Chapter 4

I, Ekaterina, was completely stunned by the magnificent entrance (?) of the girl with long, straight, blond hair.

The young woman in question was a petite beauty, about 13 or 15 years old, wearing a pretty red dress and black shoes. She wore a dark blue headband and wore small silk gloves on each hand.

Claudia Sophrein von Dranalian

She was Claudia Sophrein von Dranalian, one of the future villains of Heroes & Dragons. And of course, my beloved older sister, whom I have a vague impression of based on the memory fragments in this body.

By the way, for those wondering why I thought I was her when I first woke up in this world despite the obvious differences between us, it's because she would use magical items to resemble me in the future... How crazy, isn't it? It was a detail I didn't remember at the time... Ekaterina-sensei failed you...

Claudia, who was running without caring about anything other than reaching her goal, cried profusely on her way, and when she finally reached the bed (which, by the way, reminded me how stupidly big this room is) she gathered her strength, using the momentum or something, and jumped without a second thought with her arms wide open towards me.

“¿¡Claudia!?”

"What are you doing?!" Dad yelled in surprise as he finally reacted to her grand entrance, and Mom quickly stepped in the way of my reckless older sister as she scolded her, thankfully catching her before she could fall on me.

Wow, what a relief!

I mean, come on, Claudia. What are you thinking? If you fall like that on a fragile girl like me, won't you cause me some kind of harm?

…No, wait, according to my stats, I'm stronger than average girls, and I have an Arcane Art to strengthen my physique, but still...

“Mom!” Claudia demanded of our mother with reproachful eyes while I thought, annoyed at being interrupted while she hugged her beloved little sister.

“Why are you looking at me like that? Do you think it would have been a good idea to throw yourself at your little sister like that? What were you thinking, huh? Did you think you’d just hug her without any problem and share your feelings lovingly or something? Don’t be silly! You would have only hurt her!”

The mother launched into a series of retorts as she ended up hitting her on the head, causing her to groan in disgust, "Ugh!" as she rubbed her head, a cute pout forming on her tender, slightly red lips.

Wow... even though she became a beautiful but dangerous villain in the future, it seems like my sister is just a pretty tomboy right now, and I'd rather keep it that way.

It's amazing to be able to see one of the most important people in this world in person, and now have him be my relative.

What things, right?

Oh….

Come to think of it, would I still be a villain now that I'm here? It seems unlikely... I was literally the reason she fell into villainy!

More specifically, my death motivated him to take revenge on the protagonists… it's a bit complicated…

"Claudia... like your mother said, you can't do things like that. You and your sister will get hurt." Her father joined in the reprimand with a somewhat stern expression.

“Sorry… *hello*… I'm just worried… *hello”… I just heard that Rina-chan… *hello'… suddenly fainted and… *hello*… I couldn't help but run here…”

Claudia responded between sobs and looking very pitiful.

“Oh…” Our parents looked at each other and smiled wryly. They seemed to be the same… Although they aren’t bad, the bad thing is the system that forces me to sleep.

But wait... Am I not alive thanks to the evil system? How complicated... I'll think about it later (Procrastination!)

“However… why did elder sister come here just now if she was worried about me?” I couldn’t help but ask as I tilted my head in confusion.

I mean, it happened yesterday, right? And what's wrong with my voice? Why is it soft? It reminds me of those expressionless people in anime who had cute, soft voices that sounded almost emotionless...

—Oh, that's because I just got back from a sleepover with… —As she replied, wiping away her tears in a slightly hoarse voice, Claudia suddenly stopped and her eyes widened.

“Did you just ask me a question?”

“Yes?” I replied, trying to contain the smile that threatened to appear on my face at her tenderness, which wasn’t entirely achieved by the look of even greater surprise on her face when she saw it.

“Th-that Rina-chan who barely said a single word just made long sentences like it was nothing… And she smiled at me! This is amazing! My Rina-chan is back to normal!” Tears welled up in her eyes again as she exclaimed happily and ran towards me.

How much can you cry? That's what I thought when our bodies met in her embrace, and our parents didn't stop her, smiling happily. She rubbed her head on my neck, and I placed hers back on top of hers, hugging her a little awkwardly.

Ghue?! Is that a booger!?

After feeling more than just tears staining my skin and hearing her sob, I quickly grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her away, making her blink in confusion.

—How disgusting… Wipe your nose, please. —He pointed at his runny nose while frowning slightly in disgust.

“…Rina-chaaaan.” Unfortunately, Claudia didn’t listen as she hugged me again with a smile and a face full of snot and tears; her small but blossoming breasts brushed against me as much as the snot in her nose….

Oh, for the love of the gods!

Mother, Father! Don't just stand there smiling lovingly, save me from these snot!

If you find this moving, why don't you join in too so I can share Claudia's snot with you?

Shameless!

♦♦♦♦

After that beautiful family scene (?), in Ekaterina's personal bathroom inside the Ducal Palace (Yes, I have a big bathroom all to myself, how crazy) me, Claudia and Mom were inside her big space that could easily embarrass up to 15 people and still have some room, ready to enjoy a nice full body bath together.

Huh? What happened to Dad?

Well, Mom mentioned it when she expressed her desire to join the three of us... and honestly, I was fine with it. I'm not a fan of seeing men's penises, and Claudia was too old to bathe with her father.

(By the way, my mom had a pretty good body as expected, and you could say that Claudia has a great future... And me? I'm afraid of growing up with a flat chest for some reason... I wonder why. (Confused))

Anyway, the three of us went to the bathroom together to wash up completely and freshen up (I asked for it with all the passion I was allowed!). There was no maid in sight to help us or anything, so I guess it was just the three of us who cleaned up or something similar.

