What the Hell Is This Bullshit? (1)

"What is everyone doing here?"

As the awkward situation continued for several minutes, a gentle woman's voice interrupted us. There was both puzzlement and curiosity in her voice.

Not only I, but also the two women holding my arms, turned our heads at the sound. Where I looked, a blonde woman was holding a wineglass in one hand and staring at us with a questioning expression.

Her golden hair fell in waves, and her blue eyes shone as brilliantly as sapphires. Her off-the-shoulder dress, which combined gold and white in perfect harmony, gave her an elegant and noble air.

She was also wearing an abundance of expensive jewelry, as though she were showing off what kind of person she was.

Like Marie, whose entire aura had changed by 180 degrees, Rina had appeared not as a student but in a manner befitting the 'princess' of a nation.

"Are you two having a lovers' quarrel? How entertaining."

Rina spoke with interest as she took a sip of the drink in her wineglass. She acted as though she were watching a fire from across the river, but there was a sharp edge to her words.

"...A lovers' quarrel?"

Marie furrowed her brow at Rina's words, then met my gaze. I also ended up looking directly at Marie.

"...Ah!"

Then Marie suddenly flinched and released the arm she had been holding. It seemed that, after hearing Rina's words, she had belatedly realized how this situation must look to other people.

Meanwhile, Cecily also seemed ready to stop teasing me and quietly let go of my arm. The arm that had been pressed so tightly against her chest that it had nearly disappeared into it was finally free.

It might sound a little strange, but Cecily's breasts were as soft as a pillow stuffed with down. I could understand that sensation even more clearly once she released my arm.

"W-w-w-who said we were having a lovers' quarrel? D-don't get the wrong idea, all right?"

After the situation ended, Marie shouted at Rina. With the blush spreading across her snow-white skin and the way she stammered, anyone could tell that she was embarrassed.

Rina merely shrugged, as though it didn't matter to her, then answered with a calm expression.

"I'll apologize if I misunderstood. It looks like Cecily was just playing a prank, right?"

Rina then asked Cecily. Her voice was calm but filled with certainty.

"You noticed right away? As expected of you, Rina."

Cecily admitted it immediately instead of denying it. I glanced at Cecily while trying to cool my burning face.

Judging by the way she answered casually with her hands clasped behind her back and her gaze turned elsewhere, she seemed completely unaffected, unlike Marie.

However, I still couldn't understand why she had played such a prank. Even if it was a joke, she had gone a little too far. Regardless of talk about rewards and such, grabbing someone's arm so unabashedly looked almost like a sign of affection.

'...Is she just teasing a younger brother who's easy to tease?'

Cecily had feelings for me. It wasn't a mistaken assumption; anyone would realize it from the way she normally treated me and played pranks on me, no matter how oblivious they were.

The problem was that I sometimes couldn't tell whether those feelings were affection for me as a person or romantic interest. If it was something like the reward she had mentioned earlier, it would be closer to simple affection between two people.

'I should probably think of it as nothing more than a flirtation.'

For now, it was better to think that way. There was too little evidence that Cecily liked me romantically, and even if she did, I intended to keep my distance.

I was the son of a mere baron, while Cecily was the princess of Helium. That alone showed how vast the gap between us was.

Of course, the situation would be reversed the moment she learned that I was the author of The Chronicle of Xenon, but revealing a secret I had hidden so carefully would be an uncomfortable thing for anyone, so that was an exception.

The same applied not only to Cecily, but to Marie as well.

"Come to think of it, Isaac's formalwear is red too, just like Cecily's, isn't it? It goes really well with his hair."

"Thank you. You look like the sun shining in a blue sky, Lady Rina."

"Hehe. Thanks for the compliment. Marie, you said you were going to dress up, but you look even prettier than before, don't you?"

"I'm not happy to hear that from you at all."

Despite Rina's friendly compliment, Marie responded coldly. Though Marie was the daughter of a duke, she was repeatedly being rude to an imperial princess of even higher rank.

However, Rina merely smiled as though she didn't care at all and gave no particular answer. Marie's expression, meanwhile, was visibly souring by the second.

"...Anyway, what are you planning to do from here?"

Marie asked Rina with an expression of displeasure. Rina answered in her characteristic gentle voice.

"I was thinking of taking Isaac around. I thought I might introduce him to some friends I know while I'm at it."

"You make it sound as though Isaac will definitely be staying with you. Aren't you going to ask his opinion?"

