Chapter 4: What if I fall in love with the prince?
If I fall in love with the prince as the heroine and the story ends, I’ll be able to go back to my own world… right?
I don’t wanna. I really don’t want to. Even though she wasn’t overly active about it, Yulie liked women. Alas, must she fall in love with this beautiful buff prince who was taller than her?
But, to her advantage, she knew how the story progressed. It should be fine if I just do the same things as the heroine from the novel to make the prince fall for me.
Although, since she stopped reading partway through, she didn’t know the essential plot point of when they would become a couple. What she did know was the period from when they started courting up until the time the prince proposes. However, it doesn’t succeed because the heroine Claire’s memories return and she flees the castle.
After that, how did Alex get Claire to return his feelings…?
She was guided to a guest room that was significantly more spacious than her room at home. As soon as Alex left, Yulie hurriedly rummaged through the drawers to find a pen and paper. She wanted to write down what happens between the two in the novel while her memory was still fresh.
Fortunately, she had a good memory. Even though she had only read it once, she was able to recall the story in detail.
I should be able to handle this somehow if it’s like this.
Staring at the notes she had just written, Yulie gave a slight nod. Since it was originally the actions of a commoner girl who’d lost her memory, it wouldn’t be particularly challenging. Even more so if you knew the right thing to do and say beforehand.
As she let out a sigh of relief, the lady in waiting Alex had assigned came to greet her.
“I will be taking care of Lady Yulie’s daily affairs from now on. My name is Jill.”
Yulie remembered her too. An austere girl dressed in a maid’s uniform, thick red hair fastened tightly in a braid. She was supposedly around the same age as Aika, but now that she was in front of her she looked younger with her childlike features.
“…she looks a lot younger than I imagined.”
“Pardon?”
“Ah, um, …it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
After seeing how handsome and heroic Alex was in person, she’d thought the other characters would definitely be attractive as well. But this girl was unexpectedly average.
Well… that’s life. Alex is the hero after all. He’s a special case.
‘In that case, you could have made me, the heroine, prettier too…’ Yulie complained internally to no one in particular.
――……。……。
A sound could be heard somewhere off in the distance.
Her senses were fuzzy, as though they were enveloped in a dense looming fog, she realized she was dozing off. Information swept past her mind, like a movie watched while half asleep.
Her sense of what’s reality was wonky, half simply dreaming and half lucid dreaming.
Although she must be dreaming, her vision was obscured. She fought the intense sleepiness, but her eyelids felt heavy and wouldn’t open.
――……。
What she heard was the systematic sound of a machine. The voices of people talking. And then… and then………――。
“――……”
Tap tap. Hearing a light knock, Yulie woke up.
When she came to, it seemed she had been sleeping on the sofa in the guest room. The scenery visible from the large window in the guestroom was unchanged, the sky clear. It appeared not much time had elapsed.
…a dream?
She felt she had had a strange dream. However, as her mind became clear, it all but faded from her memory. It disappeared in a few blinks of an eye, as though enshrouded by fog.
I wonder what that was.
As she looked around at the imposing furnishings spread before her, the canopied bed, and the modest chandelier, she thought this place looked far more like the inside of a dream.
The moment she sat up, disappointed that what she had seen before waking was not real, the guest her lady in waiting had received while she was half-asleep examined her expression.
“Is there anything you find uncomforable?”
“Huh, Alex?”
Yulie was stunned by the unexpected visit.
She thought the following plot points would happen from tomorrow, but the timeline was like this? Alex smiled broadly, delighted that his surprise had been a success.
“Yeah. If you would lend me a moment of your time, I thought I might show you around the castle a little.”
Around the castle…
That reminds me, I think it was written that she was given a tour of the castle right after she arrived. Since it wasn’t a particularly noteworthy event, consisting of only one or two sentences, she hadn’t thought much of it.
Even though it was something that only had a few lines in the novel, now that it was actually happening, she would have to take the time and experience it. Although such a thing was only natural, Yulie, who hadn’t yet truly accepted that this was the world inside a novel, was quite surprised by the unanticipated event.
However, the chance to look around the castle the royal family lives in was probably pretty rare. ‘Besides, it wouldn’t be too bad to get shown around’ she thought. Even without finding a means to escape this world and things like that, it simply spurred her curiosity.
“Ah, were you resting? Are you okay? If, by chance, you don’t feel well…”
“No, I’m fine. I― …..I1 would also appreciate it if you showed me around.”
“I see. Then, shall we go?”
Smiling delightedly, Alex led Yulie out.
Translator’s Notes: