Do You Like Me?
After taking the young lady's direct, carpet-bombing question, my vision spun for a moment. She glared at me sharply before speaking again.
"Hey, answer properly. Do you like me or not?"
With those words, an awkward silence settled over the car.
Well, this was tricky. Saying no felt wrong, but saying yes felt even more wrong.
Honestly, if she asked whether I disliked her, the answer was obviously no.
'She's incredibly beautiful and has helped me a lot. Of course I like her.'
But blurting out "I like you, my lady!!" right here would be even stranger.
Of course, the creator wanted the so-called "pure love route" where the young lady and I end up together. We needed to grow closer, but—
In other words, to save her and return to where I came from, I had to form a very deep relationship with her.
'This hardly seems like the right starting point for something that deep.'
The creator's intended development wasn't some rushed, aggressive romance that exploited weaknesses.
It was supposed to be a touching story where I, as her butler, gradually built a genuine romantic connection with her.
A hasty leap forward would only make the narrative feel awkward, whether viewed through the lens of master-servant or romantic relations.
'Besides, this situation is a variable that never existed in Starlight.'
Rather than ruining the established route with some reckless move, it was better to slowly open up to each other—staying as close as possible to how I'd always played the game.
This incident should just remain as light foreshadowing of our growing closeness. The creator would probably prefer that.
Smiling as brightly as I could at the young lady, who was still staring at me expectantly, I gave my answer.
"I want to protect you. Does that answer your question?"
Whether it was the right answer or not, her face flushed bright red. She nodded quietly and muttered,
"A weakling like you, protecting me? Don't make me laugh."
Just as I let out a sigh of relief and turned to look out the window, a small voice escaped her lips.
"..Anyway, thanks."
Knowing that anything I said now would only make things more awkward, I simply offered a faint smile.
"We've arrived, my lady!"
Right then, as if perfectly timed to break the tension, the driver announced our arrival.
"Who the hell asked you to report every little thing? I already know, damn it."
She spat out the curse, flung the door open, and stormed out. She wasn't usually like this. What was wrong with her?
Feeling sorry for the driver—who looked old enough to be my father—as he hung his head in dejection, I offered a careful word of comfort.
"The young lady didn't mean it. Please don't take it to heart."
Then I hurried after her and placed the parasol over her head. She'd probably get furious if I was late again.
Before she entered her "blackened mode," I absolutely could not get on her bad side.
Messing up during this critical window for building intimacy would be disastrous.
"..Hurry up and follow me, you slowpoke."
"Yes, my apologies."
I'd only meant to offer a quick consolation before rushing after her, but instead of the harsh tone I'd expected, her words came out surprisingly polite and gentle.
'Well, "slowpoke" isn't exactly gentle, but still.'
Coming from the young lady, this was practically refined speech!
Starting with max favorability like this—maybe I'd save her without any trouble after all?
"You're grinning again, idiot."
That aside, Starlight Academy really was stunningly beautiful.
Its brilliant white walls seemed to capture and reflect every ray of sunlight. The grand dome-shaped roof rose majestically, symbolizing the flourishing world. Even the meticulously designed gardens and interiors were breathtaking.
'If my old university had looked like this, I would've been excited to go every day..'
The beautiful scenery, impossible to find in my original reality, kept captivating my gaze.
"Hey, what's so pretty about a garden you see every day? Your job is to look at me, not the garden."
Apparently, even this behavior of mine displeased her.
"Don't look away. Hold the parasol properly. The sunlight's getting in."
Most students didn't bring servants to the academy. Since she'd said we were coming together today, I was the only one at her side. Normally she dragged three servants around, so I didn't know what gave her the right to act so confident.
No wonder she had no friends.
"You just cursed me in your head, didn't you? Your face says it all."
As always, her intuition was terrifyingly sharp.
"How could this lowly servant ever dare to insult the flower of the household? I would never."
"..Right."
Walking in her academy uniform, the young lady truly looked like a flower. If I had to compare, maybe a lily? Perhaps because the uniform itself was white.
