Chapter 106. 1DAYS (1)
Chapter 106. 1DAYS (1)
1
"Still, my lady."
"What is it?"
"Let's spend exactly ten days with our brains switched off. A vacation."
I made the proposal.
"Who has lived as diligently as you, my lady? You've done your best in both public and private matters. So for the next ten days, let's put down everything serious, use the regression skill like crazy, and......."
"Enjoy amusements that ordinary people cannot?"
"Exactly."
"Hm."
Lady Silver Lily was composed.
"No matter what chaos we cause, if we return to the day before, no one will remember it, so we stand to lose nothing."
"As expected of my lady. I say one word and you understand ten."
"Is that not a somewhat insincere way of playing?"
"Then let's be insincere."
"Hmm. I have taken quite the wicked man as my lover......."
"Ten days, deal?"
Lady Silver Lily took out her fan and waved it.
"Ten days seems like it would leave me wanting. Let us make it a fortnight."
"Deal."
We played as if taking revenge on our past lives.
Sormwyn Academy was located on the outskirts of the capital. A short carriage ride away, dazzling amusements abounded. And my beloved was the most prominent heir of the most prominent noble house in the Empire.
"Where shall I seat you?"
Simply put, power and money overflowed.
She was the most successful young lady in this world.
To the courteous theater troupe employee, my lady said flatly:
"I shall hire your troupe for a day."
"Pardon?"
"I said I will buy your troupe for the entire day. Did you not understand? Must I say it three times for it to enter your ears? Is making me repeat the same words three times your troupe's acting practice?"
"N-no, no! My apologies! I will contact the troupe master immediately!"
Renting out a theater or opera house for a day was the default.
"Gong-ja, there is something I have always wanted to do."
"What is it?"
"Hire six theater troupes at once."
Lady Silver Lily's tone was calm. But I could tell. She was enjoying herself like a mischievous child about to pull a prank.
"And have them perform simultaneously on one enormous stage. Three tragedies, two comedies, and the remaining one an opera would be ideal."
"Uh. That just sounds like it'll be total chaos?"
"Precisely. I wish to see chaos."
"Then let's see it."
We summoned the six most expensive theater troupes in the capital. Since the legitimate daughter of the Ivansia Ducal House was calling, there was not a single troupe master who failed to come groveling on their own.
What? Committing such tyranny would damage House Ivansia's reputation and disgrace its honor? That was fine. We were a regressor couple. We could play for a day and turn back a day. What could anyone do about it?
"Ahh. What magnificent chaos. This is what I wanted to see......."
My beloved waved her fan as if deeply satisfied,
"Pffhahahaha!"
and I clutched my stomach and rolled around.
Beside an actor solemnly reciting tragic lines, clowns carried on with comedy. With six plays performed simultaneously, even the most serious lines in the world became hilarious. The actors sweated bullets for the entire runtime.
"Let's clean out the gambling houses in the capital!"
"A splendid idea. I accept it."
The two of us sortied to a casino reserved for nobles. It was a place where one concealed their identity behind a mask, like a masquerade ball. But who was my darling? There was not a single noble who could fail to recognize silver hair flowing like moonlight.
"Call."
"C-call."
When Lady Silver Lily said call, the opponent cringed and called.
"Die."
"D-die."
When Lady Silver Lily told them to "die," the opponent meekly folded.
"Raise the stakes."
"R-raise......."
"Raise them further."
"Re-raise......."
When she told them to raise, they raised.
"Go all in. All of you."
"A-all...... in......."
A miracle rivaling the parting of the Red Sea descended upon the ultra-luxurious gambling house. I resolved to found the [Lily Church] for my beloved and to describe the gambling house scene in the first verse of its scripture.
Ah, how lovely was the sight of a villainess young lady who destroyed others for her own amusement.
"Th-this is tyranny!"
Around the time roughly sixteen nobles had tearfully surrendered even their diamond rings and necklaces to us, the gambling house owner came running in a panic. He was a middle-aged man with a Kaiser mustache.
"Even for you, my lady, you cannot do this in my establishment......."
