Project Necro is an official initiative by Re:Library.

It took three days for my villainess self and my corporate slave self to fully fuse our personalities.

On the first day, I slept deeply after that, reliving both lives in my dreams. It was needlessly exhausting.
On the second day, I woke up feeling much clearer, but every time something startled me, I’d faint. It was like my mind was trying to move in two directions at once, locking up my body frozen. Like my right and left legs wanted to walk opposite ways—just horribly uncomfortable all around.
On the third day, at Aleksei’s earnest request to stay in bed, I decided to read some books. The strange, unfamiliar letters flowed easily before my eyes—it felt eerie, yet somehow natural. A bit dizzying at first, but I gradually got used to it.
Before I realized it, the dissonance between my two minds had vanished.

(*It was tiring, but adapting in three days is pretty fast, isn’t it?*)

Even so, the fusion mostly amounted to keeping the villainess’ speech style while the corporate-slave side dominated most of my personality. Well, it made sense—Rina had lived nearly twice as long, while Ekaterina’s life had been mostly confined and uneventful.
Thus was born; a corporate slave wearing the skin of a noble lady.

.

“Onii-sama, I’m sorry for worrying you. I’m completely fine now.”

On the morning of the fourth day, I smiled confidently at Aleksei, who came to visit. Naturally, he didn’t believe me—if anything, he looked even more concerned.

“No, you should rest again today. You fainted so many times. You’re delicate and frail, you can’t push yourself.”

He’s a tsundere. A real, old-school tsundere.
I’d once read that “tsundere” originally referred to someone who acted cold toward everyone but was lovey-dovey with one specific person. Don’t quote me on it.
Either way, Aleksei wasn’t “tsun” toward Ekaterina at all—he is pure “dere.”
A life where a super cool, stoic beauty only ever doted on you with absolute devotion… too good to be true.

“I truly am fine. I feel more refreshed than I ever have in my life—as if I’ve been reborn! And besides, there’s an important reason I can’t just stay in bed.”

Ekaterina straightened her expression, serious now.

“Onii-sama, there’s less than a month until I enroll in the academy, correct? But… I have *far too little* academic knowledge!”

*Boom!*
That’s right. Until half a year ago, *Ekaterina* had been under house arrest and received no proper education as a noblewoman.
Most noble families started tutoring their children around the age of five. But I’d been left neglected until fourteen. I vaguely recalled Mother trying to hire tutors for me, but the plan must’ve been sabotaged. Probably by that awful old hag of a grandmother who hated everything her daughter-in-law did. Thanks a lot, you meddling old bat—can’t exactly undo that damage now, can we?
Mother had taught me what she could, but there had been no real teaching materials, and later she’d fallen bedridden. Aleksei had arranged tutors for me six months ago, but I’d been in my rebellious phase then and refused to study at all. There was no way I could keep up with academy classes at this rate.

“You must have been worried about that, Onii-sama. That’s why you brought me to the capital a month early, isn’t it?”
“…Yes, but your health matters far more. Don’t worry about your grade, I’ll handle it somehow.”

Whoa, whoa, whoa.
So the Ekaterina from the otome game had been coasting on her duke family’s power, huh…

“But I truly want to study! The history book you lent me yesterday was so fascinating.”

That part is genuine, so I could say it sincerely. Besides, in my previous life, I had actually been a bit of a history buff before joining the workforce. Well—more of a casual history-fiction fan than a serious scholar, but still. The book I read was genuinely interesting, and it made me want to learn more.

“Not to mention, I’ve found something I want to do. And to do it, there is a lot I need to learn.”
“Oh? And what is it you want to do?”
“I want to study hard, learn about law and everything else… so I can help you with your work, Onii-sama.”

That must’ve come as quite the surprise; Aleksei’s eyes opened wide.

Back in my old world, when I learned that Aleksei was already a duke at seventeen, my genuine reaction was “Huh.”
But now…now that I’d seen it firsthand these past three days, I should have known that—
*Being a duke is insanely demanding!*
In modern terms, it was like being both a trading company president and a prefectural governor *at the same freaking time*!

Even though Aleksei had been staying by my side as much as possible, there was a constant flood of documents, petitions, and requests for approval chasing after him.
From what I overheard, the topics ranged from mining output in the ducal territory (*wow, they even have mines!*) to tax exemptions after a landslide in some village, to formal complaints about the poor quality of imported foodstuffs, amongst other things.

The one that caught my ear the most was a report about a massive dragon appearing in the forests of our domain, preventing workers from logging four-hundred-year-old black-dragon cedars that have been specially ordered. They were preparing to send delay notices to clients and requesting additional security budgets.
“A dragon appeared” is such a fantasy phrase, and yet “please sign the delay report” is so grounded. This is all so surreal…

Anyway, that goes without saying that Aleksei is *absurdly* busy.
And yet, this guy! He handled it all!

He seemed to have every detail of our domain memorized: village names, geography, products, population—everything, instantly.

Not just knowledge, but competence. He issued orders smoothly, managed countless problems, processed paperwork, and oversaw a massive operation with perfect control.
What a man! To be this capable at seventeen—Actually, isn’t this basically cheat-level genius?
I recall a story about Uesugi Yōzan, a legendary Japanese feudal lord from the Edo period who’d become a wise ruler at a similar age. Aleksei could probably rival him.

And that’s when my corporate slave instincts kicked in.
Is it just me… or is he setting up an Overworked Flag?
I mean, it’s just the nature of the world that the more capable someone is, the more work piles up on them!

I vowed to break every Doom Flag, but now I’m staring straight at the Overworked Flag (aka the Last Boss).
NOO!!
How do I even break this one!? This one’s tougher than the doom flag!

And that’s why I told him “I want to help with your work.”
Well, Aleksei only gives me a warm smile back, of course. …Yeah, he’s not taking me seriously. I figured.

“You’re such a kind girl, Ekaterina. You don’t need to worry about my work.”
“Yes, well, first I’ll aim for average academic ability, at least.”

Well, *this* Ekaterina won’t back down by your words.

“I promise not to overexert myself. So please, Onii-sama, find me a good tutor. …I’m truly afraid to start school like this. Please?”

Tilting my head cutely, I pleaded like an adorable little sister. Naturally, my siscon brother melted instantly and agreed to hire a private tutor starting tomorrow. *Yes!*

…Honestly, Onii-chan’s probably the only one who’d melt from a villainess acting cutesy like this. …I’d better not try that on anyone else, it might seriously creep them out.
Anyway! Starting tomorrow, time to work hard… and become a normal person!