Aylin Katram (2)
Aylin smiled faintly as she looked at Iren shouting at her.
“What exactly do you mean by that?”
“Why are you doing this?! Because of you I haven’t even been able to exchange a single word with Frey for a whole week!”
“You ought to be more precise. It was only about three days, wasn’t it?”
“Same difference!”
Iren fumed. The existence of Aylin standing right before her eyes was something she had never once anticipated.
It was the second day of the reward that let her speak only to Frey. Just as she was about to tell him she wanted to go play at his house—
Iren felt a sudden, violent distortion. And she knew, instinctively. If she opened her mouth any further, she would pour vicious words onto Frey. She had no idea why, yet the conviction struck her hard.
So she hurriedly put distance between herself and Frey. After returning to the ducal residence she used Jin:Polymorph to transform into Aylin Katram.
Then something absurd happened.
Normally, even when she used Jin:Polymorph, nothing changed beyond her original form and a slight mental adjustment required for a perfect transformation.
But the instant she transformed, Iren found herself looking out at Aylin from inside her.
Their personalities had separated. Iren panicked and tried to release Jin:Polymorph. Aylin, however, as if mocking her, seized complete control of the body.
Iren could only return when it was time to go to the Academy. Outside those hours she was forcibly compelled to use Jin:Polymorph and had her body stolen by Aylin without fail.
Once the situation became clear, the reason was easy to guess. Throughout her life the time Iren had spent in Aylin’s form had been overwhelmingly longer. Because of that, some error had occurred and a separate personality had been born.
She vaguely recalled hearing such a caution when she first learned Jin:Polymorph as a child. Unlike ordinary transformation magic, this spell touched even the essence itself, so a new personality might form. Yet for more than thirteen years she had felt no side effects, so Iren had never paid it any mind. And now, of all times, it was finally manifesting!
Iren swallowed her rage and spoke.
“What do you gain by doing this? You’re me anyway. So why lock me away and drive me apart from Frey!”
“That’s incorrect, Iren. As for me… I don’t want to disappear.”
“What?”
Aylin spoke calmly. Inside those words Iren felt a cold blade.
“Now that you’ve revealed yourself, I’ll become unnecessary someday. Then I’d be stuck alone in here, and the moment you noticed my existence I would simply vanish.”
“That’s—”
“That’s unfair. I’ve lived all this time, haven’t I? Going out into high society as the daughter of Duke Katram, meeting Frey as the daughter of Duke Katram. And…”
Aylin’s red eyes gleamed.
“Frey likes me, not you.”
“...!”
“And now you want to seduce Frey with your own face? Even though Frey still likes me? You’ll snatch Frey away, and I’ll be left buried in the dark until I simply disappear?”
A red current of mana flowed out. Unlike the ice magic Iren usually wielded, this mana carried a scorching heat that could melt steel on contact.
“I will never allow that!”
The heat-laden mana took shape and seized Iren by the collar.
“Guh!”
“You say you’re me? That the two of us are the same being? Then watch me claim Frey. Since we’re the same anyway, it shouldn’t matter! I—I…!”
The final words she spat out were almost a scream.
“I liked Frey first!”
“Guh—kyaaaaah!”
Heat erupted from the mana gripping Iren’s throat. She tasted the sensation of her neck burning as she screamed.
“If only you! If only you didn’t exist!”
Aylin watched Iren suffer through her tears. Yes. If she erased this person right here and now—
Then Iren suddenly stopped screaming. And, of all things, she smiled.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Heh… ha, haha. You’re really an idiot.”
“What did you just say?”
“Aylin Katram. Snap out of it. You think Frey will still look at you if I’m gone? You know Frey better than that.”
Iren mocked her.
“If he finds out you’re a vicious bitch who does things like this, do you honestly believe Frey will keep liking you?”
“Ugh?!”
“You liked Frey first? Don’t delude yourself. Without me you wouldn’t even exist. And the one who fell for Frey first was me! I’m not a lunatic like you who tries to eradicate another personality just to monopolize the person I love!”
“Shut up!”
“Kehk!”
The heat-spewing mana tightened around her neck. With her last breath Iren shouted,
“You coward who oppresses her opponent because she’s terrified of losing!”
Snap! The mana choking Iren’s throat released. Inside herself she cried out,
Got her!
Aylin glared at Iren.
“What did you just say?”
“I said you’re a coward who oppresses her opponent because she’s afraid of losing.”
“I’m a coward?”
“Aren’t you? Otherwise you wouldn’t be doing this without even thinking of competing fairly.”
“Iren von Valencia. Are you a fool?”
Aylin spoke as though she truly could not understand.
“Do you sincerely believe you have any chance of winning?”
“Why? Do you naturally assume you’ll win?”
“Frey already likes me. If I confess just once, it’s over.”
“Is that really so? Want to bet on it?”
