Naturally, there was nothing good for me in rumors spreading that "Karvaldr is so desperate for his fiancée that he's grateful for the occasional scrap of conversation."
All I would gain was ridicule, and all I would lose was my dignity.
But if you asked whether I didn't know that simply acting moderately friendly would be enough, I would firmly answer no.
I knew all of that and still volunteered to let her play hard to get.
'That way, I can avoid her resentment and prevent us from growing close by minimizing our conversations.'
If Vigdís safely graduates from the academy, she will surely choose to become an Einherjar.
That is the easiest and fastest way for her to escape her family.
In the original story, she was tied down by her engagement to Karvaldr and had no choice but to join his team.
But given her exceptional talent, if she were to break up with me, scouting offers would pour in.
'Even if the future changes like that, Vigdís's tastes won't. So isn't there a chance that while working as an Einherjar, she'll become involved with Reisir, fall in love with him, and meet the same death she did in the original novel?'
And that wasn't all.
The Vigdís of the original novel couldn't get close to anyone during her academy years, so she had no contact with Reisir.
Reisir, too, feared that anyone around him would get caught up in Karvaldr's bullying, so he had no choice but to distance himself even from his childhood friend, let alone make new ones.
But the situation had changed now.
Because unlike Karvaldr, I had no intention of infringing on their freedom anymore.
That meant Reisir and Vigdís might become friends this semester.
'As expected, it's best to avoid the original novel's main characters.'
Taking Professor Skati's lectures at least increased my chances of survival.
But becoming friends with Vigdís brought me no benefit at all.
On the contrary...
"It's a waste of time."
"Are you saying being friends with me is a waste of time...?"
"Yes."
"Even though you get along just fine with the young master of the Scarftee family...?"
In case you've forgotten, "Scarftee" is Tryggdrik's family name.
In other words, Vigdís had just said, 'So you'd rather be friends with Tryggdrik than me...?'
Apparently, even in her eyes, Tryggdrik looked like a complete piece of trash.
"Tryggdrik, and Ríolíkin too. It's not that I want to be close to them or keep them around me, but they're the ones who just... No, let's stop this conversation. It has nothing to do with the main point."
It was contradictory to ramble about personal matters right after talking about wasting time.
So, to maintain consistency, I cut myself off, and a faint look of dissatisfaction appeared on Vigdís's face.
But that was all. She didn't press me about what I had been about to say.
That was because Vigdís lacked the persistence of a protagonist from some other novel.
Unfortunately, she also lacked a cunning personality and seemed uncomfortable with a contract that only benefited her.
"How about teaching you the basics of swordsmanship once a week? I've only just moved beyond the beginner level myself, so I can't teach you anything remarkable... but the professor did praise me a lot for having solid fundamentals."
"Must you?"
"Well... you said you signed up for the introductory swordsmanship course to understand a swordsman's movements and learn how to fight against them, didn't you...? Ah! In that case, would it help you more to observe me practicing rather than learning directly from me?"
She had clearly thought this through quite a bit.
It was indeed a condition that would benefit me. Therefore, I couldn't simply dismiss it as a waste of time.
Moreover, if we met regularly, nobody would suspect we were planning to break off our engagement.
"The reason I asked 'must you' wasn't because I was asking why I should learn swordsmanship from you. I was asking why you have to go out of your way to help me."
"Then why are you trying to help me? And even enduring the humiliation of being used and strung along by the fiancée you used to obsess over and control however you pleased...?"
"I told you already. It's compensation."
"You're the one in a position where you don't actually have to bother doing any of this, aren't you?"
Just as Vigdís said, Karvaldr could have done that.
He could have simply crushed others with the power of his family.
A person with proper humanity wouldn't do something like that, but it was hard to expect such qualities from Karvaldr.
But I wasn't the real Karvaldr.
I wanted to avoid, as much as possible, having one of the original novel's main characters resent me.
"It's true that I suffered because of you last semester, but thanks to you, I was able to learn swordsmanship at the academy. So it's like I've already received compensation. The suffering only lasted four months, but there are still four years left until graduation, excluding this semester. Wouldn't giving four years of compensation for four months of obsession be an enormous waste of time?"
When had it happened?
When had the fear disappeared from Vigdís's eyes as she looked at me, and when had her stiff posture naturally relaxed?
Was it when I said I was willing to let myself be used? Or when I couldn't suppress a sigh after hearing about her circumstances?
"I don't want other people to see me as a bad person who uses her fiancé. I'm afraid of being criticized, and I think my conscience would hurt every time I heard those things. After talking with you today, I've realized that you're not entirely a bad person..."
Vigdís spoke gently and let a faint smile appear on her lips.
At that moment, I could guess what she was thinking.
'She must have decided that Karvaldr is just a young and immature person who has never properly received or given love. So she's interpreted his obsession with her as simple clumsiness. And as a result, she's concluded that, as the older one, she'll take care of him properly and turn him into a decent person...!'
There was no guarantee my guess was completely correct, but I didn't want to ask and confirm it.
