No, no, no. I must have made a mistake, I thought to myself. All the while staring fixedly at the woman.

   She had rich, wavy black hair. Almond-shaped amber eyes, strongly defined brows, and fine sculpted features. She had glossy red lips, and a beauty mark on the lower left side of her mouth. Her waistline was small, her bosom generous and her figure excellent. The high-collared dark blue dress she wore was simple, but it made her beauty stand out even more.

   Make no mistake—it was Miss Bianka.

   A little younger than when she appeared in the game, but definitely her in the flesh.

   I can’t possibly mistaken someone like her, but I didn’t remember Master Julius and Miss Bianka ever being acquainted with each other in the game…

   I dug through the faded memories from my past life.

   Bianka von Diebold.

   The eldest daughter of a viscount. I think she was 22 years old, a year older than Michael. She was a character who only appeared in Michael’s route, and she was very popular among the players for her frank personality and caring nature, and they respectfully called her “Miss Bianka.”

   I loved her character as well. She was really cool.

   In Michael’s route, even though she was puzzled about Michael’s transformation, she couldn’t find anything wrong. The Priestess saw the darkness inside him, and together with Bianka, she tried to find the truth… Otherwise known as the True Route.

   Throughout the route, the Priestess faced dangers and lost heart many times, but the one who protected and comforted her was always Miss Bianka.

   Hey, whose route is this supposed to be? I remember thinking.

   Well, I guess they didn’t really have a choice since the purpose was to search for Michael’s true ident.i.ty, but it was still pretty bad.

   The one who protected the Priestess when Michael gradually began to show his yandere nature was Miss Bianka.

   The one who scolded the Priestess for being scared of the truth, then held her close to comfort her was Miss Bianka.

   In fact, after crying into Miss Bianka’s chest for a while, the Priestess turned red and thanked her.

   Seriously, whose route did this belong to? I wanted to ask the developing team.

   To be honest, I couldn’t accept the final CG for this route. After they were met with so many trials, why was it only Michael and the Priestess in the end?

   Forget Michael, what about Miss Bianka? Where was Miss Bianka?!

   I wasn’t the only one who grieved:

   “I finished Bianka’s route and I’m not sure why Michael is in the CG.”

   “You talkin’ about Michael, the sister-in-law who intruded on the Yuri End with Miss Bianka?”

   “Holy s.h.i.+t, that’s scary.”

   “Was it a bug?”

   “Sorry to disappoint, but don’t hold out. The truth is… The hero of the True Route wasn’t Miss Bianka, it was Michael!”

   “(´・ω・`)(´・ω・`)(´・ω・`)w—WHAAAT?!”

   A bunch of skits like that popped up all over the net.

   They also had strange ways of praising the route. For example, “A character who stuck to not licking someone else’s boot? Sold!” or “I have nothing against how messed up this scenario went.”

   I mean, yeah, it was an otome game you played to win the love of a bunch of hot guys, but it was different because none of the love interests were the high point of the game. It was so different, however, no one else could compare.

   “Milady—”

   Absentminded, I didn’t hear him.

   “Miss Marie.”

   Sir Leonhard’s voice brought me back to my senses. I should have only been focusing on relevant information, but somewhere along the way I got sidetracked.

   “Huh?! Yes?!” I raised my head and looked at him. He was smiling wryly, and he indicated with gaze to look at… I met eyes with a peerless beauty.

   Inside, Miss Bianka was staring intently at me through the gla.s.s windows.

   When…did she get so close?

   And why was she looking at me with such sparkling eyes?

   After that, we were also noticed by Master Julius and went inside.

   This restaurant was run by an acquaintance of Master Julius. Since the hours of operation were at night, Master Julius borrowed it during the day for his discussions.

   We seated ourselves inside at a table and briefly introduced ourselves…but since I was traveling in secret, I introduced myself as Marie. The story we gave was: I was the daughter of Sir Leonhard’s friend. It wasn’t exactly a lie. You’d only have to accept the king and his commander as friends.

   “I’m sorry for calling uninvited.”

   “Not at all. Rather, I’m happy you came to see me,” said Master Julius with a smile.

   What a gentleman, I admired. He carefully looked away and muttered in a low voice that we had actually saved him.

   I wondered if it had something to do with Miss Bianka, who had been staring at me this entire time?

   Earlier she was so angry her brow arched, her anger plain to see; but now she was looking at me adoringly, her cheeks blushed prettily. She was so enticing I couldn’t meet her eyes. To be honest, it was hard to keep my eyes off her.

   “Say, Marie?”

   “Marie?”

   “Oops, I’m sorry. Was I too familiar?” she deflated sadly. I shook my head quickly.

   “N-not at all!”

   I liked it. It was different. Other than family, almost no one ever spoke to me without some form of honorific.

   “I was happy. Please, call me Marie.”

   “Really?”

   “Please.”

   “Okay, then you should call me Bianka.”

   “Bianka.”

   When I said her name, she looked very happy.

   In the game, she was so das.h.i.+ng and cool she put men to shame, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her smiling so charmed before.

   Could it be… she liked children…?

   “Marie, what is your favorite food?”

   “Sweets, probably.”

   “Your favorite animal?”

   “Cats.”

   “Oh really? Hehehe,” she laughed.

   To be honest, I was a little scared. I’m not sure why, but I was filled with fear.

   “What is the color of your favorite dress?”

   “Blue.”

   Wait. How long will this go on…?

   Master Julius cleared his throat as if he sensed my weariness.

   “Sorry for interrupting, but can we get back to the main topic?”

   Miss Bianka shot him a cold glare. There was such a level of difference in the way she looked at him, I felt like I’d catch a terrible cold.

   “You just reminded me,” she said. “I was asking you to explain why you can’t put the s.h.i.+ps out to sea.”

   “Eh?” I croaked. Instinctively, I exchanged glances with Sir Leonhard.

   What did she mean by that?