This Novel is not my Novel

"What do you think you're doing right now?!"

I had no intention of grandstanding by shouting something like the protagonist of someone else's novel. But regardless, I had decided to intervene in this incident.

I quietly took a step forward, moving away from the edge of the building.

However, just because I had shown myself didn't mean Helga and the villainous man noticed me right away.

After all, someone else had just made a rather dramatic appearance. Naturally, all the attention and gazes were drawn in that direction.

"Reisir...! How did you know to come here?!"

"I wondered what just popped out, but it's that freeloader who lives off Helga's family."

Helga looked at the original protagonist as if she had met a savior, unable to hide her relief and joy.

The villainous man, on the other hand, treated the original protagonist as something insignificant, sneering with a displeased expression.

Despite that gaze, which was clearly looking down on him, Reisir looked the other party straight in the eye, hid Helga behind his back, and answered the question she had thrown at him.

"I was on a walk with Karvaldr, and I saw you heading behind the building with a man I didn't know. Something felt off, so I followed."

Only after my name was mentioned did Helga and the villainous man turn their heads to look in my direction.

Helga's expression brightened even more when she found me.

Given my body's social status, she must have judged that I would be helpful in dealing with the villain.

But Helga wasn't the only one who seemed pleased by my appearance.

The nameless extra villain also looked at me as if he'd met a reliable ally.

I felt a momentary bewilderment at that reaction, but—

"Young Master Karvaldr! You understand me, don't you, Young Master? You must have suffered great hardship because of your fiancée..."

—the moment I heard those words, I couldn't help but realize why this extra villain was treating me as an ally.

I suppose it's because of what this body's original owner did to Vigdís.

He probably thought that his current clinging to and threatening of Helga and Karvaldr's past obsession with and attempts to control Vigdís were six of one, half a dozen of the other.

So, he must have concluded that I would empathize with him and take his side.

But I'm not Karvaldr, you know?

I couldn't understand in the slightest the mind of a person who claimed to like someone while disparaging their family, insulting them, and shouting threats.

But other people didn't know this fact.

I could see the relief on Helga's face vanish, replaced by an expression of dismay.

To think that maybe the original author intervened in her emotions is... probably too convenient an interpretation, huh?

When did I ever feel repulsed by Author Senna manipulating the words and actions of the people around me?

To have such a thought now, I didn't know whether to call myself a hypocrite or just sly.

Still, I had to do what I had to do, so I forced myself to scatter the thoughts in my head, let out a deep sigh, and opened my mouth.

"If you know that, then you must also know that because I disregarded Vigdís's feelings and acted coercively, I earned her hatred and became someone she avoided, right?"

"What...? Ah, that's..."

I could see bewilderment spread across the triumphant extra villain's face.

It was a natural reaction, as it was a question difficult to answer with either a yes or a no.

"Why are you following a method that has been proven not to win the other party's heart?"

"Still... aren't you getting along well with your fiancée now?"

The villainous man cautiously replied, gauging my expression with a look of uncertainty.

He seemed to think there was still a possibility that I was on his side.

A slight sense of expectation was evident in his gaze, making me think he might be under the delusion that I was about to offer him advice.

How utterly absurd.

"That's true. It's because I'm no longer obsessed and promised not to speak to her first, a promise I am keeping."

If you don't want to earn Helga's hatred.

My words carried the meaning that not only should he stop clinging to her, but he should also stop approaching her to talk from now on.

But I didn't say it with the expectation that the other party would fully accept my words.

"...I just don't understand. Why is the Young Master of a Ducal Family keeping such a promise?"

As expected.

The politeness that had been in the extra villain's expression and voice faded, and even a hint of pity could be seen.

It was the reaction I had expected.

Since that person had blatantly shown that he didn't care about Helga's feelings or circumstances, even carelessly bringing up the Vitnir Baron's Family.

"If you just crushed them with your family's prestige, wouldn't making your fiancée docile be a piece of cake?"

Inferring that he possessed such a mindset was, indeed, a piece of cake.

Nevertheless.

"It's not my place to say, having acted that way in the past, but do you think that's the proper attitude toward someone you like?"

There was a reason why I was drawing this out.

If the original protagonist stepped forward to talk to the villain, it would naturally transition into a heroine event.

The first reason was to prevent that by capturing the villain's attention.

And the second reason, my ultimate purpose, was—

I need to launder Karvaldr's image, even if just a little.

