The Hikikomori's First Love (2)
Just before entering the banquet hall, Daeho approached me and whispered softly.
“I think I’ll need Young Master Sieg’s help.”
She subtly pointed at Nero with her hand. Nero was being held up by attendants right before entering the hall, getting her makeup touched up. With four or five people swarming around her, there was no way she could hear our quiet conversation right now.
“I tried to handle it myself, but she seems more interested in you, Young Master. My prediction was wrong. It looks like my investigation wasn’t thorough enough.”
Daeho scratched her head with a gloomy voice. It was a rare vulnerable sight from someone who always carried herself with unshakable confidence.
In truth, it wasn’t fair to call her investigation lacking. She had bribed servants to find out what kind of magic Nero had been researching lately, then used her connections in the Magic Tower for cross-verification. And that wasn’t all. While continuing to gather information on Nero, she had also tracked the movements of the demon race and monitored Princess Morgan’s whereabouts. She had been working day and night without rest. Given her usual perfectionism, she handled everything without a single flaw. How could she possibly have done any better?
She had even used magic so heavily that she often came to me asking for healing spells. I had nothing but respect for her passion—she never seemed to burn out.
“To think I have to ask for your help, Young Master… I’m so ashamed.”
So that was why she looked so down. It was unexpected. She was the type who wouldn’t hesitate to use anyone if it served her goals. Why was she so reluctant to accept my help?
“I had hoped you could enjoy the banquet with Soho, Young Master.”
“S-Sis! What are you saying?!”
Apparently she had heard. Soho smacked Daeho on the shoulder. Thump.
At her little sister’s cute act of defiance, Daeho let out a snort.
“You have no idea how much our Soho talks about you, Young Master. Do you, I wonder? Hehe.”
“N-No, that’s not it! We were just chatting about what happened today. We talked about Akasha, Emilia, and Jakkan too, so please don’t misunderstand!”
I nodded at the sight of Soho’s flushed face as she hurriedly explained herself. We had been together almost every day since arriving at the capital. What else would they have to talk about besides us?
“While you’re doing that, I’ll check for any demons that have slipped into the banquet hall and try to make contact with the spies.”
With those words, Daeho stepped away from me. It was because Nero had finished her makeup and was now looking in our direction.
“And thank you. Truly. Not only did you lift the curse on our family… but now you’re stepping in personally like this. I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
It was a heartfelt expression of gratitude from Daeho.
“I’m doing it because I want to.”
It was the truth. I knew all too well how miserably she had fought in the original story, only to meet her death. I still remembered it clearly—the moment she refused to give up hope until her very last breath, giving everything she had. I was glad I could stand by her side and help prevent that future from happening again. Since I could only use healing magic, I was actually happy to have any chance to contribute at all.
My thoughts were interrupted as Nero approached and spoke.
“S-Shall we go, then?”
I nodded. Together, we entered the banquet hall.
……The distinguished guests are entering.
As the doors opened, I could feel every eye in the room turning toward us. It was my first time receiving this much attention in a space the size of a soccer stadium. The experience was strangely fascinating.
Daeho and Soho walked forward without hesitation, as if they were used to it. Nero, on the other hand…
“Ugh… ugh… uuu…”
She froze with a tiny groan. Even a princess couldn’t handle this if she was a hikikomori, it seemed. For a girl who had spent her entire life shut away in her room, this level of attention must have been terrifying. She looked like she wanted to crawl into a mouse hole, so I gently patted her shoulder.
“Are you alright?”
“O-Of course I am. I-I’m a princess. I’m used to this.”
Where she found the energy, I didn’t know, but she suddenly struck a proud pose that practically screamed Aren’t I cool? Even though her legs were trembling like they were doing the forsythia dance.
“As expected of Lady Nero. It seems someone of your status is quite familiar with events like this. This is my first time, so I’m a little nervous.”
But I decided to pretend I hadn’t noticed. My current goal was to get closer to Nero. I had to play along with her mood.
“T-Then… I’ll escort you.”
Nero blushed as she made the bold declaration. I nodded in response.
“Ah, if it isn’t the White Night Duchess. I am Marquis Smith…”
The White Night sisters began greeting the other nobles. Just as we had discussed earlier, Daeho was making contact with the aristocracy while pinpointing the locations of the demons’ hidden spies.
To put Lucifer’s goal and plan in a single sentence: hide the existence of the demon race while using the resulting chaos to cut off the breath of the Demon King’s Army’s hostile factions. The crucial part was concealing the demons’ presence. That was why they were trying to create conflicts among the nobles and assassinate the Emperor through Princess Morgan.
That was also why Daeho predicted that if the Emperor’s assassination didn’t occur, the appearance of Demon King’s Army Commander Chierre would never happen either.
The problem was proving that the Demon King’s Army had infiltrated this place.
Daeho understood the Demon King’s Army’s characteristics well. After all, she had spent her entire life chasing their mortal enemy, Lucifer. But this time, that very knowledge had become an obstacle. The people of the White Night family were known for their extreme hatred of demons. That perception was beginning to spread. The Demon King’s Army had meticulously manipulated the nobles using Garcia Empire artifacts to solidify that public opinion even further. At the same time, a pro-demon sentiment was emerging, claiming that demons were simply intelligent beings no different from anyone else.
