Project Necro is an official initiative by Re:Library.

Vladforen looked bewildered and did not respond for a while.
He simply stared back at the girl who gazed at him with the eyes of a lost child.

After a moment, he smiled—gently, as if troubled.

“What is this…? Just moments ago, you spoke calmly and logically of events hundreds of millions of years in the past, and now you are like a child.”
“I was raised while being confined,”

Ekaterina’s tears traced down her cheeks once more.

“I lived in hardship with only my mother for a long time. After my father and grandmother passed away, my brother finally rescued me, and it has not even been a year since then. It has been less than half a year since I began living in the same residence as my brother, and much less since I was able to speak with him properly. My mother has also passed away. My brother and I have no one but each other.”

Her manner of speaking was now closer to her age than before, yet her expression remained that of a child.

“I want… I want to be with my brother… much, much longer.”

At last, Ekaterina broke into sobs.

“…Do not cry.”

Vladforen ruffled Ekaterina’s hair roughly, unlike the earlier delicate touch—more like one would do to a child.
Then he pulled her into his arms.

Ekaterina did not resist. Leaning against Vladforen’s chest, she sniffled and wept softly.
Vladforen let out a quiet sigh.

“What in the world are you…? With the form of a dazzling beauty, you speak like a sage, and yet you cry like a child.”
“I am…”

I am a villainess.
But she could not say that.

“I am simply myself. I was simply born, the way I am.”
“…I see.”

At her answer—simple, yet philosophical—Vladforen gave a wry smile.

“Even if you are a beauty, even if you are a sage—being a child that you are, I cannot very well take you as my wife. Very well. I will send you back. I said I would grant any wish; a dragon does not go back on his word.”

…!

“If you said you loved another man, I would simply take you from him—but a brother is another matter.”
“Thank you very much…!”

Ekaterina’s face lit up at once.

Reboot—!

.

At Ekaterina’s suddenly transformed expression, Vladforen looked exasperated—yet also dazzled.
Quickly averting her eyes from his face, Ekaterina began to inch her way out of his arms.
With a mischievous look, Vladforen pressed a hand to her shoulder.

“How old are you?”
“I am… fifteen years of age.”
“An age fit to be married, is it not.”

Ugh…!
No, getting married normally and *this* situation are completely different!

“I-in the country where I lived in my previous life, fifteen was still too young to marry. By law, girls were not permitted to marry until they reached sixteen.”

Wait, wasn’t the legal marriage age revised to eighteen for both genders? Or was it about to be? No good—I can’t remember clearly.

“Hoh. For a short-lived species, humans were remarkably unhurried.”
“In my previous world—especially in the country where I was born—human lifespans were far longer than in this empire. Living a hundred years was not uncommon.”
“Hoh. …Indeed, your stories are fascinating.”

Eeeh!?
No—let me go home!

Vladforen laughed at the pale-faced Ekaterina, then lightly lifted her up and set her down a short distance away.

“If a woman’s heart is not with me, there is no point in keeping her at my side. I have no intention of forcing myself upon you. You may rest easy.”

Th-thank goodness.
…If you want me to relax, please stop watching my reactions for your amusement.

“You seem quite knowledgeable about human women, esteemed Demon Dragon King.”

Without thinking, Ekaterina lets a hint of sarcasm slip into her voice. Vladforen replies calmly.

“Human women are fond of my appearance.”

Gwah—!
These feelings have nowhere to go!

“There was even a woman who chased me across three countries. I spent some time beyond the ‘Summit of the Gods’ because of it.”

Judging by his displeased expression, he clearly wasn’t boasting. The fact that this *isn’t* a boast is impressive in itself.

“Were there no women who suited your tastes?”

For a moment, Vladforen’s gaze seemed to drift far away.

“…In three thousand years, there were two. Both were Holy Maiden, bearing holy magic.”

Holy magic!
Flora’s face flashes through Ekaterina’s mind.

Those who possessed holy magic were revered as saints in the ancient Astra Empire. It was said that the mere presence of someone who had awakened holy magic could suppress the activity of magical beasts—that was how influential it was.
And… she remembered hearing that they had “served as priestesses who pacified powerful magical beasts of the Black Dragon class.”
Also, her brother had once told her that in the past, someone with holy magic had stayed in Jurnova territory to deal with magical beast suppression.

“The essence of holy magic is circulation. It exists to compensate for the Creator God who made the world and then abandoned it—to allow the world to continue. Such individuals are born in eras when magical power stagnates excessively and the world grows desolate. Magical beasts are creatures altered by magic clinging to living beings; thus, the presence of a holy maiden who circulates and softens that magic is… pleasant.”

W-wait…
You just casually dropped something that sounds like top-secret lore of this world, didn’t you!?

Ah! Speaking of which—the otome game’s title!

*Infinity World — The Maiden of Salvation*!
Infinity means eternity or the infinite, and the ∞ symbol is the ouroboros—the serpent devouring its own tail. Endless circulation equals eternity.
That’s exactly what defines the heroine’s role!

Why are you doing the title drop *here*!?
That’s something you tell Flora at the climax of the game! Don’t tell the villainess!
The Demon Dragon King route must have been the game’s true ending. It probably was.

“What is it?”

Vladforen looks at her suspiciously, and Ekaterina snaps back to herself.

“My apologies. Um… one of my friends is a holy maiden who possesses holy magic.”
“Hoh.”

Despite that, Vladforen’s expression is tinged with irony.

“Whether she is genuine or not. Humans are often mistaken about the nature of magical power.”

Hey now—Flora-chan is the real deal!

Ekaterina bristles for a moment, then realizes something. Holy magic is an extremely rare attribute—perhaps one per generation. But considering Vladforen’s words about “eras when magic stagnates excessively,” wouldn’t that still be too many?
Just as there are questionable cases like her great-uncle Isaac with earth magic who probably shouldn’t count as earth magic, perhaps many of those once labeled as holy maidens were actually something else.

So Ekaterina smiles brightly and says with confidence,

“My friend is a true holy maiden. There is no mistake.”
“You speak as though you know it for a fact. I see—then she is genuine.”

Vladforen smiles, apparently intrigued.

But when his crimson-flame eyes capture Ekaterina once more, they waver as if aflame.

“A holy maiden is rare indeed, but you are one of a kind. …I will let you go for now, but do not think I will abandon you forever.”

His beautiful voice drops lower, filled with heat.

Eeeeeeeek.
Nooo.
Stop.

Don’t—freeze incoming!

Ekaterina is thoroughly shaken.

But then she clenches her fist and turns to face Vladforen squarely.

“There is one thing I must say.”
“Yes?”
“If my brother were to hear words such as those, there is a chance he would challenge you to a duel. And in that case, I would most certainly fight at my brother’s side!”

Vladforen bursts into laughter.