A warrior who could now throw punches without any hesitation.
No, I approached the Holy Maiden while dragging two half-corpses.
"You're going to get yourself killed doing that, you know?"
Thud! Thud!
Hearing the sound of human fists pounding human flesh, I couldn't help but wonder.
Both Ellen and I were the same way.
We'd been educated in the kingdom since childhood and used swords as tools, so we might be slightly less sensitive about inflicting harm on others.
But to hit someone with bare hands, so unhesitatingly like that.
Either she was born with the qualities of a Fist King...
Or she was just a thug.
For some reason, I suspected the latter, but that was probably just my imagination.
A thuggish romance fantasy female lead... the horror of feeling like I've seen this somewhere before.
"Oh, right. I was supposed to keep them alive if possible."
With an expression that suggested she'd forgotten, she cast healing magic on the dark mage she'd just beaten up, making the thug theory seem even more plausible.
"Just between us, away from the Pope's ears. Why do you keep doing that?"
It was somewhat regrettable that a new fake lover had been suddenly added to the mix, but weren't we bound by a sufficient contract?
Yet she kept giving me those looks in front of the Pope.
"Oh, that?"
I was prepared to flee, fake relationship or not, if she said she'd actually fallen for me and was jealous.
"I still have a conscience, you know. I was trying to help Adam."
"By making me look like garbage?"
"Yes!"
Daisy's bright smile had the charm befitting a romance fantasy heroine.
If this were a webtoon, flower petals would probably be fluttering around her.
The problem was that it came right after saying and doing something quite thuggish.
"Well, since this could lead to misunderstandings, let me explain right away."
"Sure. If your explanation isn't satisfactory, I'll consider you, Holy Maiden, a world-class psychopath."
"Your form of address is already getting distant, so I'd better explain quickly!"
She broke the dark mage's ankle after finishing the healing and began her explanation.
...Reducing mobility to prevent escape. She's learned well.
"First of all, quite unfortunately, our contract lasts until winter break, right?"
"There's a misunderstanding. It's until before winter break."
The way she phrased it made it sound like the contract would continue if we stayed together during winter break.
"How petty. Anyway, when that contract period ends, our connection... will continue, but our romantic relationship will end."
"I'd prefer if our connection ended too, if possible."
"Wouldn't that be difficult because of Ellen?"
She had a point.
Seeing that she knew this and still acted that way, this romance fantasy heroine wasn't playing the innocent role.
...That Violet bastard is never wrong.
"Anyway, that's why I needed to show us fighting during what little time we have left. That way, when we break up later, it won't seem strange."
"So you're preparing the plausibility in advance?"
"Exactly. Especially since the Pope seems very interested in our relationship..."
"I thought she already knew it was fake."
"She might be doubting that it's fake, doubting her doubts, and doubting again."
So that's why she was showing us fighting in advance.
"You could have told me beforehand."
"Violet said that to deceive the enemy, you must first deceive your allies!"
"...I think it's better not to listen to that one."
"Now you're trying to steal my friend too?"
"That will absolutely never happen."
"But that sky-splitting move... it was pretty good."
Why wasn't I questioning the content of her grumbling?
"Seriously, won't you join the Swordsmanship Department next year?"
"Why? Would you like that?"
"You're from Leon, after all. It seems wrong for a swordsmanship talent to walk the path of a magic sandbag."
"Wow... you're the first person I've heard actually say that. If our department head professor hears that, he might come looking for you."
"Then I'll use our department head as a shield."
If I can't call a magic sandbag a magic sandbag,
Shouldn't I call the Flame Sandbag by his real name?
...What was his real name again?
To avoid awkward situations later, I can't give up using the term "Flame Sandbag."
"Anyway. That's why I acted a little angry."
"So you weren't really angry."
"......"
"Hello?"
This silence is strange at this timing.
"Ten percent."
After maintaining silence for a moment, Daisy muttered while kicking something away as if embarrassed.
"What?"
I didn't hear properly because I was distracted by the dark mage who stirred after being kicked.
"I was actually ten percent genuinely angry when I did it."
Daisy answered with a louder voice, her expression full of discontent.
"So you were angry."
"I couldn't help it. Think about it, Adam. When I suddenly heard that you had a new lover!"
I closed my eyes for a moment to think.
Emergency... super emergency!
"...Is it Prince Ellen?"
"No, not him!"
