After a hearty breakfast the following morning, Gusion, Aamon and I left the inn. There were several towns in the duchy of the Paxley family, all within a day's ride of each other. Castle Aberleen, the castle town of the Paxleys, was a good three-day ride from our current location.

"I don't get why we have to stop by every town or village on our way," Gusion grumbled as we left the most recent town where we had lunch. He was still Camouflaged atop his horse.

The people at the restaurant had been both gracious and awed as the Duke Paxley strode in through the door. Their jaws had hung open when Aamon had requested a table for him and his 'beloved' fiancée.

I glanced at Gusion's Camouflaged outline. "The point," Aamon said, not bothering to look towards his brother. "Is to make this engagement believable before we arrive at Aberleen."

Gusion scoffed. "I knew that," he said, rolling his eyes. "Why don't you two just kiss in front of everyone? That'll make it more believable if you ask me."

I blushed. "I hope you fall off Comet," I said acidly, as Aamon ignored him. The hood of his cloak was drawn up over his head, so I couldn't see his face clearly. But I suppose he was annoyed. Gusion, I found during this trip, could be childish.

"By the way," I said as I rode up towards Aamon. "I have another concern."

"You seem to have a great deal of those," Aamon said as he glanced sideways at me.

"I'm just…particular," I said, waving a hand airily.

"Is it about your magic?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. "As your fake fiancée, living in your castle, aren't there normally…expectations?"

"Expectations?" he asked.

Note to self: maybe isekai manga aren't that accurate. "I'm not sure," I said, tilting my head. "Something along the lines of…dancing, embroidery, knowing every member of every noble household, familial tradition, et cetera?"

"I'll arrange a tutor for you when we get there," he said, looking back ahead.

"Thank you," I said. "Though, small disclaimer. I'm a very bad dancer. The skills of my feet are indirectly proportional to the skills of my hands."

"Aamon's an excellent dancer," Gusion piped up.

"Gusion." Aamon's voice was filled with warning.

I remembered how, in-game, Aamon often danced around enemy heroes as he killed them off one by one with a mix of a powerful burst and powerful basic attacks. "I have no doubt of that," I said cheerfully.

Above us, the clouds slowly darkened, threatening rain. "There is a village up ahead," Aamon said. "This will be our last stop before Aberleen."

"Finally," Gusion drawled. "Don't forget to kiss and convince everyone."

Gusion ducked as one of Aamon's razor sharp shards flew towards him.

It began pouring in earnest by the time we reached the village. Leaning across his horse towards me, Aamon unfastened his cloak and draped it unceremoniously over my head. "Take it back," I said, trying to tug it off me. "I have a cloak, I'm fine. You'll get soaked."

"I don't have a cloak big brother," Gusion said, pretending to simper. I glared at him from over my shoulder.

Aamon glanced around us as the rain poured. People would have normally come out of their houses to greet the duke, but it seemed as if the rain had hid the signs of our arrival.

"Aamon, you're getting wet," I pointed out, trying to unfasten his cloak from around me.

"Leave it," Aamon said as he urged his horse on.

"Hey, lady, mister!"

Our horses stopped, as a door to a little house beside us swung open, and a young girl stepped out.

My eyes widened.

She had strawberry blonde hair in a thick braid over her shoulder. Her eyes were a clear crystal blue and seemed to shine amid the downpour of rain. She wore an apron over her wool spun dress, and a pair of worn brown leather shoes.

This girl…

Mila.

Mila was not an in-game character, but she figured greatly in the lore of one of the most powerful fighters in the game, Arlott. Arlott was a half-demon, half-human man who had fought beside the demons for Alice, until they betrayed him. Injured and bleeding, Mila had found Arlott and nursed him back to health.

And for her kindness, Mila had been executed by the Church of Light for aiding and giving succor to a demon.

But she was here, alive. I wondered briefly about the timeline of the game I was in. I'd arrived here after the Celestial Palace fell, when Aamon and Gusion had tried to steal the Heart of Anima. And after Lesley had found Gusion in the forest…

Mila was alive. Had she met Arlott yet?

I was snapped out of my thoughts when the girl ran towards us, using a hand to cover her face from the rain. "Are you travelers?" she asked, with a toothy smile. "Almost every inn's closed for the night because of the rain, but I have some space in my bakery! Come!"

"Thank you for your kindness," Aamon said as he immediately dismounted.

