Chapter 3: So I’m the heroine now?

The Kingdom of Elgia was a verdant country by the sea brimming with activity.

Near a town facing the ocean, the royal castle towered toward the heavens. With its white exterior, it reflected the sunlight that shone brilliantly upon it and sparkled as though the glow was emitted from the castle itself. Upon entering the grounds through the castle gate, there was a garden where flowers of every color bloomed in profusion. The statue of an angel stood within a fountain from which crystalline water rhythmically flowed.

It was an affluent kingdom, thus, beautiful. Passing through the garden and entering the castle, a glorious hall adorned in white marble and gold lay before you. There, an aged butler greeted the guests.¹

It was there when a sudden sense of doubt emerged.

I’m really here. But, I wonder if coming along was a good idea…

When she confessed outright that she had no clue why she was in this world, Alex responded, “in that case, come to my castle,” and brought her here.

Since she would be lost on her own, she went along with it. However, upon stepping foot inside such an imposing castle, she got cold feet. Perhaps it was due to her nature as an ordinary person.

“What’s wrong? Yulie?”

Maybe because it was originally a unisex name, but Alex didn’t seem particularly suspicious. Despite that, he couldn’t pronounce it exactly. So, with the intonation slightly off, he called her ‘Yulie’.

“Well, like… I feel out of place.”

Alex gave a slight smile at the distressed Yulie looking around restlessly.

“That’s not true at all. Moreover, you have nowhere else to go, right?”

“Right, but… but you’re a prince, bro. Should you be inviting a rando to your castle so easily? Isn’t that a little careless?”

Alex stared in amazement, then broke into a broad smile.

“Were you worrying about me? Ho ho….that’s funny. Even if you were after my life, I don’t think you would say something like that.”

“Aah, well, that’s probably true, eh?”

“You must have seen when you arrived; there are a lot of knights here. I, myself, am also quite skilled in martial arts. A long time ago, there were some incursions with assassins from other nations and such, but currently, we’re at peace. There’s no need to worry yourself.”

Certainly, armor-clad knights stood before the castle gates. Alex was also strong, his torso well-built. It looked like he’d be able to wipe her out with one arm if Yulie were to try anything.

Alex turned his curious gaze toward Yulie.

“…that’s all common sense for anyone from around here, so you must have come very far away.”

“S-so it seems.”

“How interesting. You’re only lacking the memory of how you arrived here. But you remember your name and where you were living before, right?”

“Yeah. But when I became aware, since I was on that hill… I have no clue.”

“I see. In that case, while you’re here, tell me about the country you were living in.”

“Sooner or later, we’ll be able to think of a way for you to return to your country”, he comforted. It seemed he was under the impression that Yulie had temporarily lost her memory when she fell from the tree.

We’re from different dimensions, to begin with, she thought. But she couldn’t explain it, since not even she could understand how this happened. She didn’t want to come off as nuts if she said something wrong, so she decided to stay silent and go along with the prince.

But this… it’s just like that story, isn’t it?

This development was similar to the original story.

The heroine, Claire, was a village girl. Her horse got spooked while she was out riding and she ran into Alex or Prince Alexis Vim Brigsen. Having fallen off her horse, she temporarily lost her memory and the prince allowed her to stay at his castle until her memory returned.

So that means… I’m the heroine now?²

The proof was that Yulie had become a woman.

I have no idea what kind of divine punishment this is, but… if this is the so-called ‘transmigration’, then God must have gone mad. In any case, I’d prefer to turn into the hero. Or if I have to be a woman, bigger boobs would’ve been nice…

But this was a little different from the ‘transmigration’ she’d heard of. The reason being… the face³ she saw while peeking into the fountain earlier bore a striking resemblance to Yuuri’s sister, Aika.

Big dark eyes, a small nose, and elegant rosy red lips. Paired with the chestnut brown hair that extended down to her chest, rather than appearing flashy, she exuded a charm like a wildflower blooming in the fields.

In fact, Yuuri and Aika were often told they’d be “beautiful siblings” if they stayed quiet. But their personalities were far from reserved.

She appeared to be a little bit older than Aika. Probably somewhere in her twenties like the real Yuuri. She’d truly just become a young maiden. That is to say, on top of the gender swap, she’d also been thrown into the midst of moving onto a new stage of life⁴.

Th-then, there’s a chance I can return to my own world, right? Maybe getting hit by a truck again, or falling from a tree…

But realistically speaking, since falling from a tree was an accident that happened after coming here, the likelihood of returning to the real world that way is pretty low, I think. Also, from what I saw of this world on our way to the palace, trucks probably don’t exist here. The closest alternative would be a carriage, but I don’t have the courage to get run over by that for something like ‘a chance’.

Only one possibility remained.

Translator’s Notes:

1. Me writing this passage and using the rare English subjunctive: “Ooh la la! C’est bon, c’est bon. I’m a poet! I’m an artist!” ƪ(˘︷ರೃ)و
2. In Yulie/Yuuri’s internal dialogue they use ‘俺’/ ‘ore’, which is a very masculine first-person pronoun. Since the English first-person pronoun is gender-neutral, this doesn’t really come across in the translation.
3. PR/N: By this, we mean her own reflection. This was formerly (as of 20 Apr 2020) mistranslated, we’re very sorry!
4. PR/N: I’m also unclear as to what that means but I did find a Japanese journal article that may be based on this idea: 273_278.pdf (med.or.jp). If this is what’s being referred to, this part probably means Yuuri has just reached the ‘sexual maturity’ stage, (which in itself supposedly should already be a difficult thing for an actual woman to adjust to and it would be even harder for Yuuri who’s male and whatnot, yk).