I shrugged my shoulders and said again.
“Well, for now, I have no plans to run away.”
“A wise choice. And thanks for the treatment.”
“Since I made a good choice, please look at me favorably. Don’t try to hand me over.”
When I said this with a blank expression, Simone fell silent with a peculiar look.
“…………”
“What is it?”
“I’m not sure if you’re fearless or just clever.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s nothing. Let’s get on the motorcycle.”
Simone got on the motorcycle, and I climbed on behind him with a blank expression, holding onto his waist.
I have no idea what this man is thinking either…
Simone’s soft voice came from in front of me.
“Alright, I won’t hand you over for the time being.”
“What?”
“I won’t hand you over to Princess Eva. In fact, I’m even thinking of cooperating with you.”
“Why the sudden change?”
I was grateful that Simone was willing to take my side, but I couldn’t fathom his reasons.
“You don’t seem to be as dangerous as I thought.”
“So, you’ve been considering me a dangerous person all this time? You should have realized sooner that I’m not.”
I was truly bewildered, but at least Simone’s decision not to hand me over was fortunate. Although, I couldn’t shake off my suspicions about Simone.
“You’re not planning to betray me, are you?”
“I swear on the Monteverdi family.”
“Oh…… okay.”
Since he said this much, it shouldn’t be a lie.
I still didn’t understand why Simone’s attitude had changed, but I decided to trust him for now.
In fact, I needed Simone’s help to catch Aurora.
Maybe my earlier advice worked? Anyway, as long as he was convinced, it was fine.
“…But since it’s ‘for the time being,’ your mind could change, right?”
“I’ll observe a bit more for now.”
“Please stop treating me like a mere bean sprout.”*
*Is a metaphorical expression. It means that the speaker feels they are being undervalued, underestimated, or not taken seriously.
Of course, I couldn’t fully trust Simone yet.
I should always be on guard and not miss any chance to escape…
After traveling on the motorcycle again, we managed to exit the forest and found our companions waiting for us.
“Why are you so late?”
“A rock fell and blocked the path.”
I was about to mention Simone’s injury, but he seemed to not want it brought up, so I didn’t bother explaining.
“Quickly.”
“Yes, Ghieuspe, you mean we should hurry.”
As I nodded at Raffaelo and Ghieuspe’s words, Arkhangelo interrupted.
“Wait a moment!”
“Yes?”
“Is it really okay for you to be there?”
“What?”
“I mean, is it okay for you to be with Simone?”
Oh, right, I did show that I was clearly afraid of Simone. Arkhangelo had been considerate towards me because of that.
Hearing Arkhangelo’s words, the other companions looked at us with understanding faces. I shrugged my shoulders from behind Simone.
“Well, things worked out. It should be fine for now as long as Simone cooperates with me.”
“So, you made up.”
Raffaelo said with a chuckle.
“Whatever it was, it seems like you cleared up the misunderstanding.”
“No, we didn’t make up. I was the victim. It wasn’t a misunderstanding; Simone was really a bad person. He just changed his attitude a bit.”
“Uh, okay…”
“The fact that Simone’s character is the worst hasn’t changed. He’s even worse than Arkhangelo.”
“……….”
Simone remained silent, perhaps having nothing to say. Seeing this, Arkhangelo looked somewhat betrayed and shouted.
“I took such good care of you!”
“Thanks for that. Regardless of character, you are truly a great person, Arkhangelo.”
“Hmph, I am, aren’t I?”
Luckily, Arkhangelo seemed pleased by my compliment. Then I got on the motorcycle with Simone again.
As we rode the motorcycle and followed Raffaelo’s guidance, silence fell between Simone and me.
It was even more awkward because of what I had said earlier.
‘It would be nice to build a friendly relationship so that he wouldn’t hand me over to the princess.’
But if he at least considers me a friend, he won’t betray me, right?
To break the awkwardness and build rapport, I tried to think of a suitable topic for conversation and suddenly came up with a good one.
“So, how did you get close to the others?”
Since the original story didn’t explain why the four male leads became close, I was suddenly curious.
Moreover, if I learned how Simone got close to others, I could use that method to win his favor too.
