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“LATELY…you seem to be with Dino at all times,” noted the white cat when he appeared in her window, his tail twitching.
His white fur was as beautiful as a dream, like always.
“Yeah,” she said. “The heroine’s got to grow close to the prince, right? I should act like one as much as I can.”
“Yes, I suppose that is true.” While he did agree with her, he still seemed a little unhappy. Even when he sat on the cushion on the table, his tail drooped listlessly. “You…haven’t pet me much lately.”
“Pet you?”
“Before, you would pet me any moment you got.”
“That’s because I believed you were a cat. But it’s rude…isn’t it?”
Whether you called it “petting” or “squeezing with all her might,” she couldn’t very well do it now that she knew Ed was a human—the son of a duke, no less. She was definitely hesitant to treat someone that high-ranking like a stuffed animal.
She didn’t think Ed would get angry and punish her or anything, but she did feel a big mental resistance to the idea.
“I am a cat at the moment, and it isn’t rude,” he asserted. He definitely seemed disappointed about something.
“Ed… Do you want me to pet you?” she asked, the question popping into her head suddenly, and Ed’s tail stiffened. “Oh, sorry, of course you don’t! It was all one-sided from me anyway.”
Dino had informed Ed about Nina’s well-being, so maybe he brought it up because he thought she was feeling down at not having pet him in a while.
“At any rate,” he continued, “you have already completed condition two of the contract: ‘The heroine comes to school and gets friendly with the prince.’ You have almost completed number three as well: ‘Both the villainess’s fiancé and everyone around are captivated by the heroine’s charms. People find out the villainess bullied the heroine, and everyone stops being friends with her.’ This phase we’re entering will be for number four, which means there’s no need for you to strengthen your relationship with Dino.”
“But that phase is ‘The villainess protects the prince. True love blossoms.’ There’s nothing for me to do there. I might as well keep racking up as many points as possible, which means growing closer to Dino.”
There were five items in the contract in total. Her role as the hired heroine was also entering its final stages, meaning she only needed to act like the protagonist for a little longer. She couldn’t let up knowing how hard she tried now might change the outcome.
“May I ask what specifically are you doing for that?” Ed inquired.
“We weed together, I help him with the vegetable patch, we drink tea together… It’s nothing big, truly. I mainly try to spend as much time with him as I can.”
“Which means there is no need for you to strengthen your relationship with him further. It accomplishes nothing.” Ed’s voice rarely sounded that rough.
Having him say that so bluntly to her made her sad; it was like he was saying all her hard work was for nothing. “What’s this about?” she countered. “You want to be healthy, don’t you? And I want my mom to live as long as she can. I thought you understood. Why would you say something like that?”
With Aida’s health worsening the past few days, Nina felt like she was on an emotional rollercoaster. Her eyes didn’t even know when she should cry or not; she was especially sad and incredibly angry.
Before she knew it, tears welled in her eyes and threatened to spill over.
There were only so many things she could do. It didn’t matter how well she played her role—it wasn’t going to cure Aida. She knew that, but there was nothing else she could do to help her. And if there was nothing else, she wanted to do absolutely everything she could to limit Aida’s suffering as much as she could.
Why would he suddenly act like all her effort was meaningless?
“Nina,” he voiced, standing from the cushion when he saw her tears and looking shaken up.
She noticed she was just taking out her frustration on him. Her jealousy sprung because Ed could become healthy thanks to his contract.
Knowing she would say something insensitive if they continued talking, Nina bit her lip hard in an effort to restrain herself. “Ed…I’m done with my report for today. I’m going to sleep. Please go.” She turned away to keep the tears from running down her cheeks and sighed.
“Nina…I’m sorry,” he offered quietly before disappearing out the window.