This Novel is not my Novel

'Considering that the second day of the tournament was simply skipped in the original work, I think today will pass without any special incidents as well...'

Ideally, a Healing Story Author should know how to cherish slice-of-life moments.

Therefore, let's resume the narration from this perspective for now.

Currently, I am heading to the stadium in a carriage with only one person and one animal accompanying me: Vigdís and Yor.

Reisir headed to the Training Tower with Ríolíkin after breakfast, saying he was going to correct Ríolíkin's awkward attack movements.

Helga is apparently spending time with the friends she watched the matches with yesterday once again today.

"Kar...? Do you have something to say to me?"

It wasn't there a few seconds ago, but now it suddenly appeared.

Since the Round 2 matches will take place tomorrow, Reisir, Ríolíkin, and I will be seated in the Participant-only Area.

However, recalling the fact that Vigdís was eliminated yesterday and therefore has to watch from the general student section now.

"Are you going to watch the matches alone tomorrow?"

"Yes?"

"Ah, just to make it clear in advance, it's not that I'm trying to meddle. I only asked out of simple curiosity, so don't misunderstand."

"I don't misunderstand. You're not trying to meddle, you're just worried {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} that I'll end up watching alone and feeling lonely, right?"

...She started by saying she didn't misunderstand, only to create a brand-new misunderstanding.

Following Reisir, has even Vigdís become a believer in the 'Karvaldr = Tsundere Theory'?

It's truly a maddening situation.

'It's not like Vigdís is a one- or two-year-old child, so why would I worry about something like that?'

Although it bothered me very, very slightly, it certainly wasn't to the extent of being called worry.

I only intended to gather information for narration purposes, since I might be the possessed protagonist of a first-person novel.

Strictly speaking, it was for the readers' sake, in case they were curious.

"Anyway, to answer your question, I decided to watch the matches with Helga's friends tomorrow!"

It seemed Helga had decided to let Vigdís join her friend group.

Perhaps because she expected to make plenty of same-sex friends, Vigdís wore an excited expression.

Seeing that, a question suddenly came to mind.

"Why didn't you go with Helga today?"

"Then Kar would be alone."

"Yor is always by my side. What kind of nonsense is that?"

"Nyaa—, nyang!"

Yor agreed with my words and asserted her presence.

"Not in that sense... We are in an engaged relationship. If we come to the stadium, there will be plenty of couples enjoying dates. Wouldn't it look strange if we spent the day separately?"

Come to think of it, the extra I fought yesterday also mentioned the word 'date'.

Indeed, I had accepted that reasoning. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

So I found myself nodding.

"And above all... Is it really okay for Kar to be alone at an event attended by so many outsiders...? No, rather, aren't you anxious being alone with Yor?"

"What does that mean?"

"Is Kar lacking caution, or are you trying hard to act brave?"

"What on earth..."

I tried to question Vigdís's words with a dumbfounded expression, but quietly closed my mouth.

Because I realized why she was saying such things.

'It's because of the attempted poisoning incident I made up!'

The options Vigdís presented to me were only two.

Being careless about safety, or pretending to be fearless while actually being scared.

Whichever option I chose, it would only fuel her worries and make them impossible to resolve.

'That means... Did Vigdís choose to stay with me because she wants to protect me from the unidentified attempted murderer...?'

Along with the guilt of deceiving her with a lie, a great ripple rose in my heart at that thought.

However, silencing that agitation was very easy.

To her, Karvaldr is an essential person, and I possess his body.

After all, her fiancé needs to stay alive for the engagement to continue.

Thinking that she was doing this for that reason, my heart settled down.

"Anyway, aren't the student seating area and the general spectator seating area separated? And if the worst happens, I can receive treatment from the healers waiting beside the stage. So assassination attempts and things like that won't happen."

"Hearing it put that way, that's true."

At my explanation, Vigdís relaxed and patted her chest.

But she still seemed bound by a sense of responsibility.

"Ah, right! Besides that, there's another reason I should stay by Kar's side. Someone said there needs to be restraint because there are so many bad people trying to take advantage of you."

"......"

I felt an overwhelming sense of reluctance.

Even though no names were mentioned, I was fairly certain I knew who had said that and why.

"What Reisir said is nonsense. Ignore it."

"Ah! How did you know it was Reisir?"

"Then would Ríolíkin have said something like that?"

"Ah... By process of elimination, right?"

"......"

Since Reisir thinks I'm a pushover and worries excessively about that point.

Even if I didn't want to know, I couldn't help knowing it was something he would say.

There was no way I could explain such a thing myself.

So I decided to accept Vigdís's explanation about process of elimination.

Just then, the carriage arrived at its destination, naturally ending the conversation.

I got out first and extended my hand toward Vigdís.

Today she was wearing pants rather than a dress, and her physical abilities were excellent, so she could have gotten down perfectly fine without anyone helping her.

'Still, to hide the fact that this engagement is destined to be broken off, I should at least do this much.'

Perhaps my expected ex-fiancée felt the same way.

Instead of acting awkwardly as usual, she naturally took my hand and stepped down from the carriage.

Then, after I released her hand—

"Excuse me... By the way, do you really have nothing to say to me?"

Vigdís repeated the same words she had said in the carriage earlier.

