WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Mordor
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Second-in-Command in a Romance Fantasy Novel ◈
Chapter 55: Two-Timing (4)
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Now, a warrior who could throw punches without a moment’s hesitation.
No, as I watched the Saintess, I dragged two half-dead bodies over to her.
“Keep that up, and they’ll die.”
Thud! Thud!
Listening to the sound of human fists tenderizing human bodies, I couldn’t help but wonder.
Ellen and I could do it too, but we’d been trained by the kingdom since childhood and used swords. That probably made us at least a little less sensitive to hurting people.
But she could beat people barehanded without hesitation.
Either she’d been born with the potential to become a true Fist King.
Or she was just a psychopath.
For some reason, I suspected the latter. It was probably just my imagination.
A psychopathic romance-fantasy heroine... Why did that feel strangely familiar? That was horrifying.
“Oh, right. I was told to keep them alive if possible.”
Seeing her use healing magic on the Dark Mage she’d beaten black and blue only strengthened the psychopath theory.
“I know we’re saying this away from the Pope, but why do you keep doing that?”
I did feel a little sorry that I’d suddenly acquired another fake lover, but weren’t we bound by a proper contract?
Yet she kept giving me looks in front of the Pope.
“Oh, that?”
If she said she’d actually fallen for me and gotten jealous, I was ready to abandon this whole fake-lover arrangement and run.
“Still, I have a conscience. I was trying to help you, Adam.”
“By making me look like trash?”
“Yes!”
Daisy’s bright smile had the charm expected of a romance-fantasy heroine.
If this were a webtoon, flower petals would probably be fluttering around her.
The problem was that she’d smiled like that after saying and doing something completely psychopathic.
“Hmm, that might’ve sounded misleading. I’ll explain right away.”
“Yes. If your explanation isn’t convincing, I’ll assume the Saintess is a legendary psychopath.”
“You’ve already become more distant just through the way you address me, so I’d better explain quickly!”
After breaking the ankle of the Dark Mage she’d mostly healed, she began explaining.
...Crippling their mobility so they couldn’t run away. She’d learned well.
“First of all, unfortunately, our contract lasts until winter break.”
“That sounds misleading. It lasts until before winter break.”
The way she put it made it sound like the contract would remain valid if we spent winter break together.
“You’re so petty. Anyway, when the contract ends, our connection... will continue, but our romantic relationship will end.”
“I’d prefer the connection to end too.”
“Wouldn’t that be difficult because of Ellen?”
That was true.
Seeing that she knew it and still acted this way, this romance-fantasy heroine clearly wasn’t the innocent type.
...Violet never gets anything right.
“Anyway, since there isn’t much time left, people need to see us fighting like this so there won’t be any complaints when we break up later.”
“You prepared the narrative logic in advance?”
“Exactly. The Pope seems especially interested in our relationship...”
“I thought she knew it was fake.”
“She keeps doubting whether even that is fake. Doubting her doubts, then doubting those doubts.”
That was why Daisy was making sure people saw us fight in advance.
“Then you should’ve told me beforehand.”
“Violet said that if you want to fool the enemy, you have to fool your allies first!”
“...I don’t think you should listen to her too much.”
“Are you trying to steal my friend now?”
“I told you, that’ll never happen.”
“Still, splitting the sky apart... It seemed worth trying.”
Why didn’t the content of her grumbling strike me as odd?
“Seriously, aren’t you coming to the Swordsmanship Department next year?”
“Why? Do you want me there?”
“You belong to Leon. It feels wrong for someone talented in swordsmanship to follow the path of a magic-slinger.”
“Wow... You’re the first person I’ve heard say that. If our Head Professor hears that, they might come looking for you.”
“Then I’ll use our Head Professor as a shield.”
If I couldn’t call magic-slingers magic-slingers, didn’t that mean I’d have to call Flame-Slinger by their real name?
...What was their real name again?
I couldn’t give up the name Flame-Slinger if it meant avoiding an awkward situation later.
“Anyway, that’s why I acted a little angry.”
“So you weren’t actually mad.”
“...”
“Hello?”
Silence at this timing was weird.
“Ten percent.”
After staying silent for a moment, Daisy mumbled as if embarrassed, kicking something with her foot.
“What?”
I’d been looking at the Dark Mage who had twitched after being kicked, so I hadn’t heard properly.
“About ten percent of it was because I was really mad.”
Daisy answered a little louder, her face full of dissatisfaction.
“So you were angry.”
“It couldn’t be helped. Think about it, Adam. What if you suddenly heard I had a new lover!”
I closed my eyes and thought about it.
Emergency... Extreme emergency!
“...Is it Prince Ellen?”
“Not him!”
Emergency lifted.
“Then I don’t care.”
“...Ah, I see?”
Crack.
Was it my imagination, or had something just broken?
“When Ellen confesses to me later, I’ll have to seriously consider it.”
“...That violates the contract.”
“You said contracts needed to be precise. I promised not to accept a confession unless I was sincere. I never said I wouldn’t consider it.”
It was a threat that if he confessed, she’d say she needed to think about it and never give him an answer.
“After making me look like trash too...”
“Honestly, I wouldn’t have done it to anyone else. I did it because it was you, Adam.”
“So I’m someone you can use however you want?”
“You’re someone who won’t care even if I do. You’re not the type to be shaken by rumors that’ll disappear after a short time at the Academy.”
That was true.
If anything, rumors like this kept halfhearted people from approaching me. That was more convenient.
The people I saw in the Knight Department weren’t the type to care about rumors like this anyway.
