Chapter 5

Fortunately, Yanchi seems to know.

"Alright, it's a relief that you finally admit it. So, did you come here to talk about that?"

"No, no!"

"Then what?"

Is there anything else you need to talk about besides admitting it?

When I asked, Olivia tightly closed her mouth.

She fidgeted with her fingers. Her snow-white cheeks turned red all the way to her ears.

"......Promise...... I came to keep it."

Promise?

"Is it about that exclusive maid thing or something?"

The conversation from the video I just replayed came to mind.

There was such an incident.

I didn't pay much attention to it, but it seems Olivia, like a light novel heroine, took it seriously.

"Yes, yes! The promise made in the name of the royal family is absolutely......"

"It's not necessary."

I cut her off.

Her eyes widened.

"Excuse me?"

"It's not necessary. That kind of thing."

Olivia is the main heroine.

If I get entangled with her, it will be a headache.

The core of the light novel story is salvation.

Every heroine has a salvation point, and when the protagonist resolves and saves the heroine's issues, she finally opens her heart to him.

That means,

'If I take on Olivia, I have to save her, right? What a hassle.'

The image of her salvation point came to mind.

Olivia's situation is 'Bad Fiancé.'

The protagonist, pretending to be her boyfriend, stops her engagement to the British royal family's rogue second prince, William, and further reveals William's connection to the 'New World League' to save her. This is the main story of Volume 6.

Just thinking about it gives me a headache.

'You want me to do that? No way.'

So, I need to cut ties here.

The protagonist can handle it on his own.

I'm busy finding a way back to my original world while enjoying my time at the academy.

"But the promise......"

"You don't have to keep it. Wouldn't it be better for you? How can a princess raised in luxury serve as a maid to a C-rank student from a minor country?"

"That's not true!"

Olivia closed her eyes tightly and shouted.

Ah, my ears hurt.

"Why are you shouting?"

Olivia's lips trembled, and she began to speak with a determined look and a resolute voice.

"......If you think I'm testing you, you're completely mistaken. The promise to you is a matter of the Bonaparte royal family's honor and my sense of responsibility as a hero. I have no intention of breaking that promise."

This is driving me crazy.

Why is she so delusional?

Is it because of her pride as a French royal?

'What the hell.'

I now understand how the protagonist of an academy story feels.

I want to slap myself for the comments I made in the past, criticizing the unrealistic delusions in such stories.

I'm really sorry, all the authors of academy stories.

Fine.

Given this situation, I have no choice but to be blunt.

"I don't like you."

"Excuse me?"

Olivia's body stiffened at my words.

Her proud blue eyes trembled.

I crossed my arms and said firmly,

"Didn't you understand? I don't like you."

"Why, why?"

Olivia asked, not understanding.

Is it because she's a character who has always been expected and loved?

She looks quite shocked by my words.

Good.

"Would you like it? Suddenly demanding my portrait weapon, and if I can't prove my worth, you'd take it by force. I'm lucky I won, but if I had lost, it would have been really....... Let's not talk about it."

I shook my head.

In this world, a portrait weapon is almost like a hero's alter ego.

Saying that the army treats guns like lovers is nonsense, but in this world, treating a portrait weapon like a lover is a valid concept.

A portrait weapon costs as much as a destroyer, and without one, a hero's power is no different from a regular hunter.

By demanding my portrait weapon on our first meeting, Olivia committed a serious rudeness by this world's standards.

It's like saying, "I'll NTR your lover" during a date.

Would you just let that slide?

I'm not a pushover.

"That's......"

Olivia was speechless.

Her face turned red.

She seems to realize how embarrassing it was.

"Understood, then get out."

I waved my hand.

This should be enough to make her give up.

Olivia lowered her head.

"......You're right."

A trembling voice came from her lips.

"It's all my fault."

"So?"

"......Give me a chance to make it right."

Olivia gripped her plaid skirt tightly.

I sighed.

"Why should I? I don't like you, so leave."

"But......"

"Leave."

I pointed to the door with my finger.

Getting entangled with the main heroine ends here.

If I get more involved, it will only cause trouble.

"......Understood."

Olivia's shoulders slumped.

I sighed in relief.

At least the major hurdle is over.

"Ah, and one more thing."

"What is it?"

"Did you take a bath in the bathhouse today?"

Olivia's face turned bright red at the question.

Her hands trembled.

"No, I didn't! Is that it? You pervert! Creep! I, I won't think of you as my brother anymore, ugh! Anyway, that's it!"

Olivia stood up, closed her eyes tightly, and shouted.

A classic tsundere line and expression.

But what's important now is whether she took a bath.

The first scene of <The Weakest Hero> is where the protagonist, Yuji, accidentally meets Olivia, who is naked in the foggy bathhouse the day after the opening ceremony.

This is a lucky pervert scene.

Olivia challenges the protagonist to a duel for seeing her naked, and they fight, marking the beginning of the story.

