Chapter 35: Lines Drawn in Silence

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the hand in front of me was—

Why do I have to hold a man’s hand?

Of course, shaking hands might be something I could do.

After all, I sometimes grab Siwoo’s wrist casually or pull him toward me by inserting my hand under his elbow in a hurry.

But Siwoo is Siwoo, and this guy is this guy.

His expression clearly says he has other thoughts.

I still haven’t shaken off the suspicion that this world is based on a web novel.

The way the prince approaches me, and how the nobleman approaches me, it all seems so suspicious.

I could almost see a panorama in my mind of future events, where powerful men from influential families in the empire propose to me, I get overly confident, reject the protagonist, lose all the buffs I had gained, and then, when the Demon King appears, I’m unable to respond properly and get dumped by my fiancé.

As far as talent goes, this… um, what was his name again?

Anyway, this whatever-his-name-is is supposedly better than Rebecca, but that’s the kind of story we see in the beginning—

A character who is relatively less talented and oppressed due to bloodline issues, who eventually overcomes all of that and reaches the top.

That’s what you’d call the ‘predestined path,’ right?

But still, he’s my friend’s older brother.

So, should I take his hand, or not?

I hesitated for a moment, but before I could make a decision, someone else grabbed the hand for me.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Lord.”

Siwoo said, smiling.

“I’m Lee Siwoo, part of the same party as Lila. My surname is ‘Lee’ because I’m from the East.”

“I’m Sasha, also from the same party! And this is Narya!”

“Meow.”

“Finally, this is Chloe, also from the same party and a candidate for Saint. It’s an honor to meet such an esteemed person.”

As Siwoo led the introductions, one by one, my party members introduced themselves, and I noticed the guy’s eyebrows twitch.

Of course, it would make sense—he was probably only interested in speaking with me.

In our party, the only one who could be considered ‘high-ranking’ is probably Chloe, but even she isn’t a major figure within the church.

In the original story, she was a nun from a rural town who accidentally became a candidate for Saint, and in this world, I’m the one who discovered her talents.

From the perspective of the Arnburrow Duke’s family, it would be most beneficial for them to single out just me, the Hero.

The rest… probably seem like ‘commoners’ in their eyes.

Right?

The man hesitated before speaking again, as though he hadn’t anticipated this kind of situation.

Is he handsome?

Well, he’s not bad-looking, but I mean, I’m not about to be swayed just by his appearance.

Why would I be impressed by his looks?

“I’m Lila. I’m the Hero,” I said proudly.

What did he want to say to me?

The noble family probably offered all sorts of support, promising to equip me with top-tier gear and even assign skilled party members to my side.

Or, at least, that’s what they must have said.

But to me, it was all completely useless.

“Currently, you’re the only Hero, and you’re friends with my younger sister, Rebecca.”

“F-friends…”

Rebecca mumbled, slightly flustered.

Landon’s eyes moved sharply.

Why?

What’s the deal?

I’m the Hero, after all.

The principal of this country, the lords of most of the territories, and even candidates for Saint all speak to me with respect, so what’s the big deal?

Just because you showed up late and addressed me politely, it doesn’t make it feel special.

Besides, even if you’re the second son, you’re not going to inherit the ducal title anyway.

What makes you think you can act so arrogantly?

Only heroines with broken minds fall for those kinds of temptations.

And it’s not like I have any desire to become a Duchess either.

“If you’re friends, then are you saying that you just came back from spending time together?”

“That’s right. I’m a wandering adventurer, after all. If I don’t get some exercise every now and then, I’ll forget how to hunt monsters.”

“Monsters?”

Upon hearing my words, Landon’s gaze shifted sideways toward his younger sister.

Then he noticed that the sleeve of her armor was slightly crumpled.

Rebecca shrank back a little.

“Indeed, for the peace of the Empire, to go out and hunt… I truly admire your devotion as a Hero—”

“No, it’s for the money.”

“…Pardon?”

“If I truly had that kind of noble heart, I wouldn’t have accepted any money. The two dragons I killed last time? I got paid for those, no question about it.”

“…Oh, I see.”

