The protagonist of this world. A character that only existed in my imagination is alive and breathing.

It’s a strange feeling. My stiff body refuses to relax.

My gaze continues to follow Diet, and he narrows his brows as if my gaze is a burden.

Are you human? Even frowning is beautiful. It would be more convincing to say you’re a fairy.

I gritted my teeth as if I couldn’t resist.

There was a lot I wanted to say to him in person, but I knew better.

I knew I shouldn’t touch him because he was in a bad mood.

In the original work, it would have been fine……. There was no love, but there was mutual respect.

But now, it was a little strange.

I swallowed dryly as I walked on thin ice, a chill running through my painted smile.

Unable to make sense of it, I thought back to the original.

Surely, after Estelle’s death, Diet had grieved. Not to the point of refusing to eat or drink, but he experienced a sadness deep enough to miss the departed one.

That couldn’t have happened if their relationship was bad.

Am I mistaken?

There’s no reason for me to feel bad, and it’s possible that I’m just taking it too personally.

Perhaps I changed the story because I never left the room¹used metaphorically to express the idea that someone has had no influence or involvement in a particular matter or situation. It conveys the sense of being completely detached or removed from an event or action.

“Where did you hurt yourself this time?”

…… But unfortunately, I was mistaken.

I flinched at his gentle but bony tone.

His gaze flicked up and down quickly, landing on the scar on my forehead. He let out a small sigh and his vision flickered.

Didn’t I know all the privileges of being a possessor? Why don’t I know any of them?

Question marks swirled in my head. Why does he hate me.

Technically, it was more of a tired feeling than a dislike, but I knew it wasn’t a good feeling.

The relationship between the two seemed to deviate from the original work, causing my head to spin.

“Hey…….”
“Estelle, I don’t care what you do. But this is not the way to do it.”

It was a brave thing to say, but it was immediately shut down. I remained silent for a moment, trying to figure out what he meant.

“You do realise that I can’t be around you forever, right?”
“Um…….”

It’s so obvious that I don’t know what to say.

Diet is a busy person. He must have a pile of tasks to do. It’s impossible for someone like him to be constantly by my side.

Even though I don’t know anything, I could still sense it. Even so, the reason he warned her is that Estelle often asked him to stay by her side. Could it be some kind of obsession?

It’s hard to imagine the angelic Estelle as someone obsessed, but there it is. There must be one or two things I don’t understand.

The question is how I’m going to react. I don’t know her personality enough to pretend to be her.

Asking him to leave is also not an option since I can’t keep avoiding him indefinitely.

So what do I do?

“I… who are you?”

I feigned amnesia.

I blink and tilt my head. I added a little trepidation to go along with the unfamiliarity.

It was my first time seeing him, so I must have done a pretty good job of acting.

……probably.

I couldn’t be sure because Diet didn’t seem to panic.

He paused for a moment, then gave me a ‘look at this’ look and bent slightly at the waist.

“You’ve become quite skilled at acting.”
“I really don’t remember… please introduce yourself…….”

I really don’t. I don’t even know my name. My brain is a blank slate.

Repeating self-suggestions, I placed an iron plate on my face²an expression used metaphorically to convey a sense of emotionally or mentally fortifying oneself, … It suggests creating a barrier or protective shield around oneself, symbolizing resilience or emotional detachment..

She’s calm enough for an amnesiac, but not all amnesiacs are alike. There are examples of that.

I gazed at Diet’s fingertips, hoping he would be deceived. I wonder if meeting his gaze would be a little frightening.

Even so, his long, slender hands were beautiful. I stared at his neatly manicured nails and lost myself in a moment of unnecessary admiration.

“Are you doing this because you want to hear me say I’m your fiancé?”

What the fuck?

For a moment, my true feelings almost jumped out at me.

With a snap, I looked up. His calm eyes were fixed on me.

The face was perfect, but the personality was not. I wondered how many times I would have said this to myself if I hadn’t been his fiancée.

I thought Estelle was the cause of the discord, but I guess not.

Who would fake amnesia just to be called a fiancée in the first place?

I wanted to say something, but I held back. Now is the time to be quiet.

I forged an innocent smile, as if I had no idea.

“Wow, so are we getting married?”
“What?”
“When you get engaged, don’t you get married?”

His expression cracked at the innocent question.

His slightly wobbly pupils showed that he was flustered.

“……do you want to get married?”

But it was only for a moment, just a moment. He’d decided to play the long game.

Here came another choice. Do I say yes, or do I say no?

No matter how unlikable my face may be, if you dislike me that much, then I suppose–

“Yes, I want to get married.”

……I guess not. I’ve got a dirty, honest mouth.

At that moment, I felt an urge to smack myself across the face.

