“We succeeded, Vivian!”

It was when we were waiting at the hideout after kidnapping and confining the target.

As if it were his own bedroom, Melphis entered naturally.

It was a bit startling to see him appear confidently after breaking through numerous locks, but I quickly understood.

‘Right, this guy could teleport too.’

Breaking through the hideout’s devices would obviously be no big deal for him.

“Of course it succeeded!”

“Yes, thinking I was Vivian, they tailed me for quite a while, then about 2 hours later? They disappeared.”

“They gave up sooner than expected?”

“Yes, I think they heard news of a handsome man being kidnapped. Since the incident occurred while they were tailing, Vivian must be off the list of suspects!”

I clapped hands with Melphis, who had transformed into my appearance, with a joyful expression.

It felt very strange to see someone with exactly the same height and appearance as me up close.

‘So this is how others see my face.’

Long hair was in fashion in the Empire.

I had worried that my short hair, out of fashion, might look lacking, but it seemed better than I thought.

This must be thanks to Ren always nagging me to put oil or something in my hair. Listening to Ren is indeed beneficial for me.

I kept observing Melphis, who was like my doppelganger, with fascination.

Then he slowly said something. Even his voice was completely identical to mine, almost giving me goosebumps.

“You’ve been staring at me a lot lately? Is this a sign that I’ve become more likea, ble?”

The way he pronounced the last word syllable by syllable was a bit annoying, but I decided to let it slide.

If it weren’t for him today, I wouldn’t have been able to shake off the surveillance so easily.

“That’s not the signal at all, but I’m still grateful. By the way, when should I fulfill that condition? You wanted me to go somewhere with you next time.”

There was a moment of silence. But it was soon broken by Melphis’s voice.

“…Vivian, don’t you really remember anything when you see this leaf?”

Somehow prepared, a uniquely shaped leaf was again in his hand.

I examined the leaf once more with a slightly serious expression.

Honestly, it wasn’t that nothing came to mind.

About 10 years ago, the day I almost died because of Leonie due to a monster.

I vaguely remember that all the leaves in that forest where I encountered the monster were that color.

Not just the color.

The elongated oval shape and the veins protruding like blood vessels all matched.

It was an old memory, but I could be certain because it was such a unique appearance rarely seen elsewhere.

‘But Melphis probably isn’t asking about this.’

I had only told Ren about how I almost died because of a monster and have been afraid of monsters ever since.

Of course, Melphis wouldn’t know about this.

I wracked my brain trying to recall if I had seen that leaf other than during that incident. But nothing came to mind.

In the first place, such uniquely shaped leaves could usually only be found in forests full of magic.

‘Originally, such strange colors are due to plants being contaminated by magic.’

Besides the forest behind the villa I went to as a child, I had never been to such a place, so there was no possibility of seeing it elsewhere.

With his face so full of expectation, I felt oddly sorry to deliver disappointing news.

“Sorry. I still don’t remember anything in particular.”

In an instant, Melphis’s bright expression turned to disappointment.

“Well, you were too young then, so it can’t be helped.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

A mutter so quiet even my ears right next to him couldn’t hear.

Curious what he said, I asked again, but he just glossed over it with a smile.

“It’s nothing. More importantly…”

He pointed at Ren standing behind me.

“Let’s do something fun.”

Saying that, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the next room.

The door closed with a bang.

“What’s this, all of a sudden?”

To me, who had been dragged into the room without knowing what was going on, Melphis smiled mischievously.

“You know that my appearance is completely identical to Vivian’s right now, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right?”

“Aren’t you curious? Can Ren guess which of us is the real Vivian?”

At this interesting proposal, I, who had been tilting my head until just now, opened my eyes wide like a rabbit.

Normally, I would never go along with such a prank, but…

‘Sorry, Ren. I tried to hold back as much as I could, but I’m too curious about this.’

Thump thump. Ren, who was outside, knocked on the door as if worried.

“Lady Vivian, is something wrong?”

I felt a pang of guilt at his utterly innocent voice, unaware of what was about to unfold.

While I was choosing my words, Melphis shouted instead of me.

