CH 59

1-8. The Terrifying New School Term’s Offense and Defense

“Oh gosh. What’s with that low-spirited look on your face.”

“Wait…didn’t you say you won’t talk to me at school?”

“It’s just a greeting. Just greeting you won’t be a big deal, we also danced together.”

After a tumultuous summer, the new school semester began today.

To tell the truth, Mika and I were still feeling like we couldn’t wake up from a nightmare. There were several times when we looked at each other and I saw that Mika looked very scared and distressed.

During the last few days of summer vacation, after making sure I didn’t leave the royal castle, Mika also went out to the city a few times to check something out.

After that nightmarish night, returning to the usual peaceful school made me feel relieved.

Mika and I were having our usual sandwich in the courtyard when Vivienne, who was passing by, spotted us and came over to talk to us.

The other party that had greeted us sat down on the cloth that Mika had laid out.

“Hey, don’t sit here. We went through a lot of things because of Marcotte you see…”

“Eh? Did you make contact with him?”

“A lot has happened… That’s right, does Marcotte appear in your book?”

“He didn’t. He was just like how he is in this world. He felt like the silent Marcotte. The Uniacs also weren’t talked about that much in the book. The Ackersons were the only ones who appeared frequently. Tillois is the love target after all, and I’m the villainess.”

I had heard that not much was written about things not related to the main plot. But if we talk about villain roles, I thought that Marcotte was exactly like a villain. I always thought he had been ‘silent’ all this time, but I wonder if he was doing those things in the background in my first life, too.

Mika also had a grim expression on his face.

“Do I have any connections with Marcotte in the book?”

“That wasn’t written. Well, Mika doesn’t even appear in the book. Being a villain in the book is like ‘Bam!’ you have a flashy entrance, laugh loudly while distorting your face, and threaten the main character. A background setting or the like is not needed for villains, only their bad parts are written after all.”

“…That’s a terrible way to treat villains.”

According to Vivienne, my role was to fall in love with brother Seth and indulge in debauchery.

Even that was only the setting for my character and wasn’t actually written in the book. So, I don’t know what’s really true. I only appeared in the book in the scenes with Brother Seth. However, although I’m a man, it seems that the intensity of my jealousy surpasses even Vivienne’s, making me a very difficult character.

(Is that…really me?)

Ever since I heard that from Vivienne, I’ve always thought something was wrong with it.

I feel like other people’s personalities don’t seem to change much from the book to the real thing, but I’m the only one who doesn’t seem to fit that description at all. I fell in love with Brother Seth (I don’t know if it’s true), I was also terribly jealous and lecherous.

I thought about it while holding my head.

But, well, maybe there are such irregularities. After all, when we see Vivienne, she is very different from the Vivienne in the book. Baroness Tessier was just like in the book if we looked only at the surface, but she seemed very different on the inside.

Unrelatedly, Vivienne in the book was in the role of a villain for three people: Tillois’ route, Brother Vincent’s route, and Jelaire’s route. How to put it, she’s beyond redemption.

I remembered something after talking about Baroness Tessier and beyond redemption. That’s right…

“It’s going to be a tough semester, Mika.”

“Yeah. Miss Vivienne’s harsh bullying is starting, isn’t it? By the way, it seems that Baroness Tessier often shows up at the orphanage.”

“Orphanage? Is it for charity?”

“Emilia is a kind-hearted girl. In the book, there was a description of her playing with the kids at the orphanage. But when I think about that night, I know she’s different in this world.”

As I listened to Mika’s report, I wondered when he had looked into such things.

Perhaps he spent the last few days of summer looking into the Duke of Marcotte and Baroness Tessier?

I had a lot of things to do with magical plants myself, so I don’t know all of Mika’s activities. He’s really good at dealing with things, or, though I don’t like to admit it, he’s a capable knight…that’s what I thought.

“Why are you bullying the kind-hearted Baroness Tessier?”

“I won’t bully her, it was me in the book…! But Your Highness, think about it, a lot of things are happening this semester… Swordsmanship Tournament, Magic Battle, Magic Research Presentation.”

“Yeah. What’s the matter with that?”

All of these events will take place at the academy this fall.

