I Became the Villain of a Romance Fantasy

29 – Unexpected guests (3)

Richard Ertuwen.

Even though the scarlet-haired boy who was talking to Elena was the first person I’d seen today, I could feel familiar with him.

Of course, since the character Richard Ertuwen was a candidate for the male lead in ＜The Princess is Loved＞, in which Elena is the main character, it would not be too strange for me, who has read the novel, that Richard’s appearance, which I am seeing for the first time, looks somewhat familiar.

As soon as I saw Richard, my brain automatically started to pull out information about him.

Even considering that it was a year before the original work started, considering the talent described in the novel, the hierarchy is at least 4th to 5th. As a member of the Tower of Twilight, his specialty is space and summoning-type magic that studies the outside world. His physical ability is about average for his age, but as a wizard with a fast thinking speed, his senses and reaction speed are expected to exceed that of ordinary people.

And at some point, the information that popped out like that began to move forward with a strange direction of ‘how can I kill that guy for sure?’.

When I felt strange about it, it was after I had already come to the conclusion that ‘I can definitely kill’ in my head, and my aura was ready to respond to the ring and summon the sword.

‘This crazy.’

I hurriedly grabbed the string of reason that was about to be severed by madness, and withdrew the ring and the aura I wanted to respond to.

The madness that had been quiet over the past few days with Elena seemed to be starting to come back to life after seeing Richard.

Could it be because Richard’s presence maximized the anxiety remaining in his heart?

Even after living with Elena, the madness that had been well controlled exploded unconsciously as soon as she saw Richard. It was a moment when he could have become worse than Damian in the original film if he made a mistake, but the memories he had with Elena prevented him from sinking into madness.

Let’s think rationally. Damian Krause.

I understand why I am so anxious.

If the other male lead candidates meet at the academy, which can be said to be the beginning of the original work, the reason must be that the relationship between Richard and Elena began even before the meeting with Damian, or me, before the beginning of the original work.

It’s true that I felt uneasy that I wasn’t there during Elena and Richard’s time.

I would have been by her side in the future meeting, but I couldn’t be there until the time before Elena and I met.

It’s not that I’ve never thought about this before. Rather, before I met Elena, I wasn’t sure that she would break up with me because of Richard.

But she didn’t choose to break off the engagement and chose to be engaged to me.

So isn’t that enough?

This was a decision made solely by Elena Edelweiss herself, without anyone’s intervention. Then, whatever past she and Richard had that I don’t know about, there’s no reason for me to worry about that anymore.

No matter what the past was, the one next to Elena now is me.

Realizing that, it seemed that her anxiety about Richard had subsided a little.

But I couldn’t let my guard down completely. Just like the twilight tower lord who suddenly appeared in front of me, I wanted to avoid being stabbed in the back of the head for nothing. I killed the presence and quietly headed towards the place where Elena and Richard were.

“U-ah, hi Elena. Long time no see.”

“…Hello, Prince Richard.”

Perhaps because I was concentrating on the two of them, I could hear the conversation between the two clearly in my ears, despite the reverberating sounds of singing and people talking in the banquet hall.

Richard’s voice was full of tremors as he spoke to Elena, and his complexion didn’t look too good. We already know that Richard had a crush on Elena from before. But looking at Richard now, I didn’t feel sympathy or pity for him.

Rather, it was Elena who was more concerned.

A face and voice that seemed difficult to deal with.

In the conversation between Elena and Richard in the original work, there was no sign of that at all. Even while still engaged to Damian, Elena was kind to Richard.

Did Elena notice Richard’s love affair?

No, in that case, the basis of the story would be reversed. It was because of Elena’s acceptance of her engagement to me, but to think that she had noticed Richard’s love affair, Elena’s eyes looking at Richard seemed to be wary of something.

“Elena.”

I stopped listening to their conversation and called her with all my strength.

As if my voice had reached her safely, she found exactly where I was. Before the conversation could go any further, I stood beside Elena and held her hand, just like when I entered the banquet hall.

“I was looking for it because it didn’t come after a long time.”

“Oh, sorry. I was meeting a friend for a while. Did you wait long?”

“It’s not to the extent of saying that. And speaking of friends…?”

I looked at Richard with an ignorant face.

Richard seemed quite surprised by my sudden appearance. Still, perhaps because he had the name of the successor of the Magic Tower, he changed his face in an instant and greeted me with a calm face as if he had never done that before.

“Meet the deputy head of Krause. I am Richard Erthuwen of the Erthuwen family.”

“Ah, the name of Twilight has a high reputation in the South. I accidentally interrupted your meeting with a friend. I’m sorry.”

I also smiled with the same face as him and held out my hand. Richard paused for a moment at the word friend, then smiled as if nothing had happened and held my hand.

“No. Rather, it seems I was holding on to Miss Elena too much. Congratulations on your engagement. Elena too…Congratulations on your engagement.”

There our conversation did not last any longer. Letting go of his hand, Richard congratulated us once more, then turned around and disappeared into the crowd.

Unlike in the novel, I was surprised to see Richard withdrawing cleanly, but now I was Elena’s fiancé. Unlike the novel, the owner of the seat next to her had already been decided, so Richard withdrew without saying anything.

“What was your relationship with him?”

I asked Elena when I was sure that Richard had gone completely.

Even after talking to Richard, I couldn’t figure out why she was wary of what she saw.

If you ask me what I could have learned from that short conversation, I don’t have much to say, but at least the person I knew, Richard Ertuwen, was infinitely harmless to Elena, so the feelings I could feel for him even in the conversation just before It was pity and resignation, but she couldn’t feel anything that would make her wary.

Even after reading the novel, it is certain that there is something I do not know. Even the reader who has read the story cannot be omniscient.

There must have been something between Elena and Richard, but Richard only had resignation about my engagement to Elena and didn’t seem to be thinking about anything else, so I tried to find it in the relationship between Elena and Richard.

But it must have meant something different to Elena.

At my words, she stared blankly into my eyes for a moment, then asked me with a face so red that I wondered if it was the person who was restless just a moment ago.

“Is that jealousy now…?”

“Yes?”

“Is Damian jealous? Is it because I talked to Richard? You’re jealous, right?!”

“No, Elena. What are you talking about?

I stopped making excuses to her and thought it through again.

It didn’t take long for me to answer that question, considering how my actions looked from Elena’s point of view. Certainly, as Elena said, I thought the behavior I showed her made her look like a boyfriend who was jealous of her seeing her with another man.

And finally, even asking what kind of relationship it was. There’s really no corner to get out of.

I can only laugh at Elena’s face urging me to speak with a triumphant face.

However, if I had to question it, Elena’s words were not wrong.

The anxiety she felt watching her and Richard conversing clearly included a feeling of jealousy. But for some reason, telling her straight away seemed like losing. I was brazen but decided to deny it to the end.

“I wasn’t jealous. I was just really curious.”

“Ah, yes~ I’ll trust you just this once.”

Elena, who smiled and said, still seemed unwilling to believe me. But I liked seeing her like that, so I didn’t change my words until the end.

I guess I already lost.