My Fiancé Fell in Love with My Older Sister. After Locking Myself in My Room for Five Days, 500 Years Had Passed. - Chapter 18

It wasn’t like coming out of a tunnel and finding myself in a snowy land.

When I stepped out of the room, I found myself in a world 500 years ahead.

“………Wait, what!?”

As I shouted in confusion, the clerk who was recording my story looked up.

“Lady Felicia?”

“Ah, no. It’s nothing.”

I forced a smile to hide my surprise.

☆

I shut myself in my room and spent five days creating presentation materials — or rather, material to persuade Father.

I basically pulled all-nighters.

The morning sun shining through the gap in the curtains was bright.

(The sunlight hurts my eyes…!!)

Because of all the trial and error, the room was covered in parchment.

But finally.

Finally, it was complete…!

I held my work to my chest.

I was overwhelmed with emotion.

(This will work…!! I think this will really work…!!)

I feel like even my stubborn father will be convinced by this!!

Running on sleepless energy, I closed my eyes.

I started to imagine what comes next.

(First, I’ll tell Father I want to break off my engagement with Felix. Then─)

I’ll say it clearly: “I want to take the civil official recruitment exam.”

…No doubt, Father will never allow it.

Even though he’s always been indifferent and showed no interest in me, he definitely won’t allow something that brings shame to the family.

A duke’s daughter becoming a civil official — it’s unheard of.

That’s why… I had to convince him.

When I looked into past records, there were a few rare cases of noblewomen becoming civil officials.

I used real data and added how useful my unique magical skill is as part of the presentation.

(Presence Concealment would be perfect for intelligence work, right!?)

I don’t have the physical strength to become a knight, but I believe I can work as an intelligence officer.

(Also, I got a bookkeeping license in my previous life.)

I thought about changing careers and figured, “If I have a license, it can’t hurt!”. So I got one.

(I don’t know how useful it’ll be in this world… but maybe I can make it work.)

If I say I want to become a civil official, Father will probably explode with anger.

He might scold me and not take me seriously.

If he finds out I’m serious, there’s a high chance he’ll cut ties with me completely.

(I might not be allowed to use the name of House Frenzel anymore… No, that outcome is actually more likely.)

Even so, I had no intention of changing my decision.

I want to live my own life.

Not a life where I just do what others tell me to.

I want to live for myself.

That’s what I decided.

Before leaving the room, I used the bath in the connected room to wash and got dressed.

(But… it was a bit surprising.)

Even though I said I would lock myself away for five days, I thought for sure Mother, if not Father, would come see me.

Of course, I locked the door.

And even if Mother came, I didn’t plan to let her in (I wanted to focus on the presentation materials).

But against my expectations, Mother never came.

Not even the maids came near my room.

“Hm?”

Sitting in front of the dresser, I furrowed my brows.

(…I’m glad they left me alone, but I have a bad feeling about this.)

What if something big happened without me knowing?

Like, the engagement with Felix was already canceled, and a new engagement with Arnold had already been arranged?

Thinking that, I couldn’t sit still and stood up.

─And at that moment, as if to scream “Don’t forget!”, a sharp pain shot through my ankle.

“Ugh…!!”

Since I was alone, I let out a weird noise and collapsed to the floor.

─That’s right.

Even though five days had passed, my ankle was still hot and swollen…!

(Isn’t this like… fractured or something??)

I sadly rubbed my ankle to comfort it.

Liza had prepared bandages and herbs, so I was changing the bandages myself.

But the color of my ankle looked really bad.

After turning dark blue, now it looked yellow.

In this world, there are no pills — everything is basically herbal medicine.

The only treatment is crushing these questionable herbs and drinking them, or sticking them on the injury…!!

(I really should call a doctor and get this checked out…)

I probably need a splint too.

After that, I somehow managed to put on a corset I could wear by myself and changed into a simple white day dress.

Looking in the mirror, I used both hands to pull up the corners of my mouth.

“…Alright, cute!”

I praised myself in the mirror.

Because of my older sister — a beauty like a dream — I often faded into the background, but I’m still kinda cute in my own way.

My pink hair… is a soft lavender pink. Like the shade you see in spring lipsticks.

My eyes are the same color, like crabapple blossoms — also very cute.

My slightly wavy hair curls gently, and even my bangs curl just a little.

(If this were an anime or a game, I’d be like Village Girl A or Townsperson B, one of those ‘subtly cute’ side characters… but still cute, so that’s fine!)

All that was left was to tie my long pink hair with a blue ribbon.

I looked in the mirror, gave myself one final boost of confidence, clutched my handwritten presentation materials, and stood up with sheer willpower.

“Ugh…!”

Pain shot through my ankle again.

I crushed it with my determination and will, and stepped out of my room.

I stepped out─

“…Huh??”

I was stunned.

Because beyond the door… was a staircase I didn’t recognize.

A long, long staircase. Like the kind you’d see in a tower, narrow and never-ending.

…This definitely wasn’t the Frenzel Ducal House.

That much, I understood immediately.