Novice Reincarnator

Elizabeth and Leah fell to the back of my mind as I worked throughout the day as a newly hired maid. My favorite duty had to be when I got to help prepare dinner. Ever since I gained the [Gluttony] skill as Ash, I had gained the ability to eat as much as I wanted without ever feeling completely full.

Eating was also a form of training. Food prepared by a Master Chef served as an excellent means of replenishing my ki reserves. I refined the ki accumulated by eating during the short breaks I was permitted.

I only noticed once I started working as a maid that Byleth and Cecilia took baths together every day. I didn’t think much of it. Byleth was making good on her words to seduce Cecilia. That summed up all I thought on the matter.

I wouldn’t have been able to resist if a bewitching beauty like Byleth made a move on me. Even so, Byleth’s relationship with Cecilia didn’t appear to progress any. Cecilia was a girl whose heart was even harder to capture than Leah.

My day had started early and it ended late with me going to sleep in my bed. At least, it was supposed to end like that.

Someone sat down on the side of my bed. My [Ki Sense] skill told me who it was long before I opened my eyes. Sure enough, a pair of violet eyes were staring back at me in the darkness.

“Cecilia?”

Her hair had turned black and her twelve black wings peeked out from the open back of her thin nightgown. An uncharacteristically quiet voice apologized.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“What are you doing here?”

It was the middle of the night. The rest of the mansion had already gone to sleep.

“I live here, remember?”

Cecilia said a dumb joke that only the black haired Cecilia would say. I raised my sleepy body so that I could look at her from the same height. Cecilia’s black wings fluttered for a bit before she spoke up.

“The hero said she knew you.”

Cecilia was being unusually reserved with her words while her hair was black. What happened this afternoon bothered her more than I had imagined.

“Ah, yeah. I grew up with Leah. We are best friends.”

“She even confessed to someone with as poor of a chest as you.”

“It would have been weirder if I had a chest. Back in our homeworld, we were both men. Somehow we have both become girls here.”

I hadn’t hidden being a former man to Cecilia, so I didn’t have any issues with talking about what my life was like before I reincarnated as Ash with her. Little by little, Cecilia ferried out the answers to the questions lying deep in her heart.

“Why did you run?”

“We were both guys. I didn’t want to become lovers with a man. Somehow, it seemed it would really end up that way if I stayed.”

“Were? Does that mean you no longer see Leah as a man?”

I fell silent. Leah would always be one of my best friends no matter what happened. But, as Cecilia’s words accurately pointed out, it was getting hard for me to see Leah as anything but a girl.

“Are you going back to her?”

Nothing had changed about Cecilia’s voice or expression, but I got the feeling this was the question she wanted to ask the most.

“Yes. We will not be able to move on with our lives until we have worked things out between us.”

Cecilia lowered her head and her black bangs hid her eyes. A strange, heavy air appeared.

“When?”

“After I pass the intermediate explorer exam. I should be able to hold my head high if I am an intermediate explorer.”

I wouldn’t allow myself to make anymore excuses to run away. The events of today drove home how important it was that I set things straight with Leah. Cecilia tightened her grip on my bedsheets, causing them to bunch up underneath her hand.

“Poor breasts. Hero complex. Stupid prince-like attitude. Too sparkly. Most importantly, too weak.”

A string of childish insults spilled from those cute lips. A series of strange, narcissistic compliments followed.

“My breasts are better. You will not have to worry about me risking my life for strangers. I don’t act like a character out of a fairy tail and I am easy to look at. Most importantly, I’m strong.”

“What are you trying to say?”

Cecilia looked delicate and fragile as she sat beside my bed. It was like she would disappear forever if the slightest impact hit her heart. Her violet eyes stared into my own and all I saw in their depths was an endless darkness.

“If I make you mine, will you stay by my side?”

As if to put her words into action, Cecilia’s face approached mine. My mind was in chaos and my body froze. Our lips were going to touch. At the last moment, [Instinct] kicked in and my hand appeared between our lips.

Cecilia’s soft lips pressed against the palm of my hand. That was the first time I had been kissed anywhere by a girl, but I was not in any situation to enjoy it. An ominous darkness filled Cecilia’s eyes.

“Why?”

[Instinct] told me that something irreparably would happen if I made a mistake in my answer.

“You should only kiss someone you like.”

Cecilia’s expression didn’t change at all when she tried to kiss me. It was like kissing me was only a means to an end. A weak complaint eventually answered my words.

“It is unfair.”

“Unfair?”

“It is unfair. We are both Legendary explorers, but our situations are too different. Leah Maxwell has so many friends, but I only have you.”

I felt like I heard something I shouldn’t have. Traces of tears formed in the corner of Cecilia’s eyes. I was so shocked by her appearance that I could hardly think straight.

“Eh? But, Byleth and everyone in the mansion…”

“They are all the same. They all swore to save me from my curse.”

“I’ve heard about that from Helen. You can’t sleep at night because of it, right?”

I knew something was wrong when Cecilia began to laugh darkly.

“The usual me doesn’t get it, but the curse is a lie my parents made up to hide the truth. They couldn’t accept that I was born as a Legendary Fallen Archangel, so they sealed up the Fallen Angel parts of me. I am their precious daughter only when parts of my personality are sealed. Byleth and the others are the same.”

My mind reeled from this revelation. The curse that Helen said ruined Cecilia’s happiness was actually her original personality. The more someone said they wanted to save Cecilia from her curse, the deeper of a wound they carved on her heart.

“Byleth and the others saw me regain my original personality, but they couldn’t accept me. All of their affection was directed solely at the Archangel version of me. Ash, you are the only weirdo that is different.”

I remembered the first time Cecilia’s wings turned black in front of me. She had overreacted to everything I did until I managed to explain myself to her.

“I really do think you are much cooler with black wings.”

“That is why I called you a weirdo. Pure white wings are a sign of beauty among angels while darker colored wings are ugly.”

The mood lightened and I breathed a sigh of relief. If all it took to raise Cecilia’s mood was to praise her looks, then I wouldn't hesitate to praise her.

…Now that I thought about it, Black Cecilia had said that her thing was always erect when she turned into a Fallen Angel. Did that mean that she had crawled into my bed wearing only a thin nightgown with an erection? It took every ounce of self control to stop my eyes from leaving her face.

I realized that my thoughts were wandering. Just when I thought I had changed, I caught myself trying to run away from Cecilia’s earnest feelings.

So as not to have any regrets this time, I leaned forward, laid my hand on top of Cecilia’s clenched hand, and looked her in the eyes.

“I am going to talk things through with Leah, but that doesn’t mean I will stop being your friend. I already consider this place as my home. I hope you will welcome me back once I make that stubborn hero give up on me.”

Something in my words or my actions must have convinced her because Cecilia finally relaxed her tense shoulders.

“Of course. You are always welcome to stay here.”

As she said those words, the moonlight shone in from the window and Cecilia’s hair turned silver. Her now snow white wings displayed their splendor for a few seconds longer before she made them disappear. The usual, sealed Cecilia stared back at me with her usual bright violet eyes.

The weight on my shoulders lifted and I returned to my original sitting position. Cecilia got up from my bed and the confident and powerful Legendary Archangel was back.

“Good night, Fang.”

“Night, Cecilia.”