Ch.159159. Plans Should Be Made with Flexibility

A man runs away.

Celia smiled as she watched Ludion’s back as he fled, glancing back repeatedly.

What was he thinking, pulling a stunt like this when he wasn’t even that shameless?

Lilith, who didn’t understand what was so funny, stared blankly at her, and Celia explained.

“Lilith, do you know? Because of what happened in Ritten this time, I’ve accumulated 16 date vouchers with Ludion.”

“…Can’t you give me some?”

“Of course not.”

Celia had precisely grasped that Ludion understood the law of equivalent exchange… that if he gained something, he had to lose something.

‘I should think ahead about what to ask for during our date.’

She had no intention of making unreasonable demands. He wouldn’t agree to those anyway.

It would be enough to find something that would make Ludion flustered but unable to refuse.

“But are you really going to let him go like this? Shouldn’t we chase after him?”

To Lilith, who asked without understanding, she just needed to say there was no need.

Of course, she did want to chase after him as Lilith suggested.

She wasn’t entirely happy about letting him go like this…

‘He seems quite concerned about Alkine.’

It was a relationship she had helped establish. That’s why it hurt even more.

After this, Ludion would meet with Alkine and spend time with her.

Thinking about that made her want to fly to Ludion right away, but she had to accept it.

In her heart, she wanted to monopolize him, to bind him… but she didn’t want to be perceived as that kind of woman by him so soon.

At least until they were definitely together, she would hold back on being forceful. She made this resolution once again, though she’d lost count of how many times she’d made it before.

“Ah.”

“What is it?”

“…No. It’s nothing.”

What kind of anguish Celia experienced after realizing the surveillance magic had been cut off remained unknown to everyone.

///

Plans could always go awry.

Something might seem perfect when you think about it, but then turn out to be too tight on time, or the plan itself might be perfect but something unexpected happens externally that throws everything off track.

That’s why plans should be made with flexibility.

Or alternatively, made extremely detailed and thorough.

I was the type who preferred the former, but Alkine seemed to be the latter.

What do I mean by this? Well, her plan that I heard was as follows:

Have an early lunch at a newly opened restaurant, watch a theater troupe’s play.

Afterward, take a walk to pass time until evening, then have dinner at her favorite restaurant and finish with dessert at a café.

Just hearing it, it sounds like a very relaxed plan.

But that was just in words. Alkine herself seemed to have thought through many details.

“It’s closed?”

“Looks like it.”

Alkine’s plan hit a roadblock from the start.

The newly opened restaurant was closed.

According to the notice board, the owner happened to be sick today.

When a place you planned to visit is closed, you still need to eat. Finding another restaurant becomes inevitable.

In such situations, I would just think of going to a nearby place.

After all, the goal was to have lunch, so as long as that was accomplished, I’d be satisfied.

But Alkine was different.

“It’s okay. I have about six other places in mind nearby.”

“Six?”

“You never know.”

Do people normally create six backup options just in case?

The fact that it was neither five nor ten but oddly six was quite concerning.

Well, if that many restaurants closed simultaneously, we’d probably be in a situation where eating out wasn’t an option anyway…

Could she have calculated even that and decided on exactly six places? It was impossible to know.

“Come on, let’s go.”

For now, I just had to follow her plan.

Fortunately, if it could be called that, the first backup restaurant she had designated was open.

The meal was delicious, and the conversation was enjoyable. The price was a bit steep, but compared to the cost of Belmont’s food I’d eaten recently, it was a drop in the bucket.

Up to that point, everything was fine.

However, problems tend to arise in places like this.

Who frequents areas where expensive food exists?

Naturally, more nobles than commoners.

As a result, there were quite a few nobles in this area. All the surrounding shops were equally lavish.

Not all nobles are the same, but most seek connections.

Of course, if someone like Celia, the imperial princess, appears, they would either bow their heads immediately or avoid meeting her out of pressure. This is from personal experience.

But who was standing beside me now?

It was Alkine, the student council president of the academy, whose reputation had spread even outside.

While she was normally an intimidating duke’s daughter, her family was in the far north, making her less intimidating than the dukes of the empire.

What happens when such a person walks around the streets?

“May I have a moment of your time?”

Naturally, people flock to her.

Alkine wasn’t the type to fall for such obvious approaches, so I thought she’d handle it herself, but she just stared at me with her lips tightly shut.

As if asking me to handle it.

[She wants you to act on her behalf.]

Since that was indeed the case, I had no choice but to step in.

“I’m sorry, but we’re a bit busy with our schedule.”

“…Hmm, you’re together? I am Gerric Vitos. And you are?”

“I’m Ludion.”

“A commoner.”

He immediately sized me up… which is natural, but it doesn’t feel great being on the receiving end.

Still, seeing me in the academy uniform and accompanying Alkine, he seemed to think he shouldn’t be too disrespectful and maintained a cautious attitude.

“It’s rare to see the northern duchess with a commoner.”

“That’s entirely up to the duchess, isn’t it?”

It really was up to the duchess. What business was it of his who she spent time with?

Gerric seemed to understand this and appeared to be backing down, unable to find a suitable response.

But if he was going to give up so easily, he wouldn’t have approached in the first place.

He continued to follow us around afterward, disrupting Alkine’s plan.

More precisely, the time schedule was maintained, but he undermined the basic premise that Alkine considered most important: “a date alone with me.”

