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The girl smiled, then slipped lightly down from the back of the enormous black horse.
Long, straight golden hair flowed softly. Her figure was slender and delicate; her narrow face looked a little lonely, yet refined, and beautiful.

“My name is Selene.”

Selene was the name of a beautiful woman in this world’s mythology who lived on the moon and played the lyre. It seemed to have been a popular name long ago, appearing often even in classical literature.

“I’m glad you’re not afraid of me.”
“I heard about you from Lady Aurora. That you are a kind person who guided a lost child.”

And, to be honest, it felt like being in a dream.
Mina, the knights, the forest folk—even Regina and the hunting dogs—did not awaken from their sleep, and the surrounding forest was utterly silent. This must be due to some influence Selene was exerting. Even I felt as though something inside me had gone numb.

“My, how nice. Even though most people who see me say I am terribly frightening.”

Leaning against her horse, pressing her cheek into its silver mane, Selene said this gently.

…Was this girl truly the one who had once annihilated her enemy’s entire clan?
Yet when I looked again, I saw dark stains on the simple white dress she wore. Just as the legends said, the Maiden of Death was clad in a corpse-garment dyed with blood.

“You’re very clever. You don’t come any closer to me.”

Fufu, Selene smiled.
She tilted her head slightly as she looked at Ekaterina, her eyes glowing faintly.

“I’m sorry for calling you out like this. But it was so very strange—your soul. In two thousand years of remaining in this world, I’ve never seen one like yours. It’s different from anyone else, somehow. *What are you?*”

Ekaterina drew in a deep breath.

.

What are you? she asks.
Should I answer, “I’m a villainess”?
No, that won’t do. There were no otome games two thousand years ago, so it wouldn’t make sense. And even now, in this world, talking about otome games wouldn’t get through either. Even though this world itself is basically an otome game…
Enough. Just answer already.

.

“I am…”

Ekaterina stopped mid-sentence.
Then she resolved herself and said it.

“I have memories of a previous life.”

To think the day would come when I’d tell someone something this suspicious…
But my counterpart is the Maiden of Death, a supernatural being, so!
…And with those eyes fixed on me, lying or evading is impossible anyway.

“Memories of a previous life.”

Repeating the words, Selene shook her head.

“There have been others like that. But you are different. You stand out. It’s as though an unfamiliar melody is echoing, or a strangely colored light is shining from you. Something about you… is unlike anyone before. Perhaps you are slightly out of alignment with this world. That’s what troubled me so much that I ended up coming to see you like this.”

Oh no.
That’s basically found out… isn’t it?

“That may be because the world in which I lived in my previous life was not this world, but another one altogether.”

At Ekaterina’s words, spoken with resolve, Selene’s eyes widened.

“Another… world?”
“Yes. First of all, the world I lived in before seemed to be more historically advanced than this one. This world, too, will likely become similar to it in a few hundred years. And above all, in that previous world, there was no such thing as magic power. It was a world without magical beasts, and one without gods.”

Selene seemed struck speechless. She looked up at the black horse, twined her fingers into its silver mane, and shook her head.

“…I can’t imagine such a world.”
“I would expect as much.”

In a world without gods, she herself—who had remained in this world by wishing upon the god of death—would be an impossible existence. That reaction was understandable.

“Have you lived in any other world besides this one?”
“I have not—no, I wouldn’t know. The only memories I have are of the life immediately before this one, my previous life.”
“I see… how strange. I thought a soul would circulate within a single world. I wondered if your soul was special, traveling through many different worlds. For a soul to move from another world into this one must be very rare. Do you have any idea why that happened?”

Uhh.
I do have an idea, but even I find it strange what kind of connection my previous life’s otome game had with this world.

“In my previous world… how should I put this… I saw something in which this world was depicted. That may be why I came to cross worlds.”
“Something in which this world was depicted? Then in that previous world, was there a way to peer into other worlds?”
“No, not at all. It was just something like a story. I never dreamed it referred to a real other world; I thought it was purely fiction and simply enjoyed as such. Even so, it depicted the magic academy in the imperial capital that I attended, and spoke of the prince who studied alongside me, and of my friend who possesses holy magic. It did not mention the Jurnova Domain… but yes, the being we call the Black Dragon appeared in it. There, it was called…”

Ekaterina paused to think.

When she thought in Japanese, the words that came out were naturally converted into the Empire’s language—into a young lady’s manner of speech, within Ekaterina’s vocabulary range. Because of that, speaking the exact words of her previous life was, paradoxically, difficult.

“…Vladforen. He was spoken of as the Demon Dragon King Vladforen.”

.

The moment Ekaterina said that, Selene’s black horse stepped smoothly away from her.
With a whoosh, darkness burst forth, and the horse’s outline collapsed. Blackness darker than night changed its shape, and there stood a man, tall enough to look up at.

“…”

Ekaterina was at a loss for words.
It was not the transformation of a horse into a man that shocked her.

His skin was jet-black. His hair, nearly as long as he was tall, glittered in silver. His eyes were the same, shining silver. The ancient-looking long robe he wore was entirely black, with faint silver patterns only on the belt.
Those silver eyes looked straight at her.
It felt as though her heart had been seized.

Moonlight gleamed on his silver hair, as though praising it.

*(I thought the Demon Dragon King I saw in my previous life was peerlessly handsome—but seeing “peerless” in real life is on a completely different level!)*

Jet-black, alien, and yet of peerless beauty.
Goosebumps ran over her skin.

“You spoke of Vladforen, daughter of Jurnova.”

His low voice drew the listener in, as if imbued with magnetism.

“That is indeed the name of the northern king. The king of dragons who rules over all the magical beasts of this land. But humans should not know that name… Are you saying you learned it in your previous life?”

Ekaterina could not answer. She was desperately holding herself upright, feeling as though she might collapse at any moment.

What… what is this pressure?
Even the majesty of the Emperor, whom she had once met in audience, was nothing like this.
Ah, of course—the one who keeps the Maiden of Death in this world is…

*“If you refuse to descend to the underworld, then remain in this world as mine.”*

The God of Death.
This pressure—was it divine authority?

Selene walked up to the god of death, and he gently drew her into his arms, a hand on her shoulder. With that, the pressure eased slightly, and Ekaterina was able to breathe.

“Y-yes. I learned that name in my previous life.”
“…You answered well. You are a brave girl.”

The god of death smiled faintly. That smile of peerless beauty had the power to make one’s head swim, in a different sense.

“So your soul came to this world because you formed a bond with it through that story. How strange… Why did that story describe the existence of another world so accurately?”
“I don’t know the reason myself…”

If anything, I would like you to tell me.

“Then I will ask one more thing. You say you have memories of your previous life. The reason your soul now bears a color not found in this world is because it still holds memories of that other world. If you died, crossed the River of Oblivion, and were born again, you would have forgotten once. When did your memories return?”

So until the memories returned, even a soul that had come from another world could not be distinguished from others…?

“My memories of my previous life suddenly returned just a few months ago. It was when I first visited the magic academy in the imperial capital that I mentioned earlier—they burst forth all at once, and I remembered who I had been in my previous life.”

When Ekaterina said this, the god of death nodded.

“You said earlier that you have a friend at that academy who possesses holy magic. If so, the Creator God may be involved.”