X’d!

The place I arrived at after being grabbed by the collar by Charlotte and passing through the Dimensional Rift was none other than.

“Oh, so you like these cute little things?”

Charlotte’s dormitory room. I can see pink wallpaper and a table with various small dolls placed on it.

Charlotte, ignoring my words lightly, quickly closed the Dimensional Rift and said with a sigh.

“Now we should be safe from the assassin.”

Ah, she’s still misunderstanding. What should I do?

Honestly, I’d like to tease her a bit more in this state, but if I continue like this, I don’t think I’ll be able to handle the aftermath when the misunderstanding is cleared up later.

Yes, let’s quickly tell her it was a prank. Don’t unnecessarily make a big deal out of it.

“Um… Lady Cervantes? There’s something I’d like to tell you, if that’s alright?”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“That… Please don’t get angry when you hear this. No, of course, I absolutely don’t think the noble and merciful Lady Cervantes is a petty person who gets angry at everything, but just in case there’s room for misunderstanding…”

“It’s okay. I won’t get angry. Tell me quickly.”

That’s not right, there’s no way she won’t get angry.

“Actually, I was playing a prank. I’d like to apologize because it seems my small greed has caused Lady Cervantes to misunderstand.”

I hold my breath and carefully observe if her mana is moving. If the mana moved even a little, I was planning to immediately bow down and beg.

“Ah, that? I knew.”

She knew? Then why did she respond like that?

“You were the one who hit the back of my head, not an assassin. It doesn’t make sense in the first place, an assassin in the middle of Luin Academy. And even if there was an assassin, they wouldn’t play a prank like tapping the back of my head.”

Charlotte didn’t really get angry. Without getting excited at all, she spoke while making eye contact with me as if she knew everything.

“The ability you used to trick me was obtained from Merquin’s blessing, right?”

Those were beautiful golden eyes. But for some reason, today those eyes feel infinitely cold.

“What… What do you mean?”

“In short, I was playing along with you a bit. I needed an opportunity, and you created it directly, so there was no reason for me to refuse.”

“Opportunity? What do you mean by…”

“I mean an opportunity to bring you to my dormitory. Thank you. Thanks to you, I didn’t need to come up with some strange excuse to bring you here.”

Ah, so that’s what it was. I was momentarily deceived by Charlotte’s outward attitude and forgot what kind of person she was.

Charlotte, a possessed individual who has been possessed into Grand Fantasia and a calculating person who eliminates variables blocking her path by any means necessary.

“Listen well. I have no schedule for now. No one is here except you and me, and no one will come in from now on. We’ll be alone for a while.”

“…What are you trying to say?”

“Just, I’m telling you. That now is a perfect opportunity for you to express those feelings you usually have for me.”

Charlotte sat on her bed. Then, spreading her arms and revealing her white neck, she asked me.

“Well, what will you do? Will you pounce?”

Her provocative appearance despite her innocent looks.

‘…What is she plotting?’

Of course, that’s all a façade.

Based on what I’m sensing with Natural Mirror, Charlotte’s mana is circulating so quickly that it’s questionable whether it makes sense in common sense.

In other words, if she moves a finger now, numerous spells will rush towards me.

‘Aha.’

I understand now. Why she’s trying to seduce me.

The original Sion, the one I didn’t possess, was always in love with Charlotte.

That’s why when he became a Ma’in, he approached her more actively, and later, he eventually goes berserk, consumed by emotions somewhere between love and obsession.

Yes, if the original Sion were here right now, he would have rushed to her without any hesitation and unleashed his desires.

Charlotte is using that point.

To check whether I really lost my memory or am just pretending to have lost it, she deliberately pulled me to her dormitory and is openly trying to seduce me.

The fact that I pretended to have lost my memory would be decisive evidence that I am a Ma’in.

She’s truly cunning.

‘Yes, this is the kind of person she was.’

A person who does everything possible to look two steps ahead, that’s exactly who Charlotte is.

“Lady Cervantes? You don’t seem to be feeling well today. Shall I escort you to the infirmary?”

“…You really aren’t pouncing. Did you really lose your memory?”