“Why?”
“Because you’re beautiful……?”

I had a feeling it was going to be bad, but this damn mouth of mine just wouldn’t stop.

Okay, now that it’s come to this, it’s time to admit it.

It’s time to admit that I’m a sucker for good looks.

Just the combination of silver and long hair alone is insane.

So what?

Game over. The end.

Besides, how can you not love that crazy look?

Even a dog on the side of the road would fall for him, I tried to rationalise.

It’s only natural that I’d be attracted to him. It’s natural.

But then I started to see through him. I know I have no choice, but I don’t think he’s going to like it.

I wonder if he’s being sarcastic by revealing his face, but I’m pretty sure I’m wrong.

His gaze slowly lifted, and his eyes met mine.

Crazy.

I swallowed hard.

He was laughing. Not a manipulative laugh, but a genuinely amused laugh.

“It was fun this time, Estelle.”

The tension in the air instantly dissipated. His violet eyes dilated and closed.

My mouth dropped open like a crucian carp at the unphotogenic beauty.

It wasn’t jut for that reason that I got a crush on him.

Are you laughing because it’s really funny? Wasn’t there anything funny about that? How can you smile at someone you don’t even like in the first place?

One by one, questions popped up in my blank mind.

“Wait–”

I thought to myself.

But when I looked up, he was already gone. He was like the wind, appearing and disappearing like a storm.

“How inconsiderate…….”

I clicked my tongue as I looked around the empty room.

When it comes to amnesia, it’s polite to at least explain it.

To annoyingly appear and then disappear like that. My level of fondness for him has drastically diminished.

In novels, it’s often depicted that someone captivates you with their appearance and then suddenly disappears. At that time, I thought it was just an impossible occurrence.

It was possible enough. I just didn’t have the face to make it happen.

“Anyway, it’s weird.”

Unlike in the original, neither Estelle and Diet seem a bit off. It was too obvious to ignore.

“……No, she won’t live long anyway.”

Do I really need to know? I’m not going to live forever. I only have about three months to live.

I’d rather eat well and play well than doing research. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a waste of time.

“Should I ignore it.”

I’ll figure it out later if I need to. After much deliberation, I chose to let it go.

Little did I know, I would regret that choice a day later.

* * *

It all started when I called for the maid. I bowed my head and watched her as she served the tea.

“Me and Diet, did we not get along?”

It was a casual question, but I couldn’t help but notice how her whole body was shaking.

For a moment, I thought I had threatened her.

Wondering if my tone was too harsh, I spoke again in my softest voice.

“It’s okay, just tell me the truth.”
“I, I’m sorry.”
“Huh?”

For some reason, this time, all she could manage to mumble was ‘I’m sorry.’

Finally, I had no choice but to dismiss her without a response.

The next time I went outside was for the first time, though it was only at the garden.

Still, it was fun. If only it wasn’t a rose garden with all the thorns cut off.

I giggled as I touched the smooth rose stems.

It’s a bit overprotective, I thought, for doing this out of the fear of danger. But I shrugged it off.

Even when I saw the servants stumbling about and maids sulking in corners.

I don’t care what anyone else thinks of me, I’m going to die anyway, as long as I’m content, that’s all that matters.

But I guess I couldn’t help but feel a little queasy. I didn’t realise it until now.

The handmaiden who was frightened of me, and the excessively desolate villa.

I didn’t notice anything that was strangely out of place in the original.

Once it started to bother me, I couldn’t ignore it anymore. The discordance kept catching my eye.

In the end, I was defeated by my unnecessary curiosity.

I’ll invest just three more days into this.

“Three days from tomorrow, “

In that time, I will research Estelle’s past to enrich my life.

If I knew the past, I wouldn’t have any questions, and I could spend the rest of my time ignoring it.

It was perfect. I’d give up three days of my life for that, even if it was a bit of a waste.

I went to bed with my happiness circuit running. I slept well on a fluffy bed instead of the floor.

* * *

I was sleeping dreamlessly, but for some reason, I kept feeling a tickle near my neck.

It was too warm to be hair, but it was large.

It was like a human hand.

……Wait.

A human hand?

At that thought, I snapped out of it. All my attention was drawn to something touching my neck.

With a cautious heart, I timidly opened my eyes.

Sure enough, I saw Diet looking down at me with his hand wrapped around my neck.

How did this happen? The genre of the work I had possessed had turned out to be a thriller.

• 1
  used metaphorically to express the idea that someone has had no influence or involvement in a particular matter or situation. It conveys the sense of being completely detached or removed from an event or action
• 2
  an expression used metaphorically to convey a sense of emotionally or mentally fortifying oneself, … It suggests creating a barrier or protective shield around oneself, symbolizing resilience or emotional detachment.