“Onee-sama! What’s the matter?”
Norrad poked his nose from behind the girl who was apparently his elder sister.
Norrad’s elder sister pushed her younger brother’s face behind as she said seriously, “I don’t know how you were with her, but you shouldn’t get close to her, Norrad. She isn’t someone good.”
Norrad went out of hiding behind his sister and the two were now side by side, with both looking at each other.
“Onee-sama, why did you say that?!” Norrad said with disbelief.
“I heard from people—”
“Nee-sama, you know that rumors and gossips can differ from the truth! This Onee-chan over here is a good person!”
Hearing Norrad’s mature words, Ann was surprised. Yet, at the same time, the mini Ann in her heart raised two thumbs up at Norrad as she said, ‘Way to go, Norrad!’
Rumors and gossips could be spread by others with malicious intent, or they might have strayed away from the truth the more mouths they had passed by.
“No, what did I say before? Listen to others until they finish first. Let me continue. I have met her before and witnessed how… ill her attitude back then was,” Norrad’s elder sister said with a hint of disgust in her face as she turned to look at Ann.
Whoa, how bold! She doesn’t even bother decreasing her voice—she really wants me to listen to such words, huh?
I like this kid!
…Only if she wasn’t talking about me like that, that is.
“But, Onee-sama! You might have mistaken!”
“I didn’t. I remember her clearly. She’s Arlea Pristine Claritianta, who’s married to the Schwartzen house, am I not right?”
As she finished her sentence, Norrad’s elder sister turned to ask the question to Ann.
Ann nodded truthfully.
“No… There must have been a reason, Onee-sama?” Norrad still tried to stand up for Ann.
Seeing the cute little boy trying to plead her innocence to the strict judge, Ann’s heart melted.
“Norrad! Why are you siding with her that much?!” The elder sister asked with a little bit of frustration.
“She helped me!”
“With what?”
Uh-oh.
Didn’t Norrad say that he wanted to find the pendant on his own so this sister of his won’t know and he won’t get to trouble?
This… doesn’t look good, right?
“Uhm, so, Onee-sama… I accidentally dropped the precious water pendant and—”
“You—WHAT?!”
Ann couldn’t believe that Norrad would confess to his mistake that he desperately didn’t want his own sister to find out. And just to repay her for her kindness?
This boy… If only he’s older, she might misunderstand his intention!
Anyway, he’s still so young but possesses such good qualities. He’d grow up into a really good man.
Ah, but rather than ‘cute’, it’d be better if he could’ve been a little bolder, more mature… and cooler… like…
At that moment, Allen’s face crossed her mind.
Ann quickly shook her head in denial of her own thoughts.
No, no! Gah, he’s one of my favorite characters and I’m literally living with him now. Yep, that must be why his face floated in my mind easily like that!
Luckily, nobody except for Faye and Birdie—who had already been used by Ann’s eccentricities—noticed her weird gesture.
“I’m sorry! I lost the water pendant and tried to look for it on my own because I didn’t want you to scold me like that! And, and… I met Arlea-neechan who was so kind to help me! I managed to find it this quickly thanks to her. If not, who knows what might have happened to it…”
“Norrad! That’s why I didn’t want you to bring it with you!”
“Onee-sama, this isn’t the point right now! I’ll receive your scolding later at home, so… The point is, she’s this water pendant’s savior! You shouldn’t treat her like that!”
“You… you… Haaah… Forget it, this is the first time I’ve seen you this daring to talk back to me. Alright, then. So, did she really help you? Are you sure it’s not a mere coincidence that she happened to see your pendant and—”
“No, Nee-sama! She reached out to me even while I was doing something unsightly such as crawling on all fours when I was trying to look for it. I know others who happened to see me immediately tried to pretend not to see me… And, and… We tried looking for it together in a place, before I told her that it was a water pendant and she somehow managed to detect its location!” Norrad narrated his whole mini adventure truthfully.
“You crawled on—what?!”
“Onee-sama, you’re missing the point!”
“…Alright, then it’s still suspicious. How did she manage to quickly locate it after—”
“Ah, that. I happen to be able to use water magic, so I just detected the water inside the pendant and that’s how I pinpointed the location…,” Ann confidently chimed into the conversation since she thought she ought to explain, but when the girl turned to look at her with her sharp eyes, Ann’s voice gradually grew smaller…
And as she finished her sentence, the girl’s expression turned from annoyance and distrust into surprise and curiosity.
“You can do that with water magic? Isn’t it hard? How did you do it?!” The girl approached her, and Ann unconsciously backed away in surprise.
“Onee-sama, you’re trailing off again! Focus on one point first! So, do you believe me or not? Will you apologize for treating Arlea-neechan like that?” Norrad puffed his cheeks in protest.
“Ah well, I’m still…,” Norrad’s elder sister looked at Ann doubtfully.
“Oh, uhm… You see, I hit my head and had an amnesia. This can be considered my first social gathering ever since that, so… I don’t even remember you, and… If the me from the past did something bad, I’d like it if you could forgive that and… can we turn a new leaf?”
The elder sister went silent as she blatantly observed Ann from head to toe.
“Hmm… Well, you do seem different from the old you… How do I say it? Your exterior appearance is still the same, but the aura you exude… It’s as if you’re a different person altogether, so…”
Whoa, this girl is sharp if she can feel it just from our short interaction!
Or wait, is it that obvious?
Ann thought to herself.
“Alright. I’ll trust in my little brother and my intuition. I apologize for my rudeness earlier,” The girl then bowed.
“Well, as long as you get it now, it’s alright,” Ann said as she complimented Norrad’s elder sister for admitting her mistake and apologizing without any qualms.
Usually, nobles would be so prideful, and they wouldn’t be as blatant as this elder sister of his.
