“Yes. That’s why I’m even more impressed with you, Lord Kiriel.”

Kana nodded. Letie and Richard were astonished to see the usually cold and prickly Master of the Magic Tower melting into a puddle. Richard cleared his throat and interjected.

“Sorry to interrupt when the mood is good, but shouldn’t we be heading to the boat now?”

“My apologies, Your Highness.”

Realizing she had neglected the main characters, Kana quickly bowed. Richard shook his head lightly.

“It’s fine. In any case, wouldn’t it be better if Lady Serade and I took one boat, and Lady Round and the Tower Master took another? I heard you insisted we all be on the same boat.”

“Yes. I suggested to Lady Serade that we should all discuss things together.”

Kana used the prepared answer to cover her tracks. She couldn’t reveal that she wanted to prevent the scene from getting messed up. Letie cautiously backed her up.

“Lord Richard, I also thought it made sense, so I accepted it.”

“Well, let’s just go with it.”

With Kiriel’s half-hearted words, the situation was settled. They walked to the lake’s pier and boarded the prepared boat under the boatman’s guidance.

Unlike the seating arrangement during lunch, Letie and Richard sat side by side, with Kana and Kiriel sitting opposite them.

Kana indifferently admired the clear, blue lake. The sunlight softly sparkled on the lake’s surface. Celia emerged from the pure pearl she had been hiding in and sat on Kana’s shoulder.

[Wow, the lake view is amazing! Though it feels like a double date considering the location and seating arrangement…]

‘Well, my star rating didn’t drop, so it should be fine, right? Kiriel was looking at Letie earlier anyway.’

Kana didn’t notice, but Kiriel had only glanced at Letie because she was sitting opposite him. He was actually watching Kana converse briefly with the spirit.

His gaze moved from her light brown hair swaying in the wind to the spirit on her shoulder.

“It really is an intermediate spirit.”

“Yes. This is the first time you’ve seen my partner since my level increased, right?”

“Yeah. The timing wasn’t right before.”

Kiriel nodded, his eyes shining sharply. Kana, feeling his intense gaze, calmly asked.

“What do you think?”

“The refined and gentle feeling is the same, but the energy is much stronger. It’s like a breath of fresh air after being stifled.”

His insightful observation made Kana’s eyes widen.

“Wow, really? Thanks to you, Lord Kiriel, I learned something new.”

“It’s nothing special.”

Kiriel dismissed it lightly. Celia, watching, murmured in amazement.

[To notice such subtle differences without even contracting a spirit? That’s crazy. The title of sub male lead wasn’t just for show.]

‘He didn’t completely see through our disguise but seems to have sensed something off.’

[Hmm, we need to be careful. In other novels, they wouldn’t notice even if it was obvious, but Kiriel seems very interested in you…]

Celia trailed off. Feeling uneasy, Kana fiddled with her dress instead of replying. Letie, noticing her friend’s troubled expression, asked.

“Miss Kana, are you uncomfortable?”

“I’m fine.”

Kana reflexively answered softly, waving her hand. Kiriel, with a sour look, bluntly remarked.

“You always say you’re fine, Miss Kana.”

“I really am fine.”

Kana’s well-crafted smile appeared on her face. As a supporting character, venting her struggles wouldn’t get any sympathy from the main characters. If she wasn’t ignored or mistreated, that was already fortunate.

She always said she was fine, even in tough situations, to earn star ratings and avoid unnecessary fatigue.

However, Kiriel, who always acted on his impulses, couldn’t fully understand her.

“You’re not going to explode from holding it all in, are you?”

“Haha, no.”

Kana laughed it off lightly.

The three main characters and one supporting character enjoyed their boating trip on the lake, exchanging light conversations.

They leisurely toured the lake and returned to the pier. As they disembarked and walked, Kana discreetly unfolded her fan and moved her other hand to her thigh.

Sensing her subtle change in demeanor, Kiriel’s eyes narrowed.

“Miss Kana, right now…”

At that moment, attackers hiding among the densely packed trees appeared, wielding daggers. Dressed in black with masks on, they were clearly assassins, even though it was broad daylight.

They gritted their teeth, realizing there were more people than they had been informed about.

“Damn it, the Master of the Magic Tower is here too?”

“That’s not what we were told.”

“This is too big a variable.”

As the situation unfolded, Richard and Kiriel exchanged glances. Richard shielded Letie and whispered softly.