"Hey, you know how to tie hair, right?"
As we headed toward the main academy building, she poked me with the scabbard in her hand and asked.
She wanted me to tie her hair because it was bothering her. These in-game events really did play out exactly as written.
"Yes, of course I do."
I knew better than anyone how to tie or braid a woman's hair. My second pillar of support—and greatest enemy—my older sister, used to ask me to tie her hair whenever she felt like it.
Just to be clear, the first pillar was, of course, Violet.
"Good. Then braid it into pigtails. I have a sparring match later and it's annoying like this."
She stuck her head out toward me. Seeing this in person after only reading about it in text was incredibly..
"Cute."
"What?"
"Ah, nothing. I misspoke."
Wow, that was close.
I'd remembered that meme of a cat sticking its head out asking for food and the words just slipped out before my brain could filter them.
"Then, I'll begin."
I quickly took the hair tie from her hand and started gathering her hair.
Sitting obediently on a garden bench and entrusting her head to my hands, the young lady really did seem like a cat.
"Hey, we need to go soon, so stop thinking nonsense and hurry up."
..Did she read minds or something?
Grumbling internally about how the young lady seemed destined to become a fortune teller, I finished braiding her hair.
"All done, my lady!"
It hadn't taken long. Hmm, even though I'd done it myself, it looked pretty good.
"Would you like to see?"
Handing her the pocket mirror that butlers of the household always carried, I offered it for her to check.
She examined her reflection from various angles before handing the mirror back with a rather satisfied smile.
"Not bad. You can handle this from now on."
Receiving praise even from the ill-tempered young lady—maybe I actually had talent for this?
"..So, what do you think?"
While I was busy congratulating myself, she asked an unexpected question. What did I think?
"Uh, well.."
When I trailed off in embarrassment, she turned her head slightly and pressed again.
"Do I look pretty, you idiot?"
Ah, so that's what she meant.
..It seemed the effect of compliments was far stronger than I'd thought.
Was this the power of facial attractiveness..? I guess I really was quite handsome!
"What the hell are you thinking about? I'm asking how I look. Is it really something to agonize over?"
..Apparently not.
Well, even a villainess wouldn't react that way just because a guy was good-looking.
Lowering my head, I glanced at her sideways and launched my compliment attack.
"You looked so beautiful that I forgot to answer right away. My apologies."
"This bas— Hmph.. Well, I suppose it can't be helped then."
She'd looked ready to curse me for the delayed reply, but after hearing my answer, she nodded with a pleased little smile.
'She doesn't even bother hiding her upturned lips anymore.'
To think someone this pure took drugs and self-harmed every night.
Even though I'd seen it daily in the game, witnessing it in person made it even harder to believe..
I looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"What, got a problem?"
..Her smiling lips instantly dropped into a displeased scowl as she snapped at me.
Man, I couldn't even look away for a second. I really needed to fix that rotten personality of hers first.
'No, first I need to stop her from taking those health-destroying drugs..'
While I was pondering how to begin the Young Lady Rehabilitation Project, someone suddenly came running toward us from the main academy building, beaming brightly.
Long sky-blue hair that beautifully adorned the daylight, paired with contrasting black eyes.
"Violet!! You're here?"
With her distinctive appearance, she dashed straight into the young lady's arms.
"..Yeah, I'm here."
The young lady didn't utter a single curse in this situation. They say you can't spit on a smiling face, but for this particular young lady, it was remarkable.
"Sebastian! You're here today too? Thank you for taking care of our Violet!"
She immediately greeted me with a bright smile, and I responded with a laugh at her cheerful remark.
Yes, Violet's cheerful and lively childhood friend—her only friend.
Or so I'd thought. When I first played this game, I'd believed that too.
'How disgusting.'
To put it accurately, she was the main culprit who killed Violet the most in the game.
The regressor who rewound the world under the name of the Regressive Demon King.
The despicable player character I needed to kill first—Faye Nicare.
The girl currently nestled in the young lady's arms was exactly that kind of person.