As if there was something I absolutely had to say.

I thought about it carefully, but nothing came to mind, so I sought wisdom from the wise baby dragon.

But Yor merely shrugged her shoulders once, indicating that she didn't know either.

"...I wore the clothes I bought recently today. How do they look?"

Did she become frustrated after seeing me and Yor simply staring at each other with question marks floating over our heads?

Eventually, Vigdís gave up on hinting and asked directly.

I thought I had missed something huge, but it was nothing special.

'She just wanted to show off her new clothes.'

Was it because she had gone shopping with Helga instead of choosing clothes alone?

Or because it wasn't yet the dangerous period when the Demon Realm suddenly appeared?

Or because she had been worried about Count Sjalfráði's reaction?

What she was currently wearing wasn't the usual neatly falling trousers, but wide-legged pants that could easily be mistaken for a skirt at first glance.

There were no dangling frills or heavy jewel decorations, but instead elaborate embroidery.

It could be said that the outfit balanced modern sophistication and aristocratic elegance quite evenly.

Although historical accuracy seemed to have been thrown out the window, that wasn't exactly a new issue.

Since this novel was a fantasy work set in a fictional world rather than alternate history, I decided not to pay attention to it.

"It suits you much better than the casual clothes you wore last time. It looks comfortable to move around in as well."

Lowering my gaze a little further, I noticed she was wearing walking boots instead of heels.

While it couldn't be called perfect combat attire from head to toe, it was good enough to be considered nearly flawless.

"It is fortunate if it looks that way."

Apparently pleased with her new clothes, Vigdís smiled proudly.

Then she praised my current outfit in return, but since it was obviously just politeness.

And since I hadn't personally chosen or purchased these clothes.

I didn't feel particularly proud hearing the compliment and listened absentmindedly.

"Excuse me, Lord Karvaldr...!"

While standing in the waiting line to enter the stadium, someone suddenly called the possessed body's name.

As mentioned before, strangers suddenly speaking to me in a familiar manner was a common occurrence.

So I thought this would be another case like that, but—

"Uh...? Isn't that the opponent who fought Kar yesterday?"

It was exactly as Vigdís said.

Since the person speaking now was someone I had seen yesterday, it felt somewhat awkward to call him a stranger.

Though calling him an acquaintance felt just as awkward.

For now, one thing was certain: he hadn't approached me because he wanted to take advantage of the possessed body's social status.

And...

"That's right! You are Lord Karvaldr's fiancée, aren't you? Nice to meet you!"

"Ah, yes... By the way, what did you want to talk to us about...?"

"Thanks to Lord Karvaldr, I was able to gather my courage and confess. As a result, I got a lovely girlfriend, so I came to offer my thanks! Hehe."

...Even though it wasn't his intention, it could definitely be said that he was putting me in a difficult position.

Vigdís, who had ignored my request to disregard Reisir's nonsense.

Had already been glaring warily at the extra who had suddenly reappeared, and after hearing his answer, she turned to look at me with a strange expression.

"...If you came here for a date, then just enjoy your date. Stop saying pointless things and get lost."

"Oops! Now that I think about it, you two must have come here to enjoy a date too. Sorry for interrupting. Then I'll withdraw and let you have a good time!"

Without lingering, the extra offered a polite farewell and headed toward the back of the long line behind me and Vigdís with his girlfriend.

Not long afterward, we showed our student IDs to an employee and entered the stadium.

Since Academy students could enter simply by presenting their student IDs rather than purchasing tickets, there were no assigned seats.

Thus, after finding the best available seats among the empty ones and sitting down.

"What was that story the person earlier was talking about?"

Unable to suppress her curiosity any longer, Vigdís finally asked.

Since she didn't have a persistent personality like Reisir, I had thought she might simply let it go.

Apparently not.

"It was nothing."

"If it's nothing, then why can't you just tell me?"

"...After losing to me in yesterday's match. He had planned to confess to the person he liked if he won, but after losing, he started whining that everything was ruined. I got annoyed and snapped that the result of the match and the success of a confession have nothing to do with each other."

"Wow! You did a good thing!"

Even though I had intentionally chosen only negative wording, Vigdís actually clapped her hands—

Clap.

—and admired me.

Seeing that reaction made me uneasy for some reason.

If Vigdís reacted this strongly, how would Reisir react?

"Don't tell Reisir."

"Why?"

"...If I tell you not to, then don't."

"Are you doing this because you're afraid he'll tease you?"

"......"

"I was only joking. Is that really the reason?"

Watching her widen her eyes and say that, I suddenly suspected that Vigdís might actually be teasing me.

But I couldn't ask.

If I questioned her to confirm it, she might acquire a taste for teasing me like Reisir.

"If Reisir starts spouting nonsense and acting annoying, it becomes exhausting. I just want to prevent that situation in advance."

"Understood. Then, for the sake of your friendship, I'll keep my mouth shut."

"Friendship? There's no way something like that exists between me and Reisir."

"Don't you think you should honestly admit it already? Because you keep acting like that, Reisir gets sulky and keeps teasing you, right?"

Considering that, the way he teased me always looked far too cheerful.

Anyway, whether Vigdís's theory was correct or not, I could not acknowledge Reisir as a friend.

Therefore, I ended the conversation with silence.