Chapter 41

I frantically opened and closed my mouth, desperately trying to steady my breathing.

Th-the real Lord Ashwad!? What should I do? Do I look weird? I never thought I’d get to meet him today. What a wonderful unexpected surprise!

Seeing how excited I was, Lord Ashwad tilted his head. He was every bit as cute as the prince, if not more. As expected of him!

Surely, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that God had granted to poor little me. If I didn’t take advantage of this stroke of luck, what kind of woman would I be?

I did my best to remain calm, faced Lord Ashwad, and lifted my skirt slightly.

“I apologize for showing you such an unbecoming sight. My name is Bertia Tybus.”

Lord Ashwad stared blankly for a moment at my sudden introduction, but as expected of a nobleman, he quickly straightened himself and returned my greeting.

“Oh, you are the young lady of House Tybus. My apologies. My name is Ashwad Crillver.”

I was on the verge of fainting from that friendly, handsome face directed at me.

I could die happy right here.

Lord Ashwad was even more handsome in person than words could describe. Compared to the prince, he was a little more rugged, but that was exactly what I liked about him. His calloused hands, his angular bone structure… Even his sharp jawline was wonderful, and his masculine, dignified eyes were absolutely irresistible!

As I faced the man who was exactly my type, I let out a sigh of maidenly admiration inside my heart.

It was a crime.

It was ridiculous that a man this wonderful existed in this world.

And how fortunate was I to be living in a world where everyone’s beauty was so absurd that my standards had become completely numb?

The fact that I had the opportunity to become friends with him, or perhaps even something more, was another blessing altogether.

I was desperately trying to keep my facial muscles from collapsing into an embarrassing grin when Lord Ashwad said, “Well then, I’ll be going,” and turned on his heel.

Wait, that’s it?!

This was my chance!

Worried that he would simply walk away somewhere, I desperately tried to think of something I could say to stop him.

Come to think of it, I had spent all this time thinking about meeting Lord Ashwad, but I hadn’t thought at all about what I would actually say to him.

I racked my brain before Lord Ashwad could leave, but… no good.

I couldn’t think of anything.

What had the heroine said when she first met Lord Ashwad in the game?

I desperately tried to recall the story I had played through more than a hundred times.

I could do this.

I had to be able to remember.

What suddenly flashed through my mind was a scene where the heroine and Lord Ashwad were talking by a lake.

The heroine had smiled sweetly and said to him…

That’s right! I remembered!

“U-um!”

“Yes? Is something the matter?”

Lord Ashwad, who had looked completely ready to leave, turned around in surprise.

Apparently, he hadn’t expected me to stop him.

His narrow, elegant eyes widened.

I had to say it.

Right here, I was going to say exactly what the heroine in the game had said.

Opportunities didn’t wait for anyone!

“Well, if you don’t mind, Lord Ashwad… I’d really like to be your f-f… friend…”

The instant I began speaking, Lord Ashwad froze completely, still wearing his smile.

He slowly drew in a breath and clenched his fist.

“Would you be my friend?!”

My voice came out much louder than expected.

Lord Ashwad’s shoulders jolted.

Please, no.

This was too embarrassing.

If I remembered correctly, when the heroine first met Lord Ashwad, she had said something like, “Let’s be friends!”

Thinking about it now, that was exactly what I had said to the prince, too.

I cautiously looked up.

Lord Ashwad remained frozen, not moving an inch.

Was it different when a villainess did it compared to when the heroine did it…?

I was pretty devastated when I heard a quiet chuckle.

“Pfft… haha…”

He laughed at me?!

Was my voice too loud?

Did he think I was pathetic?!

A GAAAH! sound effect practically rang through my head.

Maybe it really was weird…

No, I was absolutely certain it had been weird.

At the very least, I didn’t want him to think I was some kind of crazy person.

And I definitely didn’t want things to become so awkward that he would avoid eye contact whenever we passed each other in the hallway.

“U-um…”

I looked at Lord Ashwad as though praying for mercy.

He finally seemed to have gotten the laughter out of his system and wiped the tears that had gathered in his eyes.

“Pfft… haha… Ah, sorry. I just never expected someone to ask me to be their friend.”

He had laughed hard enough to shed tears, and I could feel my face turning red.

I was never going to say something like that again.

“It was unexpected. The last person who asked me to be friends was that girl.”