…In a way, she was right, since Cláudia was now washing my hair.

At first I was worried about it.

In the old world, I had some sort of genetic mutation that made my hair grow easily, no matter how many times I cut it, and it easily reached my shoulders. And when I was just a brat, that hair fell victim to my evil little sister, who used her famous washing technique on it and plunged me into a world of hellish pain, with anguished screams and endless wailing...

That left me with a slight trauma... and I couldn't help but tremble a little when she said with sparkling eyes that she would wash my hair in a tender and happy voice.

I couldn't refuse even if I wanted to. Apparently, this was something common between the two of us, and it would be inappropriate to reject him now. (Words of the evil system.)

Well, I convinced myself that my current sister was different from that little demon… yes, I successfully convinced myself as I closed my eyes a little tightly in preparation for what was to come.

How was it?

…unexpectedly comfortable.

Apparently Claudia was more skilled than my terrible little sister at taking care of other people's hair, or maybe my little sister was just making me suffer for her amusement.

Anyway, I ended up enjoying it so much that I completely relaxed. During that time, I had a pleasant conversation with Claudia and Mom.

“Hehe, and then Irina-chan threw the juice glass at Join-kun for stealing her candy. It was so funny watching him shake while crying! He deserved it for being so mean to us!”

Claudia exclaimed happily as she finished telling her story of how she and her friends punished the evil Join-kun. I remember that guy was a minor villain at the beginning of the story... how interesting that he's just a slightly malicious brat now.

"It's true, evil must be punished." I nodded in agreement with his antics.

"Right?!" Claudia exclaimed when her cute little sister—I mean, me—agreed with her.

I mean, why should a fool be forgiven for calling a pretty girl ugly and stealing her things just to get her attention?

"Claudia, you shouldn't laugh at that stuff," her mother said in a serious voice. "It's not funny at all. If the child were pushed in the mud, maybe, but pouring juice on him isn't funny, it's just boring. Next time you should do better if you really want to punish him."

Mother… What are you saying? Shouldn't you teach him not to do those things?

"Oh, that makes sense, Mother!" Claudia nodded as she happily continued washing my hair.

I purr softly at the feeling of comfort that washes over me, thanks to his capable hands, and let my mind wander for a moment; before finally thinking about several important things while my sister and my mother talked among themselves.

Specifically, it's about my older sister's future becoming a villain while I feel her warm touch on my head.

Claudia Sophrein von Dranalian was one of the villains who only appeared when you selected the female character in HAD. However, she wasn't your typical otome game villain or anything like that.

Her reason for being a villain wasn't because she was targeted for capture, or because she initially despised the female lead...

I remember it was because at that time, an ancient and very powerful artifact was discovered, which could cure any disease in the world or even save a human from the brink of death, although only once, according to Imperial evaluators before collapsing into pieces.

It comes from an ancient time, called the age of myths, and was extremely valuable.

However, that particular extremely valuable item was for some reason awarded as a prize for an Academy student competition by order of the Emperor himself (which, by the way, had no other name than Academy; which is super lazy on the part of the developers, I tell you).

Claudia, who wanted that prize at all costs to cure her sister, fought tooth and nail against each student, demonstrating the power of her unique strength, but was ultimately defeated by the female protagonist, who also needed the artifact to save her life. A mythical beast.

As a result, the game's Ekaterina eventually dies helplessly, and Claudia is filled with deep hatred towards the woman who prevented her from saving her sister's life because of an animal (It wasn't just an animal. But of course, she didn't care) and was determined to destroy the protagonist's life.

Claudia had great potential for growth. As the story progresses, she confronts the player more than once as a powerful enemy, not only in combat but also in plots that endanger countless lives solely for her selfish and irrational revenge.

It's safe to say that her sister's death drove her mad, and she used every means at her disposal to completely crush the female protagonist of this world. Of course, if the player plays their cards right, Claudia will eventually be defeated, and her evil will come to an end.

Whether she was imprisoned or ended up dying in a variety of ways, there were a surprising number of bad endings for this villain.

And honestly he deserved it…but.

“Rina-chan! How about I make two pigtails for you?”

…The girl in front of her, who didn't have her appearance altered but her natural hair and eye color, being as innocent as she seemed, was far from being that wicked woman who would ruin her future and cause much misery.

In fact, my mere existence ensures that she doesn't become a villain. That's how it should be... shouldn't it?

Uncertainty filled me for a moment, but I quickly pushed it aside and looked at her, watching her play with her fingers as she anxiously waited for an answer.

How cute! I thought.

“Okay.” I smiled at her as I agreed, and she cried as she hugged me.

“Rina-chan smiled at me! Mommy, Rina-chan smiled at me!”

—Yes, darling. Isn't she pretty?

“Yes, Rina-chan is the cutest of all!”

Claudia screamed with happiness at that small gesture of mine while our mother also smiled happily in agreement, selectively ignoring Claudia and speaking even more casually.

It made me wonder how inexpressive I was before acting that way. The fragments of my memory were too scattered to give me the answer.

I knew Ekaterina was an inexpressive character before her death, but her behavior and words seem to indicate that she wasn't always like that.

What happened to me?

Maybe I'll ask... but I don't want to ruin your mood. And I especially don't feel like telling you that I have very little memory of the past.

I'm worried about how they would react.

For now, they were fine without knowing it. I could only smile happily as I hung out with my mom and sister in the bathroom, putting off more serious matters for later (Procrastination!).