Camilla coughed hard, wore a look that said she had a lot to say but wouldn’t—at least for now—and hurriedly felt inside her clothes.

The moment her mind cleared, only one thought came to her.

‘Phew.’

Thankfully, her hand found the Guardian’s egg. She would not have to go back into that damned lake.

Only then did it strike her anew that she was alive, and long sighs of relief spilled out one after another.

I nearly became a drowned ghost for real!

Sprawled on the ground, Camilla pried her eyes open and looked steadily at Donna.

“What are you?”

No, what on earth are you!

“Why did you show up here?”

Camilla was at a loss.

Just this morning Donna had seen her off at the ducal house, and now—out of nowhere—why had she come to the Academy, and why had she jumped into the water? No matter how she worked her head, it made no sense.

“My lady, what on earth are you doing!”

“What am I doing?”

“Why did you jump into the lake!”

“That’s...”

“Why are you suddenly trying to die!”

“I think there’s some misunderstanding—”

“If you die this time, it’ll really be over!”

“...What?”

This time?

“You won’t be able to go back to the past like before!”

A cold wind swept her whole body all at once. Hitting a soaked body, it was so bitterly chill that goosebumps rose everywhere.

Camilla’s face slowly hardened, unable to tell whether those goosebumps were from the wind or from Donna’s words.

“What did you just say?”

****

“Oh my!”

“G–good heavens!”

“My lady!”

Back home, Camilla kept her lips pressed shut at the sight of everyone gasping at how drenched she was.

She hadn’t even thought to change and come back. Her head was too crowded.

Fwap!

A large cloak suddenly wrapped around her. She turned her head and saw Ludville looking at her.

He was wearing the knights’ dress uniform, as if he had been in training.

“Was it those fellows again?”

Those fellows?

‘Ah.’

His eyes had gone cold, as if he assumed she had been harassed again by Juid and his lot.

No.

Camilla shook her head lightly and started walking again. She was in no mood to talk to anyone right now.

Leaving everyone who tried to follow her behind, Camilla fixed her eyes on one person—Donna.

At the girl standing with a nervous expression, Camilla spoke with her eyes.

Follow me. Now.

[Child.]

[My lady...]

“You two go out as well.”

A moment later, once she entered her room, Camilla spoke firmly to Hersel and Derrin, who had followed her in.

[But...]

“From this minute on—if anyone shows even the slightest interest in, or eavesdrops on, anything that happens in this room, consider it the end of any thought of speaking with me ever again.”

At the sight of Camilla’s face set colder than ever, the two slunk off looking dejected.

Knock, knock.

“Come in.”

The door opened, and the maid Donna stepped inside.

“My lady...”

“...”

“I’ll at least bring you a warm cup of tea—”

“Don’t bother.”

Camilla cut her off at once.

“What are you?”

“Who else? I’m Donna, your attending maid—”

“Do you want to die?”

Where did you pick up that tone for wordplay.

At the voice dripping with frost, Donna’s body flinched.

“Answer straight. If I die this time, I can’t go back to the past—what do you mean by that?”

‘You won’t be able to go back to the past like before!’

Camilla mulled over what had happened so far, and what Donna had said at the lake, again and again.

Then she put the conclusion into words, one syllable at a time.

“How I ended up in this world, what exactly is happening right now...”

You know, don’t you?

Donna, who had been hanging her head, straightened up at last. With a sigh of resignation, an unexpected answer followed.

“Until a little while ago, I was a soul manager.”

Camilla’s eyebrows rose. Donna hurried to add an explanation.

“Literally, one who manages souls.”

Like a reaper? ...Why am I not surprised? Damn it.

‘Irritating.’

Hearing the ridiculous words “soul manager” and not even being particularly surprised by them made her feel a sudden self-disgust.

Seeing ghosts really is terrible for mental health—wait, “until a little while ago”?

“You mean you aren’t one now?”

“No.”

Donna’s expression drooped.

“I was kicked out.”

“Kicked out?”

“I made a bit of a mistake...”

She glanced at Camilla and continued.

“I put two souls into the wrong bodies.”

“What do you mean? You put someone else’s soul into someone else’s body?”

“As expected, you’re quick to understand!”

While Donna even clapped her hands in admiration, Camilla’s face only grew colder.

Put the souls in wrong? Why did those words make her feel so foul?

“Just as each person has clothes that fit and feel comfortable, so it is with souls. If a soul that doesn’t fit goes into a body, everything goes awry.”

Donna paused a moment, then watched Camilla’s face again.