If I asked that myself, it would be the perfect example of a thief crying "thief!"
'In terms of my actual age, I'm older than Vigdís. If she was going to make a resolution like that, she should have done it last semester when the real Karvaldr was still in this body, or in the original novel!'
This was seriously driving me insane.
It was so absurd I almost let out a hollow laugh, but I didn't know how she would interpret that.
So I forced my expression to stiffen as my face twitched slightly.
I tilted my coffee cup, pretending to act casual and hide my agitation, but there was nothing left inside.
Without realizing it, I had finished it while talking to Vigdís.
I quietly set down the empty cup and studied her expression.
The faint twitch at the corner of her mouth suggested she had probably noticed my blunder.
No, it was more than that. Her expression clearly showed that she had misunderstood, thinking I was flustered because she had said I wasn't a bad person.
"I think you're misunderstanding something..."
"What misunderstanding?"
"......"
I had the feeling that reflexively trying to deny it only made her more certain.
People say that if you stay quiet, you can at least remain average.
But since it seemed I wouldn't have been able to clear up the misunderstanding even if I had stayed silent, I decided not to blame myself for my slip of the tongue.
'It's not like there's no way to undo what I said...'
The # Nоvеlight # only problem was that if I said this, I would have no choice but to accept Vigdís's offer to teach me swordsmanship.
So this time, I should think a little before speaking.
It was something I needed to think about anyway.
'What should I do? Should I learn swordsmanship from Vigdís or not?'
I fiddled with the handle of my coffee cup and agonized over the decision.
To be honest, I was very tempted.
My number one goal was survival, after all.
Although this body's main weapon was a whip rather than a sword...
'If it comes down to it, instead of swordsmanship lessons, I could ask for sparring matches to develop practical combat sense... Wait a minute. If we're going to spar for real, does that mean I'd have to swing a whip at a person? That's uncomfortable in a lot of ways.'
...That wasn't the important issue right now, so I pushed thoughts of whip sparring out of my mind.
Anyway, having Vigdís's help throughout my time at the academy would be an enormous advantage.
I'm sure my skills would improve quickly.
On the other hand, I was trying to distance myself from Vigdís because she would likely become involved with the protagonist and die young.
'Can't I just stop Vigdís from getting close to Reisir? No, I included a clause in the contract saying I wouldn't interfere in her relationships... Besides, would making an exception like that really be okay? What if I get swept into the flow of the original novel without realizing it...?'
If I kept worrying like this, I'd only go in circles forever without reaching a decision.
I cleared the complicated thoughts from my mind and took a slow, deep breath.
Instead of thinking from the perspective of a transmigrated protagonist trying to survive peacefully while staying far away from the original story's flow...
...I should analyze the situation from the perspective of my original profession, as a web novel author.
If I did that...
'The moment I possessed a character in a novel, it was practically predetermined that I would become involved with the original protagonist and deeply entangled in the story's development. Otherwise, why would I possess someone in a world that already has an original novel?'
Analyzing things with an author's brain didn't seem to have been a good idea.
At least, that was how I felt right now.
"Um, Kar...? Are you feeling shy right now?"
"I was just considering whether I should tell you a story my family is hiding."
For now, survival was my top priority, and in order to achieve that, I needed to become stronger.
So accepting Vigdís's offer was the correct choice.
And it wasn't as though training together once a week guaranteed we would become close.
"Are you changing the subject?"
"As soon as I arrived at my family's estate during the break, I nearly died because someone poisoned me. That's why I couldn't contact you during the vacation. Naturally, I had no time to celebrate your birthday either."
"......!!"
I put on a serious expression and interrupted her twice in succession.
Given the content of what I had said, Vigdís could no longer dismiss my behavior as simple shyness.
Her smiling expression instantly turned to shock.
"Th-the culprit..."
"We couldn't find them. No, rather, we didn't look. Because my father didn't want to make a big issue out of it."
In reality, the poisoning of this body had merely been a hoax staged by the original Karvaldr. Since the truth had already been exposed, the culprit had technically been found.
Nevertheless, I didn't hesitate to portray Hárðr as a coldhearted father.
After all, he already was more than coldhearted enough.
"Do you remember what I said on the first day of the introductory swordsmanship class? I'm making all sorts of preparations because it would be unfair to simply die quietly. Trying to compensate you is part of that. In other words, I'm clearing away my karmic debts."
"......"
"So if you think I'm helping you because I'm not a bad person, that's a misunderstanding. And it's also a misunderstanding to think I'm in a position where I don't need to compensate for my wrongdoings."
"......"
"Do you understand?"
"The swordsmanship lessons I was going to give you... should I increase them to twice... no, three times a week?"
I knew it. If I told her this story, the swordsmanship training with Vigdís would become inevitable.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that I brought it up because I wanted to get as much out of her as possible now that I was going to accept her help anyway.
If I could make her believe I was genuinely under a death threat, Vigdís would become even more enthusiastic about teaching me swordsmanship.
