After finishing everything, the Agail Mansion was a complete mess.
The world had darkened, an explosion occurred in the nearby mountains, and lastly, the duke returned having lost one arm.
Even on the solemn day of the funeral, chaos was unavoidable.
The servants, looking like they had seen a ghost, ran out of the mansion at midnight to find a doctor.
The Shadow Knights, feeling they had failed in protecting the duke, were trying to take their own lives, and we had to stop them.
In a frenzy, the doctors arrived, half out of their minds, stitching up the Duke’s wounds.
After such a tumultuous night, I spent one more night at the mansion.
“By the way, why are you sleeping in my bed again today?”
“Mmm… Don’t!”
When I opened my eyes in the morning, Rynelle was sound asleep next to me.
The bed was so spacious that it wasn’t uncomfortable, but I hadn’t given permission for another sleepover like the first night.
Feeling slightly peeved, I poked her cheek with my finger, but she just mumbled in her sleep and didn’t wake up.
She must have been incredibly tired after everything from the funeral to being kidnapped to running for her life.
No wonder she was sleeping so deeply that even if someone carried her off, she wouldn’t notice.
“Why did you sneak into my bed…?”
I wanted to ask, but it felt awkward to wake the sleeping student just to inquire.
Above all, unlike the previous night, she was wearing a quite sensual nightgown, and I didn’t want to wake her up.
What on earth made her wear such revealing lingerie and sheer nightwear into my room?
If she thought I wouldn’t make a move, that might just tick me off even more.
But this wasn’t for me to judge, so I quietly got out of bed.
As I tucked Rynelle in with a blanket, I went outside.
“Good morning, Professor Daniel.”
“…Yes. Good morning.”
As soon as I stepped out of the room, the butler greeted me, and the image of the Betrayer popped into my mind.
Even though I knew all the traitors had disappeared from the mansion, I hesitated.
I decided to maintain my composure and act nonchalantly.
“Are you perhaps my exclusive butler today?”
“No, I’m here to inform you that the Duke wishes to see you before breakfast.”
“Oh, I see. Please tell him I’ll be there.”
“Yes, I’ll relay the message, so you can visit him after you’re ready.”
With that, the butler quietly started walking down the hallway.
It was oddly reassuring to note that he wasn’t a butler darting around through shadows.
Perhaps the Agail Duke had instructed for a regular butler to attend to me.
“…Is this too much wishful thinking?”
If the Duke had been that considerate, he wouldn’t let his daughter just sit in her room.
Anyway, I no longer needed to worry about appearances, so I splashed some water on my face and made my way to him.
He was already at work in a tidy suit from the morning, so I wondered if he was getting enough rest.
“You’ve arrived.”
“How’s your arm? Does it feel empty?”
“It’s no problem. The pain has already subsided, and I can use shadows when I need both hands.”
“I see I’ve asked a pointless question.”
The Agail Duke was not the type to complain just because he lost an arm.
Even without both arms, he would carry on with his daily routine like any other person.
“Don’t you have any injuries?”
“You would’ve heard from the doctor that I’m fine.”
“I mean, not just visible wounds. I’m asking if you’re emotionally distressed, considering how much blood you’ve had to spill for us.”
“If that’s the case, I’m okay. It’s not like it was my first time killing someone.”
“…Can you tell me when your first kill was?”
“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there was an incident involving the Crown Prince in the Witch’s Forest. At the time, I killed the assassins chasing after him. That was my first kill, and honestly, it didn’t leave much of an impression.”
I committed murder thinking that if I didn’t do it right away, I’d be the next to die.
This world is a place where you can’t survive with the flimsy sympathy of others.
“Really?”
“So, you don’t need to worry about me. If you were planning to press me about some White Fang members I might have missed…”
“I have no intention of interrogating you. It’s impossible for anyone to wipe out roughly 300 skilled fighters alone while being at less than full strength.”
Having exhausted a lot of mana searching for Rynelle, taking on 300 people was honestly a long shot.
Let alone they weren’t just standing targets, but attacking from various angles.
As such, I had to kill them in very brutal ways to instill fear.
I was warning them that the price for failing was a horrific death, showing it first-hand.
Some who witnessed the death of their comrades chose flight over fight.
My role was to guard the entrance, so I didn’t pursue the fleeing individuals separately.
Including the traitors in the mansion, there were quite a few remnants left alive now.
“The cleanup of the traitors and the remnants is my responsibility, so you don’t need to worry about it.”
“Good, because I was wondering what I should do if you asked me to handle leftover mess whilst I need to return to the Academy.”
“Ah, you’re not a member of our family, but an outsider…”
The Duke placed the papers he had been reading down on his desk.
He looked up at me directly before suddenly jumping to his feet.
Then, he bowed at a 90-degree angle, showing me the top of his head.
“What are you doing?”
“I just wanted to sincerely thank you for saving my precious daughter. As the head of the Agail family and father to a daughter, I’ve longed to express my heartfelt thanks to you.”
“It’s fine. I just saved my student.”
“……”
The Duke closed his eyes, looking somewhat suspicious, as if there was something itchy he couldn’t scratch.
“Is there a problem?”
“I have a question that I’d like to hear your honest answer to.”
