"Are you from Japan too?!" Naoko blurted out, her voice trembling with a chaotic mix of shock, hope, and disbelief.
"Yes and no," Regulus replied smoothly, leaning back with a faint smirk. "I am not from Japan."
"That doesn't matter right now! You..." Naoko took a few hurried steps toward Regulus, but abruptly stopped.
She wasn't sure if it was because she had rashly interrupted him, or because she had approached too quickly, but the gaze of the petite girl resting against Regulus's shoulder shifted slightly. Those deadpan, analytical eyes made a cold shiver run down her spine.
Naoko forced herself to take a deep, stabilizing breath. She needed to calm down. She had to communicate rationally with the white-haired man in front of her to see if there was even a remote possibility of returning to her original world.
For her, this fantasy world was not a friendly or whimsical place. Just surviving—barely managing to secure a normal, stable life—had already consumed every ounce of her effort. And then, a brutal civil war had recently erupted on top of it all.
Fortunately, the conflict had ended relatively quickly. If the front lines had advanced any further, the devastation might have swallowed this border town entirely. If that had happened, she, who had finally managed to build a decent logistics business, would have been forced to scramble for scraps and survival all over again.
And if her luck turned just a little worse, dying an unceremonious death in a ditch wasn't out of the question. After all, this parallel world was teeming with all kinds of lethal hazards. There were demi-humans at odds with humanity, Mabeasts that manifested out of nowhere, ruthless mountain bandits, and feral beasts. For an ordinary woman running a small business who frequently had to travel past the town walls, these were terrors she had to constantly guard against.
"Forgive my breach of manners," Naoko murmured, bowing slightly.
"No need. In my opinion, that is a perfectly normal reaction given the shock," Regulus said, gesturing to an empty armchair across from him. "Come, sit down. Let's exchange whatever information we each possess."
"Thank you."
Naoko accepted the invitation, carefully sitting down in the spot that had just belonged to the smaller, Gothic Lolita girl. As for the other girl in the room, she was now sitting quietly in the man's arms across from her.
Now that she was closer, she could clearly see something she hadn't noticed from the doorway: this pink-haired girl was not entirely human. The delicate, pointed shape of her ears revealed her as a half-elf.
Considering the elite guards stationed outside the inn and the sheer luxury of this private suite, Naoko realized that although they were both transmigrators, this man was living a profoundly better life than she was. It wasn't just a minor difference; they existed in entirely different worlds.
"Miss Kisaragi, how long exactly have you been trapped in this world?" Regulus asked, pouring her a fresh cup of tea.
"It has been five years," Naoko sighed, cradling the warm cup.
"Five years?" Regulus murmured, scanning her youthful features. "But looking at your current appearance, you seem to be barely twenty. Did you cross over to this world before you were even fifteen?"
"No, you guessed wrong. Don't let my face fool you—I am actually twenty-one," Naoko chuckled softly, a gentle smile breaking through her anxiety. Even in a parallel world, being told she looked younger than her actual age was still a universally pleasing thing for a girl. "I dropped into this world when I was sixteen, right after entering high school but right before I even had the chance to attend my first class."
"Is that so," Regulus nodded, his tone carrying a smooth hint of sympathy. "It must have been incredibly grueling back then. Suddenly waking up in a completely unfamiliar, primitive world, entirely alone with no one to rely on."
"Well... it was indeed very hard," Naoko admitted, her eyes clouding with bitter memories. "Especially the nightmare caused by being illiterate here. I was constantly cheated by merchants, swindled out of my meager coppers, and I almost starved to death on the streets several times. Fortunately, I finally managed to scrape through the worst of it. Now, I can barely say I don't have to worry about daily sustenance anymore."
"That is truly commendable," Regulus praised smoothly, before casually pivoting the conversation. "Speaking of which, since your life here has been so grueling and lonely, did you never think about finding someone and starting a family of your own?"
"Absolutely not," Naoko answered instantly, her tone incredibly decisive.
After delivering her blunt refusal, Naoko's gaze subconsciously drifted back to the quiet half-elf resting securely in Regulus's arms, purring slightly as his fingers gently stroked her hair.
"Have you started a family?" Naoko asked.
