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In a buffet restaurant near the faculty housing area of Itogami Island...
A petite girl with long black hair, porcelain skin, and dressed in an extravagant Western-style dress like a doll—Natsuki Minamiya—was silently sizing up the other girl across the table with a critical eye.
That girl looked familiar to her: radiant blonde hair that shimmered under the lights with hints of rainbow, sky-blue eyes full of curiosity, and an innocent smile that never seemed to fade.
Natsuki narrowed her eyes slightly. Yep, this girl matched the standard appearance profile of the Fourth Progenitor's dolls. She then turned to the young man sitting beside the girl and asked flatly. "What's her name?"
"Avrora. Avrora Florestina."
The man—Ryo Yagami—answered calmly while slicing into his filet steak without even looking up.
"I thought you'd at least take me somewhere a bit more upscale. But this cheap buffet? I gotta say, I'm a little disappointed."
"You? Be happy you're getting fed at all." Natsuki shot him an annoyed glare as she stabbed into her pork cutlet, voice dripping with sarcasm.
"If we're just eating to fill our stomachs, then going to a buffet is the logical choice, isn't it?"
She conveniently left out the part where treating three people at a fancy restaurant would probably give her a heart attack. She didn't mind spending money on herself—but letting someone freeload off her? That was just painful.
Ryo responded in that same calm, deadpan voice: "Your 'logic' just sounds like being cheap."
"Oh, so sorry for being practical," Natsuki replied with a fake smile, barely holding back the urge to roll her eyes.
This wasn't some hole-in-the-wall joint! The chef here was a minor celebrity. And yet, judging from Ryo's tone, you'd think she'd dragged him to a gas station for food.
Meanwhile, Avrora was happily munching away at the beef Ryo had cut for her. Her eyes sparkled as she turned to him with excitement. "Ryo! Ryo! What's this meat called? It's delicious!"
"Just regular beef," Ryo replied, gently wiping the sauce off her mouth with a napkin. He smiled and added, "If we get the chance, I'll take you to try something even better. I remember—"
"ICE CREAM!"
Avrora suddenly gasped and pointed excitedly at the soft-serve machine in the corner.
"That's ice cream, right?! I saw someone scoop it out of that metal bucket thing!"
Ryo followed her gaze, then looked back at Natsuki with a faint smile.
"Ugh. Trouble again."
Muttering under her breath, Natsuki got off her chair, went to the machine, and came back with a serving of ice cream for Avrora.
"Waaah!!" the little vampire's attention was instantly and completely consumed by the frozen dessert.
Natsuki, however, had her eyes on something else—Ryo Yagami.
"She's Number Twelve, right?" she asked bluntly.
With her appearance, snow-white skin, and even the name "Avrora"—clearly alluding to a sleeping beauty—it would be strange not to connect her with the Twelfth Primogenitor doll.
Which brought her to the real question. If Avrora was Number Twelve... then who was Ryo Yagami?
Was he just guarding her? That would've made sense... with the fact that Ryo had never once actually claimed to be the Fourth Primogenitor.
It was that airheaded vampire woman—Liana-something—who kept shouting about loyalty and swearing allegiance, making everyone believe Ryo Yagami was the real deal. But in hindsight, the man had never confirmed it himself. He'd just watched in silence, letting the misunderstanding continue.
'Serves her right for running around the island like a dog, totally lost and looking for a master,' Natsuki thought bitterly, cursing Liana in her heart.
Back at the table, Ryo nodded in response to her question.
"Avrora is the twelfth Kaleid Blood—The Bewitching Princess of Azure Ice."
"So you're going to admit it, huh?" Natsuki snorted.
Natsuki wasn't about to be fooled again.
She'd already paid for luxury hotels, international flights from Europe to the Far East, taxi rides, restaurant bills—all of it.
'I've been scammed!'
If this were a novel, she'd be the unlucky rich woman duped by a handsome conman who sweet-talked her out of her money and feelings.
With a sharp look in her eyes, Natsuki narrowed them and asked flatly:
"I'm only going to ask this once—are you the Fourth Primogenitor?"
Ryo smiled faintly, as if about to say something clever, but Avrora suddenly looked up. Her baby-blue eyes turned a sharp crimson.
