I had already thrown down “friend” and “the reputation of the Aldheim family”—two bargaining chips that carried immense weight in high society.
According to normal noble logic, even if it was just out of respect for the Crown Prince's fiancée, he should have taken the cue to back down gracefully and let her go with a polite smile.
Yet, of all people, the one standing in front of me was a black-haired swordsman famous in the original game for his absolute poker-faced stonewalling, who never showed any warmth to anyone besides the heroine, Liliana.
After listening to my excuse, Waldenburg didn't show even a hint of emotion on his sharply defined face.
He simply looked at me with his deep gray eyes.
“Lady Loris, your reasoning is quite thorough. However, first, the duke's private preparation room is to the left. The probability of taking a wrong turn in this direction is extremely low.”
“Second, rushing over here while carrying scissors does not align with normal behavioral logic.”
“Third, didn't you previously...” Waldenburg was about to say, “Previously, you were the one who told me to step up patrols to prevent any incidents,” mocking me for now demanding leniency for my own follower. That would have been incredibly ironic.
But—
“Ahem!” I cut him off.
Then I glared at him.
Pure, chilling hostility!
But Waldenburg met my gaze head-on.
Crack.
The air in this instant felt as if it had completely fractured.
Standing in the middle of the marble corridor, my face instantly darkened. The passionate orchestral music playing in the distance now sounded exceptionally sarcastic. This poker-faced man's refusal to back down even a single inch left me, a notoriously villainous daughter, utterly unable to back down gracefully.
Oh, no. As expected, I'm still not ruthless or cruel enough.
What would a real villain do?
Never mind. Saving her is what matters most right now. Since the hard approach isn't working, I'll have to try a softer one.
I remembered that in some otome games' hidden routes, cold, practical, and extremely rigid characters like Waldenburg often had one fatal weakness—and that was “equivalent exchange.”
There was no other choice. To save Misha tonight, I would have to pay a steep price and resort to a display of pleading that absolutely stripped away any dignity befitting a duke's daughter!
“...Fine. You win, Waldenburg.”
The tyrannical, domineering aura surrounding me vanished in an instant.
I took half a step back in defeat, my shoulders slumping slightly. A flicker of extreme embarrassment and forced compromise flashed through my emerald eyes.
Wait, how is a girl supposed to act cute and plead for mercy anyway?
I don't have any experience with this!
I just have to channel my belief in my performance. Yes, pure conviction!
I took a deep breath, glanced around, and made sure there were no other prying eyes or ears in the corridor for the moment.
Looking at his expressionless face, I lowered my voice, adopting a somewhat awkward, embarrassed, yet extremely sincere tone of compromise, and discreetly laid out my final trump card:
“Let's make a deal, Student Waldenburg.”
“Turn a blind eye to tonight's matter and let Misha go. Just pretend you didn't see anything here.”
“In return, I shall grant you a covenant as the eldest daughter of the Aldheim family tonight—”
“As long as you let her go tonight, starting tomorrow—and under the premise that it does not violate the laws of the kingdom—no matter what requests you have, what difficulties you encounter, or what troublesome matters you need resolved in the academy in the future... I will step forward and unconditionally help you once.”
Misha was utterly dumbfounded.
This was a personal promise from a duke's daughter!
And Miss Loris actually had a side like this?!!
However, just as I finished delivering these sincere lines and was about to wait for the rational swordsman's counteroffer...
【Warning! Warning!】
【Severe plot deviation detected.】
【Character "Loris von Aldheim" is acting out of character. As a villainous daughter, she must not utter weak lines that involve equal negotiation.】
【Current behavior severely contradicts the character's core settings (arrogant, dominant, using power to oppress others).】
【Initiating forced correction...】
【Method of correction: Deprivation of verbal control + forced playback of preset lines...】
【Estimated correction time: Instantaneous—】
Ah, I forgot about this.
I probably should have realized that pleading for mercy was a normal girl's privilege, not mine... Ahhh, it's coming, it's coming, the feeling is coming!
That familiar buzzing rang out in my head once again, accompanied by a familiar burning sensation in my right arm.
Shoot, it looks like I'm going to have to fight Waldenburg again!!
My right fist was already itching for action!
But just then—
The burning sensation suddenly came to a halt.
It was as if something had reached down from a higher plane and gently pressed the pause button on the old-timer system.
The buzzing in my head grew faint and intermittent, like a radio with poor reception.
Then, a voice rang out.
It had no source and no direction, seeming to rise directly from the depths of my soul—
There were no specific words, no syllables that could be translated into text.
But I understood its meaning perfectly.
It was a feeling of... interest.
The kind of curiosity one feels when watching ants move, only to suddenly see one of them stand up and walk on two legs—
“Amusing.”
【...External intervention detected.】
【Correction program... suspended.】
【Warning level: Downgraded.】
【Temporary exemption: Granted.】
I felt the old-timer's voice fading away.
Strangely, this system that I had always been hostile toward actually left me with a faint sense of reluctance to see it go at this moment. Its voice vanished, and the burning heat faded with it.
My awareness returned to the present.
Above me, Waldenburg, who had been completely still, suddenly grew extremely subtly rigid for a fraction of a second.
Under the pale glow of the wall lamps, the burning sensation caused by the system had already receded.
But that didn't mean my physical reactions had disappeared as well.
