『To Sister Eva,
Hello, Sister. This is Angela.
This is the first time I’ve written a letter to you since leaving the Kingdom of Boleno. Quite a bit of time has passed, hasn’t it?
I’m doing really well here in the Cassan Empire. I’ve met many good people. Life here is so wonderful that I hardly even think about the Kingdom of Boleno. I don’t think I’ll ever return there.
To be honest, until I recently heard some rumors about the Kingdom of Boleno, I’d almost forgotten about it entirely.
They say the capital is under control for some reason? Ah, so destruction is finally upon us.
Since I am no longer a citizen of Boleno, I have no intention of meddling in its affairs.
I only worry that the troubles from there might spill over into the Cassan Empire. I sincerely hope that Cassan remains peaceful.
Then, wishing that all of the future ruler of Boleno’s ambitions come true, I’ll end this letter here. Take care.
Sincerely, Angela』
At first glance, it seemed like Angela was pleading with Princess Eva.
She was saying that she hadn’t told anyone here about Boleno, that she had no intention of returning to interfere, and begging her to leave the Cassan Empire untouched.
However, the letter contained a hidden message.
‘Ah, so destruction is finally upon us.’
This line was a famous quote from Eva’s favorite childhood play, ‘The Gardener of Baesa.’
Whenever Angela recited this line, Eva would respond, “Ha! What destruction? Your face is the only disaster to me!”
It was the funniest line in the play, and both Angela and Eva would burst into uncontrollable laughter every time they exchanged it. Saying the line suddenly had become a habit between the two.
So, if Princess Eva was still the same person from her childhood, she would send a reply with that familiar retort.
However, if she failed to recognize the line and only responded to Angela’s plea to leave Cassan alone, it would mean that she was no longer the same person as the young Eva.
Of course, Angela already knew that whether or not Eva was the same person from childhood, she was no longer her sister.
Even so, Angela hoped that Princess Eva had become an entirely different being.
That way, if Princess Eva were to meet her downfall at someone’s hands, Angela wouldn’t feel sadness over it.
***
‘Princess Eva’s inventions caused Princess Angela’s personality to change. Could it be that Princess Eva’s own personality also changed due to her invention of the automaton?’
That night, I couldn’t stop thinking about Princess Eva until the moment I fell asleep.
Damn, what kind of day ends with me thinking about Princess Eva the entire time? If someone saw me, they might think I have a crush on her or something.
Just as I was about to drift off, something flashed through my mind.
‘Wait a minute, a personality change?’
Yes, every personality change happens for a reason.
Last time, I learned about insight through Ghieuspe and once again embraced the mindset of a magician.
The mindset of a magician is about not brushing off any phenomenon with, ‘Oh, so that’s just how it is,’ but instead thinking about the ‘reason’ behind it.
Looking back, there was an incident that I hadn’t questioned or investigated the reason behind.
“So why exactly did the original story change?”
Until now, I had casually dismissed it, thinking, ‘Well, it’s just another one of those twisted romance fantasy plots.’
But the mindset of a magician is important. Thanks to it, I realized that I hadn’t simply possessed Seraphina, but that the original Seraphina had run away, leaving her body behind for me.
So, I had to investigate why the original story had changed as well.
Where should I start?
‘The male leads didn’t fall in love with Aurora like they did in the original. Because of that, they didn’t torment her, and Aurora, instead of becoming the runaway heroine, just became a regular runaway.’
Then, why didn’t the male leads fall in love with Aurora?
Well….
‘Because Aurora’s personality was strange.’
Aurora had the ability to make people laugh. Not because she was lovable, but because she was truly absurd and ridiculous.
Alright, so the reason the original story was derailed was that Aurora’s personality differed from the original.
And through Princess Angela, I was once again reminded that there’s always a reason for a person’s personality to change.
Therefore, there must also be a reason why Aurora’s personality deviated from the original.
