Chapter 15
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 15: The Curse of Romance Fantasy Exists (2)
It was the day after listening to the Saintess's grievances.
As I was organizing my things after the lecture ended, the Saintess approached me.
"Mr. Ethan, won't you eat lunch together today?"
"Hmm... Sounds good."
The Saintess usually ate with the Male Lead Candidates.
The fact that she was proposing a meal to me now meant she intended to keep her distance from them starting today.
An incident could happen at the restaurant like last time, and since I decided to hang out with her for a while, I decided to accept this level of proposal.
The restaurant we arrived at.
As we entered, coincidentally, the Male Lead Candidates came to eat.
"Ah!? Why are you guys here?"
"Alicia? What a coincidence."
A Male Lead Candidate greeting the Saintess with a brazenly smiling face while glaring at me.
Was that green-haired guy... in the Administration Department?
His gaze looking at me wasn't kind, but it was more like the eyes of looking at a cherished younger sister's boyfriend rather than jealousy.
Perhaps he hadn't realized his feelings for the Saintess yet or lacked a catalyst.
It was rather better than guys who were blatantly jealous.
By the way, seeing them gathered like this, there were truly many Male Lead Candidates.
There was one fellow I hadn't seen last time, but looking at his name tag color, he was a 2nd-year senior.
How long has it been since the freshman welcome party that she seduced another man..
Perhaps she herself doesn't even know the fact that she seduced him?
Even when consulting me yesterday, she didn't say anything like feeling burdened by boys liking her, so the probability was high.
Anyway, the Male Lead Candidates blatantly sat at the table next to ours.
For something emphasizing coincidence, it was positioning that seemed full of intent.
Just eating a single meal with another person, and to check me this blatantly..
It was a move noticeable enough even for a Romance Fantasy Female Lead who should be oblivious.
We decided to ignore them for now and order first.
"What would you like to eat?"
"I will go with the lunch set."
"Ah, then I'll order that too."
While the Saintess pressed the bell, the burdensome gazes of the Male Lead Candidates came in.
'No, just because our orders overlapped?'
They ordered 6 lunch sets from the part-timer who came to take our order.
A moment later, the food came out, but due to the burdensome gazes, I couldn't distinguish whether the food was going into my mouth or my nose.
Still, by the time I finished the meal stuffing food down somehow, the Saintess took an unexpected action.
"Ah, come to think of it, I had something to tell you guys.."
"Yeah, I'm listening."
"What is it?"
"Tell us."
The Male Lead Candidates chiming in one word each as if they had been waiting for her to speak to them.
That appearance was like a school of fish jumping when bait is scattered in the river.
If there is such a thing as the Curse of Romance Fantasy, this must be what it means.
The sight of men who wouldn't be lacking anywhere in the continent clinging to one woman was pitiful to watch.
It was when I was thinking that.
"I decided to do assignments with Mr. Ethan!"
"....What?"
"So you guys don't have to take care of me for the time being!"
The Saintess threw a bomb amidst the Male Lead Candidates.
It was a spectacle to see the expressions of the six Male Lead Candidates, who were smiling like good people, stiffen in an instant.
However, if there was one problem, it was that although the Saintess threw the bomb, the burning gazes of the Male Lead Candidates were directed at me.
Looking at me as if asking what I was doing to the kid, I was just dumbfounded.
Since I didn't have much to say, I shrugged my shoulders and said to the Saintess.
"If you are done eating, shall we leave?"
"Yes."
We left the restaurant first, leaving the dumbstruck Male Lead Candidates behind.
Since neither of us had anything particular to do until the afternoon lecture, we headed to the club room.
As expected of a Gourmet Exploration Club, since it was still lunch time, there was no one in the club room.
Only then did the Saintess let out a deep sigh of relief and sit down.
"I said it..."
"Yes, you said it."
"The kids won't get hurt, right?"
"I think I'll be the one getting hurt."
"Yes? Why you, Mr. Ethan?"
Those guys... While sending fiery gazes at me, did they read the Saintess's mood incredibly well?
To protect the Saintess who was looking at me as if she really knew nothing, I decided to bury the truth.
Since that day, the Saintess began to approach me openly.
The start was changing her seat to next to mine when taking lectures.
She was someone who usually sat with friends she was close with, including Asel and Kyle.
Since that seat was almost fixed, changing her seat was bound to stand out clearly.
The Saintess leaving Kyle and Asel behind and coming next to me.
It was a situation where it wouldn't be strange if Love and War unfolded in the minds of classmates in their prime.
Furthermore, whether forming groups or doing assignments, she stuck to me first and started, so the surrounding gazes began to get hotter.
Like this, I endured for a week.
As a result, now I became too burdened.
I went to the club room after lunch with the Saintess.
Since we chose a light menu for lunch today, we returned early, so there were still no people in the club room.
"....Saintess."
"Yes?"
"You are too burdensome, Saintess."
"Yes!?"
She was startled as if she hadn't expected it at all.