She kind of liked this girl…
“Ah. I don’t really have any friend my age, so… Can we be friends?” Ann tried to have a go, though she wasn’t expecting much.
She extended her hand to Norrad’s elder sister, waiting for any response from her.
Norrad’s elder sister lifted her head and looked at Ann’s face, before she lowered her gaze towards Ann’s right hand that was extended for her.
“…”
She didn’t react at all, and just when Ann was about to take her hand back and say, ‘Never mind’…
“Alright. Norrad seems to like you a lot, too,” she said as she took Ann’s hand and shook it.
“My name is Naia van Rubennhelsch.”
Ann was taken aback by this positive yet unexpected outcome, but she quickly recovered and smiled, “I’m Arlea Pristine Claritianta.”
As they were shaking hands, Ann thought to herself.
It’d be nice if I can activate that character information window at will. I am having that urge right now, but…
Why do I have to bump or touch someone’s chest to activate it?! It’s really hard to activate!
I couldn’t just casually touch her chest, right? What excuse do I have? There’s a fly over there? Yeah, my eyes!
Bumping into her seems unnatural, too. She’s a highly suspicious person, so if I do that, oh my…
Geez, why is it that my ‘cheat’ after transmigrating here is something bad like this?!
I’m not even asking for much, I just want it to pop out more easily.
For example, it’d be nice if it can pop out just by touching someone’s hand like this and by my inner voice, like…
‘Character Information Box, Opeeeennn!”
Ah, if only—
*DING!*
Hmm?
Wait, what’s that voice—
HUH?!
~SAVING THE KINGDOM, SNATCHING THE BEAUTY~
CHARACTER INFORMATION
Name: Naia van Rubennhelsch
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Birthday: 29/02
Magic: Water, Earth, Wind
Occupation: Daughter of an earl
When Ann lifted her line of sight from the elder sister’s hand to her face, she happened to see the semi-transparent information window box popping out right at her chest…
As she scanned the content, her jaws dropped a little bit.
It… it can actually be opened this way?!
You’re kidding, right?!!
The two stopped shaking their hands and Naia happened to catch Ann’s jaws slightly dropping.
When she curiously followed Ann’s line of sight, her eyes saw that Ann was looking at… Hmm? Her chest?!
W-what’s going on?! Why is she looking at my chest like that?!
Naia quickly put her arms in front of her chest as she said, “You don’t have to stare that blatantly! I know they’re small! I’m still growing!!”
“HUH?!”
It was then that Ann knew she totally messed up.
Ffffff—That’s right! Even if the window can pop out easily like this, I still have to stare at their chest!! I was caught off guard and couldn’t try to pretend that I wasn’t looking at their chest area!!
“Y-you’re mistaken! I’m not thinking about it! Also, yours is perfectly fine! You have a nice body figure, and big breasts aren’t always good!” Ann blurted out in panic and—
Naia’s expression turned into that of a disgust one more, but this time, it was a more pleasant disgusted face than the earlier one she saw when Naia was still very suspicious of her…
Arrrgh, what did I say?! That only made me seem more like a pervert, right?!
“Uhm, I’m not a pervert, I mean—”
“…Yeah, as if a pervert would say that they’re one…,” Naia muttered with a ‘Are you dumb?’ gaze.
“M-my point is, I was just, uh, admiring your dress… It’s so beautiful that I…,” Ann’s big brain thankfully came up with a good excuse this time… If only this was her first reaction, it’d be perfect…
“Ah, really? You could’ve said so, then! I love this dress too. I can show you where I bought it if you like!”
Thankfully, Naia’s mood was lifted up when Ann mentioned it.
The mini Ann in her heart heaved a sigh of relief as she plopped on the ground, exhausted.
“Anyway, you really seem different than before. Now you’re more interesting.”
“Thanks…?”
If the real Anne were to hear this, she’d explode with anger as she wanted this insolent person to be beheaded… right? Hahaha, that’s totally possible!
“Onee-sama, you’re friends with her now? Does that mean we can see each other more often?!” Norrad interrupted and asked with his sparkling eyes.
“Yes. Ah, don’t get it wrong, Norrad. Remember that she’s married,” Naia said.
“Onee-sama, I’m not stupid!!” Norrad protested.
Naia chuckled, and Ann laughed as well.
The atmosphere between them was lifted up.
Ann then introduced Faye and Birdie to Naia.
The five of them then went together during the event.
Obviously, the other nobles whispered upon looking at them together.
Feeling a bit bad because Naia and Norrad would be involved due to her bad reputation, Ann said, “Uhm, Naia, Norrad, you can go now. It’s nice knowing you, but as you can see, the other nobles don’t see me in a favorable light. I don’t think it’s wise for you to be seen with me often…?”
“It’s alright. I don’t have that many friends as well. And rather than being with the noble girls who only dare to whisper cunningly like that, I’d rather sit with you,” Naia said indifferently.
“Me too!” Norrad nodded vehemently.
Ann’s heart was touched.
How can this pair of siblings be this good?!
And Naia—she’s really the type of girl that I like!
Wait no, I’m straight, but if I were gay, I’d choose her!
Anyway, though this pair of siblings is really interesting, they weren’t mentioned in the game at all…
It’s such a pity.
I’m sure I’d grow to like them, even if they only appear as side characters in the game.
But yes, this is the reality, my reality now. And not some otome game.
That is also why I can get to know them, who—I don’t even know if they ever exist at all in the game.
And I befriended them…
Maybe, just maybe…
Though the setting of this world and the game is so similar, they are still different thing?
And since they are essentially different, maybe the future that I know from the game might be different from the future that will happen in this world?
Perhaps there is no such thing as the compelling force of a plot because this is now a reality, not a game?
Author’s Note:
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