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Duchess Elizabeth was Artoria, the top-ranked in the Blue Sky England server!? That was the headline for the main frontpage of BBC news¹.

The drive back to the mansion from Buckingham Palace was chaotic, as people who used to be just taking photos as if they were in a Zoo were now shouting in joy and excitement. Just what was it that drove them so wild? From learning the identity of the top-ranked player in the game.

Even though it might have been a little unexpected, the citizen’s reaction was still overexaggerated.

“I am Blue Sky’s Artoria.”

Every time I changed the channel on the TV, my speech played yet again².

“It’s practically no different than seeing a declaration of war by the head of the state.”

It certainly did seem so as my stiff expression and determined tone gave a strong impression of me trying to look powerful, and on top of that, I had declared war as well.

The TV channel that was right in the middle of a drama show abruptly stopped and turned to news instead. Predictably, an article that was related to me popped up and started to focus on the video of my speech at the coronation.

The TV was turned off right at that time.

“Ellie…”

It wasn’t me that turned it off. Katalina came from behind as silent as a ghost and embraced me as she turned off the TV.

“Why do you sound so down?”
“Are you sure you won’t regret it?”

Katalina asked with a worried expression.

“If I was going to regret it even a little bit, I wouldn’t have done it. Just think of it as me revealing the fact a little earlier since everyone was bound to find out anyway. I can’t stay a silent mysterious individual forever, you know.”
“But, you don’t really like that sort of thing.”
“You know that I lost my memory, right? I no longer feel bothered by it anymore.”
“But… What if…³”

Her trembling voice felt crushingly pitiful.

“If you regain your memory, what will you do?”

Thud.

I felt as if my head was suddenly struck by a bat. To me, ‘memory loss’ meant something else. It was actually me having my soul exchanged with Elizabeth’s soul.

What if my soul disappears and Elizabeth’s soul comes back? How will the original Elizabeth think about this situation? And how will she deal with Katalina who had caused this situation to happen? Is it fine for me to keep being nice to Katalina⁴?

An endless amount of thoughts and questions ran through my mind. I wasn’t sure if Katalina had perceived that I was worried as well, but I could feel her body faintly trembling while pressed against me.

Only then I realized why she didn’t request for me to help her out even though I felt we became so close. And also the reason why she was worried about this situation so much.

She was afraid.

“Are you afraid?”
“…”

Clearly surprised by my observation, I could feel her flinching through body contact.

“I definitely did lose my memory, and even if I were to regain my memory in the future, I don’t think I will forget about all the memories I had gained so far.”

Did I really have the right to say this kind of thing? No, this could very well be me trying to persuade myself.

A self-hypnosis to justify my actions. Perhaps I was the one who was more afraid of the real Elizabeth coming back.

“C… Can I trust you on that?” Katalina took the bait, of the justification I had made up for myself.

“Of course.” Afterward, I loosened her arms that were wrapped around me. Then I hugged her tight to feel the warmth emanating from her body.

The throbbing of her heart kept beating against my cold and depressed heart. It really made me wonder if I was the one consoling her or was it actually the way around? A bitter smile that I never want to show her came across my face.

“Sob, sob…”

Katalina started to cry softly. Did she know? I was the one who wanted to cry more, due to the pain of not even being able to judge whether I was allowed to have this budding feeling I had for her in my heart.

This pain would probably continue to exist in my heart as long as my soul continued to exist in Elizabeth’s body.

“It’s fine, it’s fine.”

I patted her back reassuringly while attempting to make sure I didn’t end up crying either.

“I’ll trust in you then, Ellie… Sob.”

Trust? In me?

Thinking about it, I could count the number of times people said that to me with one hand. My foster parents that passed away early said they trusted me, and then there were my friend and my previous lover who gave me a traumatizing memory of complete betrayal.

But in any case, someone saying that they put their trust in me felt more like a stabbing wound in my chest rather than encouraging.

“You won’t cast me aside ever, right?”

I was barely able to squeeze out the voice as I forced myself to speak those words.

“Ellie?”

I didn’t want her to see my contorted face at all, so I held her in my arms even tighter.

“Please answer me.”

What would happen if she said she couldn’t promise me that? I might actually feel comforted instead. I wouldn’t need to think of the worst possible situation in which she betrayed me at least. So I have no idea why my heart was beating so fast, and why I was so nervous.

“Of course, hehe.”

She even cracked a smile as if all the crying earlier was all a lie. Though it was easy for her to say, those words meant the world to me. For the first time, I had allowed the doors to my heart which I had closed myself to be opened up.

And so with this, whether my heart would crumble and fall into pieces in the future was left in the hands of fate.

As the swirling thoughts in my mind began to settle down, my thumping heart became less restless, and warmth started seeping into my cold heart again.

Enjoying that feeling for a moment, I slowly let go of my arms holding her.

Bonk.

“Eek!”

I awarded the mean person who made me fall into a pit of despair for just that one moment with a bonk to the head. Katalina seemed confused by the unexpected attack from me.

“Hmph.”

It seemed like it hurt quite a bit as she covered her forehead while grumbling a little.

“The best thing for anyone who laughs after crying is a swift bonk to the head.”
“Who said that?!”
“Me.”

Katalina continued to look at me with disbelief. I smiled back at her. Yes, sometimes just forgetting about it would be the best thing. Whether it was for me or for Katalina…

“Then Ellie, what are you going to do? You announced a declaration of war against Shining and Chaos guild, so I guess you’d need to join the siege war that’s happening tomorrow no matter what.”
“Hmm, I wonder. What does the Volcano guild think about me joining your ranks?”
“Of course we’d welcome you with open arms.”

She might actually be wanting me to join now more than ever as they had fallen into the absolute worst situation since the establishment of their guild. I also didn’t want to go with a foolhardy plan of going against the two guilds by just myself alone.

However, my joining of the Volcano guild was bad for publicity. They might think that I was just putting on a show to help the Volcano guild maintain their position as the dominant guild in the server.

In any case⁵, the justification for this war lies with me and the Volcano guild, but what that meant was that it would be more difficult to bring in additional neutral guilds to join our cause.

What should I do to satisfy the existing guild while allowing a way for other guilds to us⁶?

“Ah! How about this?” Katalina’s eyes sparkled as if she just had an idea.⁷

1. Robinxen: Even in isekai BBC reigns supreme
2. Robinxen: It’s like Iron Man just got revealed or something
3. Silva: Yes, what if the real Elizabeth returns, you’ll have royally ruined her life, you f**king jerk!
4. Silva: Yea, think about it you f̲u̲c̲k̲t̲a̲r̲d̲. I’ve been wondering what the f̲u̲c̲k̲ have you been doing all this time with someone else’s identity and money. SIGH
   Robinxen: To be fair the only other alternative he has is becoming an asocial recluse which is equally as potentially damaging.
5. Robinxen: Sorry the follow passage seems to have got lost in translation and our translator never got the time to double check after it was flagged in the first edit.
6. Silva: clarification please
7. Robinxen: Abandon ship!