Male Lead, Don’t Follow Me! - Chapter 2

Just then, as if noticing me for the first time, his head turned slightly in my direction.

Perhaps sensing my peculiarly sharp gaze, Bishwaltz’s eyes narrowed.

“Ah, you’re the spirit mage who summoned the flowering tree earlier.”

Eyes that were not visible to Ephelia, filled with contempt, bore into me.

It looked somewhat mocking, and it made me feel utterly disgusted.

“I suppose providing people with another form of entertainment isn’t such a bad thing.”

He’s mocking me, right? That’s definitely mockery, isn’t it?!

To add insult to injury, he subtly looked down on me. Whatever I did here, he wouldn’t be able to harm me.

This is a banquet hall where everyone is watching, after all!

“I think so too. I hope Duke Bishwaltz had an enjoyable time as well.”

Unfazed, I responded with a bright smile.

Given his notoriously nasty personality, I thought he would ignore me and go his way, but Bishwaltz stopped in his tracks and stared at me intently.

His silver hair, which held various colors like Ephelia’s, swayed slightly.

His blue eyes seemed to pull me into their depths, reminiscent of a deep ocean.

‘I’m not going to die here, am I?’

Now that I’d done it, I feared the consequences. But what could I do at this point?

They say you can’t spit on a smiling face, right?

I forced an even wider smile than before.

My facial muscles were on the verge of cramping, but I maintained the expression through sheer willpower.

‘Go! Just go! You don’t care about someone like me anyway!’

However, despite my silent plea, Bishwaltz approached me with long strides.

One corner of his mouth curled up as he gazed at me.

“…Your voice.”

“Pardon?”

“Your voice resonates perfectly in my ears. It wasn’t such an unpleasant time after all.”

With those words, Bishwaltz turned and walked away.

As I had hoped, he withdrew his curiosity from Ephelia.

I’m not sure if I should be relieved, but Ephelia didn’t seem particularly interested in Bishwaltz.

‘Something was unsettling about his gaze.’

But why did his last words keep bothering me?

Feeling a sudden chill, I turned to look behind me once more, but of course, there was no one there.

***

My daily routine begins with waking up and checking if my head is still firmly attached to my neck.

Grateful for having safely made it through another day, I securely fastened a handkerchief created by spirit power around my neck.

“Alright, let’s get through today safely too.”

Having saved up emergency funds from medicinal herbs, I set out for town early in the morning.

Do you think it looks like just a fancy handkerchief?

When I tapped around my neck with a solid object, the handkerchief emitted a soft light and protected my neck.

This handkerchief is as hard as armor, with enough defensive power to prevent my head from being separated from my body even if a sharp weapon were to target my neck.

‘After all, I’m in a role where I could disappear at any time without it being strange.’

I have to protect myself.

Before going to the tea party with Ephelia, I had a place to visit.

It was a magic item shop.

As someone who could only use a little of the spirit’s power, I needed the boost from items to avoid being looked down upon by others.

Moreover, with the impending war that could break out at any time, and the crazy male lead candidates…

To survive, I always needed to have something on me.

As such, I was carrying quite a few magical effects on my body already.

I climbed into the carriage, leaned back in the seat, and closed my eyes.

“Ah, I was more at ease when I didn’t know anything.”

If that were the case, I wouldn’t be living each day feeling threats to my life. It was too late for regrets now.

The one fortunate thing was that I had a place to vent.

If I didn’t even have that forest, I might have fallen ill and died first from the stress.

At first, I timidly sat alone in the forest, talking to myself for hours, but as years passed, I became bolder and started to vent loudly.

They say if a person suffers alone, even non-existent illnesses can manifest!

Recently, I’ve been encountering Bishwaltz quite often, and the stress has been building up to my hair ends. If I don’t go regularly, I feel like I might develop a stress-induced illness.

Who would understand this feeling of not being able to say, ‘That guy is going to kill me! Ephelia, you’re being deceived right now! He’s just a madman!’?

“I should go there again soon.”

Just thinking about it made my blood boil. I tried to calm myself down and once again fell into contemplation about future events.

***

“Ephelia!”

“Kiara, you’re here? Come in.”

Ephelia, who was already seated, waved at me cheerfully.

The atmosphere seemed a bit excited as if they had been discussing something interesting.

“You came at just the right time.”

“Why? Did something fun happen?”

I asked Bellita Erin as I sat down next to Ephelia.

With a somewhat flushed face, she swallowed once and her eyes sparkled brightly.

“I heard Duke Bishwaltz accepted a greeting?!”

“Bi- what? Who?”

Why is his name coming up?

I asked again, thinking I must have misheard.

“Duke Bishwaltz, I’m talking about!”

“No?”

My curt response led to a moment of silence.

“They say he said your voice was beautiful?”

“That can’t be right?”

I frowned, thinking this was nonsense. How could saying a voice that resonates perfectly in the ear be twisted into calling it beautiful?

I turned to look at Ephelia, and she too shook her head and shrugged lightly.

I turned to look at Ephelia, and she too shook her head and shrugged lightly.

‘Seems like it didn’t work.’

Ephelia wasn’t one to stay quiet after hearing such an absurd rumor, but seeing her sip her tea resignedly meant that no amount of explanation would help.

“Ah! Speaking of voices, I just remembered something!”

The rapidly changing subject that usually irritated me was welcome today.

The gazes of the young ladies at the gathering turned to Rogia, who had clapped her hands.

“I heard there have been strange sounds coming from the Forbidden Forest lately.”

“…Pardon?”

“That’s right, I heard about that too. Didn’t they say someone went to investigate?”

“W-who…?”

Clatter. My hand holding the teacup trembled slightly.

I tried to maintain a calm expression as I took a sip of tea, but I couldn’t settle down at all.

“Who else? Duke Bishwaltz, of course.”

What?

At the name Bishwaltz coming from her lips, the teacup finally slipped from my hand and crashed to the floor.

Not even noticing the hot tea splashing onto the back of my hand, I shook all over in shock.

“Kiara! Oh my, your hand is burned red!”

That’s not the problem… Ephelia, you can survive a burned hand…

I shook my head, starting to deny reality.

When they say he went to investigate, was it recently? Or before that? Surely he didn’t hear everything I said?

My jaw trembled with anxiety and unease, causing my teeth to chatter.

“Kiara, are you alright? You look so pale.”

Ephelia grabbed my hand as I stood there in a daze, examining me.

“No, I’m not alright…”

“I’ll treat it quickly. Thankfully, the tea wasn’t boiling hot.”

Ephelia hastily summoned a water spirit to cool and heal my hand with cold water.

Standing frozen in place, I asked Bellita, hoping against hope:

“W-when… did he investigate?”

“I’m not sure, but it must have been recently. They said a passerby who happened to be near that forest reported it to the owner… Was it three or four days ago?”

If it was three or four days ago, Duke Bishwaltz might not have seen me.

I had gone there briefly when no one was supposed to be around.

“Oh my, but what kind of sound did they hear to warrant a report?”

Another young lady, unable to contain her curiosity, gently asked Bellita.

Her father was an investigator, so she was well-informed about such matters.

“Well, you see.”

Everyone held their breath and leaned in at Bellita’s words.

My mouth was so dry I couldn’t even swallow.