“No matter how much the Empire supports me, the thing about money is, it’s always best to earn as much as you can while you can, right? I’m not some noble like you. If I can make a living through my own work, that’s more than enough.”

Besides, the Empire tends to be stingy in this regard.

Even after I became a Hero Candidate, they never directly supported me until I entered the Academy.

Back then, they probably saw me as just a competitor to their son.

Now, there’s no excuse left, so I do get money, but…

“Oh, in that regard, we also—”

“Of course, you should be supporting me.”

“…Pardon?”

Landon’s face was stunned for the second time after my remark.

“Does this country only get protected by the royal family alone? It’s a matter of mutual benefit, right? Do you really think it’s fair for all those noble families, like dukes, who have loads of money, to only support their own candidates and party members? Even in the faraway village of Cloren, they managed to scrape together what little money they had to support me.”

Of course, I wasn’t sure if they really “scraped together” the money.

They didn’t give me piles of gold coins.

But they were generous enough for a goblin hunt.

The problem was that I spent that money elsewhere.

“Don’t tell me you’re planning to hide behind me if the Demon King shows up, expecting me to face him while you just sit back and relax, right? If that were the case, it doesn’t make sense that you’ve kept quiet with no support up until now. Are you in league with the Demon King or something?”

“Li-Lila…”

Rebecca’s face turned pale as she called my name.

Landon’s face, at first, seemed stunned, as if he’d been hit, and the more I spoke, the more it slowly turned red—though, as expected, it was closer to anger than embarrassment.

So what?

Did I say something wrong?

He might want to say, “There’s no such thing as a Demon King,” but judging by the actions of the high-ranking nobles up until now, it seemed like they might truly believe that.

Well, that’s their problem.

In any case, the reason they treat the Hero well is because of the war from 200 years ago, and because of that treatment, the royal family and the ducal houses want their own family members to become Hero Candidates.

It’s the same reason they’re approaching me.

“So, is that all you wanted to say?”

I crossed my arms, tilted my chin up, and stared directly at Landon.

“If that’s the case, why not just send me an official letter? You don’t have to wait here like this. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to broadcast to everyone that a noble second son, with nothing behind him, was eagerly waiting for some commoner like me.”

As I said this, I glanced around.

I could feel the eyes of those who had been subtly paying attention to us quickly shifting away.

“…This is quite something.”

Landon’s face was completely red, but his voice remained surprisingly calm, almost eerily so.

“I seem to have unintentionally offended the Hero. I apologize. Perhaps we can have a more measured conversation next time, when you’re in a better mood.”

Honestly, I had no intention of doing that.

Landon reached out his hand again, but when he saw me staring at it, he quickly withdrew it and clenched his fist instead.

It would have been nice if Siwoo had grabbed it once more, but oh well.

The male and female dormitory buildings were completely separate, so Siwoo and I had to split up.

Since all the members of my party, including Rebecca, were women, we had to move separately from Siwoo, and that made me feel a little uncomfortable.

I didn’t want to avoid Siwoo, but the situation made it look like I did.

“Well then, we’ll head up to our room!”

Sasha and Narya quickly said, then dashed up the stairs.

“I still have some studying left to do! See you tomorrow!”

I scratched my head, staring at Chloe’s back as she left without me even being able to stop her.

What was that about?

Could it be because of what I said to Duke Yongshik earlier?

While I was wondering about that,

“U-um…”

“Hm?”

Rebecca finally spoke up.

She looked hesitant, then slowly asked,

“Do you… dislike the Duke’s family?”

“Huh? What makes you say that?”

Rebecca paused, thinking for a moment, then replied,

“Because of the way you acted in front of my brother earlier today…”

I snorted and said,

“Did I ever treat you the same way? Today, at all?”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Right? That’s it. You don’t dislike me, you dislike your brother. And honestly, I don’t have any feelings for the Duke’s family either. I just used that as a way to talk bad about him.”

I stopped for a moment after saying that.

…Wait, Rebecca is also from that family, huh.

I had momentarily forgotten in the heat of insulting Landon.

No matter how bad the relationship is, insulting family members is a different matter.

Ah, damn, now I get why the other party members rushed upstairs earlier.

It was because of Rebecca’s mood.

