I'm Not a Regressor!

Arlea pinned both my hands and straddled me, her lips wriggling like a worm.

"Mikhail. Who am I?"

"You are Her Highness the Third Imperial Princess. The glorious light who guides the Empire, my liege, and the treasure I am sworn to protect."

"Liar. You took the Virgin Goddess's virginity."

Oof.

Listen to that wording — filthy direct. I rolled my eyes awkwardly, looking anywhere but at her.

That particular fact was common knowledge even to the Kim Cheolsu next door. Arlea stroked my cheek. Her hand was so cold I wondered why — then I saw her face had gone half-pale with shock.

Her voice dripped honey, but was she actually buying my improvised performance?

"Oh, Mikhail. It was only yesterday we whispered love and tangled our bodies together. You're not lying to me, are you?"

"······."

"This is your last chance. Behave, and there won't be any bloodshed. Hmm~?"

Arlea scowled as she threatened me. Fine, I'll give credit where it's due.

Her instincts really were exceptional. But as the one currently pinned underneath, I had plenty to say myself. I looked up at her through half-lidded eyes.

No affection, no desire — pure by-the-book. I'd graduated from the theater department in a past life; this level of acting was child's play.

"Your Highness. You're getting far too ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠worked up."

"No, no. No! I know full well you'll thrash around crying if I just rip your clothes off. Answer me."

Rip my clothes off?

Wow, she looked ready to start ogling a man's chest. But this was a human rights issue — and outright sexual assault!

I looked at Arlea and delivered my position, word by careful word.

"I don't know what this is about, but if you tell me, I'll try to resolve it."

"I'm perfectly normal."

Like hell. A lunatic who stalked me obsessively for a year, tracked down my bedchamber and every location I went — and she calls herself normal?

And after regressing, she wants ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠free rein to harass the man sitting right next to her?!

Seriously, still not letting go? Stubborn to the bone! At this rate I was genuinely going to die of sexual overexertion. Arlea's eyes reddened as she chewed her words to pieces.

"Arlea Kiessen — the sage-queen who pacified the continent and ushered in the dawn. You are Mikhail, who swore before the World Tree that you would be my eternal consort."

Ah, right.

I remember the kidnapping, the confinement, the iron ball chained to my ankle. She never did shake that tyrannical temper of hers.

I patted her back gently.

"…Your Highness. You've been staying up late studying so much that you no longer seem capable of sound judgment."

Arlea's bloodshot eyes spun. She'd clearly expected a soft man like me to fold by now. Faced with a situation that didn't match her plan, her thoughts stalled for a moment.

For several dozen minutes she sobbed and thrashed in my arms before finally managing to rein in her emotions.

"I apologize, Mikhail. Lately… lately I've been so tired."

"Of course you have. Naturally."

I moved to support her. But the instant I took her arm, Arlea seized me by the collar and yanked me toward her.

Faced with that yandere intensity, my expression went blank.

"Eh."

"Mikhail. You might be acting. Confess. Right now."

······She's beautiful.

The thought surfaced on its own. Damn it — I'd sworn never to feel lust again.

I covered my face with both arms. Keep going like this and I'd end up a married man all over again!

"Y-Your Highness. You mustn't do this. A filthy, wretched bloodline like mine—"

"Mikhail, are you a genius at turning women on?"

Hhk—

Arlea cut me off with her mouth. She plundered my lips greedily. A thick scent of mana washed over me.

.

.

.

This woman?!

I shifted into a natural stance and scowled.

She was using magic.

Clairvoyance.

A spell that reads every memory of its target.

It forces a human to grasp the essence of another… if she found me out, it was straight to the marriage bed. But something was off. The kiss wouldn't end. She searched as if hunting for something stubbornly.

I understood the description at a glance.

The magic hadn't penetrated me! Apparently regression had granted me resistance to magic as well.

Fwaah—

The moment I registered it, Arlea pulled her lips away.

"Mikhail. You… don't remember anything?"

Arlea bit along my ribs and throat. I didn't answer. I simply sat still, like a doll.

"I will. I will find you, no matter what."

That razor-edged vow left me feeling, for a moment, as if my pants had gone damp.

Because it meant she was half-ready to kill a married man.

I flopped onto the bed and stared at the status window.

"Yeah, what else can you do. Just being alive is a blessing."

This was my room — a luxurious bedchamber prepared for me in the Imperial Palace of the present. Lying in bed, all sorts of thoughts crowded in. First among them was rage.

"God is dead! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠If you're going to regress me, at least send me alone!"

I tore at the mattress with savage hands.

I'd prayed three times a day, donated generously, performed good deeds — and for what!

I was going insane.

Was it my destiny to be bitten and sucked dry by that yandere?

Hoping for a breath of air, I leaned against the terrace railing.

Fingers laced, I prayed and prayed to the heavens.

Please, grant me the strength to break through this ordeal.

"Our Father who art in heaven… what am I supposed to do."

I lifted my head.

