A sparring match to assess Adelaide's skills and weaknesses.
Two weeks had passed since the day the two of them scrubbed the soaking-wet floor together.
Looking back on everything up to now, it had truly been smooth sailing.
Lumia's once-chaotic environment had been safely restored to normal.
There had been no mysterious threats descending on Lumia, as there had been before.
And the newly transferred Adelaide and Spica had settled into the branch without a hitch.
Word from headquarters was that no new transfers or secondments were expected for the time being.
In other words, whatever happened next, I could control all of it.
That confidence eased the anxiety that had been gnawing at me.
*I'm also steadily finishing my preparations to become the villain behind the curtain.*
Within Lumia, Leila's presence was nothing short of the sun itself.
Headquarters held her contribution to resolving the Midir incident in the highest regard.
The goodwill campaign had sent trust among the Valkyries soaring through the roof.
Even ordinary citizens knew my name.
My influence was enough to… well, not quite enough to convince people the sun was the moon.
But enough that, when something happened, everyone would trust me and follow my lead.
Reaching this point in just over a month was remarkable in its own right.
And it didn't stop there.
Steady intelligence gathering through the Leila Network.
That tedious, seemingly endless work had finally borne fruit.
I had managed to make contact with the underworld — through the Darknet, no less.
*Among the conspiracy theories floating around out there, some of them turned out to be real. Who would have thought a former S-rank Valkyrie had actually defected from Valhalla and formed a secret society.*
Classified information known only to a vanishingly small number of people.
I had traded that intelligence for a Darknet program and an account.
The buyer had made quite a fuss about having learned the truth of the world.
Honestly, I wasn't sure it was quite that astonishing.
Regardless — the Darknet, where only the underworld's denizens roamed.
Once I was in, I started making moves without hesitation.
Under normal circumstances, fear of repercussions would keep anyone from acting so boldly.
But I had an untraceable IP. Completely bulletproof.
I dug up corporate scandals and classified secrets that were never meant to see the light of day.
I researched the dates and times of every incident that had occurred in the city.
I even obtained contact information for criminal organizations and secret societies.
Intelligence that couldn't be bought with money alone accumulated steadily.
Stored in the Memory Corridor, so there was no risk of losing any of it.
Someday, I suspected, a use would present itself.
*Satisfying. The flow up to here has been excellent….*
And yet — back in my private quarters after finishing work and clocking out.
Tomorrow was the start of the weekend. No urgent tasks, so I could rest properly.
The face staring back at me from the mirror wore nothing but a complicated expression.
"Haah…. Why is nothing happening yet? What on earth is Midir doing?"
The reason was simple enough.
I had seen with my own two eyes that it hadn't died — that it had fled.
And yet a full month had passed with no word from Midir whatsoever.
An Erosion Species should have recovered long before now.
Wasn't that thing supposed to hate whoever had wounded it?
If the villain won't make a move, there's nothing I can do…!
"Frustration…."
Come to think of it, when was the last time I'd seen someone's face twisted in anguish?
Was it when Arishia had wept at the sight of me waking up?
That was already just over a month ago.
Honestly, I was in a slightly stifled state right now.
Of course, I had been releasing my desires periodically.
But just as no amount of effort can make imitation meat taste like the real thing.
Just as watching a replay can never recapture the thrill of watching live.
I could feel an unresolved frustration building up inside me.
"Mmm…. Haah, but there's nothing to be done about it. I'll just have to wait."
Even so, there was nothing I could do in a situation like this.
All I could do was prepare as thoroughly as possible until a good opportunity arrived.
I was shrugging off my uniform to wash the sweat from my body when a thought struck me, and I murmured at the mirror.
"Right. I'm in a bad mood anyway…. Maybe I'll tease the Commander tomorrow."
And just like that, tomorrow's plans were made on the spot.
*
A somewhat abrupt question, but — where does suffering come from?
Why is the story of someone who has lost a lover a sad thing?
Why does a father wipe away tears watching his daughter get married?
Why does NTR inflict such stress on so many people?
I had always believed that suffering comes from loss.
The hollow emptiness of losing a lover you thought would always be by your side.
The grief of watching a child you raised with such care become someone else's.
The despair of having a lover you thought was yours taken away.
That is what tears the heart apart and crushes it — what makes emotions spill over.
In other words, if you want to make someone suffer.
The surest method is to take away what they hold most dear.
*That's why I need to become someone the Commander treasures. Someone so precious to him that the thought of losing me leaves him at a complete loss.*
Simply put, becoming the Commander's lover was the optimal strategy.
But charging in recklessly at this stage would be the mark of an amateur.
Because the Commander was, above all else, a regressor.
Say I pushed a confession on him and we became lovers.
But what if he couldn't return to a time before we were together?
He might feel sad, but it wouldn't truly hurt him.
He would have lost all the precious memories we'd built up together.
But if he was already in a relationship, memories could simply be made again.
*So timing is everything here.*
Before the Regression — lovers who had shared their hearts.
After the Regression — nothing more than coworkers.
The affectionate smile of *Commander, I love you…* transformed into the professional smile of *Commander, is something the matter…*
What I was aiming for was the sense of loss born from that gap.
Therefore, rashly confessing first was the worst possible choice.
The optimal play was to make the Commander feel a powerful pull toward me first.
Then let him grow so restless that he was the one to confess.
Because if he confessed, I could turn him down and buy myself time.
*Ah… if he confesses, I absolutely have to reject him next time.*
Oh, honestly. What am I going to do.
Ideas for tormenting the Commander kept surfacing in my mind one after another.
