“…I’m not like that.”
“Yeah, sure you’re not.”
Contrary to my answer, Reysir showed no sign of believing me at all.
It felt as if he had already etched the formula ‘Karbaldr = Tsundere’ into his mind and responded with the implication, ‘Of course you’d deny it.’
At times like this, getting annoyed and denying it more forcefully would only backfire.
Excessive denial would just be taken as confirmation.
‘Better to not react at all. Ignoring nonsense is always the best strategy, right?’
Half resigned, I came to that conclusion and opened my mouth to change the subject.
“If you’re going to spout strange nonsense, then tell me the details of the incident. I can’t imagine a kidnapping happened inside the Academy. How did Hailga end up kidnapped? And how did you find out about it?”
“We were supposed to meet outside for breakfast…”
“Breakfast? Why outside…? Ah…”
‘Why would anyone choose to eat outside on a weekday morning, when the Dining Hall offers all kinds of high-quality food?’
That question flashed through my mind for a moment.
But then I sighed and realized the truth.
‘Come to think of it, in the original story, Reysir only used the Dining Hall briefly in the very early first semester. He was always buying food outside…? Because Karbaldr once spilled food on his head, and he was afraid of it happening again.’
There was also an explanation that most of the allowance he received from his guardian went toward food expenses.
His guardian was a truly good person who cared for Reysir like his own son, so if he had known this, he surely would have increased Reysir’s allowance.
He might have even complained to the Austri Ducal Family.
‘But that would have been like beating a rock with an egg… no real solution came from it.’
As you can see from the above, Reysir hid the fact that he was being bullied from his guardian.
He felt sorry for causing worry.
He also thought it might bring disgrace to his guardian’s family if it got out.
So he asked Hailga, the guardian’s daughter, to keep it secret.
He begged her not to tell her father what Karbaldr did to him.
And since being around him might make her a target of bullying as well, he requested they keep their distance and act like strangers at the Academy.
This showed just how much Reysir cared for Hailga and her father.
‘It’s also why readers of the original story disliked Hailga!’
Speaking of which, let me briefly touch on the line mentioned in Chapter 11 about how the storyline was a forced way to remove a character that readers actually hated.
Hailga was the protagonist’s ally but never helped despite the protagonist’s hardships and even told him to keep his distance.
That’s why she quickly became the most disliked character, surpassing even Karbaldr, who was supposed to be the villain destined to fall anyway.
[She acted like family but cared more about self-preservation lol]
[Why does Hailga even exist? She’s a useless character.]
Such comments appeared sporadically.
Eventually, the extreme opinion emerged that she should be killed off before becoming a heroine.
Every chapter was followed by comments like [Praying for Hailga’s Heroine Pre-Death, Day n].
‘Is this the curse of free serialization before monetization?’
In truth, Hailga’s death in the original was because readers who would have dropped the story if it became paid stayed and flooded the comments with such remarks.
That’s right.
The original author used the pen name ‘senna,’ which means ‘Dis Rap Battle,’ but was utterly defeated by the readers’ dissing comments.
Still, I don’t want to criticize the original author for lacking backbone as a writer.
Authors are human too and naturally feel stressed when their story is criticized.
Especially if they are beginners, it’s only natural to be influenced and shaken.
‘I was quite unsettled when I first started writing novels…!’
The narration unrelated to the current incident is getting too long and might bore readers, so let’s return to the present.
“Reysir. It’s been well over a month since I apologized and promised not to bother you anymore. I believe I’ve kept that promise, so why have you been buying your food outside all this time?”
“To be honest, I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t confident if you had truly changed your mind or if it was just a momentary whim. In that situation, eating at the Dining Hall with Hailga was too risky, and eating alone there… I can guess how the other students would look at me.”
“….”
I fully understood what Reysir meant.
At least among the first years, there wasn’t a single student unaware that Reysir was bullied by Karbaldr.
But then Reysir suddenly shows up alone in the Dining Hall, a place he avoided last semester to escape Karbaldr?
The students’ reactions were predictable.
They would whisper behind his back and glance at him.
Some might pity the sight of him eating alone without a single friend, while others would mock and ignore him.
So it was only natural that Reysir avoided the Dining Hall.
“I’m sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing?”
