This Novel is not my Novel

No wonder Djúpr fainted...

Looking around, I saw faces that couldn't hide their astonishment.

Everyone seemed to be doubting whether they had heard correctly.

It was just that absurd of a story.

"So... who exactly is this vulgar person?"

"He's a fellow named 'Drembi' from the Ofrausir Count's Family... Do you perhaps know him?"

The name 'Drembi' wasn't in the directory of names I had received from this possessed body's family.

However, I did know some basic information about the 'Ofrausir Family.'

It was listed in the nobility register, after all.

They were a family that had maintained its line for quite a long time and had tradition, but due to a previous generation's business failure, they had lived in poverty for several generations.

But they had recently discovered an ore vein and hit the jackpot overnight, or so I'd heard?

Thanks to that, they now possessed both tradition and wealth, but I recalled a scathing evaluation stating that they were practically nouveau riche.

So that's why he acted like someone desperate to wield his family's power.

Even as I reached this conclusion, Fjodora furrowed her brow and let out a low groan.

"Hmm..."

It wasn't that she was rummaging through her memories because she couldn't recall information about a person named 'Drembi Ofrausir.'

She looked more like she was in a predicament because she knew who he was.

And this guess of mine turned out to be exactly right.

"I considered summoning him personally to warn him not to approach you... Regrettably, I don't think that will work. The Ofrausir Family supports my younger brother, the 1st Prince. And that man's older brother is an acquaintance of my brother."

No wonder that villain kept comparing himself to Karvaldr.

This possessed body's brother, Valtraus, was friends with the 1st Prince, and his own brother was as well.

It seemed he had deluded himself into thinking that he and Karvaldr were not so different.

Even though there was no way the 1st Prince would consider Valtraus, a member of a ducal family, and that bastard's brother to be of the same rank.

"Even so... it is the word of Your Royal Highness the Princess..."

"As I said earlier, I lack the justification to step forward and sanction him myself. He may have hurled harsh words at you... but he will simply claim he was merely engaging in courtship."

It seemed this was the kind of shitty worldview where such absurd remarks were considered part of courtship.

Judging by how not a single person was throwing a fit and demanding how such a thing could be considered courtship.

Even Helga could only clench her teeth and swallow her anger, holding back the tears welling in her reddened eyes.

"Were there people around when he said those harsh words?"

"...No."

"In that case, the fact that he said such things will be treated as nothing more than a simple claim from you and Professor Djúpr."

"You... don't believe my words?"

"I do believe you. But with no evidence, what I meant was that he will obviously deny it and backpedal. He might even turn it around and claim you are slandering him."

I thought the same.

That must have been why he could spew such absurd remarks, saying that this possessed body's father was also living alone after losing his wife, but wasn't it because no one wanted to marry him?

Because if push came to shove, he could simply insist that Helga had made it all up.

"That man is spreading rumors to tarnish Helga's honor."

"Rumors?"

"He went that far?!"

At the remark thrown in by the original protagonist, Fjodora reacted as though she wanted to hear him out.

Helga flew into a rage before even hearing the contents.

She must have thought it was obviously a bad rumor without needing to hear it, and she was correct.

"The content of the rumor is..."

Reisir repeated what he had heard from Pret in Chapter 267, then explained the scenario he presumed to be the villain's objective and plan for spreading the rumor.

At that, Helga, her face flushed red, sent an earnest gaze toward Fjodora.

But Fjodora only let out a deep sigh with a troubled look on her face.

"The rumor spreading now is merely that Ms. Helga likes him, so if we confront him now, he will simply deny it and say he was mistaken. But if we wait until it becomes a scandal, it will only harm Ms. Helga's honor, and even if we later correct it as false, few will care. He will simply backpedal and slip away, claiming he had no idea a joke among friends would spread like this."

Since words indicating that there was no solution once again flowed from Fjodora's lips, the expectation and earnestness that had been in Helga's eyes faded.

"Unfortunately, it seems there is nothing I can do to help. At the slightest misstep, rumors could arise that I framed someone belonging to the 1st Prince's faction in order to restrain my brother and bring them dishonor. It would not be good for you either if this blows up into a political fight."

Well, that was true.

If word got out that Fjodora had tried to disgrace the Ofrausir Family's honor, it would be followed by talk of Helga taking compensation from Fjodora to seduce that villain.

Because when a political fight broke out, the ones who suffered the most were always the weak caught in the middle.

Helga, who couldn't have been unaware of this, had her face colored with despair.

As if his heart ached at the sight, Reisir carefully wrapped an arm around his childhood friend's shoulder with a grief-stricken expression.

As he did so, he looked my way, clearly asking for advice.

It's not my time to step in yet.

Because in a male-oriented novel, when a male character who hit on a heroine candidate appeared, the solution that had to appear had not yet been presented.

Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long.

As if she had an epiphany upon seeing Reisir holding Helga, Fjodora let out a gasp and uttered these words.

