Witchwood Romance Manipulation Team (1)

The opportunity to ask Agnes about what had happened came sooner than expected.

Right after the barbecue party started, Antonio-who had been getting meals from Agnes the whole time-was the first to leave the dining table, leaving only Agnes behind, eating her meal belatedly. It wasn’t too difficult to talk to her alone since she wasn’t receiving attention from anyone else.

As I’ve mentioned before, Agnes has no friends besides me and Seraphine. And right now, Seraphine is in the middle of a fierce competition between Celista and Silena over the Hero, so it’s only natural that Agnes is left alone.

Fortunately, Ethan didn’t particularly stop me from going to talk to Agnes. After all, Ethan isn’t the type to restrict me unless I’m talking to the Hero or other men.

“Agnes-yang.”

“…Lilith.”

“What happened earlier today? It seemed like things were a bit complicated between you and Prince Antonio.”

“……Nothing much.”

“Is Prince Antonio’s injury… related to you in any way?”

-Flinch.

She didn’t open her mouth, but that reaction alone was practically an answer. Well, I had already half-expected it from the moment Agnes volunteered to take care of Antonio.

Agnes, who usually shows no interest in others, suddenly offering to get involved with Antonio-someone she not only had no interest in but actively found annoying-was enough for me to draw a rough conclusion.

The simple logic that if Prince Antonio hadn’t returned with one arm broken, the injured party would have been Agnes.

“Judging from your reaction, I think I get the gist of it.”

“W-what do you think you get?”

“Just, well, roughly why Prince Antonio got injured.”

“…….”

“So. Are you really not going to tell me? What happened at the lake?”

Agnes’ expression twisted subtly, as if she realized she’d already been caught. It didn’t take long for her to respond.

“……Don’t tell anyone else.”

“Of course.”

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

First, let me get straight to the point: Agnes didn’t know why the three-headed hydra had appeared at the lake.

She was just keeping watch as usual, wary of any monsters approaching the lake, when it suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

It was probably either a hidden monster from the [Luminor Academy]’s Witch’s Forest event or one of those monsters that appear when certain conditions are met in combat events.

Or maybe, like how the Roaring Crescent Moon Bear and Moonlight Wolves appeared together, it could have spawned due to the increased number of people and average level. There were too many overlapping reasons to be sure.

Well, the Witch’s Forest event was already mostly over, so it wasn’t that important anymore. The truly more pressing issue was something else entirely.

‘The relationship between Prince Antonio and Agnes is the more important matter.’

Just a few hours ago, Agnes had openly disliked being in the same group as Antonio. So why had she suddenly volunteered to take care of him? Listening to Agnes’ story, I could confirm what had happened between them.

“…It was my mistake.”

“What kind of mistake?”

“I should’ve kept more distance before casting my spell. If I had taken them out one by one from afar, no one would’ve gotten hurt. But as soon as it appeared, I panicked and started chanting an attack spell right away.”

She had assumed that taking out one head would make it collapse or hesitate, but the three-headed hydra didn’t stop attacking even after two of its heads were destroyed.

Most of all, she hadn’t expected all three heads to target her.

Luckily, Sir Colt sliced off one head with his sword, and another was blown up by Agnes’ magic before it could reach her, but she didn’t have enough time to prepare another spell to block the last one.

And in that brief moment before she could ready her next spell, Prince Antonio-more precisely, his sacrificed right arm-bought her time.

“Honestly, I was a little shocked. I never thought he’d fail to cut off even one hydra head properly.”

“…….”

“…But, well, it’s true that I didn’t get hurt because of him. So I have to take responsibility.”

She didn’t seem inclined to deny that Prince Antonio’s sacrifice-letting one of the hydra’s heads bite his arm-had given her time to chant her second spell.

Thanks to her immediately finishing it off after the prince’s arm was bitten, the injuries were limited to just a broken arm, but Agnes still seemed bothered by the fact that Prince Antonio had gotten hurt protecting her.

She wanted to repay the debt and find a way to apologize, which led to her current ‘taking care of Prince Antonio’ situation.

“…It’s not like I can repay him with money anyway. My family’s budget wouldn’t even come close, and I’d just get accused of trying to put a price on a royal’s body.”

