The Noble Lady of Lust

Chapter 435: An Unforgettable Night

"...You’re just resigning yourself to it because you know you’re just a doppelgänger, right?"

Just as I was waiting for my fate to be fall me, I heard Silvia’s voice beside me.

Now that she mentions it, I remembered that I am a doppelgänger, so even if I die, I’ll just lose a doppelgänger.

Still, it doesn’t matter, since in life there are things that—

"So you were really doing it without thinking about that."

"Hey, Silvia, can you be quiet? I’m in the middle of something here."

She kept talking and wouldn’t let me quietly reflect before I died.

And with the moment ruined, I had no choice but to open my eyes; there was Alice, just like before.

I looked around, and maybe because it was still early, only the three of us were awake... well, Elena seemed to be up too, but she wasn’t there. She was probably looking for breakfast or doing something else somewhere.

Lys is also absent; she usually gets up early to go running.

Anyway, there were only three of us, and I don’t know why Alice is taking so long, but I think I have time to complain to Silvia about interrupting the moment.

"You really are an extreme anomaly."

"What’s the problem?"

"You’re waiting to get stabbed as if it were normal."

"It’s no big deal; it’s not like it’s the first time she’s stabbed me."

"What!? Has she stabbed you before?"

"Yeah, didn’t I tell you? There were some misunderstandings that resulted in a small, harmless stabbing."

"Hmm... at this point, I don’t know if you’re playing dumb or if you’re just a dumbass... hmm, it’s probably both squared."

"What? You want to start a fight this early? Let me tell you, nothing is more refreshing to start my day than telling you how tsundere and cowardly you are. Besides, what are you staring at? Don’t you know what privacy is?"

"First, idiot, my bed is right next to yours and we can all see each other without any effort; second, that’s Alice’s bed, not yours, and you shouldn’t be there..."

"And third?"

"There isn’t a third."

"Hey, you can’t list things like that if you don’t have at least three things to say."

"Haaah~ let’s not get sidetracked; I think the most important point here is that your girlfriend is about to stab you."

"Ah!, you’re right... though she’s taking a while. I feel like my resolve has weakened a bit; your interruption isn’t helping either."

"Haaah~ for starters, even though it looks that way, she has no intention of stabbing you. You know, she’s been like this since I woke up fifteen minutes ago, though that whisper of ’I can do it, I can do it’ that keeps repeating itself is confusing me."

Oh, now that Silvia mentions it... besides holding the dagger and staring at me like that, she was whispering those words over and over again, as if hypnotizing herself.

But Silvia says Alice has no intention of stabbing me, so it seems the situation isn’t that simple. So, instead of waiting, it was better to ask her.

"Alice."

"~I can do it... I can do it..."

She doesn’t answer me even when I call out to her. Since she was standing over me, it took a bit of effort, but I managed to get up and started shaking her to snap her out of that strange trance she was in.

"Hey, Alice, what’s going on! Hey!"

"Ah! Big sis! You woke up?"

Alice finally reacted and looked at me a little confused. It didn’t seem like there was any hatred or resentment or anything negative, which really makes me wonder what led her to do that.

..

.

"So I thought it would be easier for me to recreate the one time I hurt my big sister."(Alice)

"Oh... that makes sense."

Well, once I heard the explanation, I understood. To sum it up, our conversation yesterday gave Alice a lot to think about, and one of those things was that she wanted to understand what I said about how it’s hard for me to hurt her and do bad things.

She thought it was selfish of her to make me do something she can’t do herself, so she got up early to practice, so to speak.

But innocent, inexperienced Alice didn’t know where to start, and she cleverly used the one time she actually hurt me as a guide.

She wasn’t going to stab me; she just wanted to psych herself up to hurt me, recreating the scene as best she could.

The problem is that she never managed to do it and got stuck in the position I found her in when I woke up.

Anyway, I thought her actions were very sweet, even though she didn’t have to do it; she doesn’t have to force herself to do anything.

It’s not necessary, but since she seems determined, I’ll support her; it’s nice to see her trying so hard, doing things she’s not used to.

’You’re a lost cause... but given the state she was in, even if she didn’t intend to stab you, if she’d mustered the resolve, she might have done it on reflex.’

’Tsk... so what? As a doppelgänger, I’m the perfect practice dummy my lovely girlfriend needs; what does it matter if she does it? Even if I were the real one, a stab to the heart wouldn’t kill me.’

Silvia, for some reason, started talking to me mentally, but even if what she says is true, it doesn’t matter much.

’Talking to you about these topics is—’

’Ding! dong!, delivery.’

’Wait, Silvia, another message came in.’

While I was talking to Silvia, Number one chimed in, talking about a delivery or something like that.

When I paid attention to him, I realized how great his night had been, and I felt a little envious, since I can’t use morphogenesis and have to be careful in this room.

Anyway, I got up and walked to the door and opened it; there he was, carrying Cordelia.

He handed her over to me, I closed the door, and carried the still-asleep Cordelia back to her bed, as if nothing had happened here.

But there was a gossipy someone who wouldn’t let my actions go unnoticed among those who were awake...

"So she was with you, and besides, what happened to her? Why does she look like a corpse?" (Silvia)

"Well, some things happened last night... hmm, nothing that you, with your virgin mind, could bear to hear."

