Go together?
Suddenly?
“If I were to escort you, My Lady, no one would ever dare mock you for lacking an elemental ability.”
Ah. He meant an escort.
I almost misunderstood that for no reason.
It was true, though. Theor was the empire’s one and only dark elemental user.
“But even if I take the Grand Duke as my partner, it won’t change how people see me. Besides, I intend to let people discover my power gradually. I’m going to use this power later for my sister… for Lady Periose.”
“You’ve been rumored to be a knight ever since you got involved with the Lady. Is this also related to your prophetic dreams?”
At that, Theor tilted his head.
“Yes, well.”
“I’m starting to get curious about the contents of these dreams.”
“There’s nothing particularly good about knowing them.”
At my words, the look in Theor’s eyes shifted in a strange way.
Curiosity.
Yes, his eyes were definitely filled with curiosity.
“Do you know my future as well?”
“Well, yes… but it wouldn’t be good for you to hear it. Grand Duke, you lose to His Highness the Crown Prince.”
“I lose to His Highness the Crown Prince? In what way?”
“Hmm, love?”
“……”
Theor, who had been deep in thought for a moment at my words, asked if he and Lloyd were rivals in the original story.
I nodded and honestly replied that they competed over the protagonist.
“And the target of that competition is…”
“Uh, I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say this.”
It was hard to tell him, since it wasn’t yet time for Theor to fall for Caroline. If I told him now and he beat Lloyd to the punch by courting her, it would be a huge problem.
Then, a thought suddenly crossed my mind—wouldn’t this actually be a good thing for sister Pere?
Right, aren’t I planning to sacrifice myself to make the love between sister Pere and the Crown Prince come true?
So, if I told Theor about Caroline right here and now, and he captured her heart before the Crown Prince could, the Crown Prince would definitely be left chasing after nothing.
Having thought that far, I looked at Theor and blurted out,
“Caroline Triaze!”
For a moment, Theor’s eyes widened.
“…The light elemental user, you mean?”
I nodded vigorously.
“There’s a little secret regarding His Highness the Crown Prince, and it’s closely related to Caroline. Anyway, that’s not important right now, but His Highness has been watching Caroline with great interest for a very long time. Even now.”
“……”
“And you, Grand Duke, you also keep Caroline in your heart because of a, well, a certain incident…”
“For now, let’s assume that’s just a ridiculous dream, not a prophecy.”
Theor cut me off with a firm expression.
“Why?”
When I asked with a confused look, Theor spoke with an even sterner expression than before.
“She is not my type.”
My goodness.
If Caroline from *Caroline’s Lover* isn’t his type, then who on earth is?
I looked at Theor, who stood on the border between boyish charm and mature allure, having yet to even have his debutante. Perhaps it was because he wasn’t an adult yet that he hadn’t fallen for Caroline. In the original story, he only intervenes as the second male lead after reaching adulthood.
But even so, for him to say she’s not his type—then what is Theor’s type?
As the question emerged naturally, the face of my villainous sister popped into my head, and I asked him with wide eyes.
“Could it be that my sister Pere, I mean, Lady Periose, is your type?”
If that’s the case, I am willing to burn myself to a crisp to bring the two of you together!
I hadn’t seen the Crown Prince yet, but no matter how handsome or kind he was, the man in front of me possessed looks, a physique, and a personality that were clearly too good to be wasted as a second male lead. They say a woman is only happy when she meets a man who loves her. If I could polish this man to be worthy of sister Pere’s heart for her happiness…
“That is not the case.”
However, Theor cut my imagination short at once.
“Absolutely not.”
He even delivered the finishing blow with an expression suggesting the idea was truly absurd.
Hey, what’s wrong with my sister?
“Then what exactly is the Grand Duke’s type?”
When I asked seriously, genuinely curious, Theor replied with equal gravity.
“I’ve never thought about it. However…”
“However?”
“If I were to have a type, I think the Lady right in front of me would be the closest.”
At Theor’s words, my face stiffened instantly.
…Excuse me?
***
I don’t really remember how I returned home.
Because of Theor, who laughed and said my black magic was a much cooler ability than light-based powers, my heart started racing, and I could think of nothing but getting out of there as fast as I could.
