A Date Invitation
"Did you enjoy the viewing today, sir?"
"It was so-so. I did manage to pick out a few new additions for my underground collection."
"I see. Well then, have a good day."
"Yeah."
With a farewell from the female guide, I left the slave market and let out a deep sigh as I gazed up at the sky.
"The sun's already setting."
Before I knew it, dusk had fallen and night was creeping in. Well, it had been pretty late when we entered the slave market in the first place.
"Time to take it off."
"Eek!"
I had been quietly watching the sun I despised sink below the horizon and the moon I cherished rise in its place. Perloché, who had been blankly staring at the sky alongside me, yelped as I removed the robe draped over her.
"Frey!!"
"What."
"My arm cramped up!"
As we walked down the street together, Perloché kept squealing from behind me like a little chick.
"You're walking just fine. What cramp?"
"Eeeeek! It hurts!"
Ignoring her whines, I pressed on ahead, but her complaints finally made me grimace and turn around.
"So what do you want me to do about it?"
"Massage it for me!"
"...Just that arm from earlier?"
To shut her up, it seemed I'd have to rub her arm. The alley was quiet with hardly anyone around, so it should be fine.
"Mmm... Ahh..."
As I started kneading her arm with those thoughts in mind, Perloché's cheeks twitched into a smile. It gave me an inexplicable urge to poke her cheek with my finger, but I held back.
"Better now? Then let's go..."
"Massage somewhere else too!"
"What?"
After rubbing her arm for quite a while and seeing her satisfied expression, I tried to pull away, only for Perloché to pout and shout.
"You didn't massage it back then, so the cramp spread all over my body!"
"Haa..."
Frowning at her nonsense, I yanked her arm and started walking forward again.
"Ow, it hurts! Eeeeek!"
"Come on, I have something to say."
"Something to say?"
Perloché tilted her head at my cold tone. Normally, I'd just dismiss her ditzy behavior, but right now even that felt off.
"A-alright, just stop pulling! I'll walk on my own! Please!"
"...Hmph."
As those thoughts crossed my mind and I kept walking, I began glaring quietly at Perloché, who was trailing behind me with a teary face.
"...Something's off."
"Huh?"
"Nothing."
I'd pulled up her status window just in case, but nothing had changed.
[Perloché Astellade's current emotion: Irritation/Hatred]
Even checking her emotions showed the same. At least on paper, Perloché hadn't changed at all.
So what the hell was this increasingly bizarre behavior she'd been showing lately?
"Frey! Where are we headed now?"
"Dorm."
"Perfect, I was heading back to the dorm too! Let's go together!"
I racked my brain for answers but came up empty, so with a sigh, I started walking again.
"Massage me when we get to the dorm!"
"...Sigh."
I wondered if this would shorten my already limited lifespan even further.
"You will, right?"
"...Yeah."
But there was no choice. To keep that cheat-level buff boosting all my stats by 0.2, I needed to maintain this relationship with her for now. Once a partnership broke, it couldn't be reformed, and the Partner's Blessing buff would vanish. If Perloché got sulky and canceled it, I'd be in real trouble.
'But there's a way.'
So while massaging her, I'd have to do the one thing she hated most in the world. The act that had disappointed her in a single blow, even after worrying about me through the previous loops.
Nothing made a woman hate you quite like that.
"Yaaawn..."
Clana Solar Sunrise yawned after studying late into the night in her dorm.
"I'm sleepy..."
No one was around to hear, but she muttered to herself anyway. Having grown so accustomed to loneliness from her childhood in the previous loop all the way to becoming top in the line of imperial succession, the habit of talking to herself lingered.
"But I need to work harder. Time keeps ticking even now."
With that, Clana dove back into her studies—not academy exams, but planning what to do in the future. Exams at Sunrise Academy were a breeze for all the regressed heroines except Perloché; they could ace them effortlessly.
'Cut this one out, and this one... tricky. Pulling them to my side feels off, but making them enemies...'
After jotting notes while flipping through photos of imperial nobles for a while, Clana turned the page and froze.
Frey Raon Starlight
Must be eliminated. No matter what.
Rip him apart with windows, carve out his heart with a dagger...
"...Ah."
The page had a photo of Frey smiling.
"Hoo..."
Ever since recovering memories of forming an oath with Frey in the past, Clana had deliberately avoided that page. Seeing his face stirred complicated feelings.
"Frey Raon Starlight... what should I do with you?"
She stared at the photo for a long time, whispering softly. Of course, the Frey in the picture remained silent.
"...Haa."
Still gazing as if expecting an answer, Clana eventually sighed and leaned back in her chair.
"Fine. If not me, who else will take responsibility for that scoundrel?"
