First, Survive...!
First, let's escape. That was my very first thought.
"Mmm...!" I quickly assessed my situation. Wrists bound—check. Ankles bound—check. The rope felt like hemp. The knots were tied behind my back, completely out of reach. First things first: get up. Brace against the wall, lift my torso, kneel because of the ankle ropes, then push up in one motion—
Let's do this.
"Ugh... up we go—!"
"Your Highness?"
"Just—give me a second—"
I twisted my whole body, trying desperately to stand, and—
"Whoa, whoa, whoaaaa!"
The girl watching me panicked, completely flustered.
"Haa... whew."
I managed to stand by leaning against the wall, ankles still tied. The door was only about three steps away. Jumping might work. My hands were bound behind me, but I could probably shove the door open with my body. Once I got past the door—
"Y-Your Highness, wait!"
The girl suddenly blocked my path. She was a full head shorter than me, standing there with her arms spread wide.
"Ugh..." Her expression was a mess—on the verge of tears, panicked, complicated. But that wasn't my problem.
"Move."
"B-But—!"
"I said move."
"Uuuu..."
She glanced sideways, clearly hesitating. Now's my chance! I took the opening and stepped toward the door again.
Thud—
Huh...?
I heard a heavy sound and turned. She had picked up a wooden club that had been leaning against the wall.
"...Uh."
I froze on the spot. A slender girl was now gripping a thick wooden club as wide as an adult's wrist with both hands.
"Ugh..." It seemed heavy for her; her body tilted slightly as she lifted it. She frowned at me.
"Your Highness... this might hurt a little...?"
Pretty sure it's not going to end with just "a little hurt."
"W-Wait! Let's talk! Talk it out! Conversation!!!"
"..."
"Put the club down first. Put it down and we'll talk, okay?"
She stared at me for a moment, then slowly lowered the club. Then she stood in front of the door again. Still holding the club.
...Escape plan postponed.
==========
A little time passed...
I was sitting on the floor again. The girl knelt across from me, hands clasped together. The club was set beside her.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry...!"
The mood seemed to have calmed down, at least.
"Hehe... I'm sorry, Your Highness... I got a little too excited..."
"...It's fine."
I decided to let it go. If she got excited a second time, my skull would probably crack open.
Whew... let's organize the current situation.
I took a deep breath and sorted through everything. Me: a college student who had been lying in bed in my one-room apartment reading a web novel last night. Now: sitting on the floor of some rundown house with my hands and feet tied, while a beautiful girl in front of me rubbed her hands together with an apologetic expression.
And... this was apparently inside a novel. Once I forced that fact into my brain, the next thought followed.
...How far had I read, again?
The Prince of Stars and the Seven Colors. A harem romance where Prince Leon gets entangled with seven heroines. The part I'd been reading... right. It was the chapter where Leon departs for his territorial inspection. The chapter where he leaves the imperial capital, tours the border regions, and solidifies his own power base. That illustration of Leon walking across a red carpet while crowds on both sides cheered.
And in the corner of that illustration, there had been a black-haired girl cheering along.
I looked at the girl in front of me.
...That girl. The background commoner I'd spammed the author with angry comments about at dawn. She was now standing right in front of me.
And I was currently inside the body of Prince Leon, the very person she'd kidnapped.
The cause-and-effect here was completely messed up.
"...First," the girl said, lifting her head. "Explain what the hell is going on."
"Ah, um... well..."
She was stalling, dragging out her answer. Buying time to come up with an excuse?
"If you're thinking of making excu—"
"I kidnapped you, Your Highness!!!"
She said it with such vigor that I was momentarily stunned.
"...I already knew that?"
"...Yes, I know you do..."
She hung her head and answered in a tiny voice that grew smaller and smaller.
"Then you also know that what you did was wrong, right?"
"...Yes."
"In that case, untie me quickly. I'm, I'm really freaking out right now, okay? If you untie me now, I won't press charges or anything—"
"Th-That won't work!"
The girl snapped her head up.
