Wow, my heart was pounding like crazy. Not because I was excited, but because I was so surprised and pissed off.
I quickly ran back to my room and locked the door. No matter how much I tried to kick him out, he would return to the mansion with some excuse when the game’s starting point arrived, so I would have to ask my father or tell Frederick to send Kyle far away, at least for the time being.
“Seriously, I can’t believe it even after thinking about it again. What? Forbidden relationship? Forbidden my ass, he’s just naturally a playboy.”
The more devoted I was to Kyle, the faster he would change his mind, and that must have been related to it. Having a naive young noble who was completely smitten with his words by his side, how thrilling would it have been to have an affair with a new, handsome servant?
“Ugh, I’m so angry.”
With no other place to vent, I punched the pillow with my fist.
I thought my anger towards Kyle had subsided a lot due to the extraordinary actions of other romanceable characters who loved Allen, but I guess not. My insides were burning. If I had known he was a born playboy, I wouldn’t have even looked at him from the start!
Could it be that he was so easy to romance from the beginning because of… the significant difference in status, which could be considered a forbidden relationship?
I quickly racked my brain. If he liked forbidden relationships so much, I could do that for him.
A few days after my nineteenth birthday, Allen would come to this mansion as a servant. And there was a grace period of a little less than half a year until it was fully revealed that Allen was the biological son of this house.
In fact, Sir Kyle Gray, who had a slightly lower social position than the other romanceable characters, was a character planned to fill the gap during the grace period because it was not easy for Allen, as a mere servant, to encounter the Crown Prince or other romanceable characters.
Before it was revealed that Allen was the ‘real’ Noah Hamilton, I had to somehow get them together. If his favorability towards me didn’t completely fade, it would be instantaneous for Kyle to open his heart to Allen, who looked exactly like me.
Not a cheating partner, not a noble young master with a big difference in status. The servant Allen, whose only asset was his pretty face, wouldn’t particularly target his taste for ‘forbidden relationships,’ but I wasn’t too worried about that. In the original game, even though ‘Noah Hamilton’ and ‘Kyle Gray’ had no relationship, Kyle fell for Allen just fine.
So, my plan was to actively create a situation to make them date, and then subtly encourage his affair in front of his eyes.
‘You shouldn’t do this, Sir Kyle. What if Master Noah sees you…!’
‘There’s no need to worry about such trivial things. I see now. I’ve never loved him. From the moment I first met you, I was already…’
Hmm, it would be nice to return that ridiculous conversation that tore my heart to shreds to the people involved. Just imagining it makes me feel refreshed. The best way to screw over this world that favors Allen is to put the person who is being favored in trouble.
By the way, what is a ‘Save-Load Ticket’ anyway? I should have asked earlier, but I missed the timing because I was trying to get Kyle away from me first.
…….
“Heeeuuummm…”
Normally, it would read my mind without me even asking, but it’s being coy only at times like this. I frowned at the System, which was maintaining an uncharacteristic silence, as if protesting.
“Hey.”
…….
“Hey, hey. Are you ignoring me? Oh, you are. Hey.”
No matter how much I taunted it, the System remained silent.
“You’ve been hiding such a function until now? No, if you’re going to let me use it, you should fully activate it. What’s with the stingy one-time ticket? Huh? You’re a System, aren’t you? Is that all the authority you have?”
The System sobs, saying that it did its best within the allowed limits even with the one-time ticket.｡° (ꢳࡇꢳ) °｡
‘System’ complains that it is hurt by your heartless words.
“Hurt? Hurt?”
Where did this damn thing learn to act pathetic! I was about to shout. Knock, knock, a neat knock was heard.
Could it be, could it be Kyle…? It would be troublesome if I started receiving confessions before I had even made proper contact with the other romanceable characters. I frowned as much as possible to prepare for a possible confession attack, opened the door halfway, and peeked outside.
“Master Noah. What are you doing? Is this some new game?”
“Oh, it was Nicole.”
“Oh my, what’s with that reaction? It sounds like you’re disappointed that it’s me!”