“How foolish. I’ve already seized the initiative. What good would a bet do me?”
“If you win, I’ll quietly disappear.”
“What did you say?”
Iren looked straight into Aylin’s eyes.
“You confess to Frey. And if Frey accepts, then whether you suppress me or annihilate me, I’ll accept it without a single complaint.”
“Has fear driven you mad?”
“Don’t try to dance around it. Aylin Katram. If you’re me, you already know something as trivial as fear would never turn my head.”
Iren’s words were true. Except for the Emperor, there was no one who could make Iren tremble in fear—even if that someone was herself.
“Are you truly serious?”
“Yeah. Why? Scared?”
“How foolish. You’re so pathetic that you get your body stolen by me.”
“You’re the fool. Though you wouldn’t know it.”
“Fine. Then let’s see who’s the real fool.”
“But!”
Iren shouted.
“If I win this bet, we compete fairly.”
“Fairly?”
“Yes. We compete without interfering with each other. You at the mansion, me at the Academy. Stop constantly obstructing me the way you did this week.”
“Well, fine. There’s no chance you’ll win anyway.”
Aylin sincerely thought Iren was a fool.
Frey liked her far too much. Hadn’t she heard it all while acting as Iren, until it became absolute certainty?
If she confessed to Frey first, he would surely fall for Aylin. Above all, how many times had Frey said he liked Aylin and was pushing Iren away?
Iren had no chance of winning. This was a bet overwhelmingly favorable to Aylin.
Aylin turned and vanished, leaving the mental world.
Thud. Freed from the restraints, Iren collapsed onto the ground and laughed.
“As expected… you’re still incomplete, aren’t you?”
That personality had been born, Iren believed, at the exact moment she tried to say she wanted to go play at Frey’s house.
Until now, except for unavoidable situations, Iren had never entered the mansion in her true form. But the moment she tried to enter the mansion in earnest, the personality of Aylin that had been showing signs all along fully awakened—because the mansion had always been Aylin’s exclusive space.
“I should have noticed from the time I strangely didn’t want to push Frey away while I was Aylin.”
The signs had appeared long ago. From the moment Iren began seducing Frey, Aylin should have stopped every action that gave him favorable impressions.
Yet strangely, Iren had not wanted to do that then. Looking back now, it was because Aylin’s personality refused to be hated by Frey.
“We share every memory, yet she’s still so immature.”
That personality of Aylin was still incomplete. That was why Iren had forced a quick decisive move. She had to open a path before the other personality seized everything.
“Really foolish Aylin. You won’t get the answer you want from Frey.”
Iren simply smiled, because she knew with absolute certainty that Aylin would fail.
If that happened, a clear opportunity would open for her. Even while thinking so, Iren let out a long sigh.
“Really… Frey, what kind of man are you?”
To think even a newly born personality had fallen completely for Frey. Honestly.
“I love you more than anyone in the world.”
Anyway, she liked Frey.
After leaving the mental world, Aylin went to her room.
In a few hours Frey will come looking for me. If I say I want to be alone and then go find him right away, he’ll think it’s strange.
She would confess then. That way she could trample Iren’s personality and live happily outside.
She decided to wait while reading a book she usually loved. But the words refused to enter her mind. Aylin simply stared piercingly at the door, wondering when Frey would arrive.
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
Her heartbeat seemed to resound through the entire room. Aylin had dreamed of only this for so long.
Why hadn’t she confessed to Frey earlier? Because that wretched personality named Iren had stopped her.
Because of Iren she had been forced to live with a sick body; because of Iren she had been confused about who her father was and what her identity truly was; because of Iren she had never been able to be with the person she loved. That was what Aylin believed.
Now that those obstacles were gone, she would freely confess to Frey and show him her true heart.
Knock, knock, knock.
A knock sounded. Then came the familiar voice.
“My lady. May I come in for a moment? I have something to give you.”
“Come in!”
Aylin shouted in her impatience. Outside the door fell quiet for a moment. But soon Frey opened it and stepped inside.
“Are you feeling a little better?”
“Yes. Better than ever before.”
“Ah… is that so?”
Something felt off.
Frey’s expression as he looked at Aylin was somehow unsettled. Was it only her imagination?
“I baked some cookies for you, my lady. There are illusion cookies mixed in as well, so please try them together.”
“Wow! Thank you, Frey!”
Aylin ate the cookies he handed her. Crunch, crunch. Like a little squirrel, she took careful, precious bites.
Whether they were baked by Frey himself or were illusion cookies, both tasted like heaven to Aylin.
“I enjoyed them, Frey. They’re so delicious.”
“Thank you. I’m glad you’re happy, my lady.”
“If Frey is happy, I’m even happier. But Frey… I have something to say.”
“Yes?”
“If I say… that I like you, Frey… how would that be?”