"...Why not."
"Because..."
She pressed her lips tightly together. I saw her hands, resting on her knees, slowly clench into fists.
I glanced around the room. Crumbling old walls, a cracked ceiling, and the only piece of furniture worth mentioning was a single jar. One worn straw mat on the floor. The most expensive thing in this house was probably that wooden club.
"...Is it money? Were you planning to hold me for ransom?"
"..."
"If that's the case, I can give you as much money as you want."
That was true both from my previous life and from Leon's position. I had plenty of money...
"N-No..."
"What?"
"It's not... because of money..."
She shook her head. The look in her eyes was strangely desperate.
"...Then why would you go through all this trouble to drag a prince of an entire empire all the way here?"
"..."
No answer.
"Did someone put you up to this? Are you being threatened? Or do you have a favor to ask me?"
"...None of those."
"Then why the hell did you do it!!!"
My voice rose a little.
"...Eep!"
The girl flinched, shoulders hunching up. I took a deep breath. Calm down. This situation was enough to make anyone lose their composure. I wasn't usually this hot-tempered.
...Wait, who was I kidding? The guy who sent a thousand malicious comments couldn't exactly claim he wasn't hot-tempered.
Still. Calm down.
"Uuu..."
Era stared at the floor, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. After a long while, she slowly raised her head.
"...It's just... for me..."
"All I need is Your Highness."
"...What does that even mean?"
"Exactly what I said."
Era smiled faintly. It was different from the bright, sunny smile she'd shown when offering me the tree-bark porridge. This one was quieter, like something she'd been holding onto for a very long time.
"It's okay if we're poor. I can endure hardship. Because... I have Your Highness."
"..."
Silence fell between us. I studied the girl carefully after hearing those words.
"...Hmm."
And internally, I reached a conclusion.
She's insane. Completely and utterly.
This commoner seemed to think of me as some kind of stuffed doll. To seriously say that having a prince tied up in her room made poverty okay...
...The fact that she meant it was what made it terrifying.
Wait, now that I think about it...
I paused. Why did I keep calling her a commoner? I'd been thinking "commoner, commoner" in my head this whole time. It was one thing not to have asked her name yet, but why did the word "commoner" reflexively pop out first?
Was Leon's personality seeping into me because of the possession? The original Leon had been a rather arrogant character. The type who wouldn't bat an eye even at nobles.
...Come to think of it, I still didn't know this girl's name.
"...Name."
"Y-Yes?"
She answered with a startled stutter, caught off guard by the sudden question.
"Your name. If you're not just a simple kidnapper, you can tell me that much."
"Ah... Era."
"Aera?"
"Era."
The girl puffed her cheeks out slightly.
"Without the 'A.' Just Era."
"...It's not a very pretty name..."
She muttered it like she was talking to herself.
"Then your surname. You must have one."
Era's expression stiffened minutely.
"...I don't have a surname."
Oh. In this world, not having a surname carried a very clear meaning. The imperial family used Asteron. Nobles used the family names passed down through generations. Even commoners could have surnames if they were from the upper classes. But having none meant...
The lowest of the low among commoners. Someone with only a single name on the family register, without anyone to help them or any connections to rely on. The absolute bottom rung.
...Maybe I'd touched on a sensitive subject.
"Then... Era, was it?"
"Yes! I'm Era!"
Her voice brightened again. Her whole face lights up just from me saying her name... that's kind of pitiful. The thought crossed my mind, but I steadied my emotions and continued.
"You said you won't untie me. But can you handle the consequences?"
"...Huh? C-Consequences?"
"I was in the middle of a territorial inspection. I disappeared suddenly while on an official schedule."
Era's face began to harden.
"I don't know how you managed to pull me out, but the entire escort team must have noticed I'm missing by now. The royal knights will be dispatched, a report will reach the imperial palace, and a bounty will be placed on your head."
"B-Bounty..."
"And above all, the young noble ladies who followed me won't just sit still—"
Thud—!!!