“No, I’m relieved. I’m relieved.”
Fortunately, it was Nicole pushing a snack tray into my room. I staggered to the sofa and plopped down. Nicole familiarly entered the room and prepared tea and snacks on the table in front of the sofa.
“By the way, why did you suddenly come back to your room? I went to the study with all the snacks because you told me to bring them, but Master Noah wasn’t there, only Sir Gray was.”
“Ugh, you ran into him?”
“Yes. He even asked if he could take the snacks to Master Noah instead. I remembered what you said yesterday, so I refused and just brought them myself. I did well, right?”
“Oh, you did so well. Nicole is the best. You’re the only one.”
Nicole, who was quick-witted and skilled, was probably the only luck I was allowed. I was so grateful that tears welled up in my eyes.
The System complains that you can call another human your only luck while leaving it out.
Yeah, the next worst misfortune.
…….
‘Worst Misfortune’ decides to fully demonstrate its namesake.
( *๑•̀д•́๑)」
The time limit for the sudden quest is reduced to 8 hours.
Time remaining until the end of the sudden quest: 7 hours and 32 minutes.
“Master Noah! Master Noah? What’s wrong? Don’t you like the snacks?”
“No, everything is delicious. I’m just a little troubled because of Sir Kyle.”
The Save-Load Ticket was a tempting reward, but I didn’t have the confidence to meet another romanceable character and discover their hidden preferences within 12 hours anyway. It was impossible even if it was 20 hours, 40 hours, not just 12 hours.
I scattered all the notification windows that were spread out in front of me with a single blink, as if protesting, and listened to Nicole’s words. It would be a hundred or a thousand times more nutritious than the System’s childish whining.
“That’s why you should have listened to me from the start! I couldn’t say anything because you liked him so much, but I didn’t like Sir Gray from the beginning. How should I put it… he’s too much of a textbook model student, so I thought he might have a shady side…”
Nicole had given up on me since I was in love and had my eyes and ears closed, but in fact, Nicole hadn’t liked Kyle that much from the beginning. It was a shockingly accurate guess. I thought she was just nitpicking because she didn’t like the idea of accepting Kyle, who only had the title of a baronet that couldn’t even be inherited, as my spouse.
“Nicole.”
“Yes, Master Noah!”
“Next time, if I bring a few people, can you read their faces?”
“Yes? Me?”
“Yeah. You could open a fortune-telling shop when you retire. Find a good street. I’ll open a shop for you.”
Of course, that’s if I can completely escape from this tedious repetition of time and see Nicole become a hoho grandfather.
“Why are you making such a serious joke? Then I’ll go organize the list of gifts and invitations that came in for you yesterday. Call me anytime if you need anything!”
As soon as Nicole left the room, a countdown timer that wasn’t originally there appeared in the corner of my vision. As if telling me not to ignore it and to complete the sudden quest.
“Oh, so what. I’ve already figured out the Crown Prince and Kyle. Then there are only two romanceable characters left, but how can I meet them today? Just say you don’t want to give me a bonus.”
I took a big bite of the warm egg tart and waved my hand in the air.
Excluding the Crown Prince and Kyle, there were two romanceable characters left. Grand Duke Carlisle Graham, who was the only younger man among the romanceable characters, and the magician Lennox, who was the best at being twisted.
Currently, Carlisle Graham would be in the Grand Duchy. It would take at least a week by carriage to get from the capital to the Grand Duchy, even if I left right away. It was impossible to meet him right away in the first place.
I couldn’t meet Lennox either. Lennox, who was set to be Allen’s childhood friend from the orphanage, was a typical black-hearted character. You know, the kind who always smiles suspiciously and causes trouble when he opens his eyes with a cold look. Moreover, Lennox was even the leader of an information organization operating in the imperial capital. Ah, of course, he’s not the leader yet, is he? Is he just a low-level guild member…? Anyway, in that he had no way to meet me before the story properly started, he was no different from Grand Duke Graham.