‘Is it really appropriate to have this kind of conversation in front of everyone?’
Even as I brought it up, I wondered if I should. But I decided to settle this matter right here and now.
‘From what I see, Liolikin has an extreme tendency to avoid confrontation. So unless pressured beyond a certain point, he simply won’t open his mouth!’
He was just like that in front of the carriage earlier.
He wouldn’t go to a dangerous place with someone whose intentions he couldn’t understand.
It wasn’t a relaxed situation.
Only after presenting such an undeniable justification did Liolikin reluctantly speak.
If I hadn’t done that, Liolikin would have stayed silent, trying to sneakily follow behind me.
And only after I got angry and ordered him to stay put would he have stopped following.
That’s why now is the perfect timing.
Tridric pretended to be loyal to Karvald Austri on the surface.
But inside, he looked down on this possessed body as nothing more than someone lucky to be born into a Ducal Family, and secretly envied it.
That fact had just been exposed.
And it was right after I had mercilessly thrown Tridric away.
‘Besides, I never showed any trace of betrayal or anger during that process. I never trusted or cared about him to begin with!’
Given the situation, even if Liolikin wanted to turn a blind eye, he couldn’t.
He knows I’m someone who can easily cast him aside anytime, and now there’s a reason I must do just that.
“I-I… w-want… I don’t want anything…”
“Then that’s even better. You have no reason to follow me, and I don’t want you around. We’ll just keep our distance from each other.”
“Th-then… th-that can’t be…”
Look at that.
He still can’t speak properly even now.
If I had called him aside later to try talking, would that mouth have opened at all?
‘Maybe just talking alone with him was impossible…!’
If I tried to call Liolikin somewhere quiet, sensing the odd atmosphere, he would have come up with every excuse to avoid it.
This kind of avoidance only makes the situation worse.
In the end, I had no choice but to bring up this matter right in the middle of the Academy, full of students.
“If you say you want nothing, then why is that ‘can’t’?”
“Uh… th-that is…”
“Fine. Even if you told me what you wanted, I had no intention of giving it to you anyway.”
“……!”
“You did run some errands for me last semester, so I thought I’d listen and consider it… but since you still won’t speak, it means you have something to hide.”
“……”
Even after saying that, Liolikin’s mouth stayed shut.
I quietly watched him fret, unable to say a word.
‘I said I still don’t know what Liolikin’s goal is, but honestly, I’m not completely in the dark!’
I mulled over what he said earlier by the carriage and analyzed his personality.
‘He’s excessively conscious of how others see him and afraid of being ignored or looked down upon!’
Then it follows that he volunteered to serve as a subordinate to this possessed body because he thought that being next to someone in power meant he wouldn’t be ignored.
Though he used Karvald as a shield, unlike Tridric, there was no malice in it.
‘He might even be grateful to Karvald. He needs the protection that status brings, and Karvald wouldn’t do anything to harm him.’
‘How Liolikin came to be so anxious, I don’t know.’
But I do understand the heart that desperately wants someone’s help out of fear of being bullied.
‘He just understands that all too well, which is his curse.’
Helping Liolikin is quite simple.
Whenever we bump into each other at the Dining Hall or have overlapping lectures, just let him approach me and talk.
Just doing that would allow him to escape his baseless anxiety and live his Academy life in peace.
‘Wait a second. Is his anxiety really baseless…?’
If it were the beginning of the semester, maybe.
But now, everyone who knows about Liolikin’s timid personality already knows.
‘How many people have seen Tridric treating him badly?’
If Liolikin gets pushed aside because of Tridric’s incident, everyone will think, ‘Ah, he’s involved in that mess somehow.’
And conclude, ‘He probably did something indirectly that made Karvald dislike him, even if he didn’t act openly.’
If that’s all, it would be a relief.
But some curious students might poke and prod Liolikin, and how likely is that to turn into actual bullying?
I’d say pretty likely.
So just ignoring it felt uncomfortable. But…
“Liolikin. Don’t think I’ll keep ignoring you coming up to talk to me on your own. If you don’t want to get humiliated in front of others, don’t approach me again.”
I said that and passed by him.
Then, exactly six steps later, “I-I just… being near Karvald Austri is enough…”
I sighed in frustration at such an empty statement.
After all this time, that’s all he has to say?
I felt a sudden surge of irritation and spun around without thinking.
“Did you think I asked what you wanted because I didn’t know? Of course you want to be near me. Just appearing close to me brings you considerable benefits. That’s why Tridric hated me but still flattered me silently, right?”
“…Huh?”
“Why are you pretending not to know? Didn’t you see with your own eyes? How he lined up people trying to get on my good side, acted arrogant while taking gifts, and tried to turn them into his connections?”
“Ah…”
“And today, thanks to you using my name without permission, he could easily find the manpower needed for his crimes.”
I said everything I had every right to say.
