I Will Break Off the Engagement Because I'm Jealous - The Untalented Villainess Who Rejected the Prince Searches for a Safe Haven with the Cheat Heroine - Chapter 4.5

<…Huh?>

Provoked by the implication that Iris didn’t care about her at all, Kismort’s voice stopped. Sensing his shock and anger, Emilia lifted her face again.

“This is a place where true feelings are exposed. Yet that girl, she must be continuing to utter cursed words about me, ones she can’t even say to my face, right? So,”

She couldn’t tell if he could see her face. But Emilia was convinced he could and she flashed him a lewd smile.

“What is she saying about you? Kismort?”

For a few moments, the sound ceased. No—she could hear something like Kismort’s breath.

A breath that sounded frantic, confused.

Almost despairing.

<Why should you care about me!? Is now really the time to be concerned with such things, you—!>

“It is the time to be concerned. After all, what’s the age difference between you two?”

Asked so abruptly, his “voice” stopped again.

Only the unsettling sound of his breathing could be heard.

“A creepy man, reeling after his wife left him. Being called ‘big brother’ by that cute, talented girl. When she was little, I’m sure that was fine, wasn’t it? Did you get carried away when you reunited? Are you, perhaps, expecting something?”

<Y-You, you you you! What are you saying! I am an adult, damn you!>

As Emilia spoke in one breath, a trembling, rattling fluster came back in response. Taking a deep breath, furrowing her brows, gritting her teeth… Emilia pressed her attack further.

“A man of your age, who should know women by now, holding hands with a young girl right after reuniting. Don’t you find that embarrassing? You’re targeting her because your noble houses are of matching status, aren’t you? Using your childhood friend relationship to get close to her. Hey, where is Iris right now? Shall I guess for you? Right beside the creepy baron who’s using this skill to learn her true feelings, planning to woo her in reality once she wakes up?”

<Y-You’re insulting me—! Just because you’re a duke’s daughter, I’ve been holding back!>

She could tell his agitation was spreading. Emilia was convinced his skill was weakening. Putting strength into her shoulders, her back. Pouring her will into her voice, her breath.

Emilia shouted.

“I am insulting you! The most important issue for me is! Iris’s location! It’s—!”

Faintly.

She thought she saw a door in the wall.

“Right beside you, you creepy man targeting that girl!”

She reached out her hand, twisted the knob, and opened the door. Inside was a guest room, with the same layout as the room assigned to Emilia. Sitting deeply in a chair, clearly asleep was Baron Kismort.

Emilia slipped closer to him.

<Stop, stop, don’t come closer—!>

“Shut up, or I’ll whisper ‘psssh’ right in your ear? You can’t move because you’re asleep to maintain the skill, right? Then keep quiet.”

She hurled the words right by his ear.

<Hic!>

Leaving him gasping and silent, she turned back to the bed.

“Iris.”

Iris was there, in her nightclothes.

She was squirming and wriggling. Looking closely, her hands and feet were bound. The cords were digging into her wrists and ankles, and she even seemed to be bleeding slightly. And that was not due to the skill. Emilia saw through it—she was tying herself up.

“Lady Emilia Lady Emilia Lady Emilia Lady Emilia Lady Emilia Lady Emilia Lady Emilia…”

With her face buried in the cloth, moving like a caterpillar, Iris continued to mutter. The overlapping sounds of her name sounded like nothing but cursed words. But Emilia… understood that she was calling for her.

“It’s me. Look properly.”

“Aaaaahhhhaaaaahhhh”

When Emilia approached and whispered, her face lifted. Her wide, sea-like blue eyes were fixed intently on her.

“Don’t look. Don’t let me see. Run away, please run away from me.”

“It’s alright, endure just a little longer. I will definitely protect your true feelings.”

Emilia whispered, stroking Iris’s hair, her cheek, and then her lips. They were damp with sweat. The moment her finger neared her lips, Iris’s mouth opened. Her oral cavity approached, seeking Emilia’s finger then closed tightly, her lips pulling taut. Iris was looking at Emilia with wet eyes, her back teeth clenched.

It felt like she was being cursed. It felt like she was being blessed. It felt like she was being hated.

It felt like she was being loved.

<Ka ka ka ka ka! Look, Iris is—! That girl will eventually become my partner.>

“Are you stupid?”

Emilia spat the words at the screaming Kismort.

“The one this girl is cursing is you, Kismort!”

