CH 2.15

“To be honest, I felt defeated.”

“Yeah, so did I.”

Some of the young girls, who had already lost their will to fight, whispered that, removing the burden from their shoulders.

“It is only in romance books that great knights fall in love with ordinary-looking girls, but it is not possible in reality.”

“Of course, we knew that already.”

“Still, it is shocking to witness it right in front of your eyes.”

A couple of decently dressed brown-haired ladies tugged the hems of their dresses, disappointed and depressed. Some ladies were already in tears.

“We can’t compete…….”

The lady who introduced herself with a fairy-like name was full of confidence. Aside from her lovely features and outstanding body, she was absolutely stunning.

Nobody can compete with Lady Oberon. They were certain. 

They suddenly realised…

Sir Laciuis loves people like this.

A fire developed in the hearts of some of the females who grew up beautifully, exactly as their fathers had desired, and merely lived in the shadows of their brothers. It’s still too little to be termed fire, but nobody knows what might happen in the future. Nobody knows, but the dolls might break free and stand on their own one day.

“I should cancel hiring of wizards…”

“Me too.”

“I spent a lot of money… but in the end, he doesn’t even know what gift I gave him.”

“I can understand. And he escorted lady Oberon all the way here… he might really like her..”

Expressing their feelings is a big disrespect to her. A couple of ladies, who had recently delivered their hair dolls, felt their shoulders droop. They suddenly felt sadness and regret. They are bewildered as to what they have been doing up to this point.

“I want to go home now.”

“Yes…”

The ladies, who had lost their spirits, returned to their homes in their carriages. They had a look of hopelessness on their faces.

* * *

“Oh, I’m exhausted!”

As soon as I got into the carriage after the tea party, I took off all the rings, earrings, and bracelets that felt like exquisite trash. Still, I couldn’t throw them away because they were all real, so I merely put them in a silk-covered box.

However, I was still uncomfortable.

‘I want to remove my stockings as well.’

I looked around and decided to abandon that thought.

The atmosphere is stuffy, but Lacius is standing in front of her. He couldn’t get into the tea party location, so he must have gone to the Knights of Lentus and then come back to pick me up.

“Looks like the party wasn’t bad.”

“Um, okay. It was all right.”

“How was the princess?”

Lacius’ face was shrouded in shadow. He also seemed interested in what happened with the princess. I buried myself on the same cushion I had been leaning against earlier, and mumbled softly.

“…… It was fun?”

“…….. The princess?”

“She expressed an interest in me.”

Lacius had a puzzled expression on his face, as if he wasn’t sure whether to respond with “that’s excellent” or pray for me.

But I didn’t mind at all. Rather, I was considering how to maintain the newfound interest.

“It’s fine.”

I responded casually.

“My first goal, Lacius, is to make the princess lose interest in you.”

At my sudden words, Lacius gently raised his head and looked at me.

I noticed a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

“Think about it. You’ll be a lot more comfortable than you are now if I make her obsessed with me instead.  By now, the princess must be feeling like she just found a fresh and plump prey.”

“… Is that so?”

“Yeah.”

I nodded my head confidently and stretched my limbs lazily.

“Well, for me, developing a close friendship with the princess would be quite beneficial.”

“Right.”

“There is something I need help with, can you help me?”

I opened my mouth, gently massaging my head, which had been through a lot of trouble, coming up with a new trick.

“Which newspaper in this country has the most potential?”

“Potential strength?”

“Yeah, ideally a modest or medium-sized business rather than the largest. A popular newspaper among young people, and it would be ideal if the owner is a little greedy.”

At my question, Lacius showed a slightly concerned expression.

“Well, I believe there’s a company called ‘Terran Hours’ or something like that.”

“All right, then, let’s go with it.”

I simply made a decision.

The princess has control of the press. However, there was no doubt that among them there would be someone who did not want to be tied with a powerful person and was eager to escape. I decided to go watch ‘Terran Hours’ for myself. However, because I had simply thought and decided in my head, Lacius looked as if he had no idea what I was talking about. I quickly realized my mistake and added an explanation.

“I will take ‘Terran Hours’ from the princess.”

“And how would you do that?”

“I’ll give them official permission to exclusively report on our love story. Other reporters will chase you down but will only be able to provide speculative reports. But with ‘Terran Hours,’ we’ll call them ourselves and set a date in front of them.”

“Hmm, and?”

“If you let that article take up an entire page in the back of their newspaper and print it, of course, people will buy ‘Terran Hours,’ right? If this occurs, the medium-sized newspaper company will earn a market share as the number of readers skyrockets.”

“So you’re going to sell the truth in another way.”

“Yeah, also speculative reports will disappear, though it will take some time.”

Lacius massaged his chin and pondered on my lengthy answer. Then his lukewarm blue-grey eyes shot directly at me.

Nor stinging, not suspicious, but a straightforward glance

While I was puzzled by his gaze, Lacius softly uttered a word. I could hear the sound of my heart beating.

“You must have been a nobleman.”

“……..?”

“You know a lot about the relationships between people. You know how to use it. It is difficult for a commoner-born to think like this.”

Ack, It’s even scarier since he’s calm. I shrugged as I watched Lacius try to figure out who I was, who Shay was.

To be honest, I don’t know much about it either. It wasn’t in the book, after all.

Since, there are four villains, the author wrote each of their backstories with a little enthusiasm and just blurred them out. The only thing revealed was her Painting Wizard ancestry; the author didn’t even mention where she lived. Now that I think about it, it appears like the author didn’t put much thought into creating the setting. And now I was actually considering if I should keep claiming to have amnesia like this. To be honest, I’m not sure what I’d do if someone who knew Shay’s past suddenly appeared.

‘They usually pretend to have amnesia when they possess a body in novels, right?’

That’s what 100 out of 100 will do. I deliberately buried my face in the cushion and waved my hands at Lacius.

“Does it matter whether I’m a commoner or a noble? In any case, I’m being chased.”

Lacius did not talk again after the conversation.

I nodded off on the carriage, and by the time we got home, I was already fast asleep.