I frowned and glared at Liolikin as if I were about to punch a hole through his face, then gave up on trying to figure out his intentions.
There was no guarantee that the correct answer was among the assumptions I had come up with.
Besides, it was a bit awkward to interrogate him.
“Anyway, I’ll believe that you’ve reflected. And that you’re not following me around with the intention of using me right now.”
I calmed my emotions once more, said the above, uncrossed my arms, and corrected my sitting posture.
I saw Liolikin breathe a sigh of relief at my attitude.
It seemed he had finally relaxed.
Then, were the superfluous remarks he rambled at the end of the previous chapter really just him sincerely stating his impressions?
‘My thoughts keep wandering. Thanks to the Thought Acceleration skill, no matter how long I think like this, there’s no risk of looking like I’m spacing out, but…!’
Against someone who uses their brain to the bare minimum, engaging in a psychological battle alone only piles up fatigue.
“T-thank you for u-understanding my sincerity…!”
Seeing him immediately offer his thanks, I wondered if he would be better at apologizing on time in the future.
In that case, I felt it was my turn.
It would be too shameless to just move on after lecturing him.
“Liolikin. I also apologize to you.”
“Y-yes…? F-for what…?”
Liolikin wore a look of confusion.
Glancing around, the reactions of the others weren’t much different.
Everyone seemed to wonder if there was anything I had to apologize for to Liolikin.
The readers reading this narrative would likely feel the same.
‘So there wouldn’t have been any problem even if I had just skipped it without apologizing!’
However, unless there was an unavoidable circumstance that prevented an apology, I felt I should apologize for my mistakes.
If I became accustomed to not apologizing, I would eventually lose my conscience.
For some reason, I felt stifled, so I ended up brushing my hair back for no reason.
Since I had already prepared, my mouth spat out the words I needed to say without stalling for time.
“Fortunately, a presence threatening me hasn’t appeared yet. However, while aware that danger might befall me, I intended to make you my guard. And I did not notify you of these risks.”
Liolikin had used the character I possessed as a mental shield, and in the Original Work, he played the role of a tanker in Karbaldr’s team.
I thought there would be no problem even if I used him as a physical shield.
I had rationalized it that way.
‘But, in reality, Liolikin hasn’t actually caused any real harm to Karbaldr, has he?’
Even if I said I was using him, all he did was follow me around.
While doing so, he ran various errands.
Yet, intending to compensate for the damage Karbaldr received, it was a clear mistake for me, who wasn’t even the party involved, to try and use Liolikin.
“So, I’m sorry.”
“U-um…, t-that’s fine. I-it’s the s-same for me, trying to u-use you without saying a-anything….”
“But isn’t the scale of the damage different? Even if you follow me around to use me, it doesn’t cause me any harm. On the other hand, you could be seriously injured while protecting me…, or perhaps even die.”
Therefore, this was not something that could be glossed over with the expression ‘the same.’
Only after hearing my explanation did Liolikin seem to fall into deep thought.
In the meantime……
“What is all that about?”
“Ah, that…. Karbaldr getting insomnia was because….”
Reysir Daudabina explained the ‘fabricated cause of fake insomnia’ to Hailga in a low voice.
I thought he would have already told his childhood friend everything.
Since I seemed reluctant to reveal the Poison Ingestion (disguised suicide) incident to others, it appeared he had kept the secret until now.
But since I had just mentioned the death threat first, he must have thought it was okay to talk about it and answered Hailga’s question.
“L-last time…. W-when I heard that story, I was r-really s-scared…. and I also thought it was u-unfair. Actually, I-I’m still scared now, b-but….”
Having finished his thoughts, Liolikin spoke again.
“Still, it’s n-not unfair. B-being Karbaldr-nim’s guard is a p-position that m-many people w-want, isn’t it?”
I suppose so.
If luck and skill followed, one might even catch the eye of the Possession Body’s father.
“So, did you think of it as an opportunity?”
“P-pardon..? O-opportunity…?”
“If someone attacks me and you succeed in protecting my life from them, you will receive substantial compensation from my father…”
“T-that’s not what I m-meant…!! I, I just w-wanted to s-say that I was h-happy to be c-chosen by Karbaldr-nim…!”
Liolikin, looking extremely flustered, hurriedly waved his hands, which were the size of pot lids.
It didn’t look like he was acting.
“I, I also k-know that I’m an u-unreliable person. I-I’m also a coward…. A-and yet, you f-found p-potential in me and t-trusted me, didn’t you?”
I only knew because I had read the Original Work.
The fact that Liolikin possessed enough talent to become a tanker.
No matter how much Hard disregarded his youngest son, would he have stood by and let someone with mediocre skills sit in the team’s main tanker position?
Karbaldr wouldn’t have put just anyone in a position directly related to his safety just because they hung out at the Academy.
‘So I only had him in mind as a tanker because of that…’
But since I couldn’t say such things, I remained silent.