—this.

Karvaldr did pull some strings so Vigdís could learn swordsmanship, and he was so handsome it made me feel sorry to even compare him to that villainous man, but.

In any case, looking only at his actions toward her, should I say it was six of one, half a dozen of the other with that villainous man?

Considering the period of obsession and torment, one could even say he did something much worse.

Senna's readers could lump me in with that villain and curse me out, right?

That's why I was laying out a self-defense while pretending to talk to the villain.

Because after the extra villain before me was disposed of, there would definitely be calls for Karvaldr, who had committed a similar wrongdoing, to also pay the price for his sin.

It was to show Senna's readers that Karvaldr was reflecting on his past actions and to instill the certainty that he would never do so again.

"I'd also prefer to cherish the person I like, if possible, but what can I do? The other party won't readily accept my feelings."

"So? You didn't hesitate to threaten the other party and tried to force their submission?"

"Regrettably, if that's what it takes, then that's what I must do."

Even though I knew full well the person before me was a villain, his casual response, delivered in a tone suggesting it was perfectly obvious and without even a hint of a guilty conscience, was deeply bewildering.

So I spoke as follows with a solemn expression.

"If the other person has no feelings for you to that extent, then there's no other method. Giving up is the correct answer."

"That's really not something you, of all people, should be saying, Young Master."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You said your fiancée avoided you to the point that she now tells you not to even speak to her first, right? And yet, that young lady is still your fiancée."

Revealing my plan to break the engagement with Vigdís here and now was out of the question.

So, unable to refute him and only able to scowl, I watched as the extra villain showed an expression of understanding.

"Aha! Now I get it. The reason why you're humoring your fiancée, Young Master."

I had a rough idea of what this extra villain was about to say, too.

But if I hurriedly opened my mouth to cut off the villain's remark, it might give the impression that I was acting out of a guilty conscience.

I tilted my head, crossed my arms, and put on an expression that said, Go on, let's hear it.

"No matter what anyone says, Young Lady Sjalfráði is already yours, so spending time and sincerity to win her heart could be a form of amusement. I'm truly envious."

Anyone who read those lines as text would surely think it was sarcasm.

However, as someone facing the villain's face and hearing his voice directly, I couldn't think so.

Because his expression and voice were thickly layered with genuine envy.

"That's why I told Helga we should at least try dating. To let others know she's mine before someone else snatches her away. I was planning to win her heart slowly after that."

There was a mountain of things I wanted to point out.

But the problem was that I couldn't, because I was possessing Karvaldr's body.

It was a matter that could be resolved if I revealed the fact that I couldn't break the engagement because Vigdís would be married off as if she were being sold to an old man over seventy if I did.

If I reveal that here, it would be no time at all before it reached Count Sjalfráði's ears.

I couldn't help but swallow a sigh.

Since Reisir had brought me within his boundaries, Karvaldr had risen to become a major supporting character in the remake version.

I had expected that if I stepped up to launder my image, Author Senna would also move in the same direction.

Was that a misjudgment...?

It seemed Senna's readers still found Karvaldr extremely displeasing.

Or they were very dissatisfied with the actions I'd shown so far.

To the point that they couldn't even tolerate me reflecting on my past wrongs and showing that I had changed.

That's why the extra villain, born from the original author's fingertips, was now probably trying to frame me as "irredeemable trash who is actually the same, but only pretending to have reflected and changed."

There could be no other reason for this.

"...Completely arbitrary."

"It might feel that way for now. But later, Helga will be thankful to me."

The villain said so and turned his head, staring at Helga with a gaze so greasy it was nauseating.

With that absurd remark added to such a look, Helga raised her voice with an expression that said she couldn't take it anymore.

"Why would I be thankful to you?!"

"Are you asking because you really don't know?"

At the villain's appearance as he asked back with a look of incomprehension, Helga's jaw dropped, and she couldn't say a word.

She was so dumbfounded that she was left speechless.

The extra villain left Helga like that and spoke to me once again.

In a rather friendly tone, at that.

"It would be great if I could also speak to my father and push for an engagement like you did, Young Master, but Helga's family is so insignificant that getting permission isn't easy. That's why I'm planning to persuade my parents after we start dating."

Because he was trying so hard to marry Helga, who was from an insignificant family.

His remark carried the meaning that Helga should, of course, be grateful to him.

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