He helped me off my horse, and took the reins, following Mila through the front yard of her little cottage. Mila helped Aamon secure the horses in a shed before they joined us under the stoop of her door.

"Come in, come in!" Mila said as she swung the door open and ushered me through.

And I found the tip of a sharp red lance just inches from my eyes.

Aamon immediately pushed Diana and Mila behind him, shards of light flaring around them. A man was standing in the room before them. He stood taller than Aamon. Half of his hair was the color of blood, and the other half was as white as snow. His right eye was covered with an eyepatch, and the other was a lustrous shade of violet.

"Arlott!" Diana exclaimed, hazel eyes widening in surprise.

Aamon glanced at her from over his shoulder. "You know this man?" he asked, before reminding himself that she came from another world. She probably knew everyone in their world, he realized.

Arlott narrowed one eye at her. "How do you know me?" he asked with venom.

"Wait, wait!" Mila said quickly, stepping from behind Aamon. "It's okay Arlott! They were travelers caught in the rain! I invited them inside."

"They aren't ordinary travelers, Mila," Arlott said.

Diana stared at him. Of course, she thought, glancing towards the spot where Gusion was hidden by Aamon's Camouflage. "Aamon, take down the Camouflage," she insisted, gripping his arm. "He can see Gusion."

Aamon frowned at her, and a minute later, Gusion appeared behind Aamon, fully visible. Mila gave a little yelp of surprise.

"We're sorry," Diana said, as she stepped out from behind Aamon. He angled his body towards her, ready to push her out of harm's way. "We didn't think our Camouflage would cause you distress, but we don't mean any harm." She raised both her hands to show that she had no weapons.

Aamon kept his shards up, hovering around them at the ready.

Arlott and Aamon glared at each other. "Aamon, please," Diana said, gripping his arm a bit tighter.

The duke looked down at her. "He won't harm us," she said. Her eyes were wide and filled with conviction.

The shards of light vanished as Aamon glared at Arlott in warning. "Arlott," Mila said expectantly, giving the hybrid a small, hesitant smile.

Arlott slowly lowered his lance. The two men glared daggers at each other just as Gusion piped up, "Uh, by any chance, have you got a towel?" he asked, rain dripping from his hair.

"Please, I insist!" Mila said brightly as she set three cups of tea in front of us. She'd bade us sit at the table in her little kitchen as she bustled around preparing drinks and warm loaves of bread. "Arlott, could you please get the jam I made?"

Jam…

I felt like there was something I should be remembering about jam in Arlott's lore. It was nagging at the back of my mind. I sighed and took a sip of tea.

Arlott emerged from the room he vanished into earlier, carrying a jar of jam and more loaves of bread. "Thank you for your kindness," Aamon said as he dabbed the towel Mila had offered them earlier against his face. "I'll be sure to repay you in kind."

"Oh, no need!" Mila said, smiling as she set down plates of bread and bowls of jam in front of us. "My mother always told me that true kindness is doing good and expecting nothing in return."

She was so bright. So open. "Your mother sounded like a wonderful woman," I said, returning her smile.

"Oh, I believe we haven't introduced ourselves properly yet!" Mila said. "I'm Mila. I own this bakery. And that's Arlott, he's been living here with me for a while now."

"Hello, Mila," I said, smiling at her. "I'm Diana. And my companions are Gusion, and Aamon." I gestured to each of the Paxley brothers in turn.

Mila's eyes immediately widened in surprise, then in awe. "Wait, are you Duke Paxley?" she asked. She slammed both hands on the table and leapt out of her chair in excitement.

"Yes," Aamon replied. He seemed quite used to this reaction, I noted.

"Your—Your Grace!" Mila stuttered. "I'm so sorry if this is all I have to offer at the moment!"

"No need to trouble yourself," Aamon said, waving a hand dismissively. "My brother, fiancée and I are grateful for your help."

Mila stared at me, her mouth making a little 'o' of surprise. Right. Make the fiancée thing more believable. "I hope this humble spread is enough for you, my lady!"

"Please, just call me Diana," I reassured her.

Mila smiled happily at me before she turned to Arlott. "Arlott, come sit!" she insisted.

Aamon stared warily as the hybrid took the seat across from him and helped himself to a pinch of bread. Outside, the rain began pouring harder, and thunder rumbled in the sky.

"You know my name," Arlott suddenly said, eye fixed on me.