“…Uh… if that upset you, I’m sorry.”

I apologized a little late, and Rebecca let out a soft breath.

“It’s fine. I agree with a lot of what you said, though.”

I had just been blurting things out to vent, but that didn’t seem like the right atmosphere for that kind of conversation.

“Anyway, let’s just see each other tomorrow. You’re still planning to train tomorrow, right?”

Rebecca asked, hesitating slightly, and I nodded.

“Yeah. If you’re okay with it.”

“I’m always okay.”

Rebecca smiled faintly at my answer.

It was a much softer expression than her usual expressionless face.

Moment ~ Siwoo’s Perspective ~

“Hey, you.”

As soon as Siwoo entered the dormitory building and heard that voice, he had to forcefully hold back a sigh.

“What’s going on?”

Siwoo managed to maintain his composure and turned to look at the direction of the voice, where several men were walking toward him.

The one in front with purple hair was Landon, the same person Siwoo had just met.

He looked red in the face, likely still brooding over the things Lila had said earlier.

As expected, it seemed that Landon was petty, Siwoo thought.

“What was that earlier?”

“What do you mean by earlier?”

“Who told you you could hold my hand?”

Siwoo paused for a moment, then asked,

“Were you referring to shaking hands as ‘holding my hand’?”

“You little…!”

One of the big guys in the group stepped forward, but Landon raised his hand to stop him.

Then, he let out a laugh as if he found it all ridiculous and said,

“You. You’re just a commoner, right? I don’t know who your friend is, but everyone has their place. You should pay attention when someone explains things to you nicely. A woman in the position of a Hero, do you really think she’ll keep holding onto a commoner like you? Didn’t you hear what I said? It’s obvious she’s just trying to raise her own value.”

Siwoo, however, thought it looked like Landon was just speaking without thinking, picking words that would only irritate him.

Siwoo had been around Lila for ten years in this world, so he had a pretty good grasp of how she thought and acted.

Lila’s attitude earlier had been nothing but outright dislike for the man.

And Lila, once she dislikes someone, doesn’t warm up to them easily again.

If Landon had been trying to flirt with her, he had already made the first mistake.

If there was a way to seduce Lila, Siwoo would have liked to know a bit more about it himself.

However, because of his past life, he was somewhat conflicted when it came to Lila—he was more of a “guard” than a “companion” in her eyes.

But that’s a bit of an irrelevant topic, so let’s put that aside for now.

“So, what is it? Are you actually in love with her?”

Landon asked, teasing.

Siwoo was indeed in love.

But those feelings, he didn’t want to express directly in front of Lila, or anyone else, for that matter.

Siwoo turned his gaze to the surroundings.

“People are watching.”

“Who’s going to care if I do something to you? These guys? They’re not even looking.”

It was true that many people were deliberately trying not to look in their direction.

Siwoo bit back a sigh.

“If you really like her, you should know when to let go. Can you stand in the way of the person you love’s future? As a man, can you?”

In other words, Landon was telling him to abandon Lila.

Siwoo briefly imagined it.

Lila had once said that even if Siwoo betrayed her, she would never betray him.

What man would hear that and betray her?

Especially when she was someone he had loved since childhood.

But still, if he imagined it…

Well, it was too favorable an image of Siwoo, so it felt a little strange, but at least he wouldn’t follow this man’s lead.

He could just laugh it off weakly, ask him back, and then turn around proudly.

That was the kind of person Lila was—a child who would act like nothing happened even after being hurt deeply.

“I won’t stand in her way.”

Siwoo replied firmly.

That’s right.

That wouldn’t happen.

On the contrary, he intended to make sure that Lila could be freed from the chains of being the Hero and live a peaceful life, away from the Demon King’s army.

Before the Demon King’s forces arrive, he wanted to make sure she could spend her time safely.

Of course, he had no intention of hurting her in the process.

So, he had been planning to stretch that time out a bit longer—

“Ah, I see.”

Landon smirked, raising one side of his lips.

“Well then, do your best. Just don’t come crying and clinging to her at the end.”

Turning around, Landon laughed loudly and walked away.

As Siwoo watched his retreating back, he thought to himself.

Maybe I should shorten that time a little.