Chapter 64: Commoners with Commoners! Nobles with nobles! That’s the Rightful Order of this World!

“Then, Ria. I’ll be back tomorrow, so make sure to get plenty of rest.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you….”

Lin waved brightly as she disappeared beyond the door.

Ria, who had just been brought back to life, bowed deeply in farewell.

Ever since Sarah had willingly returned the body to Ria, their relationship had changed significantly.

Of course it had.

The one moving the body had changed.

They were practically strangers meeting for the first time, yet Lin cared for Ria with such sincerity and tenderness.

‘She’s… such a kind person…’

Just a mere country girl.

When Ria first realized that the noble daughter of the Rosegarden family herself was personally tending to her, she had been at a complete loss.

But as time passed, Lin and Ria gradually grew closer.

Ria was nothing more than the daughter of a backwoods farmer from the southern provinces of the Empire.

And yet, this sweet, adorable, and beautiful young lady came to see her every single day.

That alone made her feel happy.

Of course, there were moments of anxiety too.

But that fear wasn’t about Lin as a person—it was about the intimidating label of ‘noble.’

Yes.

No matter how kind Lin was, nobles and commoners couldn’t truly be friends.

Just look.

Even Heine, who was always glued to Lin’s side, would shoot jealous glares whenever Lin and Ria laughed together.

At the same time, Ria couldn’t help but wonder.

‘Why is Lady Lin being so kind to someone like me, just an ordinary farm girl…?’

It was a pure and honest question.

Unlike Lin, who knew everything about Ria, Ria herself was naturally full of questions.

More than anything, she was curious.

Why was she, of all people, recovering in a dreamlike flower field?

What about her father? Her mother?

The farthest she had ever been from home was a neighboring village on an errand with her dad.

She didn’t even know that this land beneath her feet wasn’t part of the Empire’s mainland, but a distant colony across the sea.

[“You don’t… remember anything?”]

[“No… No matter how hard I try, all I can recall is feeding the cows and milking them like always. What… what happened to me…?”]

[“…Right now, your stability is the most important thing. You don’t have to try to remember anything.”]

The reason was simple.

One of the side effects of resurrection magic was short-term memory loss.

It sounded serious, but not remembering one’s death was surprisingly common.

Even a few bottles of alcohol could wipe an entire night from memory—how much more so with death?

In fact, remembering everything vividly would be more unusual.

If she couldn’t remember it,

Then it was better that way—at least until her body fully recovered.

That was the conclusion Lin had come to at the time.

After all, she couldn’t do anything while bedridden.

If emotional distress piled on top of physical weakness, she’d never recover properly.

Click.

The door to the sunflower field villa creaked open.

It was the place Lin had generously offered for Ria’s recovery.

Sunflowers stretched endlessly beyond the horizon.

No matter how many times she saw it, the breathtaking view always brought a smile to Ria’s face.

“Ah.”

At that moment, Cain was approaching the villa.

He froze for a second when the door suddenly opened and Ria appeared.

Just like Lin, he had known Ria one-sidedly.

So when their eyes suddenly met, he was still wondering how to start the conversation.

“…So it’s you.”

Ria spoke first.

Her tone made it sound as if she already knew who he was.

“You’re the one who saved me.”

A faint smile touched her lips.

A warning message flashed across Cain’s vision like a lens overlaying his eyes.

It was because Ria’s innate ability to inspire affection had been classified as a type of charm skill.

But Cain didn’t think much of it.

If anything, he finally understood why Ria, the protagonist in the original story, had so effortlessly won people’s hearts.

He dismissed the warning window in his mind and was just about to speak.

“Lady Lin?”

Ria’s gaze shifted to a spot behind Cain.

Turning around, he saw her—his fellow reincarnator—scratching the back of her head sheepishly as she walked over.

“Sorry, Ria. I totally forgot today was spirit-sensitivity training day…”

“Oh, I see…!”

There were many reasons Lin had created this sunflower field.

But one of them was that it was the perfect location to practice spirit magic.

And just as expected,

Practicing spirit sensitivity with Lin in the sunflower field had become part of their daily routine.

“Huh? You’re here too?”

Lin leaned her head forward, finally noticing Cain.

But that didn’t last long.

As if she no longer cared, Lin headed straight into the villa.

“I’m getting changed, so keep a hundred meters away. If not, I’ll have you executed.”

She poked her head out from behind the wooden door and flicked her hand like she was shooing away a bug. Cain stared, dumbfounded.

“She’s getting changed indoors anyway, what difference does it make…?”

“I can see exactly what you’re thinking, you know? Turn around, now. And if you try peeking with your status window’s X-ray mode, I’ll actually have you executed this time.”

“…!?”

“Status… window? What’s that?”

Lin hastily brushed off Lia’s puzzled tilt of the head and yanked her inside.

Then, without a word, she sent Cain an unmistakable turn around right now message with her eyes.

Cain turned his back as instructed, all the while wondering:

How did she know about that? I never even told her.

More than just casually dropping “status window” in front of Lia—how on earth did she know his status window even had an X-ray function?

Well… it wasn’t like he could hide it.

Unlike typical possessors, Cain had once wondered if he could exploit the semi-transparency of the status window somehow.

It led him to a major revelation: the window itself was just another skill.

Naturally, it became the first thing he upgraded.

And the result?

His status window now worked like a lens overlaying his vision—capable of seeing through walls, enabling night vision, and even tracking the flow of mana inside someone’s body.

