"The Uninvited Guest"

Or rather, it was simply one-sided resentment, devoid of principles, reason, or foundation.

Why had she told her? Why tell her these things?

Perhaps she could still find the protagonist later, but this sort of thing was like phantom pain. The more you tried not to think about it and cast it to the back of your mind, the more it would remind you of its presence with stabbing pangs.

It was still there. She could never escape it.

Even while clutching the intelligence Koschei had given her, her fingers wrinkled the paper.

The words were clearly right there, yet no matter what, she couldn't read them.

What a nuisance.

She hated trouble, and she hated the people who caused it even more.

And the root of that trouble was something that meant nothing to her now and would only bring disaster down upon her.

But... she should look into whether there was anything else first.

She habitually picked up her teacup. For some reason, she had recently felt like she was sighing more and more often each day.

Yet a trace of something less peaceful seemed to have crept into her tranquil daily life.

For example...

---- "Aaaaaah!!! Yelena is just too adorable!!!"

In the afternoon, in Longmen, at a narrow and inconspicuous clinic.

This place perfectly suited Chlorine Sodium's ideal way of life.

Unobtrusive, quiet, neither standing at the front nor lagging behind.

Living slowly, like a plant.

People often said that what they couldn't have continued to stir within them. Because she couldn't obtain peace, she yearned for a peaceful life.

Because she was different from ordinary people, she disguised herself as an ordinary person.

Because she couldn't suppress the restlessness inside her, she used mechanically precise schedules to restrain herself and make herself forget.

Every cause had its effect.

However, the clinic seemed somewhat strange today.

But... exactly what was wrong with it...?

Holding her tea, her gray-blue eyes watched the two people before her without the slightest ripple.

Chlorine Sodium, who had still been pondering life moments ago, was dragged back to reality by that shriek.

It was Elafia, who had shouted, "Aaaaaah!!! Yelena is just too adorable!!!" and had been hugging little Yelena in her arms, rubbing her all over.

Today, too, her face looked like it had come straight out of a gag manga. Her entire person had even become like some idiot character.

Little Yelena, trapped in her arms, seemed to have her view blocked by those enormous, beautiful things. Her whole body was dizzy and steaming.

She had been so aloof before, treating everything as her plaything, yet this appearance of hers had nearly fooled even herself.

If Chlorine Sodium hadn't previously seen her administrator's true personality, she might have thought this Elafia was merely a comedic character.

"She really is an excitable woman."

"A parasite freeloading in someone else's house doesn't seem qualified to comment on others."

Chlorine Sodium glanced sideways at the woman sitting across from her desk. The woman propped her chin up with one hand without making any attempt to hide herself, her crimson eyes fixed on Chlorine Sodium like a beast watching its prey.

"My, Doctor, you're so strict. I'm only staying here temporarily. After all, your beauty is truly impossible for me to forget..."

Tsk. Why had things become like this with both of them?

Chlorine Sodium racked her brains for a while, but couldn't figure out why so many uninvited guests had suddenly barged into her life.

So... exactly what was wrong with it...?

What a nuisance.

She sighed again, stood up, and flipped the wooden sign in front of the door around. The side that said "Closed" now faced outside.

Glancing at the two clowns behind her, along with Yelena, Chlorine Sodium felt that her life seemed to be growing stranger and stranger.

She wanted to drive them away, but one of them wouldn't leave as long as she didn't want to, and there was nothing she could do to force her out. The other wore a noblewoman's skin but was shameless to the core, clinging stubbornly to the place. She had no good way to deal with her either.

Besides, with the administrator here, that Sarkaz noblewoman wouldn't dare do anything. In the end, Chlorine Sodium gave up on driving them both away.

She would leave things this way for now. There would still be time to deal with it later...

What Chlorine Sodium didn't know was that...

Crimson eyes reflected the departing girl's back.

The doctor had gone off to handle her affairs.

Setting down her coffee, the Sarkaz noblewoman named Pianna—who was in truth a professional villain with the same identity as Chlorine Sodium—blew away the steam from her coffee with great interest.

What was life to her?

Work wasn't life. Work was work, and life was life.