"Yes, I have very lovely wives," Regulus smiled.
"Wives..." Naoko noted internally, her brow twitching fractionally.
She looked at the ethereal half-elf maiden who simply closed her eyes and clung to Regulus's embrace as he caressed her. She was indeed undeniably cute. If Naoko were born a man instead of a woman, with such a breathtakingly cute girl by her side, she would definitely fall head over heels for her too.
But it was Regulus's specific use of the plural word "wives" that struck her.
This white-haired transmigrator might be living a life that was infinitely more decadent than she had initially imagined. After all, the Kingdom of Lugnica largely enforced a strict monogamous marriage system; it was exceedingly rare for a man to openly maintain multiple wives, even among the highest echelons of the nobility.
But then again, since a modern man successfully transmigrated to a fantasy world, was building a harem really that surprising? However, when an ordinary person is actually dropped into a harsh alternate reality, how many could realistically achieve such a feat? Just staying alive was already an overwhelmingly difficult task.
"By the way... how long have you been in this world?" Naoko asked, shifting the spotlight back to him.
"Me?" Regulus looked down at Sphinx nestled in his embrace.
For Sphinx, she had technically known of his existence through historical records and Echidna's memories spanning hundreds of years. But in literal chronological reality, this specific iteration of Regulus had only walked this earth for a few months.
Sphinx, possessing a fraction of the Witch of Greed's absolute intellect, should have noticed the jarring discrepancy. People's core personalities can change, and the current Regulus was entirely different from his future self. It was structurally impossible for a historical entity to live backward, to the point of not even recognizing baseline Lugnican script characters.
However, neither Sphinx nor Beatrice paid any real mind to this paradox. For them, no matter the underlying cosmic reason or temporal displacement, Regulus was fundamentally Regulus. They would never mistake his identity, nor could they.
"About a few months," Regulus answered casually.
"A few months?!" Naoko gasped.
"Yes. Is there an issue?"
"No... nothing..." Naoko murmured, suddenly feeling an intense wave of humiliation washing over her.
Even if she didn't dare compare her pathetic self to the legendary predecessors who transmigrated hundreds of years ago and single-handedly established the entire Kararagi city-state, she had still struggled and bled for five whole years just to secure a basic, modest livelihood. Yet, this newcomer had only been here for a few months, and he was already living like an untouchable emperor. The sheer disparity was staggering.
Regulus observed Naoko's highly expressive, awkward facial expressions and easily guessed the exact direction of her self-deprecating thoughts.
Compared to her internal panic, Regulus had already secured the vital piece of data he wanted to extract. That was: the beautiful girl sitting across from him did not have a man.
'In that case, how could I possibly let her go?' Regulus smiled inwardly, his possessiveness flaring up. 'It is absolutely impossible to let her escape my grasp.'
As for the grandfather paradox of how Natsuki Subaru would ever be successfully born into the world if he claimed his mother right now? That was a cosmic problem Regulus didn't care to waste a single second considering.
'Naoko has already been pulled across dimensions into this world,' Regulus reasoned with absolute arrogance. 'Could Subaru's future father, that guy named Kenichi Natsuki, realistically cross dimensions and chase her all the way to Lugnica to claim her? Absolutely not.'
At that exact moment, Naoko noticed the distinct shift in Regulus's gaze. His eyes were locking onto her with an unmistakable, intense look of personal interest.
"That... do you know a definitive way to travel back?!" Naoko blurted out, frantically returning to the main topic to ask the one question she cared about more than life itself.
"Do you truly want to go back?" Regulus asked, his voice low and magnetic.
"Yes! I desperately want to go back," Naoko pleaded, leaning forward. "This world... it simply doesn't suit me."
"Regarding a planar pathway back... I can certainly help you investigate it," Regulus purred, swirling his tea. "However, my assistance does not come without conditions."
Naoko's breath hitched, her body tensing as she looked at him. "What... what are the conditions?"
Regulus smiled, leaning forward across the desk. "Until the exact day we successfully find a way to go back... you must remain permanently by my side."
"This..." Naoko's voice failed her, her mind throwing itself into utter chaos.
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Give me powerstones.
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