It is intended as an opportunity to present our results from the first and second semester at the academy, but since the school is attended by students with various characteristics, each student can choose one of the categories in which they excel. It is an event that all students must participate in, as it is part of the grading process.

Those who excel in swordsmanship such as Mika and Oswald will be evaluated based on their performance in the Swordsmanship Tournament, those who excel in fighting with magic will be evaluated in the Magic Battle, and those who are engaged in academic research will participate in Research Presentations in their respective grades.

“Ugh… Those events also appeared in the book. Your Highness Nagi and I both do something mean after all.”

“…Like what?”

“If Emilia enters the magic battle, I’ll rip off her robe. If she chooses to present her research, I’ll rip off her report.”

“You’re just ripping everything apart.”

Both Mika and I chuckled, thinking what a low-level harassment that was.

But surely, if a frail baroness were to have her clothes torn off by a duchess or the third prince, it would be a traumatic situation from which she would never recover. People around her would also start treating her gingerly.

Thinking about Vivienne, I think I should prioritize her over me this semester.

She was going to limit herself to just greeting me, but then she got anxious and started talking about her worries.

“What are you going to do with one foot already in the execution, Vivienne? Even if you have the needle item, you really have to struggle through this semester.”

“I’m thinking of holding a lot of tea parties this semester! I’ve been thinking about it and preparing for a lot of things this summer using the future knowledge cheat. I thought I would show it off at the tea party and raise my reputation. Expanding my power! When I heard that Your Highness Nagi was doing his best, I thought that I would also do my best together with you.”

I was relieved to hear Vivienne say so, her sparkling crimson eyes twinkling.

She was a strange woman, but I was afraid that she was worried about things. A smile broke out from me.

(Vivienne is really a strong person.)

As I looked at Vivienne while thinking about that, my eyes met hers as she held both of her own cheeks between her hands with an entranced expression on her face.

Even though I had just been thinking some good things about her, I thought with my eyebrows furrowed.

Sure enough, the usual strange breathing and sighs escaped Vivian.

“So precious~ Haa… You’re so precious~ so beautiful~”

It seemed that Vivienne liked my appearance. “It’s only for viewing purposes, though.” She always adds something that I don’t quite understand. But when I suddenly notice it, I feel restless because I feel like my face is being watched.

At any rate, I’m glad to hear that Vivienne has some plans herself, leaving aside her strange behavior. Mika and I decided to keep an eye on her to make sure she didn’t get framed.

From the swordsmanship tournament, magic battle, and research presentation, there are certainly a lot of events happening this fall.

While thinking that I would be in the magic battle, but Mika would probably be in the sword competition, I suddenly remembered.

“Speaking of which, I’ve always wondered why that book has Jelaire’s route in it but not Oswald.”

“Huh? Well, you can tell by looking at the real person, but it’s because he’s too stiff and there’s zero chance of developing a romantic relationship with him.”

“Huh?”

“He doesn’t have anything else in his eyes but His Highness Seth, after all. Mika probably didn’t appear in the book for the same reason. Well, Oswald is often depicted next to His Highness Seth, as expected of him.”

I don’t know about Mika, but from my point of view, I think that even Jelaire is mostly only looking at Brother Vincent, though. I thought I’d have to ask one more thing, and when I was about to open my mouth…

From the other side, I saw Tillois walking toward us while looking around.

As I looked at Tillois, I saw that he had apparently followed Vivienne, and the color of his face turned pale when he found her sitting with us. “Sister!” He shouted that and said, “I am sorry, Your Highness,” as he dragged Vivienne just like that and walked away.

He’s a tough little brother.

Ah, but… I want to ask just this one last thing.

“Vivienne. Who is the villain in Renalge’s route? ”

“Kyaaa, Your Highness, help me! Wait, um, about that question…”

As she was being dragged, Vivienne said.

“You’re also the villain in that route, Your Highness Nagi! Probably because the book can’t make that many villains! Maybe to save time?”

“Eh, me? I have no connection to Renalge whatsoever.”

“If I remember correctly…he’s forcing you to go along with his magic experiments!”

—Huh?! Tell me more about that in detail…

“Help~ me~”