Chapter 68: Using the Media for Propaganda…How Wicked and Cunning Must a Villainess be to do Such a Thing? (3)

“You broke off your engagement with Michael, didn’t you?”

A periodic meeting of possessors.

Cain, who had coincidentally witnessed Michael’s departure, spoke up.

“It couldn’t have been easy. But it seems you managed to resolve it in your own way.”

Cain wore an expression of relief, as if a burden had been lifted.

He thought that if things continued this way, he could connect Ria and Michael at the academy.

Meanwhile, unlike Cain, Lin had a rather reluctant expression.

“What’s wrong?”

Cain asked, puzzled.

Although the situation itself had already changed a lot.

If possible, it was better to maintain a form as similar to the original work as possible to prepare for the future.

In that sense, connecting Ria and Michael, the most important figures, was quite crucial.

As the protagonist and heroine of the original work, there were many outcomes created by their union.

In other words, this, like Ria’s ascension to sainthood, could be considered an essential condition to prevent the world’s destruction.

“…Is that so.”

Cain, as if he had just realized something, looked at his comrade with pitying eyes.

He patted Lin, who was sitting silently, as if to console her.

“If I were in a situation where I was engaged to Heine or Ria. I definitely would have found it hard to give up.”

“…?”

“Well, the ideal type you only saw in novels appeared right in front of you. It must be painful for you too, having to give that up…”

Cain thought.

Judging by how dejected she was—she was merely deep in thought—Lin’s favorite character was undoubtedly Michael.

The favorite character of a guy who was a man in his past life was another male character.

And Michael, of the slender pretty boy type, honestly made Cain feel a little nauseous.

But based on what he had experienced living in this world, the heart generally followed the body.

‘I may have possessed a male body, but from this one’s perspective, it might be understandable enough.’

A broad understanding befitting the world’s protagonist.

Under the assumption that she just didn’t like him.

Whether she did this or that, or this and that, he was willing to respect it.

“…Huh?”

However, Lin, who was being unilaterally consoled by him, looked at him dumbfounded, as if asking what nonsense he was spouting.

“More than that, what? Heine? You, you’ve been thinking about my precious maid in that way all this time?”

“Ah, no. It’s just an expression…”

“Don’t even dream of it! I’ll never hand Heine over!!”

Was it because she knew a future Cain didn’t?

At his casually uttered words, Lin firmly warned him, saying absolutely not.

“Aha, don’t tell me that was your preference…. No. Considering your past life, perhaps that’s actually correct?”

“This pervert. What on earth have you been muttering about since earlier.”

“Well, I don’t really care which side you like. Just… I hope you don’t like me.”

“That’s my line to say!?”

A stiffness devoid of even a single fluttering imaginary flower petal, for a boy and girl in their prime.

Though friendship might blossom, there wasn’t a speck of heart-fluttering excitement; they were truly, incredibly reliable fellow possessors.

“Anyway. If it’s not that, then why were you looking so down?”

“I wasn’t particularly down. It’s just…”

Lin recalled the moment Michael had declared their engagement broken at the same time as his confession.

“Michael was sincere.”

Though she couldn’t give him a good answer, Lin knew for sure that his feelings were genuine.

She felt a sense of bitterness and apology in her own way.

“So. To dismiss that as ‘it worked out well’. Or with such a convenient phrase… shouldn’t we avoid that? …That’s all I was thinking.”

“……I see.”

A boy confessed his true feelings, and a girl rejected them.

Even if she couldn’t nod in agreement,

Lin thought that one shouldn’t say ‘the right future was made’ about this.

“I’m sorry. I misspoke.”

“No, it’s not like I didn’t have such thoughts at all either…”

“…Perhaps we’ve been thinking too much from our own perspectives.”

The two reflected on how they had been viewing everyone from an omniscient possessor’s viewpoint.

For them, who had already obtained new lives and were living their second lives, this world was no longer a fiction within printed words.

“So. Whatever else, let’s stop weighing people’s hearts against the future.”

“…Alright.”

Cain nodded as if agreeing with Lin’s words that while they should prevent the world’s destruction,

They shouldn’t deliberately ignore or disregard people’s feelings.

“Then. Even if Heine and I get together, no complaints…”

Click!

“…Just kidding.”

And so.

The two possessors cleanly erased their rough drafts for connecting Michael and Ria at the academy.

“Yes? Cain… are you talking about the adventurer you hired last time?”

“Yes. What kind of person do you think he is, Heine?”

‘What are you suddenly saying out of the blue….’

‘No, it’s not like Lady Lin has only been this random for just a day or two.’

Heine pondered the question of what she thought of Cain.

Though she had rejected him from the beginning, having watched Michael all this time, Heine had come to think he was a better person than his rumours suggested.

For her, her master’s question about Cain led to only one conclusion.

‘Perhaps, she has a preference for that stray dog type of man?’

According to Heine’s observations so far.

The men Lin had shown interest in were only three, all family members of the same gender.

Setting aside her father, Edwin, for now—though he was certainly a handsome middle-aged man—the sibling her master followed the most was none other than Leonard Rosegarden.

The eldest son of the Rosegarden family was a textbook example of a noble pretty boy who had grown up

perfectly, to the point where no one could find fault with his appearance.

Even Lin, who had no interest in men whatsoever, always praised her older brother.

Though his eyes were a bit sharp, Rio, who was a year younger, was also a platinum-blonde pretty boy not much different.

Furthermore, one day.

Heine had asked Lin about Michael to gauge her feelings.

At that time, her master had replied,

“Hmm? Isn’t he handsome enough?”

She remembered it clearly because at the time, she had been greatly shocked, still misunderstanding Michael’s character.

“Mmmm…”

“H-Heine…? Why are you hesitating so much…?”

Lin’s uncharacteristically restless appearance.

She had only let out a small groan, yet her master was looking at her with very anxious eyes.

At this reaction, Heine began to think that her previous assessment of Lin’s preferences might have been wrong.

Above all, considering her master hadn’t nodded to Michael’s sincere feelings recently….

It felt almost like she was confessing with her own mouth that she liked that stray dog adventurer.

‘His face is decent enough, I suppose. But even so, such a stray dog…’

With a heart wishing Michael would return instead,

Heine’s head was already aching, wondering how she would separate the lowly stray dog from her precious master this time.

“Heine…?”

Her master, looking at her with pleading eyes.

Was it because she had accepted all sorts of spoiled behavior until now?

Heine, who knew very well how much her advice influenced her master, pondered deeply.

‘Lady Lin’s taste in men is almost the worst….’

‘That’s why she’s asking for my advice like this right now.’

‘Since she doesn’t know anything yet—actually, I don’t know much either—she’ll take my advice at face value.’

Lin, now looking almost tearful, clutched at Heine’s hem.

To Heine, Lin’s actions seemed to be asking for permission, as if saying,

‘H-Heine, you don’t think he’s good…?’

Though they were the same age and in a master-servant relationship.

For Heine, who secretly considered her master like a cute younger sister, that gaze was too powerful.

‘No…! Lady Lin must end up with someone much, much better…!’

Heine, who had almost inadvertently praised the man named Cain, whom her master had chosen, a man she didn’t even know well.

For her master’s future, she clenched her fists and resolved to steel her heart.

“That man is…”

“That man is!?”

However, Lin’s eyes sparkled so pleadingly.

A reaction she hadn’t even shown to Michael, who was actually a prime marriage candidate.

Heine’s firm resolve faced a crisis, threatening to crumble.

‘To that extent… Do you love him that much? To the point where status doesn’t matter, that much…?’

‘Yes. Those eyes.’

‘Lady Lin’s pleading eyes are the problem.’

Heine, desperately avoiding her master’s gaze to fulfill her duties as a maid.

However, such actions led to a greater misunderstanding,

‘Our Heine, has already been conquered? Wh-When on earth…?’

This resulted in Lin persistently questioning Heine with an urgent voice.

“Tsk…”

‘If I praise the man named Cain here, I can see my relieved master’s smile.’

‘But if I disparage the man named Cain, I will see my master’s sad expression in exchange for preventing a future that will surely become noisy.’

“H-His face, at least… I think it’s okay…”

In the end, Heine couldn’t choose either side.

‘His face, at least, I think it’s decent.’

A vague answer that could be taken as a compliment, and at the same time, not a compliment.

Nevertheless.

Heine’s slightly bitten lip was clearly saying.

That Lady Lin, who carried noble blood, could not be involved with such a street mutt….

“S-Such a…”

Lin, her head dropping with a despairing expression,

As if she had lost something precious.

She just stared blankly at the plush carpeted floor.

She didn’t make any movement.

“I’m sorry. But…”

“…No. That answer is enough.”

And so.

Lin listlessly walked to her bed and plopped down.

“Lady Lin…”

Heine approached her master, crouched down, and looked up at her.

She gently held her small hands as if to comfort her.

The problem was, that touch and gaze appeared to Lin as if she were seeking permission.

Why did she feel that way?

The reason was simple.

Close attendants like Heine, lady’s maids, could not marry or even court without their master’s permission.

“Yes…. Heine.”

Lin, finally accepting everything.

She gently clasped Heine’s two hands and nodded slightly.

“As your master, I will permit it. Your courtship with Cain.”

“…?”

“Now you can do this and that. Freely, without worrying about my eyes.”

“…Yes? W-Wait a moment. What are you saying right now…”

“But absolutely no this and that. That’s for after a proper wedding ceremony.”

“Lady Lin, Lady Lin? I think there’s a big misunderstanding here?”

“…Huh?”

Heine succeeded in obtaining permission from her master to court Cain.

However, Heine and Cain never ended up courting.

[Heine Rubel’s favorability towards you has decreased.]

…

[Heine Rubel’s favorability towards you has decreased.]

[Heine Rubel’s favorability towards you has decreased.]

[Heine Rubel’s favorability towards you has significantly decreased.]

[Heine Rubel’s favorability towards you has decreased.]

“…Why all of a sudden?”

It is said that only one possessor’s status window rang out repeatedly.