Still, Liolikin shrank back with a terrified expression, as if he were the victim of unfair bullying.
If someone who didn’t know the full story saw this scene, they’d think I was threatening Liolikin.
“I-I didn’t intend to do that…”
“How long do you plan to keep playing innocent?”
“W-what do you mean…?”
Liolikin wore a confused expression.
That look even annoyed me.
For readers puzzled by my feelings, here’s a hint…
‘He’s so afraid of being bullied that he clings to Karvald, but then joins in bullying Reysir to curry favor?’
He knows himself how cowardly that is.
He’s scared others will ignore or bully him.
He doesn’t even expect protection—he just wants to be allowed to stay nearby so others think he’s an ally.
There’s no other reason he can’t say this simple truth.
“Do you really think I don’t know anything? You don’t seem to realize I gave you the chance to confess.”
“Th-that…”
“Tridric said the same, and you too seem to underestimate me quite a lot.”
‘Has he already forgotten he revealed what he fears with his own mouth?’
‘Or is it because Reysir is here, so he can’t speak?’
If so, then Liolikin is still avoiding the truth and fleeing from his own mistakes.
‘I’m glad I brought this up here. If he couldn’t speak up even in front of Reysir, then there’s no hope for improvement. He’s a fundamentally broken character who can’t care whether others look down on him.’
No matter if others look down on him or not, I don’t care!
If my rejecting Liolikin causes him to be bullied, sure, I’ll feel uneasy and worried.
‘Maybe I’ll be stressed out thinking I became a bystander.’
But Liolikin isn’t a helpless victim who needs protection.
If he just stops submitting quietly, who would dare bully someone his size and face?
If he charged at even one of the bullies just once, that’d be enough.
If he picked someone from a family with power similar to his own, there’d be no worries about retaliation.
He’s not like Reysir, who only lived off a baron family guardian and got targeted by Karvald Austri, the duke’s son. His situation is entirely different.
“I-I really, I don’t want anything from Karvald Austri… I just… if you occasionally give me some tasks… I’d like to help you instead…”
“Stop pretending to do it for me when it’s for yourself.”
“B-but that’s the truth…”
Liolikin’s frustrating tone and attitude started making me worry that readers might get bored.
“You’re not the only one who wants to run errands for me. If you want to use me, you have to prove your worth. But instead, you can’t even answer simple questions properly. Why should I keep you around?”
“Th-that’s…”
“If you don’t say what you want, I can’t trust you. And I can’t trust someone who claims to want to help without wanting anything in return. So if you have nothing to say…”
“I-I just hate being looked down on…!”
I had thought there might be some hidden setting behind this, and tried taking the long way to confirm if my guess was right.
‘Was that really all there was to it?’
‘Senna, was this really the best you could do?’
‘The original readers needed to know this was Liolikin’s true nature. If it had been revealed that the ultimate self-preservation king existed elsewhere, Halega wouldn’t have taken the top spot as the least liked character.’
It was such a deflating, sigh-worthy situation, but I had to endure it.
If I sighed, Liolikin would shrink again and shut his mouth.
“When I’m near Karvald Austri, everyone can’t just mess with me… Tridric was a bit mean, but… at least it was just him. It wasn’t a group bullying me, so it was okay… But when I’m alone… everyone glares at me with terrifying eyes… I’m really scared of what they might do if I’m truly alone…”
‘The ‘terrifying eyes’ you speak of… aren’t they actually people glancing nervously at you because you look scary yourself?’
That thought caught in my throat.
I wasn’t the only one thinking that.
Reysir and the mercenaries were staring at Liolikin with incredulous expressions.
“Yeah, it makes sense to be scared and intimidated by others’ gazes.”
“Y-you understand…?! When I say things like this, everyone just laughs at me…!”
“I don’t think it’s something to be laughed at. But you do deserve criticism. You know why better than anyone.”
I said that, then gestured toward Reysir.
Liolikin bowed his head in shame.
At least that shows he has some shred of decency, I guess.
“I won’t blame you. I’m not qualified to. But if you’re afraid of being criticized and try to avoid the people you should apologize to, then I’ll be the one to distance myself from you.”
“Uh… y-you mean… if I don’t avoid it and apologize to Reysir… you’ll let me stay by your side…?”
He only understands after being told multiple times, but this time I ordered him indirectly and he got it right away.
That annoyed me immensely.
“I’m not promising you a chance. That stuttering habit is annoying; try fixing it. Also… I’ll talk about another condition after this Midterm Exam.”
In the end, I decided to give Liolikin a chance.
I wondered if I was being too lenient, but I wouldn’t change my mind.
Whether he overcomes his avoidance tendencies or his weird persecution complex—until he overcomes one or the other, I want to allow him access.
‘Because I know the despair of being turned away when you desperately need help.’
It would be too heartless to criticize others’ avoidance while I myself avoid things.