Chapter 279: No Dignity Left

“Are you telling me that this cheap accessory, which clearly isn’t even worth a single gold coin, suits me?!”

“You know that’s not what I meant, don’t you?”

Of course I know.

This original protagonist of another novel just wants to put this gaudy headband on me and call me by an embarrassing nickname.

Even knowing that, I said that line because—

‘Using my identity as a wealthy young lord’s possession body as an excuse, I’m pretending to be angry to escape this crisis…!

Honestly, even I think this plan is far-fetched.

Still, just in case, I have to try everything I can.’

“I don’t know! Let go of me!”

“No! Ahh!”

As I was stomping on Reysir’s instep with my heel and thrashing about, Yor also joined in by pulling the original protagonist’s hair.

Perhaps our actions were a bit perplexing, because that was when a mumble of ‘What should I do?’ escaped from Reysir’s lips.

“What in the world is going on here?!”

A woman’s voice, full of shock, rang out.

At the sudden appearance of a third party, I reflexively stopped moving for a moment.

Then relief washed over me as I realized an opportunity to escape from Reysir had come.

“Hailga! Do something about your childhood friend! We were fighting, and then he suddenly grabbed me like this and won’t let go!”

“Oh my god…! I’m sorry, Young Lord! It looks like the idiot at our house has finally gone crazy!!”

“If you’re sorry, then quickly make this crazy bastard— Mph!”

Just as I was urgently asking Hailga for help, my mouth was abruptly covered.

Naturally, the one who did it was the original protagonist.

“There’s a reason for this.”

“What reason could possibly justify doing something like this during a sacred lecture?!”

“Karbaldr didn’t keep the treasure in its capsule; he took out only the note and hid it somewhere on his body. The empty capsule lying on the floor is proof.”

“That means…”

“I was just trying to defeat Karbaldr in battle and take his treasure note. But he didn’t accept the result of the fight, which led to this situation.”

Even though he had covered my mouth so I couldn’t speak, the original protagonist of another novel spoke calmly and composedly.

Was his composed attitude making him seem sincere? Or was the protagonist’s buff lending persuasiveness to his words?

“Oh, is that so…?”

Hailga responded as if she understood.

From my perspective, it was extremely unfair.

Even though I had said I would take out the note myself, Reysir insisted on doing a body search.

I tried to argue, but with my mouth covered, all that came out was “Mmph, mmph—!”

“Karbaldr, stay still. Yor, can you let go of my hair and step back now? If you keep this up, I’ll have no choice but to put strength into my arms that are holding this fragile body, which has very low defense, so I don’t lose Karbaldr. Then Karbaldr will hurt, right?”

It seems this original protagonist of another novel has decided on a villain theme today.

At the threatening remark that he would crush a body with defense in the 30s using strength well over 100, Yor let go of the black hair he was gripping and stepped back hesitantly.

I also lifted my heel from the kidnapper’s instep and placed my entire foot flat on the ground.

Even with all this happening right in front of her, Hailga didn’t stop her childhood friend, who was acting like a thug. Instead, she frowned and seemed lost in thought.

While she stood by, Reysir’s hand, which had left my mouth, slid into my pocket.

“Not here. Is it on the other side?”

“I didn’t put anything in the pockets.”

“I want to check just in case.”

When the original protagonist didn’t believe me and even searched the other pocket, Hailga suddenly pulled out a capsule from her bag, opened it, and picked up the paper inside with her index and middle fingers.

Then she slipped that hand into her shirt.

When her hand came out through the neck opening, the note had disappeared, making the implication very clear.

“Are you… doing that even after seeing what’s happening to me…?”

“No matter how much Rei and I grew up like siblings, he can’t just stick his hand into my clothes, right? Can you do that, Young Lord?”

“Of course I can’t?!”

“Yeah, that’s what I mean. Other boys probably can’t either. And for the girls… well, as long as I don’t get caught, it’s fine. Thanks for telling me the good news, Young Lord.”

Hailga tapped her chest area with her hand and said contentedly.

I thought that as long as I didn’t get caught, it would be fine, but I ended up getting caught and ended up in this situation. I wondered if I should tell her that.

But in the end, I couldn’t deliver that warning.

Because—

“Ah…? This light… no way…!”

—Before I could even open my mouth, a cyan light flashed from beside Hailga.

Everyone here knew who the owner of that light was.

So Hailga quickly tried to turn around and leave, but the person who jumped out from the cyan light was faster, tackling her.

