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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: Cocktail
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They had definitely said they'd be at the villa for about an hour.
I hastily checked the time, but an hour hadn't passed yet.
Even if I'd hesitated for a long time, it hadn't been *that* long.
…So, why were they here?
"Why are you two here? You clearly said you'd come back in an hour…"
"And you fell for that?"
"…What?"
"Even if there's luggage, it doesn't take a full hour. Maybe a little while, but not an hour."
Watching Amelia and Dorothy grin, I realized.
These two, they were watching the whole time.
"So, how was it? Did you enjoy yourself?"
"…"
"Hm? Well? What was it like touching Arte's skin? Hm? Hm?"
A wave of betrayal surged through me.
Amelia, fine.
I was already used to her constantly coming up with absurd plans and carrying them out.
Amelia, I could just shrug off, thinking, 'Oh, it's just another day.'
But to think even Dorothy was in on it.
Thanks to them, I actually believed it would take a full hour.
"Dorothy, even you…!"
"I'm sorry. But it seemed so much fun that I just… couldn't help myself."
So, Dorothy was just a girl her age after all.
I'd sometimes seen Dorothy reading books.
Watching her, I'd thought she was quite perceptive.
But to think she'd use that perceptiveness for *this*.
"Please forgive me. But it was so amusing to see you two so conscious of each other."
"Right?"
"…"
Wasn't there a saying about 'rubbing shoulders with the wrong crowd'?
Had Dorothy somehow been tainted by Amelia?
She'd always shown an interest in romance, but meeting Amelia seemed to have amplified it in an undesirable direction.
"So? What happened in the end?"
"What do you mean?"
"Arte, I mean! Even I think she's pretty, you know? There's no way nothing happened when a man was up close, touching her with his bare hands!"
"Nothing happened."
"Don't lie! We were watching from a distance so we couldn't see clearly… but honestly, you got excited, didn't you?!"
"I didn't."
"…Really?"
It was a lie.
How could a man see that, touch that, and even hear cute screams, and remain unaffected?
I had a rather significant… issue that kept me from standing up for a while.
But Shiwoo didn't tell the truth.
Because, the moment I saw Amelia, it instantly subsided.
No matter how suspiciously she looked at me, there was no evidence.
What good was being pretty?
It was Amelia.
Thanks to her, it was easy to lie, so I suppose that was fortunate.
"That's strange. You don't have any functional problems, do you? You shouldn't…"
"I'm perfectly fine?!"
"Hmm…"
I was flabbergasted by Amelia, who stared at me with suspicious eyes.
Did this woman forget that I was a man and she was a woman?
If she were in her right mind, she wouldn't say such things to me… Oh, right, Amelia wasn't in her right mind.
I instantly understood.
"…What's with that look? It's unpleasant."
"It's nothing. So? What's all that stuff you brought? It's a bit much for just food and drinks."
Ignoring Amelia's sharp glare, I changed the subject.
If it were me when I first enrolled, maybe, but now? No chance.
To the current me, who was used to Amelia, that kind of gaze was nothing.
"Excellent question!"
As if she'd heard a brilliant question, Dorothy began to spread out the numerous items she'd brought.
"…Oh, that looks delicious."
"Right? But that's not all, you know."
"Hm?"
A small amount of vegetables hidden among the appetizing cuts of meat.
My gaze was drawn to the barbecue ingredients, which clearly seemed prepared by Amelia, reflecting her taste.
Just as my mouth watered, thinking, 'Meat is definitely the best,' the second box opened.
Seeing its contents, I was utterly bewildered.
"…Alcohol?"
"Heh, I mean, what's a trip without some drinks?"
"Well, I mean… you're not wrong, but…"
The contents of Dorothy's luggage included numerous bottles of alcohol.
I wasn't sure exactly what kind of alcohol they were, but judging by the varied colors and shapes, they must all be different.
At a glance, there seemed to be dozens of bottles.
"…Are you going to drink all of this?"
"Are you crazy? How could we drink all of this? We're going to use it to make cocktails."
"And you've made them before?"
"Don't worry. I can make them well enough."
Amelia smiled faintly as she spoke.
"The sun's setting soon, so it's time for dinner, right? How about a party with the night view of the beach?"
"Heh, that sounds fun."
Leaving the two of them smiling happily behind me, I looked at Arte, who was floating in the middle of the ocean.
She had somehow taken Amelia's tube and was now lounging on it, enjoying her vacation.
I smiled slightly at her relaxed appearance and called out,
"Arte! Let's eat dinner! Come quickly!"
***
*Sizzle.*
The meat and skewers cooked with delicious sounds.
Watching the scene, the Author-nim began to groan.
[Ugh… I'm so hungry… Why do I just have to watch this…?]
I wonder.
If you have a complaint, you could just come down and eat.
Though if you *actually* came down, I'd hit you.
Could you even come down in the first place? I wasn't sure.
"…Anyway, Amelia knows more than I expected."
"More than you expected?"
