Chapter 69
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: What Should I Do With This Girl?
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“Honey! I’m cold!”
“If you’re cold, put on a robe…”
“Hey! Liam, hug me~”
The protagonist came rushing at me without warning, seeing how good my mood was.
Whenever I tried to push her away, she backed off with acrobatic precision like she was possessed by a god, keeping my head spinning.
But this wasn’t the time for that. I still had a lot to ask her.
I conjured two chairs with magic and placed them in front of the protagonist.
“Don’t we have a lot to talk about? Sit down first.”
“Yeah!”
-Thud!
“...?”
“Heehee!”
There were clearly two chairs, but one sat empty, unable to even host a guest.
The protagonist plopped down on my lap like a rascal, grinning as she leaned her back against my chest.
“I put that chair there for you…”
“I had a feeling I wouldn’t be able to talk properly if I sat there!”
‘Damn…’
She really tried everything.
The curves and warmth emanating from her made me embarrassed, but I pulled myself together and started the conversation.
“Hoo… Alright, first question… What happened to future me?”
I needed to know if my future self was safe, or if I wasn’t the trigger for her regression condition.
If something happened to me, everything would go up in smoke.
But the protagonist, who had looked cheerful, simply closed her eyes and rested her head on my chest.
So calmly.
“Where should I start… Our first meeting? Or the outcome?”
Her voice sank, calm like a knight recounting the past.
“To sum it up simply… Yeah, we graduated from the bustling Academy safely, got married, and I thought we’d always be happy.”
“You thought you’d be happy? So then…”
“Nine years after we married, you were declared dead. Well, not actually dead.”
“What…?”
Unbelievable words slipped from her mouth.
I’d graduated from the Academy safely, so… no way?
“Do you know about the Imperial Bloodline’s secret?”
“...Is that a question?”
“You came all this way…!”
“Yeah, I know. I was trying to get you out of that damn crystal.”
With that, we both closed our eyes in silence.
A heavy death sentence fell over my vow to overcome it no matter what.
It was complicated. This world always complicated my feelings.
Like it was mocking my struggles and pinning me down.
“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely save you.”
The protagonist’s closed eyes opened, staring straight at me.
“What was I like back then?”
What the hell was I to make her so devoted?
The protagonist, hiding her true self behind her crazy actions, looked so fragile.
Yet her gaze held not a hint of hesitation.
A faint smile played on the protagonist’s lips.
“You were always the same. Kind to me, but strict with yourself, full of worries… But you always overcame it.”
“Even though future me couldn’t overcome it?”
“That’s why I came back.”
She was so resolute, as if she saw no other path.
“I’ll do anything for you. Whether it’s taking your place in that dogshit crystal or risking my life—I’ll make it happen somehow. So don’t worry.”
I wasn’t the type to just take from someone who trusted me.
“Guess what I’m about to say.”
“‘I love you’ would be nice, but your eyes say otherwise. Wanna tell me yourself?”
“I’ll definitely fix this.”
Her eyes, locked on mine, curved gently.
“Yeah… Those eyes… The eyes that drive women crazy!”
The female lead spun around quickly, trying to pounce on me.
“Hey! This isn’t the mood for that!”
“Shut up! You seduced me first! I’m gonna fuck you senseless!”
“Where’d you learn to talk like that?!”
“You taught me! Why?”
“...”
Fuck…
That little(?) scuffle happened, but I came out on top.
“Haa… Haa… Damn it… I was gonna devour you right away…”
“Have I gotten stronger than before?”
“Is that a question?”
“...I don’t need to ask to know you’re stronger than the you I knew… This much is an answer, right?”
She glared at me once, then finally surrendered.
“I hate to admit it, but yeah.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Why hate admitting it?”
‘If I’ve improved from before, doesn’t that mean a variable’s appeared?’
“Probably because of that thief girl.”
“...Jenia?”
“I hate that someone else changed the you I couldn’t.”
A fleeting sadness and regret crossed her face.
“You… At what point did you return?”
Where had she been all this time? What did she bring back, and what did she discard?
The protagonist gave a bitter smile, then quickly brightened her expression.
“I’ll tell you that on our next date! Liam! I’m hungry~”
She clearly didn’t want to talk more, so I just nodded.
“Alright… Let’s go eat.”
“Since we’re out, let’s eat outside! If the date’s too short, my answers might get shorter too?”
‘Whatever…’
I nodded, and she rummaged through her subspace with a bright smile.
“Heehee! Wait a sec, let’s see… Ah! Here it is!”
She pulled out a teleport scroll and hugged me tight.
“Honey! Teleporting? One, two, three…”
“Yeah.”
“Four, five, six…”
“?”
“Seven, wheehee… Eight…”
‘What should I do with this girl for real?’
Liam chuckled softly, unaware that he was growing ever more lenient toward Lea.
Days with Lea were rowdy… but not bad.
I asked questions now and then, but she dodged them slickly, saying dates weren’t timely yet.
Today was the long-awaited first day of Academy classes.
Classes hadn’t started yet, but I headed to the Academy early for preparations.
Basic Magic Studies, General Combat Studies, and electives for credits.
