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The Reincarnated Thirty-Something Woman’s Otherworldly Reform Life

I Met a Reincarnated Soul

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*****

Watching Gardinia—who looked every bit the textbook villainess but seemed to be a total worrywart—struggle away, Magnolia thought, (Good for her, good for her.) As the atmosphere relaxed, she decided to slip away unnoticed before anyone caught on.

Pretending she needed to freshen up to fix her messy ribbon (though she'd actually just made it look that way on purpose), she bowed to the young ladies at her table and the parents seated nearby. Thanks to the concubine's recent remarks, everyone nodded back with sympathetic looks. She'd expected a den of vipers, but surprisingly, there seemed to be a lot of nice people here. After all, the guardians were all mothers with daughters around the same age. Maybe they were putting themselves in her shoes?

Her outfit wasn't messed up at all, of course. It was just the classic excuse to escape. If she didn't hurry, that space cadet of a Queen would notice her. Move, move, move!

The lady-in-waiting who seemed to be in charge of her approached from a short distance away, so Magnolia told her she was going to fix her dress and then rest in the lounge for a bit since she wasn't feeling well. It was mostly an excuse because she was sick of the tea party, and it pulled double duty by reinforcing the rumors about her frail health.

Claude had already given her his stamp of approval to head home early if the conversation became too unbearable to listen to.

When the lady-in-waiting tried to follow her, Magnolia stopped her, explaining that her own maid was already waiting in the lounge. She added that it would be bad if she didn't make it back before the party wrapped up, so she asked the woman to stay here just in case and pass word along to the Prime Minister and the others if she couldn't return.

Whew. Good grief.

Being a marquess's daughter was already a heavy burden for someone who had been a regular Japanese commoner for the longest time, so throwing "crown princess" or "queen" into the mix was just completely ridiculous. It was a position that might crash and burn in a few years anyway. As she was lost in thought about how she could possibly extend a helping hand to Gardinia, a nearby bush rustled softly.

「...A cat?」

The rustling stopped for a moment at her voice, but after a short pause, the bush began to shake violently. Magnolia warily took a step back.

「Bwah!」

「!?」

She wanted to give herself a pat on the back for not screaming. A little girl in a pink dress had just popped her head out of the bushes with tremendous force.

「「............」」

They stared at each other, blinking in silence. Since Gai hadn't leaped out to protect her, there probably wasn't any real danger.

The girl—who had soft, shoulder-length brown hair tied up in a half-updo with a tiny hair ornament—widened her brown eyes.

「Magnolia Gilmore!!」

Shouting with a start, she physically leaped out of the bush. Shouting things like 「Wowaa~!」 and 「Ooooh!」 with sparkling eyes, she circled around Magnolia once before starting to tremble all over.

Magnolia was utterly creeped out by this bizarre behavior, but concluding that a girl smaller than herself couldn't exactly do her any physical harm, she opened her mouth.

「...Um, have we met somewhere before?」

(Literal translation: Who on earth are you?)

When Magnolia smiled to lower the girl's guard, the girl began to nod in deep admiration.

「Whoaaa, the real thing is seriously so cute! Her voice is crazy adorable too!!」

With flushed cheeks, she was breathing heavily and writhing in ecstasy.

...Okay, this is super creepy. If she weren't a little girl, she'd be a total pervert.

...Wait...?

「...Did you just say 'seriously'?」

「Ah! Ehehe.」

Laughing to cover her tracks, the girl pinched her skirt and curtsied like a proper lady.

「I am Violet Rishua, daughter of the Viscount Rishua household. I took the liberty of assuming you are Lady Magnolia of the Marquess Gilmore family. I was so overjoyed to meet you that I lost my composure. It is an honor to make your acquaintance.」

*Bow!*

No, no, no, no, no. She had definitely just heard a word that didn't exist in this world, yet was intimately familiar back in Japan.

（...This is bad!）

If that's the case, Gai will hear us.

He was a stealth specialist who could slip in anywhere. Now that Lily and Dean had been separated from her, he was undoubtedly guarding her from out of sight.

***

That day, when she had told Servas and Claude about coming from another world, they had discussed exactly who to tell and how much.

...At the end of the day, no matter how much you explained it, it was just unbelievable. Even if you told someone, the best-case scenario was them thinking you'd lost your mind. Not to mention, Earth had a history of terrifying things like witch trials... she really didn't want to get brutally executed over some bogus, groundless charges.

According to them, while nothing that extreme would happen here, she would still face endless probing and investigations, making her life miserable. The fewer people who knew a secret, the less likely it was to leak. It wasn't a matter of not trusting Gai or Lily... it was just that even if rumors spread and someone started asking questions, if they didn't know anything, they couldn't accidentally let it slip or have to hide it.

They had explained that for the servants' own sakes, it was best they knew as little as possible, and Magnolia had completely agreed. Consequently, her past life remained a secret shared strictly among three people: Servas, Claude, and Magnolia herself.

***

「You're Japanese, aren't you? If you're going to talk about your past life, speak in Japanese!」

Magnolia barked out in Japanese, her brow furrowed into a stern glare.

「Huh?! Wh-What? How'd you know?!」

The girl sputtered back in Japanese, letting out an incredibly goofy voice.