"He is the Fourth Primogenitor," she said—not in her usual childish voice, but in a clear, elegant tone full of arrogance and bloodlust.
The true Fourth Primogenitor—the original curse soul sealed inside—Cyrora, had surfaced.
Floating just beneath the surface of Avrora's consciousness, she gazed at Natsuki with a mocking glint.
"He shares my power. Of course he is the real Fourth Primogenitor—more than worthy of the title."
For once, Natsuki was stunned into silence.
The overwhelming malice radiating off the soul gave her the urge to throw up. It was so pure and unfiltered, it terrified her.
"Who… are you?" she asked, jaw clenched.
The original soul smirked, about to respond—but Ryo calmly reached over and shoved her head down with a hand.
"She's just Cyrora Florestina," he said flatly. "A badly behaved kid who doesn't know when to shut up."
"Cyrora…" Natsuki muttered.
Of course she knew who that was. The soul sealed inside the Twelfth doll—the original spirit of the Fourth Primogenitor.
The soul sneered at Ryo, but when he shot her a calm, icy glance, she fell silent for a beat.
"...If that's the name you're giving me, then fine," she said, her voice dull but composed. "I'll accept the gift."
But in her heart, she was fuming.
'Just wait. One day, I'll bite into your throat and drink every last drop of your blood!'
Killing him was off the table. Their lives were too tightly bound now.
So this is my future, huh? Stuck with this two-faced bastard? Cyrora muttered internally before slipping back into the depths of consciousness, allowing the airheaded Avrora to take over again.
She'd already figured it out. As long as it was Avrora, Ryo would spoil her rotten. But Cyrora? Cold shoulder. Every. Time.
What a damn hypocrite!
Until she fully healed, she had no intention of dealing with Ryo. It just hurt too much to see the double standard.
"Ah, I see now..." Natsuki finally understood everything.
She hadn't been lied to. Ryo hadn't manipulated her. Both he and Cyrora were, in a sense, the Fourth Primogenitor.
The ancient legend described a cursed soul implanted inside the Fourth Primogenitor to control it.
And after the Fourth Primogenitor was torn apart and sealed into twelve dolls following a rebellion against the devas, only the two souls survived, locked away in the Twelfth doll—Avrora.
So now Ryo and Cyrora were two souls tied together, monitoring each other. A classic trick by the Three Primogenitors and the divine faction to contain the most dangerous being alive.
That meant Ryo was the current Fourth Progenitor.
Knowing this, Natsuki felt a lot better.
At least she wasn't just some rich fool who got conned into buying dinner for a random moocher.
But the truth was just like what was said to Kojou Akatsuki in the original story: {The Avrora you know is merely a watcher. She is not the being that the ruins on Gozo Island—the world's oldest Demon Sanctuary—were meant to seal away. She watches over the soul sealed within those ruins. That soul is the true Fourth Primogenitor. A cursed spirit, created by the hands of the three Primogenitors with the cooperation of the Deva people. We've given her the provisional name: Root.}
But instead of the name Root, Ryo gave her the name Cyrora. Maybe he wanted her to be treated like a living being, not a tool.
...
"Wooooah!"
Avrora—now back in control—was licking her ice cream and shouting with childish delight.
Ryo, meanwhile, looked up from his plate and calmly cut into another slice of steak.
"You're overthinking things again," he said to Natsuki.
She raised a brow and crossed her arms. "Someone who can control a Primogenitor's Familiar is a Primogenitor. End of story."
Even though it was phrased as a question, her tone made it clear she wasn't asking.
Ryo narrowed his eyes and replied with a smirk: "Oh, there's definitely a difference."
Natsuki raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? Like what?"
Ryo raised his fingers and pinched the air, indicating a tiny gap.
"I'm just a little bit stronger."
"...You're messing with me, right?" she replied, deadpan.
"Wooooah!!"
Avrora suddenly pointed to a girl a few tables away and shouted. "Ryo, Ryo! That girl's way stronger than you—like seven times stronger!"
"...Huh?" Ryo blinked, turning his head. Natsuki did the same.
They followed her gaze and fell into awkward silence.
At a neighboring table sat a girl with seven plates stacked high with steak.
Ryo let out a slow exhale.
"Well... I guess in Avrora's world, that really does make her seven times stronger."
.
.
.