“The most representative sign is that the people around them turn away.”

“Turn away?”

“Even their own family cannot give them affection. Everyone finds that existence unbearably awkward.”

“...”

“It’s something like instinct. They instinctively feel a revulsion for a being different from themselves. Without exception, people avoid and shun that person. Occasionally there are those who don’t, but that’s truly exceptional.”

Shunned. Avoided.

Camilla slowly rose to her feet. The cloak on her shoulders slid down with a soft whisper.

“So I’m the switched soul, is that it?”

“That’s correct!”

Donna clapped again.

“Lady Camilla and Miss Sia Lee had your souls exchanged. As expected, not only your understanding but your judgment is—”

“Shut up.”

“Yes.”

“...”

For a while, Camilla couldn’t say anything at all. It felt like she had been struck in the head several times with a heavy blunt object.

“So...”

Everything that had happened to Camilla and to me—those were things that happened because our souls were swapped.

‘It’s all because of you!’

‘D–Dad...’

‘There’s no way a thing like you is my daughter!’

A shard of an old memory surfaced. The memory of that man called father who would spit curses at the drop of a hat.

‘Father! P–please spare me!’

“Drag her away.”

“F–Father!”

Camilla’s last moments rose up, too.

“A mistake?”

A mistake? Are you telling me all that Camilla and I went through happened because of a mere mistake?

“Ha! Unbelievable...”

A pounding anger she hadn’t felt in a long time made her head ring.

“Um...”

Donna flinched and took a step back.

“Why are you suddenly... with your shoe...?”

Seeing Camilla take off her heels and grip them in her hand, Donna’s tone grew more cautious than a moment ago.

“No reason.”

The heels were very pointed, and today of all days that was deeply satisfying. Her grip tightened around them.

“I just feel like I should hold it.”

Donna, face gone fearful, edged herself a bit farther back.

“So, this body was originally mine, right?”

“Th–that’s right.”

“Why?”

“Why?”

“If you knew you made a mistake, you should have put the souls back where they belonged! Why didn’t you change them back immediately!”

If, when they realized they had put the souls in wrong, they had returned them to their places at once, there would have been no problem.

“Why!”

She could not understand why they had left it alone for all those long years and only now, suddenly, put things back in place.

“Extracting a soul that has already settled into a body and switching it is not simple. Especially souls that are each in different dimensions.”

A short sigh slipped from Donna’s lips.

“Because it breaks the intrinsic laws those two dimensions maintain, it can disrupt the flow of that world.”

Even as she spoke, Donna did not take her eyes off the heel clenched in Camilla’s hand. She edged back once more.

“So we needed one condition.”

“A condition?”

“To recognize each other. Naturally. I expect you have watched the Camilla who belongs here for a long time.”

So that bizarre phenomenon she had experienced for over twenty years—that was why?

‘But hang on.’

Recognize each other?

“Don’t tell me that girl watched me, too?”

“She did.”

“...!”

“Lady Camilla, who was here, also kept watching Miss Sia Lee’s repeating life in the other world.”

“Hah...”

That phenomenon—the being sucked into another world and watching another life—that girl had experienced the exact same thing.

“So, this is my place.”

“Yes.”

“And I can never go to that other world again?”

“That’s right.”

“And now if I die, that’s just the end?”

“Ding-dong-dang!”

Camilla let out a hollow laugh for a long while. Anger surged up in a rush, then drained into sheer incredulity and she laughed.

It was stifling to realize she truly could not return to that other world anymore, and at the same time a strange feeling rose that she had returned to the place where she was truly supposed to be.

“...Wait.”

Then Camilla started, struck by another fact that flashed up.

“Don’t tell me I over there died every time, too?”

A moment ago Donna had [N O V E L I G H T] clearly said “Sia Lee’s repeating life.” That meant she too had died over there each time and returned to the past, didn’t it?

“Yes. Miss Sia Lee died every time.”

“...!”

“At your father’s hands.”

“...Whose?”

“Your father in that world.”

Why is that man suddenly popping up here?

“Hah...”

She hadn’t seen him in a long time. He had blackmailed her for money, failed to get even his principal back, and never appeared before her eyes again.

‘So in the end I died at that man’s hands?’

Every time? Which meant...

“Then she might die again!”

Sia Lee in that world was in danger!

“Miss Sia Lee knows that as well.”

Donna shook her head lightly, as if to say not to worry.

“Just as you are doing everything you can here to survive, she too will be working very hard in that world to remove the danger.”

“Well, true.”

Unless that girl was a fool, she would be taking measures.