still she determinedly pushed through.

Thus, I had to answer her properly.

“I… I love you too, Eugenie,” I said. “I’ve never forgotten that day either. I’ve wanted to be with you forever, too.”

“Lady Rosalind…” Eugenie said. “I’m so happy—this all feels like a dream.”

“It’s not a dream,” I said.

“Truly?”

“Yes,” I said.

Eugenie closed her eyes again. She was leaving everything to me. I put my lips on her cherry-colored lips and kissed her.

“I’m home, Big Brother,” I said as I returned to the castle’s salon.

“Welcome back, Rosalind,” Randolph said as he lifted his face from the book he was reading. “Oh, something good seems to have happened—the look on your face says you’re the happiest person in the world right now!”

“Tha-That’s not true!” I cry.

“Don’t try to deny it, Rosalind,” Randolph said, smiling. “Well, there’s a definitely story that needs to be told now—please, give us some privacy,” he says to the maid. She leaves, and it’s just two of us alone in the room now.

“I can tell you why you’re in such a good mood,” he says. “It’s Eugenie. It’s no use trying to hide it—I’ve always been watching over you, my beloved sister.

“I’ve seen that you’re in love with that girl. And it was clear to me that that girl might be in love with you, too. So, did you two finally have a heart-to-heart? Well done, Rosalind. As your older brother, I congratulate you for finding happiness. “

“… Thank you,” I said. “But, I will be married to Glenn next year…”

“I know,” Randolph said. “You’re going to marry Glenn. It’s an agreement between our House and the Kingdom that is beyond our personal opinions. I’m still not officially the Lord of our House and my influence is weak, so I cannot break off your engagement with Glenn. I feel worthless as an older brother.’

“That’s not your fault, Big Brother. I’m convinced that it’s unavoidable. That’s why I was so afraid of being attracted to Eugenie. I’d be attracted to her even if I got married. And, I have to confess, I was hoping you and Eugenie would marry. “

“Huh?” Randolph said. “Certainly, she’s an attractive girl, but I can’t.”

“But why not?”

“Because I love you so much, I can’t make choices that would make you unhappy. That girl is crazy about you, Rosalin. Even if you marry Glenn, she’ll never forget you. Perhaps she will enter the clergy like her parents, because then no one would question why she never found a husband.”

“…”

“Do you regret it, Rosalind?”

“… I don’t know. At that time, I thought it was the right choice to respond to Eugene’s feelings sincerely. But if you think about the consequences—”

“What makes you happy depends on the person,” Randolph said. “Even if it’s for less than a year, as long as you can be with the one person that ignites such passion inside you, you can have a fulfilling life after that. Even if I can’t do it, Rosalyn, you’re alive now, and as far as I know, I’ve never been happier than I am now.

“About a year from now, we will marry into the royal family. Until then, I want you to make the most of the time you and Eugenie have together. ”

“Big Brother… Randolph, thank you so much..” I whispered.

“Oh, now don’t look like that—come on, smile!” Randolph said. “Sadness doesn’t suit you. Wipe up your tears and head down for dinner, the cook said he’s made your favourite roast duck for tonight!”

And so, we go to the dining room together.

… Randolph, who should have been married to Eugenie, but stepped down for my sake. After all this time, he could tell how terrible I felt, imagining him and Eugenie being together.

My brother is the best brother in the world. I was secretly still crying behind him. “Don’t cry, don’t worry your brother any more,” I thought.

When I came here, my fate was supposed to be very different. But I don’t regret changing it. I was going all in for my happiness.