It was a three-way meeting.
She felt relieved that she could finally meet and talk to the real Aisha she had so long wished to see. Even if she had been driven out of the body.
Now that she was in a soul state, just as Reminus had said, she could see something like a red thread connecting herself and the real Aisha.
It was faint, as if it could snap at any moment, but at least as long as it existed, it seemed she wouldn’t be annihilated.
“This is…”
The real Aisha, who had opened her eyes, looked around with a flustered expression, then frowned when she saw Reminus.
[Hmm. Judging by that expression, this must be the real one you were talking about.]
“Why are you here?”
Aisha stared at Reminus for a long moment, then finally noticed that there was someone else beside her. It seemed that even to Aisha’s eyes, she herself, now a soul, was visible.
“…It was you. You’re the one who came to the temple.”
She said it while looking at her, without even a surprised expression.
It seemed the real Aisha had already anticipated her existence. After all, since their consciousness had switched several times, she must have felt something was off.
[This is all my mistake.]
“What?”
[It seems there was some kind of problem while bringing your soul over here.]
“…”
[It may be confusing, but we are also in the process of finding the cause. That said, for the time being, it seems you will have to share your body with that child. I can only apologize to both of you.]
Reminus apologized in a dejected tone.
But Aisha remained silent for a moment, as if deep in thought.
“If you find it? Then what happens after?”
[After?]
“I’m asking what happens to that.”
Being referred to as “that” in an instant, the possessor Aisha felt a lump rise in her throat.
It was an attitude that seemed to say she had nothing to lose since she was already the rightful owner of the body. It looked like she was even more unpleasant than expected.
[If it truly was our side’s mistake, then we must help her reincarnate again.]
“…Really?”
─ “Reincarnation?”
The real Aisha seemed to accept it quickly and didn’t ask further questions, but the possessor Aisha did not.
[I told you. You cannot enter the body of a living person, which means you would have to enter a dying body. Do you think it would be easy to find a body that perfectly matches like that?]
She had never thought about reincarnation before, so the thought made her feel strangely unsettled.
Just as Reminus said, it did seem like the best option.
At least compared to two souls living in a single body like this.
Still, no matter how she looked at it, this situation was one where only she stood to lose, and the unfairness of it made her unbearably miserable.
If possible, she had wanted to see Jeron and Luzbel grow happy too…
─ “Could you not look into it?”
“Hey. Just reincarnate.”
─ “What?”
“Do you think it’s that easy, like Reminus said? Either way, there’s nothing bad about it.”
─ “Nothing bad…”
“More importantly, I’ve already given birth to Jeron, and it feels like I’ve done everything I needed to do. So it’s fine for me to live however I want now, right?”
[…Right.]
“That’s enough, then.”
After receiving the god’s clear confirmation, the real Aisha lifted the corners of her lips in satisfaction.
─ “What is all this supposed to mean?”
[Aisha never wanted this life in the first place. But Jeron, who is essentially the protagonist of this world, absolutely had to be born. That is why she was forced to live on. Now that she has fulfilled all her roles, it means I do not intend to intervene any further. I thought she would come sooner, but she was late.]
But why only now?
The possessor Aisha wore a puzzled expression, then recalled the time she had been confined.
So even though Luzbel hadn’t intended this situation either, by preventing her from leaving, she had been unable to meet Reminus and had remained stuck.
─ “Then are you planning to divorce Luzbel?”
“Of course.”
─ “What about Jeron…”
“Why are you asking me that?”
The real Aisha openly showed her irritation, shuddering the moment Jeron’s name was mentioned.
She had thought there might be no maternal affection, but even though it was truly her own child, it seemed her feelings leaned more toward hatred than affection.
Did she really hate Luzbel that much?
Judging by what he had done so far, he certainly hadn’t done well, but he wasn’t such a terrible person as to deserve this level of hatred.
If only Aisha had opened her heart…
No, but why did it feel like she was speaking on Luzbel’s behalf?
In any case, because of their mismatched hearts, both of them had been deeply unhappy.
Love really was difficult. That was all she could conclude.
“I’m going back.”
The real Aisha muttered as if making a firm resolution.
─ “Where to?”
Was she talking about going to Lisellon?
But contrary to what she had heard, the real Aisha was even ruder than expected.
“…Why do you keep asking such annoying questions? You’re going to disappear soon anyway.”
─ “…Her attitude is seriously insane.”
“What?”
The real Aisha shot the possessor Aisha a fierce glare.
But the possessor Aisha, equally offended, didn’t look away either.
“Forget it. What’s the point of dealing with you.”
The one who looked away first was the real Aisha, with a faint sneer on her lips.
Her expression seemed to find the possessor Aisha both ridiculous and pathetic.
Wow. It was a face she had always admired whenever she looked in the mirror, but apparently it could look this unpleasant too. The possessor Aisha realized it anew.
─ “Wait, but Lord Reminus!”
[Speak.]
─ “I do not want to reincarnate.”
[What?]
“What? Hey, then are you saying you’re going to keep freeloading off me?”
The real Aisha’s voice rose sharply in an instant.
