I'm Going to Make My Family My Allies desu wa!

My aim is "self-defense: serves you right." With that decided, things moved quickly.

First, I need to increase my allies. There's only so much a sheltered young lady can do alone.

"Ojou-sama, um, may I come in?"

"Oh my, is that you, Emma? Very well, come in."

Koleha invited Emma into the room. She'd start by winning over the maids.

Emma entered, holding a ribbon-bedecked dress in her hands.

"Ojou-sama. About the exercise clothes you requested… would this be acceptable?"

"… That's rather heavily decorated, isn't it?"

Even as she said it aloud, another thought flitted through her mind: (But compared to my usual clothes, it's actually a simpler design.) … So apparently, this was relatively exercise-friendly attire.

"M-my apologies, Ojou-sama! I'll bring something else immediately!"

Emma paled and bowed her head.

This was bad. Koleha hurried to call out.

"Wait, Emma!"

"Y-yes!"

Emma stopped in her tracks, face still pale.

Koleha almost grinned at Emma's expression… but she held back, keeping it to a mere smile.

(Hmm. If the servants react like this to every little thing, working with them will be quite difficult…)

If they flinched at her every word, she couldn't be sure they'd carry out her requests smoothly. Of course, they would likely do the bare minimum as part of their job, but they wouldn't anticipate her needs or act as extensions of her will.

They also wouldn't cover for her when she did something behind her father's back.

Besides, a poor impression was directly linked to the death flag where she'd be poisoned.

To realize her "self-defense: serves you right" plan, winning over the servants was essential. Poison wasn't the only thing that could be planted. If someone framed her with evidence of wrongdoing, she'd no longer be innocent.

Ideally, they'd be so devoted they'd proactively hide any inconvenient evidence for her — though that was only a dream, and she wouldn't expect that much.

"I'm not saying it's bad. In fact, this is fine — no, this is perfect! … Because you chose these exercise clothes with me in mind, Emma."

"Heh!? Ah, y-yes…"

Emma looked dubious. Well, that made sense — the previous Koleha would never have said anything considerate to the servants.

It couldn't be helped. She'd just have to raise their opinion of her little by little. How would characters in the novels from her previous life have put it?

"Ah, well. I've had a change of heart!"

"I see… Is that so."

"Yes, um. I had a dream… that if I don't cherish the servants, something terrible will happen! It must have been a warning from my grandmother in heaven!"

"The Great Madam is alive and well."

"I misspoke! My great-grandmother!"

She could practically feel Emma's gaze asking, "What is this girl even saying?" But regardless, if she kept making appeals like this while actually improving her treatment of the servants, things would change.

"I'm sorry for how I've treated you until now, Emma. You might not believe me when I say I've had a change of heart so suddenly, but… well, that's how it is."

"No… I see. As you wish."

Emma still seemed suspicious, but for the time being, she appeared to accept it. Her expression seemed to say: how long will this child's whim last?

Still, what mattered most was demonstrating that she'd changed. And in truth, she had.

"For now, would you help me get changed?"

"Yes, Ojou-sama."

Koleha changed into the exercise clothes Emma had brought. The soft, lightweight fabric made movement easy — she almost wanted to use them as pajamas. She stretched experimentally, testing how different they felt from her usual attire.

"Mm, thank you, Emma. This feels good."

"Not at all… By the way, Ojou-sama, what do you intend to do while wearing exercise clothes?"

"Why, exercise, of course—"

She was about to say that when she suddenly remembered: this world had magic.

In the game, Koleha had been set up as someone who could use Poison Magic.

Muscles don't betray you. They're always with you.

If so, perhaps her magical abilities wouldn't betray her either.

Also, she simply wanted to try using magic. (Her true feelings.)

"Magic training, desu wa! Emma, is there a training ground or something like that? Take me there!"

"Eh? — Oh, yes."

And so, with Emma leading the way, Koleha made her way to the Nyarlathotep family's training grounds.