Marie sat silently on the soft bed adorned with a dark red baldachin.
Minutes passed and Marie still didn't say a thing, causing System 999 to become restless on her behalf. Finally, he couldn't bear it any longer.
'H-host, is everything alright?'
Marie raised her eyebrow, finally uttering her first words in a long time.
"Nothing is alright, but I've decided on what to do next."
The System was startled, only uttering a confused 'Huh?' in response.
"Fortunately, it seems like you can't hear my every thought."
Marie sighed with relief, for a second she had really feared for her privacy.
She jumped off the bed that was wildly inferior to her modern one and walked towards the make-up table that stood invitingly on the side.
'Do you want to become a concubine now after all? No, host, you can't abandon your values like that!'
The System's persuasion only made her scoff in disgust.
"Who wants to become a concubine, certainly not me!"
After pulling open one of the make-up table's drawers, Marie started to rummage through it until she found some scissor-like object.
Fortunately, beauty products, regardless of the time period, were still a health hazard for their users.
Marie thought in her mind.
Looking at her slightly blurry reflection in the bronze mirror, a bit of sadness welled up in her heart. After one last glance at her appearance with eyes full of tears, Marie raised the scissor.
The System got a bad feeling looking at Marie's tragic expression, screaming in her head.
'No, host! You can't disfigure yourself just because of some guy! Let's find another solution! Together!'
"Shut up! I have to do this, even if it pains me!"
Marie shouted resolutely, raising the scissors to her face, before closing her eyes unable to bear the sight of what she would have to do next.
'No!!!'
Snip!
The sudden noise echoed through the chambers and a lock of Marie's long, blood-red hair gently dropped to the ground.
'...'
The System fell silent, in stark contrast to Marie's howl of pure anguish.
"My beautiful hair, it took so long for it to grow out!!!"
Half an hour passed, and gradually a small hill of blood red had accumulated behind Marie. Every cut of the scissors was accompanied by Marie's sobbing and howling. Finally, her once impressive mane of blood red had turned into a soft boyish haircut that perfectly framed her face with youthful carelessness.
This haircut altered Marie's temperament from confident laziness to easy-going boldness.
Seeing this change, the System couldn't help asking.
'What are you doing?'
Marie tearfully began picking up the strands of hair on the ground and bringing them to the small fireplace. She dumped all of the cut hair inside until there wasn't even one strand left on the ground. Having completed that step, Marie stripped off all her clothes, including her underwear, and dumped them inside as well.
Standing in front of the fireplace without even an inch of clothing to cover her body, Marie took one of the matches packed neatly next to the firewood and ignited it. Marie gazed one last time at her newly-bought designer clothes and hair before flicking the match on the highly flammable pile of blood red. Quickly, the fire covered the entire bundle.
Marie sniffled a few times and closed her eyes as if in mourning, but soon turned her back on the stinky, smoking fire, returning to the make-up table and starting to fiddle with the countless powders and pastes.
The System was positively speechless watching her actions, asking her once again in shock.
'What are you doing, host?!'
Finally, the previously so unresponsive Marie began answering the System's questions.
"In this world, there are a lot more men than women, correct? I'm disguising myself as a man, to slip through their detection."
This answer didn't satisfy the System at all, it was silently wondering where the Kore Foundation had found such an unreliable host.
'How are you going to disguise yourself? You look too different from the rough beastmen here, they will blow your cover insant-'
The System choked on its words after it shot a glance at Marie's face.
Staring back at the two of them from the mirror was no longer an adult woman, but a foolish and gentle teenager with light freckles.
"What did you want to say?"
Marie asked with a half-smile on her face.
'...nothing.'
She nodded approvingly, leaving the make-up table to stand in front of the closet filled with several dresses of various colors.
But in her eyes, they were like trash compared to her original clothes. Which also meant she had no qualms about choosing a handful in neutral colors and dumping the rest in the fireplace.
Before the System could ask again, Marie took the initiative to softly explain her course of action.
"Now we have to choose our outfit for today, also to cover our tracks."
While the colorful dresses burnt, she began to cut apart the dresses she put aside earlier. Fashioning herself a convincing set of male attire, with a hidden chest bind underneath to complete the look.
Now, there was no trace of feminity left at all. Standing in the chambers was a foolishly naive-looking teenager. Marie shifted in front of the mirror for a bit, admiring her work from every possible angle.
With a satisfied smile on her face, she flung the few pieces left of the plain dresses also into the fire.
Now, there was only one thing left to do for her disguise to be complete.
She walked to one of the walls and picked off the ornamental feather fan composed of several different bird feathers.
"Please tell me, dear System, what does a bird beastman look like in this world?"
Marie asked in a teasing voice, to the stunned silly System.
...it took everything back, this kind of host was too ruthless!
"System?"
This gentle voice sent shivers down the System's spine (metaphorically), but it finally realized what its host wanted to do.
'They usually have feathers at both sides of their face and a few on their arms. Their feathers are roughly at the same position as human ears.'
Marie hummed contently as she plucked off a few white feathers from the fan, only so much that she could cover her human ears and smooth arms.
Using a glue-like substance she had found in the pile of beauty products, her disguise as a bird beastman was finally complete.
And the System felt numb.
Small theater:
Marie with make-up on her face: Dear System.
System 999: ...
System 999: Scram, you are not my host!