The Smile That Wouldn't Fade
The intruder! Naturally, all of that day's classes ended right there. Elena's wound wasn't serious, but the first day of lessons concluded amid a strange atmosphere that lingered among the new students. I politely declined Zophy's suggestion that we go have dinner together and returned alone to my dormitory room. Zophy didn't try to stop me, and Erika simply watched me from afar. Both of them must have understood that I genuinely wanted to be by myself.
As for me, that smile of Elena's had lodged itself unpleasantly in my mind and refused to leave. I felt like I needed to get some sleep. Ever since I'd seen that smile, my head had been throbbing painfully and my blood vessels were pounding so hard that if I didn't rest, I wouldn't be able to shake it off. Just in case it might help, I washed off my sweat in the bathroom and sank deep into cold water, but all that did was make me feel like I was catching a cold. My body grew chilled while my mind remained feverishly hot.
Even as I toweled off and slipped into a robe, I still couldn't quite understand exactly what about that smile had unsettled me so deeply. But later, while I ate a simple dinner of buttered bread alone and tried to replenish the energy my body had spent in the duel with Erika, I finally began to get a vague sense of why that smile had struck me with such force.
I couldn't say it outright. Had I felt disgust toward her smile, or attraction? The dangerous possibility was that I'd felt attraction. Because when facing someone you hate, you can exercise self-control and hide it. But concealing that feeling in front of someone who attracts you is far more difficult.
Maybe I really had liked that smile. That could be why I felt so anxious, restless, and confused right now. Once my thoughts reached that point, I realized I wouldn't be able to clear my mind without actually sleeping. The moment I finished eating, I changed into my nightclothes, crawled under the covers of a bed large enough for three people, and quietly closed my eyes.
It was still fairly early, and it had been an overwhelmingly eventful day, so I'd worried I might not be able to fall asleep properly. But that concern proved unfounded. The accumulated fatigue from my fierce battle with Erika instantly turned my body languid. The second my head touched the pillow, I fell into a deep, heavy sleep as if I'd been knocked unconscious.
It really was a pleasant slumber. All the more so because it let me empty out my cluttered thoughts. It would have been even better if I hadn't been forced to wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of rustling and the sensation of something pressing down on me.
At first I thought I was having sleep paralysis. The moment I jolted awake at the presence that shouldn't have been there, I saw a woman with long straight hair straddling my body, her pink eyes gleaming. The room was dark with the lights off, and the curtains were drawn so I couldn't see outside. Before I could even register whether this was a dream or reality, she spoke to me.
“You've opened your eyes.”
“Should I close them again?” I said, desperately hoping this moment was a dream.
Elena, the woman straddling me atop the blanket and looking down at me, clicked her tongue and shook her head. The room was so dark I could barely make out her face, yet for some reason her eyes glowed with their own light, clear enough for me to see the motion of her head shaking.
“That would be nice for me, but do you really think I'd stop there?”
“Sorry. I'll stay awake.”
“Good. That'll be more fun.”
“What do you mean by fu—mmph!”
My protest and question were completely cut off by Elena Kerru's sudden action. She… had stolen my lips in a surprise attack.
It was my first kiss since taking this body. No, back when I was little with Erika… uh… that was just kid stuff, right? So it doesn't count… But was that memory even accurate? How much of this was really my memory? Where did the real me begin?
The instant Elena's lips pressed over mine, I felt the same dizzying sensation I'd experienced while dancing with Erika at the ball. That dizziness kept me from even thinking about moving my body, and I couldn't muster the strength to push away Elena, who showed no sign of wanting to separate from our kiss.
“Open your eyes.”
“You're not supposed to open your eyes while kis—mmph! Okay, that one really wasn't!”
When Elena suddenly tried to slip her tongue in, I panicked and shoved her backward. Fortunately she fell limply onto the bed behind her, and I finally managed to catch my breath and crawl down from the bed.
The faint headache I'd felt before sleeping slammed into my skull again. When I looked up, Elena was still sitting on my bed, wearing that faint smile.
That smile.
The one she'd shown this afternoon during sparring practice, after I'd accidentally cut her cheek with my blade. That captivating smile had been haunting my mind ever since.