“You sincerely apologized to me, but I didn’t believe you and kept doubting you. Was that why you couldn’t accept me as a friend?”
Reysir’s distrust of Karbaldr was perfectly understandable.
I would have felt the same. It didn’t upset me at all.
That made me wonder something else.
“If you didn’t fully trust me, why did you want to be friends?”
“Even if it was just a whim, the apology in that moment was sincere, wasn’t it? Besides, it seemed like you had your own reasons…”
“Have you never thought I was just pretending to lull you into a false sense of security before tricking you behind your back?”
“If that was my goal, I’d have tried to get close to you instead of telling you I hate you and warning you to be cautious.”
“That’s…”
“And above all, you wouldn’t have read every single one of my favorite Star Author’s novels just to deceive me, right? That’s ridiculous. Even Hailga only read the early parts before giving up.”
“…”
I won’t add anything more about that last line.
It’s quite sad coming from the author herself.
“…Anyway, enough about irrelevant matters. Explain how Hailga was kidnapped.”
“We were late to meet at the agreed place, but Hailga never showed up. Instead, a little kid came and handed me a note saying she had been kidnapped.”
“A kid… must have been paid to run an errand.”
“Exactly. When I caught him and asked, he said so.”
“And he probably said the person who hired him was masked, so he didn’t know what they looked like.”
“Y-Yeah…! How did you know?”
It would be far too sloppy for the culprit to show their face and send a kid on an errand.
Even if someone was found by their description, that person might just be another errand kid, making it a complete waste of time.
The easiest way is to hide the face of whoever sent the errand.
This was an answer I couldn’t tell Reysir as the author.
What I could say was…
“If the kid answered truthfully, you would have spent all your time chasing the person he mentioned. Then you wouldn’t have been able to find me before the Martial Arts Lecture started, would you?”
“Of…”
Realizing he’d asked a foolish question, Reysir looked embarrassed but suddenly seemed to remember something and asked me.
“By the way, how did you already know there’d be a note in my room?”
It wasn’t a difficult question to answer.
***
After he stormed out of the Martial Arts Lecture room, I pretended to explain things to Vigdis loudly enough for everyone to hear.
Reysir responded like this.
“Karbaldr, you… are really clever.”
“Not really. Anyone can deduce it if they keep calm and think carefully.”
“Must be because you’re a tsundere. You get embarrassed easily.”
“I told you that’s not true.”
‘Should I have just left Reysir to fret anxiously?’
That thought crossed my mind, but I didn’t truly regret it.
I knew Reysir’s joking like this was just his way of temporarily forgetting the anxiety he hadn’t yet shaken off.
Unlike earlier, he wasn’t nervously shaking his leg or fidgeting with his hands.
But his expression was subtly stiff, and his gaze kept drifting outside the window.
If I hadn’t said something to reassure him, he would have been consumed by negative thoughts by now.
“Hey, Karbaldr.”
“What is it that you’re calling me so seriously for?”
“Did you tell Riolikin to keep me from leaving and then plan to go alone to the place written on the note…?”
I was looking out the window, thinking the conversation had ended, when Reysir suddenly blurted out this absurd idea.
I was amazed that he had become such an ardent supporter of the ‘Karbaldr = Tsundere theory.’
“Why would I do something like that for you? I’ll move later than you.”
“Good thinking. Tridrick might try to hurt you, thinking he can pin the blame on me.”
“I was already keeping that in mind. I won’t be careless against someone who planned to frame me just because of my status.”
So, I never even considered the option of ‘meeting Tridrick first to settle things with words.’
‘What if Reysir died and I ended up accused of murder?’
That would never happen.
‘The protagonist of this world, Reysir, wouldn’t be killed by some nobody like Tridrick.’
I shifted my gaze back outside, noticing the scenery’s backward motion slowing until it stopped completely.
The carriage had reached its destination.
Reysir promptly flung open the door.
Before stepping down, he looked at me and asked, “Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
“Don’t tell me you expect me to warn you to be careful? If you’re going to say something like that, just don’t say anything at all for the rest of your life.”
“Yeah, thanks for worrying. See you later.”
“…….”
Watching Reysir’s figure disappear as he ran into a quiet alley, I could only sit there in a daze.
That guy…
No matter what I say from now on, it seems he won’t back down.
‘What am I going to do?’