episode_0050

In fact, regardless of his character traits, the character Jake Lindbergh was quite a melancholic character.

Despite having an internal setting of being in a love that is hard to come true, he was portrayed in various fan works in a negative light due to his appearance. Of course, there weren’t that many fan works in total, apart from the fact that the game itself was famous.

Although in the sequel, that negative image has mostly disappeared, this time, a work was created where he was deprived of the person he liked due to the setting of ‘unrequited love’… Well, in various ways, he was a pitiful character.

“….”

“….”

The problem is, we don’t really have much to talk about.

In reality, from this perspective, Alice probably has more conversations to share with than me. Alice was in a position to become an empress, and even in the eyes of other nobles, that would be the case. Honestly, even if I were to build a relationship with her…

Oh, wait? I was almost always with Alice, so from an outsider’s perspective, I was a person who was close to her and there was nothing wrong with that. The difficulty of approaching me due to the image I had was a story that came after that.

By the way, the girls who were next to me slipped away as soon as Jake and I exchanged a few words and then suddenly ran away.

“We have heard a lot about the princess. We apologize for not greeting you first as fellow classmates.”

However, the other party is a person who can easily strike up a conversation with a woman without any hesitation. Even if there was a moment of silence, they wouldn’t run away from me.

Even now, they are surrounded by girls on both sides.

… Come to think of it, this person is also like a ‘clueless harem protagonist’. Of course, unlike the heroines around the protagonist, the heroines next to this person were mostly supporting characters. Although they had noble titles, they were mostly characters who briefly appeared to play the role of jealousy. And those supporting characters were gradually slipping away as Jake and I started talking.

Even if there were scenes of jealousy and avoidance, they were still noblewomen. Regardless of their background, there was no one who could openly confront me, even to the extent of being rumored as a noble killer in some noble families.

It’s rare for a noble to speak so openly.

“I don’t mind.”

I replied like that and glanced at the maid standing a little behind Jake.

Although there were noble and commoner distinctions, the school uniforms were not that different. Except for the unique pleats of the skirt, it was hard to distinguish between military uniforms and school uniforms. The design seemed to convey the message that ‘all students are the same,’ but in reality, it didn’t matter much since most nobles knew each other and socialized. Moreover, even if they didn’t know each other’s faces, rumors spread quickly.

“However, we are all just students within the school. There is no need to address me as a princess.”

“Ah, then….”

Hmm, Jake pondered and said.

“Would Sylvia be okay?”

“….”

No, well.

It was true that calling me an adult Gryphon was a bit ambiguous. After all, it was a royal name, so it was a bit strange to be called that so casually… Whether it was appropriate to call me by my name like this, it was hard to say.

Well, the other party was Jake. He was a character who called all the characters by their names from the beginning, so there was no point in pointing it out.

Rather, I looked at the maid who had brought Jake in front of me.

Her skin was slightly darker. In the game, there were scenes where she was discriminated against because of her skin color. But it wasn’t too dark. After all, she was of mixed white descent.

“If you discriminate against people based on skin color, do I have to be discriminated against too?”

This was what Jake said as he defended the child.

While others knew that Jake’s skin was a sunburned color, and some even considered it different,

“Just because your skin changes color in the sun, does that mean someone can’t do something just because of that?”

Jake said this, and no one could say a word to him. There must have been a lot of things they wanted to say. But what can you do when the other person is a noble?

“Ah, this is…”

Jake must have noticed that my gaze was directed behind him, as he reached out his hand to tap the back of the girl next to him and urged her to take a step forward.

“This is Lottie…”

Jake introduced the somewhat petite girl.

Just like in the orphanage, she had no separate gender. In this world, if you do not inherit gender from your parents, you either marry someone and become part of their family, or unless you create your own gender, you live without gender.

Lottie was a Lindeburgh bastard. Even if a commoner gave birth to a child, they would not be recognized as a child, but if a child was born from a maid brought from the colony, it was even worse.

Lottie had lived as a maid since birth, and Jake had been a noble from the moment he was born.

They were a sub-couple, but they were interesting characters.

“I am Sylvia Pankrephon.”

“…I am Lottie. I apologize for not introducing myself first.”

A maid never directly speaks her name. Although she had grown up with Jake since childhood, Lottie must have known that fact painfully.

Lottie’s face… was so expressionless that even I could see it.

“Did you need something? I apologize for suddenly approaching you. Lottie said it’s better to talk to you if I want to separate the girls.”

“Young master.”

“…”

I stared at Jake’s face quietly.

There was no hint of negative emotions in his expression. As a member of the noble family, even a member of the most noble family, he must know how to turn words. So, this statement was intentional.