"Oh? You know who I am? How curious. I had heard that in this establishment, it is a virtue and a rule to thoroughly conceal the identities of customers and to remain silent even if one happens to recognize them. It seems I heard idle rumors."
"I-I don't know! Of course I don't know, but......."
"You dare say you do not know who I am? Do you wish to lose your head?"
"......."
The gambling house owner's mouth opened and closed. This man was also a noble, but the class of his bloodline was different. He had been sunk in under a minute after rushing over in a panic.
"Now, look at this fellow. The young lady has asked you a question, so why do you not answer!"
For reference, I was pressed close beside Lady Silver Lily. And I barked at him while hovering like a sycophantic retainer. It was quite warm beside my beloved.
"Do you now take the young lady's question lightly! Do you intend to wag your three-inch tongue and insult the young lady's house!"
"N-no, I do not. How could that be. I-I merely run a small business and ask that you grant it just a little more consideration......."
"Oh dear. My lady, this will not do. This wretch's arrogance pierces the heavens. Strike off his head for insolence!"
"Eek?"
Lady Silver Lily leisurely waved her fan.
"It is fine. Although Baron Löwe secretly built a drug manufacturing room in his basement and is distributing illegal narcotics throughout the capital, would that warrant taking his head?"
Flinch.
The Kaiser-mustached man's shoulders trembled. An expression of doubting whether he had just heard correctly. Soon his face turned pale. As if his earlier fluster had been a lie, the man was now genuinely horrified.
"Wh-what do you mean......."
"Sit."
"......."
"Sit there and play ten rounds with me, and I shall let tonight pass."
In the end, we cleaned out even the gambling house owner's wallet. We scattered the mountain of gold coins and jewels recklessly onto the streets of the Empire.
They were days like a dream.
Days of a dream—at once a delusion (迷夢) and a beautiful dream (美夢).
We did as we pleased and played as we pleased. We reserved the most luxurious lodgings in the capital and whiled away our time in the most extravagant room. I held Lady Silver Lily and leaped onto the enormous bed.
"Hm."
The first day.
Lady Silver Lily's eyes crinkled upward.
"Hmm."
The second day.
Lady Silver Lily raised the corners of her lips.
"...Aha."
By the third day, Lady Silver Lily smiled. It was not a sneer but a smile made simply from joy. My lover's smile was as pure as a child who had just learned how to smile.
"Gong-ja."
Lady Silver Lily buried her face in my chest.
"Are you happy?"
"You exist in this world. So I may live a little longer."
I became happy.
The smallest unit of human happiness was two people.
"I will keep a diary from today."
"In order to show it to me."
"There is someone among my comrades who is skilled with instruments. I will learn music from them."
"In order to play it for me."
"I will survive no matter what."
One day, we bribed and browbeat the city guard into clearing the busiest street in the capital for an hour. We had the whole street to ourselves.
One day, we appeared at the palace and said everything that should and should not be said before the Emperor. When Lady Silver Lily said, "Please manage your son properly, Your Majesty. There is no greater ruffian," the Emperor slipped right off his throne. "Your Majesty?" The surrounding officials made a great fuss.
One day. And another day.
We traveled using time as our vacation destination.
'It's exactly like a honeymoon.'
I did not voice those words. My face grew hot just from thinking them. But I believed Lady Silver Lily was surely thinking the same thing.
The last day.
"......."
"......."
On the final day, we did not go anywhere.
We simply sat side by side on the fountain in the capital plaza. From midday until evening.
Holding hands, we quietly watched the shadows of countless people passing through the plaza. A newspaper boy hurried through the alley between the fruit shop and the tavern.
"We really did something terrible, didn't we."
After half a day, the young lady spoke.
"Yeah, we're wicked bastards."
I gripped the young lady's hand tightly.
Travel was not something you did because you already loved someone, but something you did in order to love them more. Now that we had repeated a single day for a fortnight, I had come to love her more. And I wanted to love her more still.
"Only the two of us will ever know."
"We're accomplices."
A small laugh.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 81%.]
Evidence of happiness.
"Raviel, do you remember what I told you in the carriage?"
"I remember everything you have said to me."
"When I asked you to trust me, you said you would."
"Of course."
"Please keep that promise."