"Ah, that's it...! If Ms. Helga gets a lover, that man will have no choice but to give up, won't he? It is not an honorable act to covet someone who is taken! The rumor that Ms. Helga likes him will also be put to rest immediately!"

"Y-Yes...?! But a lover isn't something that just suddenly appears, so how...?"

"You don't need to actually date. Just having someone pretend is enough. And as it happens, isn't there a suitable person right beside you?"

At Fjodora's words, Helga looked at the person beside her, and that person also looked at Helga.

Naturally, that person was none other than the original protagonist, Reisir, and he was holding Helga's shoulder to comfort her.

A strange atmosphere emanated from the two of them as they faced each other at close range.

I knew it would turn out this way.

I could assure you that my dear readers reading this probably knew, and Senna's readers must have known as well.

The fake lover strategy was a cliché, a tried-and-true classic, you could say.

This was all a foregone-conclusion plot, scheduled from the very beginning.

Was this painfully obvious strategy presented only now to leave the impression that it was the best and only solution? Or was it a process to show that the villain wasn't just some riffraff?

Whatever the reason, innocent Fjodora had simply ended up looking incompetent.

I had assigned Fjodora the role of providing the idea, but there was no way she could recover with just this.

Rather, by ultimately passing the problem-solving on to Reisir, one could say she had reached the height of incompetence.

"Um, that... Ray...? If you don't mind..."

"I mean, I don't mind..."

The first heroine candidate of the original novel spoke up very shyly and carefully.

Then the original protagonist hesitantly gave a positive answer.

Now was my time to intervene.

"It is certainly a good method. If you two are planning to get married and grow old together."

"What?! No, y-yes?! Wh-what do you mean by that, Young Master?!"

"Yeah! Karvaldr, what are you saying right now? We're just planning to have a fake relationship until that bastard Drembi gives up on Helga!"

The two childhood friends scurried apart, practically pushing each other away as they vehemently refuted me.

"Is that really so?"

"Of course! Helga and I are like real siblings!"

"That's right! But m-marriage...! Family members don't do that kind of thing!"

An expected reaction.

But if pretending to be lovers to shake off a disgustingly obsessive villain was a cliché, then pressing their lips together in front of the villain to prove they were really dating was also a cliché.

If I left them alone, the two of them would eventually kiss.

And using that as a trigger, a development would unfold where they started seeing each other not as siblings, but as a man and a woman, and their love would grow.

And right after the two confirmed their feelings for each other, or around the time Reisir decided to confess...

Helga will end up dying.

Not in a vain manner like in the pre-remake original, but she would breathe her last in a much more dramatic and poignant atmosphere.

But in the end, death was death.

I had to prevent such a situation from happening beforehand.

"If you two date and then break up, there will surely be scandalous rumors."

"Why is that?"

"Because you two have lived together under one roof since childhood, and you plan to live together again when vacation comes, don't you?"

"Why would that..."

It was a bit awkward for me to say it myself, but fortunately, they both seemed to have figured it out on their own.

Seeing as they didn't finish asking why that would be a problem and shut their mouths midway.

But that didn't mean there was no one who failed to understand the meaning of my words.

"Wh-What is it? Why are they reacting like that?"

The one among us with the oldest apparent age, though not in reality, proved his young age by looking bewildered.

It seemed I wasn't the only one who didn't want to answer that innocent question.

While everyone averted their eyes with troubled expressions, the one who stepped forward was the successor of the Information Guild.

"Because for a grown man and woman who have even confirmed their feelings for each other to live under one roof means..."

Pret started off like that and then whispered something into Ríolíkin's ear.

Ríolíkin's face flushed as red as his hair.

Seeing that made me, the one who first mentioned the topic, feel embarrassed as well, but the conversation wasn't over, so I couldn't simply keep my mouth shut.

"Ahem, ahem! For that reason, if you're thinking of going ahead with this plan, you have to consider marriage. And that scum might spread a rumor that Helga was weighing her options between him and Reisir and playing with them. You two need to look like you're having the love of the century, to the point where there's no room for him to interfere. For example... a public proposal?"

"Publicly, do what...?"

"You could say you were planning to talk about it after formally inheriting the title of Count and reclaiming your territory. But you could plead that your feelings have grown uncontrollably large and you can't stand it anymore, and hand Helga a bouquet of flowers."

"......"

"Or you could sing her a serenade and give her a ring."

"........."

"Ah, and you'd have to constantly engage in public displays of affection, right?"

"............"

Every time I spoke, the sense of burden on Reisir's face grew, and it was the same for Helga.

"Um... Heli? How about we use this method as a last resort...?"

"Uh-huh... For now, I think it would be better to think it over and look for another way... If we do as Young Master Karvaldr said, my dad will collapse again..."

One could see it as a natural course of events that the two of them reached this agreement.

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