Ch.135135. What Do You Think of Me?

After taking a shower, I found Celia sitting on the bed for some reason.

She looked so natural there that I almost thought I was supposed to be sharing a room with her instead of Lilith.

But I quickly realized Celia was just visiting when I noticed Lilith sitting beside her on the bed.

“Celia. What brings you here?”

“I came to get my clothes.”

“Ah, right. I forgot to give them to you.”

I had completely forgotten about it since she left immediately after losing the rock-paper-scissors game.

I took out clothes for Celia and Alkine from my inventory, handed them over, and sat down on the bed. Right between the two of them.

I didn’t particularly choose that spot on purpose.

They had just subtly left a space between them, and it felt like they were pressuring me to sit there, so I had no choice.

It was a familiar position anyway. We always sat like this in the lecture hall too.

“What’s this? If you got your clothes, why don’t you leave?”

“You said we didn’t have to share a room, but now that I’m here, you want to be alone with her?”

“That’s not it…! Hah… never mind. I’m going to shower. Ludion, give me my clothes.”

Lilith took her clothes from me and hurried into the bathroom, as if escaping the situation.

Celia watched her leave for a moment, then gave a curious smile.

“She still acts prickly, but she clearly shows signs of liking you.”

“Really? I thought things had gotten more awkward between us.”

“Ludion. Someone with even the slightest hesitation or discomfort wouldn’t entrust their clothes to you so readily.”

Is that so? I guess there must be some psychology behind it that I don’t understand.

I just thought I was being treated like a convenient storage space.

Anyway, that aside.

Even though Celia had already achieved her goal of getting clothes from me, she showed no signs of leaving.

I waited, thinking she might have something to say… and then she started asking a rather troublesome question.

“Who did you want to share a room with, Ludion?”

During the room assignment earlier.

I had stepped back and left everything to them.

It was only natural. Choosing one person in that situation would have been truly awkward.

Celia. Alkine. Lilith.

All of them were showing their affection for me. In such a situation, choosing one would have significant implications.

But… I probably would have chosen Celia.

We’re already in a relationship, and we spend the most time together.

That’s precisely why I couldn’t make the choice myself.

The moment I chose Celia, she wouldn’t have been satisfied despite being selected.

If it were Celia, she would surely have realized that I had simply chosen the most reasonable option based on circumstances.

Was that why I felt slightly relieved when Lilith won at rock-paper-scissors?

Compared to Celia and Alkine, whose emotional weight was already evident, Lilith still maintained the previous level of casualness.

Of course, due to the favorability system, even that wasn’t completely light… but it was relatively easier to handle for just one day.

And the other two would probably find Lilith’s presence less burdensome than each other’s.

“How could I possibly decide that?”

So. This was my honest answer.

It’s truly selfish and spineless of me to neither properly accept nor reject their feelings… but what can I do? That’s just how I am.

It would be strange to suddenly become shameless just because of their affection.

Hearing my answer, Celia stood up from the bed, saying she expected as much.

“I’ll be going now. Dream of me.”

“I don’t dream.”

“How impressive.”

Celia playfully responded to my joke and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Not long after Celia left, Lilith emerged looking fresh and fluffy.

The pajamas she had brought were ridiculously cute, which made me laugh.

“Hey, what’s with the teddy bear pajamas?”

“Shut up. Say one more word about my pajamas and you’ll be sleeping on the floor.”

“I wouldn’t mind that.”

“…Cancel that. If you mention the pajamas one more time, I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“That won’t do. Sorry. I won’t talk about the pajamas anymore.”

Despite our bickering, no one ended up on the floor.

Which means…

“…”

“…”

Lilith and I ended up lying side by side on the same bed.

“This blanket is really nice. Where did you get it?”

“Stole it from the Imperial Palace.”

“Are you serious? Really?”

“No.”

“Damn it. What the hell.”

The one fortunate thing was that I had extra blankets in my inventory, so we didn’t have to share the same one.

Still, the awkwardness was unavoidable.

‘Next time, I should carry a bed in my inventory.’

While thinking such foolish thoughts, I shifted my position as it became uncomfortable.

But as I turned, I ended up making eye contact with Lilith.

