Temptation (2)

I gave a bitter smile and pointed out the practical problem.

"There's one important issue, though. As an ordinary student of the academy, I won't even have a chance to meet His Highness the Crown Prince of a nation. What could I possibly do?"

As if my doubts were amusing, Crua wore a faint smile. Confidence that she had already read every current of this board lingered in that smile.

"I'll create the opportunity. Or rather, I should say it's already been created."

She indicated the carriage window with a glance. Beyond it, the faint outline of the academy came into view.

"Before long, Solaris Academy will hold its founding anniversary festival. It's an annual event that invites a great many external guests of honor."

Crua's ash-gray eyes turned toward me, and I already knew the next words that would leave her lips.

"Yes. His Highness the Crown Prince will attend that day as well."

Certainty filled her voice.

"A lecher is like a butterfly that can never pass by a place where beautiful flowers gather. Under the plausible pretext of observing the academy's brilliant and promising talents, he will attend the festival."

Crua leaned forward and spoke as if whispering.

"So seize His Highness the Crown Prince's gaze in a single stroke amid that throng of people. Shake his heart more intensely than any woman he has ever met in his life."

At Crua's words, a memory I had forgotten flashed through my mind.

Come to think of it, the Crown Prince did show up at the founding anniversary festival in the original game, too.

When I played, all I ever did was catch a fleeting glimpse of him sitting far off in the guest seats. He hadn't been an important event or a romance target, so I had completely forgotten.

...

Right. Now that I was stuck in this damned game, I had never expected to walk an ordinary path anyway.

I let out a short laugh.

"Fine. I'll give it a shot."

I had never imagined that coming into an otome game world would mean seducing a man… but if it was something I had to do, I had not the slightest intention of doing it half-heartedly.

"A wise choice. Since we now share a fate, will you tell me your name?"

"I am called Saya."

At my words, Crua's brow tightened ever so slightly. For the first time, a complex emotion crossed the face that had been freed of its mask.

"…So it was you."

Her quiet murmur sent a chill down my spine.

The downfall of Crua's younger brother Croffle had begun with "Saya" on the day of the entrance ceremony.

In the end Croffle had been the aggressor, but I was also the one who had driven a sword into him when he went berserk, so I could understand that reaction.

This was the moment when every plan we had just discussed could collapse before it even began, regardless of my will.

But Crua seemed to read my complicated feelings and offered a light smile.

"Do not worry. It was merely the price for the folly my foolish brother committed. I harbor no resentment toward you, nor any thought of abandoning this plan."

"Are you truly all right with that?"

"Heh. Whether I am all right or not now depends on you."

Crua's eyes gleamed with meaning.

"So I shall look forward to it, future candidate for Crown Princess."

She tossed the last words out like a joke, then put her mask back on and hid her expression once more.

Before I knew it, the carriage had stopped in a secluded spot not far from the academy's main gate.

Under the masked Crua's silent send-off, I stepped down from the carriage without a sound.

Back in my dormitory room, I sank into thought for a long while.

The Marquis family's support, and Despair's Fang.

The reward for success was wickedly sweet, but the price of failure was ruin.

Ordinary methods would never be enough.

That Crown Prince fellow would have already sampled every beauty in the world. To catch his eye, simply being one of the pretty faces at the academy would not cut it.

I opened a creaking drawer and took out the small wooden box I had tucked into its deepest corner.

When I opened the box, a small glass vial carefully stored inside shone with a luminous glow.

The elixir I had received as a reward for the hidden quest in the academy's herbology class.

Nearly impossible conditions without knowledge of the original game.

I had completed the assignment perfectly, and the professor had handed me this elixir along with lavish praise.

Applying it to my hair would grant the hidden trait Silky Hair, but I had never used it.

In the original game, Smooth Skin and Silky Hair were hidden traits that helped the male protagonist Basil raise the heroines' affection.

But for this "Saya" character, who had already been quite beautiful to begin with, the single Smooth Skin trait obtained at the Moonlight Spring had already made my academy life more than exhausting enough.

