Spring Is Coming #4
The afternoon was still too early for dinner. I summoned Flora to the cafe Fairy's Teacup.
I waited for a while until a woman with platinum-blonde hair styled in a bun-like roll approached me, huffing and puffing. She slammed a letter down on the table in front of me.
“Calling me to the cafe by six o’clock. What kind of nonsense is this? Do I look like the type who obediently follows your every word, Victor?”
“But here you are.”
“That’s because I have a lot of things I want to argue about.”
“Then sit down. I’ll listen to all of them.”
“Honestly, it’s impossible to tell who the noble and who the commoner is here. I’m a third-year, you know. Shouldn’t a junior show some respect to their senior?”
Despite her words, Flora sat down with a pouty expression.
“So, what exactly did you want to talk about?”
“Nothing much. I simply wanted to ask how things are at the Arclight main house now that news of the broken engagement has spread.”
“What do you think? Everyone’s in an uproar. Especially Father… the family head. He’s furious. If you happen to meet him, it would be wise to lower that stiff head of yours a little.”
It was roughly the reaction I had expected. At this level, I could simply proceed with my plans without issue. Now it was time for the real main topic.
“You said you’re a third-year now.”
“That’s right. I’ll soon graduate from this tiresome Ludens and return to the glamorous and luxurious mainland. You can keep struggling here a while longer.”
She covered her mouth with the back of her hand and let out an elegant “Oh ho ho” laugh. It was the perfect image of a noble young lady. Hearing it directly from me felt incredibly strange.
Incidentally, that bizarre laugh could only be heard when Flora’s favorability was in the negative. It wasn’t easy to drop Flora’s favorability into the negatives under normal circumstances.
Victor, you bastard. You really were on terrible terms with Flora, weren’t you?
I pushed that thought aside and asked,
“The third year is an important time. What do you plan to do moving forward?”
“Who knows. I’m just thinking of spending the time moderately and graduating safely and healthily. Why should I tell you any of that?”
“You have no obligation to. But don’t you think it’s a waste of time? How about setting a goal for yourself?”
“A goal?”
“For example, aiming to win the Miss Ludens Contest that will be held in the second semester. Yes, that sounds good.”
Flora laughed at that. It wasn’t her exaggerated laugh from before, but a hollow, empty one as if the air had been let out of her.
“Victor, you’ve become quite the comedian while I wasn’t looking. I failed to get into the student council, the representative committee, and couldn’t even enter Class A. Do you really think I could win the Miss Contest?”
“You will.”
“Not ‘you can,’ but ‘you will’? Why are you so certain?”
Because I had seen that future. But I couldn’t say that honestly. So I decided to use one of my daily lie allowances.
“…Just a hunch.”
One used when holding hands with Victorica. And now another. Only one lie chance remained. My stomach was already starting to ache, making it hard to endure.
“A hunch? How amusing. To think you, Victor, were the type to cling to something so uncertain. More importantly, about this broken engagement.”
Flora was no easy conversational partner. She grabbed the reins of the discussion and yanked them firmly toward what she wanted to talk about.
“Why on earth did you participate in such a reckless scheme? Breaking off the engagement just because another woman appeared? All it will do is pile more disgrace on your name, won’t it?”
“……”
“Since we’re here, be honest with me. You really did break up, didn’t you? Victorica is lying to me.”
It seemed Victorica hadn’t been able to fully convince Flora. I fell into serious contemplation in this situation.
“If it really was a broken engagement, what do you plan to do?”
“I don’t know what the family will do, but as a third-year, I can at least make your life at Ludens a little uncomfortable. Like giving low ratings to the club’s food.”
That would be rather annoying. Club ratings were quite important, after all. It couldn’t be helped. I decided to spend my final lie.
“As Victorica said, our broken engagement is a deception. But it must remain a secret from everyone.”
“……”
Flora’s expression briefly showed surprise. Then she glanced around furtively before speaking in a low, rather serious voice.
“…So the rumor about an enemy within is true?”
“……”
Since I had used up all my lie chances, the only options left were truth or silence. Silence seemed better than the truth, so I kept my mouth shut.
“It seems you don’t intend to speak. Are you worried it would become dangerous for me if I knew?”