The basic boy-meets-girl scenario in a light novel.

In an anime, it would be the first episode.

'If the naked bathhouse scene is missing from a light novel, it feels incomplete.'

I recalled the first episode of the anime and said,

"If you didn't, make sure to take a bath after dinner."

Olivia needs a lucky pervert scene to get entangled with the protagonist.

After that, the protagonist will handle the rest.

"I'll do it without you telling me!"

Olivia shouted with a trembling voice.

She bit her lip and took a box out of her bag, handing it to me.

"It's a get-well gift. Eat and rot."

I opened the box she gave me.

It was a set of high-quality homemade pastries.

"I prefer seasoned chicken."

I didn't forget to throw in a minor but annoying comment.

I need to cut ties with the main heroine.

"Shut up! Just take it!"

Olivia snapped.

Good.

I smiled, and Olivia turned her head and said,

"I'll go now."

"Being with you was dirty. Don't ever see me again, Olivia."

"Who are you to say that?"

"Go."

"I'll leave without you telling me!"

Clack, clack.

Thud.

The door closed with the sound of her heels.

The room became quiet as Olivia left.

This should make her give up on being a maid or something.

Of course, Olivia can't become hostile towards me.

The fault in our relationship is entirely hers.

'Olivia, who is a bundle of pride, can't ignore the fact that she was the one who committed the rudeness first.'

So, she had no other choice but to grumble just now.

But I have no intention of accepting her tantrum.

Not close, but not distant.

That's the best relationship with her.

She'll soon meet the handsome protagonist and forget about me, an extra.

That's how it should be.

I took out one of the pastries I received as a gift, unwrapped it, and took a bite.

The sweetness filled my mouth.

"Still, seasoned chicken is better......"

I got Durandal.

I maintained a social distance from the main heroine.

I even set up a reason for the protagonist to meet her.

Today was quite a productive day.

Is this the butterfly effect?

The evening at Shuohu Hero Academy.

The new semester, the time when the sunset falls on the fully bloomed cherry blossoms.

Olivia, skipping dinner, lay on the bed in her assigned special dormitory room, burying her face in the pillow.

"Idiot, fool, sea cucumber, dummy, jellyfish, pervert, creep!"

Thump, thump.

Olivia muttered as she hit the pillow.

Bella, her maid, stood like a statue beside the bed.

"How annoying, it's too much......"

Olivia's cheeks puffed up.

The events of the day came back to her.

Kim Deok-sung.

She apologized for her rudeness and bought a set of high-quality pastries from Harajuku as a get-well gift, determined to keep her promise.

But she received cold treatment.

Bella spoke gently,

"Didn't the princess do something wrong to him?"

"That's! True, but......"

Olivia trailed off.

Her cheeks flushed with shame.

She knew it.

How rude she had been.

Asking a hero to hand over his weapon is a severe insult.

She said it to get back her brother's weapon, but that was her perspective.

From the other person's point of view, it was an unbearable insult and rudeness.

"......Yes, it's my fault."

Olivia's shoulders drooped.

She felt disappointed.

But his words were not wrong.

The opportunity to make amends is entirely up to him.

It's not her place to interfere.

The responsibility lies entirely with her.

Olivia naturally thought he would accept her proposal.

'A delusion.'

Olivia buried her face in the pillow.

She thought she was different from other candidates.

She believed she understood the responsibility that came with the hero's power.

'Same.'

But she was wrong.

She, who prided herself on being different, was no different from other students.

Olivia realized this after visiting Kim Deok-sung.

Her face turned red all the way to her ears.

She was ashamed of her sense of superiority.

"Princess, what do you plan to do from now on?"

Bella's calm voice reached Olivia's ears.

"I don't know...... But I was wrong......"

Olivia continued.

"......I need to meet him again."

Her expression became serious.

She realized she was no different from the people she had mocked.

But she couldn't give up here.

If she recognized her mistake, she needed to correct it.

Her admired brother, the Black Prince Raoul, would surely say the same in this situation.

"If I don't meet him and apologize properly......"

She would keep apologizing until her sincerity was understood.

Olivia made this resolve.

If Kim Deok-sung heard this, he would be shocked, thinking it was crazy talk.

"You've thought it through well."

Bella, the exclusive maid who has served the princess for over ten years, smiled faintly.

Olivia, who had lived like a machine under the weight of her brother's legacy and the expectations of being the Black Prince's successor, came to the Japanese hero academy instead of the French academy to live like a peer for a while, as decided by the French emperor.

The emperor's decision was correct.

Only by coming to this distant island in the Far East could the French princess show a face like an ordinary girl.

'I need to thank Mr. Kim Deok-sung.'

Bella's face showed satisfaction.

At that moment,

"Bella."

Olivia's voice reached her ears.

"Yes, Princess."

"What is seasoned chicken......? Do you know?"

Seasoned chicken is better.

The last words Kim Deok-sung said bluntly were still lingering in Olivia's mind.