Cordelia Is Not a Loner – 2

“So all those rumors are false?”

“Yes. Lady Adamas and I are truly nothing to each other.”

Disappointment clouded the girls’ eyes as they looked at me. What exactly were these people expecting? Is gossip more important than chivalry?

“We apologize. It seems we’ve been misunderstanding you, Duke’s Heir.”

“Haha… Don’t worry about it.”

The female students slightly bowed their heads to apologize to me. I barely managed to resist the urge to give each of their exposed crowns a flick and instead exchanged pleasantries.

Contrary to what I said, I was actually very bothered. The rumors they asked me about were all outlandish. There were even rumors that made me wonder how others viewed me. When I heard the insane rumor that Wilhelm had taken a leave of absence after being rejected after confessing to me, I just wanted to wash my ears out. Then there was the relatively accurate rumor about the love triangle between me, Wilhelm, and Seol-ah.

Naturally, I jumped up and denied everything. None of the rumors seemed likely to help my image. Especially the rumors related to homosexuality. I can’t understand how such absurd rumors circulate when so many people have seen me sticking close to Hestia for two weeks. It seems you get caught up in all sorts of ridiculous rumors just by standing next to someone. Is this the life of a celebrity?

One of the girls, who couldn’t hide her disappointment at my firm denial, suddenly popped out and threw a new question.

“Then what about with Cordelia?”

“You mean Lady Deneb?”

Do people normally ask such questions with both parties right in front of them? The girls did scold the student who asked the question, saying she was crazy, but they couldn’t hide the curiosity in their pupils.

I unconsciously looked at Cordelia. Her face was strangely distorted. It’s the expression of extreme disgust. I never even considered it, but somehow it stings. Feeling indignant, I decided to tease her a bit.

“I think she’s a beautiful and good person.”

“…?”

Cordelia looked at me, tilting her head as if wondering what my scheme was. What a response to a compliment. I didn’t know our mutual trust was this low. Maintaining my expression as much as possible, I continued in a very serious manner.

“She’s tall with beautiful red hair. She’s also pure, honest, and knows how to care for her friends. She knows how to forgive others and sometimes shows maturity. I think she’s a wonderful person.”

At first, Cordelia proudly pushed out her chest, as if saying “praise me more,” but as I continued giving embarrassing compliments right to her face, at some point she started blushing and twisting her body.

“S-stop. It’s embarrassing…”

I kept elevating Cordelia to the skies without restraint. Her reaction had ripened perfectly. I decided it was time to crash the plane.

“But she’s very far from my type. As I said earlier, I like my fiancée, Hestia.”

Cordelia’s face, which had suddenly fallen from the stratosphere to the ground, hardened. If not for other people around, I’d love to tease her mercilessly, asking what she was expecting.

-Thud

“Ouch! Lady Deneb, what is this behavior? Doesn’t Hestia always tell you not to use violence?”

“Shut up! Just shut up! Is teasing me fun?”

“Yes. Honestly, it is fun.”

“Eek!”

Cordelia approached me and kicked my shin hard. It’s very painful with her shoes on. Seeing her blushing and breathing heavily, I couldn’t resist teasing her a bit, but unable to contain her anger, she started punching me repeatedly. As I’ve felt before, both Hestia and Cordelia have quite a sting to their hands. I grabbed her hands.

“Stop now and calm down. It’s not something to get so angry about.”

“If only you couldn’t speak.”

Cordelia struggled a few times before finally snorting a breath. This situation reminds me of our first meeting.

“You see? Lady Deneb and I are just friends. As I’ve been saying all along, I’m engaged.”

I spoke to the girls who were blankly watching me and Cordelia bicker. They seemed unfamiliar with us playing such silly pranks and physical joking, their expressions dumbfounded. From their perspective, it must be surprising to see the children of the highest noble families in the Empire, who find it difficult to even initiate conversation, playing like kids. I decided to draw a clear line while they were still in a daze.

“So all those rumors are just false.”

Once I drew a clear line, they no longer asked me any mischievous questions or rumors. Instead, they even offered to correct such false rumors when they heard them. Everyone seems kind-hearted.

And honestly, it wasn’t a completely unpleasant and irritating time. Neither I nor Cordelia, nor even Hestia, are the type to have wide networks or be well-informed about rumors, so today was the first time I learned what was being said about me. If anything, it was an informative time. From now on, I should be careful with my conduct and avoid being near men at all. I thought this sincerely.

My secret meetings with Seol-ah have become something of a regular event. After experiencing the last incident, I felt the need to communicate frequently, whether we liked it or not. Every Monday at 8 o’clock, we meet behind the auditorium where there are few people, to discuss what happened last week and what might happen this week. Regardless of whether we fought or quarreled, we must attend without fail, barring special circumstances.

Of course, due to the information asymmetry where only Seol-ah knows the original story, I mostly keep my mouth shut and listen. I agreed since I have nothing to lose.

“Nothing will happen this week. Oh, is the student council president election this week?”

“Now that you mention it, there was talk about that. Who are you going to vote for?”

“I’m just going to vote for anyone.”

“I guess it doesn’t appear in the original story.”

Seol-ah didn’t seem very interested in the student council election. It must not have been an important event in the original work.

“It’s just mentioned in passing. I’m not really interested either, so I’m planning to just close my eyes and stamp anywhere.”

“In novels and comics, the student council president is usually a very important person.”

“That’s true, but in the original, perhaps because they needed to increase your and Wilhelm’s influence, the president was no different from the student council presidents we know. Just a figurehead role. Holds a lot of useless meetings with nothing to show for it.”

