Betrothed to My Sister's Ex

Departing from Luhab Island—starting the sea voyage with Mizuho’s duo—it has now been two weeks.

“The sea breeze is getting a bit chilly. I wonder if we’ve drifted far from the equator,” Marie murmured softly, reading on her bed in the cabin.

I was studying the route at the desk, but I turned my whole body toward Marie and nodded.

“If we have another week, we’ll reach Ipsandros. It’s not as cold as Dilz, but winter there is still fairly chilly. We have to be careful not to catch a cold from the temperature difference with Luhab.”

“…I see… just one more week…”

Marie rested her chin on her hand and looked out the window. Her profile, gazing at the ocean through the cabin window, hardly showed any sign of excitement. Staring at the sea, which had a slightly different color from the coastal waters of Luhab, she whispered.

“That means we’ll part ways with those two from Mizuho.”

“...Yes.”

We had docked twice en route for resupply, but I did not let the two disembark.

They were officially permitted to accompany us to Ipsandros, and though we weren’t exactly friendly, we didn’t quarrel. We shared all three meals together.

Two weeks ago—that time.

I won a game of Sugoroku against Kaede.

But that victory was surely not mine; it was part of her act.

Even in that Sugoroku, Kaede and the others cheated. The dice I inspected before the game had no gimmicks, but there are countless ways to cheat. For example, they could have hidden two other dice, different from the ones I checked.

Normally, they’d roll ordinary dice to avoid suspicion, then swap in rigged dice that favored rolling a one or six at crucial moments. If you can produce the highest or lowest numbers at will, whether in gambling or board games, you’re invincible.

I’m not well-versed in gambling. Facing seasoned gamblers, I could guess most cheating methods, but I couldn’t catch the decisive moment. The best I could do was prevent dice swapping on the final roll. If I hadn’t, she would have used dice that rolled six, and she would have definitely reached the goal.

I thought I had defeated her—right after the game ended. But I realized later, after hearing Kaede’s “true intention,” that I had been ‘made to win.’

They surely had other cheating tricks besides the dice. They deliberately didn’t use them—because it sounded more credible to say, ‘I lost, so there’s no choice,’ than admitting to cheating outright.

Knowing their goal was also attractive to me, the outcome would have been the same.

“…Using Marie as the promotional model…”

I stopped writing and muttered.

—They want Ms. Marie to be their model—

When Kaede told her this, Marie was stunned for a while. She didn’t understand at all. Until then, she had been a complete outsider, just enjoying Sugoroku purely. Suddenly being mentioned by name, she couldn’t grasp the situation—then,

“…Model? What is that?”

Everyone in the room almost fell sideways.

“Um, well... a model comes in various forms, but generally, it means a promotional ambassador…”

“Oh, so like a caller? But I’m not good at speaking loudly.”

“No! You don’t have to say a word!”

Even Kaede held her head in her hands, patiently explaining to Marie.

“You see, when others treasure something, you want to take it from them, right?”

“Eh? No, I don’t.”

Yeah, I figured.

Kaede was momentarily stunned, then persisted.

“…Well, don’t you sometimes suddenly want things others have, even if they aren’t so special?”

“No.”

“When you see a wonderful person with beautiful things, you think, ‘If I got that, maybe I’d be a little closer to them,’ right?”

“Hmm… not really…?”

“When someone you love says, ‘I like this,’ you think, ‘Oh yeah?’ and get interested, and if possible, you’d want it, too, wouldn’t you!?”

“Ah, well, yes, I guess I understand that.”

“That’s it! You’ll become that ‘everyone’s beloved person!’”

Finally getting the expected reply, Kaede’s excitement soared. She grabbed Marie’s shoulders and shook her back and forth, side to side.