"No, I mean…"
I watched her expertly measure with a jigger, pour it into a shaker, and shake it.
It was quite professional.
"Oh, this? I learned a bit from my grandpa. Thought it looked cool."
"…I'm starting to wonder what kind of person your butler grandpa is."
"Well, he's not a strange person. He's just a grandpa who knows more than others and can do more than others."
The clinking sound of ice rattling inside the shaker was audible.
…Hmm, quite atmospheric.
"When I was little, Dad was always busy."
"Ah, Lionel was your parent, right?"
"It feels a bit strange hearing that from someone my age. Well, yeah. He's a famous person, so every day was busy for him."
The shaking shaker stopped, and soon, the liquid inside was poured into an inverted-triangle-shaped glass.
Four glasses were filled, and Amelia garnished them with sliced lime before bringing them over to us.
"Grandpa was hired for that reason. He's even more familiar to me than Dad, you know?"
"So he's like family, then."
"Exactly. In fact, it's gotten ambiguous to even call it an employer-employee relationship. Neither Grandpa nor I care about that anymore."
I took a sip of the drink in the martini glass.
Was it because of the sugar? A slight sweetness.
And along with it, the refreshing tang of lime and the distinct taste of rum.
The sweet and sour taste was exquisite.
"How is it?"
"It's delicious."
"That's good. It's my first time serving it to anyone else."
"Why?"
"…Because I didn't have any friends to make it for."
I took another mouthful of the drink, and this time, it felt as if the sweet and sour taste was gone.
Even though there shouldn't have been any bitter ingredients, it felt as if I had swallowed a bitter medicine.
"Hmm… I guess I'm just a bit too good, you know?"
"Are you really saying that about yourself…?"
"Oh, come on, Dorothy. It's true."
"…Well, objectively speaking, it is true."
From a distinguished family, with a beautiful appearance chosen for a heroine.
As Amelia herself said, and as Shiwoo said, she was an exceptional person.
"Perhaps because of that, well… I tended to be the subject of a lot of jealousy."
"…"
"It's not that I didn't have people who could be called friends, but… well, they were people who approached me because of my looks, my family, things like that."
I knew.
All the stories Amelia was telling so casually, tipsy on the atmosphere and the alcohol, were stories I already knew.
"They were only friends on the surface; I never had anyone I could truly call a friend."
I knew that story too.
Because it was a setting the Author-nim created. A story I had heard directly from the Author-nim.
"So… well, there was no one I could make something like this for. I learned diligently because they said everyone tries something rebellious once in their student days."
Amelia laughed, saying it was her dream to secretly drink with friends before becoming an adult.
As if she was embarrassed by her past self.
"Grandpa also thought that one such experience in childhood was fine, so I was able to learn easily. But, well, I never got to use it."
"…I see."
"I thought I'd spend my whole life learning it and never get to use it."
She downed the drink she had been sipping, laughing as if delighted.
"Meeting you all made my dream come true!"
"…Only half of it, though. We're already adults."
"Oh, come on! Isn't it enough that you tried it?"
"Yes, it is. I'm glad."
Everyone was laughing happily, so I joined in.
…Yes, that's right.
The Author-nim had said that Amelia had no one to open her heart to when she was young.
I remembered hearing that the Author-nim had added the setting that she longed for true friends because of that.
It was exactly as the Author-nim said. Exactly as the Author-nim's setting described.
Amelia had no friends when she was young, and because of that, she wanted friends she could confide in.
…But, did the Author-nim determine even that process?
Amelia wanted friends, and so she learned how to make cocktails from her butler grandpa.
Amelia also had the setting of being a wealthy young lady.
Because of that, she had a famous hero as a father, and because of that, she had a butler grandpa who raised her in place of her busy father.
And all those settings combined, Amelia was now making cocktails for us in this very spot, laughing happily.
Did the Author-nim really set it up so that Amelia knew how to make cocktails?
Probably not. I was skeptical.
"…It's delicious. Could I have another glass?"
"Hm? Of course! It seems you like Bartender Amelia's skills!"
"Yes. Please, Bartender."
"Leave it to me!"
I watched Amelia happily scoop ice into the shaker again.
Perhaps my thinking of this world as a puppet show was an absurd act.
Maybe everyone I killed was truly a person, and this place was just another world.
Perhaps they were just people forced to become villains by the author's power.
Or perhaps, just as I thought, they were villains who deserved to die.
"Here you go!"
"Thank you."
With tipsy eyes, I gazed at the drink in the glass.
A cocktail where the sweetness of sugar, the refreshing taste of lime, and the distinct taste of rum blended together to create a new flavor.
Perhaps the author was just someone who added a bit of grapefruit to an already finished cocktail, just to vary the flavor.
…I didn't know. I didn't want to know the truth.
I looked at Amelia, and she was smiling happily.
Was it because of the setting that she longed for true friends?
I took another sip of the alcohol.
Could I truly call myself her friend?
I, who couldn't accept the world as it seemed.
A strong scent of alcohol lingered in the drink I had swallowed.