I thought Dolnesia had appeared as my savior.
But her eyes were not smiling at all.
Her tone was exceedingly sharp, too.
Seeing her look as though she were making no effort to hide how furious she was, I unconsciously activated [Insight Eye].
[Insight Eye activates.]
【Dolnesia de Logres】
◈ Level: 31
◈ The target is currently jealous.
This was the state [Insight Eye] showed me for Dolnesia.
The strange part was that she was jealous right now.
Jealous of what?
Why would she be jealous of me?
Had things not gone well with the male leads?
I distinctly remembered a line of young lords and ladies waiting to say even a word to her before I slipped away.
That meant there had not been a single male lead among all those people.
With that many people gathered around her, surely at least one would have approached out of curiosity.
If not, did that mean none of the male leads had been among them...?!
No, what was wrong with Dolnesia...?!
Where else could you find a woman who had been through so much, yet was both capable and beautiful?
Also, I think she was seriously misunderstanding something.
Did this look like I was fooling around to her?
The young lady whose cheek I had just saved from getting slapped had not even thanked me. She was clutching me by the collar of my tuxedo and refusing to let go, while the woman beside us, my fellow peeping accomplice, was acting as though none of this had anything to do with her.
Whether or not she understood how I felt, Dolnesia slowly approached with her lips firmly shut.
Then she looked at Isabella.
"May I take Ian with me, Lady Eterna?"
She spoke while pointing her thumb at me.
Her voice was still sharp, and though her lips were smiling, her eyes were not smiling in the slightest.
Still, it seemed Dolnesia really had come to save me.
But then—
Isabella’s grip on my tuxedo collar tightened further.
What was with this woman now?
"I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that, Lady Logres."
Why?
Why couldn’t she?
At her answer, Dolnesia’s eyebrow twitched, and she tilted her head.
Her lips were smiling, but her eyes remained utterly devoid of mirth.
"Why not?"
"If it concerns what happened at the banquet, I cannot lend him to you, Lady Logres."
I was deeply displeased at being treated like an object.
But I could not bring myself to say anything.
I did not know what about Isabella’s words had set her off, but I could feel Dolnesia’s mood plummet.
Could she be angry because I was being treated like an object?
Dolnesia, your familial affection is truly overflowing!
Yes, keep being angry like that.
"May I ask why?"
"This man has seen my disgrace. If he carelessly lets his mouth run at the banquet, my position will become exceedingly awkward."
Dolnesia’s eyebrow twitched again.
But she was going to publicly announce that her engagement had been broken anyway... Didn’t that make it irrelevant?
I leaned in and whispered quietly into Isabella’s ear so Dolnesia would not hear.
"But wasn’t it going to become public eventually anyway?"
At that, Isabella looked at me as though I had said something absurd and replied in a low voice.
"There is a difference between it being disclosed officially and rumors beginning from your mouth. If people start embellishing it, it will put me in a difficult position too."
I see.
She had slapped none other than the Second Prince, after all.
But wouldn’t the Second Prince be the one announcing it himself anyway?
I did not think some rumors would make things particularly awkward for her.
With his personality, the Second Prince would hardly go out of his way to bring up the fact that he had been slapped.
And if the Second Prince himself officially said so, what lunatic would dare fabricate accusations?
Unless they were as crazy as me.
Then—
"You two seem very close?"
Dolnesia shot the words at us as though she did not welcome the sight.
I was certain now.
Something had not gone well for her today.
That was why she was jealous, seeing me held by another woman.
The cause really must have been that things had not gone well with the male leads.
"It doesn’t matter. I need Ian right now. Lady Eterna, I am not curious about what your disgrace is. Just let go of Ian, whom you are holding."
"If this man opens his mouth, my position will become exceedingly difficult."
"Then I can watch him carefully from your side. To ensure your disgrace does not make its way out into the world."
Dolnesia enunciated the particular word “disgrace” as though mocking her, and Isabella’s eyes narrowed at the sight.
Angelica watched the situation with a blank expression, as though she had no thoughts on it whatsoever.
And there was me, caught between them.
Being stuck between women having a battle of wills with me in the middle—
I felt as though the wine I had drunk earlier might come right back up.
Why were these women having a showdown with me at the center of it?
Couldn’t they do it somewhere else?
The volatile standoff continued for several seconds.
Then it ended when someone raised the white flag first.
"Very well. It is no longer any of my business to argue over it."
The first to surrender was Isabella.
She released my collar, and Dolnesia’s rigid expression eased somewhat at the sight.
I was finally getting out of this.
I let out a sigh with an exhausted expression.
My tuxedo had nearly been torn apart.
But—
"Wait."
Apparently, she was not finished with me yet.
"There is one last thing I wish to ask you..."
