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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Elena’s explanation continued for a long time.
Anyway, since there was plenty of time, chatting for a couple of hours wouldn’t make it tight to attend the closing ceremony.
After listening to Elena’s past episode storytelling that lasted for several hours, my impression was.
“…What is this, this guy is just a jerk?”
I pondered seriously.
The glorious past conduct that perfectly fit the word “jerk” made me wonder if the me before the regression was even human.
Anyway, that was the me from a different world line and not the current “me,” so I quietly observed Elena’s story from a neutral gear and a third-person perspective, and that was the conclusion I reached.
“…Wait a minute.”
“Hmm?”
“Everything you just said, is it all true?”
“For things that happened a long time ago, there might be slight confusion in my memory, but most of them are things that actually happened with you.”
“Wow.”
I slapped my knee.
Not as a figurative expression, but literally.
So to slowly summarize again, you’re saying that with such actions, in the end, you didn’t choose anyone among the five, right?
“You’re a player, aren’t you?”
“…What is that again?”
“There is such a thing.”
I might lack a bit of experience in that area since I hadn’t experienced it myself, but I was not so dense that I couldn’t notice even after seeing the whole situation unfold.
At first, it felt like just listening to what happened in the past, but the more the story progressed, the more I couldn’t help but be shocked.
And the conclusion I reached after hearing all of Elena’s words was simple.
The me before the regression, in other words, the Rudrick Weiss who received a terminal diagnosis in that world line and ended up dying, was a total jerk.
Not just a jerk, but the biggest jerk in the world.
If you simply switched the genders, his behavior was no different from a typical female protagonist in a romance fantasy novel.
Surprisingly, even though the core of him must have experienced reincarnation like me.
No, if it were a romance novel female lead, she would at least choose one person in the end, get married, and live happily ever after.
This was like, suddenly all five of them were subcharacters, but the person involved received a terminal diagnosis and ended up dying.
“…Originally, in a normal situation, the disease should be cured, they should choose one person, get married, and live happily ever after – that kind of ending should be the norm.”
I muttered quietly so that Elena wouldn’t hear.
I guaranteed that if a novel ended with such a conclusion, it wouldn’t be strange for readers to riot.
First of all, the problem was that the protagonist was not just diagnosed with a terminal illness (not really) but actually had a terminal illness (for real) and died.
Moreover, even for those who supported the coupling, in the end, none of the five became the main character and were all pushed to subcharacters.
And on top of that, he even played around and acted like a queen bee.
That was the reason I had no choice but to describe the pre-regression Rudrick Weiss as the world’s biggest jerk.
No matter how hard I tried to think positively with a neutral gear, there was absolutely no reason to think otherwise.
“…Ahem, I think you’re misunderstanding something.”
“It’s already been downgraded in my mind that the pre-regression me is a bad guy who deserves to be beheaded right away, so it’s too late to call it a misunderstanding.”
“I know well what you’re mistaken about. But I fully respect the choice you made before the regression…”
“You mean playing around?”
“…So, I don’t know what that ‘playing around’ means, but there were circumstances for that.”
When I interrupted her, Elena, who seemed flustered, cleared her throat and calmly continued her explanation.
“There must have been a reason, because you didn’t have much time left anyway, so you made that choice…”
“Did I say that before the regression?”
“…You didn’t say it directly like that, but we all sufficiently understood what it meant.”
“You’re interpreting the dream rather than the dream itself.”
If the core of the pre-regression me was the same as the current me, I could guarantee it.
Not just guarantee, but if my thought was wrong, I would be willing to fry my palm.
The nonsense about thinking it was better to not choose anyone since I didn’t have much time left anyway, rather than thinking it was too short-sighted to choose one person and get married since I’d die soon – that was just an afterthought.
The day of my death was approaching, and when I came to my senses, there were only five women beside me.
I just hesitated, thinking “what should I do, what should I do,” and then irresponsibly thought, “I’m going to die soon anyway,” and died comfortably.
If I said it like this, it was like spitting on my own face, but at least that was what I thought.
That I was so deep, overflowing with consideration for those around me, and kind?
Nonsense.
And the one fortunate thing was…
“Your Highness the Princess.”
“Why are you being like this?”
“I think it was a good decision to listen to your story today. If I had just been curious without listening, it would have been a big problem.”
“…?”
Elena looked at me with an expression that seemed to say, “Why are you suddenly acting like this?” but I was 100% sincere.