“That’s harsh.”

Seol-ah spoke cynically. It is kind of funny how the student council president has such strong power.

“Anyway, it’s not really an important matter. That’s the only special event happening this week.”

But thinking about it, this isn’t a transmigrator’s effortless prediction, it’s just the academic schedule. Sensing my gaze, Seol-ah defended herself.

“As I said before, since Wilhelm took a leave of absence, I don’t know anything about how the original story will flow.”

“A leave of absence. Is there a possibility he’ll return?”

“Won’t he? You must have seen students who take a leave after causing trouble.”

“That’s true.”

She also seems to be reminded of university students who escape by taking a leave of absence after causing trouble when thinking about Wilhelm. Even in this world, taking a leave to run away seems to be the golden rule.

“Those kids all eventually come back when things quiet down and quietly finish their school life and graduate. Won’t Wilhelm be the same?”

“If that student were the third generation of a conglomerate family, there would be rumors everywhere.”

“Well, we don’t need to concern ourselves with rumors.”

She dismissed my question in a single sentence. Whether Wilhelm lives a quiet school life next year or not is indeed not our business.

After finishing all the necessary talk, we had a brief chat. I asked her a question I had been curious about since morning.

“It seems you had a date with Cordelia on the weekend, how was it?”

She just gave a bitter smile without saying anything. What on earth happened? My curiosity intensified.

“What?”

“Honestly, it was quite bothersome.”

“Wow, your character.”

At my words, Seol-ah frantically waved her arms and added a hasty explanation.

“No! That’s not what I meant! I don’t mean being with Cordelia is bothersome! I also naturally feel sorry towards Cordelia. This might sound like an excuse now, but before meeting you, when I was progressing through the original story, I felt like I wasn’t myself. So while I was deliberately provoking her to get slapped, I thought she was pitiful but rationalized it as inevitable…”

Her words became increasingly disjointed, indicating she was genuinely flustered.

“Okay, okay. I was just joking.”

“Don’t say such things even as a joke. I really feel like I was possessed. Honestly, I’m very concerned about it.”

Her reaction is more intense than I expected. I asked, just in case:

“Have there been others you’ve sent away like Cordelia?”

“No! Well, there were, but they were all people who deserved it! They were bad men.”

She even had tears welling up, genuinely feeling wronged.

“It seems the author initially wanted to write a novel about an ordinarily intelligent female protagonist who clears away bad villains and achieves love. But because the response to Cordelia’s episode was so good, they completely shifted towards a direction that doesn’t distinguish between good and evil. So all the people I disturbed before Cordelia were villains. Illegal slave traders, corrupt lords, con artists, people like that.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Yes, so don’t talk about my character or call me a bad woman. It really bothers me.”

“I never called you a bad woman.”

“But you thought it at least once.”

Is she a ghost? How did she know? I kept my mouth shut and smiled bitterly. Seol-ah seemed not to want to pursue this topic further with me, so she just quietly moved on. It’s a topic that would ultimately be disadvantageous for her if delved into.

“So what’s this talk about being bothersome?”

The conversation has come this far from the simple question of how it was to eat and drink tea with Cordelia. I asked again about what I originally wanted to know.

“Have you ever raised a dog?”

“No.”

“I used to have one at home. At first, when the dog jumps at you, I like it too. It’s cute and nice, but as 10 minutes pass, as an hour passes, it gets tiring. It’s definitely nice, but it becomes a bit bothersome.”

I recalled the Pungsan dog we used to have at my grandfather’s house. It was a white mixed breed, and when it grew up, it was quite large, making it quite troublesome when it pounced. Imagining Pungsan sticking to me for an hour, wagging its tail and licking my face, it would definitely be very annoying. Seol-ah had quite a talent for metaphors.

“I think I understand what you mean.”

“When we first reconciled and agreed to meet on the weekend for a meal, I thought, ‘How can there be such a nice person?’ and ‘I must have been crazy.’ Honestly, if I were her, I might reconcile but not particularly want to be close friends. But after spending a day together, it became overwhelming.”

“Is it that bad?”

“Yes! She heard I like romance and talked endlessly about novels without getting tired. It’s not my place to say this, having flown here while reading such novels, but it was really scary.”

What do you mean by “that bad”? She must have restrained herself a bit when with me, considering I’m a male friend.

“Still, try to be understanding. She’s probably excited because it’s the first new friend she’s made in a long time.”

“She is cute, though.”

“Wow, you suddenly sound so old.”

It was the tone of a senior still in their fifth year without graduating, looking at high school students visiting the university. Come to think of it, considering the actual age difference, it might be about right?

“Hey! Twenty-five is still the prime of youth!”

Seol-ah shouted. I half-listened to her subsequent long discourse on age and youth. Then I recalled seeing the appearance of Han Seol-ah, the Earthling, in a dream last time. I suddenly became curious.

“What did Seol-ah originally look like?”

“Huh? Why do you suddenly ask that?”

“Well, talking about age made me curious. I also saw you in a dream last time.”

“Dream?”

I roughly explained the dream I had last time. Naturally, I left out parts like the kiss or the motel, editing it to make it seem as natural as possible, explaining it as just a friendship. It’s just a dream from a few days ago, but the memory is still so vivid that it doesn’t seem like an ordinary dream.

Her face gradually hardened as she listened to my explanation.

“What? Is there something wrong?”

“You, you’re lying.”

“What do you mean?”

Seol-ah’s eyes flashed.

“The content of the dream, that’s not it.”

Damn, how did she know?