And the romance-fantasy leads seemed to like me even more because of it.
The club members would probably know the whole story too.
...Now that I thought about it, I was curious how Uncle Aryn would react.
I’d gained the right to make Uncle Aryn work for me as payment for pretending to be Lorellia’s fake lover.
Did he know about it himself?
“Besides, I’m faithfully giving you the promised payment too, aren’t I?”
“That’s true.”
In exchange for being her fake lover, I received holy water made by the Saintess every week.
Potions, including top-grade holy water that even the kingdom couldn’t obtain easily.
They were originally meant to be sent to the Holy Kingdom, but with the Goddess’s permission, they were being handed over to me as payment for being her fake lover.
I wasn’t sure this was really okay, but the Goddess had allowed it, so whatever.
“I’ll ask the Goddess this time and give you a little more of the stock meant for the Holy Kingdom, so please put up with it a little longer.”
What did it matter if my reputation took a hit?
Unlike the Academy, where I’d graduate in three and a half years, holy water and potions had almost endless shelf lives.
Once I returned during winter break, I could offer some to the royal family and earn a few points.
I’d send a few bottles to my family too, and be a good son.
“I don’t care if I become the Academy’s biggest bastard.”
Maybe my sincere determination reached her.
Daisy’s eyes widened, and she shouted in surprise.
“You’re going to cheat again?”
“You’re really giving the tabloids more material.”
As I looked back and forth between the Pope, whose expression was steadily hardening in the distance, and Daisy, who stuck out her tongue at her as if teasing her, all I could do was kick an unconscious Dark Mage to vent my frustration.
* * *
Contrary to Adam and Daisy’s expectations, the Pope’s expression had hardened not from anger.
It was for the complete opposite reason.
‘It wasn’t a love square? It was even more than that!’
Thump, thump.
The Pope’s heart raced as she watched a real-life love square, something she’d only seen in romance novels.
When she first heard that Adam was two-timing...
‘As expected of a man both Violet and the Saintess are interested in!’
She naturally accepted the news.
She would have been upset if the other person were some random nobody, but this was the daughter of the Empire’s greatest house.
She was even the fiancée of an Imperial prince.
For someone like that to try seducing him...
Didn’t that mean he was more attractive than the Empire’s prince?
That was why she thought Daisy’s light grumbling was simple jealousy.
That was how things usually went in romance novels!
“Your Holiness, I think there might be more suspicious people at the Academy. It’s dangerous, so shouldn’t you return?”
Even when the Saintess advised her to retreat somewhere safe, she firmly shook her head and made it clear that she would follow them.
“If I run away from a place like this, I can’t call myself the Pope. For the sake of a peaceful festival, we need to work even harder!”
“Your Holiness...”
Daisy watched her growth with a touched expression.
“...”
Adam, meanwhile, looked troubled as he thought, No, that’s even more dangerous...
‘He looks upset because I interrupted their private date!’
The Pope, already steeped in romance novels, saw even that through rose-colored glasses.
* * *
The shadow assigned to Imperial Prince Essid.
At the same time, the shadow of House Jeyka.
Aerin Cleed, nineteen years old.
Officially, this man operated under that name and age. With a miserable expression, he shouted.
“You maggots! Move it!”
At his command, dozens of people concealed themselves.
They were Second-Class Agents of the Intelligence Bureau, the pride of the Imperial family.
They might have been somewhat lacking compared to the first-class and special-class agents who operated beyond the Empire’s borders.
Still, among agents working within the Empire, they were undoubtedly among the best.
Yet even they had been called maggots throughout the Founding Festival.
Even while getting chewed out, they couldn’t say a word.
After all...
“There were more Dark Mages?”
It was because of a message from that damned Adam.
-Uncle, I’m disappointed... There are more of them again.
Honestly, Aerin couldn’t help but be suspicious.
Dark Mages were difficult to find even when the Imperial family and the Intelligence Bureau joined forces.
Yet Adam caught one whenever he went on a date with the Saintess, as if he were pulling radishes from a vegetable patch.
Were they farmed?
Was this a world where Dark Mages could be raised like crops and harvested now?
Perhaps for Shadows and intelligence agents, it was the perfect world, one where the finest means of earning merit had been prepared for them.
That thought lasted only a moment.
Aerin clutched his aching head and poured mana into another communication orb.
“My lord. This is Aerin.”
-...Yes. What is it?
During the days when the Empire had still been a kingdom, he had been one of the contributors who founded it.
The current head of House Jeyka, the house with the greatest influence in the Empire.
A figure even the Emperor could not treat carelessly, the leader of the Noble Faction.
Drine Jeyka.
As soon as he received Aerin’s call, Drine looked away.
“My lord, I heard that the engagement with the Imperial family is being dissolved.”
-That’s right...
“I spent a week suffering to prepare for that.”
-I’m always grateful.
“But yesterday! All of a sudden! The Ducal Lady got herself a lover! A fake one, supposedly, but it’s the Saintess’s man, and it’s... Aaargh!”
As he listened to Aerin’s desperate screams devolve into incoherent sounds, Duke Drine lowered the volume of the communication orb and muttered.
-Dark Mage sabotage? The communication isn’t working properly.
This was a romance-fantasy world filled with love schemes.
Even the head of a ducal house could not manage his own daughter.
All he could do was raise the salary of a pitiful worker.
Author’s Note
An illustration has been added to Two-Timing (1).
Perhaps because of all the cries of “Team Lorellia!” since Lorellia first appeared, the artist said they drew it with all their effort.
Footnotes:
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