Chapter 575

"Sorry, I seem to have eaten a bit too fast."

After noticing Anna's suspicious gaze, Princess Veronika did not panic at being caught, but instead, with a bit of embarrassment, took the initiative to confess:

"There were really a lot of unplanned things today. First, I was suddenly proposed to by your brother, and then I encountered an attack by rebels, which left me having eaten nothing since this morning. I just couldn't help myself for a moment, I hope you don't mind."

So that's how it is...

Looking at the Princess who admitted to "scamming a meal" without any avoidance, and recalling her elegant demeanor even in her haste, the suspicion in Anna's eyes dissipated slightly. She was then attracted by the new topic the Princess threw out and asked with some worry:

"So... how is Leon? Are you two together today? Since you encountered a rebel attack, was he injured?"

"Don't worry, although he ran into a little trouble and was hit by... a small pebble on the shoulder, the wound is probably already healed by now."

After answering about Leon's situation, looking at the sickly young girl before her who had clearly let out a sigh of relief, Princess Veronika couldn't help but smile. She then took the initiative to take Anna's hand and said with a look of intimacy:

"To be honest, when I saw you just now, I was really given a big fright."

"Ah?"

Hearing the "sister-in-law's" words, the sickly young girl couldn't help but tremble slightly, as if some hidden little thought had been seen through, and she said with a forced smile:

"W-why?"

"Of course, because of you."

With neither food to eat nor a place to stay, and in urgent need of a place to land, the Princess brought her social skills—honed by maneuvering through the political world—into play, praising her with a beaming smile:

"Although Leon told me he had a sister about his age, he never told me you were actually this beautiful."

Looking at the sickly young girl beside her who lowered her head in shyness, unable to hide her beauty even while wearing a simple white dress, Princess Veronika couldn't help but try to wrap her arm around her slender waist, then sighed with three parts flattery and seven parts sincerity:

"It's really... you're so beautiful it makes me a little jealous, especially this waist of yours... oh my, it's really... when Leon and I have our wedding, you must be my bridesmaid!

But you have to promise me, you aren't allowed to dress too beautifully, otherwise I'm afraid none of the guests will look at me, and their eyes will be glued to you. That would make me lose too much face."

"H-how could it be that exaggerated..."

Made embarrassed by Princess Veronika's words, two blushes flew onto Anna's fair cheeks, and she waved her hands repeatedly to indicate that she wasn't as good as the Princess said.

After suppressing the slight bitterness in her heart, looking at the beautiful, generous woman before her who had a great figure and spoke so well—a woman who was impeccable in every aspect—Anna sighed faintly in her heart, then held the Princess's hand back and said:

"Sister-in-law... no, Sister, you are the truly beautiful one, and you're also so... you have such a good figure. Even if I dress up nicely, everyone's gaze will definitely be drawn to you... By the way, Sister, how old are you this year?"

How old am I...

Hearing Anna's inquiry, the Princess's expression stiffened slightly, and she forced a smile and replied vaguely:

"As for me, I'm just a little bit older than your brother..."

A little bit older? Brother is sixteen this year, a little bit older is... seventeen or eighteen? Eighteen or nineteen?

Anna thought about it after hearing this, and looking at the mature and curvaceous beauty before her, she finally guessed a bit higher and asked tentatively:

"Sister, are you... twenty years old?"

Does that mean... I look like someone who hasn't reached twenty yet?

Hearing Anna's question, the Princess, a beauty of twenty-eight, couldn't help but feel a surge of joy in her heart, and the smile on her face became more than a hundred times more sincere.

Leon's sister is not only beautiful and gentle, but she also speaks so well and cooks such good food. Oh my, it's really... I came to the right place today!

"Mm-hmm, about that, about that!"

After brazenly accepting Anna's guess, the smiling Princess pulled her along to continue chatting. With both sides intending to befriend the other, the topic seemed endless, and they chatted until late at night before stopping.

"Oh my, we chatted so happily that I accidentally forgot the time!"

Having been watching the street outside with the corner of her eye, and seeing that most of the streetlights had gone out, estimating that the last public carriage had already left, the Princess immediately stood up with a look of annoyance:

"I originally just wanted to come and see you, but I didn't expect to disturb you for so long. I'm so sorry, I should go!"

Is it already this late?

Looking at the street that had become pitch black because most of the streetlights were out, Anna hurriedly stood up to stop her:

"No, no, it's already this late, Sister, why don't you just stay the night!"

"How could I be so bold?"

"What's wrong with that! You're going to marry into the family sooner or later anyway, staying for one night early is nothing."