“Lady Serade, close your eyes for a moment.”

“…Yes.”

Letie answered bravely and closed her eyes. Kiriel wrapped one arm around Kana’s waist and covered her eyes with his other hand.

‘Wait a minute. Why is Kiriel protecting me instead of the female protagonist? It’s touching and all, but if things go like this…’

Suddenly being held from behind, Kana felt a chill down her spine. She feared the scene getting messed up more than the attackers.

Kiriel, ensuring Kana’s safety, gave the attackers a chilling look.

“I don’t know whose knife you’re wielding, but you won’t leave here unscathed.”

He quickly used magic to freeze their bodies, leaving only their faces unfrozen. Kiriel’s magical tool, which had popped out of his subspace, floated in the air, recording the situation.

Richard tried to draw his sword and envelop it with aura, but the attackers had prepared a special magical tool to block it. The attackers, struggling out of the ice, sneered.

“It’s useless. We brought a special magical tool knowing you could use aura.”

“Were you targeting me and Lady Serade?”

“Yeah!”

“Who sent you?”

“……”

Instead of answering, the attackers gripped their daggers tightly and charged. Richard dodged their attacks and asked.

“Was it my brother and the illegitimate daughter of the Serade family cooperating?”

“…No.”

“Your slow response says it all.”

Richard’s eyes turned sharp.

Kiriel sensed the trembling of the woman in his arms. Misinterpreting it as fear rather than worry about her star rating, he clicked his tongue and used another spell.

The ground caved in, trapping the attackers’ ankles and covering them. Tough vines sprouted from the ground, binding their bodies tightly.

“You shouldn’t be acting so leisurely. Who do you think you’re dealing with?”

Kiriel summoned a magic tool designed to break their magical tools and destroyed them. The attackers, bound and helpless, turned pale. Kiriel spoke bluntly to Richard.

“Your Highness, we’ve seen their insignia and recorded the situation with the magic tool. Let’s just eliminate them.”

“Wait, Tower Master!”

“Why keep them alive when the situation is clear? We won’t gain any more evidence from them. Your Highness, consider Lady Kana and Lady Serade. They must be shocked.”

Kiriel spoke grumpily, openly displaying his foul mood.

‘Oh my, Kiriel using the word “consider”!’

Kana, unable to see the situation, was shocked. It was surreal to hear such a considerate line from someone who always did as he pleased.

“Alright, let’s do as the Tower Master suggests.”

Freed from the magical tool’s constraints, Richard cleanly beheaded the attackers with his aura-infused sword.

Kiriel left one head and some insignia as evidence and burned the rest with fire magic. He even used magic to clean up the bloodstains.

Richard collected the remaining evidence and put it in his subspace pouch, glancing at Kiriel.

“Tower Master, can you give me the recording later?”

“Sure.”

Kiriel agreed readily. Celia, having watched the situation unfold, cautiously spoke.

[Kana, the sub male lead and the male lead have taken care of everything. The attack is resolved, but the real problem is the important scene…]

‘Yes, it’s ruined.’

Kana let out a hollow laugh. As Richard explained the situation to Letie and comforted her, Kiriel’s hand slowly moved away from Kana’s eyes.

Ignoring the cut or burned grass, the dug-up ground, and the scattered ice fragments, Kana’s eyes were drawn to the floating text in the air.

〈Warning! Sub male lead Kiriel Curtis protected supporting character Lady Round instead of female protagonist Lady Letie Serade in a crisis! Star rating has been reduced by 500 points.〉

Kana felt dizzy. Even after the red letters disappeared, their afterimage lingered.

‘No, my precious star ratings…’

The total star ratings she could earn from one novel ranged from a minimum of 1,000 to a maximum of 10,000 points. She had accumulated about 120,000 points but needed 30,000 more to reach her goal.

‘No matter how important the scene is, deducting 500 points is too harsh. Are you listening, Otherworldly Library? Does the mysterious head librarian not care about balance?’

Being attacked by the assassins was an inevitable event, but losing star ratings was a painful loss.

Feeling dejected, Kana collapsed and buried her face in her hands.

Her delicate shoulders trembled. Seeing her uncharacteristically shaken, Kiriel was quite surprised.

Though it was due to the lost star ratings, Kiriel, unaware of this, assumed she was still scared from the attack.

He instinctively lowered himself and gently patted her back.

“Miss Kana, were you scared?”