“Is that what you were suspicious about, putting on this uncharacteristic show? It’s not like you, Lady Cervantes.”

Charlotte sighed and said.

“I’m just very suspicious by nature. I’m sorry. You really aren’t, huh.”

“I don’t understand at all what you mean by ‘aren’t,’ but are you making fun of me?”

“It’s something like that. Don’t worry about it.”

“By the way, I was really surprised. May I go around boasting about what happened today? I think all the male students would be envious of Lady Cervantes’ seduction!”

“Would that be okay? Just try talking about it. I’ll send you up into the sky with magic and drop you.”

She, who was more irritable than usual, got up from the bed with a hop and said. Her slightly pouting lips reflected her psychology.

“Aish, now the reason I set this up has disappeared.”

“Set up? Did you get something new and interesting?”

“Not something interesting. Just something a bit expensive.”

As she moved to the table and pushed aside a doll, a fist-sized white stone appeared.

Hmm, that looks familiar. Is it a misconception?

“Oho, it certainly looks expensive. Could it possibly be a gift for me?”

“Are you joking? Why would I give you a gift? Maybe if you gave one to me.”

“Haha, certainly, I can’t really imagine Lady Cervantes giving me a gift.”

“Does that mean you think I’m an unsociable person who doesn’t exchange gifts with others?”

“Wow, your deductive power is killer. Why don’t you aim to be a detective instead of a magician while you’re at it?”

Charlotte glared at me for a moment, then shifted her gaze and caressed the white stone.

‘Ah, I remember. That’s what it is.’

That’s quite a rare item called the ‘Proof of Innocence.’ The method of use is simple. You just need to infuse a small amount of mana into the stone, and it works automatically.

It’s an item that spreads a holy aura around and inflicts pain on evil beings, mainly used in quests to search for Ma’ins, demons, or black magicians.

‘Of course, it was a bit hard to obtain, so I couldn’t use it every playthrough. But how did she manage to get this from somewhere?’

The reason she got it is obvious. It must be to distinguish whether I’m a Ma’in or not.

Her effort is commendable, but it’s futile. After all, I’m not really a Ma’in.

“Hmm… But since I went to the trouble of getting it, it might be a bit wasteful not to use it?”

As she glanced back and forth between me and the stone for a moment, she subtly let her mana flow, and the Proof of Innocence reacted to the mana and began to emit a holy aura around.

And then.

“…Argh!”

Pain as if my insides were burning swept through my entire body.

As the holy aura seeped into my body, I felt as if my very foundation was being denied.

As if not allowing my approach to this space.

I can feel it clearly. I am now being rejected by that Proof of Innocence.

But, why? I’m not a Ma’in.

I know best myself that I’m not a Ma’in. After all, I killed Letios, who was supposed to corrupt me, in reverse.

Moreover, there’s clear evidence that I’m not a Ma’in.

‘If I were a Ma’in… my status would show “Ma’in-ized state.”‘

But no matter how hard I look, there’s no trace of ‘Ma’in-ized’ written in my status.

As I was confused by the questions filling my head, I heard Charlotte’s thinly trembling voice.

“You…”

Charlotte, looking at my face, murmured quietly. Only then did I realize that I had been making a pained expression.

Oh no, I forgot to manage my expression.

“What? Is there something on my face?”

I hurriedly smiled as usual and tilted my head, but it was too late.

“……”

She looked at me without saying anything.

There was no negative emotion like shock or a sense of betrayal reflected on her face.

“Right. Of course.”

Just a face as if she had given up on something.

“This cursed world just won’t let me be happy.”

I could tell what she had given up without her saying it.

This is bad. It seems Charlotte has completely regarded me as a Ma’in.

“Lady Cervantes. It seems you’re making a big misunderstanding.”

I tried to endure the pain with the power of the Deceiver trait and tried to calm her down, but there was no effect.

She quickly arranged her mana and opened a Dimensional Rift on the floor of the room on a large scale.

Naturally, as I didn’t have the ability to fly, I immediately fell into the Dimensional Rift.

“……!!”

I was falling from the high sky.