Surviving as a Plagiarist in Another World

She wore the face of my junior and grinned, leaving me utterly unable to adapt.

Isolette had merely inherited a part of the junior’s memories, yet she drank the “Hyde Potion” and transformed into his exact appearance, leaving me somewhat flustered.

I couldn’t remember the last time I had been this emotionally shaken.

Since the memories of being trapped as a “newborn” during my childhood, I had found it difficult to be moved by anything.

But Isolette’s… “past life,” showing me the image of the person she had loved most, stirred even those long-forgotten feelings.

As a form of memory.

“…How did you get the potion?”

“Gallen Rennion.”

“Ah.”

“So, what do you think?”

“About what?”

“About the person who loves you wearing the face of the one you loved. Is she worthy of being your partner?”

“……”

What should I say to that?

Her straightforward words made it impossible to feign ignorance any longer.

It must have taken considerable courage for her to say that.

But.

Even though I intellectually understood the necessity of “love”…

“I guess I find it hard to immerse myself in the concept of living my own life.”

“……”

“Sorry. I find it difficult to love you fully.”

If it’s a book, I can immerse myself the moment I read the first word.

If it’s a story, I can dive into its world by the time I finish the first sentence.

If it’s written in text, I can love it, even if it’s just a single consonant or vowel.

But.

Living my own life, deciding my own story entirely…

Is just too.

Demanding of creativity for someone like me.

“…Pfft. Ha… Ed, you really are the worst.”

“That’s fair.”

“Seriously, what do you take a woman’s heart for? Ed, you have no charm whatsoever as a human being, you know that? Isn’t that response to a confession far too… disconnected?”

“Hm.”

“But, well, it’s so you. You’ve always been like that…”

For some reason, Isolette’s expression, not of disappointment but relief, made it hard to guess her feelings.

What could she be thinking?

I couldn’t fathom why she was smiling.

Thankfully.

I didn’t have to guess.

She herself, mumbling as if organizing her thoughts, eventually explained what was on her mind.

“Ed.”

“Yeah?”

“Your indifference… it’s not because it’s me, right? I mean, you don’t especially hate or resent me?”

“That’s right. In fact, you might be among the few I like.”

“…Huh.”

“Hm?”

Isolette smirked mischievously, just like my junior in her past life.

“Then, even if you can’t love me, will you grant me one request?”

“If it’s within my power.”

“From now on, there will be many people confessing to you, right? When that happens, think of me and say this.”

And then.

As my junior had confessed to me in her past life.

In a terribly forceful tone, she declared:

“I already have someone in my heart, so I can’t accept your confession. I’m sorry.”

“……”

“You don’t have to love me completely… Just become my partner.”

Even if you don’t love me.

Even if I don’t receive your love.

Even if it’s one-sided, I don’t mind.

Just tie this bond with me.

It was such a familiar and nostalgic confession that…

“……”

I hesitated for a moment before nodding.

“If that’s enough to satisfy you.”

“…Pfft, you really are the worst.”

.

.

.

“What’s the problem with that?”

“Pardon?”

As per Isolette’s request, I turned down others by saying I was “already promised in marriage.”

And.

Lady Es, as usual, shamelessly visited the publishing house to meet me.

“So, what you’re saying, writer, is that you can’t marry anyone else because you already have someone in mind?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“In other words, you do consider the idea of marrying a woman. You’re not into men, after all.”

“Well, I suppose that’s accurate.”

Lady Es was, quite literally, her usual self.

Her expression, her laughter, the way she leaned on the sofa and swung her feet, and her casual tone as if discussing something trivial.

Everything.

Being the same as usual made it even harder to guess what she intended to say.

“Then, I’ll be honest.”

“Excuse me?”

“I like you. I’m not particularly fond of playing the role of a princess who falls in love at first sight with the prince who saves her… But, in the end, I turned out just like that.”

“Mm.”

After a moment of hesitation, I spoke the phrase Isolette had asked me to use as an “excuse.”

“I already have someone in my heart, so I can’t accept your confession. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Even if you already have someone in mind.”

“Excuse me?”

.

.

.

Lady Es.

She was given the name “Idris” at birth, but she chose to remove two characters and called herself “Es.”

Her life was a process of thoroughly denying everything promised to her from the womb.

Her gender as a male, her name Idris, her status as a prince—all these noble promises were rejected, and only then could she finally become her “true self.”

A person unable to live as they were born, destined to shed their old self to allow for a distorted metamorphosis.

Because of this.

“I’ve never been able to have something from the very beginning. I’ve always desired what I couldn’t have.”

The usurper who finally broke free from the royal shackle that denied her control over her destiny.

Her fate was entirely in her own hands.

Among the royal family, she alone had the right to decide her destiny for herself.

“So, in the past, I just gave up and lived like that… But you’re the one who taught me I don’t have to give up, that it’s okay to take what I couldn’t have. Haha.”

“……”

Lady Es slowly rose from the sofa and approached me.

Between the chair I sat on and the sofa she had been sitting on was a small table, but she casually pushed it aside and walked straight toward me.

As if creating her own path.

As if no matter the problem posed, the answer would always be whatever she desired.

She approached with determination.

“So, well, here’s the thing! I’m a greedy person. When something I really like is in someone else’s hands…”

Finally, the distance between us narrowed to about a handspan.

She let out a slight chuckle and rested her hand on my shoulder. Her breath tickled my ear.

“I want to take it away. Really.”

Her declaration, coiling around my ankle like a viper, left me frozen like a frog before a snake.

No.

Wait.

Really? Is she actually suggesting… an affair? No, a forced marriage?

But her next words were slightly different from what I had imagined.

“I’ll let you have the first.”

“Excuse me?”

“Go ahead. Get married. To Lady Isolette, right? I’ll yield the first spot… for now.”

She took a step back, her serene smile showing no trace of falsehood or dissatisfaction.

Instead.

Lady Es pulled a vial from her pocket and shook it before me.

“Do you know what this is?”

“I’m not sure.”

“They call it the elixir of immortality. If you drink it… they say you won’t age or fall ill. Haha, could that really be true?”

“Mm…”

It seemed Gallen Rennion was up to something mischievous again.

She opened the vial in front of me and drank its contents. A faint strawberry scent wafted out.

And then.

“Gasp?!”

Leaning forward, she pressed her lips against mine as I sat in the chair.

The elixir she held in her mouth flowed into mine as she kissed me. The taste of the elixir… well…

“Gulp. Haa… So this is what a first kiss tastes like. Strawberry-flavored.”

…It was strawberry-flavored.

“What on earth—”

“I’ll wait. Whether it’s fifty years from now or a hundred years from now…”

“Pardon?”

For a moment, my brain stopped working.

Whether it was from the shock of the kiss or the incomprehensible words Lady Es was saying, I wasn’t sure. My mind was simply in chaos.

“Loneliness is something I’m used to. So, I’ll wait. For however long. When you part ways with your first love, you can come to me. And if I don’t suit you the second time, well… the third time is fine too. I might get a little angry if it’s the third time, though. Haha.”

“What are you even saying—”

“From now on, time is eternal. Even if my turn is delayed, as long as I endure and survive, it will eventually come, won’t it? You and I will live forever, and Lady Isolette won’t. Don’t you think that puts me at an advantage? A mere hundred years isn’t nearly enough time to fully love someone, after all.”

So, right now.

What Lady Es was saying…

“…Are you suggesting that when I part with my lover, you’ll claim me afterward?”

“Haha…”

Her ever-childish smile turned into the most mischievous voice I’d ever heard from her.

“I’m a greedy person, after all.”