At this moment, a very healthy and brilliantly bright, faint rosy blush sat on my cheeks, a result of the rush of blood.
This was a physical reaction left behind by the intense heat of the old-timer system just now.
But in Waldenburg's eyes...
This was shyness!
My light golden hair was slightly disheveled from my previous abrupt movements, with a few stray strands draping alongside my fair, slender neck. Those emerald eyes of mine were no longer filled with unattainable arrogance, but rather brimmed with a maidenly, pure luster mixed with a hint of awkwardness and embarrassment.
Gosh, anyone in this situation would be incredibly embarrassed!
Should I throw this clenched right fist or not?
At such a close distance, the wonderful fragrance of premium pine perfume mixed with the rich, pure aroma of the recently spilled red wine came wafting over like a warm, slightly fermented breeze.
It brushed right against him.
For the first time, this poker-faced boy, whose expression had remained as still as a deep well since entering the venue and who seemed completely uninterested in anything in the world, used his deep gray eyes to look at the somewhat flustered yet breathtakingly beautiful duke's daughter in front of him. He carefully sized her up from head to toe with immense focus and seriousness.
In this instant, the air suddenly grew somewhat thick and strange.
“...”
“Stop,” he said.
He even took half a step back, almost out of apprehension.
Keenly catching this movement, I saw an extremely foreign, bizarre turbulence of mana faintly flicker within the depths of his deep gray pupils, which were usually devoid of any ripples.
He stared at me, his lips parting slightly, and slowly asked in a voice that was deeper than before, carrying a hint of some inexplicable, husky roughness:
“...Anything?”
“Including... any request?”
? ...
I felt that his tone was a bit strange.
Wait a minute.
Hearing this highly discordant question of his...
Could he... could he have let some extremely unwholesome, highly dangerous thoughts cross his mind just now?
However, before my internal shock could even settle and I could step back to establish a safe distance...
Waldenburg had already naturally and coldly looked away.
His deep gray eyes instantly returned to their dull, unruffled state, so quickly that I almost thought the sound of him swallowing just now was a mere auditory hallucination.
In reality, the logical train of thought running through Waldenburg's mind was separated from my wild imagination by a chasm as vast as the Mariana Trench.
The moment he heard my promise of “helping with anything,” the image that flashed across his mind was actually Liliana's face.
He thought: Loris is the eldest daughter of the Aldheim family, and she is also at the core of the student council.
If I can exchange this trivial disciplinary matter tonight to secure her unconditional aid for Liliana in the future using the Duke's family privileges and resources—so long as it doesn't break the law—it could help resolve the complex expenses of the commoner representative at the Grammar Academy next semester, or perhaps ward off some high nobles' private harassment.
Under the principle of mutual exchange, this trade is a massive bargain for protecting Liliana.
What was more...
The sheer utility of a blank-check favor would serve as a powerful trump card against Loris, with whom he would undoubtedly still have friction in the future.
This was the swordsman's extremely pure, rigid, yet ultimately selfless protagonist logic.
Though he had to admit—the beautiful, bashful look on her face just now was the first time he realized Loris was actually a pretty young woman.
Prior to this, in his eyes, Loris had always been an indescribable, clawing, and thrashing monster of the abyss.
“Fine, I understand.”
Waldenburg swiftly let go of his grip on Misha's collar.
His movement was so rapid it didn't hold a trace of lingering attachment. He even took half a step back, melting back into the shadows of the stone carvings, his voice returning to its former businesslike tone:
“Everything is normal in the west corridor tonight. No suspicious individuals involved have been found. The Swordsmanship Department will continue its search around the perimeter of the main ballroom.”
He bowed slightly, offering a standard but completely emotionless knight's salute.
“Lady Loris, please remember your promise tonight.”
With that, the poker-faced man turned around without even bothering to spare us another glance, walking briskly down the main corridor with extreme coldness.
Only when his back had completely disappeared around the corner did Misha, who had been holding her breath and was on the verge of fainting from terror, finally let out a loud sob and collapse entirely to the floor.
“M-Miss Loris... Sniff, sob... Miss...”
The young girl grabbed onto my dark blue skirt, weeping like a drenched quail that had finally found its mother in a storm.
I let out a sigh of relief as well.
I felt like I had resolved so many issues tonight.
And yet, there were still so many pending tasks waiting for me to do.
“Alright, stop crying. Where are your manners?”
I massaged my aching temples. Although I sounded dismissive, my heart ached slightly for her as I gently patted her sweat-dampened forehead.
I pulled a handkerchief from my sleeve and stuffed it into her hand. To avoid slipping out of character again, I grumbled:
“Wipe those tears away, put away that cheap pair of scissors, and follow me to the preparation room this instant. I need to change out of these dirty clothes smelling of red wine, and you need to iron out that light blue gown of mine again.”
“Y-Yes, Miss! Sniff, sob...” Misha nodded vigorously, her light brown eyes shimmering with deep gratitude.
And so, finally...
We arrived at the changing area.
Honestly, when I thought about it, I had only come to the back to change clothes. How on earth did I end up encountering so much trouble? ...
Amidst this thrilling backstage chaos filled with absurdity and misunderstanding, I pushed open the walnut door to the duke's private preparation room with a weary sigh.
—Being a villainess in another world is really not easy, meow.
...
Rate on N.U.