"Then I can ask him now. What do you think, Isaac?"

Rina answered Marie's hostile question shamelessly. Ignoring Marie's increasingly sour expression, she looked at me and asked for my opinion.

Once again faced with an uncomfortable situation, I rubbed the callus on my middle finger.

Even now, I was already attracting countless gazes. If I followed Rina around from here, it was obvious what kind of looks other people would give me.

Even if it disappointed Rina, refusing her proposal would be far better than stepping into the complicated political world of the nobility. Even if she pressured me like last time, I would refuse to the bitter end.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I can. I feel as though I would cause trouble for you, Lady Rina."

"Even if I asked you to?"

When I politely expressed my refusal, Rina brought up the words I had expected. She called it a request, but it was unmistakably closer to an order from an imperial princess.

I looked directly into Rina's eyes. Her gaze held the certainty that I wouldn't be able to refuse. However, I could declare with confidence that her expectation was completely wrong.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, but I have no interest in complicated matters. At least for this moment, I want to enjoy the gathering itself."

I conveyed my intentions clearly to Rina in a firm voice. I placed a hand over my heart to emphasize my resolve.

Perhaps it was because I had been so direct, and because I had used her title instead of calling her by name as usual. Rina's eyes widened slightly, as though she had never expected me to say such a thing.

Although it would hurt her feelings, cutting things off firmly here would benefit me in the future.

"...All right. If that's what you want, then so be it. I can't drag along someone who doesn't want to come."

Perhaps Rina understood how I felt, because she merely spoke regretfully without seeming disappointed. She fell silent for a moment, then, apparently having nothing more to say to me, turned to Cecily beside her.

"Then what about you, Cecily?"

"I'm curious who Rina's friends are."

"All right. Marie..."

"Do I really have to answer?"

Before Rina could even finish asking, Marie's prickly response came back. Rina gave a knowing little laugh and opened her mouth.

"Marie. Let me warn you in advance: how long are you going to keep acting like that? Do you dislike me that much?"

"I don't want to get close to someone who wears a mask. I can understand your position well enough, but you shouldn't have done that to me, at least."

Apparently, Marie had once been badly hurt by Rina in the past. Judging by the fact that Rina didn't say anything either, she seemed to think she had been at fault.

After Marie's answer, a deathly silence settled over us for a moment. Then Rina broke the silence and changed the atmosphere, though her voice had lost some of its strength.

"...Let's talk separately later. Cecily? Let's go now."

"Yeah."

"Then I hope you two enjoy yourselves as well."

Rina led Cecily toward the area where people had gathered in small groups. Before leaving, Cecily also waved at us and greeted us warmly.

I waved back, experiencing a strange sense of déjà vu as though I had gone through a similar situation before. Marie, meanwhile, said goodbye only to Cecily and didn't even spare Rina a glance.

Once Rina and Cecily had been surrounded by people and disappeared from view, Marie looked at me and made a suggestion.

Her face was bright—completely different from the expression she had shown Rina.

"Then shall we go somewhere else too?"

"Hmm..."

I stared at Marie, who had referred to the two of us so naturally as 'we.' The reason I didn't answer immediately was that I had something to think about.

The reason I had refused Rina's proposal was partly that I didn't want to become entangled in politics, but the fundamental reason was that I found Rina difficult to relax around. She wasn't someone I could talk to as easily as Marie or Cecily.

Marie was a little different. I considered myself fairly close to her, and she currently seemed to harbor some sort of affection for me.

I couldn't tell whether that affection was romantic or simply personal, just as with Cecily, but I could state with certainty that we were by no means in an uncomfortable relationship.

'Still, I should say what needs to be said.'

I asked Marie, letting a trace of concern enter my voice.

"Wouldn't being with you undermine the reason I rejected Princess Rina's proposal?"

"Uh..."

Marie also seemed unable to answer that point immediately. Her blue eyes darted around as she desperately searched for a reason.

Though Marie was far from being preoccupied with authority, she was still from the ducal House of Rechillis. Even if she wanted to avoid it, she was in a position where she couldn't help but become entangled in complicated matters—in other words, politics.

Moreover, she had said something similar before. Even if she didn't want to attend the gathering, she had to participate to expand her connections because she was the daughter of House Rechillis. That was an undeniable truth.

What choice would Marie make here? I silently waited until she had organized all her thoughts.

