Familiar Yet Strange

“……😐”

“……😕”

“……😃”

“……😐”

Ellie stood in front of the mirror, constantly changing the expressions on her face.

When she had no expression, the reflection in the mirror also became expressionless.

When she showed a smiling face, the girl in the mirror would likewise display the gentle, standard smile of a noble lady.

But in the end, like an illusion that lasted only for an instant, once Ellie withdrew that gentle smile from her face, the air around her seemed to grow a few degrees colder.

When facing other people, she would always smile, but when she was alone, she would always let the corners of her mouth fall in weariness like this.

Golden long hair, pink eyes — everything seemed the same as before.

Eric in the past also had this appearance, only now that face had become that of a woman, making everything look softer.

Ellie’s face was a cute doll-like face, the kind that made people want to pinch it a couple of times.

Her features were delicate and well-behaved, making her look like an obedient, adorable girl.

But perhaps precisely because of this, when Ellie revealed a vicious expression, the contrast on her face became extremely strong.

It gave off even more of a “villain” feeling than Eric back then.

After all, when someone who originally looked harmless suddenly turned into an evil antagonist, anyone would gasp in shock.

It was like someone who had carefully performed their role for an entire lifetime finally tearing off their mask.

“……”

Thinking of this, Ellie subconsciously reached out and touched the person in the mirror.

She touched this blonde girl she had not yet fully grown accustomed to, until her fingertips met the cold hardness of the floor-length mirror.

Only then did she pull her hand back, touching her own cheek instead, touching this truly “living person.”

How many times had she reminded herself of this by now?

That she was now “Ellie,” not that “Eric.”

She should not be hindered by those things from the past, but should instead face her present life.

When she faced Solor, this sense of unreality had already burst forth.

After all, her brother could not possibly talk to her like that, nor could he possibly give her candy.

So by Solor’s side, she could clearly feel that sense of unfamiliarity.

That feeling that she did not truly belong to this world, and that this was a completely new world for her.

But—

“—👊🏻😠！”

Bang!!

When the image of the knight commander she had seen that day flashed through her mind — the face of the man named Agmad, along with the words he had spoken — she still felt extremely unwilling.

Even now, when she recalled the happiness he had accidentally revealed while talking about Evelia, she directly punched the mirror in front of her.

“……👊🏻😠……✊🏻😡……👋🏻😫Ugh……！”

The flush of heat rushing to her face was not because her anger had reached its peak.

It was because this weak body, after punching the mirror, found that the mirror was completely unharmed, while she herself was left in pain.

Because of this pain, her slender, pale fist instantly turned red.

Along with it, her entire face flushed red, and even a thin layer of sweat appeared on her forehead.

As for the end result, of course, it was a muffled groan of pain.

Her pride would not allow her to cry out loudly.

She was afraid of disturbing the maids waiting outside the door, and even more afraid of them shouting things like “Something happened to Her Highness again!” and running to complain to Solor.

So she could only, like an action movie actor, rapidly shake her aching fist as she returned to the bed.

She vented her frustration against the soft pillow for a while, but in the end still sat there rubbing her wrist for a long time.

She worried that this fragile body might leave behind some redness or swelling, which would only cause Solor to tighten his control over her even more.

As for this so-called control…

It was nothing more than the maids around her reporting everything she did to Solor every day.

This reminded her of the past, when during the struggle for the throne she would constantly send spies to monitor Solor.

Now, however, this situation seemed to be nothing more than simple concern.

Although being watched did not feel very good, once she thought that this was her imperial brother’s concern for her, her mood eased quite a bit.

Even so, she still wanted to go out for a walk.

A few days ago, she and Solor had agreed to take a casual stroll in the back garden.

But because she ran into that guy Agmad, an entire day of good mood was ruined.

After that, Solor probably still cared about Ellie’s mood, so he found her and talked to her once.

However, he had no idea about the “love and hatred” from her past life involving the personal guard by his side.

He truly thought Ellie had taken a liking to this guy who was about to get married.

In order to prevent her from doing something wrong, he kept trying to counsel her.

As a result, Ellie could only keep a polite smile plastered on her face and say things like “I understand, rest assured, Brother.”

Meanwhile, her heart was being torn apart and crushed over and over by Solor’s repeated lines of “Agmad is going to marry Miss Evelia.”

It was as if her heart had been torn open, minced, marinated, sprinkled with breadcrumbs, thrown into hot oil, drenched in sauce, paired with soda, and swallowed in one bite.

Still, Ellie’s expression and attitude were handled quite well, which put Solor somewhat at ease.

In the following days, he did not come again.

Sometimes, Ellie would even look forward to whether this imperial brother, different from the one in her original world, might think of something interesting and come to see her again.

But every time there was a knock on the door, the person on the other side was always a maid.

They would ask whether it was time to eat, or whether she wanted to go to the garden to admire the flowers.

In Ellie’s impression, Solor was a gentle older brother.

But this brother who cared so deeply about her did not come to see her very often.

This was only natural.

As the crown prince, his level of busyness far exceeded imagination.

Back then, it was precisely because Solor was sometimes so busy that he could barely manage himself that she had the chance to interfere and cause trouble for the crown prince’s political career.

—Sigh, forget it.

Even without him, she could still go out.

When she wanted to go out, she would go out.

There was no need to care about his invitation.

Her legs were attached to her own body, after all — it was not like she was in a wheelchair and needed Solor to push her out.

So she had her maids simply help her with her grooming.

This feeling was a bit novel, but experiencing it once or twice was enough.

After too many times, the time spent fixing her hair really became irritating.

She even started thinking about whether she should just cut her hair short, back to its previous length.

After dressing up, Ellie headed toward the palace’s back garden.

Just as she had expected, even if she was only going to look at flowers, there was still a line of maids following behind her, terrified that something might happen to her.

She walked slowly at the front, while the maids followed behind with quick, small steps.

She could have found a way to shake them off.

But after thinking about it, she realized that if they lost track of her, it might only cause trouble for her brother.

So Ellie gave up on that idea and simply walked silently along the stone path of the garden.

She seemed to be searching for something.

Perhaps places similar to those in her memories, or perhaps people who felt familiar.

But when she reached a corner of the garden, she discovered that this world did not have the dog hole she and Solor had once dug together to skip classes.

Was it because they had no need to skip classes?

Or was it that, when they were young, they never had the chance to play like that?

My brother, the one who was the “sole heir,” must have had an extremely difficult childhood.

“—Your Highness the Princess.”

Just as Ellie was staring blankly at the intact garden wall, a somewhat unfamiliar yet oddly familiar voice suddenly reached her ears.

She subconsciously turned her head.

Following the direction of the wind, she saw a girl wearing a white long dress.

“……”

When that head of pink long hair entered her field of vision, her pupils shrank instinctively, and her breathing trembled.

Pink long hair, golden eyes, an outstanding figure, delicate features — standing before her was a perfectly flawless girl.

A girl named “Evelia.”

That was her “Scarlet Crow”… at least, it once was.

“Scar—”

“I heard from my Agmad that you wished to see me?”

“……”

With that single sentence from Evelia, Ellie’s heart, which had been excited halfway, was extinguished as if doused with a bucket of cold water.

“Can you not mention that guy, and also stop calling him ‘your Agmad’?”

“But he really is my—”

“How have you not changed at all? I really can’t stand you.”

My Scarlet Crow.

Even in a new world.

Your emotional intelligence is still this bad.

It’s all that bastard Yarman’s fault… that bastard Agmad!