“……”
“Victor, even though you didn’t say it, you’re actually worried about me, aren’t you?”
How did the logic flow this way? Still, this situation taught me one thing. The silence allowance wasn’t infinite either. I wouldn’t be able to use it many more times. At most, once more.
Should I just derail the conversation and leave?
“By any chance, was telling me to enter the Miss Contest also part of a plan to deal with that enemy?”
“What do you mean?”
“Weren’t you trying to turn me into a topic of conversation so you could protect me from the enemy’s attacks? If I win Miss Ludens, even that enemy wouldn’t dare touch me recklessly.”
It was quite an excellent deduction, but incorrect. This, at least, I could answer honestly.
“No, that’s not it. It’s a much simpler story. Flora, you have more than enough potential to win the Miss Contest. If I help you, that is.”
“Me…? In the contest where the most beautiful woman at Ludens is chosen?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think I am the most beautiful woman at Ludens?”
“No.”
“You didn’t even hesitate for a second. Normally, this would be the time to say something flattering.”
“But I do think you are beautiful enough to win the Ludens contest.”
Flora’s bun-like hair suddenly bristled and stood up on both sides.
“W-what are you saying right now? Ha, really. This is ridiculous. If someone wins the Ludens contest, they’re practically the same as the most beautiful woman, aren’t they?”
Flora fanned her face with her hand. Sisters were sisters after all. Their reactions when flustered were similar.
“It’s not a lie. You will win the Miss Ludens Contest. I will make it happen.”
And give the trophy to me. Ah, please.
So, had my persuasion worked? Observing Flora’s complexion, she opened her mouth with a strangely calm expression.
“Victor, remember that day I was crying?”
“The day you were crying?”
“The fact that you didn’t comfort me then. Was it because I’m beautiful enough to win the Miss Contest that you deliberately kept your distance?”
I had no idea what she was talking about. The day Flora cried? Comfort her? Think, Victory’s brain—!
Was there any line among Flora’s dialogue about crying? No, I didn’t remember any! If it wasn’t in my memory, it didn’t exist! Then what was the closest story?
“Actually, I got dumped pretty badly once before.
The guy left me and cheated. So crushing his new fling in the contest felt amazing. So satisfying!”
This was it. Flora was a woman who had been hurt by being abandoned by her fiancé. There was nothing else that came to mind. It must have been before Victor and Flora entered Ludens. Back then, instead of comforting the sorrowful Flora, Victor had treated her even more coldly.
What a guy. He really lived his life the hard way.
The problem was that the arrow had now turned toward me.
“Victor, the reason you kept your distance from me… was because I’m that beautiful? Because you were afraid it would cause problems in your engagement? So you deliberately acted cold, right?”
If I said no here, would Flora’s participation in the Miss Contest go down the drain? No, even if she participated according to the episode, she might end up giving the trophy to Luke instead of me. I absolutely had to get that trophy. With it or without it, the quality of daily life content changed between Normal and Hard mode.
So I closed my eyes tightly and decided to tell a fourth lie that exceeded my quota.
“Grrrrrr—.”
…Huh? Why is my speech slurring? Why is the floor rushing up to my face?
“This is an unfamiliar ceiling.”
When I opened my eyes, I saw white walls.
“This is… the infirmary.”
As I sat up, my body felt terribly nauseous, as if I might vomit. It was exactly like the time I had worked three straight days loading and unloading packages without sleeping and collapsed from exhaustion.
“The fourth one…”
It seemed the fourth lie could genuinely kill me if I wasn’t careful. To feel a threat to my life like this…
Victor, you son of a bitch. Did you hate being dishonest that much?
So what had happened? I looked around. It was a single-person infirmary room. The first thought that came to mind upon seeing it was the same as when I had collapsed from exhaustion while working packages.
This is going to cost a lot in medical bills.
Just as I was thinking about the unexpected expense, something caught my eye beside me. It was a letter. It was the same cheap stationery I had given to Flora. On the back of the simple appointment I had written, this was written:
Third-year goal. I’ll think about it for the remaining year.
P.S. I paid the medical bills, so be grateful, commoner.
The medical bill was covered. Sweet.
At that moment, the door burst open.
