'A peaceful slice-of-life scene passing by without any special incidents, my foot...'

A person I don't want to get close to for reasons different from Reisir has been added to the list of friend candidates.

At least the original protagonist withdraws from the Academy after this semester ends, but I don't even have a clue how to distance myself from this original villain.

Lamenting inwardly that I had been placed in a headache-inducing situation, I clicked my tongue.

Tsk...

"Somehow, it's unexpected."

Vigdís suddenly brought up such words without rhyme or reason.

So I also decided to say what I wanted to say abruptly.

Except not just saying it, but whispering it.

"Just in case you misunderstand, let me say in advance that I did not violate Clause 3 of the contract about not interfering in your human relationships."

"Yes?"

"I mean, the reason I chased that guy away just now was purely because he bothered me, not because he approached you. Moreover, you also felt displeased with him, didn't you? Therefore, consider it help rather than meddling, and be grateful."

"Ah, yees... I will think of it gratefully..."

That wasn't exactly the expression she was making.

Vigdís looked completely flabbergasted.

Anyway, since they weren't words spoken to receive heartfelt thanks, I let it pass without bothering to point it out.

"More importantly, what did you say was unexpected?"

"A person saw us for the first time, arbitrarily omitted honorifics, and even used informal speech, but you just allowed it."

"Allowed it? I expressed my intention that speaking casually was not okay with me. However, the other party arbitrarily ignored my wishes. That's all."

"Still, it's not like you got angry or anything, right?"

As Vigdís said, I couldn't strongly protest Nidr's informal speech or openly express my displeasure.

So it was natural for her to find it strange.

Because if it had been the original Karvaldr, it was more than enough reason for him to fly into a rage.

But looking at it with common sense.

"Just because I don't get angry, that doesn't mean someone should ignore my refusal and treat it as approval."

"That is true, but..."

"Just because he used informal speech, getting angry and bringing up my father's social status would look too pathetic, wouldn't it?"

"Ah, hearing that, it really does sound like a terribly pathetic person!"

"......"

Even though I was in the middle of explaining that I am not such a person, and Vigdís had only agreed with my words, I was momentarily speechless.

Because the original owner of this body I possessed was precisely that 'terribly pathetic person'.

"...And judging by the way that guy talks, getting angry and acting overbearing would only drain my emotions. So I just let him be."

"Aah~, I think I understand. He was someone with a somewhat... indescribable sort of feeling, right?"

Vigdís seemed to understand my words to some extent, but I couldn't understand hers ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) at all.

Still, it was clear that Vigdís had also sensed something negative from Nidr.

Earlier, she had been grinning while listening to criticism disguised as praise, so I had been worri...

No, bothered, but this was fortunate.

'This body is tied to Vigdís through an engagement. If she gets close to Nidr, I'll also be put in a difficult position, won't I?'

Yes, that's it.

Since Nidr had targeted not only Vigdís but me as well.

He even seemed to have his eye on Reisir and Ríolíkin.

'Just looking at how he approached me immediately today because he became slightly acquainted with Vigdís yesterday...'

If by any chance Vigdís opens her heart to Nidr.

He will surely use Vigdís as a bridgehead and slyly insert himself into our meal gatherings.

And he will volunteer for the leader role as if it's the most natural thing in the world.

"I don't know exactly what the 'somewhat' you're talking about refers to, but... To offer advice, not meddling, you should avoid him, though it would be better not to openly ignore him. He will surely hold a grudge and try to harm you someday."

"How do you know that?"

"Evaluating people to their faces means looking down on them that much. How much would his pride be hurt if he were ignored by someone he considers inferior to himself?"

"Are those words from experience, perhaps?"

"If it sounded that way, then it must be."

Karvaldr is not a character who goes around evaluating others.

He is a character who looks down on and ignores everyone to the extent that he doesn't even consider them worth evaluating.

Naturally, he can't stand being ignored by others.

So, acknowledging that it couldn't be helped if Vigdís called it 'experience'...

At that moment.

"Ah! Come to think of it, I don't think that's it."

Vigdís suddenly changed her words.

"...What do you mean, it's not?"

"I..., avoided Kar a lot last semester, right? That was also, in a way, no different from ignoring you, but..."

"You just ran away because you were scared since I was too obsessed with you, and even then, didn't you come to me whenever I called for you? You can't call that ignoring."

"Look even now. You're not holding a grudge; you're being understanding. Come to think of it, Kar has never even argued with me about why I avoided him."

I stiffened my expression.

Because if I didn't, I felt like I would unconsciously make a surprised face.

I had naturally assumed he would have gotten angry and shouted at Vigdís over that matter, but to think he had never even argued.

Surprisingly, it seemed Karvaldr possessed a minimum amount of conscience.

"Instead, he kept trying to explain, almost like brainwashing me, that I shouldn't avoid him because he was the reason I had been able to learn swordsmanship at the Academy."

"......"

"And those weren't wrong words, either..."