She looked at me with crimson eyes that seemed to brook no lies.
"Can you answer me?"
Isabella had suddenly posed a question.
I glanced at Dolnesia, expecting her to urge me along by saying she had no time, but she made no move.
She merely looked as though she were telling me to answer quickly and come along.
Still, this was funny.
Why did I have to watch Dolnesia’s reaction?
Then again, I could not help watching it, because I was the weakest person here.
Not to mention Angelica, and the same went for Dolnesia.
Isabella had also gone through something like a regression prologue, so she was stronger than I was now.
In other words, my proud biceps were useless here.
Was this the world telling me to get stronger quickly if I resented it?
"What is it?"
"Why did you help me?"
That was what Isabella asked.
Why had I helped her?
Because the voyeurs up above made me.
"It was nothing, my lady. I simply did it because I wanted to."
"You simply wanted to... But I think it was far too reckless to act on such a light impulse. We had never even met before."
Isabella’s voice was not so much interrogative as it was pressing.
"Your choice was not an act that risked only yourself. It was an action that could have placed your family, Logres, Lady Dolnesia, and everything you possess in danger."
She was not wrong.
I had stood up to royalty, after all.
If this had not been a romance fantasy, I would not be here now.
No, even taking into account the peculiar circumstances of this being a romance fantasy, I had only survived because my opponent was the Second Prince.
If it had been someone else, I would have died.
Things had turned out well, fortunately, but if not for those insane voyeurs, I would not have stepped in either.
"You said you wished to become a knight. Is that what chivalry told you? To commit such a reckless act?"
Surprisingly, yes.
Those crazy voyeuristic bastards made me do it.
Still—
"There is one error in what you said, my lady."
"An error?"
We were not strangers meeting for the first time.
She might have been seeing me for the first time.
But I had experienced her life seven times.
Over seven playthroughs, I had laughed while clearing enemies, and gotten irritated at defeats.
I had watched stories I had not even expected.
And I had even searched through wikis so that someone who had regressed from an unhappy life, like Dolnesia, could reach a happy ending.
Having played through all that, I could never call her a stranger from my perspective.
So whether it was taking a penalty or getting killed for standing up to the prince—
I probably had no regrets about choosing the knightly action between the two.
"Even if I were not following chivalry, I would have acted that way."
"...Is that so."
She fell silent for a moment, then spoke as though she had concluded, ‘So it was that after all.’
"So you had fallen for me after all?"
"There are limits to narcissism, my lady."
That was not it.
Of course, she was ridiculously pretty, as befitted a protagonist.
But what lunatic would bet everything on a single woman?
I had only chosen the knightly action because I saw a chance of success precisely because it was the Second Prince.
If the person you had slapped had been the First Prince, I would have run away right then, thinking I would rather take the penalty.
"How amusing."
Hearing my answer, Isabella gave a hollow laugh.
"Since I came to be called the Flower of Eterna, you are the first person to say something so rude to me."
Calling herself the Flower of Eterna, huh.
It was only a nickname from high society, yet she said it so confidently...
Was she really a narcissist, or was she simply not embarrassed?
"Aren’t you embarrassed by that?"
"They say that if you cannot avoid something, you should enjoy it."
Apparently, she had been embarrassed at first.
But she had grown so accustomed to it by now that she had attained a state of enlightenment.
"Does that answer your question now, my lady?"
"One more thing."
What now?
#
Was that truly all?
Had you truly challenged the Second Prince to a duel for that reason alone?
Even knowing that failure would cost you everything, what had you risked so much for?
For someone you had met for the first time, no less.
Could you throw everything you had away?
Was it because, as the Second Prince had sophistically claimed, you could see the future?
Had you been able to act that way because you had foreseen everything up to this point?
Why?
Even if you knew the future, there had been no reason for you to step in.
Knowing the future and acting to bring that future about were worlds apart.
No matter how thoroughly one knew the future, mistakes still existed.
And for him, one such mistake would lead directly to death.
Did he truly need to step in merely because he knew the future?
Did he need to stake himself and his entire family on it?
Though your words had been delivered as if you were certain of yourself, the tension in your expression and hands had been plain for anyone to see.
In other words, you were not some death-wisher who did not value his own life at all.
You were the one who understood better than anyone that defeat meant throwing everything away.
It had not been sincerity, either.
Rather than acting of your own will, you moved as though you had been forced into it.
Not with the face of someone who believed he should do it, but with the face of someone who had no choice but to do it.
At a glance, he seemed like nothing special—a braggart who wrapped himself in nothing but bluster.
A fool who could not tell right from wrong and charged in headfirst.
And yet such a person could stake everything on helping another, someone he had met for the first time?
If it had been to win my favor—
Then ordinarily, he would have comforted me after I was slapped.