“So your busy reason was to watch a play.”

Despite this, he followed us and pretended to be friendly with Alkine. This time, he didn’t even glance at me standing next to her and spoke only to Alkine.

He seemed to have decided to ignore me. Perhaps he judged there was nothing to gain by engaging with me.

“I was also planning to watch a play. What a coincidence.”

“With limited entertainment options, it’s not a significant coincidence.”

“I’ve reserved good seats. Would you like to join me?”

“That would be difficult as I already have company.”

Noticing that he wasn’t even looking at me, Alkine responded directly this time.

In this situation of being ignored, I didn’t feel particularly offended.

No, it was definitely an unpleasant situation… but maybe because I knew exactly who he was, I just accepted it.

Gerric. A very familiar handsome man.

As I just mentioned, he was someone I knew well.

A son of a marquis family in the empire, the same age as Alkine this year.

Not particularly skilled in combat, but with a long lifeline, he somehow survives all sorts of incidents without dying.

Why was such a person suddenly hitting on Alkine, the northern duchess? It was obvious.

It was definitely not for political reasons.

He was too straightforward in character to consider such matters.

The reason he was hitting on her now was simply because he had a tendency to fall in love at first sight.

“Why are you suddenly showing me such favor?”

“Because I fell in love with you at first sight.”

Perhaps annoyed by Gerric ignoring me, Alkine asked in a noticeably lowered voice, but Gerric, oblivious to her tone, gave such an answer.

Alkine’s expression visibly worsened.

If it had been someone else, I would have stepped in here to say something and give what’s commonly called a “lesson.”

But with Gerric, I didn’t particularly want to do that.

Because he was one of the few comic relief characters who brought light to an increasingly heavy story.

He was like a recurring cameo who would pop up from somewhere, check in to show he was still alive, and then disappear. But I rather liked him.

As someone who frequently hit on major characters, there were quite a few people who disliked him… but even those people might have felt pity for Gerric, who always failed with major characters despite his advances.

Of course, he only failed with major characters; according to his backstory, he had quite a bit of experience with women… anyway.

Objectively speaking, he was handsome, had status, and was secretly capable, making him hard to dislike.

Unlike other interfering characters, he never disrupted important moments, which made him even more likable.

So I left him alone…

“Aren’t you bothered at all that I’m hearing these things from another man?”

But it seems Alkine found this quite disappointing.

I shouldn’t upset her after she’s gone to all this trouble. I reluctantly moved to Alkine’s side, who was being pestered by Gerric, and gently wrapped my arm around her waist.

“…Huh?”

“What do you think you’re doing? How dare you touch the duchess’s body so casually?”

Alkine, who naturally ended up leaning against me, let out a surprised sound.

Seeing this, Gerric seemed… a bit taken aback, but still said what he wanted to say.

I decided to ignore him, just as he had done to me.

“Let’s go watch the play.”

“Y-yes. Let’s go.”

You might wonder if it’s okay to leave him like that, but it’s definitely fine.

“Excuse me. Would you like to watch the play with me? I’ve reserved good seats.”

“What? Me? Why so suddenly…?”

“I fell in love with you at first sight.”

When I glanced back, Gerric had already given up on us and was already attached to someone else.

I told you, didn’t I? He has a tendency to fall in love at first sight.

He creates these situations, but when something actually progresses because of it, he doesn’t stick around but detaches himself. It’s almost as if he appeared just to create a situation where I would have physical contact with Alkine.

As expected of a likable character who never interferes at crucial moments.

Of course, I hadn’t wished for this kind of physical contact with Alkine, but Alkine herself seemed quite satisfied.

…It’s actually embarrassing how happy she is.

Anyway, seeing Gerric behaving exactly as I remembered from the game, I decided there was no need to pay him any more attention.

So I tried to remove my arm that was wrapped around Alkine…

*Grip*

The moment I tried to pull my hand away, Alkine’s arm blocked it.

And not just lightly—she pressed down hard. Hard enough that I almost let out a sound.

“You can let go now.”

“No, you can’t. Stay like this. Until the play ends… no, until the end of our date today.”

That’s a bit troublesome.

But as always, I had no right to refuse.

In the end, I couldn’t break free from Alkine throughout her meticulously planned day.

During the play, after the play while walking around, during dinner, and while eating dessert. I kept one arm wrapped around her the whole time.

My face was flushed from all the stares we received… but what could I do?

“I wish we could come out and play like this, just the two of us, next time too.”

[She’s feeling your warmth.]

[She’s very happy.]

When she’s this happy…

“But that would be difficult, right? Since there’s Celia and Lilith too…”

“It’s not impossible. Let’s come out just the two of us next time too.”

“…Really?”

“I’ll try my best.”

I’m not sure if I can handle the aftermath, but I wanted to take better care of Alkine, whom I had been neglecting.

After all, unlike the first-year students Celia and Lilith, she was a third-year close to graduation.

Was that unexpected? Alkine looked at my face for a moment, then tightly hugged my arm that was wrapped around her.

“Aaack, why! I clearly said I’d try my best!”

“You better keep that promise. If you don’t want your arm broken.”

She’s suddenly resorting to threats?

But that was just her words. I could read her thoughts.

[She’s happy that you said what she wanted to hear.]

[She’s feeling your skin.]

[She’s very happy.]

…It’s a bit perverse, but I’d better not mention it.