Head aching at that appearance, I poured out the things accumulated over the week.
"I said okay because you said you wanted to get close, but from the day of the bombshell declaration, you abruptly changed seats and avoided the kids you were close with before. When forming groups or doing assignments, you try to do it only with me, and even if more people are needed, you exclude them as if they aren't even options, go eat only with me, and follow me around even during free periods to train; am I some kind of lover?"
"L... L... Lover!?"
"What I thought of was at most eating together occasionally, forming groups if needed, and talking before and after lecture times, not being stuck together all day like this."
"Is that so...?"
"Just how have you been living usually that you follow only me around like a baby bird following its mother? The gazes from the surroundings are burdensome to death."
"I'm sooorry...!"
When the Saintess bowed her head and apologized, I came to my senses.
'....Did I also get caught in the Curse of Romance Fantasy?'
Why couldn't I predict this?
Speaking of a Romance Fantasy Female Lead's life, it is natural to split the day by the number of Male Lead Candidates and spend it together.
Taking lectures together, training together, eating together, and playing together.
Furthermore, a female protagonist with no same-sex childhood friends?
It wasn't strange to play only with Male Lead Candidates.
Since I am handling the Saintess's timetable alone, which originally should have been distributed among several people, I have no choice but to be with her all day.
I asked the Saintess.
"Saintess, do you have no friends?"
"What do you mean no friends! There's Mr. Ethan, Kyle, Asel, Peon, Yulian..."
Excluding me, they were all Male Lead Candidates.
I asked one more question.
"What about same-sex friends?"
"Eh...."
The Saintess was speechless.
I only added one condition, but to break down...
Just how narrow are her human relationships?
No matter how common it is to hang out only with the kids one always plays with in human relationships, still, isn't being full of only male friends a bit too much?
Still, since there was the affection of being together for a week, I started to seriously worry about the Saintess's future.
"....."
"....."
When I stared silently, the Saintess felt pressure like Pavlov's dog and avoided my gaze.
When I sighed, she flinched and retorted.
"W... Why!"
"Saintess... Still, wouldn't you need same-sex friends...?"
I have same-sex friends too.
Male Lead Candidates would too.
But why does the Saintess not have same-sex friends?
When I looked at her with such a gaze, perhaps the Saintess also had much accumulated, she shouted as if aggrieved.
"Do you think I like not having any!? Do you know how many kids whisper behind my back even though no one badmouths me to my face because I'm the Saintess!"
"Oh my... Do Imperial nobles have two lives? How can they badmouth the Saintess behind her back..."
"Do you know how creepy it is that they make up things that didn't happen behind my back to tear me down while treating me with smiling faces in front... I don't want to experience it ever again!"
Hearing it like this, the Saintess also had her own reasons.
Unlike simple men, I heard women's power struggles are darker and more complex.
Although there are many who approach her saying they like her, how many among them approach with pure goodwill?
Most probably approach because of the benefits that fall when getting close to the Saintess.
Her hanging out with Male Lead Candidates is also probably because she knows their objective isn't connections with the Saintess but wanting to get close to her.
In my case, it's slightly different but similar.
"What happened to those young ladies?"
"I tried to let it pass nicely, but from some day, they quietly disappeared."
They were probably socially buried and expelled, or living as if dead.
Not only badmouthing the Saintess behind her back but getting caught... It was a matter where it wouldn't be strange if the entire family staggered.
Did the Saintess see this alone?
No way.
Probably the Male Lead Candidates saw it too, so they must have had to bear their wrath as well.
Just thinking of the Male Lead Candidates right now, there is the 6th Prince Kyle, and other kids wouldn't be lacking much compared to this if considering only influence.
Those young ladies were likely expelled from their families or sold to other families with high probability.
'With things like this happening, it's understandable she can't make friends.'
A kid who conversed smiling in front tore her down behind her back, and when that was caught, that person's life went to ruins.
Although those young ladies who messed with the Saintess were entirely stupid, from the Saintess's perspective, she received hurt as hurt, and it must have become difficult to approach someone.
If it becomes like this, the breadth of people the Saintess can treat comfortably decreases significantly.
Only people who don't lack compared to her status or don't care about the status of Saintess would remain.
Among them, if excluding men?
Although it is said there are many amazing faces among this year's freshmen to the extent of being called a Golden Generation, if there are that many conditions, the corresponding people have no choice but to be few.
I started to feel severely sorry for the Saintess.
But was it because she learned that I give pressure with my gaze all this while?
The Saintess, losing her temper at my pitying gaze, said.
"I... I only need Mr. Ethan..!"
"......?"
The Saintess's words where too many words that should have entered were omitted because she spoke urgently.
Perhaps realizing she said something wrong after spitting it out, she made an 'oops' expression.
Still, since we both recognized this remark was a mistake, it was a situation we could sufficiently correct through conversation.
"Eh...?"
If only the club room door hadn't opened and a familiar voice hadn't been heard.