ESMLT 20

Chapter 20

With a somewhat aggressive tone, Lihard finally revealed his true colors and gave a vicious laugh.

“Before you keep babbling, I’ll just rip your tongue out. Can someone like you, who can’t even use mana, put up any resistance?”

Sien pressed his lips tightly together and glared at Lihard.

For a while, the two of them stood off.

Sien was the first to turn his head, nervously tousling his hair.

“Damn it…”

Lihard was right.

In the Empire, he could have used magic to deal with him, but here, only physical force mattered.

Besides, he knew he couldn’t do anything about the author’s physical abilities.

He could fire a gun, but cleaning up afterwards would be troublesome.

Tsk. As Sien withdrew the murderous aura he had scattered, Lihard clicked his tongue.

‘That pompous, ragged mouth never changes.’

Then he gestured toward the door and changed the subject.

“What’s the relationship between the Duke and the young lady?”

Sien frowned in displeasure at the suddenly heard question.

“Well, I don’t care about anyone but myself.”

“Why not share it? If you’re getting help, shouldn’t you at least know that?”

Sien leaned his head against the wall and gave Lihard a side glance.

“You don’t need to know. If you did, it would bother you quite a bit.”

He lowered his eyes, which had calmed slightly.

Same here, I thought.

Frowning, Lihard turned his upper body toward the bed on this floor.

“So, what exactly is that—”

Click.

The door opened, and Jaeger entered. He ignored the two talking and sat down by the window.

Leaning against the wall, he tucked a longsword under his arm, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes.

Then Redria came in. She glanced at Jaeger sitting by the window and scuffed her cheek with slight displeasure.

An awkward interaction lingered between them.

‘What’s going on?’

Their sharp reading of the situation made the two men exchange glances.

‘Damn it…’

‘Crap…’

Sien and Lihard turned their heads sharply with disgust, as if they had seen something they shouldn’t have. Yet, questions still floated in their minds.

Something must have happened between the two, but what on earth could it have been?

Though the two men wondered, they couldn’t ask.

Redria’s uneven breathing was audible.

They could no longer continue speaking.

Morning came soon after.

“Is everyone ready?”

I placed the tiny weapons, reduced to finger-sized with the miniaturization kit, on my palm and checked while asking.

The male leads in the living room all turned to look at me as if they were prepared.

The Crown Prince carried a spear on his shoulder. Jaeger had a backpack full of food and a mace in hand. And Sien…

“Going to take a blanket with you?”

Sien hugged the blanket I had rewashed carefully.

“Is that not allowed?”

He blinked his sleepy eyes.

“No, it’s not that it’s not allowed.”

On his thigh was a leather holster obtained from the weapons storage the previous day. Seeing the revolver inside, I thought it was fine to take the blanket since his hands were light.

Then, unexpectedly, I made eye contact with Jaeger and flinched, looking away.

Immediately after, I put the miniaturized weapons in my pouch and fussed with my tied-up hair.

‘Ah, this is awkward as hell.’

After yesterday’s conversation, I had no clue how to act around Jaeger.

‘So… first love wasn’t the Saintess, but Redria?’

In other words—

[Childhood friend—betrayal—hatred]

Now became,

[First love—betrayal—resentment].

In the original story, there were scenes where he occasionally missed the Saintess, looking at the handkerchief she gave him as a child.

He had even given up the ducal title to become the Paladin Commander, so naturally, everyone assumed he had liked Roeni since childhood.

Never in his dreams would anyone think his first love was Redria.

Technically, longing for someone over symbolic objects can happen with family or friends too.

Because of that, my plan to persuade him—saying he would want to see the Saintess sooner if he was held back—became useless.

‘What do I do now?’

I sighed at my utterly frozen sense of romance.

“Ria?”

“….”

“Ria.”

I felt warmth on my hand, snapped out of my thoughts, and raised my face.

The three male leads were watching me.

Sien held my hand, asking worriedly,

“What’s wrong? Is something happening?”

“…It’s nothing.”

Seeing them somehow organized my messy thoughts.

It felt like seeing the forest instead of just the trees.

‘Just meeting one more male lead and returning to the system would end it, so why was I worrying so much?’

I smiled faintly, let go of Sien’s hand, and pulled out sticky notes and a fountain pen from my pouch.

“What are you doing?”

“Who knows, maybe another survivor will come here. I’ll leave a message telling them to head north if they do.”

Of course, this was partly for the Crown Prince, Jaeger, and Sien to see.

My real goal was just to save the male leads, but I told them it was to save additional survivors.

Before leaving the cabin, I stuck the note on the main door.

“This should be visible enough.”

I smirked slightly while looking at the note.

Well, there probably aren’t any other survivors besides us anyway.