In my estimation, that man had definitely never been in a relationship even once.
If I set out to break him properly, there were far too many ways to do it.
Of course, I intended to avoid an NTR scenario if at all possible.
But imagining it on my own was perfectly fine, wasn't it?
"Hehehe…."
I ran my fingers idly over the ends of my hair, using the glass as a mirror.
And in my mind, I pictured the Commander's face twisted in anguish.
Ah… if I could see it with my own eyes, I'd have no regrets in life.
I was humming to myself, lost in thought, when a voice reached me.
"What are you thinking about so intently?"
"Eek!"
I was so genuinely startled that I actually bounced slightly off the floor.
I whipped my head to the side — and there stood a familiar figure.
The Commander, whom I had arranged to meet today.
My voice failed me. I fumbled with my words.
Then I stepped back from him and cried out in flustered alarm.
"C-Commander?! When did you—"
"I just arrived…. It seems you were too focused to notice. What were you thinking about so deeply?"
"Ah, um…."
I had no time to think of an excuse. My words dried up.
I had been running through a hundred ways to shatter the Commander's self-esteem.
There was no way I could answer honestly without lying.
My back went cold and damp with a nervous sweat, and I reflexively averted my eyes.
Still, I recovered my composure quickly enough.
When I thought about it, this didn't really damage Leila's character at all.
I took a slow breath and, as if to change the subject, reached out and grabbed the Commander's hand.
Under normal circumstances I wouldn't be so hasty as to take someone's hand.
But this was a performance — the feeling of someone too flustered to care about such things.
"L-Let's go get lunch! Ahaha…! I'm looking forward to it!"
"Kuhh…. Yes. Of course."
The reason I had called the Commander out today was nothing complicated.
A casually mentioned promise to share a meal together.
Yes — a date with that as its cover.
I'll make him so restless he has no choice but to confess before long.
With my back turned to the Commander, I let a small smile curl at the corner of my mouth.
I couldn't see it myself, of course.
But I was certain it was a perfectly sinister expression — entirely like me.
*
Yujin, who had found himself making plans with Leila out of nowhere the night before.
Spending a weekend lunch cutting into meat, he thought quietly to himself.
That this person really was remarkably captivating.
"…And so. Lately I've grown quite close with Adelaide. She follows me around like an adorable little puppy."
"Adelaide does?"
"Yes. It feels almost like I've gained a sweet little sister. Ufufu, though I have a feeling she'll catch up to me before long."
Yujin and Leila were at one of Lumia's well-known restaurants.
According to the meddlesome Promina, it was Lumia's finest date spot.
A stylish Western restaurant that served fresh, quality cuts of meat.
Yujin watched Leila as she spoke from across the table.
Up until now, he had almost always seen her in uniform.
Today, she was wearing casual clothes — a rare sight.
On top, a form-fitting sleeveless knit in shades of blue.
Below, shorts that showed off her attractive thighs, paired with comfortable sneakers.
The overall look was strongly casual.
But perhaps because her figure — dangerously at odds with her pure, delicate face — was on full display.
Yujin found it difficult to look at her directly.
It felt as though his gaze might be pulled downward, as if drawn in against his will.
*I shouldn't be thinking this way about Leila….*
Yujin was deeply troubled.
Just as Leila had guessed, he had no experience with romance whatsoever.
And so he felt a pang of guilt for perceiving her as a woman.
He held a strong affection for Leila.
No — if anything, he trusted her more than anyone else.
She was the precious person who had saved his life.
She was someone he admired, who would stake her own life for others.
And precisely because of that, he did not want to direct unworthy thoughts toward her.
The base desire to pull her close and feel her warmth against him.
He did not want to project that kind of lowly longing onto her.
But whether she knew of Yujin's feelings and efforts or not.
After the meal ended, Leila made things considerably more difficult for him.
"Commander. What shall we do now?"
"Um, Leila! Th-this kind of thing—"
Squeeze.
As if declaring that this was exactly where she belonged.
Leila slipped her arm through his with the most natural ease imaginable.
And with that came the warmth and softness he felt instinctively.
The soft pressure against his forearm in particular sent Yujin into a panic.
But she seemed entirely unaware of what she had done.
She tilted her head, then startled belatedly and pulled away from him.
"Ah, I'm sorry! So many people have been linking arms with me lately that it's become a habit…. I-if it was unpleasant, I apologize!"
"No, it wasn't unpleasant…. I was just caught off guard."
"Ah…."
Leila looked flustered, as though she had made a terrible mistake.
But then, at Yujin's answer, she blinked at him blankly.
And then, as if she had found something amusing.
She spoke to him with a playful smile, teasing.
"Heheh, is that so? So it wasn't unpleasant?"
"…."
"Ah, did you perhaps… like it?"
"No comment."
Neither of them was conscious of it, but their footsteps fell in perfect rhythm.
It had already been a full month since the two of them had been together as Commander and Adjutant.
For Yujin, it was nearly two months.
They had grown accustomed to each other's pace.
"S-so if you liked it… maybe there might be another chance sometime….
"…."
"Ah! You just glanced over at me! I caught you, Commander!"
"I did not glance!"
She always carried herself with such maturity and composure.
But every now and then, she showed a side of herself like this — playful, teasing.
The contrast in temperature left Yujin unable to collect himself.
And then, like shedding a skin, she revealed yet another new face.
The mature Leila. The playful Leila. The bashful Leila.
Something small inside Yujin, as he talked with her, was quietly growing larger.
For him, at least, it was the worst possible misfortune.