After a little while, Marie looked toward where Rina and Cecily were before eventually nodding. It seemed she had finished sorting out her thoughts.

"...I can't right now. As you know, I have things I need to do too."

Marie spoke with a slightly gloomy expression. The thing she needed to do was surely expand her network.

If I had valued the gathering itself, as I did, we could have traveled around together, but unfortunately, the circumstances weren't so simple.

"All right. Then I guess I'll see you later."

"Yeah. We can meet once the event is mostly over. Oh, and..."

Marie started to say something, then stopped and stared intently at my face. I tilted my head, expressing my confusion.

She repeatedly opened and closed her mouth, then blushed slightly and cleared her throat. In a quieter voice than before, she spoke to me.

"Um... Because of the prank Cecily played earlier, other people might ask what kind of relationship you and I have. In that case..."

"In that case?"

"... ..."

Marie had gone beyond trailing off; she had fallen completely silent. At the same time, her face began turning red like a sunset.

Well, I could roughly guess what she was thinking. She was probably wondering to herself what kind of relationship we had. I quietly waited until she opened her mouth.

After thinking for a while, she glanced at me and let out a deep sigh. Then she spoke in a somewhat troubled voice.

"...Just say we're friends. Understand? Say it happened because Cecily's prank had us worried."

"Okay."

"...All right. Then enjoy yourself."

Marie weakly answered my blunt reply and walked away. Only after she turned her back did I realize that the back of her dress was completely exposed. It wasn't as daring as Cecily's, but Marie's dress was quite bold as well.

I stared for a moment at her beautiful figure, which radiated grace even from behind. Once it seemed the situation had come to an end, I turned around.

"...Hmm?"

Then I suddenly sensed someone looking at me from behind and turned my head. However, no one was looking at me, as though it had all been my imagination.

The only thing in my field of vision was Marie's back as she gradually moved farther away. I let my gaze linger on her retreating figure, then turned my head away again.

'Maybe I'll just have some wine.'

On the way to the table, I remembered the wine Rina had been holding earlier. People were considered adults once they turned seventeen here, so there was no problem with drinking.

I wasn't particularly fond of alcohol, but I was still curious. What did the wine of this world taste like? Perhaps because my palate was childish, I hoped it would be sweeter than bitter.

'But when does the event actually start...?'

I was grumbling inwardly as I headed toward the table.

"Hey! Redhead!"

"Hm?"

Was he calling me "Redhead"? Considering the voice that pierced my ears and the fact that he called me that instead of my name, I had a pretty good idea who it was.

When I turned my head, just as expected, a familiar face came into view nearby. He was surrounded by people, but I could recognize that obnoxious mug clearly enough.

With that obnoxious face and everyone's attention focused on me, I looked around just in case. But as expected, I was the only redhead here.

I pointed at myself with my index finger, expressing my confusion.

"Me?"

Had my question gotten through?

That obnoxious mug—in other words, Jackson's face—twisted violently. His expression clearly said, Who else would I mean?

I snickered inwardly at his reaction and walked toward Jackson. As I did, the gazes of the people surrounding him gradually shifted toward me.

They were all unfamiliar faces, but I assumed they were martial-arts students. Most of the men were tall or broad-shouldered, while some of the women were wearing men's formalwear instead of dresses.

Then I stopped in front of Jackson and, as I had last time, offered him a blunt greeting. I didn't care how many people were watching.

"Hello."

"... ..."

Jackson's face crumpled even more than before. For some reason, he seemed dissatisfied with my greeting.

He took a deep breath as though suppressing his anger, then spoke quietly.

"You... You're unbelievably rude. Didn't you learn at home that you should speak politely to someone with a higher title than yours?"

"... ..."

I didn't answer immediately, merely glancing around with my eyes. The unfamiliar faces were watching the situation with interest.

It seemed he was trying to make me out to be an impolite bastard in front of everyone, but there was one thing Jackson had gotten wrong.

"That's only when someone has 'officially' inherited a title. As far as I know, that doesn't apply to sons like us, does it?"

"...What?"

The moment I answered, Jackson looked flustered. As I had said, one was expected to observe the proper etiquette based on rank only after officially inheriting a title.

Of course, there were exceptions. Royalty, who stood above the nobility, was one such case. That was why I always used honorifics with Rina. Cecily was an exception because she had told me to call her Noona.

I didn't know where Jackson had learned it, but he had some strange ideas. Besides, unless someone had a mindset of looking down on others like Jackson, people normally spoke politely and treated each other with respect.