Yes… I had seen that smile before. A very long time ago… No. In the present. At exactly this point in time. Before I turned back time and came here, I had seen that smile.
My name is Maria von Letiaponk. That is exactly who I am. That is my name, and the only identity that matters. I came of age, received the imperial summons, and enrolled at The Mountain. I reunited with my childhood friend Erika after so long, and encountered the gloomy commoner special admission student, Elena Kerru, for the first time.
But what happened after that?
I definitely saw that smile. And… after seeing it, for some reason I couldn't resist it, so I sued her at the Academy Grand Court… and for some reason, I lost.
I couldn't remember anything that happened in between. What exactly had occurred during that time? Why had I filed the lawsuit in the first place? What happened after I filed it?
I clutched my throbbing head and thought harder. Then I recalled what had happened after the trial ended. It was probably the story that came after the ending, something even the me from another world didn't know about. The events that unfolded after Erika calmly pronounced my death sentence.
I immediately fled the academy and escaped to the Letiaponk family estate. The territory was burning, and the imperial army's vanguard infantry had crushed our allied divisions and was advancing into the duchy. Using concealment magic to avoid detection by the imperial forces, I returned to my mansion and took out a scroll… one inscribed with magic.
I couldn't remember what the scroll said anymore. But one thing was certain. It possessed the power to turn back time. And it also had the power to summon a soul from another world into me.
So the one who summoned me… was actually myself?
Then why, after remembering all of this, remembering who I was, what kind of life I'd lived, and what I'd done after the ending of The Lady Sues!, why couldn't I remember any of the novel's actual content?
The web novel I'd read online had been told entirely from Elena's point of view. That's why I had no idea what the story looked like from Maria's perspective. Yet for some reason, even amid the crushing headache, no information about Maria's memories surfaced at all, as if those memories simply didn't exist.
“Did I regress… or did I transmigrate…?”
Elena, who had overheard my gritted-teeth muttering, quietly slid closer to me.
“What did you just say?”
“You heard me… Who the hell are you? What are you, exactly…?”
“I did hear you. I just don't understand. What did you say? Regression? Going back to the past? You can do something like that? That's strange. Or rather, isn't it strange? How?”
Her tone was so casual that if anyone overheard, they'd think Elena had been formally invited into my room. I staggered to my feet from where I'd been sitting and stared straight at her.
“You remember, don't you?”
“Even if you ask me about memories, I don't really…”
I grabbed Elena by the collar and yanked her close. Almost as close as she'd been when she forcibly took my lips earlier.
“You know exactly what I'm talking about! Do you remember everything that happened after I sued you?!”
“Sued…?”
Elena's face looked genuinely confused. “Um… Lady Maria, by suing, do you mean the Academy Grand Court? I can't think of any other court…”
“That's right.”
“…Did you sue me? In my memory… so far… the only thing I remember is scheming to make you sue me. Because that way, your attention would be focused entirely on me, right? Ah, but if you've already made up your mind, I'd welcome it. Whether the result is my execution or expulsion, as long as I can be with you in this moment…”
…Was she really unaware? Or was this an act?
I decided to regain my composure first. Getting angry without knowing who the other person was, what state she was in, or what she was plotting wasn't like Maria at all. No, it wasn't like me.
Even if I couldn't remember, my position wasn't necessarily disadvantageous. I already knew the entire plot of The Lady Sues!. I was the vicious reader who'd organized all the unretrieved plot threads and sent a 7,500-character complaint email. No matter who stood before me, I wasn't at a disadvantage… Calm down…
I took a deep breath to settle my mind, then sat Elena down on the bed and spoke.
“Lillia told me this morning that you're a member of the Black Knights and broke in to assassinate or kidnap me. I wonder if that was less of a deduction and more of a prophecy.”
“The Black Knights?” Elena let out a small laugh. “How boring.”
“Boring? That? Then why don't you tell me yourself. If you're not one of the Black Knights, then who exactly are you to do something like this? Taking my… lips and all.”
“Let's see. What answer would be the most fun? Hmm, well… if I borrow a tiny bit of Lady Lillia's literary imagination…”
Elena raised one finger dramatically into the air and answered with a triumphant expression.
“I am the Demon King himself. If I said that, would you believe me?”