Girls' Talk
In the deep of night, soft moonlight seeping through the cracks of the window, I gently stroked Viviana's back as she nestled quietly in my arms.
"I really enjoyed your performance, My Lady. I don't think I'll ever forget this memory."
"…."
She only stared at me with an unreadable gaze, never offering a single word in reply. I let a faint smile rise to my lips, gently eased her from my embrace, and slowly rose from the piano bench.
"Well then, I'll be going now. I hope we can meet again soon."
At my farewell, Viviana seemed briefly flustered, but soon broke the silence with a calm voice.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"I should head back to my mansion soon. I can't impose on you this late into the night."
"Young lady, it's quite late. Are you saying you'll return alone on the night roads in a woman's body?"
Hearing her words, I looked out the window. Beneath the bright moonlight, the sky was steeped in deep darkness. As Viviana said, who knew what might happen if I returned at this hour.
So tell me, Viviana.
Tell me not to go home.
"It's fine. This is the Empire, after all. Surely nothing will happen?"
"Ha?... Are you being naively foolish about this sort of thing too?"
"And My Lady, you must be busy as well... I wouldn't want to take up any more of your time because of me."
I lowered my voice to a subdued, sorrowful tone. Viviana looked at me with an incredulous expression, then let out a short sigh and brushed her bangs back.
"Stop talking nonsense and sleep here. Go back tomorrow morning. I've prepared dinner too, so eat with me."
At Viviana's quiet request, I hid the smile that threatened to bloom.
Sleepover.
A term originating from America, meaning to spend the night together at a friend's house. Of course, in my previous life I had never had close friends, so I had never done it myself. But according to my childhood friend, there was something girls always did when they slept over at each other's houses.
So-called girls' talk.
It was a warm, lively time when they cast off all pretenses and coyness and poured out the true feelings they usually kept hidden. Thanks to this girls' talk, the bonds between women supposedly grew even deeper. Even those who were not particularly close would naturally fall into serious conversation once they lay side by side in bed.
And after checking for myself, I learned that my childhood friend had been right—women really did spill secrets with surprising ease. In short, their lips were loose.
I had been invited to countless noble young ladies' mansions and spent the night. There I had heard all sorts of stories. One confided that her house was struggling financially; another confessed that her fiancé had been unfaithful yet she could not bring herself to end the engagement. Every tale held a fatal weakness.
Perhaps lying in bed together really did deepen friendship, for they would unhesitatingly offer up stories that could become critical vulnerabilities if known. Or maybe they simply thought of me as nothing more than a pet, and so spoke freely without worry.
After all, common sense said a pet never bites its owner.
"I'll sleep here."
At my bright, cheerful voice, Viviana raised one eyebrow in puzzlement and asked again.
"On the sofa?"
"Yes! It looks cozy and comfortable."
In truth, the sofa I was sitting on was wide enough that I could stretch my legs out fully and still have room left over. It was not a bed, of course, but I felt I could still get a perfectly restful night's sleep here.
"No, the bed is plenty big. Why bother?"
Viviana frowned as if she could not understand. She was right—the bed in the center of the room was enormous enough for five people to sprawl out comfortably.
And it was not just the bed.
I took a brief look around. As expected of a ducal house, the room was not merely luxurious—it bordered on extravagant. The windows were draped with finely crafted lace curtains, the walls covered in gold-leaf wallpaper, and the ceiling hung with crystals of incalculable worth.
Even the nightgown I had borrowed from Viviana was embroidered with delicate patterns that spoke of a master craftsman's touch. At a glance, it was clearly not something I had any right to be wearing.
"No, how could I possibly share a bed with My Lady? Even this sofa is already more than I deserve."
"Hah."
Perhaps my words had displeased her. Viviana crossed her arms and glared at me with a distinctly irritated expression.
"That's a little rude. Did the young lady think our ducal house would put a guest to sleep on something like a sofa?"
"Th-that's not it. I was simply worried My Lady might feel uncomfortable…."
Viviana let out a short sigh and approached me. She slipped her hands under my back and legs, lifted me cleanly into the air, and tossed me onto the bed.
"Hik?"
The brief sensation of weightlessness lasted only a moment before my body sank into the soft center of the mattress. Viviana blew out the candles hanging in the room with a soft breath, then quietly climbed onto the bed herself.
"Be good and sleep. Go back tomorrow."
"Are you going to sleep right away?"
"Yes. You should sleep soon too, young lady."