In other words, I would try to enter his ‘inner circle’ as depicted in the original story.
Simone’s expression became somewhat strange at my question.
“We’re not particularly close.”
“What?”
“I’m not particularly close with others.”
I was confused about whether he was serious or joking, and Simone, seeing my bewildered expression, laughed out loud and added.
“Well, it was half a joke.”
So, half of it was true?
“The reason I got close to them… well, it started with Raffaelo.”
Even though my question might have been annoying, Simone began to explain kindly.
“When I was wandering the continent after being expelled from the Monteverdi Marquessate, I met Raffaelo.”
“Ah, Raffaelo said he had traveled around the continent too.”
“Yes, we met then. Raffaelo helped me a lot, and thanks to him, I became the Marquess of Monteverdi.”
“Raffaelo doesn’t look like that, but he’s really a kind person.”
“Ha ha!”
Simone laughed out loud, finding something funny in my words.
“Indeed, as Seraphina said, Raffaelo is often misunderstood because of his appearance, but among us, he is the most normal person.”
“You are very objective about yourself.”
“To be honest, it’s true. Anyway, after receiving help from Raffaelo and becoming the Marquess of Monteverdi, Raffaelo introduced me to Arkhangelo. They had known each other since childhood, being from the same mages family. As for Ghieuspe, I got to know him while helping with the mage registration process.”
“So, everyone is somehow connected by magic.”
Looking back, magic seems to be a crucial element in this world. It’s surprising that the original female lead, Aurora, is not a mage.
Or rather, what was the original author thinking when they created Aurora’s character?
Magic and singing are important elements in this story, yet Aurora lacks both! She doesn’t even have singing…
Well, considering Aurora’s personality, even without those two elements, she wouldn’t be easily defeated anywhere….
“I got close to Arkhangelo because it was simple. There was no need to be on guard.”
“That’s true. I’ve never seen anyone as straightforward as Arkhangelo.”
“Did someone just badmouth me?”
Arkhangelo scratched his head as he said this, but we all pretended not to hear.
“At first, I intended to establish a connection with Arkhangelo Phyro, a popular singer in the capital, but we ended up becoming friends.”
“I see.”
“Ghieuspe was… a bit tricky. It’s hard to understand him.”
“That’s true.”
You have to talk to understand someone, but Ghieuspe didn’t talk much.
“At first, I tried to figure out Ghieuspe, and he probably tried to understand me too.”
“Eventually, we became friends because of that.”
“I see. So what kind of person do you think Ghieuspe is?”
At this, Simone was silent for a moment before speaking in a light tone.
“In the end, Ghieuspe is an easy person to understand.”
“What?”
“I used to do odd jobs at the Tower of Magic when I was expelled from my family, so I quickly understood him.”
“Oh…”
“If you know about the Tower of Magic, you can understand Ghieuspe.”
It was a somewhat meaningful statement.
Hmm, since I don’t know much about the Tower of Magic, I might not fully understand Ghieuspe yet.
“Anyway, I’m envious that you have such close friends.”
I don’t have anyone I can call a friend in this world. If they considered me a friend, I would be glad.
But Simone responded in a peculiar tone to my words.
“Well…”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure if we’re really friends.”
Simone’s words made me realize something shocking.
Simone might not consider the others as friends!
“Wow, Simone, as I always feel, you seem worse than Arkhangelo in terms of personality… Can I tell the others about this?”
“…Let’s keep it a secret between us.”
Wait, then it’s unlikely that Simone will ever consider me a friend, right?
Can the strategy of building rapport to get him on my side succeed?
What if Simone betrays me one day and hands me over to Princess Eva?
“People are unpredictable. Even if they seem kind and wise on the outside, you never know their true intentions.”*
* Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
“Lady Seraphina, are you saying that to me?”
“Of course, I’m saying it to you. Everyone else in this group seems genuine except you.”
“…But I’ve never lied to you. I even honestly told you about the plan to hand you over to Princess Eva.”
“I still can’t trust you. I can’t completely let my guard down yet.”
I started to doubt Simone’s character more and more.
Was it really a good choice to trust Simone…?
