Currently in a (Fake) Relationship (2)

The news of the fake relationship had finally come to light.

The instant it did, the first person to completely lose it was none other than Iris.

"Ka-Kassel! What are you talking about! Dating! Fake dating! What on earth happened that you'd—with the student vice president of all people…! And Lady Beatrice at that!"

"There were circumstances that warranted it."

"D-don't tell me you were threatened?! That if you didn't do as the ducal house said, they'd hurt Senior Yuri and you?! Not even real dating—fake dating! Th-that's—!"

She seized my shoulders and shook me back and forth before I could even finish explaining, which was a spectacle in itself. And it wasn't only Iris who'd gone into shock. The whole club room buzzed as if a tidal wave had crashed through it.

"…I can't believe this. How did the vice president end up with Kassel?"

"Did the young lady fall for him at first sight? Or is she trying ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to smash two couples?"

"But doesn't the vice president have a fiancé too…? Don't tell me that's her type?"

"Hold on. He said it's fake dating. Then she must have an ulterior motive. Or maybe she saw Kassel's true worth and approached him?"

Romance-fantasy male leads, through and through…

I'd barely tossed out a single plot hook, and they were already racing to knock out a third-rate romance novel.

The pièce de résistance was Rsen, calmly dissecting the situation and sketching out a perfectly plausible backstory. The character who seemed furthest from a romance fantasy was thinking the most like a romance-fantasy male lead, and that was the funniest part of all.

Quiet cats really are the first ones onto the stove, I guess. I ignored the club members' chatter and checked on Yuri.

"J-junior… how did something like this even…"

The club president looked as if she'd lost the entire world, her voice on the verge of tears. Senior Arin had told me she'd kill me if I made her little sister cry, and now I had no face left to show her.

But Senior, please understand. This process is a sacrifice genuinely necessary for the future of the world.

Honestly, the status window went too far with this one.

Above all, this had been a choice unrelated to my will, thanks to the status window's nonsense. I couldn't just sit on my hands while it tried to turn a perfectly normal person into a villainess. She was a daughter of one of the Four Great Ducal Families, no less.

And even if I put up a wall and refused the fake dating, Beatrice wasn't the type to sit quietly. She'd storm into the club room and raise hell.

I never thought she'd actually be thinking of fake dating. That one's on me.

I hadn't been self-aware enough as a supporting male lead. I'd also taken the status window too lightly. So I had to be prepared to take some heat.

If Yuri slapped me across the face right now, I was ready to take it. Really.

This time, I would become trash.

A new creed to rival my old one of I will live viciously. How long it would last, I didn't know.

"I believed in you! I believed in yooou! How could you do this!"

"The fake dating only lasts until the engagement is broken. If you all cooperate, it can be over quickly."

"Cooperate or not, fake dating is not allowed! Don't you know romance? Romance! You pretend to date, then you accidentally fall for each other, realize your feelings, and go all the way to marriage! That's the 'common sense' of fake dating!"

"Ah. Right."

Who said she wasn't a romance-fantasy heroine? The clichés were pouring out of her.

Wait—but her identity is the Ash Saintess.

Had the original Ash Saintess been this flower-brained too?

She'd had her quirks, but she hadn't been this dramatic and talkative. I remembered the original as more composed.

Was this truly what they called romance-fantasy normalization.

When I summarized the circumstances for the club members, they all looked at me with sympathy.

This was the kind of complicated school life even famous figures from other countries would find tragic. I hadn't known being a supporting male lead was such an extreme occupation.

"My… my heart-pounding school pure-love viewing…! My small, precious club pure-love story…! How could it… like this…!"

Iris still couldn't pull herself out of the shock, clinging to me.

"Ka-Kassel, tell me! It's only Lady Beatrice around you, right?! There aren't any other women, right?! Don't tell me you have a wandering eye! Hurry, hurry, tell me!"

She was practically begging now.

I couldn't meet her desperate gaze and shook my head.

"Today it's the vice president, on the third day it's Professor Ruina, and on the last day it's Minister Rina."

Of course, Ruina was my little sister, and Rina was me meeting my older sister in my current identity, so there wasn't really a problem.

"H-huuuh?!"

To Iris, who didn't know the details of my situation, it was nothing but shocking news.

"A-a harem pure-love, a harem pure-love…! What kind of disgraceful…! Like some wicked affair…!"

Her face filled more and more with horror. Anyone watching would have taken her for a tragic heroine abandoned by the trash original male leads. Never mind that she had originally been destined to become the Ash Saintess.

"Th-this can't be! How much—how much I pushed this couple! I told Oliver this couple would be a huge success! I explained it was a market that would work and even got sponsorship! So why! Why are you walking the path of infidelity!"

No, we're not actually dating.

Why wouldn't she listen to people and just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠spin her own fantasies. Growing frustrated, I spoke firmly.