Why did we learn history in the first place?
It was to learn from the past history and use them as a lesson.
I was sure that was written in the preface of the history textbook I learned in school.
Anyway, that’s right.
Now that I know how miserable the ending of the pre-regression me was, I can at least think that I shouldn’t do the same this time.
Thank you! Pre-regression me! You were truly garbage!
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Anyway, after roughly wrapping things up with Elena… Elena left, saying she would come back to pick me up later.
And I was.
“Young master, your skin is so fair. Your eyebrows are so thick that you don’t even need to draw them separately.”
“…Thank you.”
I was surrounded by attendants, getting dolled up in a way that wasn’t in my fate.
Even if it wasn’t full-fledged makeup with color cosmetics, being surrounded by pitch-black men and getting dressed like a mannequin and having makeup done was more terrible than I had anticipated.
Well, in this world, attendants were in a similar position to the maids of my previous life, so it couldn’t be helped, but for me, who had a “normal” way of thinking, this situation was a bit mentally damaging.
Looking around, there were only about six or seven men of my age or slightly older, wearing ill-fitting tuxedos.
Being suddenly surrounded by men, changing clothes like a Barbie doll, and receiving unpleasant compliments like having fair skin wasn’t a very pleasant feeling.
‘…Ugh.’
I thought I had relatively fair skin, though not as much as Arwen, since I didn’t get much sunlight, but they were applying powder as if something was lacking.
“If we do this, the lips will look relatively soft…”
“The eyebrows don’t really need to be touched.”
The attendants around me were actually mumbling among themselves, seemingly doing their best to figure out how to do the makeup, but it was an unwelcome enthusiasm.
It’s not like I can say, “Get rid of this crap!” and run out of here, kicking the chair.
What I could do was clear.
‘The mountain is the mountain, and the water is the water…’
Just like the saying that if you give up, you’ll be at peace, I just gave up on everything and obediently left it to them.
At least they wouldn’t do anything strange.
…Probably.
Honestly, I wasn’t strangely confident, but they were probably better than me, who had never put anything on my face other than washing my face and applying lotion, both in my previous life and this life.
Still, if Elena called them, they must be professionals.
How long had it been like that?
“Young master, it’s all done. Would you like to take a look in the mirror?”
“…Yes, sure.”
As soon as I heard it was finished after enduring the time of hardship for a long time, I turned my head towards the mirror with a relieved expression.
And as expected, it was as I predicted.
My hair that was always roughly trimmed like short hair, with only the bangs tidied up, or sometimes just neatly tied up short, was somehow shiny and glossy without any frizz.
The classic is the best, or there needs to be a bit of a statement in this kind of occasion – after the attendants bickered among themselves, the decided men’s suit also seemed to have a pretty good fit.
How should I describe this?
The person involved, me, didn’t really care whether I dressed up flashily like this or not, but it felt like plastic surgery was done brilliantly while keeping the original form as much as possible.
“…It turned out well.”
No matter how much makeup was said to be a magic that transformed people, I didn’t do it that elaborately.
It wasn’t a change drastic enough to make my eyes widen in shock, so I just thought, “Well, whatever.”
But I couldn’t show a lukewarm reaction like a villainous lady when I saw them working hard next to me.
In this world, the expression “villainous young master” would be more fitting.
I just went along with it appropriately, and the attendant who seemed to be the leader among them said with a satisfied smile.
“There’s no doubt that the star of today will be you, young master. It turned out well without much effort since the original was good.”
“…Thank you.”
Actually, I didn’t need the leading role even if you gave it to me, but I bowed my head and expressed my gratitude out of courtesy.
More than anything else, I was relieved that the tedious makeup that lasted for hours was finally over, and just as I was about to get up slowly, someone knocked on the door.
Knock knock.
With a light knock, the door opened and Elena appeared.
“I’m here to pick you up, but is the preparation all…”
Thud.
At the same time Elena flinched, the expensive-looking necklace she was holding in her hand fell with a thud.
And as soon as Elena saw me, she stopped dead in her tracks while standing.
“…Your Highness, why did you suddenly stop at the sight of a person? As if you saw Medusa or something.”
I spoke to her, but Elena didn’t answer.
And then the door slammed shut and Elena disappeared.
All that was left was the sound of her catching her breath outside the door.
The dumbfounded me and the attendants took turns looking at each other’s faces.
No, what the hell is going on?
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