CH 128

To be honest, Sophie didn’t want to remember Tasuku’s memories before he was abandoned by his mother, so the first memory to be written was his time in elementary school.

“I met Tenma in elementary school and became friends with him.”

Tenma was a peculiar child. He was expressionless and didn’t reveal his emotions. Despite his handsome face, his facial expression hardly moved, so Tasuku initially felt scared of Tenma.

One would think it was natural if it was Tasuku instead whose expression was dead due to the abuse and abandonment by his mother, but Tasuku’s child mind couldn’t understand how Tenma, who was supposed to be loved by his family, ended up being expressionless like that.

Tenma seemed to sympathize with Tasuku, who was also an unfriendly and seemingly emotionless child, and always followed behind Tasuku.

Tenma followed Tasuku around regardless of how Tasuku spat at him. While following others around could be considered cute as an elementary school student, Tasuku started to feel fear when it still continued into middle school. No, to be honest, Tasuku was already afraid of the expressionless Tenma following him around even during their elementary school days.

“Next one is middle school…”

During middle school, Tasuku’s mental state was at its worst.

Back then, Tasuku tried to protect himself by rejecting people from his small world and tried to reduce the chance of interacting with other people as much as possible.

Sophie was sure it was during that period of time Tasuku was sick of living.

So much so that one could consider him disgusted by it.

Be it the fact he was abandoned by his mother, the mocking words that came from people of the same generation, or the gazes and words of pity that came from adults.

There were times when Tasuku couldn’t help but hurl abusive words. He also felt the insults contained in people’s hypocrisy.

Those were poisonous to Tasuku. He grew up like he was drinking a diluted poison little by little every day. Such poisons accumulated in his body and before he knew it, they eroded his mind and body.

This poison showed the greatest potency during middle school. His weak heart that hadn’t grown up yet screamed.

“If I wasn’t wrong, at that time…”

Tasuku vented at Tenma.

Worst of all, it happened on Tenma’s birthday.

What did “I”…1

Sophie wondered what Tasuku said back then and what Tenma responded with. Sophie couldn’t seem to recall.

Sophie felt a sharp pain run through her head.

It wasn’t her first time feeling such pain when she tried to recall her previous life. It had already happened multiple times since her childhood days.

“—gh.”

Sophie held onto her aching head and tried to remember it, but only vague, foggy memories came to mind and she couldn’t remember it clearly.

Even though Sophie could vividly recall the knowledge and contents of books she read in her previous life, the memories of Tasuku’s personal life seemed to be scattered in pieces. Even when Sophie tried to search for the lost pieces, she couldn’t seem to find them.

After a long sigh, Sophie gave up on recalling it and wrote the continuation of the chronological life of Tasuku.

Ever since I entered high school, I think my dissolute mind no longer surfaced much.

Occasionally, Tasuku received slanders and accusations from people of the same generation just like in middle school, but Tasuku would either talk back or ignore them. For Tasuku, who enrolled in one of the best preparatory schools in the prefecture and maintained the top grade for all three years, he only thought their slanders were merely the barks of losers.

Starting around that time period, Tasuku’s nerves grew even thicker. Although Tasuku didn’t show it much in school, by his third year of high school, he learned and practiced his amiability, charm, and appearance. He looked to his future, got a job, saved money, and went to college. He found his goals and dreams and took action to realize them.

Tenma and his family recommended Tasuku to continue his studies, but Tasuku wanted to experience society life no matter what. He wanted to earn his own money and live alone. He wanted to be proud of what he could achieve with his own power.

However, the only place that accepted his employment came from the recommendation of Tenma’s father due to his strong insistence. As a result, Tasuku got a job as a medical equipment salesman. In his early days, he was mainly assisted by his seniors at his jobs, and he got to know many medical personnel and learned their speaking and social skills.

Tenma’s father, who ran a large hospital, introduced Tasuku as his other son whenever Tasuku saw him at parties hosted by him to the doctors in various fields, so it was easy for Tasuku to connect with his work. On the other hand, Tasuku was desperate not to shame Tenma’s father. Even though Tenma’s father told him it was okay for Tasuku to fail and ask for help if necessary, Tasuku did his hardest so he would not fail to begin with. Until the day Tasuku retired, he was ridiculed as the love child of a workaholic by his colleagues. 

“…Now I looked at it objectively, it sure was 25 years of a desperate life.”

Well, thought Sophie as she folded her arms before she finally realized she did something unladylike.

“No good! Past is past! Previous life is previous life! I am a lady now!”

When Sophie uttered such strong words, she took a deep breath and started writing in her diary again.

This time, she made sure to not forget the uniqueness of Sophie Linier.

Just as Sophie finished writing in her diary, Sunny told her that a guest came to visit, so Sophie went down the hall and found Gerald standing there.

“Geh…”

Sophie had heard who the guest was from Sunny beforehand, but when she actually looked at the face, Sophie couldn’t help but let out such a sound that pretty much disqualified her from being a lady.

The muttering was quiet, so the fact it wasn’t heard by the other party would be a relief, to say the least.

Why is this guy…

It was strange to think so, as Gerald, the person who Sophie referred to as “this guy”, served as Sophie’s chief escort. There was nothing weird about such a person visiting Sophie.

When Sophie resigned and gave a ladylike smile, Gerald replied with a face that didn’t show any movement in expression whatsoever — only unfriendly greetings.

He lacked cuteness unlike Luca, but it couldn’t be helped since he was in charge of her escort. Sophie had no choice but to give up.

“I heard you received an order from His Highness, but is it already resolved?”

Sophie wished Gerald took more time on resolving it. When Sophie asked with a cute voice like a little bird singing that hid such a thought, Gerald stopped for a moment and then apologized to Sophie for some reason.

Apparently, the order itself wasn’t resolved yet, so Gerald came to check on Sophie and greet her while he was at it.

Although Sophie inwardly shouted, “HOOORRAAAAYYY!!!!” in celebration while making a fist pump, she didn’t let it show on her face and replied with a mellow smile while saying, “Thank you for your hard work.”

Sophie praised herself for acting like a proper lady in this situation.