I Favor the Villainess Chapter 194

Published at 29th of October 2020 11:24:37 AM

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“―― And that’s what happened.”
“Ehh? I want to see Joel as a woman too!”
“I’m not particularly interested in it.”

We were currently in a room at a government office in the Empire.
Lana, Eve and I were here for an errand.

“So has he―― I mean, she returned to Bauer already?”
“Yep.”

After the transition, Joel didn’t run into any unforeseen circumstances, and she had quickly gotten used to her new body.
Since the due date for her deportation was drawing nearer, Joel had left the Empire and returned to Bauer.
In the end, we never needed to use the Tears of the Moon.
‘I should probably return this soon,’ I thought to myself as I fiddled with the ring in my pocket.

“Joel’s a little bit shy about it, so it was better for her not to meet with everybody.”
“She’s too reserved―”
“……”

It seemed that Lana had wanted to see Joel off properly, while Eve didn’t care about it at all.

“Did Joel become a beautiful woman?”
“Yep. I bet if you ever run into her when we’re back in Bauer, you’d be shocked.”
“Is that so―? Yay, I can’t wait to see her again―!”
“…… It doesn’t matter to me.”

In comparison to Lana, who was wiggling her body around in excitement, Eve’s attitude seemed cold through and through.
Eve heaved a sigh before she continued.

“…… Your hands have stopped moving. I won’t tell you to stop with your conversation, but if we don’t hurry up and finish this, we’ll never be able to head back.”
“Ah, sorry, Eve.”
“Sorry~!”

We were currently preparing the documents and materials for the upcoming summit involving the four countries.
We were collecting data about the Empire for the leaders of Bauer.
Since this was an Imperial facility, a lot of the materials were not made available for foreigners like us to view, but we could still make use out of the few documents that we had access to.

For example, we could see the latest versions of the announcements that the Empire likes to send out to other countries, detailing how the Empire is expanding its national power.
Since this world didn’t have internet, they relied on sending out letters.
As a result, there was a time lag when it came to receiving this sort of information.
Of course, the staff members that were dispatched from Bauer have looked deeply into the information, but it wasn’t as new and fresh.
So for the sake of keeping up-to-date, we were here to collect the newest information.

“But I’m already finished with my part, you know?”
“You’re quite fast, Lana. I’ll need a bit more time. What about you, Eve?”
“…… I’ll also need a little more time.”

Surprisingly, Lana was fast in finishing her work.
She wasn’t all that great with studying, but it seemed that she was strong when it came to clerical work.

“By the way, I see that Claire-sama isn’t with you today?”

Lana said with a smile as she remembered it.

“Yeah. Claire-sama went to go pick up an important government dignitary. She’s with Dor-sama right now.”
“Eh? In that case, who’s watching over Mei-chan and Alechan right now?”
“They’re watching the house alone. The two of them are more than capable of doing that.”

That being said, it didn’t mean that I felt completely at ease, leaving things to those two.
The two of them were usually at kindergarten, and even on the days when we weren’t home, Dor-sama would be the one watching over them.
Today was the first day in a while where Mei and Alea had to stay home by themselves.

“Is that really okay?”
“It’s not like I’m not worried at all, but they’ll probably be fine. They’re both really capable kids.”
“…… Even though their mother is like this.”

As usual, Eve was harsh towards me.

“In that case, should I head back to the dorm first and watch over Mei-chan and Alechan?”
“Eh?”
“I’m already finished with my part, and no matter how much you insist that Mei-chan and Alechan are fine, you’re still worried, aren’t you?”
“Well, it would be a big help.”

Lana was already acquainted with Mei and Alea.
Lana frequently came over to our room to play―― or at least, that was her underhanded way of trying to approach me―― so even the shy pair of twins had become completely open with Lana.

“You don’t need to hold back. We’re already quite close, aren’t we, sensei?”
“What kind of ‘closeness’ are we talking about?”
“……. Indecent.”