<Wha—!?>

She stomped over to him, grabbed his hair, and yanked his head up. She glared fiercely at his sleeping face.

A “moya moya” feeling.

Was spouting flames, boiling up from deep in her chest.

It became a faint light.

“There are true feelings you absolutely don’t want known! There are thoughts you want to keep hidden in your heart! You evil thing, ignoring that and exposing people’s hearts!”

It overflowed from Emilia’s hand.

<S-Stop, Stop!>

“You—!”

Holding the short blade of light that had appeared, Emilia pointed its tip at Kismort.

<Bubaldia-kun, now—!>

Splat, something landed on Emilia’s face.

“Ha, eh…?”

Involuntarily flinching, Emilia stepped back. Wiping the dripping liquid with her hand, she managed to open her eyes and look forward. A creepy maid wearing a yellow and pink patchwork apron dress was standing beside Kismort.

(This woman. Why is she moving in the dream…? I see, those permitted by the skill user can.)

As understanding dawned, her body swayed unsteadily, and she collapsed without a chance to brace herself. Was the liquid a sleep-inducing drug? She wondered, but… she had no strength left to confirm the truth.

(Falling asleep inside a dream? What will happen to me Iris?)

Her consciousness was fading. She could no longer see anything.

But.

(Ah, Iris—)

Only her muttering, like a curse, could be heard.

“Hehe. Now then, expose your true feelings. I hope it brings you relief, young lady.”

Someone’s distant words guided Emilia into the dream.

☆ ☆ ☆

(Where is this…)

Emilia woke up. She tried to move her body, but her arms and legs wouldn’t budge an inch. It seemed she was seated in a fixed chair, her hands tied behind her, her legs bound to the chair legs… she seemed to be restrained. The place appeared to be a large room, but it was dark, and she couldn’t grasp the situation well.

“My name is Bubaldia Boutique bargain.”

A woman’s voice rang out. Simultaneously, a spotlight illuminated what appeared to be a stage in front of her. In the light stood a garish, lurid maid wearing a yellow and pink patchwork apron dress. The light source seemed to be near the ceiling, but she couldn’t tell for sure.

“The skill’s name is ‘Dream Image’! Pleased to meet you, Lady Emilia.”

“…You too intend to delay me on Prince Sieg’s orders, I suppose.”

As Emilia murmured the words, the woman descended from the stage.

“Of course, I do! Don’t ask obvious questions, you brat!”

She grabbed Emilia’s hair and yelled, spitting the words in her face. Emilia calmly met the maid’s gaze.

“Then, shall I ask ‘why,’ perhaps? I’ve never seen a maid like you around Lord Sieg.”

Instantly, the maid… Bubaldia’s eyes sparkled.

“Lord Sieg——ah, Lord Sieg!”

She flung Emilia aside and returned to the stage, spreading both arms and spinning round and round.

“A wonderful person… that man doesn’t mock my fashion! Not only that, he possesses even greater taste!”

(…That person’s fashion sense is disastrous, so I and his attendants were the ones choosing for him. But from how she’s talking, she means his ‘natural sense’… They’re kindred spirits, then.)

The spotlight changed colors garishly, illuminating the lurid Bubaldia in a gaudy light. As she danced, it was nothing but unpleasant to the eyes.

“If it weren’t for his command, I wouldn’t be in this backwater! Not with such a plain master! Even though I could be by His Highness’s side! Ah, but Lord Sieg’s orders are absolute. I must respond to the breadth of his heart! To that man who showed me his true feelings down to the deepest corners! To Lord Sieg, who entrusted his heart to me!”

(Showed her his true feelings, she says? What is that? That man hasn’t even whispered love to me.)

Emilia felt irritation and glared at Bubaldia. Regarding Sieg, she had rather felt he was indifferent to those around him. That’s precisely why Emilia had grown anxious, and since he had even given a token of love to Iris she had tried to test his true feelings.

That he would entrust his heart to another, let alone show them his inner self. And to have revealed it to a maid like this. It wasn’t a story she could believe.

“…What’s with the glare? Well, fine. If you’re thinking something, I’ll expose it right now.”

The spotlight brightly illuminated the stage once more. Beyond the dazzling light, she could see something… like a screen.

“My ‘Dream Image’ is different from Kismort’s! The skill user can move freely even within the dream! And above all! The memories of the dream’s master!”

An image appeared behind her.

What was shown was.

“I’ll dig them out—!”

Emilia herself.