But even so, I didn’t think he was speaking to test me. It was probably sincere.

“Don’t worry, Lottie. Sylvia is not that kind of person.”

Jake replied firmly to Lottie’s words.

I’m not sure where his confidence came from.

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

In the original work, it is not mentioned whether Jake has a good eye for people or not. He was just a character who treated everyone with familiarity. In the part where the main characters were living in hiding, he casually spent time in the port village, fishing and mingling with commoners. He even lied about being newlyweds with Lottie.

Thinking about it, it seemed like he had a good eye for people. If he couldn’t trust the people around him in that situation, he wouldn’t have been able to live so freely.

It could be attributed to luck, but still, wouldn’t it be better to have a little doubt?

I slightly raised my guard against Jake.

“So… yeah. It feels similar to Lottie.”

“…”

“Young master.”

Lottie’s expression didn’t falter, but seeing me not respond and stand still, she called Jake again. However, Jake’s expression remained unchanged.

I glanced at Roti once. Roti’s gaze fell below my feet. It was a statement from the son of a duke, and I couldn’t dare to pick it up, nor did I have the authority to apologize on behalf of someone else. Although his face remained expressionless, I could feel the intimidation in his attitude.

“I guess I can’t say you’re completely different.”

As I replied like that, Roti’s face slightly brightened again. Still, we couldn’t meet each other’s eyes.

“Is the reason you spoke to me just for the sake of formality?”

“Yeah. Just, you know, to greet each other. We’re in the same group, right?”

“Is that so.”

“Yeah.”

“In that case, I’ll take my leave now.”

“Sure, see you tomorrow.”

After giving a cool smile and waving his hand, Jake, I turned and walked away without bothering to say goodbye.

In reality, I was getting closer to the limits of exhaustion. Even though I had gone to bed early and woke up in the early hours, it seemed like it was taking a toll on me.

…I should take a deep breath and then get up. I’ll have to think about the two of them later.

With that thought in mind, I quickly headed to my room.

But it wouldn’t hurt to have at least one thing go according to plan, right?

*

“….”

“….”

Watching them walk away with determined steps, Roti was the first to speak.

“Young master.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you know who you were talking to just now?”

“No, Roti was the one who called out to me, right?”

“Young master.”

Unable to bear Jake’s complaints about the many women around him, Roti shot back, and Jake took advantage of the absence of the princess and another princess who usually accompanied him.

And the effect was excellent. In fact, all the female students surrounding Jake scattered.

“It actually worked well. Um… should I also go around with that group?”

“Young master.”

“No, isn’t it okay? There’s also the princess of Belvoir Kingdom, and the princess who is a likely candidate for the next empress. And Grace says it’s closer to the royal family than most other dukes. Isn’t each one an optimal match to build relationships with?”

“….”

In the end, when Roti finally shut his mouth, Jake burst into laughter.

“No, um… okay, I admit it. At first, I was just trying to tease you.”

“….”

Roti still kept his mouth shut, but Jake shrugged his shoulders and continued.

“But, after talking to her, I realized something. Sylvia doesn’t seem like a bad person.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Well.”

In response to Roti’s question, Jake smiled slightly and pondered.

“To be honest, there’s no logical reason.”

“….”

“You’re similar. Sylvia. If she had a typical noble personality, how do you think she would have reacted when compared to you?”

Certainly, the reaction of Sylvia, a fan of the Griffin family, was unexpected. Even if she wasn’t a noble, most imperial people… no, white people would have felt very uncomfortable when compared to someone from a different colonial background.

But Sylvia didn’t seem to be bothered, even though she was a princess.

…Although she was expressionless.

“The princess is someone who hardly ever changes her expression.”

“I know. I’ve seen it up close.”

Jake immediately responded to Roti’s words.

“But, I know someone else who almost always maintains a blank expression. Even though they look like this, I’ve been steadily learning how to read expressions for over a decade. Thanks to someone.”

“….”

“Why, are you trying to say that you and Sylvia are different?”

Jake smiled and said, “How about we make a bet? Is Sylvia a good person or a bad person?”

“…Are you really asking me that so casually right now? What if the princess…”

“Seriously, do you think I would be in danger if she turns out to be the person rumored in the gossip? Thanks for worrying about me.”

“…”

Roti seemed to be at a loss for words, but Jake didn’t feel the need to stop talking.

“Even if it turns out that Sylvia did kill that person, well… I don’t think a person with a vibe similar to yours would just randomly kill someone for no reason.”

Watching Jake speak with a cheerful smile, Roti took a deep breath as if realizing that there was no getting through to him.