You Don't Need to Decline
The moment I returned to my office after finishing my conversation with Aria, I found myself replaying the progress I'd made.
"Aria looked me straight in the eye and even tried to say something…"
That alone counted as a solid achievement in my book.
Whether it was thanks to the nadena-de novel environment I'd cultivated, I couldn't say for sure… but I'd set up the environment, and this was the result, right?
Still, settling for this much left me with a nagging sense of dissatisfaction.
Was something missing? Was that why the results felt incomplete?
"…Let me think this through again."
Alright. I'd given orders to the servants and created a nadena-de novel environment.
Was that really all there was to it?
Was I just supposed to sit back and wait for Aria to open her heart?
"Something… feels like I'm missing something…"
…Ah.
I got it.
Okay, so I'd transmigrated into a nadena-de novel I'd never read, and Aria was the protagonist of that novel. In that case, what position did I — Ivan Cluers — occupy in that story? And had I actually been acting the way a character in that position should?
"I never even thought about that…"
I let out a sigh at my own denseness and closed my eyes. Then I started recalling every nadena-de novel I'd ever read.
Characters in a position similar to Ivan Cluers…
"The protagonist's reliable backer… is that it?"
Characters like that usually possessed both power and wealth. The moment the protagonist suffered even the slightest injustice, they were supposed to flex that power and wealth to come to the rescue. They'd also use their resources to the fullest, showering the protagonist with support that bordered on excessive.
And I was the Margrave of the Kaisis Empire — a man who held both power and wealth.
For reference, in hunter novels, the head of a major guild typically filled this role… and in a fantasy setting, a margrave was basically on that same level, right?
Yeah, thinking it over again, Ivan Cluers was definitely that character. Once I framed it that way, I started to feel like I'd been far too passive.
I'd been careful, worried that closing the distance too fast before she opened her heart might make her slam the door shut even harder… but maybe I should have been more proactive about doing things for her?
…No, it's fine. Catching on now was good enough. It wasn't like Aria had been here for ages, either. Today was only day two. Objectively speaking, two days wasn't a long time at all.
Alright. Let's do this.
Time to play the protagonist's reliable backer!
The next day arrived.
I went to see Aria first thing in the morning. Of course, I hadn't gone empty-handed — I'd put together a simple plan of sorts.
"…Did you sleep well?"
And Aria bowed her head awkwardly in greeting — before I could.
…Had Aria ever greeted me first before?
Never. She'd always kept her head down and avoided my eyes.
This was proof that she was slowly opening her heart, and it was a result worth paying attention to. Come to think of it, the way she'd looked me straight in the eye yesterday — hadn't that been the first sign of the door beginning to open?
Right up until a moment ago, a corner of my mind had still fretted that trying to close the distance too abruptly before she opened her heart might only make her slam it shut harder… but now I felt I could set that worry aside a little.
In that case… time to put my simple plan into action?
"Yes, did you sleep well too? You didn't have trouble falling asleep again, did you?"
Yesterday I'd obtained the information that Aria had slept poorly. I'd learned about the discomfort she was dealing with — and I was just going to leave it alone? That would be an automatic disqualification from the role of the protagonist's reliable backer.
So I planned to use yesterday's information as a pretext to flex my power and wealth. Asking whether she'd slept well, whether she'd had trouble falling asleep — that was the groundwork for it.
Hearing my question, Aria fidgeted with her fingers. Her gaze was still fixed on the floor.
…Still a long way to go, huh.
Or… was she just the shy type? Thinking about it, she really might be the kind of person who got embarrassed easily. Right — I shouldn't overreact to every little glance.
While I was turning that over, Aria answered my question.
"…I slept well."
"Really? Then the walk must have helped."
At this point, one might think I could no longer use her sleeplessness as a pretext to flex my power and wealth. The pretext had vanished, after all. But that was the kind of thinking only amateurs did. A pretext was something you could always invent on the spot.
"Actually, after I heard you'd had trouble sleeping yesterday, I gave it some thought. Walks are nice, of course… but I figured paying more attention to your sleep environment would be far more effective. And the results would be more reliable, too."
Something like that.