“That girl?”

“My childhood friend. She’s a pretty ridiculous person, though.”

Lord Ashwad smiled happily as he spoke, while I froze.

Could that possibly be…?

It had to be the heroine!

There was only one person who matched my memories.

Lord Ashwad’s childhood friend.

His very first friend.

The heroine.

While I was being emotionally crushed by all sorts of realizations, Lord Ashwad smiled brightly.

“We’re friends, right? I’d be happy to be your friend. You can call me Az.”

“R-really!? Then you can call me Bell, too! And you don’t have to use such formal language with me!”

“Hehe, sure. You don’t have to be formal with me either, Bell.”

Bell… Bell… Bell…

The nickname Lord Ashwad had given me echoed through my mind with an almost magical resonance.

My first official friend in this life.

Lord Ashwad.

And he had even given me permission to call him by his nickname!

Suddenly, I felt much closer to him, and my mood soared.

But then again, happy moments never seemed to last very long.

“Az, what are you doing?”

Just as I was reaching the absolute peak of happiness, I heard a cute voice from behind me.

The rough, casual way of speaking didn’t match the adorable voice at all.

The instant I looked at the girl to see who the voice belonged to, my head went numb, just like it had during my formal meeting with the prince.

A shock like a bolt of lightning shook my brain.

I staggered and instinctively placed a hand against the school building’s wall.

When I cautiously peeked forward, the girl was also looking pale and had lowered her head as though enduring some kind of pain.

Medium-length, pale pink hair.

Large, golden eyes.

The swaying hair ornament.

She looked exactly like the heroine.

There was absolutely no doubt that she was the protagonist of this world.

But no.

She wasn’t the heroine.

A strange sense of incongruity dominated my mind.

I knew exactly what this feeling was.

But that couldn’t possibly be true, could it?

Because there was no way she could be here.

A miracle like that was impossible.

I couldn’t let myself get my hopes up.

And yet, the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place one after another.

I hadn’t died alone.

I had gone out with her to buy merchandise from Kimikanta, and we’d gotten into an accident and died there.

Together with her.

The heroine had also frozen when she saw me, but then she suddenly snapped back to reality, lifted her skirt like a proper noble lady, and smiled sweetly…

No.

She grinned.

I knew that expression very well.

When she was happy, sad, frustrated, or hurting, she had always been by my side.

There was no way I could fail to recognize her.

“It’s been a long time, Lady Bertia Tybus.”

I knew it.

You were… my troublesome best friend from my previous life!!

I had already known it in my heart, but I was so shocked that I couldn’t make a sound.

I couldn’t believe you had really been reincarnated too.

No, the fact that we’d been able to meet again like this…

There was no way it could be anything but moving.

Was this the power of a frenemy?

“What, you two know each other?”

Az smiled happily as he said that.

He was adorable, sure, but I was far too confused to appreciate it right now.

As I looked at my best friend, who was practically overflowing with joy despite her smug grin, my own cheeks naturally relaxed into a smile.

Our appearances had changed, so there was no reason we should have been able to recognize each other.

Was this God’s little gift to us, allowing us to find each other anyway?

As I thought about it, I realized once again that this world was a separate world that merely resembled the game.

Because there was no way that my domineering best friend—the girl who hated interacting with people more than she hated natto—could possibly be the heroine.

She must have realized that too.

Really, this had to be fate.

We were probably both wearing relieved expressions.

When I first remembered my previous life, I had suddenly been confronted with the death of my former self.

And then I had been reincarnated without having any idea what was going on.

I had felt so alone and frightened that I had even wished they had erased my memories before reincarnating me.

I had wanted to talk about my previous life and finally feel relieved.

I had wanted to tell someone that this was the world of a game.

But only someone who had been reincarnated could possibly understand that.

Knowing that made it even harder, so I couldn’t tell anyone.

And how could I even explain the concept of a game to the people of this world?

I didn’t want to tell them that their emotions were determined by a program, something that would essentially shatter their sense of self.

Because they were alive right in front of me.

Their hearts beat.

When they were injured, they bled.

They thought for themselves and moved according to their own will.

They were undeniably alive.

Just as we had been alive on Earth, they were living their own lives here.

I really was fortunate.

Because my best friend was standing right in front of me.

My adorable best friend scrunched up her face as though she were about to cry.