As always, ignoring the murmurs of surrounding students, my companions and I got out of the carriage and headed inside.
“Haa… How many times have we done this…”
Lea shuddered like the Academy was utterly loathsome.
“Still, today’s important, right? The agents say they’re all set?”
Veronica pressed a magic tool to her ear and nodded.
“Yes! They’ve been called to the designated spots and are heading there now.”
“Oh, they’re on top of it. Gotta give that guy a bonus this month.”
Jenia and Lancelot for swordsmanship, Veronica for theology, Lea and me for magic.
At the stairs, we exchanged looks and nodded.
Then Jenia turned to Lea, who looked bored to death, and started nagging.
“Straighten your posture when you walk… What kind of manners is that next to the Crown Prince?”
Lea smirked at Jenia’s remark, then beamed at me.
“Honey! Excited for our first class~ Shall we go?”
“You were just saying how boring it is…”
Lea linked arms with me and grinned brightly at Jenia.
“See you later, Swordsmanship Department miss~”
“This…”
Leaving Jenia biting her lip, Lea tugged my arm and led me away.
“How do you two fight every day… And doing this where people can see…”
“That’s why we’re doing it—don’t you not care anyway?”
“Let’s go…”
“Yeah!”
Lea and I headed to the classroom next to the Magic Studies lecture hall.
I stuck a cube to the ceiling and hid it with magic.
-Target enters in 10 minutes.
Hearing Veronica’s voice from the magic tool, I nodded.
I focused my mind, mapping every object and terrain in the classroom, then spread a thin barrier.
Invisible, yet sturdy.
“Whoa…”
Lea stomped the floor hard, then looked up at me with admiring eyes.
“You okay? Not tired?”
“Sorry, let me concentrate…”
Lea nodded understandingly.
Applying a form-fixed protection spell thinly over everything was tricky.
[Master, I’ll help a bit.]
‘Thanks...’
“Hoo… Let’s go.”
I left the classroom slowly, eyes closed in focus, and sat in the Magic Studies room.
The farther away, the more sensitive it got.
Knowing that, Lea sat quietly beside me without a word.
And so, from the empty lecture hall, we prepared to welcome our first guest.
The man heading to the Academy’s empty lecture hall couldn’t hide his pounding heart, his face flushed red.
The letter in his hand was covered in cute hearts, its edges worn from being opened countless times.
‘This… isn’t a misunderstanding, right?’
The man had recently met a beautiful woman by the lake and was building a good relationship.
He grinned foolishly, recalling how she shyly handed him the letter last night, telling him to read it alone.
“Heh… A little fun won’t hurt…”
Forget grand causes—he walked dreaming of the pink future ahead, arriving at the empty lecture hall before he knew it.
He checked his outfit once more, smoothed his hair, and opened the door.
“You’re here!”
Through the opening door, the beautiful woman turning to look made time slow.
Her swaying hair, bright smile… and today, she sparkled even more.
The man stared blankly, then snapped to and approached step by step.
“Ahem! I read your letter.”
“Yeah… I said I had something to tell you… But first, close your eyes?”
Her lovely smile made his heart race wilder.
‘Eyes… What’s she gonna do… Hug… Or maybe…’
He grinned lewdly, lost in filthy fantasies.
‘Yeah… Time to sort out this tiresome life and live happily with her… Three kids or so…’
‘For her, who gave light to my worthless life, I’ll give everything…’
-Crunch!
A gruesome sound snapped his idiotic thoughts.
In an instant, the man toppled backward.
“Wha…?”
His two legs, which had supported him, were gone, and grotesque tentacles with teeth sprouted from the beautiful woman’s arms.
-Spurt!
Blood spraying from his severed legs brought harsh reality…
“Gaaahhh!”
-Creak
Turning at the door opening, the beautiful woman—or whatever she was—looked down at him emotionlessly.
“Aaaah! Amy! Save me!”
“This is Unit 7. Target eliminated. Returning immediately.”
The man desperately grabbed the woman’s ankle as she turned.
“A… Amy! It’s me! Save me! We love each other!”
The agent grimaced, stuck out her tongue, and dry-heaved.
“Urgh… Disgusting bastard… Let go with those filthy hands and just die.”
-Smack smack!
The agent kicked his hand away, clapped, and swiftly left the classroom.
Inside remained the bleeding man and the thing in the woman’s shape.
Trembling in fear, he looked back to see the monster in the beautiful woman’s form crouched eye-level, gnawing his legs from the bottom up.
It smiled, but without breath or blinks, methodically devouring.
“Gaaah! Get off me!”
-Crunch! Crunch!
-Thud! Thud!
Punches and eye pokes did nothing; the monster just kept at its task.
“Amy!! Whyyy! Aaaah!”
Dyed in horrific pain and despair,
light burst from his entire body.
Magic circles like tattoos across his skin—the woman-shaped thing tore into the ritual faster, but…
“Hahahahaha!”
The man whose legs were being eaten laughed maniacally as his body swelled.
“This trash world! Die with me!”
His tear-streaked face ballooned too, and with flashing mana, the man self-destructed.
-BOOM!
Had he seen the result, his despair would’ve deepened—but he vanished without even ashes.
In the utterly intact classroom.