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“What urgent matter did you want to ask me about, Miss Pereira?”

The man prompted with an indifferent voice. More precisely, it was a voice tinged with irritation, as if he found this extremely bothersome.

Though his hair was disheveled and damp with sweat as if he had just finished training, the man was breathtakingly beautiful, as if deliberately styled that way.

Natalie looked up at his handsome, protagonist-worthy face and asked with feigned nonchalance.

“Hey, McClain Lindhart. Are you a transmigrator?”

“W-what?”

At her question, cracks appeared in the man’s expressionless face.

Natalie continued speaking, thinking this was the first time she had seen him so flustered.

“I don’t intend to harm you. I’m asking because I’m a transmigrator like you.”

However, the man’s confusion didn’t last long. Instead of answering, he stared at Natalie for a moment with narrowed eyes.

His gaze seemed to be measuring her intentions. Natalie calmly met his eyes and shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s true. I have no other motive. I’m asking because I thought perhaps transmigrators could join forces to find a way back to our original world.”

Contrary to her words, Natalie was quite desperate. This was because if this were truly ‘McClain Lindhart,’ he should have been anxiously proposing a contract marriage to the female protagonist who might otherwise be sold off to another man by now—yet this man showed absolutely no signs of doing so.

Could it be that the setting where he had loved the female protagonist since childhood had somehow been omitted during his transmigration? That couldn’t be right.

Lost momentarily in her thoughts, Natalie was prodded by the man’s displeased voice.

“How did you know I was a transmigrator? Have you been spying on me?”

“Spying? Why would I need to do that? Actually, given our complicated situation, there’s quite a lot one can hear without deliberately trying to eavesdrop. Anyway, how I found out about that isn’t important.”

Natalie lowered her voice when saying “that” instead of “transmigrator.”

This was because she could hear servants passing by outside the reception room door.

“I happened to see you using a status window. This isn’t a world with hunters, after all. That sort of thing can only be used by transmigrators, right?”

“Ah, d＊mn……”

At Natalie’s words, the man frowned and let out a small sigh. Roughly pushing back his disheveled hair, he seemed to be reproaching himself for his carelessness.

Natalie observed him for a moment before asking curiously.

“So you can see a status window? I don’t have anything like that. Isn’t it unfair that some transmigrators get status windows and others don’t? If I had something like that, I could use it very effectively……”

While muttering to herself in a light tone before the unresponsive man, Natalie suddenly stared directly into his eyes. Into those emerald eyes that shone like jewels beneath slightly furrowed brows.

She poured out the curiosity she had been suppressing since noticing his transmigration.

“But do you really have no intention of returning to your original world? Why are you so focused on training and adventures, as if you need to level up, without caring about the ending? This isn’t some game, I just don’t understand……”

As Natalie shook her head in bewilderment, the man’s indifferent voice penetrated her ears.

“It is a game.”

“What?”

Natalie asked back with a blank expression, unable to comprehend what she had just heard.

The man looked at her as if she were pathetic and said in a low voice, emphasizing each word firmly.

“What I’ve transmigrated into is indeed a game. So I need to reach max level to return to my original world.”

This time, it was Natalie who was at a loss for words. She couldn’t close her gaping mouth or hide her shocked expression.

Her mind went blank at this completely unexpected answer.

Only then could Natalie remember. The novel she had transmigrated into, «How to Take the Hero of the Century as Your Husband», had such a solid worldbuilding that it had been adapted into not only a webtoon but also a game.

And that game, while sharing characters and worldbuilding, was marketed as an adventure RPG where one fought evil and explored dungeons to grow stronger.

Watching Natalie still unable to escape her shock and confusion, McClain asked curiously.

“Then if not a game, what exactly did you transmigrate into?”

“I—I transmigrated into a romance fantasy web novel.”

At Natalie’s answer, McClain let out a small scoffing laugh.

Though she might have bristled at such obvious mockery, Natalie still hadn’t recovered enough mentally to notice such things.

Her thoughts only began to function somewhat after hearing the man’s next words.

“Ah, romance. So that’s why you’ve been throwing yourself at me all this time.”

“No, that’s not what I—”

She wanted to say how rude that comment was, to deny ever throwing herself at him, to insist she had absolutely no interest in him, but Natalie couldn’t bring herself to speak.

Because she had indeed been throwing herself at him.

At every opportunity, she had been giving him looks that screamed: Please pay attention to this pitiful female protagonist! She’s exactly what you want! Come over here and say you’ll buy her everything from here to there!

Not only that. How hard had she worked to create “coincidental” meetings with him after tracking his movements with hired spies?

Just thinking about how her efforts must have appeared to this man who had transmigrated into a game made her want to die of shame.

Then suddenly, she realized that somehow she needed to turn this man into the male lead and achieve her ending.

An adventure romance where trust and love deepen while facing dangers and hardships together? But I’ve never even hunted a single monster.

A headache washed over her. Regret flooded in for having revealed her transmigration so impulsively, without any preparation, never expecting things to unfold this way.

She had thought that once he knew she was a transmigrator, he would gladly accept her proposal to work together to create a lovey-dovey ending.

Now she found herself in a situation where she might have to engage in combat—something she had never done in her life before or after transmigration.

As Natalie bit her lip and pondered deeply, the impatient man rose from his seat, apparently intending to leave.

“If you’re done, I’ll be going now. I was on my way to interview party members—ahem, combat personnel.”

Before Natalie could say anything, he gave a slight nod and turned away without the slightest hesitation.

Natalie hastily grabbed his arm and said through gritted teeth:

“I’ll do it.”

“Do what?”

“Party member—I mean combat personnel. I’ll do it. Despite appearances, I’m quite an accomplished mage.”

Her words came faster than usual, perhaps due to her urgency.

Though she didn’t like having to cling to this man, it was the only solution she could think of at the moment.

“Hmm, I am looking for a mage, but……”

Hearing the conjunction that implied a negative response would follow, Natalie quickly cut him off. She wanted to emphasize her abilities that would make anyone’s jaw drop—abilities enhanced by transmigrator privileges that no one could match.

“Though I’m currently focused on research, I’m attribute-less, so I can cast various attack spells. Other mages applying for combat positions would be at most 4th or 5th circle, right? I’m approaching the 7th circle, guaranteeing attack power vastly superior to ordinary mages. And as a transmigrator, my growth rate is phenomenal.”

“Hmm……”

Despite listing such impressive specs, the man hesitated, making a contemplative sound.

Natalie hastily added:

“I can also cast basic barrier, detection, and healing spells. I don’t need compensation—I just want to reach the ending with you……”

But the man was more resolute than expected.

He shook his head briefly as if he had made up his mind, then spoke in a voice that sounded not just determined but almost solemn:

“I’m sorry, but I have no intention of including women in my party.”

“No, wait……”

As Natalie tried to object, the man twisted his lips into what seemed like a sneer and continued:

“And I can assure you, I will absolutely never create any romantic ending with you. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

Staring blankly at the reception room door that slammed shut with a bang, Natalie thought:

I will definitely change that man’s genre from game transmigration to romance fantasy.

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