There, in all of his glory, was the face of a pretty boy with a wide grin.

...Excuse me??

The "Second-Goddess of Year One" was a male?!

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttt???

Did we just...discover something that we weren't supposed to...?

"Wow~! Hello, sir. Who knew I would be found out by a hottie like yourself?" Lady...uh...Sir Clementine said loudly to Wolfe.

Wolfe, the red-haired boy, said nothing in return as he slowly closed the window he was looking down on us from and walked away from our field of vision.

Welp.

I guess he decided to escape before it was too late.

Lady(?) Clementine seemed to be very eccentric.

Wolfe, who was without a doubt a person who disliked anything that would get in the way of his sleep, would never be able to get along with her/him.

"Geez! He didn't have to be so rude. I wonder how he was able to find out though...this must be a first..." Clementine muttered before they sharply turned their head to Ace and me.

They examined my face and then took a glance over at Ace.

"What? Why haven't you two said anything this whole time? Is it because you're disgusted by someone like me...?" they said as they ran their fingers through their hair sassily.

"N-No! Not at all! I think my brain was just shocked and went into overdrive for a bit as it tried to process...whatever just happened here..." I said quickly to reassure them.

"...If you don't mind me asking, would you like me to refer to you as 'lady' or 'sir' from now on?" Ace asked the question politely.

"...Huh? Aren't you guys accepting this wayyy too quickly??" Clementine said with a small surprised expression on their face.

I guess in a world and time-period like this one, most people would probably run away from this sort of thing as soon as possible or even loudly discriminate against it.

But I came from a world that was way more accepting than this one.

So, I honestly didn't care too much...I was just surprised.

Also, Ace was a dragon by heart, even if he was permanently stuck in his human form.

Human things would always be human things to him, so I was certain that he wouldn't mind Clementine at all in the slightest.

"Hmm...I really don't see an issue with it, to be honest...As long as a person embraces who they are, there really isn't a problem," Ace said as he tried to formulate the right words for Clementine.

"Oh. My. God. Has the lord finally gifted me an angel...?!?!?! He's a hottie...and his attitude is top-notch?!?!?! Do people like that even exist in real life?!?!?! No...real life isn't that fair. It can't be that fair. Perfect people don't exist in real life! Yeah!!! He must have one flaw...right...?" Clementine muttered quickly as they glanced back at Ace to assess him.

But the moment Clementine's two eyes laid on Ace's face and body, she froze for a while and looked extremely troubled.

"Oh. My. God. Maybe perfect people do exist...No...this goes against the laws of nature though...this...this isn't possible..." Clementine muttered.

"So...if you may, could you tell us what we should refer to you as...?" Ace asked again politely.

"Oh...You can call me whatever suits you, baby-I mean...uh...oops," Clementine said as they quickly covered their mouth with their hands.

Ace sat there silently as he was deeply confused about what to say next.

The whole mood of the conversation became quite awkward after Clementine called Ace...a...um...baby.

"Well, then. If you're fine with either, I'll call you Sir Clementine without your wig, and Lady Clementine when you are wearing your wig, so that way I won't forget!" I jumped in while trying to save the conversation.

"Y-Yeah! That's fine with me!" Sir Clementine nodded quickly.

As I was about to say something else, Sir Clementine moved his face closer to my ears.

"...Hey. Do you know if Sir Ace is single or not?" Sir Clementine whispered into my ears.

I widened my eyes unconsciously.

...Did Sir Clementine develop feelings for Ace already?!

I had no idea if things were properly following my plan of getting Ace to fall in love with anyone other than Lilly...but if things work out, they work out.

I nodded my head very slightly to his question.

"ALRIGHT!!! THAT HOTTIE IS MINE THEN!!!" Sir Clementine screeched as he lunged himself at Ace.

"W-Woah!" Ace yelped as Clementine landed on him.

"Hey there...boy. How would you feel if you married a feminine man like me~?" Sir Clementine said in a deep voice to Ace as he slammed his hands on both sides of Ace's head.

A small part of me wanted to watch everything and the other part of me really just wanted to cover my eyes in embarrassment.

"I-I'm sorry...what?" Ace squeaked in surprise as he tried to back off without accidentally hurting Clementine by using too much of his strength.

"You'll accept me for who I am, right? And by the look of things, you're a prince too!" he said as he lifted up Ace's chin to match his eyes.

Naturally, Ace's face was tinged in embarrassment.

Even I could feel my face turning red looking at the sight.

"P-Please excuse me for this, Sir Clementine..." Ace said quietly after a while as he used a small bit of his strength to pick up Sir Clementine single-handedly by the collar so he could stand up.

Then, when Ace was on his feet, he dropped Sir Clementine back down on the ground and quickly walked backwards as fast as he could away from him.

"You aren't going to escape from me just yet!" Sir Clementine yelled to Ace as he attempted to grab ahold of Ace's arm.

"C-Cordelia...!" Ace yelled as he reached out his hand to grab onto mine from the other side of the garden.

"W-What's happening??" I squeaked as I ran to him and stretched out my own hand to grab ahold of his.

"Let's get out of here, okay?" Ace asked as calmly as he could.

