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“GOOD evening.”
The white cat appeared in her window like always. She’d given so many progress reports, but this was the last time.
“Tomorrow is the graduation party,” explained Ed, his eyes turning toward the bed.
She followed his gaze and saw a dazzling gown laid out. This wasn’t the first time he’d done that, but she still hadn’t figured out how, even after seeing it so many times.
“But, Ed, I can’t put it on by myself. There’s no way I can wear a gown,” she protested.
She couldn’t even get the corset on by herself. Aida helped her with the last dress, but it still took quite a long time. Wearing such annoying, constricting clothing every day was practically self-torture. It made her respect all those young noble ladies smiling gracefully.
“It’s all right, take a look.”
She picked it up. It was glorious and voluminous, yet with a simple construction, essentially a one-piece. The simplified corset-like part was already laced up. All she had to do was pull it on and tie up the ribbons. She should have no trouble doing it on her own.
“Ed, you always think of even the tiny details,” she praised. He’d given her the cold medicine and saved her from the other boys at the party. It was incredible that he was so attentive despite being so handsome; he didn’t need to fall back on his looks.
Once he was healthy and out in the social world, the noble ladies weren’t going to leave him alone. Maybe he’d struggle when surrounded by them. Or, perhaps he’d actually enjoy it, handling them with ease.
Nina didn’t know anything about that world, but it was fun trying to imagine it.
The white cat’s expression softened when he saw Nina smiling, his tail swaying back and forth.
“All right, let’s take another look at the contract.”
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The villainess is the daughter of a marquess and is both smart and beautiful. She’s engaged to a prince. The heroine is a commoner.
The heroine comes to school and gets friendly with the prince.
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.
The villainess protects the prince. True love blossoms.
The heroine goes to the graduation party with the prince. Everyone learns of the heroine’s deeds, and then there’s the love confession scene.
“This last item is where your downfall is meant to take place. It’s the last target in the contract—and the end,” summarized Ed, having spread out the rainbow-colored contract he had shown her before and tracing the words with a beautifully fuzzy paw as he spoke. “What’s written here cannot be changed, and the contractee is obligated to fulfill each of these. However, anything not specified in the contract can be left to your personal discretion. That is what we’ll aim for.”
“I still don’t know what you mean,” she admitted. The usual interpretation would be that the heroine ends up charged with some crime, and the villainess gets a happy ending. What could they go for other than that? And how?
The best Nina could come up with was swapping the places of “heroine” and “villainess” in the contract, but the god would probably prevent them from doing that.
“Item number five,” he pointed out. “Try breaking it down and thinking it through that way.”
“Break it down?”
“First, ‘The heroine goes to the graduation party with the prince.’ Then, ‘Everyone learns of the heroine’s deeds,’ and finally, ‘then there’s the love confession scene.’ We can think of these three as separate items.”
She still didn’t get it.
“I want you to continue as you have been, as I have no guarantee this will work well,” he stated. “You are the heroine. No matter what you do, the ring’s power will keep you from violating the contract.”
“By that logic, you also can’t do anything ’cause you’re under the effects of your ring, aren’t you?”
While he might be working for the god, he was still reincarnated and under a contract, just like Nina. He said the god’s power would go into effect even if they tried to deviate from the contract.
“The contract will be fulfilled. That is our only option,” he continued. “But I will prevent your downfall, I promise. I’ve spoken to Dino too about this, and he’s on board. Don’t worry. Everything will be all right.”
He told her that, but fulfilling the contract was the same as causing her downfall. They both meant the same thing, they couldn’t be separated, and the god’s power kept them from resisting at all.
Ultimately, Ed simply smiled, not telling her the most important details about what he would do.