“C-can you keep that a secret?”

The reverse trap has spoken!

Well, I really shouldn’t judge since I’m a trap myself...

The alleyway once again lit up, and the boyish girl was bowing to me, asking sincerely.

“If you...accept a request of mine.”

This person is one of my kind.

Is he forced to cross-dress like me?

...Looking closely, I’m not cross dressing right now, am I?

W-why did he call me ‘lady’ then...?

Oh well.

“Anything!”

I ended up revealing a smile, as I quickly said, “I’m new to the capital, so can you please show me around? Also, it’ll be preferable if you could show me the way to a Crystal-Stop...”

I had a deep sense that this person in front of me is my equal. In fact, I felt as if I’ve known him my whole life. He--or she in this case--extends an aura that makes anyone easily trusts him.

“Most certainly!” She said, as she raised her face to directly look at me, charmingly smiling.

Am I gay to have my heart race in front of this cross dressing girl?

I mean, physically speaking...she does look like a feminine man -- a handsome, delicate man.

...Ugh, this is hurting both my heart and my soul.

I don’t know whether it’s because of my guilt or his honest aura, I ended up saying, “D-did you know that I’m...actually a guy?”

E-eh?

W-why does he look taken aback?!

“A-ahh~ I-is that why you didn’t respond when I talked to you?”

“Well...i-it was mostly because you were hiding in the dark...”

The boyish girl began to laugh until tears came out of her eyes, while I stared on, wondering what exactly was funny.

So what if my inner monologue changes style every now and then.

So what if I abandoned that woman, and in the end ended up blaming her for me being lost.

So what if I won’t keep my earlier promises of having the old man win against me chess.

A man needs to know defeat in order to grow stronger!

No one is born a genius.

Well, no one except for me~!

Is this perhaps too much of a personality change? Maybe it’s the blood rushing into my head...Or is it a deep desire in order to impress this kinsmen of mine, a fellow cross-dresser?

Even though I’m not really cross-dressing at the moment.

After the boyish girl finished laughing, she extended her hand and said, “Luke~”

I ended up extending my own hand, “Kai.”

And just like that we shook our hands together, and a friendship starting by sharing our two, similar secrets with each other.

Even though I revealed my own sexuality by choice.

“Your hand, Kai, is as soft as that of an actual girl!”

“Is that really what you should be saying to a guy...?”

And it turned out that she was just a straightforward idiot.

An idiot who can somehow make people lower their guard around -- make them lower the walls in their hearts.

Luke ended up laughing again, as he began to direct my body toward the place entrance I just went through.

“So Kai, what brings you to the capital?”

.......I really can’t say that I’m here to marry the emperor, now can I?

Un, I really can’t.

“I...I’m here t-to visit a relative of mine...”

“Oh, that makes sense!”

And just like that, we made our way through with idle chatter.

In the midst of all that, he never really let go of my hand...and he kept talking and talking, making sure that I’m distracted from noticing his hand holding mine until it was too late...until it was too awkward for me to forcibly release my hand!

There was also the instance where we had to cross the street where I dumped that fucker Alastair, but when we reached he was already butt naked, howling as he was beaten up by several ladies.

I ended up on the floor, laughing my ass off of course.

That trash deserved every single kick he received!

And also, laughing gave me the chance to forcibly remove my hand from Luke’s clutches.

After that, everything went smoothly. I bought a crystal gear, bid farewell to her, sneaked back home, and went to bed.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

The very next day, I was rudely woken up by that cursed woman, as she screamed, “What have you done?! Not only did you get out of my sight, you even publicly humiliated the duke Arthur’s only grandchild!!!”

“...........Ugh, I’m still tired.........to begin with, you were the one who was blinded by the clothes and forgot her duty...”

The rude woman flushed red, shouting, “That’s beside the point! Why did you do that to the brat?!?!!?!”

It looks like she is truly mad.

“...I-it wasn’t me. On what basis are you accusing me of doing so?!”

Like hell I’ll admit that he was going to rape me.

A man, was about to rape me.

A MAN!

If this isn’t enough of a stain in my manliness, then I don’t know what is.

That fucker should have received a harsher punishment, if you ask me.

“You have his clothes on the floor, right over there!!”

As she said that, she pointed at a spot just before my huge bed.

Oops, it looks like I was too tired yesterday...to destroy any evidence!

“What are we going to do, what are we going to do...”

The woman began to panic, going back and forth in front of my bed.

“They don’t know who we are, so it shouldn’t be of any concern to us, does it?”

“...You just don’t know! The walls have ears, don’t you know that?!”

The walls have ears...?

“Wait a second, are you trying to say that there are spies in this place...?”

The woman began to vigorously nod, “Don’t you know that we can’t really strictly know every single servant’s movement? It’s not odd if one of them is selling out information in exchange for silver!”

“...This...could be bad...”

But it’s not like I should care, right?

So what if they have spies here! As long as I don’t leave this huge mansion, they can’t possibly do anything, can they?

This is the archduke’s residence after all!

“Oh well, let it be, Woman!”

As I said that, I got out of the bed, bent down, and extended my hand bellow the bed.

“H-hey, what’re you doing?!”

“None of your business!”

So...where was I?

Oh yes, yes!

What am I taking out, you might be asking?

My beloved crystal gear!

I was lucky enough yesterday to get my hands on the new release that I’ve been looking forward to, until sunset. Although the game sounds romantic, it’s actually a horror survival game with the most advanced graphics ever created!

To put it simply, it’s said to be a masterpiece by those who got their hands on it early!!

And I was lucky to find a copy yesterday~!!!

I guess this is how fate works? For punishing a pervert, I got my hands on a rare game!

As soon as I took out my crystal gear, alongside with the crystal game, the woman screamed, “GET DOWN!”

“Eh?”

And just like that, the deafening sound of ceiling crushing down filled my ears.

I should have known better.

I should have known better!!

I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER NOT TO EXPRESS MY EXCITEMENT!!!!

I ended up raising my life’s death flag.

And by my life, I meant this shining, new crystal gear and until sunset...

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!”

Due to the shock, my body jolted, and I fell to the ground -- presumably passing out.

My ear rang because of the loud noise, but I truly didn’t care.

Because mixed within that sound, was my heart’s cracking.

Why?

The crisp sound of the crystal gear shattering was pretty definitive.

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Author note: Did I post this chapter in order to  not post a longer chapter tomorrow? Probably.

Also, look forward to next chapter...it'll be a revenge chapter!

Don't you also hate it? How life throws something bad at ya, then rewards you for surviving the trial...but then snatches back that reward seconds before tasting it!

Well, I sure do!