I nodded my head slightly as Ace picked me up and carried me all the way out of the garden and back to my dorm room within seconds using his superhuman speed.

After that, Ace gently placed me on the ground and examined me to make sure I was okay.

"I'm sorry for leaving that place so suddenly...especially since you were the one to invite me there, Cordelia..." Ace apologized immediately.

"Huh? No! It's fine!" I said quickly.

"It's just...Sir Clementine was getting quite...touchy...and I just felt...um..." Ace said as he blushed when he recalled what just happened.

Now that I think about it, the moment that Clementine and Ace had...wasn't it a moment that anyone would fangirl over...???

Oh dear god.

The face of a top-tier pretty boy topping a god-like man from underneath him...would be enough to cause every fujoshi in a ten-mile radius to nosebleed.

I could feel some drool slip out of my mouth.

I wiped it away as soon as possible and looked back to Ace, who clearly looked traumatized.

"Haha...I had no idea...I'm sorry..." I muttered to comfort Ace.

"Umm...If you don't mind me asking...Why did you have Sir Clementine and me meet up at that specific garden...?" Ace asked softly.

"Oh. Uhhhhhhhhhh...N-No reason. I had no reason at all!!!" I squeaked as I looked away from his eyes.

"Cordelia...Are you lying...?" Ace asked as he brushed some of my hair behind my ears and moved his face closer to mine so he could stare straight into my eyes.

"E-E-E-Excuse m-m-me?!? Me?! Of course not!! I'd never lie to you!!!" I said loudly as I looked away from his eyes yet again.

Aghhh...

Why is it so hard to look into people's eyes when you're lying...?!?!

"Can you look at me straight in the eyes and tell me that you're telling the truth?" Ace asked me in a soft voice.

Ace had a god-tier skill that allowed him to assert dominance even when he was talking in a soft voice full of kindness and understanding.

I had no idea how he was able to do it.

"Umm...er...Well...Before I say anything, can I just say that I'm sorry for lying...?" I squeaked up to him.

Ace looked surprised for a moment as if he wasn't expecting me to say that and he laughed slightly.

"Of course, Cordelia. I'll forgive you," Ace said with a smile as he gave me a pat on the head.

"Thanks...so...um...Well, I just want to say that I don't support your...romantic feelings...regarding...Lilly..." I blurted out slowly.

"...Huh?" Ace looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"I know Lilly acts like a kind girl and all...but I don't think you know who she really is...and I just want to say-" I tried to speak before Ace interrupted.

"W-Wait...I'm a bit confused...I'm sorry if I heard you wrong but...did you possibly think...that I had...um...romantic feelings for Lilly...??" Ace asked me.

"...Uh...yeah. Don't you??" I replied with confusion.

Ace didn't say anything after that and he simply slammed his head on the nearest wall.

"A-Ace?! Are you okay?!" I asked with worry as I saw him sigh to himself.

"...Cordelia...If I may be so blunt...How in the world did you come to that conclusion...?!" Ace asked me as he held one of his hands to his forehead as if he were having a slight headache.

"Well...you were planning on following Lilly yesterday since...you were planning on confessing to her...right?" I questioned.

"I...How...It's..." Ace tried to say as he stumbled over his words.

"Is there something wrong, Ace?" I asked slowly.

"...Nevermind. Um...Before I say anything else, no, I am not the type of man to...stalk a female for any reason like that," Ace sighed.

...Was it possible...that I was misunderstanding the situation the whole time...?!?!??!?!??!!

But how?!?!?

My reasoning was absolutely perfect!!!!!!

"So...I'm just going to take it as...you don't have any feelings for Lilly...?" I asked him.

"No. Without a doubt. I have never felt anything for her. So, please don't bring that up again..." Ace responded immediately.

"Oh...Hahaha...My bad then..." I apologized awkwardly as I fiddled my fingers.

"...my feelings really haven't reached you..." Ace murmured under his breath.

"Huh? What did you say?" I asked him since I couldn't hear him very clearly.

"It's nothing," Ace said with a slightly forced smile.

"It's good that you don't like Lilly though! I'm quite relieved now," I said honestly.

"You...are...relieved?" Ace asked me with one raised eyebrow.

"Yeah! I feel like all the stress in my heart just floated away for some reason," I replied with a laugh.

Ace looked kind of happy for a brief moment.

I wonder why.

"Anyway, the reason why I brought you and Clementine together was that...I was kind of hoping that..." I murmured.

"...that I'd fall for Clementine instead of Lilly?" Ace said as he filled in the rest of my sentence.

"Yeah...pretty much..." I nodded.

Ace sighed again.

He's been sighing quite a lot lately.

Welp...I guess I can't blame him.

"...I can assure you that no matter who you bring to me...I won't fall for them," Ace said to me.

"Well...You can't be too sure yet," I rolled my eyes.

"Haha...We'll see," Ace laughed.

"So why were you trailing Lilly yesterday then?" I asked.

"Oh...I nearly forgot to tell you," Ace said suddenly as he looked around us and grabbed my hand.

"Let's go somewhere quieter," Ace said to me.

