“Karbaldr, you don’t have to worry. I understand everything.”
“Understand what…?”
“You weren’t thinking about the Imperial Family’s position. You knew that if they were forced to apologize, they would harbor ill feelings toward me. So you devised a way for them to officially clear my parents’ names while allowing them and me to maintain a friendly relationship. You did it only for me.”
Conviction could be felt in Reysir Daudabina’s voice as he spoke.
Without a single speck of doubt, he was filled only with trust toward me.
Interest
“I informed the Imperial Family that they didn’t have to fully return the wealth they gained from your fief. Even so, are you certain that I stepped forward for your sake?”
“You could say that was paid as the cost for receiving the necessary help to reconstruct the fief. Money can be procured somehow, but institutional benefits can only be provided by the Imperial Family and cannot be bought with money. Even so, since it’s as if I purchased them with money that never even entered my hands, it’s absolutely not a loss. Right?”
“……”
“Why? Is the correct answer not enough? If there’s something more I missed, will you tell me?”
“No. It’s just…, I realized you didn’t misunderstand at all….”
“Actually, it’s not like I didn’t misunderstand at all. When you said it wouldn’t do to grant the fief as a reward, I did feel momentarily hurt. Not knowing those were words for my sake…. I’m sorry for making you feel uneasy.”
Reysir Daudabina apologized while fidgeting with his fingers.
Moving the extremities of the body like this is an unconscious and natural reaction to relieve uncomfortable emotions.
However, there was one problem.
‘Just how long does this Protagonist of Another Novel plan on holding my hand…?’
I tried to subtly pull my hand away when his grip weakened, but it was no use.
It was because the other party noticed this, stopped fidgeting with his fingers, and firmly wrapped his hand around mine again.
Since the difference in our physical strength stats was more than double, I couldn’t even dream of pulling my hand away by force..
“Let go now.”
“Does it hurt? I didn’t hold it that tightly.”
“It doesn’t hurt, but…”
“Then it’s fine.”
“What do you mean it’s fine?! It’s uncomfortable, so let go!”
I stated my intention clearly by pulling my arm while saying the above, indicating that I wanted him to let go.
But even so, the Protagonist of Another Novel remained unmoving.
“Can’t you stay like this just a little longer? It’s because I can’t control my gratitude. In my heart, I feel like I want to hug you tightly and dance in circles. But because I know you would obviously hate that, I’m enduring and enduring to only hold your hand……………. Please don’t tell me I can’t even do this.”
He even spoke as if pleading, sending me a burdensome look with a desperate expression.
If those who didn’t know the context saw this scene, it would look less like Reysir Daudabina expressing his gratitude to me.
Instead, it looked exactly like someone begging and clinging to me to co-sign a loan.
He might think my heart would weaken if he took such a low posture, but in fact, there was a slight sense of that.
“There’s no need to be so grateful. I simply moved up the timing and added a few options. Since you heard the conversation in the audience chamber, surely you must have noticed? Even if I hadn’t stepped forward and offered my opinion, the Imperial Family would have eventually had no choice but to clear your parents’ names and return the fief.”
“That’s exactly why I’m even more grateful.”
“…What does that mean?”
“Did you really not know? Or are you pretending not to know?”
“What are you talking about?”
“……”
As if trying to confirm my intentions, Reysir Daudabina stared intently into my eyes without a word.
As he did so, he fidgeted with what was in his hand, and that touch felt strangely familiar yet foreign.
Was it like the feeling of being on the receiving end of the way I used to fiddle with Yor whenever I needed to calm my mind?
Yor seemed to quite enjoy my touch, but I couldn’t do the same.
I was so burdened and troubled that I didn’t know what to do.
Just as I was about to part my lips to tell him to either hold it quietly or let go entirely.
“If other countries hold the Empire responsible for the Anomaly, it means that the nonsensical story… that my parents caused the deaths of countless people by conducting forbidden experiments… will surface again.”
“……!!”
“Anyone who should know knows that it was a suspicion fabricated by the Imperial Family to take our family’s fief…. But there are people who truly believe it. Some even mock and criticize us even while not believing it.”
He sounded like he was speaking from experience.
Come to think of it, those types of extras often appeared in the Original Work as well.
Once they learned Reysir Daudabina’s last name was ‘Daudabina’, they would ask if his parents were really the culprits who caused the Magicalization phenomenon.
People who lost precious loved ones due to the Demonic Realm poured out words of resentment.
Those who made a lot of money through the Demonic Realm giggled among themselves, jokingly saying thank you.
The specific details might be different.
But in the ten years not described in the Original Work, within those gaps.
The young Reysir Daudabina must have suffered due to the suspicions fabricated by the Imperial Family to steal what was his.
“If the Anomaly continues to occur, and anxiety spreads uncontrollably, and people actually die. People all over the world would have come to insult and criticize my parents.”
“Ah…”
“Even if the Imperial Family belatedly stepped forward to settle it, it’s difficult to change a perception once it’s been strongly ingrained. There would be those who wouldn’t believe the Imperial Family’s announcement correcting the suspicion.”
Since his words made too much sense, I nodded my head without realizing it.
