Ch.191191. Clearing the Karma of the Romance Route

Camilla’s romance route itself wasn’t particularly difficult to progress. While other main character romance routes required constant attention throughout, with Camilla, once you entered her route, there weren’t many major obstacles.

At most, all you needed to do was gain approval from her overzealous family. Even that wouldn’t be particularly challenging considering Ian’s potential as the playable character.

The real difficulty was entering her romance route in the first place, due to Camilla’s unpredictable personality and her value system that prioritized living life based on whatever interested her.

The world was full of things that entertained her, and she wasn’t the type to deeply commit to any one thing.

Therefore, to unlock her romance route, one had to become the most interesting thing in her world—someone she would continuously want to learn more about.

The problem was that Gilbert had never tried to be such a person for Camilla. More precisely, he might have been that person when he was achievement hunting in Tactical Combat, but not since he had been reincarnated into this world.

Of course, he acknowledged that his actions as Gilbert would have been interesting enough to catch Camilla’s attention. After all, he had been at the center of every major incident.

But it was hard to understand how that had triggered a romance route. Objectively speaking, while he might have seemed like a walking trouble magnet, that alone shouldn’t have been enough to unlock Camilla’s romance route.

If there was one thing that stood out, it was when he had guided Camilla after the Gehenna operation when she was pushing herself too hard. He had only stepped in because he felt sorry seeing her dedicating herself solely to training, nothing particularly special.

Yet somehow, that had triggered something in Camilla, opening the romance route. No, calling it a “romance route” sounded too game-like—it would be more accurate to say she had developed romantic feelings beyond mere affection.

Regardless, Camilla had developed those romantic feelings, and she had just directly expressed them. The meaning was unmistakably clear.

“Gilbert.”

“I won’t listen.”

Gilbert cut her off before she could even begin. Considering Camilla’s romance route, he already knew what she was about to say without hearing it.

But was Camilla the type to back down just because someone refused to listen?

Instead, she smiled deeply and moved closer to Gilbert.

“You know, Gilbert, I feel anxious.”

Gilbert’s eyebrow twitched. This wasn’t what he had expected her to say. He couldn’t understand why she suddenly mentioned feeling anxious.

“I couldn’t figure out why I felt anxious. When I saw you, I felt amused and happy, but also impatient. That impatience kept growing, but I couldn’t understand why.”

Camilla continued calmly. Gilbert, who had been puzzled when she first spoke, quickly realized this was merely an introduction.

“Gilbert, do you remember? You once told me that if I felt anxious, I should follow behind you.”

“Hmm…”

Ah, so that was it.

He had wondered where the route had opened, and it seemed it was from that situation. In a moment when she was psychologically unstable, the one who had pulled her out was the very cause of her anxiety—Gilbert himself.

He had thought he hadn’t done anything special, but looking back now, everything he had done could have appeared special to her.

And telling her to “follow behind him”—what a cringeworthy line that made him wonder if something had been wrong with his head at that moment. It was practically no different from deliberately trying to seduce her.

“So I’ve decided. I’ll follow behind you. Is that okay?”

For life.

Hearing those words, Gilbert closed his eyes without being able to give any response.

It was a perfect case of reaping what he had sown, with no one to complain to.

***

“Gilbert! Let’s go out!”

“If you want to take someone else’s husband, you should get permission first.”

“What do you mean husband when you didn’t even get permission from a friend who will be with you for life?”

Gilbert sighed as he watched the two bickering women.

As if paying for his previous indifference, this was a squabble he could easily witness whenever they met.

On one side was the great warrior of the Sigurd clan who had long called him husband or lord without hesitation, and on the other was the youngest lady of the Empire’s three great baronial families who had recently begun to express her affection for him.

At least they weren’t resorting to physical confrontation, but the fact that they were fighting over him constantly gave Gilbert a headache.

He had clearly expressed his intentions, but were either of them the type to simply accept his words and say “understood”?