Era slammed the wooden club she'd set beside her into the wall. Crumble. The wall was already cracked. Dust rained down from the ceiling with that single strike. I was genuinely worried the house might collapse.
"...Leon?"
"Y-Yes...?"
The mood just completely changed...
The smile that had been plastered on her face until a second ago had vanished entirely. Her eyes are different now... They looked cold, or rather, they had sunk into something hard and heavy. And until now she'd definitely been calling me "Your Highness."
"Let's not talk about those bitches."
"...What?"
Whoosh. The club cut through the air again.
Thud—!!!!!
"Uh... eh..."
This time she struck the wall right next to my head.
"Whoa!!!"
My ears were ringing.
"Let's. Not. Talk. About. Those. Bitches."
"...Y-Yes..."
"...Promise?"
Era looked down at me, still gripping the club that was embedded in the wall right beside my head. Her eyes had lost all trace of that earlier brightness.
"...Promise."
Era pulled the club out and set it down again. About three seconds later, a smile slowly returned to her face.
"Hihi... thank you."
I leaned against the wall and looked at the spot where the club had just been driven in.
...In the original story, there had been a character who was obsessed with Leon and jealous of the heroines. But that was supposed to be Leon, not me. And the heroines who would be her rivals were characters properly established in the novel. This girl wasn't one of them.
Because this girl hadn't existed in the original work.
So where the hell did she suddenly come from???
"...Era."
"Yes?"
"What were you originally like?"
Era lowered her head for a moment, pretending to think, then began counting on her fingers.
"Um... I like bread. I sleep well. I don't have any illnesses. And I like Your Highness."
"...I see."
Era continued, folding down each of the five fingers on her small hand one by one.
"My personality is on the bright side! That's what the uncle next door said."
I looked at the wall where the club had been embedded again.
"...I see."
The sound of wind came from outside. The smell of dirt seeped in through the gaps in the window. Era knelt there, looking at me.
"Hehe..."
With a comfortable expression. Like someone who had finally reached something she'd waited a long time for.
I quickly organized the overwhelmingly confusing information in my head once more.
"..."
I'm inside a web novel right now.
Possessed the body of Prince Leon. The one who kidnapped me is a character who didn't exist in the original—Era. The reason is simply that she wants me...
If I try to run, a wooden club comes flying.
Escape difficulty... high. Negotiation potential? Low. Immediate threat—wooden club.
I slowly leaned my back against the wall.
"...When's dinner?"
Era's eyes sparkled.
"Shall I bring it right now?!"
"No, no. I was just asking."
"Ah... but if you're hungry—"
"The tree bark is a no."
"Then I'll boil it without the bark!"
"That won't be necessary either."
Era closed her mouth slightly.
"Hehe..."
Then she smiled again. As brightly as before.
"...She's strange."
She was a strange girl. To be able to smile like that after committing a kidnapping. No, more than that—to have the strength to smile in such a harsh environment. I had no idea what she was thinking inside, but her face was always smiling.
With the exact same face as the girl in that illustration from the original work.
I turned my gaze to the window. The sky visible through it wasn't very bright. Compared to the light coming from the imperial palace in Lumen, it was murky and dark.
...Was it because this was a border village? In the capital, that light illuminated the city all night long. So this was a place that light couldn't reach.
...That was another piece of knowledge that had been hammered into my head when I possessed this body.
"...Era."
"Yes."
"What's the name of this village?"
"Esh. It's a small place."
Esh. A border village that didn't even have a name in the original story.
...A girl from that village who didn't even have a name in the original.
Was currently sitting across from me with her hands clasped, after tying me up.
Everything seemed incredibly twisted.
Well, for now...
"...At least untie the ropes. My hands are numb."
"Only your hands?"
"...Only my hands."
Era thought for a moment, then nodded and moved behind me.
"Up we go... like this..."
The pressure around my wrists gradually loosened.
"...Sigh."
Looking forward, I thought to myself.
First, survive...!
Escape and all that can come later. If I die, it's all over anyway...