"But Leon and I aren't really married yet, isn't it a bit... to stay over now?"

"It's fine, he's not home anyway. Besides, it's already this late, maybe the last bus is gone. What if you encounter danger on the way?"

"Then... then okay..."

Unable to block the warm invitation of her future sister-in-law, and having agreed to stay after some hesitation, the very "reserved" Princess was brought into Leon's room to stay.

And after comparing her own dress and finding that her sister-in-law definitely couldn't fit into it, Anna thoughtfully found a few of Leon's old clothes and placed them on the bedside.

Picking up the old clothes to compare and finding the size was just right, Princess Veronika smiled and thanked her:

"Thank you, I've really disturbed you today."

"You're welcome, after all, you are... hmm... it seems a bit late."

Watching the Princess, who had quietly let out a small yawn and whose eyelids were drooping, Anna smiled and urged:

"Sister, you've been tired all day, so I won't disturb your rest. My room is right next door, if you need anything, you can call me."

"Okay, thank you for the trouble."

After sending Anna out of the room, taking off the ill-fitting dress, and changing into Leon's old clothes, the sleepiness on the Princess's face suddenly disappeared.

Silently pulling up the quilt and climbing in, she, who had just been full of weariness, sighed lightly, lay flat on Leon's small bed, and stared fixedly at the slightly dilapidated ceiling above.

Falling asleep was naturally impossible. The original Princess had gathered all the conditions and was only one step away from achieving her dream.

But in the blink of an eye, she had inexplicably disappeared from everyone's memories, and she couldn't even return home, having to rely on the intelligence she had about Leon to scam food and lodging just to avoid ending up on the streets.

Now, she needed enough time to think, to ponder her future, and to find a way to retrieve everything she had lost. For Princess Veronika, tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.

However, she was not the only one destined to be unable to sleep tonight; Anna in the next room was the same.

Brother is really going to get married...

Also lying in bed without any sleepiness, staring at the ceiling for a while, the sickly young girl couldn't help but turn her head and glance in the direction of Leon's room.

The sudden appearance of this beautiful "sister-in-law" completely shattered the fact that Anna was least willing to face in her heart... Leon would eventually start a family.

And once Leon had his own family, his own wife and children, even if he still acknowledged her as his sister—with whom he had no blood relation—it was destined that they would no longer be as intimate as they were now.

Leon would likely move out by then, and the one who could prepare meals for him and wait for him to return under the lights every day would become another woman, not her...

And besides that, there was that strange man whose expression looked like he was crying!

Recalling the mysterious man who had come to "visit" a few days ago, Anna felt chills all over her body, couldn't help but shrink into her quilt, and then looked toward the next room with an extremely complex expression. If that man had really taken the "photo" and made Leon forget everything, she could have tried to find him and see if there was another way to become family with him again.

But now, Brother already has someone to marry, so can I... still stay by Brother's side? Will my home... continue to exist?

With a heart full of melancholy and worry, after staring at Leon's room for a while, thinking of that woman who was so perfect that she had no way to deal with her, and couldn't even bring herself to hate her, a certain extremely strong and strange thought emerged in Anna's chaotic mind.

If... if only I were her... how good would that be?

"Buzz..."

A strange sound rang out from the small mirror Leon used to store things. Little Ha, who was secretly using the sniper rifle barrel to grind its teeth, was startled.

"Woof?!"

(What is that?!)

Releasing the sniper rifle barrel from its mouth, Little Ha shook its little golden hair, turned around to look at the pile of debris Leon had thrown in, carefully extended its paw to rummage through it, and found the thing that was making the strange noise.

"Woof-woo?"

(This photo... is a bit weird, right?)

Looking at the strange photo on the ground that was trembling slightly, where the figures on it turned into three people one moment and one person the next, Little Ha tilted its head in surprise, feeling that this matter should be told to Leon.

"Woof woof woof! Woof woof woof! Woof woof woof!"

(Leon! Something happened, Leon! Take the mirror out of your pocket!)

However, Leon didn't know what was going on. Little Ha barked outside from the small mirror for a long time, and even stretched its head out to nudge him, but still didn't get any feedback.

Little Ha, feeling a bit anxious, turned around a few times, then sniffed its small, shiny black nose hard, followed the scent on Leon, and traveled along the edge of the constantly changing mirror world until it finally found an exit relatively close to Leon.

"Woof-woo... woof-woo..."

(So he's drunk... humans are really unreliable...)

Sticking its dog head out from the whiskey bottle and glancing at Leon, who was lying on the table with blurry eyes, Little Ha couldn't help but roll its eyes in silence, then prepared to try and bite him awake to tell Leon that the photo he put into the mirror world had undergone a strange change, however...