Not a cloud in the sky tonight — only a full, round moon.

Faint as it was, I could see my father's face. Not of this world, but of the modern one.

—Kim Mikhail. Get up. This is a golden opportunity, isn't it?!

My father inside the moon grinned slyly.

"A golden chance?"

—Run. The second they catch you, you're dog food.

I furrowed my brow.

"I tried that and got caught and died, remember?"

—Until you run, you can hide your heart a little. Take the teasing, accept it all, and keep your head down so you don't provoke them. Hmm?

Father had a point.

Seduce the yanderes just enough to satisfy their cravings, then make a break for it?

"Fine. Let's run."

I clenched my fist and made the vow.

I'd escape this hell!

And so half a year passed.

"Mikhail!"

Regressor Arlea came running and latched onto my arm.

"I finished all my studying today. Will you hold me?"

"No."

"Really?"

"I'll stroke your hair instead."

Shit. Still hadn't escaped.

Second-loop Arlea was stronger than I'd anticipated.

One thing after another, and she thoroughly blocked every path I tried. After roughly three digits' worth of escape attempts, the time finally came to leave the capital.

Because I had to enroll in the academy — the true starting point of the main story.

Imperialis Academy.

Also known as the Academy City.

I'd collapsed into bed the night before like a man knocked unconscious, and now I rose from the plush mattress.

Stop.

What the hell is this first thing in the morning.

Arlea had snuck in last night.

I needed to reinforce the security system — without her noticing.

There's a limit to this bullshit.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Loving me for eternity doesn't mean 'love him until he dies of sexual overexertion,' you know?"

I cracked my neck with a satisfying pop and checked the clock.

Right.

Wake her, then send her to the entrance ceremony.

Couldn't let the first day of enrollment end on a grim note.

Only after showering, brushing my teeth, and dressing myself neatly could I head to Arlea.

"Your Highness?"

I entered her bedchamber.

Arlea was still drifting through dreamland.

This woman didn't even have chronic fatigue, as far as I knew.

It was seven in the morning and she still wasn't up.

"Did she sleep next to me last night?"

I twisted my neck thoughtfully.

There had been an indentation pressed into my mattress.

"Haa…… they say habits formed at three last till eighty. Ahem, Your Highness. It's Mikhail. You need to get up immediately."

I prodded the sprawled-out Arlea with the energy of a senior private waking a short-timer. At that, Arlea's eyes slowly opened.

"Mikhail. Just… a little longer."

"No. You'll be late for your schedule."

When Arlea rubbed the sleep from her eyes and whined, I cut her off firmly.

Do you know what time it is.

If she'd still been Empress, this was the woman who'd have wriggled into my bed and gone straight for the tent.

Arlea pressed down on her mattress.

"Mikhail, why don't you climb in too. I've warmed it up — it's nice and toasty. You can touch if you want. Ah, or can't you, since you're a virgin? Hehe."

Absolutely not.

This was a yandere world.

To survive, you had to draw a hard line between public and private.

I guarantee it — the moment I fell into those arms, I'd become a father on the spot!

"It's a pleasure simply to be near a peerless beauty like Your Highness."

I put on the most natural smile I could manage and ran my hand lightly down Arlea's bare waist.

But light harassment actually helped survival.

Especially since this woman's waistbone was an erogenous zone.

"Ah, ngh."

At the touch, Arlea's eyes went unfocused and a soft moan slipped out.

Fortunately, for all her physical specs, Arlea's sensitivity was second to none — and that was putting it kindly.

"The entrance ceremony is in thirty minutes. If you wish, I can notify them in advance that you'll be absent from the general assembly, but His Majesty the Emperor—"

"Ah. Haa. Fine, fine. Step outside. Help me change."

I whispered close, and Arlea's face turned tomato-red as she started undressing.

"I will not. I'll wait outside."

"Hmph—"

Arlea clicked her tongue.

"Being so shy. That's why you still have your virgin sticker, Mikhail. You're probably the only human who feels no lust before the Virgin Goddess."

I ignored that and stepped out of the room.

Unfastening the clothes of a woman who wasn't even my wife!

That was simply not done.

Before long, Arlea emerged in her formal academy uniform.

Perhaps recalling the shameless scene from moments ago, her cheeks were flushed a respectable red.

"Shall we go, Mikhail."

I looked at Arlea's fidgeting fingers and sighed.

Here she goes again.

"…Shall I hold your hand, as always?"

"Hmph. A knight providing his liege with a sense of security is only natural. It's not as if some lecherous demon has possessed you just because you're a virgin."

"I know."

"Then prove it."

Arlea extended her slender, jade-like hand.

Look at her gaslighting a knight.

A calculating woman through and through.

I took the offered hand. It was warm, at least. We'd always walked like this in winter.

"Feeling a little better?"

Arlea looked at our joined hands and frowned.

"A little. But it feels about two percent short."

…Ahem. I'll admit I lived a bit like a scoundrel.

But it's fine.

Because today, of all days, the big operation goes down.