I gave him a small, hesitant smile. "Yes," I said slowly. I glanced towards Aamon, trying to gauge how much he would want me to admit. He gave me a very small, subtle shake of the head. "I know many things." I hoped I didn't sound weird.

"Do you…know what I am?" he asked. I could almost feel the tension rolling off him.

"…yes." I shook my head. "You are…a hybrid. Half-human, half-demon."

At this Aamon and Gusion tensed, and I gave them a look that I hoped was reassuring. No need to mention that Arlott had been Alice's lackey. They would have fought over it.

I get the feeling that Arlott knew that I knew about his past. "That doesn't really matter," I said, wrapping my hands around my mug of tea.

"Shouldn't it?" Arlott asked. He almost sounded…defensive.

"Is there any reason it should?" I asked, tilting my head towards Mila. "To her, it doesn't. As long as you are kind, I don't see any reason it should."

Arlott remained silent as he took a gulp of his tea. "See?" Mila chirped, grinning at Arlott. "I told you there would be people willing to accept you, like I have. It might take a while, but it will happen."

Arlott raised his eyes to Mila, a very small, faint smile on his lips. "I'm not hopeful," he said. "But that doesn't mean the idea doesn't interest me."

Mila's smile widened. As she continued to chatter away, poking fun at Gusion, and sometimes at Arlott, my eyes fell on the jar of jam on the table.

What was it about jam that I was supposed to be remembering?

The following day, I woke early to help Mila prepare breakfast, while the others slept. It was to be noted that Aamon, Gusion and Arlott shared a room. I made a mental note to ask Aamon and Gusion how that went. The mental image nearly made me laugh.

"Is it okay with you if we made a quick errand first?" Mila asked hopefully. She was preparing a basket with freshly baked loaves, and jars of jam.

"Of course," I said as I set the table. "Where to?"

"I just need to stop by the church," Mila explained, gesturing to the breadbasket. "I always bring some food for the acolytes in the morning. They love my bread and jam!" She gave me a toothy grin.

There it was again. Jam. What was it about jam in Arlott's lore that I should be remembering? "Sure!" I said. "Do you mind if I leave a note for Aamon?"

Mila handed me a quill and paper, and I hastily scribbled a small note, telling Aamon I was with Mila and would be back quickly. We left the cottage, closing the door softly behind us. The sun was still low on the horizon, and a chill remained in the air. I wrapped my cloak a bit tighter around me.

"My lady," Mila began.

"Diana, please," I said.

"Diana," Mila said, smiling. "I haven't congratulated you on your engagement to the duke yet! So, congratulations!"

I blushed and smiled at her. How's that for believable. "Thank you!" I said as she took my hand in her smaller one. Her hand was rough but warm. We walked along an empty street, the sound of twittering birds filling the air.

"It must be nice to be so in love like that," Mila said dreamily.

I nearly choked. "It was a very…whirlwind romance," I said, thinking of how exactly I'd met them.

"Oh, wow," Mila said. "My parents were like that too!"

"You will be too, someday," I said. I suddenly froze in my tracks.

In the lore, Mila was destined to die.

Of course. She'd died just after her birthday, after making jam as a gift for Arlott. I glanced at her breadbasket, where the innocent jar of jam seemed to stare at me.

"Is something wrong, Diana?" Mila had walked a little ahead of me and stopped to turn around.

"Mila," I said catching up to her. "When did you make that jam?"

"Oh, just three days ago!" she said, smiling. "It's still quite fresh. It was my mother's old recipe."

She continued to chatter as we crossed one street after the next. I glanced around me warily. Mila had been killed by Knights of the Church of Light, if I recalled. I wasn't sure when she had been killed and where. But it had been after her birthday, after making jam.

Could I…

Could I maybe change the lore in the game? Make it so Mila didn't die? I could warn Arlott to stay by Mila's side at all times, warn him that she was in danger. Surely, that would work?

I wasn't sure how this would impact the overall lore in the game in my world, or even in this world, but…My presence here was already an impact on the original lore, wasn't it?

"We're here!"

Mila's voice snapped me out of my musings. We found ourselves in front of an austere monastery, with gray stone walls and low spires. "Did you know," Mila said as we walked up the church steps, "that there's a dome inside the church? And flowers can bloom like jewels for people with pure hearts?"

"Really?" I asked, pretending to be interested. I kept glancing about warily, half-expecting knights to ride out of the shadows of the buildings to ambush us.

