Touching the Reverse Scale
Someone once told me that just as a delicate blade of grass can quietly grow even in barren snowfields of the near future, there are beings that hold pure light even in the deepest darkness. It wasn't a story I could really relate to. I'd seen countless people twisted by their upbringing and predetermined backgrounds with my own eyes. I figured neither I nor she—whom I'd half-raised myself—were any different.
...Which is exactly why I'd given it my all.
Lemon-yellow blonde hair and sweet red eyes that drew you in so deeply it was almost intoxicating. The daughter of the duke's family, which holds absolute power in the empire, and the student council president at the Academy that serves as the backdrop for the game. A rose harboring the deadliest thorns amid a dazzling fantasy world, adept at tormenting the protagonist with her innate scheming and manipulating her faction like limbs to weave her plots. Whether it was a romance fantasy or a game aimed at women, I couldn't quite recall the exact genre anymore—but she was the villainess, the antagonist of that world..., or rather, she was supposed to be. And yet, I'd raised that young villainess for ten whole years.
Not too long, not too short—a time we'd scraped by together. The girl who'd grown up in my hands was no longer a villainess. I was confident I'd raised her into a wonderful young lady who wouldn't lose out to even the "protagonist."
But where there's a meeting, there's a parting. I believed my remaining role was to give her the best ending possible.
The best ending in a romance genre... Even a dullard like me knew the answer.
"Eve, is there anyone at the Academy who catches your eye?"
One evening, with that simple thought in mind, I'd asked her that—and touched her reverse scale.
"Huh...?"
She slowly turned her head at my voice. Even without growing into the game's villainess, the innate elegance radiating from her appearance was something that couldn't be erased.
"I asked if there's anyone you like."
"...Someone for me...?"
"Yeah. Like the soft-featured handsome Second Prince. Or the Northern Grand Duke wouldn't be bad either. Or even that commoner who drew the Hero's Sword... Wait, what was his name again..."
"........."
"...Anyway, you know who I'm talking about, right?"
After staring at me for a long while, she finally spoke.
"Hmm... Now that you mention it, there might've been some idiots like that in the classroom... But why?"
Thorns bristled in her words. Her expression was fiercer than usual. What was this? Had I said something wrong? The Eve I knew was as kind as they come...
"If you were interested, I was thinking of pulling some strings to help."
"Pull some strings? You, Simon? How?"
"If there's someone you like, I'd try to set you up..."
"...With me."
"Yeah."
"Another man...?"
"...?"
"............Ah."
In that instant, something seemed to snap in her expression. Was it my imagination? As I wondered that, the teacup in her hand tilted.
Crash!
It was her favorite teacup. But she didn't even glance at it.
"..............Why..."
"Huh...?"
"Why... Why bring that up all of a sudden?"
She rose slowly from her seat. Wondering what was wrong, I felt her grab my hand the next moment. Her grip was strong. I gently pushed it away without thinking.
She staggered back but steadied her ragged breathing.
"It's your fault, Simon... You keep, keep trying to push me away."
"...Eve?"
"That's not fair, it's cheating..."
"........."
"From the moment you saved me in that snow-covered slum alley, I've always..."
"...Eve?"
Her voice sank low as she asked,
"You said we'd be together forever... You did... So was that a big fat lie?"
"Why would I lie to you? From now on, you'll always be my one and only..."
"'Family'...?"
"Right, 'family'."
At my answer, she smiled for the first time. She, who rarely smiled, was smiling. She smi...led...? No, no. That wasn't a smile.
I, who'd spent the last ten years with her, knew that better than anyone.
"'Family'... so 'family' shouldn't keep secrets from each other, right?"
Something was off.
"'Family'... so there shouldn't be walls between 'family', right?"
No, no. This was.
"'Family'... blood-unrelated 'family'... so even if I do something a little bad, you'll forgive me, right? Simon? You've always done that..."
Only then did I realize something was terribly wrong.
The genre was wrong. The game I knew was supposed to be a wholesome pure love story about an academy noble lady and gentlemen, full of haha hoho moments.
But... it was supposed to be...
My proud daughter I'd raised trying to pounce on me? There was no way this could be pure love.