From Now On, Confess to Each Other... Or Die
Jingle.
"……."
"……."
Third cafe entry. By now, the clerk's gaze at me was unmistakably the look you give an outright enemy.
I mean, who shows up at the same cafe three times in one day, each time with a different girl—and meets her in a private room for hushed conversations? Even I'd call that guy a total scumbag.
Dodging the clerk's heavy stare, I knocked on the door of Room 2, which was starting to feel like my second home.
"Come in."
A familiar haughty voice welcomed me.
"Why are you so late? Sit down already."
I wasn't late. Precisely speaking, I'd been here two hours early.
Swallowing my retort, I sat across from our esteemed princess.
"Tch. Why do I have to go on my first cafe date with a guy like this?"
The princess seemed deeply disappointed that her dream date with her crush had been replaced by me.
0 confessions, 3 strikes. What a batting average. Swinging at pitches that weren't even thrown. If these three were on a team, they'd win the World Cup, no sweat.
"I'll get straight to the point. You—"
"You want to get with Polo, right? So you're asking me, his best friend, for the little details about him."
"……What? You're sharper than you look."
This wasn't sharpness—it was the result of repeated trial and error. Like they say, the guy who's eaten the beef knows it best. The guy who's been rejected knows confessions inside out.
"I'm not just gonna ask for free. I'll pay you upfront, and every time you give me the latest info on Polo, I'll pay more. If I succeed in landing him, there'll be a big bonus too."
What? This was a far cry from the first two girls. No threats backed by power, no sermons laced with faith—just a woman who knew exactly how to calculate the cost of her request.
My favorability toward the princess shot up.
"Leave it to me. I'll even find out what underwear Polo's wearing to bed tonight."
"N-not that detailed... Ahem. Well, if you really want to tell me, I won't stop you."
Blushing yet clearly curious about even the most intimate details, the princess showed a tsundere side.
So that's why this haughty princess came to me instead of confessing directly? She's got that personality.
The classic manga heroine: aloof and prideful, but a total pure-hearted girl around the guy she likes. I was impressed by our princess's clear character archetype.
"……Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Oh, nothing. Just that types like you often end up as the main wife."
"?"
"Never mind. Ah, was that letter something you had someone else write as a proxy?"
"As if. If I'm asking, I write it myself. I just picked that stationery because it was the only one I had."
The last shred of my conscience. Tears welled up knowing all three letters I'd received weren't from any guy.
"Wh-what?! Why are you crying all of a sudden?!"
"It's nothing... Just overwhelmed with joy at Your Highness's mercy, which put the brakes on my preview of terminal velocity. Don't mind me."
"What the hell are you talking about...?"
The princess treated me like a madman, but realizing it wasn't time to depart this world yet, I was genuinely grateful to her for stopping my thoughts on the least painful way to fall.
"Anyway, got it? Bring every scrap of info on your childhood friend that's worth knowing."
With my meeting with the third client over, I returned to my room and pondered the situation.
Three heroines. All requesting intel on them. In the original story, the protagonist—raised in some backwater territory, obsessed with the sword and isolated from peers—was always alone.
His encounters with the heroines were pure chance. But now, with me—this extra—inserted into the world, their attention had swung my way instead.
Like the saying: shoot the man on the horse first. They were approaching me, the one who knew Polo best, to claim first dibs on his heart.
In other words, as long as Polo saw me as his best friend, my value could skyrocket.
"If I play this right......"
Our territory was always cash-strapped. No specialties, no tourist draws—just taxes from the locals. But with recent poor harvests, Dad had opened the family stores for the people, draining our funds dry.
I didn't mind his priorities, but if things got worse, we'd need loans. I'd even considered pulling out that as a last resort, annoying as it would be—
"If I squeeze them on this opportunity, I won't have to."
I sent the same message to all three communication stones, then hatched a brilliant plan where everyone wins: heroines, extra, sister-in-law, brother-in-law.
Amor Academy's old school building, an empty classroom now used as storage. I waited for people inside.
Clack, clack.
Footsteps approached, and in walked the familiar golden-haired princess. She brushed back her waist-length waves, fixing me with a cold glare.
"……What’s the reason for calling me to a shady spot like this? Have you already compiled everything I asked for yesterday?"
She seemed uneasy about being lured here alone, glancing around as if ready to bolt.
"Don't worry. Do I look insane enough to lay a hand on Her Highness? We just have more people coming, so wait a bit."
"Wait, 'people'? What do you—?"
Before the princess could finish, the back door creaked open, and another girl peeked in.
"Mars? You here?"
The saintess, too nervous to enter fully.
The princess whipped around at the unfamiliar presence, her face paling in shock.
"S-Saintess? What are you doing here?"
"P-Princess? Why are you......?"
The empire's top power player and the faith's top saintess—both high-status women, frozen awkwardly without proper etiquette. Like they'd lose if they greeted first. The invisible standoff intensified.
Then the last girl arrived.
"Hoo... Why pick a dusty dump like this out of all places? Dust is terrible for the skin... Huh?"
Celine Euse froze mid-grumble at the sight of the princess and saintess.
Like that Spider-Man meme pointing at each other, the three women scrambled to figure out why they'd ended up together.
"P-Princess?! And the saintess too? What the hell is going on?!"
"The Euse duke's daughter? Why are you here?"
"Wha? Wh-wha?"
"Okay, enough chit-chat. Focus, please."
As I steered the conversation, Astraia mistook it for some scheme and charged at me, fuming.
"You! What is this? Hiring others to blackmail me?!"
"I get the imagination, but you're way off. How could a lowly baron's son like me possibly recruit the saintess and a duke's daughter?"
"Th-that's......"
She clammed up, realizing it didn't make sense even to her.
I clapped to refocus them and explained.
"The reason I gathered you all here... is that all three of you asked me to help you become Polo's lover."
"!!"
"!!"
"!!"
Their stunned faces. A sight to behold. Women impossible to ignore, all crushing on the same guy—it hit them hard.
"I want to help everyone, but if it comes out later, I'll be in deep shit. So I called you ahead of time to explain."
"……I get the situation. But did you have to drag us all here together?"
"Yes. Because now, I'm about to make you an offer you can't refuse."
"An offer?"
With three beauties staring me down, I took the first step of my plan.
"I'm going to become your love manager."