This Novel is not my Novel

"Then shall we go check out the original protagonist’s new skill?"

"Myaaow!"

I had not participated directly in the battle, so there was no need for me to shower and change clothes immediately.

After washing the coffee cups, I merely tidied my hair and clothes before heading straight to Reisir’s room.

Then, just as I reached his door and raised my hand to knock—

—Click.

I heard the lock disengage, and the handle turned on its own. I had no choice but to withdraw my hand and hurriedly step back.

I did not want the opening door to hit me.

"Uh...? Karvaldr? Has your brother already left?"

The door opened, and Reisir’s eyes widened when he discovered me standing there.

That proved he had not opened the door because he knew I was coming. Our timing had merely coincided by chance.

Well, of course. It was not as though he had been eagerly awaiting my visit and pacing around in front of the door.

"Indeed. But... were you about to go out?"

"Yeah. It’s time for dinner."

Had Valtraus lingered for even a little longer, I might have knocked on an empty room and stood there blankly waiting for an answer.

As I felt relieved and cursed Valtraus inwardly—

"I thought you’d go eat with your brother...."

Reisir said this with a puzzled expression.

Apparently, he could not understand why two brothers who rarely had the chance to meet would spend this long together, only for one of them to leave without even sharing dinner.

Moreover, had Valtraus not entered the Demon Realm with me today?

The situation was perfectly suited to misleading Reisir into believing Valtraus cared about his younger brother, so his reaction was inevitable.

"He must tell Father about what happened today, and they also need to discuss the punishment of the brothers from House Ofraushi."

"Ah, so he left early because he was busy?"

"Indeed. If he had intended to dine with me in the first place, would he have suggested talking in my room? We would have gone to a café outside the academy. Or we would have headed straight to a restaurant for an early dinner."

"I thought he wanted to visit your room because he was curious about how his younger brother lived."

"Well... perhaps that was part of his reason too...."

There was not even a one-percent chance of that being true, so I turned my head slightly and lied to hide my discomfort.

Blinded by his preconceptions, Reisir mistook my reaction for embarrassment and laughed cheerfully.

I could not decide whether to consider that fortunate or unfortunate.

"Anyway, this worked out perfectly! We didn’t miss each other. You and Yor should come eat with me!"

"What about your newly acquired skill?"

"We can talk about it after we eat and come back."

So it was being postponed yet again.

Unless the narration had briefly shifted to Reisir when he acquired the skill or unfolded from a third-person perspective....

The thought crossed my mind that by now, the curiosity of the dear readers might have reached its peak and left them frustrated.

Valtraus really is the problem. If that bastard hadn’t detained me just to spout pointless nonsense, I could have heard the skill description ages ago.

Just as my displeasure rose for that reason, Reisir leaned close to my ear and whispered the following words.

"【Truth-Piercing Eye】."

"...What?"

"That’s the name of the skill. You seem so curious about it, so I thought I’d at least tell you that much for now."

He said this with his eyes and lips curved into a smile.

He looked as though he were teasing me, which was somewhat irritating.

But I could tell that Reisir also wanted to tell me about the skill as soon as possible and was merely holding himself back because the timing had not worked out, so I decided to let it slide.

Still, 【Truth-Piercing Eye】....

Even its name made it sound unmistakably like a counterpart to 【Truth-Reading Eye】.

But it felt profoundly strange that the phrase "see through," which I had used while demanding that Reisir somehow find a way forward in Chapter 310, now occupied the very heart of its name.

Had the original author been transcribing my dialogue, thought, That’s it! and added the skill?

Or had Reisir attained enlightenment on his own and forged a new path forward for himself?

Personally, I desperately hoped it was the latter.

Perhaps neither Reisir himself nor Author Senna could know the answer.

I blocked the flow of Sky Blue Ether to prevent 【Thought Acceleration】 from activating on its own.

As I walked along, thinking about one thing after another, I heard the protagonist of someone else’s novel chuckling.

"Why are you suddenly laughing?"

"I was thinking that your head must be completely filled with thoughts about my skill."

"...Why would that make you laugh?"

"Hahaha! I wonder why~?"

"......"

The protagonist of someone else’s novel seemed to want me to investigate the reason.

But it was not a subject I had any particular desire to explore, so rather than dig deeper, I decided to bury it.

When we finished descending the stairs and reached the lobby on the first floor of the dormitory, we found Helga and Vigdís there.

During the stretch of time skipped between Chapters 318 and 319....

After Valtraus and I had left first, it seemed the others had agreed to eat dinner together and even arranged a time to meet.

"Oh? Lord Tsundere came too?"

"Apparently, his brother had to discuss what happened today with their father, so he returned to the family estate early."

