I'm the Friend of a Male Lead who went Crazy after the Female Lead Died

Thank you, A Voracious Reader, for the kofi.

 

 

The spider-like figure crawled in through the window while Elshnain was frozen in place.

“……Hurk.” 

She quickly covered her moth with both hands, trying to keep herself from screaming.

 

Then as she reflexively looked down at the bracelet Kilian had given her, the thought to call him crossed her mind!

 That’s when a familiar voice reached her ears.

“Ughh…. I thought I was going to die from exhaustion.”

“……?”

“What are you doing? The figure continued. “I went through all these troubles and you are just staring blankly at me from over there.”

The manly voice, laced with a hint of exhaustion, was all too recognizable to Elshnain.

“Hey, Look at this kid. I’m so tired that I’m about to collapse, but you are ignoring the old friend you haven’t seen in ages? You spirits, tsk, tsk. You truly have no manners.”

 The mocking tone was accompanied by sharp remarks.

Meanwhile, Elshnain’s face was gradually scrunching up like a wrinkled potato as the figure became excessively familiar.

“…….”

 

“……Well, what is it?”

 

“Asherai?” she called.

“Yeah.”

The young  man, with silvery wet hair sticking to his face, squeezed the soaked strands and he peered at her with a round face.

“Why did you call me? Are you happy to see me after such a long time?”

 

“…….”

 

“……What’s with that look? Like you are about to hit me… Ouch!”

Puck!

Before Asherai could even finish his sentence, Elshnain’s feet flew, landing on his leg.

“Why did you have to come in like that?” she asked angrily, her hands placed on her hips.

“Like what? Was it too much like a protagonist’s?”

 

“What do you mean protagonist?”

 You still haven’t fixed that shallow personality of yours; Elshnain said inwardly.

Dragons, really….

 

“Narcissism suits you.”

 

“What the hell is that narcissism thing? Whenever anyone mentions me, it’s always narcissism this, narcissism that.” Asherai squatted down, clutching his recently hit leg with both hands, his expression sullen.

He was pretending to be in pain, but Elshnain knew he didn’t feel a thing.

 His body was made of scales that could  withstand attacks from even a Mithril Sword without a scratch.

 

“It’s a good thing to have, you know,” Elshnain answered.

“Hmmm.”

When he made a suspicious face, Elshnain sigh in annoyance, and ran her hand through her hair.

In response, Asherai stood up unsteadily, glancing at her as his silver eyes shone subtly under the moonlight.

“……What is it?” He mumbled

“What do you mean?”

“Considering that you are living on borrowed time and will soon disappear, you look better than I expected.” Asherai replied, his eyes carefully scanning Elshnain’s fingertips and toes.

When a spirit exhausts their own magic to the point of no return, they vanish.

They gradually fade away, starting from their fingers and toes.

So, this was most likely why Asherai was focused on those spots.

Yet, Elshnain deliberately ignored the worry and relief tinged in his silver pupils and said,

“What do you mean I look better? My heart almost exploded because of you.”

“Why?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know?”

 Elshnain briefly considered grabbing him by the ears as she explained it to him, but quickly gave up the idea.

What’s the point? Even if she did, he was someone who wouldn’t think he was at fault; No, such word didn’t exist in his dictionary.

He was a self-centered, and narcissistic half dragon, with a sharp tongue and a bad personality that lacked tact.

……Well, sometimes he does get swayed by emotions.

Maybe it’s because he was only half dragon, but Asherai was someone who occasionally did things that weren’t really dragon-like.

 Like helping me with my plan.

He was the top contributor in Elshain’s plan to revive Arwen.

If it hadn’t been for him, she probably wouldn’t have even dared to execute the plan. The dragon scroll he provided her played the most crucial role in it.

Well, considering that even in the original story, Asherai was the one who helped Elshnain, one could say things were merely following their predetermined course.

“Uh-huh. I noticed that you had used the scroll so I wondered if there was something urgent. For example…….

Asherai trailed in his speech as he squeezed his grey robe with both hands before adding, “A life-threatening situation.”

 

Then he paused and scratched his cheek with his index finger.

 

“Oh. Was I wrong? But looking at the situation, it looks like you were kidnapped by Killian. Are things critical right now?”

 

“Kidnapped? Our Killian wouldn’t do such a thing!” Elshnain exclaimed as she tried to erased Killian’s earlier threats from her mind, praising him instead.

“Hmmm.”

And after studying her expression, Asherai shook his head in disbelief. “You haven’t changed at all. The same goes for that guy.”

Then, with a smirk, he brushed his disheveled hair back.

“Well, I suppose it’s a good thing.”

Although Asherai had an appearance beautiful enough to stop people in their track, just like a typical half dragon; his current ghost-like dripping wet hair, and messy clothes–that looked like they had been hastily sewn together–made him look ridiculous.

“You’ve gotten even uglier while I was away,” Elshnain suddenly remarked.

“…..”

At her words, the young  man, who had been stylishly brushing his hair, instantly froze, like a malfunctioning robot.

Then he slowly lowered his hand to stroked his face with an desperate expression screaming ‘No, her words can’t be true.’

Elshnain, who had been staring at him with an amused face, shrugged.

“But why do you look like this? It’s disgusting how  dirty you are. Can’t you get rid of all this with a cleansing spell ?” she asked, pointing at the rainwater that was dripping on the ground, gradually forming a puddle.