I take it back.

As expected, something like conscience didn't exist in an original villain or whatever.

If I hadn't possessed this body, Karvaldr would surely have shouted at Vigdís within the year, demanding that she stop ignoring him.

"Don't try to forcibly find some redeeming point in the perpetrator and cover for him."

"You're saying that while knowing the perpetrator is yourself, right?"

"......I'm saying it because I know. Because the more you say things like that, the more guilty I feel."

To reveal something only to the readers, I forgot for a moment.

Because Vigdís, the victim, was speaking as though she were covering for the perpetrator and trying to find fault in herself. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

I didn't like that, and irritation flared up, so I spoke impulsively.

"As expected, I don't think Kar is the type of person to hold a grudge against someone. So I apologize for asking whether those words came from experience."

"There is no need to go so far as to apologize over something like that."

"In many ways, you must have felt I was ungrateful, but I am always grateful that you consider my circumstances."

"There is even less need to say something like that."

Feeling conflicted, I kept batting away Vigdís's words when she suddenly burst out laughing.

"Poof-!"

Feeling puzzled by that reaction, I tilted my head.

Then Vigdís spoke exactly like Reisir.

"Are you acting aloof because you're shy right now?"

"Ha..., I'm flabbergasted...! Who on earth is shy?!"

"Kar, you."

"No."

"I think I'm right, though?"

"Ah, seriously, no!"

"Pu-hu-hut...!"

The other party wasn't listening to my words anymore, so what was the point of continuing the conversation?

I opened the book resting quietly on my knees and raised it as though to cover my face.

It was an expression of my intention to end this meaningless verbal argument here.

Day 3 of the martial arts tournament, breakfast gathering.

Vigdís told everyone what Nidr had said when he visited us yesterday.

It wasn't a story she volunteered herself, but she answered because Reisir asked whether anything special had happened yesterday.

"If you and Karvaldr both felt the same discomfort, I think it's highly likely that it wasn't just a 'feeling'."

"For now, it seems certain that he's a person who doesn't know basic manners. My older sister is older than him, and Young Master Karvaldr belongs to a Ducal Family. Just because he wants to get close, he acts as he pleases without even checking the other party's intentions."

"Ba, bad person...!"

Reisir said he trusted mine and Vigdís's judgment, while Helga frowned at Nidr's rudeness.

Ríolíkin seemed to move his mouth just because he felt he should say something.

"Did you say his name was 'Nidr'? Since I haven't heard of him, it seems he has never distinguished himself in any particular field until now. It seems he hardly participates in social activities either."

"Never distinguished himself? Even though he possesses that level of swordsmanship skill?"

At the information provided by Helga, who was the only insider with wide connections among us, Reisir couldn't hide his surprise.

It was an understandable reaction.

Because there usually isn't someone who skips swordsmanship lectures and trains in secret just to play at being a hidden master.

"Should I ask some friends? To see whether they know anything about that student?"

"No, forget it. If what Vigdís said is true, then it means he's interested in me and Ríolíkin too. Anyway, if we go to the stadium and sit down later, I think he'll approach us first."

I agreed.

Yesterday, he approached me and Vigdís using his acquaintance with Vigdís as an excuse.

Today, using the excuse that he wants to continue talking with me, he will probably try to make his presence known to Reisir and Ríolíkin as well.

"Understood. Then, setting aside the topic of that rude person for later, may I bring up another story?"

"Of course you may. What is it?"

"Actually, I heard a very interesting story yesterday~."

Helga deliberately dragged out the end of her sentence and narrowed her eyes into a smiling expression.

While doing so, she glanced in my direction, and I felt an extremely ominous premonition.

"W, wait..."

"No, well~. I heard that Young Master Karvaldr helped a certain man and woman become a couple?"

Indeed, a childhood friend.

Just as Reisir had done, Helga ignored my request to stop for a moment and brought up what she wanted to say.

"Whaaat?! Is that true?"

"Where on earth did you hear that story?"

"Is that true??"

"The girl who received the confession is a friend of my friend, so I came to know about it."

"Wow..., so it's true."

"......"

Why does the protagonist of someone else's novel, who has turned into a reaction bot, feel more detestable than Helga, who brought it up to tease me?

But now wasn't the time to dwell on that question.

Whether it was Helga or Reisir, clarifying the circumstances before they openly teased me was the priority.

The words I had said to Vigdís yesterday.

To summarize briefly, I restated that 'I simply snapped because the loser was whining about something insignificant.'

Then Reisir stared at me with a gaze that was impossible to describe in words.

"......"

"Wh..., do you have something to say to me...?"

"I do have something to say, but... I don't think it's something that should be said in the middle of the campus cafeteria, so I'll tell you later in the carriage."

Since Reisir spat out incomprehensible words like that and silently continued eating.

As for me, I had no choice but to tremble with anxiety.

Wondering just how seriously he intended to tease me if he was setting the mood like that.