“…”

“…”

…But why?

All day long, Lilith had been having fits and avoiding eye contact whenever our eyes met, but now she showed no signs of doing so.

Since it would be strange for me to suddenly look away, I just held my gaze. Then Lilith spoke.

“Hey. Ludion.”

“What?”

“What do you think of me?”

“…What?”

When I asked back, surprised by the unexpected question, Lilith asked again with irritation.

“I’m asking what you think of me. I mean… my favorability or whatever has already revealed that I like you, but that’s not really a reason for you to accept me.”

She seemed to have been thinking about this a lot, judging by her serious expression.

But precisely because she was serious… I wasn’t sure how to respond.

Perhaps that’s why it took me some time to come up with an answer, and Lilith couldn’t wait and continued speaking.

“Honestly. I haven’t been any help to you at all. I’m not talented like Celia or the student council president… I just keep receiving help whenever something happens…”

“Hey, Lilith.”

Self-loathing in the middle of the night is absolutely forbidden. Bad thoughts just keep multiplying endlessly.

So I cut her off. I had also just finished thinking about how to answer.

When I called her name, Lilith quieted down, and I casually threw out a simple statement.

“Have you ever seen me doing something for you when I didn’t want to?”

“…No.”

“If I didn’t like you, I would have ignored you from the beginning when you asked for help with training. I would have told you to figure it out yourself.”

I didn’t have any ulterior motives when I helped Lilith.

Although things somehow drifted in this direction, back then I just wanted to have a friendly relationship with her.

From the beginning, I never thought badly of her.

And. The laments Lilith was making now were actually nothing from my perspective.

Less capable than Celia or Alkine? That’s just for now. Later on, as a saint, she’ll make an even bigger contribution than those two.

Only receiving help when something happens? With the ability she received as a reward from the favorability system, that’s no longer true either.

“But still…”

However, she seemed to think my words were just empty consolation and tried to argue further.

Knowing nothing good would come out of her current state, I quickly cut her off.

“Let’s do this then. Remember when you asked me to help with your training? You said you’d grant me one favor, anything I wanted?”

“Yes. I remember.”

“This time when we catch Fanatic’s companions, you take one of them down.”

“…What?”

“If you can’t do it, we’ll talk again then. Okay?”

“No. Wait…”

“I’m going to sleep. You should too.”

In times like these, just sleeping is the most effective approach.

So rather than continuing the conversation to comfort her, I just gave her a goal and abruptly ended the discussion.

“…”

Lilith seemed to have a lot more to say, but I ignored it and turned away.

Then I closed my eyes and waited to fall asleep.

“Are you really sleeping?”

Lilith persistently tried to talk to me, but I ignored her and focused on trying to fall asleep.

And soon my efforts paid off… I managed to fall asleep in this uncomfortable position.

Because I succeeded, I couldn’t hear the quiet murmur Lilith made.

“…So this is how you’ve been winning everyone over.”

Since I didn’t hear it, I couldn’t respond… but perhaps that alone made her feel better?

Lilith looked at Ludion’s sleeping face with a much more relaxed expression than before, and soon fell asleep herself.

It was a short but deep night.

///

Despite some complications, we somehow made it through to a new morning.

We were actually a bit late, but it was still barely morning.

After confirming we were both awake, we agreed to get ready separately and meet outside. As expected, Celia was the first one out waiting.

“Good morning.”

“Oh, Lilith will be out soon.”

“Ms. Alkine will be out soon too. We’ll leave as soon as everyone’s here, right?”

“That’s the plan.”

That was the extent of my conversation with Celia.

That was it.

She seemed less talkative than usual, perhaps not wanting to mention Lilith and me sharing a room.

And soon, Lilith, who had shared the room with me, came out…

“Forget everything I said last night.”

As I expected. As soon as morning came, she returned to her normal state.

She even avoided eye contact, as if our locked gazes last night had never happened.

This is why those late-night emotions are so dangerous.

“What’s going on? Why are you two acting weird?”

Finally, Alkine joined us, completing our group.

Since there was nothing particular to discuss here, we headed straight to Belmont’s restaurant for breakfast and to check on what we had requested yesterday.