Just like Mikhail had said, Olga and Renato shared certain feelings.
Apparently, this had started much earlier than I’d anticipated. Olga had admired Renato, the musical genius, long before they even entered the academy. She’d fallen for him immediately upon meeting him in person for the first time at the academy. According to Marina, who’d told me, it was obvious at a glance.
I must really be blind... But I’m much older! I’m the big sister! So...how?! I couldn’t help but wonder as I stared into the distance.
Just like drunkards never know they’re drunks, I imagined not accepting it only went to prove I truly was blind to the matters of the heart.
In truth, the school hadn’t been the only place where an uproar had followed the events at the detached palace; a smaller commotion had also taken place within the walls of the Yulnova residence in the capital upon my return.
On that day, I reported everything to Alexei right after getting home. As soon as he heard about the God of Music descending, he pulled me into a tight embrace.
“Thank you for coming back to me...”
B-Brother, the God of Music never invited me anywhere. He sounds so sure of himself. His Ekaterina filter is working overtime.
He relaxed when I told him Olga and Renato had been invited to the garden of the god, not I, yet he seemed puzzled.
“I’m glad nothing happened to you, but I fail to understand how anyone could not choose you.”
Oh, brother.
As it turned out, Alexei’s Ekaterina disease couldn’t infect gods. I couldn’t very well say that, so instead I told him what the God of Music had said to me—that I wasn’t his.
Alexei’s expression shifted immediately. “I see. We must call Rosen at once.”
It was my turn to be puzzled. Why did he want to call for the knight commander of the Order of Yulnova?
“Brother, why would we need to call for him?”
“As I thought, we do need to reinforce the order. I don’t know which god is targeting you, but that doesn’t matter. Unless you wish it, I will never let anyone take you away. I’ll use everything the Yulnovas have to protect you. I swear it. Don’t be scared, Ekaterina.”
Now I’m scared! You want to strengthen the order to fight against a god?! Poor Rosen! Don’t go asking the impossible of him!
“B-Brother.” I took Alexei’s hand and squeezed it. “I think that all the God of Music meant to say is that I don’t have musical talent. Besides, I have no intention of leaving your side. Even if another god invites me, I’ll make sure to tell them I wish to return to you and refuse. I’m not a child, brother. Please, do not trouble Lord Rosen over this.”
“Ekaterina.” Alexei’s gaze wavered uncharacteristically as he squeezed my hand back. “I’m just...” A pause. “Terrified of losing you...”
Alexei, who feared neither monsters nor political opponents, was trembling.
“Brother!” I looped my arms around him and hugged him tight. “I’m not going anywhere! I don’t want to be apart from you, and I don’t want to see you sad. I’ll stay right here, with you, so you needn’t be scared!”
“Ekaterina...” Alexei took a deep breath and hugged me back. “The sun could disappear from the sky, and the ground shatter under my feet, and I’d be fine if you were with me. You’re my everything, Ekaterina. My life, my beating heart...”
At the look of anguish on his face, I reached out to stroke his hair in an attempt to console him. He closed his eyes for a second and, when he opened them again, he was smiling.
As it turned out, my excessive love could undo the chaos of his rampaging excessive love.
I felt like a fool for worrying about not being able to keep up so often. If my love could calm Alexei’s, maybe I was the one winning.
“The festival is fast approaching,” Marina said. “Everyone will be focused on that soon, so we won’t see a repeat of the past week. Speaking of which, we need to start thinking about what our class will do!”
“That’s true,” I replied, before I noticed that Marina was staring at me with a peculiar grin. Somehow, I felt ill at ease.
Um...Marina? I don’t want to stand out again, all right?
Despite the tinge of apprehension Marina’s grin had instilled in my heart, I diligently studied with Flora after class. Then, when I finally found myself alone, I shifted my focus to something else: searching my memory.
Searching for what? Well, for any information on the school festival that I could recall from the game. To avoid running straight to my doom like in the game, it was probably better for me to do things differently from the Ekaterina of the game.
It’s been a while since I last worried so seriously over the doom flags.
If I recalled correctly, there was only one major event during the festival in the game. What did the villainess do during it, and how did things end?
