Chapter 4

After Helena’s summons, three days passed. I had been playing it safe, cooped up in my dorm room, in case a message or letter from Nine arrived.

Of course, though my body was confined, I wasn’t just idling around.

Scratch, scratch.

I quickly wrote a letter, sealed it in an envelope, and called for Annie.

“Annie, can you send this to Wilhelm? And have there been any other letters or news today?”

“Yes, My Lady. What kind of news are you referring to?”

“A request for a visit, or… no, if there’s nothing, that’s fine.”

Annie nodded at my words and left the room with quick, busy steps to post the letter.

I hadn’t left my room for three days, but they were my busiest days yet. I had to do as much as I could during the grace period Nine had given me.

I had asked Wilhelm, the escort knight at the Blueberry mansion, to help me gather all sorts of evidence. Evidence that the love potion incident was Helena’s doing, and evidence that I had acted to help Nine. Fortunately, I had moved quickly and gathered enough evidence, but even after three days, my anxiety was still burning.

News from Nine was taking longer than expected. The Eclipse family wasn’t just a house focused on martial power without any political influence. Figuring out the truth of that day should have taken them less than three days, so I was anxious that there was still no word.

‘Is he trying to make me wither away from worry…?’

I was trembling with anxiety like a prisoner awaiting their execution date. The quick-witted Annie prepared spicy food for me every day.

‘I wish I had some buldak ramen.’

I loved spicy food in my past life, but this world had almost no deliciously spicy dishes. When I was younger, I couldn’t stand it and had the Blueberry merchant guild track down “chili peppers” for me. Now I could make chili powder from them and recreate a few dishes from my past life, but there were still limitations.

Anyway, it was a succession of days spent eating all sorts of spicy food to ease my anxiety. I ran simulations of every possible scenario, hoping for a good outcome, but nothing was resolved. Every day was dotted with self-blame and regret.

‘If I had known this would happen, I never would have interfered with the original story…’

But there was no use regretting it. I would probably make the same choice if I went back to that moment. I decided on this plan because I didn’t want Helena to meet a tragic end.

But that wasn’t the only reason.

The real reason I jumped into the original story was…

‘Because I like Nine.’

Just as he had reached out a hand to me, I also wanted to save him.

‘I shouldn’t have.’

The thought that I shouldn’t have abandoned my resolve to stick to the original story and shouldn’t have fallen for Nine kept circling in my mind. But even as I blamed myself, whenever Nine’s face came to mind, I couldn’t help but admit that all of this was unavoidable.

It was impossible for me not to fall for him.

Even now, when I closed my eyes, the events of that day came back to me vividly.

***

“Oh, Lady Chacha Blueberry! Why is your name Chacha Blueberry?!”

“Pardon?”

It was my first year, right after I had just enrolled at Dragonia Academy, and I received a confession in the auditorium, with everyone watching.

“My name is Deville Kellogg.”

Strange manner of speech. A greasy expression.

Everything was awkward, but receiving a public confession from a third-year—whose name I didn’t even know, whether it was Deville or Devil—wasn’t really a big deal.

Dragonia Academy was a high-class educational institution where only the children of nobles who had proven their talent could enter. It also meant there was no better place to find a fiancé, and it was quite common for nobles to meet, date, and even marry someone they met at the academy.

“Please accept my heart.”

“I… I would like to focus on my studies for now.”

But of course, I refused. The method of a public confession was awful, and it was obvious his character was just as bad as his face.

Besides, I wasn’t in a position to date. Since I had decided to stick to the original plot, I had to become Helena’s minion.

‘I have to fawn over Helena and prove my usefulness, and dating would get in the way…’

This wasn’t a good thought, but he wasn’t someone who would elevate my status, and if I was seen with a guy like him, Helena would probably cut me loose, thinking I was too low-class.

“I can help you with your studies…”

“I prefer studying alone.”

Seeing his clingy behavior, I knew that if I didn’t reject him properly now, he would become a nuisance later.

“I’m sorry. I can’t accept your feelings.”