“T-Tridric t-told me that I was j-just a b-big idiot. S-saying I don’t know how to do a-anything properly, and that I’m even s-stupid. He also s-said that it was t-thanks to him s-speaking well of me that I could m-mooch off Karbaldr-nim….”
어쩐지 억지스러운 트집을 잡으며 리올리킨을 갈궈대더라니.
It wasn’t simple bullying, but a gaslighting operation.
To crush the spirits of the already timid Liolikin and make him unable to trust himself, so he could use him as he pleased.
“B-but Karbaldr-nim said I’m n-not s-stupid…. Y-you said that…. A-and you p-pushed me to p-participate in the competition so that I could d-display my a-abilities…. I-it’s really so t-thankful and m-moving….”
“……”
“S-so, I l-like Karbaldr-nim so m-much. That’s why I s-sincerely want to p-protect you. I-if Karbaldr-nim d-disappears from t-this world, w-who on earth would t-trust and r-rely on me l-like this?”
It seems…
Without realizing it, I had carried out a long-term affection event targeting Liolikin.
And a very successful one at that.
“K-Karbaldr-nim said he was s-sorry for n-not being able to t-tell me about the d-danger in advance. . But for m-me, it was a f-fortunate thing. I-if you had told me from the b-beginning, I-I definitely would have b-been scared and r-run away….”
“……”
“T-thanks to that, I w-went to the competition, h-had the courage to f-fight, and even w-won. I also k-knocked down that a-annoying guy. A-and I even s-saw that guy who u-used to d-disregard me b-becoming desperate to m-make me his s-subordinate…”
Somehow, I got the feeling that Nidhr had provided no small amount of help in building Liolikin’s self-esteem.
“A-anyway, that’s why Karbaldr-nim d-didn’t do anything w-wrong to me…! And I c-consider it an h-honor to be c-chosen by Karbaldr-nim!”
“It’s not exactly an honor…”
“It i-is an honor. R-really, e-extremely. Everyone w-will e-envy me.”
“……”
“I d-don’t n-need the compensation given by the D-dukedom. I’m s-satisfied just with Karbaldr-nim p-praising me. I-I hope you d-don’t m-misunderstand my s-sincerity.”
“Uh… hmm… r-right….”
I felt so embarrassed and burdened that I didn’t know what to do with myself.
So I pointlessly brushed my side hair, looked down at the table, and then gulped down decaffeinated coffee as if my throat were burning.
I think I calmed down a bit thanks to the cold drink.
However, I couldn’t lift my head.
‘Did I show too much of my agitation…?’
The sound of stifled laughter leaked out from here and there.
Because of that, I felt my face heating up and had no choice but to gulp down the cold drink repeatedly.
If the Possession Body hadn’t been the type to care about dignity, I would have held ice in my mouth.
Instead, I decided to hug Yor, who had a low body temperature.
“Ah! Come to think of it, I also have something to apologize to Karbaldr for.”
Suddenly, Reysir Daudabina stepped forward, saying he would join the apology relay.
Even the target of the apology was me?
Since the timing was what it was, I was highly suspicious that he brought it up with the intention of teasing me.
“Why are you glaring at someone who’s saying they’ll apologize like that?”
“The apology is just an excuse; don’t you have a separate main purpose?”
“Huh? A separate purpose? What does that mean? What other purpose could there be in apologizing besides being forgiven?”
The fox-like Protagonist of Another Novel feigned a look of confusion.
I wanted to argue that he was trying to make me feel embarrassed and enjoy seeing me blush and not know what to do.
But if I spat those words out, I would hear him say, ‘Are you embarrassed to receive an apology?’ so I decided to endure it.
“…So what exactly are you going to apologize for?”
“Do you remember the very first thing I said to Nidhr on the third day of the competition?”
When I told him to get to the point, he was sitting there giving me a quiz.
I wanted to snap that there was no way I would keep all of his remarks in my head, but….
“Looking at your expression, it seems you remember.”
The first time Reysir encountered Nidhr was at the end of Chapter 112.
At that time, he pointed out that ‘pretending to be close one-sidedly while ignoring the other person’s wishes is a rude thing to do,’ making one suspect a temporary absence of conscience.
That’s why it remained in my memory, and the moment I recalled it, I couldn’t help but make a sour face.
“…So? Are you planning to apologize for pretending to be close as you pleased? Now of all times?”
“By any chance, since I’m saying I’m apologizing for pushing myself onto you because I wanted to get close to you, are you disappointed?”
“What kind of nonsense is that again?”
“There’s no need to be disappointed. I’m saying I’ll apologize, but it’s not that I regret becoming close to you. Even if I were to go back to that time, I would do the same… no, I would work more actively. So that I could get closer to you faster.”
What kind of nonsense is this guy really talking about?
It couldn’t be anything but a questionable statement as to whether he really intended to apologize to me for that matter.