"...What... what are you saying?" Reina whispered, her eyes blown wide. "Can’t you hear my voice? It belongs to that of a man... and I’m also too thin to be a woman... I..."

She couldn’t even piece together how it had happened.

Her body hadn’t been touched during the fight except when she was blown away but that couldn’t remove the rune so how did he know? How could he possibly know when she had spent years making sure nobody could?

’Maybe he’s joking... yes, he has to be joking.’ She held onto the possibility with both hands but she knew better.

Ren Crowhurst didn’t joke, when he said something he meant every single word of it, and the certainty sitting behind his eyes right now told her everything she needed to know.

"Turn off that voice-altering rune on your chest."

Her breathing stopped.

Her hand moved before her mind could catch it lifting involuntarily toward her chest, hovering over exactly where the rune was imprinted beneath her shirt.

The gesture lasted less than a second but Ren’s eyes had already moved to it.

He had known before she even twitched so the gesture hadn’t given him new information. It had simply confirmed it for her.

’Can I kill him...?’ The thought arrived immediately and without remorse.

She considered it seriously for a full two seconds. All the years... actual years of hiding.

The endless precautions maintained since childhood. The posture adjustments, the wardrobe, the voice rune, the way she had painstakingly trained herself to move and sit and stand and speak like someone she fundamentally was not.

Every single layer of it unraveling in a forest clearing because of this one insufferable boy who was currently drawing idle circles in the dirt with a stick like he hadn’t just set fire to her entire life.

The worst part wasn’t even that he knew.

It was how unbothered he looked about it, like he had noticed something mildly interesting while passing by and decided it was worth a mention, like her years of exhausting work were just nothing...

’He’s obsessed with the Saintess,’ her mind pivoted fast. ’I have her personal contact. I could reach out, convince her that—’

"Whatever you’re thinking right now won’t work."

Ren said it without looking up from the circles he was drawing like he was commenting on the weather.

"You can’t kill me," he continued in the same tone, "and you definitely cannot use the Saintess as leverage."

Every muscle in Reina’s body locked. "How did you...?"

"It’s written all over your face," Ren replied, glancing up and tapping his own cheek once. "I’m not that dumb."

Reina pulled her composure back together piece by piece and sat up straighter.

Fine, Intimidation was off the table and violence was also off the table. She cycled through what remained.

"Come on... you want the Saintess, right?" She leaned forward and softened her tone. "I can connect you with her properly. You could confess without needing to prove yourself against the hero first. If you’re even a little lucky she might actually—"

FWIP.

The stick moved faster than she could track and a thin bright line of pain bloomed across her cheek. She felt the warmth of blood before she understood what had happened.

Reina went completely still and her fingers came up slowly to touch the cut.

"What—"

"I’m not interested." Ren rose without hurry and stood at his full height. "I have an offer of my own."

This was bad... very bad.

He stepped closer.

"If you cooperate," Ren said, "I won’t go spilling your little secret to anyone." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Reina’s heartbeat slammed against her ribs.

"You’re engaged, right?" He tilted his head. "How do you think your fiancée would feel discovering she’s marrying a girl?"

The silence that followed was complete.

There it was, the pressure point... Her entire future balanced on that one secret... her political standing, her family’s heir position, the engagement that kept her father’s household stable among the noble clans.

Everything stacked on top of that one carefully maintained lie.

"W-what is your offer...?" she whispered.

Ren smirked.

"I’d like to see you in your full female form."

Ding!

『"Reina Dawnlarke"’s affection points have dropped to -5』

Ren noted it without concern.

’Yeah... you never liked me to begin with,’ he thought. He wasn’t particularly bothered but he was just curious.

She had existed throughout the entire original novel as this mythologized tomboy and not once had the story properly shown what she actually looked like underneath the disguise, it had just said that she was beautiful so he wanted to see for himself.

"This is how I—"

"Stop the bullshit," he cut in. "Transform already and after that you still have to agree to one more condition before I promise to keep quiet."

She bit her lip hard enough to whiten it. Her trembling fingers reached for the tie at her collar and with one sharp tug...

FWSHH.

Her entire outfit shifted in a smooth ripple of magic. The clothes rearranged into a soft pale-blue dress that flowed around her legs. Her once-flattened chest rose into its natural shape and her silver hair spilled fully down her back.

Her shoulders softened and Reina’s facial features became delicate without losing any of the edge underneath.

She was beautiful. The kind of person that belonged in a portrait hall, not standing in a forest with blood on her cheek and murder in her eyes.

"I only switch to this a handful of times," Reina muttered, crossing her arms tightly. "I hate dressing like a girl."

"Why?" Ren said. "You look cute in it."

Her brain short-circuited.

"Cute?" Her eyebrows shot up. "Do I look like those women in novels who fall apart over every tiny compliment?"

『Ding!』

『"Reina Dawnlarke"’s affection points have increased to 1』

She was, in fact, exactly one of those women.

"I take it back," Ren said.

"Excuse me—?!" Reina yanked the tie furiously.

Her outfit rippled back into its masculine form and her voice rune flickered on.

She stood up and turned sharply on her heel. "If that’s all then I’m leaving."

"To where?" Ren asked. "I haven’t finished."

She stopped walking and her face paled.

"My second condition," he said, pausing for a beat, "is actually pretty simple."

Reina swallowed. "...What is it?"

"You belong to me now."

Silence dropped over the clearing like a curtain. Her mind went blank for three full seconds.

"Belong... to you?" she repeated hollowly.

"Exactly." Ren shrugged like he had suggested something perfectly reasonable. "Simple arrangement. I’ll do what I want with you."

It sounded villainous, threatening even but Ren was mostly just experimenting... he was curious how the affection system responded to different approaches.

He didn’t care much if the number dropped further since numbers could be fixed eventually.

Reina stood very still and weighed her options.

Her secret exposed to her every noble clan present today and disgracing her father or dealing with this shameless lunatic one situation at a time?

One was survivable and the other was not.

"O... okay," she muttered weakly.

『Ding!』

『"Reina Dawnlarke"’s affection points have increased to 15... She likes that you see her as a woman』

Ren stared at the notification.

’She hates dressing like a woman but likes that I see her as a woman?’ He read it twice. ’These women are absolutely crazy.’

He shook his head and turned back toward the trees.

"Alright. Let’s move."

Reina blinked. "Where exactly?"

"To find the Unique Item," Ren said, already walking, spinning the stick idly over his shoulder. "We’re behind schedule."