It’s not good for the heart, my heart.
Since he was the second male lead of the original story, he must have more than enough ability to charm women. That didn’t mean I should be the one getting charmed.
I let out a long sigh and looked out the window.
It seemed I was already a little bit charmed by Theor. His smile was so insanely pretty—how could I not be? If a genius in looks lets out such generous smiles, how are ordinary humans supposed to resist?
No. It won’t do, it won’t do.
I shook my head, trying to kill the fluttering in my heart that occurred just by thinking of Theor. It would be a disaster if, while struggling to survive after transmigrating, I ended up losing my heart to the second male lead.
Theor told me Caroline wasn’t his type, but tastes can change, and the reason he fell for her in the original was because of her angel-like personality, not her face. Of course, I would try to cunningly shift the focus of those events toward sister Pere so that he would fall for her, but I wouldn’t know for sure if Theor would truly end up losing his heart to her instead of Caroline until the time came.
Either way, Theor would end up loving Caroline, like in the original, or he would love sister Pere; it would be one of the two. That meant there was no room for me to squeeze in.
I just needed to do my best for sister Pere’s beautiful flower path and fully support whoever she ends up loving.
I was having such thoughts when my communication orb suddenly rang. The only person who would contact me was sister Pere. Instinctively, I ran over and picked up the orb on the side table.
“Sister!”
[What are you doing?]
“I was thinking about you, sister! What are you doing?”
[Just existing. If you aren’t doing much, I was thinking we could meet.]
“Me?! You want to meet me right now?!”
[Calm down. I’m just talking about going to the café we went to before.]
“Ah!”
The café sister loves the most!
“Wait a moment, then I’ll contact them and reserve the entire 2nd floor… oh, but it might be hard to get a same-day reservation, what should I do?”
[That’s fine. Knowing how rumors spread about you because you rented out the whole 2nd floor, you still want to rent it again?]
“So what? It’s true that I’m the daughter of an upstart, and it’s not entirely untrue that I use my money to throw my weight around with other nobles.”
[Whatever, it’s fine. It’s not like we have anything special to discuss; I just thought we could go get some coffee.]
“Yes, sister! I’ll get ready quickly and head out! I’ll contact the café to reserve a window seat first!”
[Alright.]
After hanging up, I rejoiced at the fact that as soon as sister Pere thought about having coffee, I was the first person she thought of. It was proof that she was opening her heart to me more and more, so I had to work even harder to become the perfect footstool for my sister.
***
I reserved the window seat on the 2nd floor of the café for double the price and met sister Pere to head up.
But what kind of twist of fate is this?
“……!”
Behind the window seat I had reserved, sitting there drinking tea of all people were the Crown Prince, Lloyd, and Caroline.
As soon as I saw them, I saw sister Pere’s face go rigid, and in an instant, I… I debated for a few seconds whether I should leave or try to soothe Pere and get her to sit down.
However, taking her out seemed like it would make Pere look too withered.
I couldn’t put my sister through such humiliation! I confidently linked my arm tightly with hers and walked over to the seat I had reserved, sitting down.
“This, and this, and this too… Ah, I almost forgot this one. This, that, and this one too, please!”
I ordered recklessly, choosing all the things she liked while keeping a close eye on her to ensure she didn’t start foaming at the mouth, as she was on the verge of exploding. Since Crown Prince Lloyd was sitting right behind Pere, I knew she wouldn’t be able to order anything herself, given that she was known only to drink espresso, so I took the lead.
“All of these… are you sure?”
To the staff member who seemed startled by how much I had ordered, I beamed and chirped.
“Yes! I need to heal my sister with some sweets, so please bring! Everything! Sister, please eat every single thing I ordered without leaving a bite. I’m begging you.”
I drove the point home just in case she refused to eat out of pride. Instead of answering, Pere took a sip of water, a subtle twitch at the corner of her lips barely visible.
I was relieved to see she seemed to feel a bit better.
But then.
“The Duchess and the Lady have no manners.”
The Crown Prince, who had been flirting(?) with Caroline behind Pere, turned his head slightly to look at us and spoke.