“Depending on the question, I might not be able to give you a straight answer. But if you’re okay with that, go ahead.”
“Can you tell me why you risked your life to save Rynelle?”
I wondered what serious tone he was trying to adopt, but it was a very ordinary question.
Though I figured it was a question worth pondering.
Just being her instructor wouldn’t justify such a commitment.
Whether he would understand or not, I decided to share my thoughts as they were.
“Honestly, until a while ago, I only thought about myself.”
I prioritized my own happiness and barely considered others’ situations.
The only exception being Nina, the heroine, to whom I showed some special care.
Other than her, I had practically neglected everyone else. But as I began to accept this world as reality rather than a novel, everything looked different.
Characters I hadn’t cared about were individuals who felt and expressed emotions just like me, crying and laughing.
“But just thinking about myself doesn’t mean things will necessarily get better.”
As I started treating them as people rather than mere characters in a story, it suddenly struck me.
Could a future gained by sacrificing others really be true happiness?
Though I might have been able to rejoice at the time, I thought the happiness wouldn’t last long.
“There’s a saying that good things together grow nicer, and sharing sorrow makes it less burdensome, right?”
I’d much prefer the image of securing happiness through cooperation rather than stepping over others’ corpses.
Above all, before I possessed Daniel’s body, I had adamantly claimed that if I became him, I’d live a far happier life.
I promised to create the best ending, but settling for something not quite the best happy ending felt downright shameful, wouldn’t it?
At the very least, I was determined to keep striving until I could proudly say that I did my best.
“Does that mean you want to share your feelings with Rynelle and live together for life?”
“Not to that extent. I just hope we can be open with each other emotionally. Helping each other when in need too.”
“So you want to engage with Rynelle and, furthermore, form a mutually beneficial relationship with our family.”
“If that’s possible, that would be great.”
The more powerful the support, the better, and that support being the Agail Duke’s family?
I could, at least, completely evade the responsibility for incidents occurring within the Academy and the Empire.
With the help of the Agail family, I wouldn’t have to worry about eventually shouldering all the responsibility and resigning from my professorial position.
“You are our benefactor; we can hardly refuse your requests.”
“Really?”
“If we cannot support the person who protected our only daughter, then our family’s status will surely drop.”
“Wow! You’re truly wise!”
Just as I was about to rise and give a resounding round of applause…
The Agail Duke was glaring at me with greedy eyes.
“So in that spirit, I want to propose something to you.”
“Eh? Is there an additional condition?”
“I will not go back on my word to support you. I’m merely asking if you’d like to strengthen our bond further.”
“Strengthen our bond? In what way…?”
“How about getting engaged to Rynelle?”
“Gasp!”
I genuinely gasped in shock, letting out an odd sound without realizing it.
I never expected a discussion of marriage for his daughter to pop out at this timing.
I felt completely bewildered, as if I had just been hit over the head.
Still, I felt like I had to say something, so I barely managed to open my mouth.
“Well, isn’t it rude to decide on a marriage without the parties present?”
“Do you know that since escaping from the cave, Rynelle’s gaze has been fixed on you?”
“Really? Is that so?”
“It seems she has feelings for you. That’s why I’m asking.”
“Rynelle has feelings for me? I think that might just be a misunderstanding.”
The mischievous girl who constantly tried to mess with others has feelings for me?
Especially the one who only scolded me harshly?
Honestly, it was hard to believe. Couldn’t her feelings be more like interest rather than true affection?
“What if it’s not a misunderstanding?”
“W-Well, I think it would be difficult to answer right away. I’ll think about it first.”
“Ah, I’ve done what I came to do, so you may leave now.”
“I apologize for the interruption…”
As I left the room in a daze, I scratched my head.
It felt like I had walked into a storm and stepped out.
*
In Ruphon Agail’s office.
As Daniel left, a silence filled the room, but it didn’t last long before a small noise began to emerge.
With a thump-thump, Ruphon Agail’s whole body was shaking.
A slender arm had slipped out from his shadow.
At its end was the lace trim of a nightgown a woman would wear.
“Rynelle, stop thumping him already.”
“……”
The owner of the arm thumping Ruphon Agail was none other than Rynelle.
She had woken up due to the conversation between Daniel and the butler.
Having also heard the butler’s message, Rynelle sought out Ruphon Agail during Daniel’s ablutions.
Without even bothering to wipe the sleep from her eyes, she had eagerly requested to enter her father’s shadow.
With his daughter’s earnest request, Ruphon Agail had no choice but to grant it.
Thus, upon entering the shadows, Rynelle eavesdropped on the conversation between Daniel and Ruphon Agail.
And when her father made the unexpected proposal, she was not the only one who was taken aback—Daniel was surprised too.
“It’s the head of the family’s command.”
“……”
Even with the authority of the head, Rynelle’s hand didn’t stop thumping her father’s back.
That showed how dissatisfied she was with her father’s words about marriage.
“Haah…”
Ruphon Agail wished Rynelle would genuinely get angry.
He found it both embarrassing and oddly enjoyable to see his daughter blush bright red from the reaction.
‘What on earth am I supposed to do with a daughter in the throes of first love…’
Ruphon Agail’s dilemma was one that any father would struggle to solve.