"So I've summoned some renowned craftsmen. Since it's custom-made, go ahead and feel the covers and pillow stuffing and pick out whatever materials you like."
The important part was flexing power and wealth to a degree that made you wonder if it was really necessary. So I'd summoned the craftsmen who made bedding for the imperial family. That was the level you needed to reach before you could claim you'd properly thrown your weight around.
I just didn't tell Aria that these were the craftsmen who handled the imperial family's bedding. I remembered that in nadena-de novels, there were occasional scenes where the protagonist had no idea how valuable the things they'd been given really were. And given that a grand gesture of goodwill might still feel like a burden to her at this stage, keeping it a secret seemed like the right call.
"I-I already like what I have…"
Of course, the blanket Aria had been sleeping under and the pillow she'd been resting her head on were already perfectly fine. So it wasn't strange for her to say that. She hadn't lost sleep because of the bedding, and the current blanket and pillow weren't causing any problems — so why bother changing them? If I'd been Aria, I probably would have said something similar.
"You don't need to decline."
But right now, I was the protagonist's reliable backer from a nadena-de novel. When the protagonist politely refused, what was the correct response?
The answer was…
"If you're declining because you think you'd be imposing, don't worry about it. For the Cluers family, this is nothing more than a trivial expense."
…to keep pushing through even when the protagonist said no.
"And if meeting the craftsmen in person feels like too much, you don't have to worry about that either. Just pick out the covers and pillow stuffing you like in your room, and the servants will pass your choices along to the craftsmen."
Just in case, I'd even blocked off her escape routes. At this point, Aria should be about ready to raise the white flag…
"……Thank you for thinking of me."
In the end, Aria surrendered. Honestly, it had been a fight stacked in my favor from the start. I'd already placed a house-call commission with the craftsmen — how was Aria supposed to win that?
"Good. …Ah, right. The craftsmen will need some time to prepare everything and get here. So don't sit around waiting for them — just do whatever you like, and when a maid comes to get you, head to your room and pick out the materials you prefer."
I said that and was about to stand up when a question suddenly occurred to me.
But Aria… did she even have anything she wanted to do?
If she liked reading and had been reading books, I would have gotten a report that she seemed to enjoy reading. If she liked embroidery and had been embroidering, I would have heard that she seemed to enjoy embroidery. If she'd asked to borrow an instrument because she liked playing music, I would have been told she seemed to enjoy playing instruments. At least once.
Any memory of receiving a report like that? Not a single one.
Was she just reading the room…? But even if she was being careful, you'd think the boredom would get to her enough that she'd mention wanting to do something at least once…
Had they just not reported it?
"One moment? I need to speak with the Head Butler about something, so I'll step out briefly."
Confirmation came quickly. All I had to do was ask the maids assigned to Aria.
"She has never once said that she wanted to do anything, my lord."
……Hmm.
Originally, I'd planned to wait until Aria told me what she wanted to do on her own. I'd figured it wouldn't take that long.
But…
"Understood for now."
I said that and went back into the room. Aria came into view, head bowed, fidgeting with her fingers.
Why, in all the time since she'd arrived here, had Aria never once spoken aloud about something she wanted to do?
It was entirely possible she simply hadn't said anything because she was reading the room. But… the thought that her environment at the ducal house might not have been a good one weighed on me.
…Yeah. I should just ask her directly.
"Aria, what do you like?"
Before coming in here, I'd wanted to ask what she usually did with her time. But if the answer that came out of her mouth was that she'd spent her days scrubbing floors… yeah. Stories about her time at the ducal house were better left until we'd gotten a little closer.
While I was thinking that, Aria answered my question.
"…I don't know."
I don't know, huh. A reply that made it hard to keep a conversation going.
"Well, not knowing is fine too."
But even if that was what I thought, I absolutely couldn't let it show. The moment I did, Aria would decide she'd done something wrong and shrink into herself.
And in a certain sense, this could even be considered a good thing. Right now I was the protagonist's reliable backer from a nadena-de novel, wasn't I?
"You don't have to feel bad about it."
And now I had something I could do for the protagonist.
"If you don't know what you like, then we just need to find out what you like."
Bring me every last noble young lady hobby there is!!