“Nothing’s wrong! I’ll be out right away!”

“…!”

What? I thought I had just spoken?

Not only was the voice exactly the same, but even the way of speaking was so similar to mine that even I, the person in question, was confused whether I had said it or Melphis had.

“Vivian, when we go outside, just follow my lead a bit.”

Melphis, who had whispered quietly, opened the door and went outside. I naturally followed him.

That’s when it happened. Melphis raised both arms and stretched them diagonally in a strange pose, and at the same time shouted loudly.

“Who’s Vivian!”

Huh?

Startled by Melphis’s gaze urging me to continue speaking, I said whatever came to mind.

“Try to guess!”

Is, is this right? I stretched both arms towards the sky like Melphis, and although uncertain, I tried to act as confident as possible.

My voice and actions must have been clumsy, but confidence was important in these situations.

If I showed a timid appearance, it would immediately give away that I was Vivian.

Ren just stared at us and gave a hollow laugh. Then he took my hand without hesitation.

“There’s no way I wouldn’t recognize Lady Vivian.”

“…!”

How did he figure it out? Was my acting that terrible?

Perhaps deflated that it was exposed so easily, Melphis next to me grumbled.

“Ah, what. How boring.”

At the same time, he snapped his thumb and index finger together and transformed back to his original appearance.

The purple bob haircut became even shorter, and the color returned to cotton candy pink.

But that wasn’t important right now. I urgently questioned Ren.

“Don’t tell me you noticed because my acting was so bad? Am I really that bad at acting? Is it really that bad?”

All I had said was “Try to guess!” How miraculously bad must my acting have been for it to be exposed so quickly.

When I met the princess, I couldn’t properly hide my true feelings, and recently Ren told me not to act because it was too artificial.

I was too busy to say anything then, but it was the first time Ren, who always coddled me, told me to stop doing something, so it was a bit shocking.

‘No, of course I’m bad at acting… I’m bad at lying too… But it’s not that serious, is it?’

Somehow I’ve managed to fool the investigators all this time with this level of skill.

Staggering from the shock, Ren caught me.

“That’s not it, Lady Vivian.”

“Then what is it…”

When I pretended to cry, Ren smiled gently with a sort of deflating sound, as if finding it cute.

Then he gently caressed my fingertips.

“Lady Vivian, you have a habit of your fingertips trembling when you lie. So I couldn’t help but know.”

I heard later that while he did notice from the trembling fingertips, Ren also said that my acting was so awkward that he couldn’t have not known even if he wanted to.

It was a white lie out of kindness because I looked so sad.

However, not knowing this fact at the time, I just laughed it off as if relieved.

Seeing my expression soften, Ren added reassuringly.

“And even without that, I could very easily tell who Lady Vivian was.”

“Come on, you’re lying.”

Melphis, who had been standing boredly to the side, chimed in.

“Come on, you’re lying. No matter how much you want to look good to Vivian, lying isn’t okay.”

Ren opened his mouth while staring straight at me, without sparing a glance at Melphis.

His attitude was as if he had no intention of even hearing Melphis’s words.

“It’s true, Lady Vivian.”

“Proof?”

Feeling like he was putting on airs over nothing, I made a somewhat annoyed expression out of competitiveness.

However, Ren didn’t show any signs of being upset, but just smiled his characteristic gentle smile.

“The proof… Ah, do you remember saying there was nothing wrong and you’d come out right away after entering the room?”

I traced back my recent memory. That certainly did happen.

The one who spoke then was not me, but Melphis.

“The owner of that voice was not Lady Vivian, but that person over there. Is that sufficient proof?”

Ren pointed in the direction where Melphis was standing.

“…? What? How did you really know?”

My eyes widened without me realizing.

To the point where it wouldn’t be strange if my eyeballs popped out right then. Even Melphis looked surprised.

When I urged him to tell me his secret, Ren just quietly smiled.

“I have my own method… but I’d like to keep it a secret today.”

Even after that, I clung to his sleeve and asked all day, but Ren absolutely wouldn’t tell me.

In the end, the day was ending without me finding out anything.