With that, Viviana turned her back to me and settled down. I gazed for a moment at the sensual curve of her back, clearly visible through the nightgown, then pulled the blanket up over my mouth to hide my smile.
Lie.
In this ducal house alone I had already seen several bedrooms. If her true intention had simply been to put me to sleep, she would have left me in a guest room. Yet Viviana had deliberately brought me to her own chamber. No matter how cold her words, it was clear she held some fondness for me.
However cold Viviana might appear, she was still a woman in the end. There was something she herself wanted without even realizing it—the essential time of girls' talk that women shared among themselves.
And above all, Viviana suffered from mild insomnia. That was a fact clearly established even in the game. If someone who had cut down countless enemies on the battlefield could fall asleep so easily, she would practically be a psychopath.
I suppressed the rising smile, turned my body toward Viviana, and spoke in a small voice.
"My Lady, are you asleep?"
"…."
No answer came. Still, I continued on my own.
"Um, there was something I was curious about... may I ask?"
Again there was no reply. But when I waited quietly, Viviana finally let out a deep sigh and turned toward me.
Lying face to face with her, I instinctively flinched at the cool violet eyes watching me in the darkness. As expected of someone who was not the protagonist—the feeling was completely different from facing other young ladies.
"Speak."
At her reluctant, slightly annoyed voice, I smiled brightly. Wiggling closer under the blanket, I said,
"You've been mixing formal and casual speech with me... is there a reason for that?"
"Ah, I'm just not used to speaking formally."
Usually it was the other way around. Truly befitting our Lady whose self-esteem pierced the heavens.
"If My Lady doesn't mind, would you please speak casually with me? I like it when you treat me comfortably."
"…Well, I was going to anyway. Fine, Young Lady Bland."
Without a single moment's hesitation, Viviana dropped the formal speech at once. I edged a little closer still and asked another question.
"Lady Viviana, do you have any worries or anything?"
"Worries?"
"Yes. Since we're sleeping together for once, if there's anything you can share, I'd love to hear it. Who knows—I might be able to help even a little?"
Just as I did with other young ladies, I wore a harmless smile and gently took Viviana's hand. Even if it was not anything deep, I was certain she would at least confide some small concern.
But contrary to my expectations, all that returned from Viviana was an emotionless gaze.
"Tina Bland."
The atmosphere shifted in an instant.
The warm, friendly mood of a moment ago vanished without a trace, and her endlessly cold voice left me momentarily speechless. As I looked at Viviana with trembling eyes, she continued while staring steadily at me.
"I'll admit it. You're a lovely young lady. There really was a reason the young ladies who hold sway in high society dote on you."
"…."
"But don't get ahead of yourself. I absolutely despise people who take me lightly."
I could not answer. It was not that I had been overwhelmed by her fierce presence. Viviana's words had struck the mark so precisely that I could not utter a single sound.
"You may have enchanted the other young ladies with that cunning little smile of yours. But I'd prefer you didn't dare think you can handle me however you like."
…Where had I gone wrong?
Just earlier in the piano room, when I had held her, I had confirmed with my own two eyes that she felt fondness for me. So why had it changed so suddenly now?
Right.
She was correct. I had been certain that by now Viviana would have opened her heart to me to some degree. And if she became my ally, I had planned to use her to restrain Mardi-an's increasingly bold behavior.
In the end, just as Viviana said—
I had taken her lightly.
"So, young lady, you can stop putting on that act in front of me now. I already know it isn't sincere."
"…."
"Sleep comfortably and go. As for the proposal I made earlier, I'll think it over myself and decide."
Viviana looked at me for a while, then let out a short snort of laughter and turned her back again.
I blinked blankly for a long time. Unnameable emotions swirled inside me. Slowly I turned my head and looked at my face reflected in the window where the moonlight shone.
Blue eyes set in a pure white face. But the bright, clear eyes that the young ladies loved so much no longer existed within them.
"…."
I touched my own face with my hand.
I raised my hand to the eyes reflected in the window.
These were the eyes I had grown sick of seeing in my previous life.
Lifeless dead eyes.
Eyes that had suffered daily under poverty.
The defeated eyes of a miserable orphan.
The eyes of a cast-off failure abandoned even by the only friend she had trusted.
But that lasted only a moment. I shook my head a few times and drew a smile onto my lips. As if nothing had happened, the lightless eyes vanished, and clear eyes returned once more.
Hmm…
As expected of the protagonist, I suppose.
This won't be easy.