“What on earth are you trying to say?”
“In the past, I didn’t know anything properly about you. So I just approached you recklessly and practically forced you to become my friend. Like a child throwing a tantrum. I want to apologize for that.”
I thought he might be playing some kind of word game, but apparently not.
Reysir Daudabina’s attitude was so serious that it made my prickly questioning feel pointless.
“I only realized after seeing what Nidhr does just how annoying and unpleasant it is when someone uncomfortable tries to force a friendship. I should consider the fact that you were wary and showed a nervous attitude toward me as my own fault for not understanding you.”
Watching the Protagonist of Another Novel suddenly blame himself, I could realize it too.
The fact that a misunderstanding-style development had begun once again.
“Up until now, haven’t you lived a life where you had to doubt the intentions of those who approached you? Besides, you were almost poisoned once…. So it’s only natural that your stress reached its peak and your nerves became sensitive, causing harsh words you didn’t mean to come out.”
As the readers probably know, I have never doubted Reysir Daudabina’s true intentions.
Even though I knew he was trying to get close to me with pure intentions, I avoided him.
But since the fact that I was stressed and sensitive at the time is undeniable, should I consider it a case of a cow backing up and catching a rat?
“No? Come to think of it, it’s ambiguous to say you particularly said harsh words? It’s not like you said anything rough, you just said you hated it…. You, you were being quite kind to me?!”
“You’re talking nonsense again.”
“It’s not nonsense.”
I don’t know how he could reach such a conclusion.
Did he forget the memory of being hurt at that time?
Or did he conclude even that was “because of a lack of understanding about me”?
“Why haven’t you argued about it until now? Wouldn’t it be absurd for me to point out Nidhr’s rudeness? Seeing as you remembered that remark as soon as I lightly brought it up, it doesn’t seem like you just brushed it off and forgot.”
“Compared to what I did to you last semester, your actions only caused a bit of annoyance at most. I simply judged that it wasn’t something I had the right to argue about.”
“As expected, you never truly hated me even once, right?”
“Did you not hear what I just said?”
“I heard you perfectly. I was just talking about what I’ve been feeling since a long time ago.”
“…A long time ago?”
I should have reacted with boredom and told him to stop the nonsense, but without realizing it, I got hooked on the phrase “a long time ago” and showed interest.
Then I saw a smirk hanging on the corner of Reysir Daudabina’s mouth.
• I guess he thinks I flinched because I felt guilty.
I was just curious if the “long time ago” this Original Protagonist mentioned included the time before I possessed this body or not.
“Yes. Since you apologized to me… no, I’ve had that feeling since that very day.”
“Surely you aren’t still under the ridiculous delusion that I bullied you because I wanted your attention?”
“It’s not necessarily for that reason alone. In the first place, that day was the first time we had a proper conversation, wasn’t it? It was also the first time the two of us met alone, without Tridric or Liolikin.”
Well, since that day was our first meeting, everything had to be a first.
Reysir Daudabina is probably saying it was the first time he had a communication-like communication with “Karbaldr”.
“Every time I talked to you after that, I thought, ‘He’s surprisingly favorable toward me?’ That’s why I even put down my pride and tried to get close…. But because you said you hated me to my face, I somehow got worked up and dismissed those senses of mine as a misunderstanding. In the end, I even grabbed you by the collar… ahaha..”
Whether he was still sorry for grabbing me by the collar while suspecting me of being behind the kidnapping incident, his smiling expression was full of awkwardness.
“It would have been nice if I’d had a chance to talk one-on-one with you last semester too, it’s really a shame. Especially since if that were the case, I wouldn’t have had to take supplementary classes all through last break?”
Seeing him say things like this, it seems he isn’t considering the possibility that I’m a possessor at all.
It’s definitely a relief, but on the other hand, I don’t understand it.
I wonder if he can even be called a web novel reader like that.
Even though my first work was a possession story.
Did he perhaps read it carelessly?
“Anyway, to conclude, we were originally in a fairly uncomfortable relationship, weren’t we? As much as that was the case, instead of recklessly saying let’s be friends, I should have said let’s have time to understand each other through conversation. I’m sorry I couldn’t do that.”
“…Even if you had made up your mind like that, I wouldn’t have responded to the conversation properly anyway.”
“That’s probably not true? When I said I had something to say in a serious manner, you listened to everything until the end.”
“Don’t make up things that didn’t happen as you please. Just when did I ever do..”
・ It feels like I did.
No, I definitely did.
In episode 21.
When I shut my mouth instead of refuting, Reysir Daudabina burst into pleasant laughter, saying “See?”.
I had a desperate desire to just hit his Adam’s apple to make him stop laughing.
Unfortunately, because there was a table between us, my arm couldn’t reach, so I couldn’t put it into action.
“…I have to eat the food I ordered, so don’t talk to me anymore.”
“Okay, I got it.”
“……”
“But how’s the taste? Does it suit your palate?”
Even though he had answered that he understood.
As soon as I cut a small piece of the souffle pancake and took a bite, the other person immediately threw a question.
