Chapter 3: Spring at the Age of 11 (Part – 3)
“Huh, destruction?”
She unintentionally lets out a crazy voice.
Because destruction is just so ridiculous.
Is he really serious?
Due to the outrageous statement that she can’t associate with Steed’s usual self, she feels a bit strange.
“Fu. . .fuhaha! What’s with ‘destruction’?!”
It’s impossible not to laugh.
To seriously use the word ‘destruction’. . .
She has to take back her thought that he’s bad at jokes.
“Hehe, hahaha, I’m laughing so hard my stomach hurts. . .”
“Chloe, you’re laughing at me. . .”
“Well, hahaha, it’s just too funny. . .”
While Steed watches Chloe, who is holding her stomach and laughing, he smiles awkwardly.
His eyes are shaking a little.
It seems like he’s sad that she’s not taking him seriously, and Chloe feels a little uncomfortable.
(What’s with him. . .He’s the weird one here.)
Feeling awkward, she clears her throat and straightens up.
It seems like he wasn’t joking after all.
(Oh well. I’ll listen to him a little more seriously.)
When Chloe changes her attitude, Steed resumes the conversation.
“Even if you ruin yourself or self-destruct, it’s fine. But if you can’t express it without using the word ‘destruction,’ it will be the worst life. It’s none other than you.”
“Um, wait a minute. That’s just a story, right?”
“For me in my past life, it was just a story. But this world is inside that story. Of course, I can’t say for sure whether our future will completely follow the story. However, everything that has happened to us so far, such as our engagement and me giving you a picture book, were all events depicted in the story.”
Chloe, who had stopped eating cookies, crossed her arms and pondered.
Let’s put aside the issue of whether to believe it or not, as it becomes complicated.
Events that were depicted in the story were actually happening.
They might continue to happen in the future.
It’s almost like a prophecy. . .
“It’s like a prophecy, isn’t it. . .?”
“Yeah, I think that’s the easiest way to understand it.”
“So, you know the story that depicts our lives, and that means you know what will happen to us from now on?”
“Oh, Chloe! You understand!”
“Wait, don’t hug me!”
Steed, who was so excited that he squeezed her tightly, was pushed back by Chloe’s resistance.
“Ugh, come on. . .There’s no room for carelessness. . .Anyway, just in case, what kind of situation will I be in when I’m ruined in the story?”
“You’ll be exiled under the guise of being sent abroad and then assassinated. At best, you’ll be executed. The worst is that you’ll be tortured and killed by someone who hates you.”
“Wait a minute, I’m dead in all of them. . .?!”
Chloe, who had been listening to the conversation calmly, forgot that she had been laughing until just before and her cheeks twitched.
It’s even more of a disastrous situation than she imagined.
Indeed, the situation is difficult to express in other words.
She didn’t just take Steed’s words at face value.
But she’s starting to feel like she needs to ask about the disaster properly.
“Tell me specifically. I-I’ll listen.”
Chloe tries to pretend she’s not too shaken up.
It’s too pathetic for someone aiming to be a villainess to be scared of a disaster. She definitely didn’t want Steed to notice.
Of course, she keeps the fact that she’s sweating weirdly a secret.
“The setting of the game world is the Royal Magic Academy five years from now. The main theme of this story is the romantic relationships that occur here. The story begins with the heroine, a girl who has just transferred to the academy.”
“That’s me?”
“Chloe is the villainess who bullies the heroine.”
“What?! What are you talking about?!”
“That’s why you’re the villainess in the story.”
“Please tell me more about that story!!”
Just a moment ago, she was sweating and scared of the disaster, but the simple-minded Chloe’s eyes shine and she leans forward, fascinated.
She never imagined that she would be the villainess in a story!
She wanted him to tell her that first.
Curious Chloe begs for more with sparkling eyes.
Her anxiety about the disaster has flown far away.
“Well, I thought you might be interested in that. . .”
“If you know, then tell me quickly!”
“In this game, there are many candidates to fall in love with the protagonist. They are called ‘capture targets.’ The player of the game takes on the role of the protagonist and chooses who to fall in love with from among those capture targets. Chloe in the story takes on the position of the villain who interferes with that love.”
“Oh, how wonderful!”
