Chapter 260: Hidden Truths

“Hailga, think it over carefully. This is a chance that won’t come twice.”

Just a moment ago, he spoke as if he were in a hurry because someone else might snatch the opportunity. Now, the extra villain was spewing contradictory nonsense at Hailga, suggesting she wouldn’t find a good match if she rejected him.

At his insulting remarks, Hailga’s face stained with humiliation, and the villainous man smiled as if satisfied with her reaction. And that wasn’t all.

“Then I’ll be going now. See you later.”

The man waved at Hailga after saying those words.

“And Young Lord, I will see you again soon as well.”

“Why do I have to see someone like you again?”

“Wouldn’t it be nice for people with similar views on romance to become close?”

He left after leaving behind such a comment. It was beyond unpleasant. However, because this possession body was someone who had been coercive toward his own fiancée, I couldn’t even say it wasn’t true. It felt incredibly unfair.

‘I’ve been played!’

I never expected that even though I appeared alongside the original protagonist and stood by Hailga to condemn the villain, that villain would try to form a bond with me. If I had anticipated this, I would have prevented the conversation from flowing in this direction instead of trying to clean up my image.

Since Author Senna had put so much effort into Karbaldr’s setting, I had mistakenly thought she would have some affection for this character. Why did I do that when I knew she was a person who easily took the lives of the characters she created? The original author had even written the story in the pre-remake version so that Karbaldr would meet his end as a ‘worthless villain.’

‘Even if she had affection for Karbaldr, she obviously would have abandoned it long ago…’

Just as I was reflecting on my mistake and chewing on my regret.

“Sob…!”

I heard the sound of sobbing. Hailga, unable to swallow her fury, had finally let it out.

“It’s so… frustrating…! Even though I heard him insult my family, I couldn’t say anything… I should have said something, anything… Sob! The words wouldn’t come out… and even worse, hic… I caught myself thinking that I’m being treated like this because my family has no power… I feel so guilty toward my father, but it’s so sorrowful… Ah, it’s really annoying!!”

In the end, Hailga poured out words of self-reproach before bursting into loud wails.

“I’m sorry. I should have said something too… I was no help at all…”

Reysir Daudabina also apologized while blaming himself. At the same time, he carefully embraced Hailga and patted her back, trying to comfort her. The atmosphere was quite poignant.

‘I intervened in this matter to prevent a situation like this…’

It felt as though Hailga had heard things she didn’t need to hear because I had meddled for no reason. I couldn’t bring myself to stop the original protagonist’s actions. It wasn’t even a situation where I should be doing that in the first place.

Moreover, I had been framed as the same kind of scum as the culprit of this incident, which made it even worse.

‘It feels awkward to keep watching. Should I leave…? Or should I stay just in case…?’

As I hesitated in thought, my only understanding companion let out a “Meow…” and wrapped its long body around me, rubbing its face against my cheek. Yor was likely doing this to comfort me after sensing my low mood.

“Ah…! Hey, Karbaldr…”

Just as I turned around, having decided to leave, the protagonist of another novel called out to me. It seemed he had been reminded of my presence after hearing Yor’s sound…

“I will head to the classroom first, so take care of your childhood friend.”

I left the spot after speaking like I was making an announcement. I felt like I would be too miserable if Reysir started criticizing me by mentioning my engagement to Vigdis.

***

The next day, during lunch.

“Karbaldr, let’s talk for a moment.”

I had quickly finished my meal and left the dining hall because I felt self-conscious around Hailga, but Reysir followed me out and requested a conversation. The first thought that crossed my mind was a question: ‘Why him?’

I had expected him to stick to Hailga like glue, providing close protection until the villain pestering her was dealt with.

“Is it all right for you not to stay by your childhood friend’s side? That man from yesterday might approach Hailga again and threaten her with more nonsense…”

I voiced the question that came to mind. Although it was unlikely, I wondered if the protagonist of another novel hadn’t considered this. But as expected, that wasn’t the case.

“I asked Vigdis. I asked her to stay with Hailga until lunch is over and then take her to the classroom.”

It was a fairly good choice of personnel. The villain we saw yesterday clearly wanted to be on good terms with Karbaldr, and Vigdis was Karbaldr’s fiancée. Furthermore, since that man believed I was currently working hard to earn Vigdis’s sincere love, he would likely refrain from flapping his mouth or raising his voice to threaten her.

“Still… well… if it’s about what happened yesterday, I don’t have much to say…”

“I have something else to talk about.”

