"Lady Kiana, please change your clothes~"
"Lady Kiana, you can't keep wearing that dress. Take it off and give it to me."
"No, give it to me. I'll be the one washing all of Lady Kiana's clothes."
"..."
Surrounded by several Little Maids, she realized she had nowhere left to retreat.
Even Amber had appeared at some point and blocked the doorway.
She had learned for the first time that taking a bath could be so exhausting.
In the end, she had underestimated the enthusiasm of her mother's fangirls.
As an experiment subject fresh off the "production line," she only had the appearance of an eight-year-old girl. In reality, she was only zero years old. She was still a child... How was she supposed to withstand the harassment of female hooligans several years older than her?
Even when she threatened the Little Maids, saying, "If you keep touching me, I won't be nice about it!" all they heard was an adorable little kitten with its fur standing on end.
Fierce in the cutest possible way.
She had nearly been suffocated when a busty little maid buried her in her chest.
The room Amber had arranged for her had a huge bath in the bathroom, large enough that several Little Maids could fit inside without it feeling crowded.
Yet those Little Maids deliberately liked squeezing up against her.
No matter how large their chests were, they all loved charging into people chest-first.
For someone who had been male in her previous life, what had happened in the bathroom just now had been extremely stimulating.
Some people might say this was the benefit of reincarnating as a woman: she could openly enter the bath with pretty Little Maids, and the view was quite pleasing... But pleasing was pleasing; that didn't change the fact that this was all talk from someone without the equipment.
Most importantly, she felt like she had gotten the short end of the stick.
She was the one being taken advantage of.
Under the pretense of helping her bathe, those Little Maids had touched her all over, and their gazes had gradually become more and more perverted.
She had only managed to stop them from going further by resisting with all her might.
"Ahhh, when all's said and done! The one who arranged these Little Maids for me was that Bishop Otto..."
(╬◣д◢)
So it was all Otto's fault.
"Just you wait. A gentleman takes revenge... Hmph, as long as I want revenge, it's never too late, even if I'm not a man!"
Although she had already changed into her pajamas, she had confirmed once again in the bathroom that she was no longer a gentleman.
Naturally, she wrote Otto's name down in the little notebook in her heart.
"Lady Kiana, please don't steal our work from us."
"Exactly, Lady Kiana. If you won't let us serve you, what meaning do we have left?"
"Wow, Lady Kiana really looks perfect in those white pajamas."
The Little Maids, now changed into maid uniforms in the bathroom, also poured out. If she had not put on her pajamas and fled, they might have treated her like a dress-up doll in the bathroom.
Naturally, she pretended not to hear them.
As for Amber, she had not entered the bath with her.
Nor did Amber show even the slightest intention of letting her hold her while they slept.
She really wanted to remind Bishop Otto, Your actress isn't professional enough.
Amber had no intention whatsoever of playing along, even though she had heard Otto say that she could sleep while holding Amber, just like before.
Of course, she knew she had no past, so the notion of "before" was equally absurd.
As for the Little Maids' requests to sleep with her—
She rejected them firmly and decisively.
After chasing away the Little Maids, she climbed into bed under Amber's watchful gaze, pulled the blanket over herself, and quickly fell asleep.
The moment her consciousness sank into darkness, she immediately arrived in that dark space.
At the moment, only she and True Kiana were in that darkness.
"Why are you the only one here?"
"...I don't know either. I only remember that I had just gone to sleep."
"Gone to sleep... Then our connection happens through sleep. Once we fall asleep, we arrive here."
Hearing her analysis, True Kiana wore the blank, confused expression of an eight-year-old who had not understood a word.
(⊙▽⊙)
"So that's how it is."
"Like hell it is. You didn't understand anything."
She harshly criticized True Kiana's adorably pretentious look of understanding when she clearly did not.
It had to be said that even though True Kiana looked exactly like her, her cuteness was different. It made people unable to resist wanting to protect her.
"It's good that Crybaby isn't here. Let me tell you..."
Naturally, she did not mind sharing information with True Kiana, and she had indeed obtained some intelligence.
"Bishop Otto intends to force the identity of Kiana Kaslana onto me."
Although she had told True Kiana about this before, when she stated it again in such a certain tone, True Kiana still could not take it and immediately shut down.
True Kiana hugged her knees and curled into a ball, burying her head between them.
It felt as though she was only one curse and a string of profanity away from exploding.
But True Kiana's shutdown included shutting her mouth as well. Right now, she naturally had no concern for anyone else's feelings.
She coughed a few times and quickly changed the subject. "Don't shut down just yet. Listen to me. I plan to cooperate with Bishop Otto's plan."
