Case 67: To online stardom.
''U-Ugh...!''
[Kekekek...! So? Still wanna claim the 'pure maiden' title?]
''Stop, stop!''
The night of the academy's cultural festival.
I was coiling on my bed, taking immeasurable damage whenever memories of that rooftop afternoon came up. No matter how hard I tried to mentally gymnastic my way out of it, that was just... too embarrassing.
On too many levels, what I did was too shameful. Never in my life had I ever thought of doing something so whorish, let alone performing it in a public space—technically.
Yeah, sure, I got carried away by the heat of the moment, but I should have had better self-control.
But... why blame me?! I had so little experience piloting this body in the first place. The world should be grateful that I didn't go berserk and make a mess out of the empire in one night!
''Kuh...''
Feeling defeated, I blankly sought out the light bulbs on the ceiling, yet the moment I was about to offer myself an escape, thinking of the better, greener days forward...
[Kekek...]
...this little idiot of a pet mockingly came to view, giggling out of her mind.
Of course, as any sane person would, I lunged toward her and encased her furry neck squarely within my fingers,
''It's all your fault!'' I cried. ''You stupid, useless idiot!''
[Uegh...! I-I can't breathe...!]
Reality wasn't as pretty as fiction. Lucy was definitely playing along to ridicule me, and my frail hand was already trembling from using too much force. All of that made me even angrier.
''Hic...''
In the end, I could only swallow my tears and flopped down the bed. Once again, the floating black lamb came into view,
[Well, well. I'll say it one more time, but there's no chance that girl will think you are a weirdo.]
''...''
[She's too busy falling in love with your beauty and allures. If anything, you should do something about her infatuation with you, lest she become a braindead simp.]
No, I knew that, but still...
''...Hm?''
[What?]
''Why do you know the word 'simp'?'''
At my spontaneous question, Lucy sneered, looking extremely punchable.
[Heh, you forgot we are linked by our souls? Know what a 'Soul' Guardian is?]
''...''
''Ahem.''
Okay, my embarrassment aside, things appeared quite normal.
For one, I still texted with Kiara like usual, but there was certainly something awkward lingering. I suspected it would only be diffused once I slept with her for real.
The real problem was, of course, the other two.
Both Rachael and Penelope felt suspicious enough to ask me if I did anything with Kiara after they left, which was perhaps par for the course, but I didn't know how to respond to them.
I wanted to be honest, but I also feared they might be upset. Well, to be fair, they absolutely would. Yet, it wasn't right to hide this from them. Not now, not ever.
''...''
In the end, I decided to accept my fate, directly confessing my sin to the two. I was a cautious person, of course, so I also did damage control right after, sending different kinds of 'tribute' to hopefully appease them.
The only thing I could do was wish for a smooth 'revenge' from them later. I'd rather accompany them for a whole night each than have my current environment or the people around me hurt. No one knew what those crazy ladies would do once they got mad, after all.
Now then... I should probably allow myself a little break.
''Hah...''
You know, they say one needs some time alone every now and then. No matter how sociable or friendly one is, their social battery will run out at some point, and it is exhausting.
It was a quiet evening.
Lyra was busy preparing for her upcoming exams, so I couldn't intrude on her. I had no other plans at the moment either. Often than not, I'd want to lie on the bed and listen to music... but all of my favorite tracks were unavailable.
Should I try out some new games? Or...
Almost lost, I booted up the popular social media app. Although my main account was relatively low-key, with only a few accounts on its friend list, I had another one that was involved in quite a number of groups on different topics.
''Hm?''
Yet, just as I was about to switch accounts to visit the underground cat-raising forum, the notification icon—more specifically, the red number assigned to that tab—caught my eye.
It was 99+.
''What in the...''
Something was definitely wrong about this.
I was sure I asked Quasar to shadow-ban my account so that most wouldn't be able to find it, but baffled as I was, I decided to look further into it. Most of the notifications were people sending me friend requests and/or messages.
The problem was, how in the world did they find my account? It wasn't like I advertised it anywhere. The New Year countdown program? I remembered they censored my account name. Maybe the school girls who said they were my fans found it and spread the word.
...Well, I would be lying if I said I didn't have my guesses.
It probably had something to do with my performance at the academy that morning. It didn't take a genius to figure it out.
''Ah...''
And my prediction had been proven correct upon a simple search. It turned out that recordings of my dancing and singing had gone viral. Not only that, the keyword 'Princess Anjou's lover' was trending, too, with pictures of the play's finale kiss attached to it.
I swiftly ignored the articles since I knew they would be all garbage, so if anywhere, there were only a few forums and gossip groups on Q-io left.
Curious yet nervous at the same time, I swallowed a dry gulp and logged into my incognito Q-io account.
It wasn't as though this was my first time being on the news for an incident relating to women, but this one seemed extraordinarily big. Upon visiting a few places here and there on the online space... it definitely was.
To begin with, it looked like most were captivated by my dancing first, then they saw the kiss at the end and squarely fell into that rabbit hole. Amazing.
Unfortunately for me, the netizens here weren't much inferior to their counterparts on Earth. They were able to quickly dig up numerous sightings of Kiara and me from the past, fueling this conspiracy that we were dating.
Of course, it wasn't a conspiracy at all—we were dating.
Nonetheless, it would be boring if the drama ended at that. For a certain part of the population, they had always thought I was Rachael's partner, made quite obvious when I accompanied her to the New Year Banquet, but now, I was kissing another woman.
If this weren't your typical celebrity cheating scandal, I wouldn't know what was.
Ah, but... it was kind of better for me. Technically speaking, it was completely legal for me to have several spouses at once—this kind of stuff was just terribly rare. You know, for a female to have a harem and whatnot.
The more I read the comments discussing the situation, the more I became concerned.
Obviously, I easily ignored the hate comments. I was dying already—no time for that stuff. Rather, I realized that by doing this, Rachael's dignity as an imperial would be questioned.
Historically, no imperial had allowed their spouse to have someone other than them, so if she admitted that she was sharing me, how would her image be tainted...
''...''
Since it had become a serious problem, I decided to keep monitoring the public's sentiments.
Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours. Before I had realized it, the clock had already ticked toward twelve. Yet, I was once again too surprised to pay any mind to that.
Including mainstream media, the overall opinion was that... everyone was amused.
No, really.
Rather than being mad that the nation's favorite princess was just some random girl's plaything, they were more interested in this random girl. I got an absurd amount of praise and approvals, even some new fans.
Bluntly put, they got seduced by my pretty face.
''Jesus Christ...''
For the first time since I came here, I began to fear my own power.