Brynhild, as a member of the Sigurd clan, had not the slightest intention of giving up on Gilbert, whom she had marked as husband material. Meanwhile, Camilla, true to her character of pursuing whatever caught her interest regardless of consequences, acted accordingly.

As a result, neither wanted to be separated from Gilbert for even a moment, naturally creating conflicts.

Today was no different.

Brynhild and Camilla, who had come to spend time with Gilbert after he returned from his daily training, continued their struggle to claim him.

Camilla insisted they go out and spend time together, while Brynhild declared she couldn’t allow it.

Naturally, Gilbert impartially ordered both of them to leave, but as expected, they didn’t listen.

“You told me to follow you, so you have to take responsibility!”

Camilla boldly poked his chest with her finger.

Brynhild immediately frowned and tried to grab Camilla’s hand, but Camilla had already pulled it away.

Regardless of Gilbert’s feelings, Camilla’s active expression of her emotions was quite a serious matter. No matter how well-known Camilla was as an unstoppable tomboy within the Empire, any further entanglement would inevitably lead to scandal.

Especially if she became involved with Gilbert, who was displaying heroic feats that would go down in the Empire’s history—rumors would spread even more wildly than usual.

The fact that he had no fiancée due to his past conduct gave even more room for exaggeration.

Moreover, both of them were members of the Empire’s three great baronial families. The nobility and prestige of both families was beyond question, making this the juiciest gossip in the Empire’s social circles.

“Commander, I thought you had abandoned all your past behaviors, but it seems some still remain.”

At Angelina’s words, Gilbert was rendered speechless. Regardless of Gilbert’s intentions, it was natural that his relationships with women appeared complicated from an objective viewpoint.

At least the talk about becoming a royal consort hadn’t surfaced yet, keeping things relatively calm below the surface. If an announcement about him becoming a consort were made, the situation would become an uncontrollable mess.

Setting aside Briana, who was tied to a sub-scenario, he still had to consider Brynhild and Camilla who were bickering right in front of him.

“Then, let’s have Gilbert decide.”

“For once, we agree.”

Please don’t ask me.

Gilbert found himself in a situation that made him break into a cold sweat.

“Gilbert, you’ll take responsibility, right?”

“Husband, I don’t think you would have such thoughts, would you?”

Having Brynhild and Camilla, who had been at each other’s throats, now both focusing their attention on him was truly a terrifying experience. Gilbert, or more precisely Kang Do-jun, had almost no dating experience.

But the system settings helped in this situation. Based on Gilbert’s rogue character setting, he didn’t show much reaction even when faced with this situation.

Instead, he had to focus on suppressing his urge to speak forcefully.

“This has nothing to do with me.”

“Nothing to do with you?! You promised me!”

“Indeed, husband. Your promise to me must be important.”

Looking at Brynhild, who reminded him of the Sigurd clan tradition with her bob cut that reached her shoulders, Gilbert gave the same answer.

“The same goes for you.”

“That can’t be true! How can you say that after keeping my hair?”

Both women exclaimed angrily, but Gilbert maintained his denial. While he was just postponing the issue, what could they do if he insisted?

It takes two hands to make a clap.

Gilbert left the two noisy women and moved away. Despite their chattering in front of him, neither Brynhild nor Camilla dared to follow him.

What they had done in front of Gilbert was not easy even for the two shameless women. After all, it was the embarrassing sight of two women courting one man.

Whether it was Brynhild of the Sigurd clan, who was proud in seeking a partner, or Camilla, who lived life on her own terms, this was the first man they had taken to heart.

Though their expression might have been somewhat rough, their feelings were sincere. Naturally, they were hurt when he turned away so coldly.

“Perhaps a bride kidnapping is the only way…”

“I should ask Lily for help…”

The two women, muttering to themselves, were lost in thought about how to deal with the embarrassment of first love.

It was a beautiful scene of youth.

Probably.