A villain was currently lusting after the heroine candidate and his childhood friend, Hailga. If the original protagonist was entrusting her protection to someone else just to talk to me, it couldn’t be a trivial matter.

“……What is it?”

Instead of postponing the conversation, I took an attitude of listening first before judging. Then, Reysir started with a “Well…” and suddenly looked around. I felt suspicious of his behavior for a brief moment.

“It’s about Pret.”

The mystery was quickly solved when Reysir whispered those words into my ear. This morning, we had attended Professor Caldrun’s ‘Practical Combat Techniques’ lecture. Since that lecture was conducted in a way where two students fought with all their might while the rest observed…

‘There is no better situation to use [Jin-Ik-Nun] while avoiding everyone’s gaze!’

Not only the participants in the duel but also those watching are so focused that they wouldn’t care whether Reysir lifted his eye patch or not. Since I had shared my and Yor’s Status Windows with Reysir in the previous chapter, I had been focused on the duel as well and hadn’t noticed at all.

‘He must have read it while Pret was dueling.’

If he had discovered Pret’s identity, it made sense for the original protagonist to delay the progress of the Heroine Event for a moment. An informant who had infiltrated the Academy under a false identity felt like a much bigger fish than some loser harassing a woman. He must have judged that resolving this issue was the priority.

And that wasn’t all. If things went well, he could trade with the informant to get information on the villain. I don’t know if Reysir thought that far, but I certainly did.

‘That’s why I’ve already put it into action!’

Yesterday, during dinner, I had used Yor to summon Pret to my private training hall and give him a commission, just as I had in chapter 235. I asked him to investigate information about the extra villain who was pestering Hailga. He asked for my reason and then readily accepted.

‘I feel a bit bad for Pret, but…’

I nodded toward Reysir, signaling that I would agree to talk. Thus, the place we arrived at following the original protagonist was that same ‘secluded spot on the path with a bench.’

“Strangely, people don’t come this way, so I came here for now… but just in case, should we talk in whispers?”

“Just say it.”

“No, no. You never know. You’ll understand once you know ‘his’ identity.”

The ‘he’ in the dialogue above must be Pret, and I knew much more about him than Reysir did. Reysir had only read the Status Window shown by his [Jin-Ik-Nun], which was only unlocked to level 2, but I had read the original novel that served as the foundation of this world.

So, I understood why Reysir was being so cautious. He probably thought Pret might be secretly following us to eavesdrop. Since Pret had actually done such a thing in chapter 245, it wasn’t an excessive concern.

‘But he wouldn’t have followed us today!’

The reason I was so certain was that, as I mentioned earlier, I had given Pret an additional commission yesterday evening. I told him to investigate not only the villain’s family info but also his behavior and reputation within the Academy in detail.

‘And as quickly as possible!’

Information on most noble families would have already been secured by the guild, so there was no need to investigate that separately. However, to dig up information from students without arousing suspicion, it was best to approach them as a fellow student.

Since Pret himself was currently infiltrated inside the Academy as a student, he had personally stated that he would step out and investigate himself. He claimed that it would take time to pick an informant of a suitable age, disguise them as a student, and train them on the precautions for infiltrating the Academy.

‘While acting like he isn’t the type of person to do such chores, but was specially stepping up because I asked for it to be handled quickly…’

Since it was already late when I gave him the commission yesterday, the full-scale investigation would only be possible starting now. He wouldn’t push back the investigation of the villain just to eavesdrop on a conversation between Reysir and me. That would be a betrayal of trust.

However, since there was no way I could explain this to Reysir…

“Even so, it should be enough to just lower your voice and whisper. It might be better to cover your mouth just in case, though.”

“True, Pret’s Aether Attribute isn’t specialized for eavesdropping on others like some people’s.”

While agreeing with me, Reysir sat closely beside me, his shoulder brushing against mine.

“…If you’re this worried about someone eavesdropping, wouldn’t it be better to finish our afternoon lectures and talk in a room instead of doing this here?”

“I have a sparring schedule with the professors, so I don’t have time if it’s not now.”

“Then don’t come here; just head to the dormitory from the start…”

“Then it takes too much time going back and forth.”

That was true. As I nodded in secret agreement, I saw Reysir smiling with his eyes curved.

“Now I can finally talk comfortably.”

It wasn’t something to say while whispering with his hand covering his mouth. Nevertheless, the fact that he said this probably meant he had been watching my reactions because my attitude was different from usual.

In reverse, it meant that I was now treating him normally again.