So this is what they were like.

They were this... this gentle.

And then deep regret came flooding in.

It couldn’t have been only because our souls were switched.

Was the miserable end she had met really all because their souls had been switched?

At first, she had thought so.

But...

Living in the modern world, looking at the incredible things Camilla had accomplished, she had kept asking herself the same question.

Why couldn’t you be like this? Why couldn’t you be as confident as Camilla, as steady as her?

Whether other people hated her or not, so what did it matter...?

She should have simply found what she wanted to do and lived firmly, the way Camilla had. So why had she been so starved for her family’s love, why had she staked her whole life on other people’s eyes? As if any of that mattered.

Now that she was facing these gentle people, deep regret washed over her once more.

If she had realized that sooner, perhaps she would not have met such a miserable end.

“Brother.”

“Hm?”

“This.”

Isia slowly held out what she had been clutching in one hand for some time now. It was a small ribbon hairpin.

The pin Ravi had given Camilla back when Camilla had become small.

“Why do you have that?”

Ravi threw her a puzzled look. It was something that did not suit her at all now that her body had grown back to normal.

“Did you know?”

“Know what? And what’s with the way you’re talking? Do you need something? This is weird, so if there’s something you want, just—”

“Brother Ravi.”

“No, seriously, why are you acting like this all of a sudden... Ah, really! What is it?”

Isia gripped the ribbon hairpin tightly again. She did not avoid Ravi’s gaze and looked straight at him.

“Did you know I really wanted this?”

When she was very young, there had been one hairpin that had especially caught her eye.

It had been displayed in a shop near the house, and every time she passed by, she would stand there for a long time, unable to walk away, just staring at it.

It had only been a hairpin. Yet she had not been able to say even a single simple sentence to anyone—that she wanted it.

As if that had been such a difficult thing.

Stupid...

The moment she saw this hairpin in Camilla’s jewelry box, that childhood memory had come back to her.

It was not exactly the same as the one she had seen long ago, but the shape was very similar, so it had caught her attention. Afterward, she had heard from Dorman that Ravi was the one who had given it to her.

“That...!”

For a moment, Ravi’s eyes shook as he lost his words.

What was he supposed to say here? That yes, he had known? That he had known and ignored it anyway?

“......”

Isia stared blankly at Ravi for a moment as he struggled to continue, then soon gave a faint smile. She felt like she understood what kind of heart he had bought this with.

“Thank you.”

“...What?”

Ravi’s eyes flew wide. Not a reproach... but thanks?

“I really wanted this.”

It was a very late gift, but so what?

What mattered was that he had not forgotten something she had once kept her eyes on.

That alone was enough.

“I’m so happy I got it, even now.”

Isia smiled brightly again as she clasped the ribbon hairpin in her hand.

“I’ll treasure it.”

“......”

Ravi, looking at Isia like that, could not say a word. Without realizing it, he bit down hard on his lip.

The guilt came surging back once again... and regret along with it.

She had been a child who could smile that brightly over nothing more than a single hairpin...

“...I’ll buy you something better later.”

“Okay.”

Isia nodded firmly, and only then began eating the food set in front of her. The three men merely watched her in silence.

What she did not know was this:

that very day, every hair accessory on the market sold out because of the Duke of Sorpel and Ludville.

*****

“Um, King?”

[Rrr?]

“Can I pet you just once?”

Isia, staring at King sprawled lazily in front of the fireplace, spoke without realizing it.

She wanted to stroke that fluffy-looking snow-white fur at least once.

[Grrr...]

“Sorry, I won’t touch you.”

But as expected, what came back was a fierce little growl.

“King.”

Dorman, who had been watching from beside them, called out to King in a mildly reproving voice. King turned a sullen look on him, as if to say, What now?

“Did you forget what Camilla said before?”

[Rrr?]

“She told you to treat the person staying here for a while just as well as you treat her.”

[Rrrrow~?]

King quietly looked away from Dorman as if he had never heard any such thing.

“I’ll tell Camilla everything when she gets back.”

[Rrrr...]

But at those words, the little body twitched.

With a heavy little sigh, the baby tiger approached Isia without trying to hide his displeasure in the slightest.

Then he settled himself down in front of her.

His look was astonishingly arrogant, as if to say he would permit her exactly one touch.

“Pff...!”

Rather than looking proud, he was so adorable that Isia had to clap both hands over her mouth to stop the laugh that was about to burst out.

[Rrr?]

“N-No, it’s just... I’m really grateful.”

At King’s bright-eyed look asking what was wrong, Isia shook her head and carefully stroked the baby white tiger’s head and back.

At that touch, as if he had never been angry at all, King began purring with content little sounds.

“Oh? It’s snowing again.”

“Snow? Really?”

At Dorman’s words, Isia rose from her seat and went to the window. Just as he said, the sky was dumping down thick white snow.

“Wow.”

Isia had always loved snow since childhood. Even though she had always been especially sensitive to the cold, she still loved it whenever it snowed.

“I want to go out.”

“Right now? It’s very cold outside.”

“I still want to.”

Dorman looked at Isia with concern for a moment, then soon brought over the thickest coat and handed it to her.

After putting it on, Isia headed outside at once. Seeing the snow already piled thick, she broke into a bright smile without meaning to.

[So she really can’t see me.]

The one circling around her was Aisla, the Winter Spirit King.

[Ha, so it was really true?]

[Her soul had actually been switched.]

[I thought something felt strange from the start.]

And it was not only Aisla. There were ghosts all around Isia.

From Xeno, the swordsman ghost, to Derin, the butler ghost, and Perol, the cook ghost.

Seeing Isia, who was completely unaware of their existence, they could not hide their astonishment.

[If we hadn’t been told in advance, this really would have been shocking.]

[Indeed.]

[We might have misunderstood and thought she was deliberately pretending not to notice us.]

Before calling Isia back here, Camilla had told them everything. She had said that someone else would be living in this body for a while.

And she had told them all of her secrets. Everything from the story tied to the Mirror of Truth to the fact that she had been forced to live with her soul swapped with someone in another world.

[That girl, honestly...]

[It must have been terribly hard for both of them.]

[So when exactly is Camilla coming back? This child can neither see us nor hear us, so this is rather uncomfortable.]

[She said she would return after fifteen days, so there are only a few days left now.]

Watching Isia walk carefully along the snow-white path, they all let out short sighs.

They pitied the twisted fate of the two girls, yet they also wished Camilla would return as soon as possible.

“Wow.”

Meanwhile, Isia was spending unhurried time for the first time in ages. How long had it been since she had a stretch of time this leisurely?

Being an actress is rewarding, but...

Living as an actress had been fun and fulfilling. That was an undeniable fact.

But the brutal schedule that never let her rest comfortably even for a single day had definitely exhausted both her body and her mind.

“This is nice.”

Who could have imagined that she would feel this way in this world, in this house?

She had always felt anxious here, as though trapped inside a tangle of thorns.

“Haa.”

Isia drew in a deep breath of air so cold it felt like it might freeze her lungs.

She would probably never again breathe air like this here, never again see scenery like this.

Swish.

“...?”

How much time had passed like that? Something settled over her shoulders, and Isia jolted in surprise and quickly turned her head.

“......”

Cold black eyes were looking down at her.

“Arsian?”

The one who had draped an outer robe over her shoulders was Arsian.

At his appearance, her eyes shook without pause.

Scary.

When she had first woken up here again and found Arsian standing in front of her, she had no idea how startled she had been.

Why was that man at Camilla’s side?