Not sorry

Not sorry

After throwing Rumi on the bed, she made a somewhat silly laughing sound and said to me.

“Hehehe… This reminds me of when Deren pounced on me.”

“……”

She’s laughing about it now, but it must have been quite difficult for her at the time.

I looked at Rumi, who was staring at me intently, and sighed before saying.

“That was just a simple mistake back then.”

“A mistake? It seemed pretty serious to be called a mistake.”

“……”

Since I had nothing else to say about that incident, I kept my mouth shut.

Rumi loosened her front a bit more and said to me.

“That mistake… Won’t you make it again?”

Deren thought to himself that he was getting a headache from the constant temptations as he spoke.

“I have no intention of making any more mistakes, nor do I plan to, so leave immediately.”

“……”

At those words, Rumi gave him a very sulky look, then quickly buttoned up her clothes and said.

“Deren is too uptight.”

“It’s not being uptight, this is normal.”

“I don’t understand.”

Rumi, with an expression that anyone could see was gloomy, got up from the bed.

As I had said earlier, she was about to leave, looking crumpled.

As I watched Rumi’s retreating figure, I suddenly remembered the words from the Illusion Library about ‘a fake hero who exists to be sacrificed in place of others’.

Unconsciously, I called out to Rumi.

“Rumi.”

“… Yes?”

Even though she had been looking sulky just moments ago.

As soon as I called her, she responded brightly and stared at me.

I inwardly chuckled at Rumi’s reaction, then slowly beckoned her with my hand.

“Come here for a moment.”

“… Huh? Okay.”

Rumi seemed confused but pleased that I suddenly called her.

She scurried over to me, just like when she first approached me.

I looked at Rumi for a moment, pondering, then slowly patted her head and spoke.

“You don’t have to try so hard. I won’t abandon you, so don’t worry.

“……”

She looked at me with wide eyes, as if she hadn’t expected me to say such a thing.

Then she started nodding with a blank expression.

I was about to let go of Rumi, thinking that this should be enough.

“Deren… are you really going to die?”

Rumi suddenly brings up the topic of the will.

Not knowing what to say, I momentarily close my mouth.

Rumi stares at me blankly and slowly continues speaking.

“… Can’t you at least tell me why you’re dying?”

For a moment, I thought about making excuses, mentioning some kind of illness.

‘But such excuses would obviously be discovered sooner or later.’

Thinking it would be better to be honest rather than postponing the problem and letting it fester.

After much hesitation and deliberation, I slowly told her the truth.

“There are parts in the contents of the will that are not true.”

“There are parts that aren’t true…?”

“Yes. It’s written that I’ll die, but I won’t die. I’ll just disappear.”

“… What?”

From Rumi’s perspective, it must have sounded like nonsense, as she just blinked with a blank expression.

I looked at Rumi like that and opened my mouth again.

“… It means exactly what I said. I’m not dying, I’m disappearing from this world. Of course, I can’t be certain if I’ll really disappear, so there’s a chance I might not.”

“……”

Rumi looks at me with a confused expression, seemingly unable to make sense of the somewhat complicated situation.

I smile at Rumi’s reaction and slowly continue speaking.

“Rumi, do you know what possession is?”

“Possession…? I’m not sure.”

“Possession means when one person enters another person’s body.”

“Y-yes.”

Rumi looked at me with eyes that seemed to question why I was suddenly talking about this.

I told Rumi the truth directly.

“I am not this Deren. To be more precise, I am a person from another dimension who has entered Deren’s body.”

“……?”

I inwardly smiled as I watched Rumi’s expression gradually become more dumbfounded.

*

It didn’t take as long as I expected to make Rumi understand.

From the beginning, it seemed that Rumi didn’t care much whether I was the real Deren or not.

‘Actually, it seems she might even prefer that I’m not the real Deren.’

Come to think of it, Deren and Rumi’s first meeting was the worst.

She might have been even more pleased to learn that I wasn’t responsible for that worst encounter.

Anyway, while she might not have fully grasped the situation, she seemed to understand the context, as she was now looking at me with a much-improved expression compared to earlier.