It was all nonsense. By that same logic, there would have been no reason to label the beastmen as heretics and wage war against them. However, when enough people repeated nonsense, it became public opinion. That was why Daeho had concluded they couldn’t make a move without decisive evidence.
“Y-Young Master Sieg, is there any food you… p-particularly like?”
Nero asked while looking at the dishes arranged throughout the banquet hall. There were so many different foods on display. It looked like they had prepared everything imaginable since they couldn’t possibly know everyone’s preferences.
“I…”
Before I could answer, a thought occurred to me. What did Nero like to eat? Since I was trying to get closer to her anyway, it might be good to mention something she enjoyed and build some common ground. From what I remembered, given her lifestyle of staying cooped up in her room doing nothing but research, she had the mindset that anything that could fill her stomach was good enough. There was one food she practically lived on like it was livestock feed.
“Energy bars?”
They were simple military rations supplied to soldiers. Of course, there was no way something like that would be at a banquet.
“Oh! I-I like energy bars too… They’re convenient, so I eat them often!”
Nero clapped her hands in delight.
“I-It seems we really are well-matched!”
Then her eyes sparkled as she clenched her fists tightly.
“I feel the same way, of course.”
“Hic…!”
What had startled her? Nero suddenly took a step back. She looked around as if searching for a place to hide. She really was like a shy child.
Our plan to get closer to Nero was proceeding successfully.
“It’s been a while, Young Master Sieg.”
A familiar face appeared. A woman who gave off an air of nobility quite different from her usual demeanor.
“Saintess?”
Nero tilted her head in confusion. It was the kind of look that asked, Why are you here? She narrowed her eyes and glared, looking exactly like a cat on guard in case someone tried to steal her Churu.
“W-What is your relationship with Young Master Sieg?”
“Us? Well, I…”
What was she trying to say? Suddenly, my eyes met Freya’s. She gave me a meaningful smile.
“Should I say we’re in a relationship where I’ve received something very precious from him?”
“Something precious…?”
“It was so ecstatic that my entire body trembled with thrill. Oh, should I not have said that?”
“Shouldn’t have said that?”
“It was so incredible that I begged him desperately to give it to me. It exceeded all my expectations.”
Freya lightly bit her index finger, her face flushed as she explained.
What the hell is this woman saying?
The only thing Freya had kept asking me for was healing magic. She was clearly talking about that, but to anyone who didn’t know better, her words sounded incredibly misleading.
I started to explain in order to clear up the misunderstanding. As I turned my head to look at Nero—
“Huuuh…?!”
She had frozen solid, completely at a loss for what to do. She had turned to stone.
“Lady Nero?”
Perhaps Freya’s prank had gone too far. No matter how many times I called her name, there was no response.
She had discovered her first love’s secret. To think he had that kind of relationship with the Saintess! Shock flooded through her, quickly turning into burning rage. But there weren’t many choices available to her. Because of her naturally introverted personality, she couldn’t bring herself to say everything she was feeling. Even though she felt hurt and resentful, there was nothing she could do. People always turned to what was familiar when they felt uncomfortable. So she simply turned her body and ran away.
“Lady Nero?”
She could hear Sieg calling her from behind, but she couldn’t turn around. She just wanted to go somewhere quiet, somewhere in a corner where her heart could feel at ease.
“Haa… haa…”
After catching her ragged breath and looking around, she saw that she had run out of the banquet hall without thinking. There was no one nearby. At least that was fortunate. In her current state, where she couldn’t control her emotions, she had no idea what she might have done.
“Ugh…”
Her eyes began to hurt. It seemed her unique magic was acting up again. Nero’s unique magic, Insight, was an eye that could see through anything. When she looked at magic, she could discern the principles and secrets contained within it, allowing her to analyze all phenomena logically. It often activated like this whenever she became overly excited.
“Lady Nero, are you alright?”
A voice called out. When she looked up, she saw a familiar face. It was Luna, the personal maid who served directly under her older sister Morgan. She was a capable attendant who handled all of Morgan’s complaints and dissatisfaction.
“Are you feeling unwell?”
She asked with a voice full of concern.
That’s right… the magic…
Nero never used her magic on humans. The reason was that it sometimes showed her things she didn’t want to see. The filthy emotions of humans. The more she saw, the more disappointed she became in the person, so she had been restraining herself. But it was already too late to stop the magic. Luna had already made eye contact with her.
—Desire. Killing Intent. Pleasure. Greed.
“Luna…?”
Nero called out to her in a trembling voice. And for good reason. Behind Luna, she could see a black shadow.
“What is the matter?”
The silhouette of what appeared to be a demon was glaring at Nero from behind Luna’s back. Hideous desire threatened to swallow her whole. In that instant, Nero collapsed to the floor. Her entire body screamed at her to run, but she couldn’t move. She had been overwhelmed by the dozens of eyes staring at her from behind Luna. It felt like she wouldn’t be able to stand up on her own.
Young Master Sieg…
To think she was now seeking out the very person she had just poured her resentment toward. How pathetic. Even Nero herself thought she was miserable. But at the same time, she was desperate. If only someone—anyone—could come and help her.
“Lady Nero?”
Was it heaven’s mercy? At that very moment, the voice of the man she had been longing for reached her ears.