"Bishop Otto's plan?"
"Yes. To get you out, I have to make Bishop Otto trust me, or at least lower his guard somewhat."
"..."
True Kiana did not really understand, but she knew the other girl was doing this for her sake.
"Not to steal my mom and Dad?"
Even though True Kiana believed her, the words of thanks that reached her lips became an uneasy question instead.
To the eight-year-old True Kiana, the identical little girl who had appeared before her was not her "sister," but someone who had come to steal her parents away.
True Kiana simply felt that way.
She smiled and said softly, "Trust me. Besides, I won't take your dad. At most, I'll compete with you for your mom."
"..."
True Kiana had thought she would say she would not take anyone, but she had not expected her to want Cecilia Schariac, her mom.
Seeing True Kiana become anxious like a little rabbit, she quickly took several steps back, afraid this little rabbit might bite her.
"Y-you'll really get me out?"
"I will. But... it may take a long time. You've probably met Bishop Otto before. Do you think he'll let you go that easily?"
He had created more than four hundred clones from True Kiana's DNA. There had to be something about True Kiana that Bishop Otto cared deeply about.
But she was only a white-haired little girl who had just reincarnated. How could she know why Bishop Otto had created those clones?
She did not have a god's-eye view.
Nor did she have mind-reading powers that could uncover Bishop Otto's memories.
Even if she wanted to investigate, she knew that strict surveillance awaited her.
Amber, who would not let her hold her to sleep, was the watcher Otto had arranged.
"...No."
In True Kiana's memories, her father, Siegfried Kaslana, had once tried to take her away from Schicksal. But when the promised day arrived, her father disappeared.
The one who came for her instead was Bishop Otto.
Immediately afterward, Bishop Otto brought her to Schicksal Headquarters. Every day, she had to take strange medicine and undergo countless examinations, while needles repeatedly pierced her arms to draw blood.
Even now, True Kiana's right arm was covered in needle marks.
No matter how slow she might have been, after seeing two little girls identical to herself, True Kiana knew Bishop Otto was conducting the sort of evil experiments performed by villainous scientists in stories.
"So I'll definitely get you out."
She made that promise to True Kiana.
Not only because True Kiana inspired such a strong desire to protect her, but also because without True Kiana, there would be no her in this place.
She could not remember what she had experienced in her previous life.
But since she had already reincarnated, she naturally had to make a choice for this life.
Her choice was to save the True Kiana before her.
"Um..."
True Kiana's cheeks reddened slightly. She felt that this other version of herself was as cool as the heroes in stories.
But when she thought of the mom and dad who had told her those stories, the smile that had just appeared was covered by a shadow.
Seeing that True Kiana was downcast this time but had not immediately shut down like before, she breathed a slight sigh of relief.
That was progress too.
True Kiana's mindset was clearly becoming a little brighter than before.
Not long after, Crybaby appeared in that darkness.
Unlike True Kiana, this Crybaby was her real sister.
"Hah, I have to take care of her again..."
If no one paid attention to Crybaby, she would keep crying until both she and True Kiana woke up. That feeling was absolutely awful. Although she no longer remembered what a hangover felt like, when she had woken up to Crybaby's cries before, her head had felt like it was splitting apart, much like a hangover.
"You do it?"
"Of course I'll do it. At least she listens to a few things I say."
She shrugged, then crouched before Crybaby K423 and began kneading her cheeks.
The moment her cheeks were rubbed, Crybaby's wailing abruptly stopped. She blinked her big eyes and looked at her strangely, huge tears still rolling around in her eye sockets.
She clearly had the urge to start bawling again at full volume.
"Don't cry, don't cry... Be good. Little Kiki is the best. Listen to big bro... big sister, or I'll spank your little butt."
She used threats on a little girl whose mind was only zero years old.
She even showed off her tiny fists.
"W-wait, was this how you got her to listen to you before?"
True Kiana suddenly felt that this other version of herself was not very reliable.
In a situation like this, she actually intended to use her fists. Was she planning to give Crybaby an iron-fist punishment? Or a Heavenly Fist?
They could feel pain in this darkness too.
True Kiana had secretly pinched her own thigh before. Because she had used a little too much force, it had hurt so badly that she had nearly cried, and the spot she pinched had immediately turned blue and purple.
Yet True Kiana's worry did not come to pass.
After being threatened, Crybaby quickly quieted down.
"Who are you looking down on? Don't you know that babies can understand a lot of things with just a little training? Besides, it's not like her brain isn't fully developed. She just hasn't received any education yet."
Before you continue