***
“Aurora’s personality? All of a sudden?”
At my question, Raffaelo narrowed his green eyes.
“Why is her personality the way it is? How should I know?”
“Don’t you have any guesses? Honestly, Aurora’s personality isn’t exactly normal. What could have happened during her formative years to shape it like that?”
“Do we really need to know that kind of thing? She’s just been crazy since the beginning.”
“For once, Arkhangelo is saying something reasonable.”
“………”
Arkhangelo, Raffaelo, and Ghieuspe all looked utterly disinterested in Aurora’s transformation.
I glanced at Simone, hoping he’d have an answer. After a moment of thought, he replied as if it was nothing.
“Well, maybe she went through some unique incident during her childhood? Aurora’s parents are pretty ordinary, after all.”
“Hm… a unique incident, you say….”
“Ah, I got it!”
At that moment, Raffaelo clapped his hands as if he had just realized something.
“Remember that weird friend Aurora had? It must be because of her!”
“Oh, right, she had that maid.”
“That makes sense.”
“Sounds about right.”
As the male leads all nodded in agreement, I asked with a puzzled expression,
“Friend? Maid?”
“Yes, Aurora had a close friend who was also her maid. But her personality was really unusual.”
So Aurora’s ‘friend and maid’ was the cause of her peculiar personality?
“Please explain in detail.”
“Well, apparently… when Aurora was very young, practically at the age when her memory began, there was a maid who took care of her. This maid wasn’t of any assured status and had nowhere to go, so the Marquess of Shae took her in. And maybe because she’d been with Aurora since she was little, the maid treated Aurora exceptionally well.”
“How much older was she?”
“Hmm… I think she was about twenty years older than Aurora? But even so, Aurora stuck to her maid constantly from a young age and considered her both family and a friend.”
From the story, it sounded like Aurora and the maid shared a deeply significant bond despite their age gap.
“But the maid’s personality was quite unique. None of us ever saw her, only heard about her, but from what we’ve gathered, her personality seemed very similar to Aurora’s.”
“There’s someone else with a personality like Aurora’s?”
“Yes, we were surprised too. Aurora occasionally told us stories about the things she and her maid did when she was younger, and apparently, the maid’s personality was a carbon copy of Aurora’s.”
“So Aurora’s eccentric personality is modeled after her maid’s?”
“Exactly, that’s probably it.”
So the twist in the original story stemmed from the existence of that maid.
“That sounds suspicious.”
I pouted slightly as I began to ask more detailed questions about the maid.
“Do you know where that maid is now?”
“We don’t know either. Around the time Aurora turned seventeen and was preparing for her debutante ball, the maid quit her job, saying she wanted to see more of the world.”
“Ah, I see….”
“After that, you became Aurora’s closest friend instead of the maid.”
To be honest, Aurora had started playing pranks on me from the moment we first met. Maybe it was her way of expressing that she wanted to be friends, something she had learned from the maid.
In reality, Aurora and I had grown to consider each other quite close.
“What did the maid look like? What was her name?”
“We don’t know what she looked like.”
“I do.”
At Raffaelo’s words, Ghieuspe interjected in a low voice.
“Aurora said she came from the Eastern Continent.”
“The Eastern Continent?”
For someone from the Eastern Continent to suddenly end up in the Kingdom of Boleno, it made sense that she wouldn’t have any official status.
“I heard she had the distinct black hair and black eyes, along with monolids, typical of people from the Eastern Continent.”
“I see….”
Wait a second. This feels strange.
“We don’t know her name either.”
Alright, now it’s starting to take shape.
Why would someone from the Eastern Continent suddenly come to the Kingdom of Boleno? It was an odd thing. Trade wasn’t well-developed between Boleno and the Eastern Continent, unlike with the Western or Southern Continents.
So, she wasn’t actually from the Eastern Continent.
The reason the original story twisted—it was simple.
There might have been a dimension traveler in this world.
