Chapter 7: I’m not cut out for this heroine thing, am I?
The systematic sound of a machine could be heard off in the distance.
Signs of people bustling about.
Aah…this dream again.
It was a dream that repeated nearly every day since I came into this world.
A time spent listening only to ambiguous sounds as though veiled in fog.
This obscure sensation of being enveloped in a thick looming fog felt almost like being shown a botched short film over and over again. Although it was dull, she didn’t feel at ease. Even though she knew it was just a dream, it didn’t feel right.
However, just then, the indiscernible sounds hidden by the intense echo became just the slightest bit clearer and a voice was heard.
——……The surgery………………, the patient’s…….
What were they talking about? She listened intently. The unclear voices whispered something in a hushed tone.
The voices were so far away. Come closer and say it! she screamed in a silent voice.
——……Older brother.
A voice that was frightfully clear and familiar. That’s—
“….ah!!”
She awoke with a jump.
When she came to her senses, she was drenched in sweat and her heart was pounding like she’d just been sprinting. Despite that, she felt chilled to the bone and shivered uncontrollably.
What the hell… was that?
It had been a long time since she’d heard Aika call her.
“Haaaa…”
It was probably just a dream. That’s got to be it, right?
How long had it been since she’d heard that sad voice? Even her little sister, who’d been such a crybaby when she was younger, gradually began to distance herself from her older brother once she started middle school. Recently, it had become rare that she would cry in front of Yulie or ask her for advice. It had been a while since she’d heard that solemn voice of her little sister.
A sense of nostalgia filled her turbulent heart.
I have to get out of this world fast.
I want to hurry back to my own world. I want my own life and body back. More than anything, she wanted to see her family and Aika again.
The dazzling full moon shone through the window, filling Yulie’s room with a cool light. Around it, a multitude of stars twinkled. It was a beautiful world. But it wasn’t real.
I need to hurry.
She felt a strong sense of urgency well up within her chest.
It had been several days since Yulie came to Elgia. Contrary to her feelings of urgency, there had been little progress.
Although she had tried to recreate the scene from the novel where the heroine makes a flower crown on the hill they first met, Yulie had never made a flower crown before. She was so slow Alex ended up teaching her and she received a flower crown from him instead.
When invited to dance at the palace’s parlor, she stepped on the hem of her dress and ended up headbutting the prince in the chest. This morning she received a pair of heels the butler had passed on to her from the prince, but just wearing them in her room she couldn’t walk normally and fell over after taking one step.
I don’t think I’m cut out for this heroine crap… well, that is to be expected.
As she lay sprawled out on the floor like a leisurely cat, that fact really hit home. The white marble was nice and cool.
She really wanted to punch her past self who thought it would be easy if she just followed the original story. Although she was relatively quick and skillful in the real world, there was no end to the stupidity now that she’d become a woman.
“Yu-Yulie…?”
Looking up, she saw her startled lady in waiting Jill looking down at her sprawled out on the floor. It seemed like she’d surprised her, but Yullie was currently feeling so pathetic she didn’t even have the energy to get up.
“Hm? Oh, sorry. Am in your way?”
“No… Is something wrong?”
“Well, I was just thinking it’s hard to be a woman, isn’t it…?”
Rolling onto her back and staring vacantly at the chandelier sparking on the ceiling too, Jill let out a giggle.
Since she was originally a character she was familiar with, and because she was around the same age as her little sister Aika, Yulie found herself being more open with her. Although her appearance and manner of speaking were completely different, for some reason there were times when she and Aika unexpectedly overlapped and this made her want to help her with whatever she was doing. Because of that, her heart felt at ease whenever she was with her.
“That’s because Miss Yulie is a tomboy.”
“Hah, a tomboy, eh? That’s quite accurate… I’d never worn anything like this before. But this… it’s no use, is it?”
He was still putting up with this strangeness for now, but Alex will probably get tired of it before long if things continued like this. If that happens, returning to my own world or anything like that will be completely impossible.
But if that wasn’t just a dream, and was actually the real world…
The dream she had every night was gradually changing. This morning she felt the sensation of her mother’s hand gripping hers. She was frustrated by the vexing feeling of being separated by an invisible wall although she was right beside her.
It’s not like she’d somehow win the Prince’s heart in a day but she felt rushed nonetheless.
The story wouldn’t end if Alex doesn’t fall for her. But right now, since Yulie wasn’t able to behave in an upright manner as the heroine, that was a problem.
The original heroine was a sweet and docile girl. But Yulie was absolutely not sweet nor docile.
Jill’s comment about being a ‘tomboy’ was putting it mildly. Honestly, if she were a man, she’d feel sorry for anyone dating a girl like this.
“Gifting me something like this must mean he’s looking for a girl who can wear this kind of thing, right…? But nope.”
As Yulie dangled the heel from the tip of her toes, an inscrutable smile came across Jill’s face.
“Today, there is a dinner party planned to which the closest nobility have been invited. Perhaps he wishes to invite Lady Yulie to it?”
“Dinner party…? Ah.”