Epilogue
NINA left the party venue and went to look out over the academy’s vegetable patch. Edmund accompanied her, but a boy that beautiful seemed out of place there.
Even so, Dino was as attractive as him and seemed surprisingly at home here, probably a result of his love for japonica rice.
Once she graduated, she would never see this field again. She’d grown attached to it, considering all the effort put in to maintain it. She found saying goodbye difficult.
“I definitely can’t weed in this outfit. I’m only borrowing the dress, and my heels will only sink into the dirt,” she commented.
She was sad she couldn’t do one last bout of weeding, but nothing could be done about that. Instead, she sat on a nearby bench with Edmund.
She looked up. White clouds dotted the sky, swimming elegantly across the blue expanse. Days like this, with their pleasant weather, nearly made Nina forget Aida was no longer with her.
She filled her lungs with air and slowly let it back out. “It’s over…” she whispered.
“You did well.”
A white cat appeared in the night, and she became a heroine… Even thinking back now, it all seemed so unreal.
Today, everything was finished. Conflicted emotions filled her, satisfaction at a job done against a sense of loss.
“But, Ed, going for the contract’s loophole like that…” she began. “It was a really forced logic there, don’t you think? I know it was accepted in the end, but it was a huge risk.”
“I realized at the fourth item in the contract that the god looks only at what is literally written, with no emotional interpretation. I had a feeling it would be all right.”
“The fourth item?”
The villainess protects the prince. True love blossoms. What did he learn there?
“I first assumed that section indicated the main love interest, but I asked Dino about his feelings, and he said nothing had changed about them: he still didn’t like but didn’t hate Clarissa. That was when I knew the exact implementation didn’t matter so long as a contractee with a contract ring fulfilled an item in the contract.”
Despite his explanation, Nina still had no idea what was going on. “If true love didn’t blossom for Prince Dino, then the contract wasn’t fulfilled, was it?” she asked.
“What I mean is that any promisee can have feelings of true love, and it fulfills the contract. It doesn’t have to be Dino who develops those feelings, and it doesn’t have to be for Clarissa.”
Nina slowly turned over what he said in her mind, her head cocked to the side. “So, the contract doesn’t necessarily have to refer to the villainess Clarissa, and it doesn’t have to end up with her happy?”
“That’s right. It’s fine so long as any contractee fulfills the conditions of the contract.”
“Which is how you were able to complete the contract by giving that fake love confession to me. …It still seems like forced logic though, but I guess it means you still end up healthy, and Prince Dino doesn’t become king. It’s good that everyone ended up happy.”
It didn’t feel kind toward the winner of the Lucky Reincarnation Raffle, but she did write that contract herself. It seemed the god decided it wasn’t a problem because everything in it had come true. Apparently, the gods didn’t bother adjusting to suit the situation or grant happiness to the raffle winner.
“Oh, by the way, this dress,” Nina recalled. “I borrowed it from the god, but how do I return it? And what about my reward?”
“Without the ring, I can no longer turn into a cat. I also can’t contact the god. They didn’t prepare that gown, however, I did. You can keep it.”
“What?” Did he mean the god left procuring the dress to Edmund? If so, they really put a lot on him.
“Your reward payment is coming from the god directly. I imagine it’s already in your room at home.”
“What? That’s not safe. I have to get home!” There was no guarantee she wouldn’t be struck by bad luck, and some thieves broke into her house. If it was just sitting on her bed like things always were when delivered by the god, she had to put it somewhere safe soon.
But as she tried to stand, Edmund grabbed her hand. Nina thought he might still have something he wanted to talk to her about, so she sat back down. “Ed, what is it?”
“Even if the love confession could be fake, no one could fake ‘true love blossoming,’” he explained.
It seemed he was still explaining the contract. “I guess,” she agreed. “If it has to be true love, then fake love won’t work. But wait. You said Prince Dino’s feelings didn’t change…?”
“That’s right. The person who developed feelings of true love…is me.”
“Huh…? Really?” Here was another shocking revelation.
Edmund smiled for some reason when Nina’s eyes grew wide. “Yes,” he answered.
“Oh. I had no idea.”
“So, you understand now?”
“I don’t know who it is you’ve fallen in love with, but that’s really nice, Ed. I’m happy for you,” congratulated Nina as she clapped her hands together.
Edmund visibly grimaced. “Nina, you’re not hearing what I’m saying.”
“Hm? You said there’s someone you like. Congrats!”
“The contract has to be carried out by a contractee. It can’t be just anyone.”
That was true. Even if he fell for some random beauty passing by, the god wouldn’t consider that within the scope of the contract. “Okay… So, you love Lady Clarissa. But you’re hiding your feelings for Prince Dino’s sake?”
“No, not at all. Hopelessly incorrect.”
“O-Oh.” He seemed to be getting upset, but Nina didn’t know why, so she couldn’t figure out what she should do.
“I told you earlier. The person I love is you, Nina.”
“Yeah. And saying that is how you fulfilled the contract.”
He let out a heavy sigh, scooped up Nina’s hand, and touched his lips to her fingers.