Although she was merely a villain from another world, Pianna was someone who could readily assimilate into her surroundings.

In short, she could be anyone.

And right now, she was like a true young lady from the royal family of Kazdel, savoring her morning coffee.

Life meant famous wine that best displayed one's status at banquets, custom-made clothing so lavish it bordered on wasteful at balls, and of course, the finest women.

After all, she really had come from Kazdel's royal family. She learned everything quickly and was happy to play along.

As for gender, that wasn't important. The decadence of high society meant that love between people of the same sex wouldn't be criticized.

People would only think that they dared to have fun. Nothing more.

The playfulness in her crimson eyes wasn't all there was. At least, as an outsider, she could see things very clearly.

She really was adorably withdrawn.

Avoidance was shameful, but useful.

So... should she give her a push?

Hee hee hee, who knew?

PS: The first chapter after going premium!!!!! Yay yay yay yay! Let's see how the initial subscriptions turn out! I'm so excited, so excited!!!

Segment 60: Chapter Fifty-Eight—The Uninvited Guest

Big Sister had gone out.

Perhaps it was because Big Sister was too busy.

The professor's boxing technique was only half complete.

Yes, only half. The foundation was there, but the missing latter half had never been filled in.

Perhaps Big Sister had forgotten, or perhaps there was some other reason.

With her fist lightly pressed against the wooden post, little Yelena was lost in thought.

"What is this, an inch punch?"

Suddenly, a woman's voice came from behind her.

"Eek!!!"

Perhaps she had developed PTSD from a certain enormous woman who possessed an entirely childlike personality. The moment she heard a woman's voice behind her that wasn't Big Sister's, little Yelena instinctively shuddered.

The feeling of suffocation was too terrifying!

The person who entered her field of vision wasn't that Elafia, but a golden-haired girl.

A Demonkin named Pianna.

"Mm... Big Sister said it's called inch force."

"Whoa, I've only seen this sort of thing in movies."

The girl looked curiously at the wooden post standing in the courtyard and even reached out to touch it.

It had long since become incredibly smooth from being struck again and again.

It looked like the girl really had been training hard.

However...

Pianna glanced at the girl's short arms and legs. Although she was entirely a beautiful young seedling who hadn't yet grown into her features and might become rather tall in the future, she didn't look like someone suited to close-quarters boxing.

That was hardcore, teaching a girl something like this right away.

Hmm... no, actually, the style matched fairly well.

Because Chlorine Sodium was a doctor.jpg

But it definitely still wasn't enough, was it?

Looking at Yelena's bewildered little face, the noble girl from Kazdel revealed a smile like a spring breeze.

Warm and gentle.

If Big Sister had a somewhat dreamlike appearance, aloof from human affairs and untouched by worldly concerns, as though she were an elf who had stepped out of a story, then the person before her seemed far more real.

She was filled with the aura of reality.

"But you seem to have run into some difficulties, don't you?"

It was impossible to strike someone who offered a smiling face, let alone such an enthusiastic and gentle big sister.

Children were always easy to read.

And easy to deceive, of course.

"...Mm."

Chlorine Sodium regarded attack methods as tools rather than as a form of training.

That was normal, much like the difference between a magician and a magic-user.

One treated it as the pursuit of a lifetime, studying what lay behind it and the traces of its history.

The other was a pure pragmatist. There was no need to consider why it should be used that way; what mattered was how to use it to maximize its power.

One was a scholar, the other a mercenary.

The same applied here.

In Pianna's eyes, Chlorine Sodium was also a pragmatist.

But what the little girl needed more at this moment was guidance for her state of mind...

That said, this wasn't something she—or rather, that doctor—should be concerned with.

They were all merely passersby, a group carrying countless sins who should never receive any happiness, no matter what.

Of course, that was also the choice many people made.

Emotion was a truly magnificent thing.

Those who possessed it were magnificent as well.

But she had no desire to possess it, nor did she need it.

That was true of her, and it was true of the doctor as well.

After all, the essence of this game...

Was a carnival for villains.

So although Pianna had noticed it, she wouldn't change anything, because this wasn't something she could teach.

But then again, as the saying went, the drunkard's intent lay elsewhere.