The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

But before continuing the conversation...

“Sophia.”

I pointed to one of the women who had been hovering around since earlier.

“Y-yes...!?”

The blonde woman, who had been wearing a long coat with a thick scarf around her neck, let out a high-pitched sound in surprise when I spoke.

“Sophia, please come here and sit down.”

“Wh-what? Who are you talking about, Sophia? My name is Jeon.”

“Using the most common name in the system won’t help. It’ll just make it more suspicious. If you want to hear the story, stop eavesdropping and come sit quietly here.”

I gestured to the remaining chair at the table.

Sophia’s disguise was actually pretty good. If I hadn’t seen her disguised in the original story, I definitely wouldn’t have recognized her.

Moreover, while other students would quickly run away from me whenever our eyes met, it would have been impossible for me to not notice her lingering around.

...Well, I guess I half-jumped the gun. After all, I could just rewind time if it went wrong.

“...”

Thankfully, it seemed that the woman was indeed Sophia.

Realizing she couldn’t keep up the charade any longer, Sophia pulled off her wig and removed the scarf.

Her face was still filled with embarrassment.

“Sophia? Is it really you?”

Leo stared wide-eyed.

It made sense. He was a swordsman, trained to detect people by their presence. Leo, who was currently undergoing serious training with a sword master, had developed a much keener sense than before.

“...”

Sophia, her face flushed, came over and sat down, trying to put on a dignified expression, though it was somewhat ruined by the redness of her face.

Moreover, her eyes were swollen. I didn’t know when she had been following us, but she’d probably been crying somewhere earlier.

Sophia, as a heroine, was a beautiful girl. I should have felt guilty, seeing her cry because of me—especially since I didn’t have a good impression of her from the original. But right now, I just wanted to rip my hair out.

No, what the hell did I do wrong?

“What happened?”

It’s your fault, *you*.

Even Leo, who was usually oblivious, seemed to immediately recognize Sophia’s face.

So now what?

At first, I had planned to hear Leo out and then rewind time. I thought I would give them a chance to talk more naturally at a later time... though it didn’t go exactly as planned, there was still a chance for that to happen.

But I couldn’t just tell Leo, “Sophia likes you.” That would have been the absolute worst move. Even though I had lived a life far removed from romance in my past life, if someone told me that someone I liked liked me without me confessing, I would want to kill that person.

...The problem, though, was that Leo was far worse at picking up on these things than I was.

Alright then.

If I could be blunt about it, I’d go ahead and say it.

“Leo, do you know that people have been misunderstanding the relationship between you and me lately?”

“Huh?”

In the awkward atmosphere, worsened by Sophia’s downcast expression, I made the statement, and Leo reacted by making a more clueless remark than usual.

I heard someone inhale sharply. I glared in their direction. It seemed like two girls from the B-Class of the nobility had entered the bakery and, upon seeing us, had been trying to eavesdrop while acting casual. As soon as they made eye contact with me, they turned pale and quickly left the shop.

Even the bakery owner’s face turned pale.

...I didn’t mean to interfere with the business.

Maybe I should buy a ton of bread as an apology when I leave. I can’t eat all of it, but I can share it with the residents I visited last time. After all, I did make some of them shake in fear after firing my gun.

“What do you mean by that?”

“It means exactly what I said. People think I like you. And while I don’t think you like me, it’s clear that’s what they think.”

“...”

Leo, who had been staring blankly with his mouth open for a while, turned pale.

“I... I, me?”

He was so flustered that his speech turned awkward.

“Y-yes.”

“W-what about with the princess?”

“Yes.”

“...”

Leo looked like a fish gasping for air, and after a while, he wiped his face with his hands.

I glanced over at Sophia. Her face was still swollen, but at least there was no sadness or despair on her face. Instead, she looked surprised.

“Let’s make one thing clear.”

I spoke in the tone I often used when negotiating with Leo.

“Do you think I like you?”

“Eh? No, of course not.”

Leo immediately hardened his face and replied.

“I never thought such an outrageous thing.”

“I don’t think it’s an outrageous thought, though...”

I couldn’t stop myself from giving a wry smile.

“I’m glad to know you’re not misunderstanding, at least.”

I gave Sophia one last glance and stood up.

Sophia was about to get up as well, but I placed my hand firmly on her shoulder and gently pushed her back into her seat.

Actually, if it came to physical strength, Sophia was stronger than me, so if she really wanted to, she could have stood up regardless of whether I had my hand on her shoulder or not. But, as a princess, maybe she didn’t want to stand up, so she stayed seated without a word.

“You stay and finish your meal here. I believe you know that getting up first in the middle of a meal is quite rude to the person you’re sitting with.”

When Leo heard my words, his face immediately turned to one of frustration.

It was only natural. I was the one getting up without finishing my meal.

But so what?

I’m a princess, and you’re just a baron (well, technically not even a real one yet).

And Leo knew that very well, so he didn’t get up to follow me.

Turning around without a second thought, I headed for the door of the bakery—but when I saw the bakery owner looking at me with a face as if I’d overheard something I shouldn’t, I bought every loaf of bread except for a few that would be good for Leo and Sophia.

The bakery owner’s face brightened, and as I was leaving, he even shouted, “Please visit again next time!”

Money really is the best.

*

“...”

“...”

After a brief but intense time, Leo and Sophia sat there, staring at each other, both with blank expressions. They clearly had no idea how the situation had escalated.

“...You don’t really believe what I said, do you?”

Sophia squinted at Leo as she asked.

It was only then that Leo realized Sophia’s eyes were still red and swollen. He hadn’t noticed this in the morning... or maybe he did, but wasn’t sure. To be honest, he couldn’t be sure. Claire had always treated Leo like an oblivious little brother whenever he looked at her.

Of course, that wasn’t true. He couldn’t deny that he was bad at picking up on things, but Leo was definitely not her little brother.

“Believe it? What do you mean by that?”

Sophia rolled her eyes, looking utterly confused. Her expression seemed both incredulous and, in some ways, pitiable. Leo could tell that, at least, she wasn’t pitying him.

“It’s obvious it’s a lie. Just look at how the princess has been acting.”

Sophia folded her arms and glared at Leo, and once again, Leo was left speechless.

“No, just earlier, didn’t the princess herself say that? She said it wasn’t like that.”

“So, is the person who likes an unavailable man supposed to say ‘actually, I love you’?”

“...”

That... well, yes, but...

Hearing this, Leo’s heart felt heavy.

At least...

At least, he thought, the princess wouldn’t be like that.

The reason was simple. Even though they had spent a night together in the same place during summer vacation, the princess hadn’t once shown the slightest sign of embarrassment or shyness.

At least, after seeing that reaction, Leo felt confident that he could tell she had no special feelings for him.

“Have you ever seen the princess talking to another man?”

“Jake, right?”

At Leo’s quick response, Sophia slapped her forehead.

Why is she doing this to me?

After seeing Sophia’s reaction, Leo began to understand why Princess Sylvia had insisted on sitting Sophia next to her and saying those words.

She was trying to clear up the misunderstanding.

If it were a man, it wouldn’t matter as much, but if it were a woman, just having such rumors circulating could tarnish her reputation.

“No, what I mean is...”

Leo calmly began explaining to Sophia, step by step, why he was sure the princess didn’t like him.