"I have no intention of dragging this contract dating out either. That's why I'd like you all to help a little. If it's you helping, and not anyone else, this story will be over in a month."

My request was simple and clear.

The princes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of various nations and other famous figures who wielded considerable influence even within the academy would deliberately inflate rumors about my fake dating.

The rumors would spread far and wide, reach the ears of the Four Great Ducal Families, and the engagement would be broken. Magni, Beatrice's fiancé, had already given his consent. Don't worry over nothing—just lend me your strength.

This was a world inside a romance fantasy.

A place where the power of rumor worked more strongly than anywhere else, turning things that never happened into established fact.

Our goal was to properly exploit that trait and manipulate public opinion.

"The operation name is Three Men Make a Tiger. If things go well, we can wrap this up quickly."

Three Men Make a Tiger: if three people set their minds to a lie, they can conjure a tiger that never existed.

The problem was that in this idiom, the "tiger" looked ready to evolve past tiger into a dragon. That was the one flaw.

"I still can't accept it! I can't take it! Crossing over for the sake of pure love and landing in a harem pure-love?! What kind of shameless demand is this!"

Which meant that to get their cooperation, I had to persuade the ringleader, Iris.

And I already had the persuasion method fully prepared. This was a world where romance-fantasy laws applied, after all.

"I understand everything, Lady Iris. I know exactly why you've been cheering for Senior Yuri and me."

"…W-what!"

"That's why I can speak even more truthfully. At the very least, I have never once told Senior Yuri a lie."

From here on, everything I said was the truth.

So I hoped they would all believe me.

"I came to this club room because of Senior Yuri. I didn't care who else was here. Because the president and this club room were precious to me."

"…N-no!"

"And I prepared this exhibition with the president and the club in mind as well. I want Senior's club to be the best. Because our school days should be precious."

"Wh-what…!"

Under my earnest persuasion, Iris was crumbling. Riding that momentum, I approached Yuri. She flinched in surprise and shrank back.

"J-junior…?"

"And I have no intention of betraying the feelings Senior put ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into preparing all this for me. So please believe me, President."

"Uh, uhh…"

I figured I'd shown all of my sincerity at this point. Iris trembled from head to toe and hung her head.

"Kassel, Kassel… you…!"

Seeing that reaction, it was coming.

Yeah. The status window wouldn't stay quiet at a time like this.

"You know this is all your fault, right! You get that?!"

"Does that mean you'll help?"

"Just this once, just this once! Don't you dare change your story later!"

Feeling grateful toward Iris, who was reluctantly joining the plan, I looked at the male leads.

So. What about you lot?

"Is this… how terrifying pure love can be…"

"So this is what they call pure evil. So pure it becomes evil without a single gap…"

"Rsen, we should help, right?"

"The atmosphere certainly seems that way."

They were already forming public opinion.

With those guys around, I wouldn't have to worry about palace intrigue.

And so, after securing the club members' cooperation—

"My boyfriend!"

"You've arrived, Vice President."

"Let's go on a date! Get over here!"

Day one of the dating wave began.

What is wrong with those people?

Having fully taken in the literature club's joys and sorrows, Laura looked at Iris and the club members with a pitying stare.

She was supposed to be watching them to investigate Eugene, and instead she'd only learned about some bizarre romance project. What was so special about that "pure love" that the whole group was losing their minds over it.

Princes of various nations, a saint of the Holy Kingdom, the heir of a great merchant house—were they really all that flower-brained? And Iris, who'd gotten all of them into the same club—what was her problem?

Did… did I get my investigation wrong?

No matter how she thought about it, it was strange. She'd assumed gathering the club members had all been Eugene's scheme, but judging by the scene just now, they looked like people who'd simply gathered to cheer on one couple's pure love.

No, seriously. Is nobody suspicious? He looks more suspicious than anyone.

Ah, well.

A bunch of foreign dignitaries had assembled in an unpopular club, so maybe they didn't sweat the small stuff.

But thinking about it logically, if you compared the club members' squeaky-clean identities with Kassel's background, weren't there quite a few suspicious points?

Then at least one person with a normal thought process ought to be suspicious—so why was everyone so busy focusing on the romance project?

And Yuri, the club president who seemed relatively like a person of common sense—why was she so completely infatuated with Kassel that she couldn't even function?

From Laura's perspective, knowing nothing of the laws of romance fantasy, it was endlessly frustrating. Was that doomed literature club truly beyond saving.

I can't take this anymore.

She'd originally planned to stay put, but if nobody was going to suspect Kassel, she'd have to step in herself.

Wasn't there a saying like that.

Something like, If you're the villain, you're already used to it…!

Now was the time for her hysterical self to shine.

So the first target.

Iris would be best, after all.

She'd lay the groundwork with the young lady whose head was stuffed full of hymns to pure love. Sowing discord was her specialty, after all.

And so Laura's dark hand (?) began to stretch toward Iris.