What did she do again?
My face blanched. It wasn’t like I remembered nothing at all, but my memories were incredibly hazy! I remembered...Ekaterina in a showy gown and Alexei praising her beauty, and... Hmm...
What else? Let’s do this step by step. What did our class do for the festival?
Ah, I remember now.
Because of the villainess, the heroine was still being bullied by the rest of the class at that point, so in order for the story to progress in the right direction and to score points with the prince, you had to act independently during the festival. That was the right choice to make as a player—or so I remembered.
But what did the rest of the class do during this time? What happened to them?
I totally forgot. My memories of the game as a whole are super hazy!
My life over the summer vacation had been so far removed from the game that I’d worried I might forget, but who would have thought I’d actually do it?!
Get a grip, girl!
But I can’t help it! I have so much to do and remember!!!
I was the lady of a house; managed over a hundred servants; studied heaps of things for school—including mana control, a topic far removed from anything I’d ever done before; ran a glass workshop; and tried to remember things about my brother’s work, the empire, and this new world and its history in general!
Besides, though the process wasn’t conscious, I’d felt less and less threatened by the doom flags over time. I’d come to know this world better and had started forging deep relationships with the people around me. The Ekaterina of the game felt more distant to me every day.
Nevertheless, why can I remember the Snowball Earth hypothesis and the class system of Tosa but not the game?!
Probably because I never had much of an interest in otome games, I realized.
I’d started playing the game on a whim while I wasn’t in my right mind because of overwork, but before that, I’d never really been the type to play that sort of game. On top of that, while I’d become a die-hard Alexei fan, I hadn’t even liked the game itself that much.
I only remember the scenes with Alexei!
The smart thing to do might have been to write everything down in a notebook while I’d still remembered. The thought had crossed my mind, of course, but the fear of someone finding that notebook had always stopped me from acting on it. I’d considered writing in Japanese so that no one could read it, even if they did find it, but owning a notebook covered with peculiar signs would have also been suspicious.
Besides, I wasn’t even sure I could write it all in Japanese. Just like when I spoke, my hand automatically translated my thoughts into the language of the empire. If I wanted to write Japanese characters, I had to make a conscious effort. Otherwise, I’d revert right back to the empire’s language.
Ah... What should I do?
No, calm down. I thought things over right before the start of the second semester, didn’t I?
While it was very unlikely for my brother and me to meet the same fate as in the game, I’d reached the conclusion that it wasn’t entirely impossible. The most likely cause for our destruction would be a Yulmagna scheme. If they’d taken advantage of all the things the villainess had done to force Alexei’s hand in the game, the ruin of the House of Yulnova made sense. To avoid giving them an opportunity to do the same thing to us in this life, I couldn’t do anything villainous!
In other words, as long as I was good, it didn’t really matter what my class did during the festival.
I’m so stupid. I keep getting caught up in the logic of the game.
The second I relaxed, it rushed back to me: In the game, my class had put on a play. That was why Ekaterina had been dressed in such a showy gown—it’d been her stage costume.
In the game, however, the heroine had been sidelined. Or rather, she’d accepted her fate and given up on participating altogether, which was the right thing to do. To still enjoy the mood of the festival, she’d decided to decorate the school on her own. She’d already had plenty of allies by that point, including students from other classes, the kitchen staff, and teachers. With their help, she’d ended up doing a wonderful job and had later earned praise from all the visitors.
During the festival, she’d been voted the number one contributor toward the festival, been publicly commended, and ended up becoming the partner of the prince for the upcoming ball.
Thinking back on this, I couldn’t really tell if it sounded realistic or not. Decorating an entire school was nothing like making a few paper flowers to put up on the walls of your classroom, so when I’d played the game, my only thought had been, She’s a bit too amazing, isn’t she?
Now, however, I knew just how much potential Flora had. Maybe she could actually pull it off.
I’d finally remembered what happened during the festival, but it was of no use to me, considering the status quo was completely different.
Well, I was feeling more relaxed, so that was that.
Instead of a play, wouldn’t it be better if we sang as a choir?