“Dimension… travel? Possession? I don’t really understand, but… anyway, you wrote that will because you might be able to return to your original world, right?”

“You understand perfectly.”

“And your real body? From Earth? Was found in the Illusion Library, so you’re not sure if you can actually go back, right?”

To convince and help her understand, I showed her the real body.

Rumi explains more clearly and tells me what she understood.

I lean back in my chair, thinking this will prevent unnecessary misunderstandings, when Rumi speaks to me with a rather serious expression.

“Deren… There’s one big problem.”

“What is it?”

“Deren’s child… which Deren should we make it with…?”

The statement was so shocking that my mind froze for a moment, and I could only respond blankly.

“… What?”

“Well, you see. I’m going to have Deren’s child. So someday, with Deren, we’ll…”

She seems to know that saying such things is embarrassing.

With a bright red face, she asks the question in a gradually shrinking voice.

As I’m thinking that such words are making my head spin, Luna, who was in my arms, speaks as if it’s obvious.

[Umm! I think it’s right to do it with the original master! After all, the current master’s body is Deren, not the master, no matter what!]

“Is that so?”

[Yup!]

Hearing this, Rumi seems to have made up her mind and stares at me intently as she speaks.

“Um, Deren…”

“What is it?”

“That Deren’s original body… could you lend it to me?”

“……”

“I-I’ll just use it for a bit and give it right back! I’ll return it clean, so please lend it to me!”

[That’s right, that’s right. It’s not like it’ll wear out from lending it. Or will it? I’m not sure, but I think it’s good to lend it!]

I thought about the two blockheads in front.

I spoke, thinking that the moment I heard Rumi and Luna’s words, an intense headache would come.

“… Get out.”

“What?”

“Both of you. Get out right now.”

With those final words, I handed Luna over to Rumi and forcibly pushed them out of the room, then took a deep breath.

‘Pairing Rumi with Luna was a bad move no matter how I think about it.’

I sighed, thinking it was the worst decision to pair an already unstable person with a parrot.

‘But well… Thanks to that, she changed her mind.’

It shouldn’t be all bad… Probably.

I decided to make sure to tell them not to say such things anytime soon, while squeezing my eyes shut.

Someone starts knocking on the door carefully.

“Come in.”

With my permission, Delia enters.

It seems she heard something before coming here, as she’s looking at me with a somewhat pouty expression.

Wondering why, I ask her what’s wrong.

“I heard something while walking in the hallway earlier. Deren, did you do it with Rumi?”

“… What? What nonsense… No, ugh.”

Now too tired to answer, I close my mouth.

Delia seems to catch on and relaxes her expression, then speaks to me with an awkward smile.

“… I see. I’m sorry for misunderstanding.”

As I was sighing, thinking that it was good enough that she understood, even if it was late.

Delia approached me and slowly opened her mouth.

“Hey. There’s something I want to ask.”

“What is it?”

“What’s that corpse-like thing next to you?”

Ah, come to think of it, I hadn’t put my main body away.

Another sigh escaped me at this obvious mistake.

‘I would have had to talk about it eventually anyway.’

Deciding to just explain it now, I told her everything about my main body.

After hearing all of that, Delia laughed for a while and then said to me.

“Deren, your jokes have improved.”

“Does it sound like a joke?”

“… Huh? It is a joke. There’s no way that could be true.”

It seems Delia simply couldn’t believe what I had said.

I reluctantly decided to explain it further later to make her understand, and was about to put my main body away when.

Delia stopped my action and said.

“Wait a moment.”

“What is it?”

“No, I just thought of something. If this main body is really you… doesn’t that mean if someone somehow gets hold of this main body, it’s like they’ve got half of you?”

“What?”

“Even if I can’t be the official wife, if I have half of the body, I’ll be a concubine but not a concubine, so I might become more like a real power… no, like a hidden official wife in the concept of a shadow mastermind.”

It seems that some rather strange content was mixed into the novels I read in my childhood.

She starts muttering incomprehensible words and convincing herself.

Watching Delia like this, I felt that if I left her alone, she might cause some problems, so I chased her out as well.