"My maid uniform?" Lillian repeated.
Having just been asked about why she was wearing her maid uniform, Lillian chuckled with an embarrassed look - slowly avoiding Aurelia’s gaze.
While explaining the reason, Lillian thought back a little - just back enough to when she exited the ladies’ restroom.
After she and Aurelia had left the restroom, she was met with Damien, who had his back smugly against a wall - seemingly waiting for them.
She was prepared to take a wary stance against him, having already expected his arrival.
Lillian was ready to fight Damien.
But contrary to her belief and expectations, the young man only glanced at her briefly with folded arms; his gaze was cold, and his face twitched with severe irritation.
This wasn’t the face Lillian remembered he had in the game.
Afterwards, Damien would turn his head towards the corridor he had come from. He would then push himself off the wall and walk away, silently.
This version of him was out of character.
It was...
’Strange...’
Lillian scratched the back of her head, still deeply vexed as to why Damien suddenly backed off. This was the part where the player would either accept his drug or get into a fight with him.
She had also recalled the appearance of some kind of liquid on the back of his neck; was it sweat?
’It has to be sweat... But why would he be sweating?’ Lillian thought, juggling her thinking with the entertainment of Aurelia’s questions.
The woman really wanted to know a lot about her...
’His eyes were also a bit sunken and dark... As if he hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep last night - which I doubt would affect him much...’
So, if it wasn’t because of a poor sleep schedule, it must be due to vitality issues. To properly function, the body must be given the right treatment or else it would undoubtedly fail - or struggle to work.
Lillian had noticed that throughout the day, Damien’s spark of energy compared to the start of this event had undoubtedly dimmed by a significant amount.
He was still boisterous and flamboyant, no doubt - and lustful - but there was definitely a difference.
And that, of course, the difference would undoubtedly be the use of his ability [Borrowed Time]!
It was a powerful Trait he received from his Rank B Trial and one that allowed him to become an unstoppable powerhouse in the future.
[Borrowed Time] essentially gave him the ability to rewrite his fate by travelling back 5 minutes before his death at a cost.
The only reason she even knew about [Borrowed Time] was due to playing an entire route to gain his trust.
Unfortunately, besides telling her what it did, he left out details of what the cost was; the Darkhound was annoyingly secretive.
’But I do know it makes him extremely tired afterward its use...’
There was one thing she knew for sure, though.
A Trait as powerful as [Borrowed Time] definitely had a downside or flaw big enough to balance the scales...
’If my theory of him using [Borrowed Time] is correct, then...’
What happened outside the restroom that killed Damien?
Lillian frowned, slightly concerned about the thought, then felt disappointed in another thought.
She wasn’t aware that time was looped back, unlike when she played the game as Millis, who was clearly aware that had happened.
’It seems like my identity as a transmigrator isn’t special enough to receive special benefits... this might get a bit more difficult...’
The Rabbit glanced down at her necklace, which continued to dangle around her neck - quiet and inactive.
If only her necklace would be able to help her, unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to have any power over Time to give her some warning.
’All it does is give me trouble...’ Lillian pouted.
"Uhm, Lillian..."
Snapping out of her thoughts, Lillian looked down at her shoulder - finding Aurelia tugging at her uniform.
"Hm? What’s up?"
Aurelia slowly held up her hand before pointing to the front of them, "Is that... your mistress?"
"Huh?" Lillian’s eyes widened, turning to where Aurelia was pointing and finding a tall woman with long black hair, red eyes and a beautiful face and figure staring her - silently.
It was Marionette.
Lillian’s once troubled expression regarding Damien’s [Borrowed Time] instantly vanished, replaced with a large and bright smile.
Quickly raising her hand, Lillian exaggeratedly waved to Marionette.
"Marionette! What are you doing here? Looking for the toilet—?"
"Who is she?"
Lillian instantly paused, her hand freezing at the sound of Marionette’s cold voice; for some reason, she had begun to sense a bad premonition.
Did she do something wrong? Why did Marionette sound like that?
Aurelia, using her extensive experience in sensing danger, had also begun to sense a bad premonition.
The masked woman would then scoot behind the Rabbit’s shoulder for cover, trying to hide herself from the Assassin’s gaze, which seemed to intensify at this.
Marionette’s face twitched and darkened when she saw this, followed by a burning and prickly sensation of pain crawling up the back of her neck.
With shadow slowly falling to shroud her face like a veil, Marionette looked to Lillian again and repeated:
"Who is she? And how close are you two for her to not refer to you with honorifics?"
"W-we’re just friends!" Lillian said with a slight stammer, rather flustered from the sudden interrogation. Why on Earth was Marionette acting like this?!
Marionette’s red eyes narrowed with a small, menacing glow.
"Friends? Right... Yes, friends..." Marionette hovered her hand before her face and began tapping the gap between her brows - using her index and middle fingers.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
"I’m rather unknowledgeable on the topic of friends still, Lillian, so do correct me..." Marionette soon stopped her tapping. "But, I’m not so sure that those you call friends should be in the same restroom as you, especially when you don’t even allow your lover that sort of courtesy..."
A dark aura began to rise from Marionette’s body, and sensing this, Lillian took an instinctual step back.
Seeing this Marionette’s cold and taciturn face soon cracked like glass; her lips stretched into a wide and manic smile.
Lillian, who was about to respond to Marionette’s words, was interrupted by a quiet and dry—
"Hahaha..."
—Laugh.