He would not have foolishly challenged royalty to a duel like this.
That was why I had asked what he had been thinking, and received the answer that he simply wanted to do it.
So I had thought that, yes, it must have been to win my favor after all.
But then he said, ‘There are limits to narcissism.’
Which meant this man had challenged a prince to a duel for someone he had never met, for no other reason than that person was in trouble.
He was insane.
Simply put—
The man before my eyes was undoubtedly a madman.
A madman who blustered even as he helped others.
A madman who threw everything he had away to do so.
Reckless and insane.
What in the world were you charging forward to obtain?
Was it because you had been taught that you had to do so in order to become a knight?
You would charge at anyone whenever you saw a person in trouble, like a madman.
You would keep up that ridiculous chivalry even while making bluster so transparent anyone could see through it...
And you said you would have saved me even if you were not following chivalry.
Not because I was Isabella von Eterna, but simply because I was in trouble...?
It was a first.
He had not saved me to win my favor.
Nor had that kindness sprung from pure intentions.
Yet he was a madman who blustered while betting everything he had for that one act of kindness.
In my world, all I had been able to see was Kyle de Astoria, that bastard.
For the first time, I found myself interested in the man before me.
More importantly, Ian de Logres.
There was something I had to say to you first.
I did not know what intention you had when you challenged the prince to a duel.
But because of it, I had not been slapped.
So—
"Thank you, Ian."
For helping me.
#
After that, Isabella seemed to have somewhere she needed to be and left the room. Angelica—
‘That was fairly entertaining.’
—left that assessment behind before disappearing somewhere, perhaps to find the First Prince.
Only Dolnesia and I remained.
I had thought quite a lot of time had passed, but the banquet was not over yet.
"..."
[Insight Eye activates.]
【Dolnesia de Logres】
◈ Level: 31
◈ The target is currently jealous.
Dolnesia’s jealousy had not ended either.
The atmosphere she exuded far surpassed the distinctive chill Sancho gave off.
What on earth was making her act like that?
Was it really because things had not gone well with the male leads?
"Ian."
"Y-Yeah?"
"It seems you have become quite close with those young ladies."
Had I?
I had made Isabella indebted to me, at least.
But I had no idea what Angelica was thinking.
"We only got acquainted, that’s all."
"So you wagered our family on women you merely got acquainted with?"
It might have sounded sarcastic, but what could I do?
I had nothing to say in response, so my only choice was to clamp my mouth shut.
Come to think of it, the instant this reached the head of the family’s ears, wouldn’t I be hauled off for punishment?
What a headache.
At that moment, music suddenly began to play.
Before long, it filled the banquet hall.
To its tune, the nobles sought out their partners and danced.
As I stood still, thinking it must be time to dance, Dolnesia suddenly held out her hand to me.
"What is this?"
"Dance with me, and I’ll forgive you."
Why a dance?
Did she not have a partner?
Then did that really mean she had not charmed a single one of the protagonists so far...?!
"Then what were you doing all this time?"
"While you were fooling around with those two young ladies, I did look around too. But just dance with me, Ian."
What kind of bullshit was that?
If the female lead did not charm the male leads, what was going to happen to all the events from here on out...?
What a headache.
Why had she not charmed the protagonists until now?
Surely she had not failed to speak to any of them at all...
My head hurt, so I decided to stop thinking about it.
And it was not as though Dolnesia was the only protagonist.
"But I can’t dance."
"Men who cannot dance are not popular, you know."
"Look at this face. Do I look like someone who could be popular?"
With this face and this body, nobody had approached me.
Dolnesia smiled at my words.
"I’ll teach you, so dance with me."
Then she pulled my hand.
I did not know how it had come to this.
But Dolnesia and I ended up dancing together.
Awkward, clumsy steps.
A dance so obvious that anyone could tell, at a glance, that this bastard could not dance.
I could hear people around us murmuring things.
But I was too busy trying not to step on Dolnesia’s feet to hear them properly.
If I stepped on the foot of a spiritless, frail-bodied person, it could become a real disaster.
Even so—
Seeing Dolnesia’s face, she seemed to be in a better mood, so I thought it was fortunate as I continued my clumsy steps.
So that I would not drag down the mood she had worked so hard to recover.
#
The next day.
One day before the academy entrance ceremony.
I was about to open my inventory to check the rewards I had been too exhausted to examine on the train or in the carriage.
That had been the most grueling act of chivalry I had done so far, so surely it would give me something good, right?
Could it be something even better than Carnwennan?
Suddenly—
"Young Master Ian, it is Alfred."
Alfred had come to see me.
I thought it was the usual daily schedule, but that was not what came out of his mouth.
"Young Master Ian, the head of the family has summoned you."
A summons from the head of the family had suddenly arrived.
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