Lana laughed at me while teasing me while Eve shot a cold gaze in my direction.
Hang on, I didn’t do anything wrong here, you know?

“Anyway, can I leave it to you? Once I’m finished with the work here, I’ll hurry and head back right away.”
“Yep, got it. Ahh, well, since this is a good opportunity and all, why don’t you guys try to clear the air between you two?”
“…… Lana, don’t say such unnecessary things.”
“Ahh, I see.”

Lana was most likely referring to the fact that Eve had a one-sided hatred towards me.

“It’s not unnecessary, is it? It’s been months since you two met, and even now, you both are still so harsh to each other. I can’t stand to see it.”
“It’s not like I hate Eve or anything, though?”
“……! That’s exactly why I――!”
“Okay, okay, Eve, let’s stop there.”

Lana tried to soothe Eve, who had stopped with her work to glare at me.
It was kind of a strange sight.
I thought Lana was nothing but frivolous and a gyaru through and through, but she was quite adultlike when it came to Eve.
Perhaps there was much more to the Lana that I was so used to seeing all the time.

“Come on, Eve, you need to have an open discussion with her. It could just be like sensei said, and is probably nothing more than a misunderstanding.”
“It’s not a misunderstanding――”
“Even if that’s the case, you have to express what it is you’re so displeased about or why you want it to be this way. If you’re going to act all crabby like this by yourself, even sensei will be troubled by it, you know?”
“……”

Lana’s words put Eve to silence.
Most likely, she understood the logic behind it.
But her feelings were just slow to catch up.

“But anyway, I’m all done with my work.”
“Good work, Lana.”
“Thanks, sensei. Where’s my kiss of appreciation?”
“My lips are exclusively for Claire-sama.”
“Wow~, how stubborn~ But I love that about you―!”

Lana started wiggling her body around again.
Perhaps this was just another one of her acts.
But it also feels like this is just how she is.

“…… If you’re done fooling around, could you hurry up and leave?”
“Yeah, you’re right. In that case, I’ll leave you two to talk things out.”
“Got it. Thank you, Lana.”
“…… Hm.”
“No worries. Leave Mei-chan and Alechan to me. I’ll have them both call me ‘onee-chan’ by the end of today.”

Saying so, Lana waved goodbye at us as she left.

“She’s kind of like a typhoon, isn’t she?”
“Like you’re the one to talk.”
“Eh. Do you get that feeling about me too, Eve?”
“…… You two are no different from each other. You both like behaving as you please and consequentially, you end up roping the people around you in all the time. Lana is a natural airhead, but you do it intentionally, don’t you?”
“Eh―, I feel like there’s a misunderstanding here……”

Just why was Eve’s impression of me so poor anyway?

“Hey, don’t you think it’s about time we talked about it? Did I do anything to you, Eve? I heard from Lana that it’s because I stole your lover away from you, but no matter how much I wrap my head around it, nothing comes to mind at all.”
“…… Of course. The worst thing about you is that you have no self-awareness. I’m sure that person was fooled by you as well because of it.”

Eve’s hands stopped as she spoke.

“Even though that person said that they loved me, and that I was the only person they loved.”
“Was that person Lana’s lover or something? Or was it somebody else from Euclid?”

As the words came out of my mouth, another possibility crossed my mind.

“Could it be… That the person that Lana was referring to was Louis-san?”

Back in the base game of Revolution, Louis-san was in love with the protagonist, which meant that he liked me.
If the person that Eve liked was him, perhaps she blamed the fact that he never loved her on me.

However――

“Huh? Who’s that?”

Eve made a face that looked like she couldn’t understand what I had said.

“Eh, was I wrong?”
“You’re mistaken. And to begin with, that name belongs to a man, doesn’t it? I have no interest in men.”

Oh wow, she came out of the closet so boldly.

“In that case, who might she be then?”
“You still have no idea, huh…..”

Eve glared daggers of hatred into me as she said,

“My lover, who you took away me―― Her name is Manaria Soussama.”

Chapter end