“…Lumiere, can you go home first?”

I ignored the boy who called me “goddess”, giving him a sidelong glance.

A beat later, I had the trembling Lumiere leave first.

I felt like someone once did something similar to me before.

Who was it? Normally, it’d be a boyfriend or fiancé, but my fiancé—who sealed me away—wasn’t such a thoughtful person. Still, that person didn’t call me a “goddess.”

Instead, I was his… What was it again…?

As I was thinking about that, the silver-haired boy peered into my face.

“Lelouch, are you really feeling unwell?”

As I apologized casually, “Sorry, sorry,” I suddenly remembered. Didn’t he call himself Zafield? I was sure I’d heard that name yesterday. Ah, yes.

“You’re the one who told the prince a whole bunch of lies!”

As soon as I pointed that out, his blue eyes sharpened.

“…My brother asked me yesterday, too. ‘Are you trying to mislead me?’ Did Lelouche tell him? That’s a problem. There’s no way I’d want to tear you guys apart—”

I stopped him just as his words were rolling out, saying, “There are plenty of reasons.” Nothing good ever came from letting a smooth talker speak as he pleased.

“For example, you could use your brother’s scandals and bad behavior to drag him down because you want to usurp the throne. Or, because you like Lelouc—”

This time, I was the one who couldn’t finish speaking, because Zafield was blushing like mad.

“I-I never expected you to say that so bluntly.”

“…You like me?”

I grinned and tilted my head, and he pouted, covering his mouth.

“…Does this mean I can get my hopes up too?”

“I wonder about that. What do you think?”

I’d never spoken to Lelouche at all, so naturally, I didn’t know who she liked.

However, I couldn’t bear to push a boy who grinned so shyly and happily to hell, not when I didn’t know anything about him.

“Well, why not try your best to make it by the deadline?”

Depending on how hard he worked, he might be able to become good friends with Lelouche before she died? They could go on a fun date or two and make some fond memories together.

…Although if Lelouche doesn’t feel anything for you, my bad.

Just as I was about to head home, leaving the younger brother alone, I heard a young man’s voice.

“What a villainous woman! Even a villainess would be shocked!”

Was that god’s voice?

The phrase “villainous woman” was interesting. I wasn’t a villainess, but a woman who played the role of a villain.

I smiled at the sunset.

After all, I was a true villainess, Nora Noz.

Not that kind of half-baked woman.

***

“Nora… Nora!”

“Huh…?”

I opened my eyes when I heard someone calling me.

Oh, a familiar ceiling. This must be the nurse’s office at my school.

A beautiful boy with flaxen hair and cat-like eyes looked down at me.

I clapped my hands.

“Ah, that’s right! It was Eivind, I am your queen!”

“Well… I didn’t expect to be treated like a servant by a girl who had slipped on the stairs and fell unconscious again.”

Leaving Eivind’s shock aside, I checked myself in the mirror. I was ‘Nora’ again, possessing the body of a certain bullied girl. Indeed, I was living the life of a perfect girl in her place.

Eivind looked up at the clock.

“Afternoon classes are just about to start. Shall we take a nap together instead?”

“You’re definitely going to attend class, right?”

I couldn’t let this girl’s grades drop by skipping classes.

I was already at the bottom until now. Rising to the top in both academics and magical skill wouldn’t be had with my talent, but attendance was the result of daily effort. In anything, it was the hard work that counted.

After getting off the bed, I held out my hand to Eivind.

“Hey, can you do it again?”

“Do what?”

“I want to wake up from a dream.”

“In that case, I think I should kiss you on the lips.”

Even as he complained, he knelt at my feet without hesitation.

Then, he placed his lips on my hand and spoke his usual lines.

“Is this satisfactory, my queen?”

“Yes, fascinating.”

I was extremely satisfied with my faithful fake prince.

I wondered what kind of girl Lelouche Elcage, whose body I had briefly borrowed, was. I didn’t know the answer at the moment. But I felt like if we were to meet one day, we could become good friends.

A few months from now, our lives would both come to an end, somewhere far away in the sky…

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Read more about Nora’s story here, also on American Faux~

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