"What? Do you want a cup to taste too?"

Extending a red-nailed finger, pinching Little Ha by the scruff of its neck, and pulling it out from the whiskey bottle, the red-haired Director, with drunken, hazy eyes, gave a silly laugh. Ignoring Little Ha's terrified expression, she picked up a bottle of wine and poured it down its throat.

"Don't be polite, it's my treat today! Whether it's a person or a dog, I guarantee I'll get you drunk!"

"Woof! Woof woof woof!"

(I! I don't@#￥%!)

"Buzz..."

Just as the unlucky Little Ha fell into the red-haired Director's hands and was forced to replace Leon as a drinking companion, the photo in the mirror world that kept making strange noises finally gradually quieted down.

After the last strange twitching stopped, the family portrait on the photo disappeared completely, turning into a curvaceous and pretty young woman, looking exactly like Princess Veronika.

"Beep!"

Just as the family portrait on the photo turned into a smiling Princess Veronika, a harsh noise suddenly rang out, waking the drowsy old man on the recliner next to it.

This is?!

Following the harsh noise, he looked down at the watch on his wrist and found that all six hands were actually moving. The old man, with curved eyebrows and a kind appearance, naturally born with a smiling face, widened his eyes in surprise.

It's complete! The last condition is actually complete!

Raising his wrist to look at the last hand that had just started moving, and finding that the number that appeared was 0006, the old man with the naturally smiling face... or rather, the Aquarius Director, couldn't help but be slightly stunned.

0006? Wasn't this one a failure?

Standing up from the recliner with a look of suspicion, walking to the table and sitting down, the Aquarius Director opened the table drawer, took out a thick notebook labeled "Full Record of Experimental Subjects," and flipped through it quickly.

"0006... 0006... Got it!"

Glancing briefly at the record above and confirming it was the thing he knew, the Aquarius Director frowned and pondered for a while. After writing a few lines with a pen, he tore off the page about Experimental Subject No. 6, then flipped the notebook to the back cover and clipped this record page together with the other five records.

Number: 0006

Name: Anna Laien

Form: Photo

Inoculation Level: Highest

Target Ability: Identity Replacement, Past Modification

Experimental Details: Utilizing the experimental subject's longing for a happy family, induce her to generate the idea of replacing others, and select a photo representing the past, memories, and experiences as the carrier, to directionally cultivate a functional anomalous object with the ability of "Identity Replacement" and "Past Modification."

Record 1: Failure.

After learning the news of her parents' death, although the subject generated an extreme longing for a family, after guiding her to see a large number of happy families, the target did not generate the impulse to replace the other party's children, but instead longed more to find her parents.

Note: It is judged that because the usual family environment was relatively happy, what the subject envied was not other people's lives, but that the other party had real family members. It is recommended to give up cultivating the "Replacement" ability and instead induce her to resist reality and generate the idea of modifying the past.

Record 2: Failure.

Even after witnessing the process of her parents' pension being embezzled and being driven out of the house she had lived in since childhood, the subject still did not generate the idea of resisting reality, and it seems she does not hope that her parents can truly be resurrected.

Note: It is judged that although the subject is very young, her will is quite firm, and she has already understood the meaning of death, does not believe that her parents can be resurrected, and has a naturally kind personality, not completely disappointed in human nature, so the induction failed.

Record 3: Failure.

The subject activated the anomalous object, but the effect was completely inconsistent with the target ability, changing from identity replacement and past modification to regaining family members.

Note: The experiment is temporarily sealed, waiting for the subject to reach adulthood, and after her spirit is completely stable and unchanged, attempt to recover it and look for a similar quality experimental subject again.

Record 4: Complete Failure!

After a follow-up visit, it was found that although the subject's spirit was not yet completely stable, she had personally destroyed the anomalous object she created and denied the meaning of the anomalous object's existence from the bottom of her heart. After being repeatedly stimulated by my deliberate actions, her state did not show any new changes. The experiment has almost no possibility of success.

Note: Because the subject's "family member" accidentally joined the Cleaning Bureau's Virgin Branch, the photo anomalous object created by the subject is held by the Blood-Haired Lady, making retrieval extremely difficult.

Record 5: Success?

While preparing to sleep at night, the 【Dream-Seeking Watch】 was suddenly activated, suspected to be because the subject's spirit received a huge impact, the longing in her heart changed, leading to corresponding changes in the anomalous object, and the new ability just happens to meet the "Replacement" and "Modification" standards.

Note: Awaiting verification.

(End of chapter)