"...So finally, she did it too..." (Silvia)

"Big sister, did you do it with big sister Cordelia?" (Alice)

"Oh!, indeed, my sweet Alice. Well, I told her all my secrets, and we had a little moment. Oh, and now that I think about it, I heard what happened yesterday and how you got mad at her."

"Ah!... It was a misunderstanding on my part; I unintentionally misinterpreted the words of my big sister Cordelia." (Alice)

"I suppose it was mostly a misunderstanding. Cordelia is hard to understand, after all. That ’eliminate’ the rest thing can be misinterpreted all too easily."

"Tsk!." (Silvia)

"What’s wrong, Silvia? Do you have something to say?"

"Nothing at all, don’t mind me.". (Silvia)

"Hmm... well, as I was saying, Cordelia isn’t easy to understand, but she’s not a bad girl; it just takes a little patience to understand her properly. By the way, she still isn’t completely on board with the harem, but I hope that changes and that you and the rest of you can get along with her."

"Yes, big sister, I’ll do my best to understand her better, since she’s my sister too." (Alice)

"I’m glad to hear that."

"Hey, just in case, could you explain to me again what you consider a yandere? You know, that thing where you’re absolutely against her joining your harem." (Silvia)

"Tsk!, Silvia, don’t think I don’t know what you’re trying to say, and yes, I know I said something about it, but Cordelia definitely isn’t that; she’s a complex person who can’t be categorized with a single word."

"I see... I guess even a stubborn person like you can understand something like that. I guess that also means you’re finally going to stop calling me a yandere and all that nonsense, right?" (Silvia)

"Huh? What are you talking about? You’re still a tsundere, a pusillanimous, and a closet yandere. What does my lovely Cordelia have to do with you?"

"(ㆆ_ㆆ)... Alice, could you lend me that dagger? I think I do want to stab this idiot." (Silvia)

"Huh? You want to start something, you four-eyed coward? Fine, go ahead, I’m not afraid of you."

"Oh, sure, here you go." (Alice)

"Huh? Did you really give it to me? You don’t mind if I stab your girlfriend? Aren’t you going to say anything?" (Silvia)

"Huh? Well, I know my older sister and you are usually like that with each other, and it’s not serious..." (Alice)

"A-and if I really do stab her, is that okay with you?" (Silvia)

"Hmm, if you do, it’s because my sister let you—you two get along really well after all... It’s a shame you can’t be my sister too, since you like William." (Alice)

"Huh?.. Why are you suddenly bringing up Will—hey, idiot, what are you saying about me?" (Silvia)

"What? What’s the problem? It’s not like it’s a secret, given how obvious you are."

"How can something that doesn’t exist be obvious? Idiot!" (Silvia)

"Here you go again with your frustrating tsundere act."

"I already told you I’m not that or anything else... but I am going to kill you, idiot." (Silvia)

"Ugh, hey, you seriously attacked me by aiming for my heart, and you dare deny that you’re yandere."

"Who cares, you’re a doppelgänger. Why don’t you let yourself get stabbed like you wanted to before?" (Silvia)

"It’s different with you, damn it. I’m not going to let you taste blood; it might make you come out of the closet."

I wasn’t going to let myself be her first step into the world of yanderism. So I fought back, which wasn’t easy, because this damn doppelgänger only has half my total strength, and the wretch doesn’t hesitate to boost herself with physical enhancement spells.

"Haaah~, it’s really a shame... hmm, I wonder where Elena went?." (Alice)

And Alice, instead of helping me, just left, mentioning something about Elena.

I guess she thinks I can handle this potential yandere on my own... I won’t let her down.

..

.

****

Third-person POV

*****

"(ㆆ_ㆆ)" (Cordelia)

"..." (Eira)

"(ㆆ_ㆆ)" (Cordelia)

"...💢" (Eira)

"(ㆆ_ㆆ)" (Cordelia)

"Hey! Cut it out... what’s wrong with you? You’ve been staring at me all day. Do I have something on my face or something?" (Eira)

"...No... I just don’t like you." (Cordelia)

"What!? Are you looking for a fight, you b—?" (Eira)

"Eira, swearing isn’t nice." (Alice)

"Ugh, my bad... but she started it." (Eira)

"Big sister Cordelia probably didn’t mean anything bad; you know she’s not good at expressing herself." (Alice)

"Haaah~, well, you’re probably right. It’s not worth getting angry over, but I don’t understand why she keeps looking at me; all day long her gaze has been on me and Selene." (Eira)

"Oh, hmm, I’m not sure, but I think it’s because my big sister told her a lot of things last night." (Alice)

It was the early hours of the following night, after Cordelia had learned Seraphina’s secrets.

Classes had ended, and they were in the large room doing their homework for the next day; everyone was working, except for one person who seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

It was Seraphina, who, to the bewilderment of some of those present, had convinced Elena to do her homework for her, saying she had something important to do, though she ended up just lying down on the bed and sleeping.

Even so, those who knew things weren’t as simple as they seemed kept glancing at her from time to time, creating a strange and somewhat tense atmosphere.

A night was about to begin that would mark a before and after.