Instead of answering the question, I glared at him and focused on finishing the food.
‘I think this is quite high-end, so why does he have so many worries…
I ordered it without much thought because it was a recommended menu item, but the taste of the souffle pancake I ordered was quite—
• good.
The texture was fluffy and soft, and the sweetness wasn’t that strong, staying at a subtle level.
“But, uh…. It’s, it’s supposed to be a congratulatory party, but is no, no one going to say con, congratulations to me?”
At Liolikin’s protest, everyone said “congratulations” once.
And using that as a turning point, light chatter began to exchange.
“Oh, right. Rei, do you have any schedule planned in advance for what to do after this?”
“No. Last time, I think I planned it too much as I pleased, so this time I just narrowed down some candidates to discuss together.”
“Then first, let’s take some photos for making memories and then….”
Since the final exams are just around the corner, I thought we would be able to return to the Academy early today, but it was nowhere near that.
Under the lead of Hailga and Reysir Daudabina, our subsequent schedule was decided.
Vigdis had declared surrender, saying she liked all the candidates and couldn’t choose, but even after the schedule was decided, she couldn’t let go of her lingering attachment to the ones that weren’t selected.
“I want to visit all the other places too.. It’s a shame that time is lacking.”
“There’s no need to feel sorry, sister. We still have four more years to attend this Academy, don’t we? We can just go to the places we couldn’t go today next time.”
Hailga comforted Vigdis with a cheerful voice.
At those words, Vigdis laughed happily, saying that was true, but as for me, I could only feel a sense of gloom.
Because I thought that this time, “next time” would truly not exist…
“Still, it’s a bit of a shame to think that vacation is coming soon. So, how about coming out to play one more time on the day before the Graduation Ceremony?”
The Protagonist of Another Novel proposed gathering one more time within this year.
On the day before the Graduation Ceremony, the graduation ceremony is held, and as First Years, we have no need to participate in that event.
It was something I had expected to some extent.
“That day won’t work.”
“Why? Do you have some prior appointment?”
“I don’t have a prior appointment, but I have a schedule.”
“What schedule?”
I’m not making excuses to deliberately avoid meeting them.
Since I knew all too well what would happen on the day of the Graduation Ceremony.
To manage my condition….
“I’m going to sleep all day.”
“Huh…?? You have insomnia. Is that even possible?”
“I can just take sleeping pills.”
“……”
Emotions such as confusion, wonder, and worry appeared tangled on the faces of those looking at me.
“Sleep should be done at night. If you sleep all day with the help of drugs, I think your biological rhythm will break down instead, which won’t be good…”
“That won’t be a problem. While staying at the Capital, I plan to ask my father to assign a knight to me. Then the need to worry about safety will disappear, so won’t the insomnia naturally vanish too?”
When I return to the Duke’s Territory this time, I’ll have to stay busier than when I stay at the Academy, learning this and that all day long.
Just like I did last vacation.
Of course, I won’t be able to sleep soundly either.
Still, the fact that I plan to ask Hard to lend me one knight is true.
Although I plan to use him as a sparring partner, not as a guard.
“Then you don’t necessarily have to sleep the day before the Graduation Ceremony, do you?”
“What are you saying? If I return with dark circles like this under my eyes, wouldn’t my father worry?”
“Ah! That’s true too.”
Reysir Daudabina is persistent to no end, but this time, he backed down, accepting my words without any suspicion.
After all, from a common-sense perspective, there was nothing strange about my words.
However….
‘As expected, this one thinks it’s strange.’
As a result of glancing at Vigdis sitting next to me, I could confirm that she was making a complicated expression.
She probably saw Hard and Karbaldr together a few times during the engagement process.
Naturally, she would have noticed the fact that he is indifferent to his youngest son.
“But why did Vigdis’s expression suddenly turn dark?”
“What?! Ah, that, well..”
“It’s probably because she’s disappointed that we can’t play on the day before the Graduation Ceremony.”
At Reysir Daudabina’s question, before Vigdis could say anything useless, I quickly intercepted the answer and lightly tapped her foot with the side of my shoe.
With the meaning to catch on and nod her head quickly.
Fortunately, Vigdis understood my intention and did as I wished.
The problem, as it always is, is the Protagonist of Another Novel.
“Then shall we prepare for the Monday exam intensely on Saturday, and gather to play on Sunday?”
“Wouldn’t the problem be solved if you just played among yourselves without me?”
“No way. The significance lies in everyone gathering together before the break, so what’s the point if one person is missing?”
Even though I know the “one person” Reysir Daudabina mentioned is a term referring to me.
Without realizing it, I came to imagine Reysir Daudabina’s absence.
Furthermore, if I fail to save Hailga on the day of the Graduation Ceremony, there will be two empty seats.
Considering this, it’s even more correct to refuse.
Conversely, my heart grew weak, and I couldn’t bring myself to say no.
“Meeting on Sunday is okay for you too, right?”
“……”
“Huh??”
In the end, I nodded my head reluctantly.
Then Yor meowed and patted my back with his tiny hand.
As if he understood my feelings.