"Okay," I nodded.

Within half a second, Ace had brought me to a completely enclosed area of trees and nature.

There was a small tree stump there and I sat down on it.

"So, what is it?" I asked.

"It's...You already know that Lilly is tied to the Marquis and Marquess and is working as their spy...right?" Ace asked me.

"Oh? You found out...?" I asked him.

"Yes, I did. I was wondering why you were acting so weird around her, so I decided to figure things out on my own."

"Haha...I guess you know why I absolutely didn't want you to end up with Lilly now."

"I...guess so. Anyway, I decided to...dig into the Marquis and Marquess' office and I found something that I believe you should take a look at," Ace said as he pulled out a folder and a small book from his school bag.

"What is it about?" I asked him as I examined the covers of the two.

"The folder contains proof of some of their misdeeds...and the diary...is disgusting," Ace muttered as if he was reminded of something horrid.

Without even my knowing, Ace had done everything that I was planning on doing on my own.

Things were falling into place so perfectly that it almost seemed unreal.

Almost as if something were wrong.

I opened up diary and read the first few pages.

--- 3/8/1473

I met a woman at a bar today. Her face and expressions were quite charming. I offered to buy her a drink. She accepted, of course, and from that point on, I knew I was a different man. Her voice was so alluring as it lured me into a blissful trance.

How wonderful.

It was almost as if it were a blessing for someone as beautiful as her to take her time to speak to me. I told her that my true identity was a Marquis. She tried to play it off casually, but I knew she was thrilled. She looped her arms around me and led me to her bed.

The thrill. The blood coursing through my veins. The euphoria. The exciting fear.

All I had to do was to keep these secret bedroom encounters of mine away from my wife. --- 3/23/1473

Every day has been the same since then. Now, I meet that woman nearly daily under the nose of my wife and son. Her name is Fausselle...a beautiful name.

I have never felt happier with my current affairs.

It's as if that woman's touch is poison. It paralyzes me and pulls me into a loop of madness that I can't nor wish to escape.

The thought that I am keeping such an extreme secret from my wife brings me utter joy. What if she finds out? What will become of me? Such thoughts keep me up at night.

Yet, fear brings me such joy. So much joy that I was doing something wrong. Something that could end my career and life itself...it was wonderful and brought tingling excitement from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. --- 4/7/1473

My wife. I absolutely despise her. She does her work quite nicely but she is my biggest obstacle to meet my lover, Fausselle. Even my son has become a ball and chain to me.

But Fauselle is infertile and my son is my only heir. I have no choice but to keep him by my side.

For my wife...Well, there is no crime in removing unnecessary grievances.

Her health has always been on the sickly side. Should any illness strike her, it would not be too shocking if she were to die. --- 5/8/1473

The deed has been done. I will hold my wife's funeral tomorrow.

I can imagine that tomorrow will be the happiest day of my life. After all, after the funeral, the preparations for my marriage ceremony with Fausselle will be complete and we will finally be a true couple.

The thought of Fausselle being mine...her cunning smile as I spoil her...her tantalizing touches that send me near the brink of insanity...her soft kisses that make me lose all sense...they will all be mine.

It's wonderful. --- 9/2/1473

My love has requested something from me. It is quite a strange request. She has asked for a secret basement to be built under her office.

Whatever milady desires, I will do. --- 9/14/1473

I have finally discovered what my new wife has done with her basement. I have found the bodies of children trapped behind cages.

Their faces were contorted with despair and many had dead eyes. Maybe it was because some of them were truly dead.

I asked Fausselle who they were.

She told me they were orphan children found in the dirtiest parts of the slums. That these children had no purpose in their lives until they came here.

I asked her what their new purpose was.

She told me that their purpose was for her entertainment.

I stared at the mutilated bodies of children and their lack of ability to cry out for help. Their pale and cracked skin from lack of sunlight. All of it...was beautiful.

She smiled and looped her arms around me. I knew from this point on...that she was the most wonderful person in the world.

She was perfect in every way. --- 11/29/1473

I had made my own basement a while back and filled it up with the bodies of women. They were powerless against me. I was like a god to them. They could not refuse me as I did as I could to their bodies.

Despair...it truly was a beautiful thing...

Fauselle told me that there was a man we could do business with. If we offer my son's soul, I could gain power and true freedom. It was an intriguing offer.

And if we follow his bidding, he would give us a life unimaginable. ---

"Disgusting," I murmured as I flipped through more pages.

Horrible.

Marquis Scott was a disgusting man.

The thought that he was able to write all of these things into a single diary without any thought was ridiculous to me.

He was...insane.

"Cordelia...What should we do now...?" Ace asked me as he had a dark look on his face.

"We use this to enact our revenge, of course."

-------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Ah...I just realized that my story is filled to the brim with insane people. You'd think that I'd know these things already, but I've only ever thought about it now.

Anyway, Cordelia now has ahold of valuable proof against the Marquis and Marquess! I wonder if this is good news or not...

Either way, I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter!

Stay safe, everyone~

Thanks, again, to my readers/voters/commenters! Your comments have been giving me diabetes lately~

Okie byeee!

Word Count: 2866