"Really!" Mila exclaimed as she knocked on the wooden doors. "I haven't seen it myself, but I'm sure it's true."

"How couldn't it be?" I asked. "When someone as kindhearted as you exists?"

Mila smiled at me as the church doors swung wide open, and a young boy wearing monk's robes appeared in the doorway. "Mila, good morning!" he said, grinning at her. "Is that your special bread?"

"You bet!" Mila handed him the basket and gestured to me. "This is Lady—"

"Diana," I said quickly, smiling at the monk.

"May the Lord of Light's blessings shine on you, Diana," the monk said solemnly.

After Mila and the monk exchanged pleasantries, we walked back down the streets. All around us, shops were starting to open. Windows swung outward to let out cooking smoke, the scent making my stomach grumble. Merchants began hawking their wares to early morning passersby. Constables patrolled the streets, looking for any sign of mischief.

"You know," Mila said. "It's all thanks to Duke Paxley that our village has grown so much."

"Really?" I asked.

"Uh-huh," she said, her hand in mine. "Duke Paxley was very careful when it came to farming and trade between the villages and towns in the duchy. I don't think you'll find more prosperous places in the Empire, except Lumina City."

Up ahead, the crowd began to thicken as people gathered in the town square. "I wonder what that's all about?" Mila asked as she tugged my hand. "Let's go, Diana!"

As if talking about him had magically summoned him, Aamon appeared in the middle of the crowded square, immediately noticeable because of his silver hair. People were gathering around him, some to offer their greetings, some to pay their respects to their duke.

"Aamon?" I said, surprised.

As if he heard me from across the square, his eyes snapped up and met mine. He smiled warmly at me, and I had to remind myself that it was an act. It looked so genuine. The man was indeed a good actor.

Aamon extracted himself from the gathering crowd and made his way towards me and Mila. "There you are, darling," he said as he approached me.

To my surprise, he drew me by the waist towards him and brushed his lips against my forehead.

My eyes widened.

What the heck was this man thinking?!

Around us, people gasped in delighted surprise. "So, it's true," one girl said, sighing loudly and regretfully. "Duke Aamon has a fiancée. I wonder if the bar is open this morning."

People continued to murmur in surprise around us as Aamon's lips brushed my ear. My cheeks burned in embarrassment. It took all my willpower not to punch his pretty face.

"I don't remember kisses being part of our agreement!" I hissed under my breath.

"You vanished," he said softly, his lips hovering close to my warming ear. There was a hint of displeasure in his voice.

"I left a note!"

"You didn't say where you were going, darling," he said, pulling away from me. He smiled warmly at me, and I was so thrown off by the personality switch, it almost made me dizzy. He really could put on an act. But then again, he had been trained from a young age to be a duke. Dissembling, I take it, was something that came naturally to him.

"Your Grace! Your Grace!"

Aamon and I glanced back towards the gathering crowd. A middle-aged man wearing jacket, tunic and trousers was stumbling through the throng towards Aamon. "Your Grace!" he exclaimed, stopping in front of us.

"…Elric?" Aamon asked. "You are the village leader, am I correct?"

The man beamed. "Yes, Your Grace! Thank you for remembering this humble servant of yours! I beg you to tell me Your Grace, what brings you to our quaint village? If we had known you would be coming, we would have prepared a feast for you."

"My fiancée and I arrived yesterday," Aamon said, gesturing to me.

"Fiancée?" Elric didn't bother to hide the surprise in his voice as he turned to me. "Oh my, Your Grace! Allow me to offer congratulations on behalf of the village!"

"Thank you."

"But Your Grace mentioned you arrived yesterday!" Elric said. "We…we didn't know, Your Grace."

Aamon gestured to Mila, who started in surprise. "We were caught in the downpour as we entered," he explained. "Luckily, this charming young lady offered to give us shelter for the night. I am most indebted to her for her kindness."

Elric stared at Mila in surprise, and she gripped my hand. An idea popped into my head. "This young girl and her companion are good friends of the duke's," I said, smiling at the village leader. Aamon glanced sideways at me. "It would please us greatly if they were treated with the same courtesy and kindness they showed us."

"Of course, my Lady!" Elric said. I could hear several of the villagers muttering in agreement.

Mila smiled at me. I smiled back at her. I hoped that announcing Mila as a friend to the Duke would deter any would-be attackers, and, ultimately, her death. Surely, the protection of the duke would be enough to keep her safe?