─ “That is not what I mean. Since there is nothing to lose anyway… Can you not find me a body? Or if not, I think it would be fine to go back to where I originally was.”
[…]
“Are you crazy? Stop talking nonsense and just go away!”
Raising her voice, Aisha flew into a rage, cursing wildly.
Was she unaware that while telling someone else to stop spouting bullshit, she herself was doing it even worse? No, even having been together for such a short time, it was baffling how Luzbel had ever fallen for someone like this.
People had only said she was someone one couldn’t communicate with, so she had never imagined her personality would be this awful.
“Stop parasitizing my body already!”
Not wanting to deal with the real Aisha any further, she completely ignored her and looked only at Reminus.
─ “Please.”
[I will try to find you a new body you can enter. However, you cannot return to your original world. By now, your real body there would have already rotted away.]
“Reminus!”
The real Aisha, who had been screaming and raging at her, shouted at Reminus like a thunderclap.
“Why are you answering that ridiculous request?!”
Even toward Reminus, a God, the real Aisha showed no manners.
[You also demanded to be sent back when you reincarnated.]
“I was flatly refused!”
[Because it was impossible. And this child’s request will also be difficult. I can try looking, but it will not be easy, so in the end, she will reincarnate according to the natural order.]
“Aaagh!”
Whether it was frustration from things not going her way, the real Aisha screamed and clawed irritably at her hair.
─ “That temper is really…”
“I don’t care. Anyway, from now on, I’m going to live however I want!”
Saying that, the real Aisha glared at her with all her might, then turned away. It seemed she intended to return to the estate.
─ “Ah…!”
Panicking and not knowing what to do, she hurried after the real Aisha and stuck close to her, only for her soul to be sucked back into the body as if absorbed.
“This body is mine, so you sleep.”
— “…What?”
“I’m telling you never to crawl back up again!”
The moment she was forced back in, Aisha’s voice rang out, and at the same time, it felt as though her soul sank deep into an abyss. Her consciousness vanished along with it.
***
She had said she was going to the temple, but she came back like a completely different person.
Because of that, the atmosphere in the household was no different from walking on thin ice. The Marquis also looked flustered by the suddenly changed Aisha.
“…Mom must really hate me now. Again.”
There was nothing to be done as Jeron’s complexion, which had brightened and grown more childlike, darkened once more.
Even though she had changed, even though she was ill, every time he approached her thinking she was still his mother, Aisha recoiled in disgust and treated Jeron like a germ.
“Jeri, it’s okay.”
The one comforting Jeron as he dug himself into a hole was the Marquis.
He had never thought highly of the child, but he wasn’t heartless enough to feel smug when a young child grew depressed from not receiving his mother’s affection.
They had bickered for several days and grown closer as well.
Jeron, too, relied quite a bit on the Marquis.
They shared no resemblance, but he seemed to find a sense of relief in knowing that someone connected to Aisha cared about him.
“Please stay next to me…”
“I will.”
Crying until he was exhausted, Jeron barely managed to fall asleep in the Marquis’s arms.
“Good grief.”
The Marquis let out a sigh as he unconsciously stroked Jeron. He, too, was having trouble adjusting to this suddenly changed atmosphere.
They had planned to go on a date after returning from the temple, but that had fallen through, and when he came home, Aisha was glaring at him with a look of pure disgust.
“What is it now with you?!”
“Huh? Ah, Aisha…”
“You really have some nerve. I told you never to show up before my eyes again! Do you have any idea where you are showing your face?!”
That day, the Marquis ended up bleeding after being struck on the forehead by a vase Aisha threw.
But thinking about it, this was actually Aisha’s original personality.
To be honest, if he truly wanted to see Aisha, he could have overturned Emperors and Dukes alike and come at any time, but he had never sought her out because he had anticipated this very reaction.
Hearing news of his daughter after seven years, only to learn she had gone mad, was what finally gave him the courage to come.
He had planned to apologize quietly and leave if he was turned away at the door, but instead, he had ended up staying.
“My Lord, are you all right…?”
“…Hmm, and what about your state…?”
“I went to see Lady Aisha and was driven out.”
“Good grief.”
It seemed she had thrown something again.
The Marquis, feeling like it could just as well have been his own situation, looked at Deikan with a pitiful expression.
“…Just stay as quiet as a dead mouse. She seems to be in a very bad mood.”
“Is Lady Aisha really like that by nature?”
“…Pretty damn vicious, isn’t she?”
“…Ahem, that is not what I meant.”
“You can speak honestly.”
“Th-then, yes… she is quite something.”
She was his own daughter, whom he had given birth to and raised. There was no way he wouldn’t know how terrible her personality was.
The Marquis had suffered a great deal because of it and had tried getting angry as well, but that personality simply couldn’t be fixed. He had no idea who she had taken after.
Even so, no matter how she behaved, he could never leave his child completely alone.
Even if Aisha grew old and aged, to him she would probably always look like a child left by the water’s edge. That was simply how children were.
“…Well.”
“Yes?”
“It’s nothing.”
The Marquis, who had seemed hesitant as if he wanted to say something, soon pressed his lips shut.