"Even so, shouldn't we speak formally to each other?"

"The redhead was the one who started speaking informally."

"Jackson called him Red Hair from the moment he called out to him."

Ah, that didn't mean I was in the right. As everyone was saying, both of us had been branded as rude bastards.

However, Jackson seemed particularly flustered by the situation. Even if I was rude, he had also been labeled an impolite person himself.

While Jackson was flustered, I opened my mouth to continue the conversation. First, it was important to find out why he had called me.

"By the way, did you have something to say? There must be a reason you called me, right?"

"...Ahem. Ahem."

Perhaps my question had brought him back to his senses, because Jackson cleared his throat and calmed himself. Then he spoke to me with his characteristic condescending expression.

"It's nothing special. I just happened to see you while I was passing by. There was an interesting scene just before that, too."

"... ..."

"The young lady of House Rechillis and the princess of Helium. No matter who they are, they're people no one can approach carelessly. They live in a different world from some people."

"So what's your point? If you're going to ramble on about something strange, I'm leaving."

"W-wait! Listen to me!"

When I made a gesture as though I really intended to leave, Jackson hurriedly stopped me. He clearly hadn't expected me to act that way.

But I was already slightly annoyed at having my precious time stolen. I had been trying to drink some wine, so what the hell was this supposed to be?

Jackson looked at my increasingly sullen expression, then spoke in the same condescending tone.

"What I want to talk about is simple. We test each other's logic."

"Logic?"

"That's right. Normally, I wouldn't have considered it worth doing, but I changed my mind after seeing how many professors were interested in you. Your knowledge has been proven, and I became curious about how sound your reasoning is."

Hmm... Was he planning to humiliate me in front of everyone? Had he simply assumed that he was smarter than me?

I couldn't understand what had given him the confidence to make such a proposal. It might even turn into a blunder for Jackson.

Apparently, he wanted to humiliate me while showing off his own intelligence, but if he happened to lose, the backlash would obviously be tremendous.

I raised one eyebrow, expressing my curiosity. More than the proposal itself, I wanted to know what the topic would be.

"What's the topic? I'll refuse if it's something strange."

"The Chronicle of Xenon."

"...What?"

Why was that coming up all of a sudden?

While I was more than a little flustered, Jackson spread both arms and gestured toward the people gathered in small groups around us before speaking.

"Everyone gathered here is a fan of The Chronicle of Xenon. Until just now, we were discussing how the story would develop from here. All sorts of opinions and arguments were exchanged."

"... ..."

"Then I happened to see your face. You, the literature freshman who has attracted the attention of so many professors."

"So?"

At my question, Jackson snorted and continued.

"As you know, Xenon and Mary are the protagonists of The Chronicle of Xenon, but Jin and Lily have a considerable role as well. On top of that, the heartbreaking love story between Jin the demonkin and Lily the priestess has been keeping countless readers on tenterhooks. Until just now, that was what we were discussing."

"I know that too."

And I was planning to destroy that love story in the most tragic way possible. Regardless of what anyone said, I had to pay off the plot threads and foreshadowing, didn't I?

Still, I found it strange that they were discussing romantic pairings. I had expected them to talk about economics or politics, but as Nicole had said, kids would be kids.

Perhaps my agreement encouraged him, because Jackson launched into an extended explanation.

"But I think differently. Jin and Lily can never end up together. I can say that with certainty."

"...Why?"

Had this bastard somehow figured out the plot thread I had hidden so carefully?

I felt my opinion of Jackson, which had been crawling along the floor, shoot vertically upward, and I focused on his words. From an author's perspective, there was no greater satisfaction than seeing a reader predict the story through deduction.

What if they even meticulously analyzed the foreshadowing and plot threads to reach their conclusion? It made me think, They love my work this much, and encouraged me to write even harder.

That was why I couldn't help looking forward to Jackson's answer. Everyone thought Jin and Lily would end up together, yet he alone claimed it was impossible. There had to be something behind it...

"Because Lily will ultimately go to Xenon."

"... ..."

"A demonkin and a priestess together? Even so, God won't allow it. Lily will realize that eventually. Besides, the kindness she occasionally shows Xenon makes it obvious that she has feelings for him."

What the hell was this bullshit? The moment I heard his explanation, I cursed aloud with genuine feeling.

"Fuck. What?"

This bastard was turning a perfectly decent character into a total bitch.