 Letting out a sigh, Asherai replied, “Do you any idea how many layers of spells your precious Killian put on this mansion? It wouldn’t be a problem to do it from the outside, but if I were to use magic within the barrier, that guy would immediately sense it and come running.”

Asherai had a disgusted scowl on his face as he said those words.

Oh. So magic can’t be used in here at all? Elshnain thought, feeling  that this might disrupt her plan.

Well, it shouldn’t really matter.

“Then use this,” she handed him the towel a maid had left behind.

 And Asherai awkwardly accepted it before wiping himself.

It was only after some time had passed, after calming down a little, that they two friends sat facing each other.

* * *

 

“So, you want me to pretend to be you?”

“yes.”

Having successfully soothed Mikhail, who had rushed over at Killian’s command, and made him wait outside, Elshnain softly whispered to Asherai while keeping an eye on the outside.

“……But do I really need to hide behind this curtain and talk like this?”  the young man grumbled, clumsily concealing his large frame behind said curtain.

On the other hand, Elshnain, after moving a table close to Asherai and taking a seat, assumed a posture that made it look like she was merely gazing out her window and speaking to herself.

“We never know when Killian might suddenly appear. ”

“Are talking about that bracelet?”

 “Huh. How did you know?”

 Asherai let out a deep sigh.

“It’s obvious. It’s so like him to toss something like this to you and say, ‘Call me if anything happens .’ That’s probably exactly how things went.”

“…….”

Well, They weren’t old comrade-in-arms for nothing. Asherai seemed to know Kilian as well as I did.

“Anyway, that thing can only be used once a day.”

 

“Huh?”

 

Once a day? It can be more than that?

 

“Yes,” Asherai replied as if he had read Elshnain ‘s mind. “I made it like this.”

 

“What?”

 

Asherai made this?

 

Elshnain stared at the bracelet adorning her wrist with an utterly confused look.

Was this story in the original story?

“Why did you make this?” she asked him directly.

“……Hmmm.”

 However, instead of the immediate answer she expected, Asherai only let out another heavy sigh without saying a word.

Then, after waiting for an explanation  that never came, Elshnain couldn’t stand it any longer, and spoke first.

“Does the reason matter?”

And a response that blatantly evaded her question came back.

“What’s more important is the fact that Killian has already used up today’s quota”

The curtain where Asherai had been hiding softly rustled, then he playfully poked his sliver head out.

“And if he is close by, you’ll immediately feel his presence, so there’s no need to worry about getting caught .”

Asherai, who looked much neater now, confidently walked up to the table and plopped down  in front of Elshnain.

Then, after crossing his legs, he leaned against the table and said,

“So, tell me more about this impersonating thing.”

“Hmmm~”

With his chin resting on his clasped fingers, he arrogantly raised his eyebrows at Elshnain who was looking at his haughty face.

And in response, she adopted the same arrogant posture, tilting her head just like he did before speaking in a similar nonchalant tone.

“ There’s something important that your sister need you to do. Remember the knight I kicked out earlier? His name is Mikhail, and he is here to keep me in check.”

“Do you want me to kill him because he’s bothering you?”

 

“NO!…No. I want you to polymorph into me. Technically, it’s one of your innate abilities as a dragon, not magic, right?”

This ruthless guy.

Whether it was Killian or him.

They had no mercy.

Ugh, seriously.

“Why?” Asherai asked.

“I can’t just leave him behind every time I need to go somewhere. And Killian would also worry about it.”

“……You also want me to deceive  Killian?”

“Uhh… yeah.”

 “Do you think that’s possible?” Asherai frowned, waving his hand to dismiss her words. “I don’t gamble on things with low odds of success. You know that, don’t you? If we get caught, it’s on me.”

Ugh!

If that’s how he was going to play it, then he left me with no choice.

Painting a grin on her lips, Elshnain sweetly said, “You can do it, can’t you? Oh Grand silver sorcerer.”

Twitch.

“It was almost legendary, wasn’t it? The praises people sang of you. Every single wizard admired Asherai, the powerful silver mage, didn’t they?”

 Twitch. Twitch.

As she clearly saw his face twitch precisely at the words ‘legendary’, ‘admire’ and ‘Powerful silver mage,’ Elshnain smiled inwardly, and continued,

“There’s no way someone like you can’t fool Kilian, isn’t that right?”

 And before long, a clear answer was heard.

“Of course !”

“Really?”

“Yes!”

“Then you’ll do me this one favor, won’t you? It should be as easy as quietly drinking tea, right?”

Although Asherai’s narcissistic personality was annoying, it was useful in its own way.

And considering that he was a dragon, albeit a half breed, it was understandable.

 One always needed to be careful with their words around them.

More importantly, dragons can’t break their promises.

Sure enough, after sweet talking him for a while, Asherai confidently spoke his next words, lifting his nose towards the sky.

“Well then, speak, I’ll listen to everything.”

And ad soon as Elshnain got the answer she wanted, she wiped the grin off her face.

Okay. It was a success.

“Hoo-hoo. Okay, then. I’d appreciate it if you could hear me out on this as well. First off, I think I’m going to need some of this,” she said, pressing her index finger and her thumb together, forming a circle.

She was requesting money.

“…….”

And as Asherai stared at Elshnain crooked smile, realization flashed across his face, but unfortunately the ship had already sailed.