“Wha, Your Imperial Highness! Wait! Ah…!”

The two figures disappeared as they fell over the bushes.

The first to get up was Fjodra.

“Well, um… I thought you would lower your guard after the fight, so I planned to use that chance to snatch the treasure and run away… But a treasure that looked even easier to target appeared, so…”

Even though no one asked, she offered this explanation on her own.

As a supporting character in a novel told from a first-person protagonist’s perspective, this was a very admirable attitude.

Though if we were judging by the standards of an imperial princess, the word “admirable” would hardly fit.

“Anyway… thanks to that, I’ve filled my quota, so I’ll take my leave now.”

Whether she was embarrassed about secretly watching us, or about what she did to Hailga, she had appeared like the wind with a cyan light, and she vanished like the wind.

***

After some time had passed.

“I’ll be going too. Young Lord, instead of being held like that, you’d better just hand over the note quickly! That way you can find a new treasure in the remaining time, right?”

Reysir’s goal wasn’t the treasure note itself, but to make me perform the penalty.

So that advice was completely unhelpful.

“W, wait! If you’re leaving, take your childhood friend with you!”

I called out urgently, but Hailga left without looking back.

If that was the case, I had no idea why she even appeared.

I thought the original author had made her appear to stop Reysir, but was she really just passing by, heard the commotion, and showed up by chance?

As I was feeling despondent over these thoughts—

“Karbaldr, where did you hide the note?”

The original protagonist of another novel asked me this.

“If you can’t find it, give up and let me go.”

“It’s not that I can’t find it. If I take my time and search around, I’ll find it. But I thought it might make you uncomfortable.”

“You sure came to that realization quickly.”

“Anyway, I asked to know how you hid the note. Can you tell me at least one?”

“And if I don’t tell you willingly…?”

“What do you think I’ll do?”

The answer to that question had already been shown by Reysir.

So, feeling reluctant, I had to reveal the location of the notes.

“On both thighs… one on each…”

“Ah, there’s something like a strap? You tucked the note in here? To take it out…”

The place the original protagonist pointed to with his hand was where the shirt garter was worn.

Startled, I quickly added a more specific explanation.

“Not there! Lower! Inside the boots!!”

“Oh, there it is! So you put it here? Then what’s the strap I felt inside your pants?”

“That’s to keep my shirt from riding up when I move violently.”

“Not to hold the note?”

Even though I clearly said I had hidden one treasure note on each thigh, the original protagonist didn’t believe me and showed suspicion.

“Think logically! To put a note there, I’d have to reach deep into my pants. If someone saw that, they’d get the wrong idea! There’s no way I’d do something like that?!”

“If there’s a misunderstanding, you can just explain.”

“Still, it’s… a bit vulgar, don’t you think?”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true. Doesn’t seem like something you’d do with your personality.”

I managed to convince him somehow.

I let out a sigh of relief without realizing it…

“Still, this much should be fine, right? If anyone sees, I can just say I was adjusting my clothes.”

The original protagonist muttered as he slid his hand halfway inside my waistband, then swept it from my right side to my left side, half a circle.

“Found another one!”

“What are you doing without warning?!”

“If I warned you, would it be okay?”

“No! But… since I did put it in there… even if I said I’d take it out, you’d probably check again anyway…”

“Yeah. In that case, let me check the back too.”

Before I could say anything, Reysir spun me around and immediately carried out what he said.

Naturally, no additional note appeared.

“Those three notes are all I have! So let me go now!”

“I’m not sure about that yet.”

“What other place could there be to hide them?!”

“I have a few more guesses…”

“Stop it! If you keep going, I’ll really get mad!!”

“Fine, fine. Then let me at least confirm that the ones I found are real treasure notes. You might have hidden fake notes just in case, right?”

If I had known this situation would happen, I wondered if I should have just carried the capsules around.

It wasn’t a completely baseless argument, either.

Before he could change his mind and say he’d check all his guesses, I decided to wait quietly until he unfolded all three treasure notes he just found.

“Yeah, all three are real treasure notes.”

“Then let me go.”

“Okay, a promise is a promise.”

Fortunately, the original protagonist of another novel did release me.

But from his expression and voice, I could read the thought: ‘I feel like I could find a few more notes if I searched a bit more. What a waste.’

I quickly pulled away from Reysir and hugged Yor.

I know this won’t stop the original protagonist, but at least I can soothe my mind with some Yor therapy.