“Victor, I heard you collapsed?”
“Victorica.”
“My sister told me. She said you two were talking and then you collapsed. What on earth… No, never mind. What exactly were you talking about with my sister?”
“The Miss Contest.”
“The Miss Contest? I don’t know what that is, but my sister went back to the mainland. She left without even packing her luggage, saying she had to return quickly.”
“I see.”
“And she said she’ll take our side. She’ll somehow convince the family head and my brother about our broken engagement. Of course, she still doesn’t know that we really broke up.”
That was good news. It seemed my collapse had been worth it. But it was an experience I never wanted to repeat. Truly never again. Anyone who experienced such a horrible collapse would naturally become terrified.
At the same time, I realized one thing. Perhaps Victor had been honest because of this powerful trait. He had no choice but to be honest. It was forced upon him. Victor must have experienced a collapse like this before as well.
The trait Steel that had been given to this guy. Until now I hadn’t had time to question it, but I was starting to wonder why Victor had been given such a trait. After all, unlike skills or stats, something called a ‘trait’ would never appear without special conditions.
It was then.
“Victor, I brought you some porridge.”
“You did?”
“Yes. This is the kind of thing fiancés are supposed to do, right?”
“But we…”
“I know. But we deceived my sister. We don’t know when or where she might hear something, so we should practice acting like this in advance.”
“……”
I was hungry. However, I didn’t even have the strength to lift a finger. Complete power failure. Thanks to that, I had to let Victorica spoon-feed me the porridge.
“Me feeding you porridge. This is something I couldn’t have imagined even a month ago.”
“Same here. By the way, where did you buy this?”
It was like chicken porridge, but it tasted better than expected. Maybe I should make porridge one of the next menu items.
At that moment, Victorica spoke to me.
“Victor, if there hadn’t been any problems with our family. What would our relationship be like now? Would our engagement still be intact?”
“No. If there hadn’t been any problems with your family, we wouldn’t have been engaged in the first place.”
“That’s true. Arranging an engagement from the age of five. Our father isn’t exactly normal.”
Victorica’s expression looked dark as she said that. Was she slowly starting to realize who her true opponent was?
To this girl who might have to fight against a colossal enemy, there was one thing I wanted to say.
“But if I could have made a better choice, I wouldn’t have broken off the engagement with you.”
If we assumed the Arclight family was perfectly fine. Just sticking close to Victorica would have led to automatic success and promotion. There was no need for me to kick away that good fortune.
So this was my utmost sincerity. I couldn’t lie right now. Perhaps my sincerity reached her, because Victorica laughed lightly and said, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Come to think of it, this might be the first time I was actually seeing this girl laugh. It felt like a special CG was being unlocked with a shimmering sound.
“Victorica, so that’s how you laugh.”
“Well, I’m a person too, so of course I laugh. Lately, because of someone, I feel like I’ve only been getting angry instead of laughing. Did you think I was as rigid as you?”
“I laugh sometimes too.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Victorica looked at my face. But this time, unlike before, she didn’t blush randomly or start babbling nonsense.
“Now that I think about it, Victor. I’ve never seen you laugh even once.”
Then she added softly,
“It feels like I’ve talked with you more recently than in all the years I’ve lived until now. And when you talk with that Mokemoke girl, you don’t speak in that completely rigid way either, do you?”
“Is that so.”
It seemed that way. It looked like the me inside Victor was slowly starting to show through. Was that a good sign?
Victorica ran her palm over the infirmary bed sheets.
“If I had known it would be like this, I should have talked with you more before we broke off the engagement. If I had…”
If only. If only. Regret. Regret doesn’t help much in moving forward. The only lesson you can learn from regret is “Let’s not do that next time.”
I wanted to tell this still fresh and green youth that.
“What are you regretting so much for? Victorica, you still have plenty of time. We’re only second-years at Ludens. We’re at an age where we can build a castle even if we start over anew.”
“What are you saying, you old man.”
My current age hadn’t even reached twenty yet. An age where I could truly do anything from now on.
“A new beginning…”
Victorica seemed deeply moved by the words of this life senior of hers, as she murmured “A new beginning.”
Victorica would do well without me worrying. And it seemed like I, too, would be able to do well no matter what.