Being a hindrance to love is truly the work of a villainess. Chloe suddenly becomes excited.
“The characters who are candidates for lovers may not appear much depending on the development of the story. But the villainess Chloe always appears and interferes with the protagonist’s love with any man, behaving arrogantly and bullying the protagonist.”
Chloe is delighted.
It’s just like the picture book Steed gave her.
(This is a world where my dreams come true!)
She wants to hear more about this world.
“How does Steed appear in it?”
“My role is the number one candidate for the man she falls in love with.”
“Huh?”
Chloe is shaken.
Steed falls in love with another girl?
Her heart starts making strange noises at the unexpected development.
Thump, thump, thump.
(W-What is this feeling. . .?)
Steed always thinks of Chloe and has never looked at another girl.
(Is this like the feeling of a favorite toy running away on its own? That’s why my heart is pounding with anger?)
“Steed is the number one candidate for a lover. . .”
“Chloe, are you surprised?”
Steed asks, looking surprisingly taken aback.
But he quickly puts on an angelic smile.
“I’m happy. When you imagine me with other girls, you get jealous even a little.”
“I-it’s not jealousy or anything. I was just surprised.”
Even when she glares at him with a sulky face, Steed’s smile doesn’t disappear.
Moreover, he tries to take her hand again, so Chloe quickly hides both of her hands behind her back.
“I’ll always be thinking of only Chloe. I don’t even notice other people, so don’t worry.”
“B-but! If this is a game world, won’t it turn out that way?”
“You understand what I’m trying to say. As expected of Chloe.”
“Don’t dodge the question, tell me more!”
Steed nods.
“There are three men, including me, who are called capture targets. The protagonist makes choices in various situations and ultimately chooses one of the men. The ending of the story changes depending on the choice made, whether it leads to a happy ending with that man or a bad ending. You bullied the protagonist in that world. . .”
“Is that what you meant by heading towards destruction?”
“That’s right. You’re smart and wonderful, my princess.”
As the compliments seem to continue endlessly, Chloe hurries him along to continue the story, and Steed shrugs his shoulders before returning to the explanation.
“The path of destruction is different for each character. But the one thing that is the same is that you will suffer a miserable fate.”
“Hmph. . .”
“For example. . .I don’t even want to say this as a hypothetical, but if I were to become the protagonist’s lover, in the game, you would commit evil deeds as villiness and try to force the heroine to leave the academy. As a result, you would anger me in the game and be exiled overseas, only to be assassinated by a hitman sent after you.”
“I’m quite the character in the game too!”
She doesn’t want to meet a tragic end, but she’s happy with her own achievements.
(I’m amazing for being able to commit such evil deeds in the story world. . .)
“Do you believe everything I’ve told you so far?”
“Well. . .It’s a dreamy story, but that’s a different story altogether.”
Even just saying that he’s dreaming of memories from a past life is an outlandish story, but to top it off, they’re characters in a story.
“I think it’s wonderful that I have a life where I can play an active role as a villainess. But the fact that I exist here and now as a character in a story. . .When you really think about it, it’s a really creepy story. Because everything I say or think, it’s all decided by the story, not my own human thoughts. It’s the worst. It means I’m just a puppet moving according to someone else’s creation.”
“. . ..but don’t we take it for granted to believe in a Creator God? But even if we think that the god who created us decides everything in our lives and every word we say, we won’t be desperate. Don’t you think it’s the same thing? To avoid the route to destruction, I need you to accept what I’m saying first.”
“Avoid. . .?”
“Do you think I can overlook the disasters that will come to you?”
Steed’s intense gaze fixed on Chloe.
“I won’t let any game scenario hurt you. I’ll protect you with all my heart.”
Steed’s vow was more serious than any love words Chloe had ever received.
Chloe felt a warm feeling in her chest when she heard it.
It was a strange and ticklish sensation.
To disguise it, Chloe put her hand on her waist and looked challengingly up at Steed.
“If you say that much, prove to me that what you’re saying is true.”
It was an unexpected question.
Steed widened his eyes and then put his hand on his mouth, deep in thought.
What? Can’t he prove it after all?
Right after Chloe was about to say that――
“Okay. I’ll prove that I know the future.”
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