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“Lord Mikhail… you say?”

With a serious expression, Flora thinks for a moment.
That alone makes Ekaterina nearly stumble internally.

Th-this doesn’t feel like a love-talk reaction…? Does it?

“He’s a very approachable person, so we talked about many things. He’s quite good at drawing people out, so I had to stay on my guard.”
“Eh?”
“Oh—no. I mean, I almost ended up speaking too freely, so I had to be careful.”
“I see… I understand. I often feel the same myself—he’s such a good person that I end up relaxing too much, and that troubles me.”

Which is why my doom-flag countermeasures are a total mess and barely holding together…
No—put myself aside.

“Um, Lady Flora…”
“Yes?”

Flora smiles brightly, but Ekaterina can’t find the words to follow.

Love talk… this is literally my first time doing this in this life.
And come to think of it, it was a weak area even in my previous life!
Waaah, I don’t know how to steer this conversation~

As Ekaterina flounders like that, Flora watches her intently and then speaks up herself.

“Lady Ekaterina, how do you feel about Lord Mikhail?”

Ah, that angle?
…Wait, what should I say?

“Well, um… I consider him a good friend and fellow student.”
“I see. Then… um, is there perhaps someone else you’re interested in?”

Nice pass, Flora-chan!

“No, not particularly. What about you, Lady Flora?”
“I feel the same.”

The pass she returned was cleanly caught.

…….
Huh? That’s it?!
This isn’t! Much! Of a Conversation?!

Actually, what does this mean? Flora-chan doesn’t like the prince?
Flora-chan is the heroine of the otome game, and the game is already in progress. At first, she probably thought it was impossible due to the difference in status, but by now, affection and intimacy levels should be rising. She’s in the middle of the prince route—so is it possible that she doesn’t even recognize him as a romantic interest?

No… wait. This is a game world, but—no, that game might actually be something the god of this world fed to a game creator from my previous life. A “source-world” for the game? In any case, given that magic beasts suddenly appear at the imperial capital’s magic academy, there’s no doubt the world is moving along the game’s storyline.
Anyway, what’s certain is that Flora-chan has absolutely no idea she’s an otome game heroine. So of course she wouldn’t consciously pursue a route.
In reality, she’s probably just meeting people, talking with them, sometimes merely passing by in daily life, and gradually accumulating feelings in others.

If that’s the case, then even if she’s inside the game’s flow without being aware of it, that wouldn’t be strange… right?

The game… tap the icon and you see an illustration of the magic academy’s main gate. The gate opens, leading to the entrance ceremony—that is, the game’s settings explanation screen—then to the list of capture targets—

At that moment, Ekaterina suddenly realizes something.
It’s the kind of realization where, when a goal is scored in the J-League, ten huge flags shoot up all at once behind the goal.

The Prince isn’t the only capture target!!!

Aaaah… when I played the game in my previous life, I only ever did the Prince Route. I picked the classic prince without thinking, cleared it, then got hooked on my brother, checked whether he was a route, found out he wasn’t—and that he barely appeared except in the Prince Route—so I kept playing the same route just to see my brother pop up next to the villainess. In the end, my hands moved on their own through the Prince Route, to the point where I completely forgot the other capture targets even existed…

B-but Flora-chan shouldn’t have any contact with the other capture targets!
…Or does she? I barely remember them myself. It’s not impossible they’re actually in her class. Let’s see—vaguely, I remember Nikolai of the Krymov siblings. Right, all their hair colors were different, and I remember thinking, what is this, a sentai team? The prince was blue, Nikolai was red. The others… no, I’ve got nothing. Oh, right—the hidden capture target not shown in the list, the Demon Dragon King, was black.

Gah! Could it be that without realizing it, she’s already met some condition and entered the Demon Dragon King route?!

“Lady Ekaterina?”

Called by Flora with a puzzled look, Ekaterina snaps back to herself.

“M-my apologies. I seem to have drifted off.”
“Are you tired? I was worried. You’re so earnest and devoted to your brother, Lady Ekaterina—I wondered whether you might be overexerting yourself to support His Grace in the territory.”

Being stared at with those large violet eyes, Ekaterina feels a lump rise in her throat. What a good girl.

“You are always so kind, Lady Flora. I’m not overdoing it at all. My brother takes good care of me.”

There was a bit of trouble when I stood in for him, but I didn’t overdo it. Nope.

Flora chuckles softly, as if she can see right through everything.

“You really love His Grace, don’t you, Lady Ekaterina.”
“Of course! I adore my brother. I can do anything for him!”

Ekaterina launches into an oddly forceful explanation. There is absolutely no need for this level of enthusiasm.

“His Grace truly treasures you as well. I don’t think there’s another pair of siblings as close as the two of you.”
“What a lovely thing to say.”

I mean, Onii-sama’s siscon is world-class, and my brocon isn’t losing either!
Not sure that’s something to brag about, though!

“But that’s exactly why I worry. I’ve heard that most young ladies who attend the magic academy marry soon after graduating. The higher their family’s rank, the sooner the wedding—sometimes immediately after graduation. What are your thoughts about the future, Lady Ekaterina?”