When Helga voiced the same question Reisir had raised moments ago, Reisir explained the reason for me.

It saved me the trouble of repeating myself, but....

"Helga. Must you call me that?"

"I can’t help it. The name just rolls off the tongue so perfectly."

"You call that an excuse? Go study when the phrase ‘I can’t help it’ is properly used and come back."

When I responded sarcastically, the protagonist of someone else’s novel beside me burst out laughing.

I had meant it as a barb, but apparently he had taken it as a joke.

While I glared at the protagonist of someone else’s novel as he laughed in disbelief—

"By the way.... Thank you, Lord Karvaldr."

A sudden expression of gratitude reached my ears.

And it was not offered lightly. I could feel the considerable sincerity behind it.

"Why are you... suddenly...?"

"Why are you so flustered? You look like you’ve heard something you were never supposed to hear."

"How is that not exactly what happened? You thanked me even though I did nothing worthy of your gratitude."

Could she also have realized that I had deliberately provoked the acid villain into attacking me?

Should I preempt her before she could say something like, "You took that danger upon yourself for my sake," and make an excuse that I had never intended any such thing?

But what if she thought I was protesting too much because I felt guilty?

No, more importantly, was it even appropriate to use an expression involving guilt and thieves for something like this?

"If that’s what you think, then I really can’t help it."

"...And what exactly can’t you help this time?"

"Since you don’t know why you deserve to be thanked, I, who was chosen as our year’s representative last year thanks to my excellent grades, have no choice but to explain it to you with great kindness."

Helga placed one hand on her chest and the other on her waist, striking a self-important pose as she spouted this ridiculous declaration.

I began to suspect that my earlier instruction to go study again had wounded her pride and driven her to swear revenge.

"What in the world... are you planning to say...?"

"You don’t have to pester me with questions. I was about to tell you."

"N-No, no...! What I just said wasn’t even a question...!"

"You said you didn’t know, didn’t you? Then be quiet and listen to my explanation!!"

"......"

Everyone else had already left, so her clear voice rang throughout the empty dormitory lobby.

Overwhelmed by the sheer force of it, I reflexively shut my mouth.

"You said you only wanted to humiliate Dremby, but thank you for making him apologize to me and my father anyway. Even if the apology wasn’t sincere, there was meaning in making that man admit with his own mouth that what he said to us was wrong."

"But in the end, he did not admit any wrongdoing or offer even a single empty word of apology...."

"That’s true. Dremby had no intention of reflecting on his actions at all. He had even prepared something as dangerous as an acidic solution."

When I cautiously slipped back into the conversation to offer an objection, Helga readily acknowledged it and nodded.

I was surprised by her reaction and relieved that the embarrassing moment had passed so quickly, and I had just begun to relax when—

"And on that note, thank you for provoking him. If you hadn’t done that, Dremby would have kept the solution hidden instead of pulling it out on the spot. Then, just as he originally planned, he would have waited until I was alone and splashed it straight into my face, wouldn’t he?"

As though warning me that I had relaxed too soon, she launched into a second explanation.

"I wouldn’t have been able to erect an Ether barrier at the perfect moment like you did, so I would have taken the full force of it. And since I would have been alone, I couldn’t have administered proper first aid. I wouldn’t have been able to afford the treatment either...."

"I understand now, so you can stop talking!"

"You should’ve done that from the beginning."

"......"

Wasn’t there something strange about this situation?

Why was the person expressing gratitude acting so smug, while I, the person being thanked, was left feeling uncomfortable?

I could not fathom the reason.

Did everyone who said they did not understand why they were being thanked end up in situations like this?

Then how was I supposed to answer? Say that I already knew and tell them to remain grateful?

"H-How long are all of you planning to stand around here?! Aren’t we going to eat?!"

"What...? Weren’t we unable to leave because Karv was talking to Helga?"

"He must have blurted out the first thing that came to mind because he was embarrassed and wanted to change the subject. So let’s pretend we didn’t notice, just as he wants, and go, Vigdís."

Vigdís had merely watched the entire time, so I could not understand why she had chosen this exact moment to voice her question.

And why had Helga offered such an unnecessarily considerate explanation in response? Was there any point in adding that they should pretend not to notice afterward?

Regardless of whether I remained frozen with my mouth hanging open, caught between embarrassment and disbelief....

Helga linked her arm through Vigdís’s, and the two of them left the dormitory together, arm in arm.

Still dazed, I found myself staring endlessly after them—

"What? Are you jealous? Should we link arms too?"

—the protagonist of someone else’s novel spouted this nonsense with a playfully beaming smile.

If I looked jealous to him, there must have been something wrong with his eyesight.

It evidently required correction, so I lightly tapped one of his golden eyes with my finger, then followed the others outside.

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