She chuckled softly to herself. Who else but her—the one who had sworn an oath with him as a child—could reform Frey?
'Come to think of it, the Partner system starts in the second semester.'
Twirling her pen, Clana frowned inwardly.
'Frey probably doesn't have a partner to room with.'
The partner system didn't bend to Frey's coercion because his teacher, Isolet, oversaw it. So Frey was surely wallowing in loneliness without a single application.
"Really, he's hopeless."
Reaching that conclusion, Clana wore a look of utter exasperation as she opened her drawer.
Clana,
I think you'll have no choice but to partner with me because of the oath.
— Frey
"...I'll just have to be his partner."
Reading the letter Frey had sent a few days ago, she stood up. Unaware, of course, that she was smiling without realizing it.
"Lady Clana, where are you going?"
"Just out for a walk."
"...I'll accompany you."
Her maid, who had been watching quietly, rose from the bed with worried eyes. Rumors had spread that Clana's mental state wasn't great lately, so her retainers were always on edge, fearing another breakdown.
"No, it's fine. I'll be right back—don't follow."
"But..."
"I said don't follow."
"...Understood."
As Clana flushed slightly and raised her voice, the maid sat back down.
"Oh, right."
Glancing at her maid, Clana paused at the door and grabbed the bookmark on her desk.
"Almost forgot."
It was an item she always took when heading out lately, like a good-luck charm. Tucked inside was a single canary flower petal.
"Hum hum..."
With everything prepared, Clana left the room, humming softly as she walked the corridor.
"...Hm?"
After briskly walking for a few minutes, she arrived at Frey's dorm corridor and tilted her head.
"Kania? Why the dark look?"
"...It's nothing."
Kania was grinding her teeth darkly in front of Frey's door.
"Did Frey bully you? If so..."
"...No. I have business to attend to."
Shaking her head at Clana's question, Kania slowly walked away down the hall.
"Frey, I have something to..."
Staring puzzled after Kania, Clana approached the door and opened her mouth, but—
"Ahhhn...!"
"...say."
A moan leaked from the door crack, freezing her mid-sentence.
'Have I been studying too hard lately?'
Doubting her ears for a moment and attributing it to fatigue, Clana reached for the handle, but—
"Aaaahhh...!"
".....!"
Another familiar voice slipped out, freezing her again.
"...That was Perloché's voice."
The moan of her rare true friend this loop echoed from Frey's room.
'No way.'
Realizing it, Clana pounded on the door, shouting.
"Frey! Come out! I need to talk!"
Perloché, so pure and easily deceived, had clearly fallen for Frey's tricks and was suffering something awful. As her friend, Clana had to stop it.
"Frey!! Open the door!!"
Pounding relentlessly with those thoughts, the door slowly opened after a few minutes.
"You, what the hell are you..."
"Hello! Clana!"
"...Huh?"
Clana was about to snap at Frey, but it was Perloché who appeared—not him.
—BAM!!
"Perloché. Tell me everything you did in there... no, everything that happened today."
Staring blankly at her, Clana slammed the door shut and began interrogating.
"Um... I followed Frey around all day!"
"Frey?"
"Yes! We studied together, went to a café..."
Perloché beamed innocently as she began recounting.
"Went to the bathroom together, played tickle tag in the cabinet..."
"Pardon?"
Clana's jaw dropped at her words, and Perloché smiled, adding,
"And just now, Frey massaged me! See, he can be reformed—I asked for a full-body massage, and he did it so obediently!"
"H-how did it feel?"
Hearing that, Clana pressed urgently.
"If his touch made you uncomfortable or humiliated, I'll make sure..."
"It felt really good."
"Pardon?"
"So good I want it again..."
As Perloché blushed, Clana went blank.
"But what brings you here?"
"Oh, uh... I had business with Frey..."
"I see. Well, I'll be off then!"
Finally answering Perloché's question, Clana watched her walk away down the hall, then cautiously entered Frey's room.
"...What was that about?"
Frey entered her view, looking flustered before instantly turning icy.
"Y-you. About the letter I sent last time."
Clana's voice trembled as she spoke to him.
"I thought about it, and..."
"The partner thing?"
"Y-yes. I accept your proposal..."
"Too late for that."
At Frey's "too late," Clana paled.
"I already partnered with Perloché."
"W-what!? What do you..."
Her voice shook at his follow-up.
"But you sent me that letter..."
"You didn't reply. I figured you refused."
"......Ah."
Clana bowed her head silently.
"C-Clana?"
"Frey."
After a long silence with her head down, she quietly spoke.
"Are you free tonight?"
"What?"
As Frey looked flustered, Clana met his eyes calmly.
"Let's take a night stroll together."
It was the first date invitation of Clana's life.