“If it weren’t for you, most people in the world would have remembered my parents as villains. Just because I’m their child, they might hate me… or perhaps someone might even harbor murderous intent.”
“……”
“So, it’s not simply that you moved up the timing for me to get the fief back. You have saved my life.”
At the word ‘salvation’, I reflexively winced.
Naturally, my hand also flinched, and perhaps thinking that I was trying to pull my hand away, Reysir Daudabina gripped my hand firmly once again.
He stared as if he were going to punch a hole through my face.
The intensity emanating from that single golden eye was so powerful that I felt fortunate he was covering his other eye.
“I, I didn’t consider things to that extent.”
“Even so. The fact that you agonized for my sake and strove to reach the best result remains unchanged. Because of those efforts of yours, wasn’t it possible to resolve even the parts you didn’t consider?”
“The results aren’t even out yet…, isn’t it too early to be happy?”
“It’s not early. Because you made it so that the Imperial Family has no choice but to move quickly. The Imperial Family doesn’t have any other options anyway.”
“……”
I was clearly listening to words of sincere gratitude.
Yet for some reason, I felt overwhelmed.
Was it because the weight of the emotion he wanted to convey to me was too heavy?
“Just how I should repay this grace…”
The Original Protagonist let out a deep breath as if saying ‘Haa…’ and lowered his upper body.
Whether by chance or design, his forehead touched the back of my hand.
That appearance looked like a knight’s action swearing an oath of loyalty.
‘Th-this is… no, I think this is a big problem. I can still cut ties with him, right……….?’
It seemed that what I had succeeded in this time wasn’t some kind of influence event.
Although I wanted to deny it, I couldn’t.
It was a bona fide salvation event.
“Y-you don’t have to repay it…!”
“Yes, I knew you would say that. Because you didn’t step forward hoping for a reward, but simply tried to help me with a pure heart.”
“N-no, I didn’t mean it in that sense….”
“I’m telling you this in advance in case you make an excuse, but don’t say you stepped forward to get a reward from Her Imperial Highness the Princess. That itself is just an excuse, and your true intention was that you didn’t want to get caught up in political affairs and be checked, right? Despite that, you revealed the political insight you had been hiding all this time for me.”
“……”
The Protagonist of Another Novel straightened his waist again and met my gaze.
Contrary to me, who was thinking about wanting to run away at this moment.
“You are a precious benefactor the likes of which I will never have again in my life. Maybe that’s why…, the thought that I must never let go of you keeps coming to mind.”
Reysir Daudabina spoke like this.
“Do you not remember that I used to bully you in the past?”
“I remember. But it’s because we passed through that period that you and I could become friends like this now, isn’t it? So I’m no longer pained even when I think of that time.”
“Haven’t I told you repeatedly that I’ve never become friends with you?”
“To think we’re still not friends… Those words make my heart flutter so much.”
“……?!”
Is something wrong with my ears? Or has the Original Protagonist gone crazy?
I could guarantee that at this moment, I wasn’t the only one doubting Reysir Daudabina’s mental state.
Even by shifting my gaze slightly to the side, I could see Yor and Liolikin shivering while clutching each other.
Surely the readers must be very flustered as well.
“Why are you all looking at me with such frightened eyes?”
“Isn’t it because you’re saying strange things?! Just treat me like a tsundere as usual and tease me about being embarrassed!”
“It’s not a strange thing. Think about it carefully.”
“Think about what?”
“If you really don’t consider me a friend. You stepped forward to help me, who isn’t even a friend, and ended up fulfilling my lifelong wish, didn’t you? And in an ideal way that leaves no aftermath at all. Then if you were to accept me as a friend, I can’t help but look forward to… just how much you would do for me.”
To flip his perspective like that…?
I almost lost my mind at his shocking level of positive thinking.
No, I think I really did lose half of my soul.
“Ah! Come to think of it, when I was rebuked by Her Imperial Highness the Princess because the me from 10 years ago left out the explanation regarding the ‘Qualification to Kill a Specific Monster’, you stepped forward and protected me, right?”
“Th-that’s…………. because your expression looked unusual back then, and I thought you were going to cause trouble…”
“That’s right. If it weren’t for you, it would have been a real disaster. How could an Imperial Family member bring up that incident from 10 years ago and blame me? Do you know who really should be blamed? Such thoughts were floating around in my head. I wouldn’t have spat those words out exactly as they were, but I still would have made some kind of problematic remark.”
“……”
“Karbaldr, thank you so much. For covering for the mistakes made by the past me, and for stopping me before the current me could commit a mistake.”
“……”
“Even if I follow you around saying thank you for the rest of my life, not even half of how grateful I am to you will be conveyed. I’m just that grateful.”
“……”
Afterward, Reysir Daudabina’s words expressing his gratitude continued on and on.
Until we arrived at the Gate facility and got out of the carriage.
While standing in line, he did keep his mouth shut, but he only let go of my hand after I stood on the Gate circle.
“Will you smile for me again like last time?”
“…Hmph!”
I used the Gate while turning my back on the nonsense-spouting Reysir Daudabina, preciously hugging Yor who had returned to my arms.
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