His face turned red and then blue, but in the end, he couldn’t do anything and backed away obediently. I sent him away gently, thinking that if I was too cold, he might hold a grudge. But I would soon learn that this was a mistake.

“My Lady. Mr. Deville sent you another gift…”

“Throw it away, Annie.”

It was strange from the moment he made the public confession, but that guy wasn’t a normal person.

I looked down at the pile of gift boxes from Deville at the front door and rubbed my throbbing forehead. Was it because I had rejected him too gently? He didn’t give up and followed me around, bothering me and continuing his unwanted gift-giving.

More than that,

‘I hear Young Master Kellogg is pursuing someone so passionately these days.’

‘Oh my. I heard he visits every day to give her flowers and confess his love.’

‘Seeing the forlorn look on his face as he says his love will one day reach her, I almost feel bad for him.’

He was using me to spread rumors, portraying himself as a pure-hearted man. Even though he was the one acting like a stalker, the rumors spread, and my reputation, a freshman who had just enrolled, was shaken in an instant. Suddenly, among the academy students, he was “the devoted man who perseveres despite a cold rejection,” and I was “the arrogant woman who was nothing special.”

It was a reputation that would clearly not help me in my goal of becoming Helena’s minion.

‘I need to maintain an image befitting a noble lady to stand next to a Duchess…!’

The days I spent racking my brain on how to clean up this mess while maintaining my dignity grew longer.

Then, one night.

It was a day where I was so stressed about becoming Helena’s minion and the whole Deville situation that I felt like I was going to get sick. Dragonia Academy didn’t have a curfew or a set bedtime, so students were free to take walks at night. I had come out to get some cool air and clear my mind.

As I grumbled and walked through the campus, a shadow, a full head taller than me, suddenly blocked my path.

“Chacha!”

It was a secluded time, and no one else was around. A cold feeling ran down my spine. The shadow I looked up at was Deville, one of the reasons for my stress.

“Where are you going? Who are you meeting? A man, maybe?”

“…”

“Answer me! What guy are you meeting?!”

It was so absurd that he was talking as if he owned me, but when I looked him in the eyes, I got goosebumps. His angry eyes were half-crazed as he stared at me.

An alarm went off in my head, telling me I had to get away from him immediately. I wiped the naive expression from my face and said to him coldly.

“Move.”

“You, do you think you’re something special just because I’m doing all this for you?!”

I instinctively knew that he wasn’t in a state to listen to reason, not anymore than usual. I turned to get away from him, but he grabbed my wrist in a flash.

“How dare a mere Blueberry count disrespect the ancient Kellogg family?”

“Let go of me!”

I regretted my carelessness. I knew he was stalking me, but I never thought he would do something like this inside the academy. I thought a guy who attended the Imperial Academy couldn’t be so foolish.

But I was wrong.

“Chacha. I love you. Huh?”

The status of women in this world was higher than in medieval Earth. They could even inherit titles.

But in reality, 80% of those who inherited titles were men.

This meant that when something like this happened, women had more to lose than men. I realized this too late.

I was so startled and scared that I couldn’t even scream properly. I struggled to pull my hand away from Deville’s grasp. But he just gave a nasty grin as if it was nothing.

I didn’t want to cry, but tears welled up and ran down my cheeks against my will.

Just then.

“Ugh!”

Someone appeared and kicked Deville away.

“Gasp…”

I held back the sobs that were about to burst out and looked up. Under the moonlight, a beautiful boy with a handsome face stood in front of me, blocking my way. His looks were so unrealistic, it felt like I was in a dream for a moment.

Beneath his soft black hair, his indifferent black eyes were visible. The deep, dark eyes were so beautiful even in the darkness.

Just because they were black.

‘Ah.’

In that moment, I realized.

‘Nine Eclipse.’

The male lead of this world.

The boy in front of me was him.

The moment he turned to me and our eyes met, the world began to stir. It felt as if the whole world was in love with that boy. The moonlight shone only on him, and the wind gently enveloped him.

‘No, no.’

A thought crossed my mind that maybe the world was giving me a warning.

But my heart was already stirring along with the world.