Of course, most of those abilities drained enormous energy and couldn’t be used constantly. Only the night vision function was viable for regular use.

Still, being able to scan and observe people in real time was a huge advantage in itself.

“Ooh? Your eyes are wandering.”

“……”

Dinavel, stationed nearby to ensure Cain really had turned around, narrowed her eyes and sparked her fingers with electricity.

Right in front of Cain’s face.

BANG!

The door to the villa burst open a moment later.

Finally, Cain got his chance to speak with Lia.

He turned back around.

“…You’re still here?”

And there they were—Lin and Lia, standing together in white dresses and straw hats.

Two thirteen-year-old girls laughing barefoot in a sunflower field, water droplets flying everywhere. Was that really something he wanted to see that badly?

Lin’s gaze was sharp and accusing.

Cain could only sigh at her expression that seemed to say, How pathetic.

“…You were a guy in your past life, for crying out loud.”

If it had been Lia, maybe.

But Lin? No way.

Sure, her outward appearance was adorable—he could admit that.

But inside, she was the same as him.

A former guy.

That thought made it feel like he’d just walked in on his own sister fresh out of the bath.

Cain looked at Lin and felt as if she were a filthy, wriggling fish that had just been dragged out of the sea.

“…You look good, Lia.”

“Wh-What!?”

“I was worried, but… I’m glad to see you looking well.”

Ignoring Lin like she was invisible, Cain smiled softly at Lia.

Now that he’d confirmed she was safe and healthy, he turned away without the slightest hesitation.

“…Ah. W-Wait!”

“…?”

Lia hurried after him, calling out to stop him.

She still didn’t know the full story yet—but she knew one thing for sure.

Cain had saved her.

“Th-Thank you…”

Cain responded to her thanks with a small smile.

Had she possessed a status window of her own, it might’ve flashed a WARNING:

romantic feelings detected message.

With the expression of a girl thoroughly smitten, Lia stared at his retreating back until he disappeared.

“Well, now that the perverted third wheel is out of the way… let’s get back to playing!”

Right beside her, Lin was still barefoot in the dirt, grinning brightly as if nothing had happened.

In the middle of the sunflower field, innocent laughter bloomed.

There were no ranks or hierarchies here—just two girls playing freely with the spirits.

Among them, one girl had fallen in love.

She cast a meaningful glance at the other.

“…Lord Cain. You seemed quite close to Lady Lin.”

Lia still didn’t realize Cain was a commoner like her.

With his suspiciously good looks—the kind that seemed plotted out—she’d just assumed he was a noble, like Lin.

That platinum-blonde hair, glowing like it was woven from sunlight itself.

Those eyes, as clear and green as a hidden forest lake.

And that long, gently waving hair like ripples on calm water.

Laughing in the middle of a tiny rainbow, that girl before her looked like a fairy-tale princess straight out of the bedtime stories her grandmother used to read.

“And… that size…”

Lia’s gaze dropped ever so slightly.

Her own face might have been a little ordinary—well, not that ordinary—but at least she’d been confident about her chest.

At thirteen, just entering puberty, it was natural for comparisons to arise.

And what she saw before her gave rise to a small inferiority complex.

That soft, bouncing proof of growth gave her a strange, unwelcome sense of defeat.

Something that whispered, You’ll never be able to beat this overly sweet noble lady.

“Um… Lady Lin?”

“Yes? What is it?”

Not splashing in water this time—but enjoying a light tea time after spirit-sensing training.

Lia hesitated, glanced at Lin, then cautiously asked a question.

“L-Lady Lin… are you and Lord Cain… dating, perhaps?”

“Pffft!!”

Before the question had even fully left her lips, Lin spit out her tea in shock.

Thankfully, she managed to turn her head in time.

Disaster averted.

But she hadn’t expected that question at all, and now she was coughing violently.

“Th-That’s… certainly an interesting question.”

And then, someone spoke in her place.

Michael had appeared out of nowhere, calmly wiping away the tea that had sprayed him in the face.

“…Who are you?”

“I’m Lin’s fiancé.”

“F-Fiancé!?”

Lia flinched at Michael’s answer.

Engaged… at thirteen?

It wasn’t unusual for nobles, but for Lia—a commoner—it felt like something out of an entirely different world.

Startled, she looked back and forth between Lin and Mikhail.

“I-I’m so sorry…!”

What was I even saying to someone who already has a fiancé!?

Realizing how terribly rude she’d been, she quickly bowed her head.

“Cain is a commoner,” Michael said coolly.

“As a playmate, perhaps. But don’t you think it’s unthinkable that Lin would choose a stray mutt like that over someone like me—the imperial prince?”

Cough! Cough!

“Wait, hold on—Michael, when did you even get here? And more importantly, aren’t you… kind of angry right now?”

“Heh. Who knows? What do you think?”

“A-An A-A-An imperial…?”

Lia broke into a cold sweat the moment she realized the truth.

Lin had a fiancé—and that fiancé was none other than a prince of the empire.

“Ahhh…! Michael, look what you’ve done! You broke my poor Lia!”

“I-I-I-I-I’m sorry…! Please spare my life…!”

“My precious fiancée worked so hard to save her. Wouldn’t killing her now make it all meaningless?”

“Th-th-th-th-that is…”

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you!?”

And so—

Caught between Lin and Mikhail, Lia trembled helplessly.

Later, after the two had left, she lay curled up on the soft bed inside the villa.

“…So Lord Cain… wasn’t a noble after all.”

She stared up at the ceiling, his face painted clearly in her mind.