“…….”

“So I have to repay him like this. It was my fault he got hurt, after all. I at least have that much conscience.”

Hmm.

I thought it was some kind of romantic development for Prince Antonio, but it didn’t seem to be entirely that.

It wasn’t a ‘I’ve started seeing you differently after you saved me’ heart-fluttering situation, but more of a ‘I owe you, so I have no choice but to repay you’ kind of deal.

‘…Well, in the original, Agnes was also the hardest heroine to romance.’

She wasn’t the type to fall for someone just because they saved her life once or twice. To make her fall in love, you’d have to save her life five or six times, or resolve some massive event that would change her entire life.

First, I needed to ease the burden Agnes felt toward Prince Antonio.

“Well, Prince Antonio’s injury wasn’t really your fault, Agnes-yang. I doubt Prince Antonio thinks he got hurt because of you either.”

“But if I had judged the situation a little better, it wouldn’t have happened.”

“Reacting immediately when you didn’t even know if a three-headed hydra or something else would appear was impressive in itself. And if you hadn’t acted right away, the sacrifice might have been much greater than just Prince Antonio’s arm, don’t you think?”

“…That’s true. Thanks for saying that, Lilith.”

My words seemed to have comforted her somewhat, as Agnes’ troubled expression softened a little.

‘Now then. How should I guide the relationship between Agnes and Prince Antonio…?’

To be honest, it wasn’t like I was actively rooting for Agnes and Prince Antonio’s romance. If Agnes, one of my only two friends, could be happy, the person by her side didn’t necessarily have to be Prince Antonio.

But right now, the person most likely to make Agnes happiest in the future was, no matter how I looked at it, Prince Antonio.

After all, in my past life, I’d seen Agnes’ ‘spinster solo ending’ countless times.

At least Natalina, Seraphine, and Luke had other men to fall back on if they didn’t end up with the Hero, but some characters like Agnes and Celista would remain single if they didn’t end up with the Hero.

Especially Agnes, with her difficult personality, had practically no men who would take her. Add to that the strict expectations of her family, the Elizabeth Marquis Household.

First of all, among men of higher status than Agnes, there are hardly any who would actively pursue a woman with such a troublesome personality.

And if a non-noble man tried to approach Agnes, she wouldn’t accept them. Or rather, the Elizabeth Marquis Household, which had designated Agnes as the heir, would go out of their way to block it.

As a result, Agnes was destined to grow old without ever finding a suitable partner, living a lonely life without any romantic ties. Even the hopeful Hero’s Pure Love Route or the Hero’s Harem Route were impossible in the current situation.

In that regard, Prince Antonio was the only noble (or rather, imperial) man whose family wasn’t so lowly that the Elizabeths would reject him, and who could tolerate Agnes’ difficult personality.

‘It’s just too sad for her to grow old alone in the Magic Tower without any romantic ties.’

At the very least, wouldn’t it be nice to give her a chance-just once-to meet a man who was on her level and would genuinely care for her?

Given that Prince Antonio had unhesitatingly sacrificed his own arm for Agnes in a crisis, it didn’t seem like his feelings for her were insincere.

Since Prince Antonio was already deeply infatuated with Agnes, all I needed to do was create an opportunity for them to grow closer, and their relationship would surely blossom.

“Anyway, Agnes-yang, you’re planning to take care of Prince Antonio for the next three days, right?”

“…Well, for now.”

“Then wouldn’t you need my help? Like, say, knowledge about female attendants serving male employers.”

“Huh?”

“You haven’t forgotten, have you? That I was the Blackwood family’s debt maid and Ethan’s exclusive maid.”

“…That’s not really something to brag about, is it?”

…Well, she wasn’t wrong.

“Anyway, what I mean is, wouldn’t someone with experience be better at it? Since you’re going to serve Prince Antonio, wouldn’t it be wiser to take my advice? At the very least, we should avoid you doing anything ‘improper’ while serving him.”

“…That’s true. What should I be careful about?”

-Grin.

This is my chance.

The opportunity to become the Cupid for Agnes and Prince Antonio’s love!