Chapter 198

A Day of Reflection
Several days had passed since then. I hadn’t eaten anything except the pudding Alicia brought. My brother told me not to leave the castle, but I didn’t care.

It might be Takuto and the others. I didn’t recognize the man with them, but people who looked like Takuto and Mai were in the royal capital.

I slipped out of the heavily guarded castle and hid along the road where I could see Shishido Confectionery, peeking inside.

I wore a coat and hat. I carried a sweet bun and milk in both hands. I felt it was necessary to look the part, so I bought them. Not that I had any appetite.

I stared intently inside. He really did look like Takuto.

After watching for a while, the person who looked like Takuto noticed me and ran over. I used teleportation to return to the castle. I had a feeling I shouldn’t meet him.

And then my brother got angry at me. He told me many times not to meet that man.

“It makes me curious, curious. And then it grows on trees.”

“Are you talking about tree fruit? Please stop sneaking out of the castle without an escort. Also, where are you getting out from?”

“I made a secret passage.”

My clones dug the underground passage for me with great effort.

“Seal it immediately! What will you do if an intruder gets in through it?”

“Even if someone gets in, they'll die before reaching the royal castle.”

The passage is rigged with traps. In the worst-case scenario, intruders would be teleported 5,000 meters into the sky, so it’s fine.

But was that young man really Takuto? If so, who was the beautiful woman next to him? Why was he with a yakuza? Could he have stepped into the underworld after Iris disappeared?

Actually, if that was Takuto, why is he even in this world? He was supposed to be living peacefully on Earth. This world is way too harsh for Japanese people. The way they treat people from other worlds here is terrible.

Ugh, it bothers me so much, but the Iris inside me is screaming that I must not meet him. Why is he in this world, and why in this country...? No, if it's Takuto, he’d try to find me if he realized I was here. That means someone told him I was here? If it was the goddess, I’ll never forgive her. If she’s been meddling, I’ll lead golems and invade the heavens.

“That’s it! I’ll develop dimensional transfer and go to Earth!”

That’s the answer! There’s a legend that in ancient times, this world connected with another via an inter-world gate. It’s a tale from the era of the Ancient Magic Dynasty.

So that’s proof that dimensional transfer is possible.

“W-What are you thinking?! The Ancient Magic Dynasty was destroyed because of the inter-world gate!”

“That’s just a legend. No country would fall just from one gate. And I’m not talking about a fixed gate—this would be a personal-use dimensional transfer. I’ll just take a little trip to the Imperial State and steal the hero summoning magic circle.”

First, I’ll infiltrate the Imperial State, which possesses the hero summoning magic circle used to summon people from other worlds, and steal it. That circle should definitely connect to another world. I’ll modify it to link to a world of my choosing and take a trip to Earth.

Thinking like that, I realized this world has already become my own. I no longer think about “returning” to Earth.

“So, I’m going on a little trip.”

“Absolutely not! Even if you’re a princess, you’ll be caught. Your Highness~~!”

After that, my angry brother gave me a stern lecture.

He didn’t particularly mind me stealing the hero summoning circle from the Imperial State, but he was doubtful whether I could escape from the otherworlders working for them.

I wondered if they were really that strong, but apparently, the power of the otherworlders working with the Imperial State varies. Those in combat roles are especially dangerous. Even Father would be in danger alone. Of course, he could win one-on-one, but those people usually move in groups, which makes them a serious threat.

I’ve already spent a long time in this world, but even so, some otherworlders who unquestioningly side with the Imperial State are extremely dangerous. My brother told me very seriously that under no circumstances should I approach them. I still think I’d be fine with just a cardboard box, though...

“But if I don’t go to Earth, I won’t know if that’s really Takuto.”

“Can’t you tell just by looking?”

My brother asked.

“I remember him being smaller… about this tall.”

I raised my hand around chest height. That’s about how I remembered him (total denial).

“Your memory seems to be a little altered. What age are you imagining?”

“And that girl who looked like Mai was cute, but her chest was small. I’m sure of that.”

There’s no way Mai could have such an amazing figure. That’s betrayal. If that was Mai, she must be purged.

“Princess… people grow. It’s not strange if her chest got bigger.”

“No way. Absolutely not!”

I refuse to accept it. How can someone end up with such a stubby body like mine while she alone becomes curvy and beautiful? Unforgivable.

“I did make contact, by the way…”

My brother murmured with a bitter expression.

“How was it?!”

“Calm down. He did call himself Takuto Shishido. I don’t know the other two. But according to the special service's report, the others gave their names as Mai and Kazuhito. No family names were found.”

“...…”

Kazuhito... So that was Kazuhito? He used to be a monkey-faced, mischievous boy... has he joined the yakuza?

“I’m going back to my room.”

Before my brother or Alicia could say anything else, I returned to my room. I didn’t want to talk to anyone right now.

I pulled Mr. Coote into bed and wrapped myself in a blanket.

After silently hugging Mr. Coote for a while, he licked my face.

“You look terrible. Are you that hung up on your past self?”

“Yeah… I still think of myself as Iris. I have her memories too. It’s unsettling. I don’t know what I am anymore.”

“You are you. Who you were in a past life doesn’t matter.”

Mr. Coote is so kind.

The urge to see him and the feeling that I mustn’t clash inside me and turn everything into a mess.

Because Iris had no intention of ever meeting Takuto again. That’s why, in the end, Iris tried to recreate herself through research into bringing back the dead.

The Rewrite Project.

That was the name of the research Iris devoted herself to. A project to recreate the dead. Using memories to reconstruct a personality and transplanting it into a replicated body. In theory, the same person could be created again. A duplicate with the same personality and memories as the deceased.

And the ones created were three members of the Field family and a nanny. In other words… Iris was among them.

What do you think about this chapter?