I Became The Male Lead's Female Friend

Rudrick was looking at Dahlia sitting in front of her.

Today, Dahlia was a little strange.

She had contacted Rudrick first about the distribution of war exploits, but when she arrived, she hadn’t even mentioned anything about it.

On top of that, what he was thinking became serious itself, and now Rudrick’s face flushed from unknown feelings.

Rudrick had to bear the growing displeasure at the sight of Dahlia immersed in her delusion in front of him because of another man. 

‘I wanted to hold Dahlia right now and fix that dreamy face she has so that I could stop looking at her.’

“… Relax,” Rudrick said to himself.

Rudrick also tried to shake off his thoughts at the uncharacteristic impulse.

However, he still couldn’t calm himself down, so he had to quell his anger again.

Rudrick couldn’t believe he was such an emotional human being. 

That’s absurd. What was even more ridiculous was Dahlia, who still thought otherwise.

‘I couldn’t quite understand what she was thinking. Am I the only one who was happy to see her after a long time?’

Of course, I couldn’t help but feel upset by hearing strange rumors while we weren’t actually dating, but it was all nonsense…

“Rumor?”

At a moment’s thought, Rudrick hardened, then he stared at Dahlia again.

Her appearance was very different from usual. Dahlia wasn’t the kind of person who wasn’t that focused.

As if she had heard something strange, she has been distracted all day and thinking about something else.

Besides, the strangely shy figure, the cheeks dyed in red, and the last words she muttered to herself.

“I think I’m getting sentimental.”

It was then that Rudrick was convinced.

“You must have heard the rumor, right?”

Otherwise, the current situation has not been explained.

What was surprising was the fact that Dahlia was paying attention to the rumor.

For some reason, I thought she wouldn’t even pretend to listen to the rumor, saying it would disappear on its own.

After all, did Dahlia have no choice but to be concerned about the rumor about us?

“Why?”

Before he knew it, Rudrick fell into another problem, not knowing that the unpleasantness that had been rising so quickly disappeared.

As much as we care about each other, would it be right to point it out at least once?

Or was it better to pretend that I didn’t know, like Dahlia, who’s still thinking about something else and doesn’t say anything?

Reason told him to choose the former, but Rudrick ended up choosing the latter because he was full of useless determination. It’s his specialty to maintain a blunt face.

He asked her as if nothing had happened.

“Are you going to keep doing that?”

“Uh, huh?”

“If you don’t have anything to do with it, you can leave now. I’m not that free, either.”

The day’s schedule has been canceled since Dahlia requested a visit, he explained, but he tried hard to keep an eye on her. 

And fortunately, the trick worked for Dahlia.

She had been immersed in her other world by herself until then, and when she heard his voice, she suddenly came to her senses and looked back at him.

Dahlia answered hastily, looking at him coldly, stiffening,  “Oh, no! I took the time to come here on purpose!” 

“You seemed quite free.”

“… Hmm. Well, I’m just here.”

In the meantime, She glanced at him, but Rudrick felt that his lips would loosen without realizing it, so he had to work hard to manage his expression.

“Then let’s get right to the point. Did you say ‘distribution of merit’?”

“… I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, how did you talk about that…?”

“What?”

When Rudrick looked, Dahlia, who had been grumbling and complaining until then, shut her mouth.

Then she rolled her eyes at him and smiled and continued,  “The distribution is just an excuse.”

“What do you mean?”

“I just came to show you. My father and I don’t even think of the distribution, but they’re the torch.”

Rudrick asked back with a frown, “Then what’s the real purpose?”

“Huh? It’s…”

Dahlia replied with a bright smile, “I came to see you!”

Rudrick’s fingertips flinched and trembled. He couldn’t understand at all.

If there’s no purpose, it starts with whether there’s any reason to meet him, but Dahlia who says that her only purpose was to see him, or himself, who’s wasting time on such things.

But what I couldn’t understand more was my heart, which started to jump easily just after hearing that word.

At the same time, the words that I had been trying to bury in my head began to come back to mind.

“I heard that the Princess is certain to make a connection and cut some.”

‘Other young nobles also approached me a few times, but I just smiled and threw them away…’

‘Who does that to a friend?’

And the last word that came to mind.

“It’s because I like you.”

Rudrick had to clench his fists as hard as he could to control his pounding heartbeat.

Then, perhaps because he had not spoken for a while, Dahlia, who was looking at him curiously, asked in a worried tone.

“Uh… Are you busy?”

Rudrick barely uttered a single word.

“Not really.”

Then, as Dahlia’s face brightened up again, Rudrick had no choice but to loosen his stiff expression.

Since then, the two have had various conversations.

Dahlia has mainly talked about the future. Like everyone else, I thought they’d ask about what happened on the battlefield or in the past.

She seemed interested in the war stories, but she didn’t ask about them, instead, she asked about what he needed to do and what he wanted to do.

“Then are you going back to the North soon?” 

“No, I’m going to stay here for a while,” answered Rudrick.

“It’s nice. After all, the big job is over, so get some rest here. Let’s have fun.”

“…”

“Is that so?”

Rudrick didn’t bother to answer, but the quick-witted woman smiled softly, as if she had noticed it meant acceptance.

“By the way, is the confirmation of your title coming soon? Did they say that you will be with the nobles for the distribution of merits?”

“It’s just a show of respect.”

“Honestly, I agree with you, but His Majesty’s direct appointment is different. Doesn’t that mean that they value your work that much?”

“…”

“Oh, speaking of His Majesty, did he say anything?”

“What?”

Rudrick stared at Dahlia. 

‘We’ve been talking about my daily life for a while, but why am I so relaxed?’

As time went by, Rudrick was feeling drowsy and feverish.

But his drowsiness was shattered in an instant. It was because of the unexpected words that came out of Dahlia’s lips.

“Your marriage with the Princess,” said Dahlia.

Rudrick hardened.

He couldn’t understand at all why she was bringing it up all of a sudden, and why she was breaking this good atmosphere.

But Dahlia was laughing at him as if it was strange.

“You haven’t come in yet?” asked Dahlia.

“Where did that come, from?”

“Why, there are a lot of rumors. Oh, come to think of it, you’re a little slow because you don’t want to socialize.”

Around the time, Rudrick frowned at the sight of Dahlia muttering to herself, 

‘Then you didn’t hear about that either.’ Dahlia thought.

“The Emperor has his eye on you,” said Dahlia.

Dahlia said it in a very plain tone.

✿

Until then, Rudrick had no idea.

Maybe it’s because I’ve gone to the social party I’ve been putting off for a while.

It was then that I realized that my source of information was slower than I thought, and at the same time, I was able to learn things I did not know.

Although, the information was mostly useless gossip. If there was any interesting information among them…

‘You mean the Emperor is keeping an eye on the Duke Bouser?’

It was a rumor about Rudrick.

“When I heard the rumor, the first thing I thought was, ‘He’s worth it’.”

Because Rudrick was a war hero, perhaps the main character in this war.

It was natural that the Emperor, who was so keen on him that he even gave him the title himself, wanted to tie Rudrick as his son-in-law.

In addition, the Duke of Bouser lived as monarch of the North for generations and had almost no ties with the Imperial Family.

It was clear that it would never be purely for any purpose, but strangely I had no worries.

That was partly due to Rudrick’s character, who was not particularly interested in others, and above all…

‘Perhaps the Princess likes Rudrick even if his far from her taste,’ thought Dahlia.

When asked why I knew that, I could answer proudly.

Because I’ve known the Princess for a long time.

Of course, we are not intentionally close because of our family. The initial meeting was not a formal appearance.