Male Lead, Don’t Follow Me! - Chapter 6

But I couldn’t say it was a fake illness, so I kept my mouth shut.

“I think I’m fine now! Ephelia, um… by any chance, has there been any official request for cooperation with the investigation or anything like that?”

I smiled brightly while removing Ephelia’s hand. Seeing my smile, Ephelia finally relaxed her expression and rolled her eyes.

‘She seems to be hesitating a bit.’

In times like these, the answer is to wait without rushing.

As a brief silence filled the room, Ephelia answered with a disappointed expression.

“There has been. But I won’t be able to go with you. What a shame.”

For a moment, my heart sank.

To be able to see such an expression on this pretty older sister’s face. I must be blessed.

In my previous life, I liked Ephelia quite a lot.

Perhaps because of that influence, I’ve been mostly in this state since becoming aware of my situation.

Probably the fact that I owed her my life had the biggest impact.

‘I wasn’t planning to go…’

Come to think of it, if I don’t go, won’t Ephelia end up meeting Duke Bishwaltz?

As soon as I finished that thought, I quickly grabbed Ephelia’s hand.

“Ephelia, as I told you before, I had another dream…”

“That story again?”

Ephelia continued speaking as if she had given up.

“You’re going to say that I should never meet a man from a family above the rank of Count who has a nasty personality and looks that anyone would fall for, right?”

“Yes! You know, right? How my dreams often come true.”

I could say this so casually because I knew the contents of the novel to some extent.

Ephelia thinks I have the power of foresight.

It was thanks to me telling her things like what business in her family would do well or talking about things that wouldn’t interfere with the novel’s plot.

“You’re going through a lot! That man is no good, you understand?”

“But that’s too broad.”

“No, it’s someone anyone would acknowledge.”

I couldn’t talk about it specifically. I had told her not to meet Duke Bishwaltz, but she didn’t listen.

It’s fortunate that I can at least do this much.

Honestly, because Ephelia needs to live for me to live, I could tell her everything right now if she asked me to spill it all.

However, it was obvious that she wouldn’t listen to what I said.

‘If I do it one more time, Ephelia will think I’m teasing her.’

Ephelia nodded without much doubt about what I was saying.

“Don’t worry. I don’t just let what you say go in one ear and out the other.”

Fortunately, it seemed she had a deep trust in me. All my efforts so far have paid off!

The only thing that worried me was that Ephelia was not good at hiding her emotions.

The moment she takes Bishwaltz to heart, I’ll know immediately.

So the only thing I can do is to interfere as much as possible to prevent them from meeting.

“And I’m going to participate this time.”

I might make another mistake, but this time it won’t happen.

“Really? Will you be able to come?”

Ephelia’s expression brightened. I had to participate even if I had to overcome my parents’ opposition.

“Yes, I must go. I think I’m all better now!”

I stood up with a determined look in my eyes.

Like a warrior going to war, I beat my chest a couple of times and inwardly shouted, “Down with Bishwaltz!”

***

“These days, I don’t see many of those young ladies chasing after you. They’re all just saying strange things.”

Serhin, sitting across from Bishwaltz, said as he stretched.

It was Serhin’s daily entertainment to tease Bishwaltz and watch his expressions.

Strangely, lately, the women who had been increasingly approaching him were nowhere to be seen.

“Have they finally gotten sick of your nasty personality?”

It was quite a plausible reason.

Serhin quietly looked Bishwaltz up and down while stroking his chin.

“Ah, could it be because of someone calling you a son of a b*tch?”

He continued to chatter, provoking Bishwaltz’s mood.

His smirking appearance clearly showed he was enjoying this situation. What on earth did he do to be called a son of a b*tch?

Serhin was dying of curiosity.

“Did you perhaps meet another woman behind my back?”

“That’s not even worth answering.”

Bishwaltz frowned as he put down the documents he was looking at on the desk.

“Why do you keep coming here every day?”

For the Tower Master to be lounging around at the Duke’s mansion all the time. He already had a headache from the incomprehensible things happening lately.

‘Son of a b*tch, huh.’

No matter how he thought about it, it was absurd.

He certainly hadn’t done anything so disagreeable to be called a son of a b*tch by anyone.

“Why do I come? Because of your amusing reactions, of course.”

“…To think someone like you is the Tower Master.”

“Why are you surprised? Do you even have the energy left to be surprised that someone like me is the Tower Master?”

Serhin smiled mischievously while resting his chin on his hand.

Bishwaltz was truly fun to tease.

“Is being called a son of a b*tch that bad?”

However, there was no reason for the young ladies to act that way towards him just because of being called a son of a b*tch.

“Well, I think I know what kind of son of a b*tch they mean.”

“…Forget it.”

Bishwaltz soon gave up and closed his mouth.

No matter how he thought about it, there were more than a few strange points.

It was the same when he went out to the streets with Serhin.

The gazes of people looking at him were peculiar.

Rather than favorable glances, it was more like… pity? Or should he say sorrow?

Bishwaltz furrowed his brow as he recalled the inexplicable gazes of the young ladies.

“So is that why you rejected my confession?”

A few months ago, a young lady who had confessed to him and been rejected came to say such things.

“The world is wide, so tastes vary as well. I’ll respect Your Grace’s preferences.”

She even went as far as to suddenly say she understood and would respect his tastes.

He couldn’t understand what on earth was happening.

He only thought that the young ladies who misunderstood because of the “son of a b*tch” remark were disappointed and said such things.

***

Hearing that the investigation would proceed in three days, I once again visited the forbidden forest.

Stealthily.

I moved carefully so as not to be noticed by people.

“Phew…”

This should be far enough that no one would know, right?

I entered deeper into the forest and looked around.

Although the sun had set, I needed to finish quickly and return, not knowing when Bishwaltz might come again.

“To think I have to do something like this.”

I held a strangely shaped flat board in my hand and tried to measure various angles.

Alright, this should do it.

I spread my legs and raised my hands. With a deep breath, I lay down and stretched my hands forward.

‘I really don’t know what I’m doing right now!’

Wherever the board touched, vague footprints began to appear.

After crawling on my stomach for a while, I stopped. My waist was too sore to continue.

“Ugh, I can’t do this anymore!”

I plopped down in the grass and wiped the sweat from my forehead.

When I turned around, I saw something that looked somewhat convincingly like traces of something passing through.

‘Good.’

I took out the magic liquid I had prepared and sprayed it around the forest to camouflage.

“Hmm, I imitated what I saw in the book.”

I thought it was a useless book, but it felt quite useful now.

After completing my mission, I carefully hid the board I was holding inside a tree and headed home.