Lady Silver Lily looked at me.
"You seem to be scheming something suspicious. Gong-ja, confessing willingly would be better for your heart."
"From now on, I'm going to raise my Immersion Rate to 99%."
"......."
While traveling through the day this time, Lady Silver Lily and I had shared many conversations. Truly many. What world I came from. What an [Apocalypse] was, and what [Immersion Rate] was. Lady Silver Lily knew from listening to me.
"I need to become almost completely the butler. I have to become a person who was born in this world and has lived in this world."
"Why is that?"
"I cannot tell you the reason."
Lady Silver Lily rested her chin on her hand.
"...The fact that you cannot tell even me means the scheme will only succeed if you alone hold it in your heart."
"Yes."
"And the reason you are telling me this now is because there is something you wish to ask of me."
"Correct."
Lady Silver Lily let out a sigh. She looked as though she had been caught off guard.
"...From the very beginning, you extracted that promise to [trust you] for this moment. You are a cunning man, unlike your appearance. I should have been more wary when listening to you. Very well, what is it that I must do?"
It was time to execute the operation.
2
First, we returned to the [first day]. The starting point of this stage. To the moment the ball was held.
The two of us hurried out of the ballroom and went to Lady Silver Lily's quarters.
"First, please tie both my hands and both my feet tightly to a chair."
Lady Silver Lily's expression became subtle.
"Gong-ja, I believe we are still too early to cross into that sort of world......."
"I don't know what my lady is thinking and I shouldn't know, but right now I am very satisfied with my life, so please don't worry."
"I promised to trust you, so I have no choice but to trust you......."
Lady Silver Lily bound my body firmly to the chair.
I tried moving my limbs as a test, but they did not budge at all.
This should be safe enough.
-Hey, Kim■bi. What are you doing right now? This big brother is a little uneasy?
[Sparkle is concerned about Dra■n's behavior.]
My Immersion Rate had already surpassed 80%.
In my estimation, the original owner of this body, the 'butler,' had probably harbored affection not only for Lady Golden Thread Plum but also for Lady Silver Lily. Either way, it was a love that could never be fulfilled. The butler must have silently kept his heart closed.
The Crown Prince was two-timing Lady Silver Lily and Lady Golden Thread Plum. Lady Golden Thread Plum was two-timing the Crown Prince and the butler. The butler was two-timing Lady Silver Lily and Lady Golden Thread Plum. And now Lady Silver Lily had come to two-time the Crown Prince and me.
'What a dogshit romance.'
But.
'Thank you.'
Right now, I was simply grateful to the butler who had nurtured feelings of admiration for Lady Silver Lily as well.
Thanks to that, I could devise this operation.
I steeled my resolve.
"Please bring a mirror in front of me."
"Hm."
Lady Silver Lily ordered the servants to move a large mirror in front of me. My reflection, bound tightly to the chair and unable to move even slightly, appeared in the mirror.
"Character window."
Letters slid across the surface of the mirror.
+
Name: Kim Gong-ja
Favorability: 90
Preferred genres: [Wuxia], [Romance], [Mystery], [Adventure]
Disliked genres: None
Preferred characters: [Mentor], [Lover], [Noble hero], [Victim], [Hard worker], [Child], [Good person], [One who knows how to doubt themselves], [One who is generous to others], [One who understands me]
+
More text continued below.
Almost everything about me.
With the character window displayed before my eyes, I looked up at Lady Silver Lily.
"Raviel."
"I am listening."
"From now on, please kiss me over and over. So that I come to like Raviel even more."
"Is being kissed while bound your preference? If it was your preference, you should have said so earlier. I might have been able to accommodate it."
"At some point, I will no longer remain as [me]."
"......."
When the Immersion Rate surpasses 90% and approaches 100%.
When I saw the Heretic Questioner fully immersed in Lady Golden Thread Plum, the baron's daughter. When I saw that [hair] was still growing even after he had transformed into Lady Golden Thread Plum, the baron's daughter. I realized it.
That's it.
That was the ingenious plan to shatter this stage in the way I desired.
"At that moment, kill me with your own hands, my lady."
Lady Silver Lily stopped.