“Good, you’ve finally realized,” he breathed in relief, taking her hand and leading her to sit on a sofa near the wall.
Glossy white hair, blue and gold eyes, beautiful features. That in itself was something Ed and this boy had in common, but she still couldn’t fully believe it.
“You’re…really Ed?”
“I am.”
Looking only at his eyes and speaking with him, it did seem true; it was exactly the same as talking with Ed. Regardless, that didn’t get rid of her confusion. “But why do you look like that? You’re a cat. You can turn into a human?”
Maybe he could turn into all sorts of things since he was a servant of a god. If that were true, she wanted to request the fluffy cat back.
“No, I’m actually human. This is what I genuinely look like.”
“Oh…” That sound betrayed her true emotions, a low groan of disappointment. That pearly, fuzzy animal…was fake? How could there ever be something this disappointing?
Seeing Nina looking so clearly disappointed destroyed Ed’s composure. “Uh, is that…bad?”
“Well…no. Boys are fine too. It’s just…I want to play with your divine fur and squishy toe beans.” She’d lost her ever-so-important eye candy for soothing her soul. Her shoulders slumped as that pain hit her.
“Well, I will still be a cat when I visit you.”
“Really?!” She leaned forward in joy, and Ed nodded with mixed emotions across his face. “Good! But…why are you working for the god if you’re a human?”
“Before I tell you that, have this.” He drew a cute package from the inside pocket of his jacket.
Nina opened it to find mini cookies. Each was a different shape and color, and they looked delicious, but she wondered why he’d brought something like that.
“I suspected you might not be able to do what you wanted because of the heroine buff and might not even get a chance to have some food.”
He was right; she was starving. It was worse than your regular empty stomach because she was forced to look at and smell all the delicious food in the venue and unable to eat any of it. She wanted to eat so much that she’d already planned to shove food in her face as she ran away from this place.
“Thank you. Can I eat them now?”
“Of course.”
She picked up a cookie and popped it in her mouth, and the cookie’s perfect level of sweetness spread through her body. It’s known that hunger was the best spice, but these cookies were already great.
Her expression softened now that both her heart and stomach had been nourished.
“They’re good. Do you want some?” she offered.
“No, thank you. I brought them for you. You have them all.”
She was a bit embarrassed, wondering how much of a black hole he thought her stomach was, but she was honestly starving. Before she knew it, she’d scarfed down all of Ed’s cookies.
“Here,” he offered, holding a glass out to her when she finished.
Now thirsty, she thanked him and sipped the drink, the flavor of fresh fruit juice washing through her mouth. She wasn’t sure what kind of fruit juice it was, but she was grateful to have it.
“Okay, so. Ed, what are you?” she asked.
He looked at her with a gentle smile. It was a beautiful smile, suited to someone working for a god.
“I was reincarnated, like you.”
“What?!” she shrieked before she could stop herself, clamping her hands over her mouth. If she drew attention, people would flock to her.
“Don’t worry. We’re at the edge of the venue; there aren’t many people here,” reassured Ed, seeming to guess what her concern was and letting her know he was keeping an eye out for what was around them. “I was born with a weak constitution. I’m not ill, but my body gives out at the slightest difficulty. I always caused concern for those around me, putting a burden on them.”
“You don’t seem weak to me,” she observed. His beautiful features and pale coloring seemed to give him a sort of ephemeral quality, but he looked healthy.
“Thanks to you.”
“Me?” She didn’t remember doing anything like that.
“As I explained earlier, finding someone to play the heroine for this Lucky Reincarnation Raffle winner’s request was hard. The god approached me to ask me to scout someone to play the role.”
Oh. Well, an attractive boy would be much better at interacting with a girl of this age than some crusty old man. If that were the case, Nina didn’t quite understand why he would do it while hiding the best weapon he had at his disposal: his face. At the same time, she was happier to have a beautiful cat than a beautiful boy, and she could let her guard down more around a cat.
Considering that, it did seem like the appropriate decision.
“That’s why you came to me in cat form.”
“Actually, we didn’t choose a cat specifically for you, Nina. I went to see Clarissa at the beginning of the contract to explain things looking as I normally do, and…things got quite complicated.”
True. Any girl visited out of the blue by a boy as attractive as him would get quite worked up—if she didn’t go off on how suspicious he was.