...Are you for real?

***

The Rishua family was originally a commoner merchant lineage.

A few generations back, the head of the house bought a baronetcy and entered the nobility. Though they were low-ranking nobles of common stock, the wealth they accumulated over generations of massive trading was said to rival even that of high-ranking aristocrats. They consistently multiplied their fortune thanks to a keen nose for sniffing out trendy new products.

To prevent people from targeting or criticizing their vast wealth, they regularly "contributed" to national defense and other causes (in other words, donations). In recognition of these contributions, they were promoted to a viscountcy just last year. When Violet first reincarnated, they had still been the Baron Rishua family.

...Naturally, a minor background character's noble promotion never came up in the game or its official strategy guides, so Violet had been absolutely thrilled to gain some exclusive, reincarnation-only trivia. She had finally met someone else with knowledge of her past life and was ready to have a blast trading Min-Koi trivia, but...

（...Wait... is she kind of desperate?）

***

Magnolia hesitated, wondering where they should talk. If they talked in the lounge, Lily and Dean would be there, and Gai might show his face too. It was hard to discuss this in the local language, since the whole reincarnation thing would be completely exposed. On the other hand, standing around speaking Japanese the entire time would look incredibly suspicious no matter how you sliced it.

This girl... Violet, was it? She must have her own schedule to keep. She was probably at the palace for some official business or another. Magnolia scanned her surroundings. Right on cue, Gai silently materialized from the shadow of a tree.

「Is there a gazebo nearby that we can use freely?」

Looking back and forth between the two girls, surprised to see his young lady° making a little friend for once—since she usually only dealt with adults—he replied,

「There's a gazebo just over that way, a bit to the right.」

After pointing it out, he gave a nod and began walking ahead of them. Following closely behind him, Magnolia whispered to Violet. ...Though no matter how quietly she spoke, it was bound to reach Gai's sharp ears anyway.

「I want to hear all the details. But we don't have time today. I'd like to either visit your house or have you come to mine at a later date.」

Seeing how rushed Magnolia seemed, Violet thought of her mom and dad. If they suddenly invited a marquess's daughter over, it would cause an absolute uproar. And not just any noble, but *the* Magnolia Gilmore. Her parents would probably be terrified of her awful reputation and try to turn her away at the door by faking an illness...

But if a high-ranking noble summoned her directly, her family wouldn't have a choice but to comply. Even if things went that way, Violet figured she could somehow smooth things over as long as she had enough time.

「Then I'll come to your place. My parents won't believe me otherwise, so could you send an official invitation later?」

「Understood. What days are you free? What does your schedule look like?」

「Anytime is fine. We don't have a fief, so we live here in the royal capital full-time...」

Magnolia looked at Violet and nodded.

Flipping through the peerage registry in her mind, she recalled Viscount Rishua. He was supposed to be a good-natured, plain, completely unremarkable man. Since they lived in the capital, she could probably just ask Thomas to look up their address.

Based on the girl's appearance, her physical age was probably around the same as Magnolia's. Judging by the vibe of her speech patterns, she probably wasn't very old in her past life either. Likely an elementary or middle schooler... Either way, Magnolia concluded she was still just a young child.

***

Upon arriving at the gazebo, Gai tilted his head as he looked at his mistress, who seemed slightly tense, and the girl beside her, who was completely relaxed and tilting her head in confusion. It was hard to catch since it was a language he'd never heard before... but since the two of them had been speaking in that tongue the entire time, he deduced it was probably a conversation they didn't want anyone else overhearing.

Magnolia aside, it meant this completely ordinary-looking girl was also capable of using this code-like, foreign language. Looking at the girl again, Gai judged that there was no danger, given that she lacked any weapons, hostility, or even a shred of caution.

「...I'll be keeping watch over there. If anything happens, don't hesitate to throw this.」

Gai spoke with a far more serious expression than usual as he tapped his own head. He was talking about a magical tool: a miniature bomb.

...He was her guard, after all. While he was considerate enough to give them space, he was also warning her never to let her guard down around a girl who, to him, was a complete unknown. Magnolia felt grateful for his thoughtfulness and nodded, though her expression turned slightly complicated.

（I wonder how a kid who used to live in peaceful Japan would feel if someone suddenly chucked a bomb at them...）

（Well, they'd probably get blown to bits before they could feel anything anyway,） she thought, making her feel even more conflicted.

In any case, she needed to clear things up right from the start. Magnolia asked in a quiet but clear voice.

「I'll give it to you straight. What exactly *is* this world?」

Violet tilted her head at Magnolia's wary demeanor.

（Huh...? Wait, don't tell me Magnolia isn't trying to avoid her doom because she knows she reincarnated as a villainess??）

「What do you mean 'what'?! This is the world of 'Min-Koi'!!」

At the girl's tone, which practically screamed "duh, obviously," Magnolia dredged through the memories of her past life.

「Min-Koi...?」

「Yeah, 'Min-Koi'! The otome game 'Everyone's in Love with You!'」

She was saying it like it was common knowledge, but...

（How the heck am I supposed to know that?!）

After cursing internally, Magnolia's brow furrowed so deeply that it probably formed a magnificent canyon, a trait inherited straight from her uncle.

*****

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