Simply walking the corridors drew countless stares, and the sudden confessions from male students had only been the beginning.

In this world I was supposed to be the helper for the protagonists' happy endings—an "extra."

If I used this elixir as well… I felt I would be swept into an unmanageable whirlpool and my plans would fall apart. That was why I had obtained it in advance but kept it sealed all this time.

But the situation had changed.

A little extra hassle and a few more confessions are still far better than failing the mission and getting my head chopped off after being marked by the royal family and the Marquis house.

I hardened my resolve.

There was no longer any reason to hesitate.

I poured the elixir—where powders that glowed softly like the Milky Way swirled within the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠transparent liquid—over my hair.

A cool sensation spread, and a fresh grassy fragrance seemed to seep between every strand.

In that instant, a familiar system window appeared before my eyes.

The moment the notification vanished, an unbelievable change overtook my hair.

My silver hair, already beautiful, now looked as if every single strand had been spun from moonlight melted into silver thread. Each time I tilted my head even slightly, it created the illusion that stardust was cascading down along the flow of my locks.

Without thinking, I reached out and ran my fingers through my hair.

The sensation of it slipping smoothly between my fingers was softer than any finest silk.

For a moment a wave of existential dread hit me at the thought of going this far just to seduce one man, but I only had to endure a little longer and get through it.

If this dangerous gamble succeeded—

Crua would be free of her shackles.

I would gain the power to draw closer to a happy ending through the promised enormous reward.

And… perhaps even that lecherous Crown Prince might gain the chance to meet someone better suited to him instead of an unwanted political marriage.

Yes. This was for everyone's sake.

I muttered as if hypnotizing myself.

"Haa… this is just a quest."

I closed my eyes and once more engraved the laws of this world into my mind.

Right. This is a quest. Just another quest I've repeated countless times—raising an NPC's affection to claim a reward. If I fail… game over. That's all.

A strange stillness flowed around me as I walked the corridor.

There had always been many gazes directed at me, but today's were on an entirely different level.

Students stopped mid-conversation, halted in their tracks, and simply stared at me blankly as if they had forgotten even how to breathe.

Where their eyes were fixed was clear.

In the sun-drenched corridor, my hair swayed softly with every step, catching the light along its flow and drawing every surrounding gaze into itself.

At last, someone's uncontainable admiration broke the silence.

"My god… is that really Saya? She definitely wasn't that much before…"

"Did she use some kind of magic? It looks like light is coming off her face and hair."

The moment I rounded the corridor corner while receiving the full weight of everyone's attention, I collided head-on with someone.

"S-Saya?"

It was Basil.

He saw me, his eyes went round, and he froze solid on the spot.

The mouth that had been about to greet me cheerfully as usual hung open in a stammering "uh-uh" and refused to close.

Basil's gaze flickered helplessly back and forth between my face and my hair fluttering in the breeze.

"Uh, uhh… you… something…"

Unable to finish his sentence, Basil unconsciously took a step backward. Lost in a daze, his foot found empty air and his body tilted sharply.

I reflexively stretched out my arm and caught his off-balance form.

Thanks to that he didn't fall, but the distance between us closed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠until our breaths nearly touched.

His soft green eyes, meeting mine at point-blank range, trembled violently as if an earthquake had struck.

His quivering eyelashes, and the hot flush rising from his cheeks, seemed to transmit all the way into my palm.

"Basil! Are you okay?"

"Huh? Y-yeah! I'm fine! Totally fine!"

Contrary to his shout, the red flush that had started at his earlobes raced in an instant past the nape of his neck and across his entire face.

I forced myself to sound casual, trying to break the delicate atmosphere.

"So… where were you headed?"

"I-I was… training… n-no, the library…! Wait, no! I was going to class… time's almost up so I should get going!!"

Babbling incoherently, Basil finally let out something like a scream and fled in the opposite direction.

I watched his retreating back and gave a bitter smile.

Our protagonist is so hopelessly shy—how long is it going to take him to romance any of the heroines…

I even found myself thinking it might be faster if I, a woman, just went and romanced the heroines ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠myself.