Confession (Failure) Operation (1)

“Since we’re outside the academy today, and this is a gathering where I’m helping Miss Fionis, I’ll speak a bit more casually.”

“Yes, Senior Lillith! You can even just call me Lilia if you’d like!”

“Then I’ll call you Miss Lilia. But we’re not close enough yet to drop honorifics and call you by name.”

“Okay…”

With Ethan absent, my speech had loosened up a bit more than usual. Before diving into the operation, I asked her the most crucial question.

“First, before we begin, I have the most important question for you, Miss Lilia.”

“Yes, Senior Lillith!”

“Out of all the many other female seniors, why did you ask me to teach you how to seduce a man? There are plenty of women in the academy who are prettier than me… well, not that many, but still, I know there are some.”

Objectively speaking, there were only two women I considered prettier than myself: Seraphine and Natalie.

Seraphine was, of course, the undisputed main heroine of [Luminor Academy], while Natalie had a healthy, cheerful charm that added bonus points based on personal taste.

Beyond them, there was Silena, the academy’s only elf, or Celistra, who had a subtle presence but high “feminine charm,” or Liz, who was pretty and sociable, making her quite popular.

There were plenty of other candidates to ask about seducing men, so the fact that she chose me specifically meant Lilia must have had her own reasons.

“That’s… because I heard rumors that Senior Lillith is a genius at seducing men!”

“A genius at seducing… what?”

“Pfft.”

As I stared blankly at Lilia’s absurd statement, Agnes, sitting beside me, couldn’t hold back her laughter and let out a snort.

“I… I don’t understand why I’m being called a genius at seducing men…?”

“But didn’t Senior Lillith get engaged to Senior Ethan?”

“…Well, yes, but still.”

“As a maid, you became engaged to the noble you serve-isn’t that something only a genius at seduction could achieve? You made him fall so deeply in love that he overcame the difference in status!”

…Is that how it works?

Listening to her, it kind of made sense. Or maybe I was just nodding along to her nonsense.

Well, since Lilia also had feelings for the Hero, it wasn’t so strange that she admired my and Ethan’s love story, which overcame status differences.

It might not be as extreme as a debt-ridden maid and the only son of a duke, but a barbarian girl and the hero who saved the world still had a significant status gap.

“A genius at seduction… *cough* *ahem*…”

“…Well, I understand why you asked me in that sense. Though I don’t agree that I’m a genius at seduction.”

“Why not?”

“Because the real genius at seduction who overcame a status gap is right here. …Right here.”

“Huh?”

“Huh? Why are you suddenly looking at me…?”

Agnes muttered in confusion as the attention suddenly turned to her, but I had already offered her up as the next sacrifice to Lilia.

“Miss Agnes here made a member of the imperial family fall head over heels for her after meeting him just once! She’s the true genius who overcame a status gap, far surpassing me! How could I possibly take the title of ‘genius at seduction’ when someone like her exists?”

“Oooh! That’s amazing, Senior Agnes!”

“N-No…!! L-Lillith is just spouting nonsense…! I-I’m not like that with Antonio at all…!”

“But it’s true that Prince Antonio likes you, right?”

“…Well, yeah, he does like me, but what does that have to do with me being a genius at seduction…?”

“Look, Miss Lilia. In my case, I had to put in some effort to seduce Young Master Ethan, but Agnes managed to make Prince Antonio fall for her without even realizing it! Doesn’t that make her more deserving of the title ‘genius at seduction’ than me?”

“Oooh, you’re right! Agnes, the genius at seduction!”

“Agnes is the genius at seduction!”

“S-Stop it…! D-Don’t call me that!”

Agnes, her face bright red, denied her new title, but Lilia and I didn’t stop praising her extraordinary talent.

“The prodigy of seduction!”

“The master of seduction!”

“The genius of seduction!”

“The maestro of seduction!”

“The artisan of seduction!”

“The Meister of seduction!”

“B-Both of you, shut uuuup…!!”

Her face burning red, Agnes swung her staff wildly, trying to shut us up. Well, she should’ve known better than to tease people like this.

I figured we’d teased Agnes enough for today, so it was time to get serious about Lilia’s confession plan.

“Miss Lilia.”

“Yes, Senior Lillith!”

“Actually, I know the identity of the ‘close senior’ you’re planning to confess to.”

“…Really?”

“Yes. And I also have a bit of a personal connection with him. Would you mind if I took a guess?”

*Nod nod.*

Lilia nodded hesitantly, her eyes half-doubting. So I calmly listed off the unmistakable traits of Gyeotmwa Josyegigot.

“First, the senior you like is probably from the Swordsmanship Department, right?”

“Y-Yes.”

“And he’s exactly one year above you.”

“T-That’s right.”

“He’s skilled enough to be in the top five of his department, meaning he has the authority to choose opponents in evaluation matches.”

“Y-Yes…”

“He holds a position so high that someone like you can’t easily approach him, right?”

“Th-That’s true…”

“And lastly, the decisive point.”

“……”

“The person you like… is definitely a man, right?”

“Oooh, i-incredible! Y-You truly are Senior Lillith!”

As I listed off Gyeotmwa Josyegigot’s traits one by one, Lilia grabbed my hands in awe, nodding enthusiastically.

As expected of a muscle-brained character-once she made up her mind, she wasn’t hard to handle.

“It’s nothing, really. I had a hunch from the start about who you liked.”

“…Isn’t it obvious that the person she’s confessing to is a guy?”

Agnes muttered in disbelief beside me, but I ignored her. Creating the right atmosphere was the most important thing here.

After all, fortune-tellers don’t rely on actual supernatural powers-their real skill lies in gathering enough information beforehand to make it seem like they’ve seen right through you in one go.

Once I had Lilia’s trust, the rest would be smooth sailing. This simple barbarian girl was the type of character who, once she trusted someone, didn’t even know the meaning of doubt.

“First of all, Miss Lilia, your confession shouldn’t be too difficult. You’re already quite pretty, after all.”

“Thank you!”

“Don’t misunderstand, Miss Lilia. To make your confession work, we’ll need to change almost everything about you except your face.”

“……Okay.”

Barbarian Lilia.

Despite having a pretty face, many other aspects of her were quite… challenging.

A height slightly taller than the protagonist character. A slender figure-though “slender” was a generous way to describe her practically nonexistent chest. Six-pack abs, sun-tanned skin, a booming voice that was a bit too loud for a girl, and a slightly dim-witted, muscle-brained personality.

By my standards-someone who appreciates a healthy, athletic look-she was quite appealing. But honestly, from the average guy’s perspective, she had a lot of divisive traits.

The characters who could be universally called “beautiful” were already firmly seated as the main heroines of [Luminor Academy]. Among them, the only one who deviated from conventional beauty standards was Agnes.

For side heroines-especially those with less screen time-having polarizing traits was inevitable. Game companies need to put the main heroines front and center to sell their games, after all.

I doubted Gyeotmwa Josyegigot had particularly unconventional tastes. Even Seraphine, who was beauty incarnate, couldn’t make him stay-so there was no way Lilia’s looks alone would satisfy him.

In other words, Lilia’s confession was doomed from the start. And since it was bound to fail anyway, the important thing was to make sure she got rejected so thoroughly that she wouldn’t even have lingering feelings for him.

Surrounded by all these lucky girls, the Hero had no right to complain. This was all his own karma coming back to him-so he better accept it.

“Miss Lilia, you only need two things for your confession. One is clothes, and the other is speech.”

“Clothes… speech…”

“I won’t tell you to change things like your appearance or personality. Those are things you’re born with and can’t change. And honestly, any man who wouldn’t like someone as pretty as you isn’t worth pining over, Miss Lilia.”

“O-Okay, Senior Lillith!”

“So, to help with your confession, I’ll focus on the two things we can change about you right now. First, stylish clothes that will catch any man’s eye, and second, a romantic confession line that will boost your chances. With just these two, your success rate will skyrocket.”

“R-Really?”

“So first, let’s get you out of that useless, overly revealing rag.”

“A rag…?”

Gyeotmwa Josyegigot was probably already used to being startled by that kind of outfit.

So, I planned to start by completely overwhelming him with a new look right from the beginning.