Otherworld Dagashi Shop Yahagi

Chapter 35: Minerva's Confession

Michelle and I sat facing each other at the kitchen table.

Not knowing where to begin the conversation, time passed in silence.

Thinking that I should put the situation in order, I spoke.

[What made you decide to confide in me that you were the witch Michelle?]

She could have continued covering this truth up.

However, Michelle had confided in me.

[I was surprised when Yuusuke saw my true face in the bath, but I also thought it was a good opportunity. I wanted you to eventually see the real me.]

[Why was that?]

I somehow knew the answer without asking.

Merle and Mira had already pointed that out.

However, I still want to confirm it right here and now.

[Because I love you, Yuusuke……]

For the first time in both my lives, I was confessed to by a woman.

As expected, that should be a happy thing……

The problem is that she is a wanted criminal.

[Umm…… That…… makes me happy……]

Michelle’s face lit up.

It was a look that couldn’t be seen both in the wanted poster and menko.

[Really?]

[Yeah.]

[Then, can we be lovers!?]

[Hold on a moment there.]

Are you a hound who found prey?

She’s quite the eager one……

[I want you to tell me something first. What is it that happened between you and the King?]

Michelle’s expression clouds over and the slightly disappointed look I saw before returned.

Yep, the same one as what I saw in her wanted poster.

[It’s not that big of a deal. It’s something I don’t really want to remember, but if Yuusuke wants to hear it……]

[I just want to get to know you properly.]

[Properly…… get to know me…… Unnn, I also want you to know everything about me.]

Michelle fixes her posture in her seat, seemingly clearing her head a bit before she began to speak.

[It was when I was a teacher at the Magic Academy that an offer to marry the King came up.]

[Michelle was a teacher?]

[Yes, I graduated at the age of twenty-one and went on to become a teacher at the Magic Academy. I had always loved learning since I was a little girl, and having always been immersed in the study of magic, I thought it was my calling.]

[And that’s when the offer arrived.]

Michelle’s face became gloomier.

[The thesis I publicized, titled Mobius Theory: The Theory of ∞-type Magic Circulation, was very well received. The world called me a genius. The King also seemed to have become interested in it.]

[So, you got engaged?]

[In retrospect, I think he calculated that there would be all sorts of magic-related benefits to having me as his wife. But at the time, I was just thrilled because the King asked me to marry him.]

[Did you love the King?]

When I asked her that, Michelle, looking surprised, greatly shook her head.

I was worried that this calculating side might be the reason they broke off their engagement.

[That’s not it! Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always studied and never fallen in love. Because of my plain and gloomy personality, boys had always been teasing me, and since I use magic that I’m proficient at to get back at them, eventually, no one that could be like that was around me…… Hearing that someone appeared who said that they would marry a person like I was, I lost sight of myself.]

I see.

.

By the way, there’s something in what she said that I got curious about.

[How exactly did you do to get back at them?]

[I showed them nightmares, made them wet their bed, caused the toilet to overflow with Water Magic, used Space Magic to hang one of their shoes at the tip of the Great Temple’s spire……]

Hmmm, those sound quite impressive feats with magic!

[So, was the curse you put on the King just like that?]

[After all, they’re so terrible. He broke off his engagement to me and said he would marry Titti.]

[Titti is currently the Queen Consort, right?]

[Yes, and my little twin sister.]

What the heck!?

[The Queen Consort is Michelle’s little sister?]

[Yes. We don’t look much alike at all though……]

Looking annoyed, Michelle explained.

[My little sister Titti has always been cheerful and there was never a day when she didn’t have a boyfriend. She puts her studies to the side and just plays around. So much so that I don’t know how many guys she has slept with.]

She seems to dislike her little sister a lot.

[That day, I was summoned to the royal palace. I stayed up all night working on a special potion as a souvenir for the King. I was sure he would be pleased about it. But when I arrived at the palace, I found Titti next to the King. And then, he freaking told me he’s marrying Titti and wants to call off our engagement!]

[That’s terrible……]

[Titti was wearing her usual slutty open-breasted dress, and she was smiling down at me. That made me mad, so right then and there, I casted a curse.]

[What kind of curse?]

[A curse that would make a person suffer from ill health for three years. After all the humiliation I had been put through, I thought such a thing is a matter of course.]

Ahh, so you said the curse was about to wear off.

[I really wanted to cast it on Titti, but she resisted just before it had effectively struck her. She’s always been lazy, but she’s got an excessively good sense for magic.]

Thereupon, Michelle burst into tears.

[You’re still hurt about it?]

[No, that’s not it. I don’t care about the King anymore. I never loved him anyway.]

[Then, why are you crying?]

Perhaps, Michelle unknowingly still had leftover feelings behind her.

[Because I couldn’t leave my curse on Titti……]

Heh?

[That’s what I was so vexed about!]

Her regret wasn’t about the King, but about her hatred for her little sister!?

To sum up Michelle’s story, it seems that the two of them were compared at an early age and had come to loathe each other.

[So, umm……]

Michelle started becoming fidgety.

[What’s the matter?]

[Will you love me?]

A sudden straight ball!?

[I have a good friendship with Minerva, but if you ask me if I could suddenly love Michelle, I would be at a loss for an answer. Let’s see, why don’t we start as friends first?]

[But we are already friends, aren’t we?]

Michelle looks up at me with her bright eyes.

She’s…… kinda cute……

Besides, now that she mentioned it, that really was the case.

Even knowing that Minerva’s true identity was Michelle, we are already friends.

[T- Then, what do you say we start dating each other?]

[Dating……]

[So far, my thoughts for you were that of a friend. And so, from here on out, it will be a period of getting to know each other a little more deeply……]

[Are you sure? I’m a wanted criminal, but you’re gonna go out with me!?]

Ah, forgot about that.

However, I can’t take back what I had already said.

Besides, I do like Michelle.

[How should I say this…… I’m in your care.]

[Unnn! Making sure not to get caught, I will be together with Yuusuke forever!]

Michelle looked at me with a big smile on her face.

Dating her makes me both happy and somewhat worried, but I also feel like things would work out somehow.

If push comes to shove, we can just emigrate to another country, right?

I’ve become tougher since I came to this world.

Perhaps, because I had already died once, I don’t get shaken over the slightest thing.

For the time being, I think it would be good to start dating Michelle and get to know each other little by little.