Nina would’ve been that second type. She was glad he was a cat when he visited.
“I only visited the villainess once, but I was going to have to meet several times with the heroine,” he elaborated. “It would have been tiresome if she came after me every time I did, which is why I asked the god to change my form.”
“I’m glad you went with a cat. It means I can get my fill of the most beautiful cat in all history!”
Cats were cute just by being cats, but Ed in cat form was truly wonderful. She wasn’t even exaggerating when she said he was the best cat she’d ever seen in her life, both in terms of looks and cuddling satisfaction.
“My contract is that if I find someone to play the heroine as the villainess wants, I will receive an improved constitution after the heroine has her downfall,” he continued.
“By constitution, you mean…” Nina prodded. Ed had told her when they were making her contract that they couldn’t heal Aida’s illness, so she assumed that sort of thing was impossible.
Ed seemed to guess what she wanted to say from her look. He shook his head apologetically. “I mentioned it before, but illness can’t be cured other than an illness of the contractee themselves. However, it does work on someone in an actual contract.”
“Oh…right…” Nina couldn’t help being a little jealous and feeling it was unfair. She was ashamed of herself for that.
As Aida couldn’t attend the academy with Clarissa, she would never be able to make a contract and play the heroine. Nina had to convince herself that soothing Aida’s pain was enough.
“The more you act as the heroine, the more my constitution improves. Which is why I’m doing as well as I am now.”
“That’s good. I guess we’re both helping each other out.” If she fulfilled her heroine role, it wouldn’t be just Aida who would benefit, but Ed would too. That gave her good reason to work hard. “But why are you here as a human?” asked Nina. “The contract isn’t making you show yourself. Did you really come to help me?”
“I knew you would end up like this.”
He anticipated the boost would prevent her from doing what she wanted, and she’d end up hungry? And then he came all the way here as a human just to help her? He certainly was kind. “Thank you, Ed.”
“Part of it was definitely because I wanted to help you, but there’s more. I wanted to see what it’s like talking with you.”
“But we talk all the time.” Ed regularly visited her house so she could give her reports on her progress.
“That is me, but it’s also not me. That’s Ed, servant to a god. But…my real name is Edmund Zelati. I’m the second son of Duke Zelati.”
Nina’s mouth dropped open. She admitted his good looks oozed with class, but she didn’t actually think he was noble-born.
“Son of a duke… All right, so, I really shouldn’t be talking so casually with you, uh, my lord.”
A duke was the highest ranking of nobles. Nina wasn’t; she normally would never have an opportunity to meet someone this high-ranking. She felt like Ed had grown a little further from her. That was probably caused by her ingrained commoner sensibilities.
“No, it’s fine,” reassured Ed.
“But—”
“Nina, you’re fine the way you are.”
But even if he said that, there was no way a commoner like her could speak to the son of a duke like that. Even if he claimed it was fine, the rest of the world wouldn’t agree. There had to be a very good reason for him to say it was okay.
“Oh, I get it. It’s because of the heroine buff. Generally, people wouldn’t approve of me talking like that to you, but the effect’ll make it so no one thinks it’s a problem. So, you’re saying to keep doing that so the villainess can focus on it, and then I can tell everyone she bullied me once she does.”
It was a tedious strategy, but surefire in its own way. He wasn’t the kind of person a commoner like her should be talking with so casually.
“That’s not what I mean, Nina. I just wanted to talk with you. Not as Ed the cat, but as Edmund the human.”
She felt nearly blinded by his beauty as he looked at her, never taking his eyes off. What the heck was with this boy, servant of a god, prettier than both the heroine and the villainess? Nina knew she wasn’t exactly ugly, but he was in a totally different league.
Nina might not be the girliest of girls, but losing like that still hurt a little.
“All right. So, what did you wanna talk about?”
As she spoke, she heard Clarissa’s voice from the center of the venue. She stood to see what was going on. It looked like she was having some sort of argument with Dino.
If the main love interest and the villainess were raising their voices, then this was a scene: a scene the heroine should probably be part of.
“Oh no, I’m late getting in there. Lady Clarissa’s trying to start a scene without all the actors. I have to go.”
“Good luck, Nina.”
Edmund watched with a sad smile as Nina rushed away in a flurry.