Emergency canceled.
"Then I don't care."
"...Oh, I see?"
Crunch.
Was that the sound of something breaking just now, or was it my imagination?
"Later, if Ellen confesses, I might have to give it some serious thought."
"...That's a breach of contract."
"You said contracts should be precise. I said I wouldn't accept confessions that weren't sincere. I never said I wouldn't think about it."
It was basically a threat that if he confessed, she'd say she needed to think about it and not give an answer.
"After making me look like garbage..."
"To be honest, I wouldn't have done this with anyone else. I did it because it was you, Adam."
"So I'm someone you can treat however you want?"
"You're someone who doesn't care about such things. Honestly, you're not the type to be shaken by fleeting rumors that will disappear after a brief time at the academy, right?"
She had a point.
Actually, these kinds of rumors made it more comfortable by keeping wishy-washy people away.
The people I interacted with in the Knight Department wouldn't care about such rumors anyway.
And the romance fantasy leads seemed to like me even more because of it.
Plus, the club members probably knew the whole story.
...Come to think of it, I am curious about Uncle Arwen's reaction.
I got the right to boss around Uncle Arwen as payment for pretending to be Senior Laureliya's boyfriend.
I wonder if he knows about it?
"Besides, I've been consistently giving you what I promised in return."
"That's true."
As payment for being a fake boyfriend, I was receiving holy water produced by the Holy Maiden every week.
Top-grade holy water and potions that were difficult to obtain even in the kingdom.
Originally, these items should have gone to the Holy Country, but with the goddess's permission, they were coming to me as compensation for being a fake lover.
I wondered if this was really okay, but if the goddess approved, who was I to question it?
"This time, I'll ask the goddess to let me give you a bit more from the supply meant for the Holy Country. So please bear with it a little longer."
What did I care about my reputation?
Unlike the academy, which I'd graduate from in three and a half years, the shelf life of holy water and potions was practically infinite.
When I returned home for winter break, I could present some to the royal family to score points.
I should also send a few bottles to my family to show filial piety.
"I don't mind becoming the academy's biggest bastard."
Perhaps my sincere determination was conveyed.
Daisy opened her eyes wide and exclaimed with a surprised expression:
"You're going to cheat again?"
"Really adding fuel to the gossip fire, aren't you."
Looking back and forth between the Pope, whose expression was becoming increasingly rigid in the distance, and Daisy, who seemed to be teasing by sticking out her tongue,
All I could do was kick the unconscious dark mage as a way to vent my frustration.
* * *
Contrary to Adam and Daisy's expectations, the reason for the Pope's hardened expression wasn't anger.
It was quite the opposite.
'It wasn't just a love quadrangle? It was even more than that!'
Thump, thump.
The Pope's heart was racing as she witnessed in person the love quadrangle she had only read about in romance novels.
When she first heard the news of Adam's two-timing:
'As expected of a man who attracts both Violet and the Holy Maiden!'
She accepted the news as if it were natural.
She would have been angry if the other woman had been some nobody, but the other party was none other than the daughter of the Empire's highest family.
She was even the fiancée of the Imperial Prince.
For such a person to be tempted meant that Adam was more attractive than even the Imperial Prince!
That's why she thought Daisy's light grumbling was simply jealousy. After all, that's how it always worked in romance novels!
"Your Holiness, it seems there are more suspicious people in the academy. Wouldn't it be safer for you to return?"
That's why, even when the Holy Maiden advised her to retreat to a safe place, she shook her head firmly, expressing her determination to follow the two.
"If I run away from a place like this, I can't call myself the Pope. For the sake of a peaceful festival, we should put in more effort!"
"Your Holiness..."
Daisy looked at her with a touched expression at her growth, but...
"......"
Adam's expression wasn't good because he was thinking, 'No, that's even more dangerous...'
'He must be upset because I'm interrupting their date!'
For the Pope, who was already steeped in romance novels, even this expression looked like a field of flowers.
* * *
The shadow in charge of the Imperial Prince, Acid, and simultaneously serving as the shadow of the Jeika Duchy.
Arwen Clyde (19 years old).
This man, officially active under that name and age, shouted with a tearful expression:
"You worthless bugs! Move faster!"
At his words, dozens of personnel concealed themselves on the spot.
These were the Empire's proud level-two agents from the Intelligence Bureau.
Although they might be somewhat lacking compared to the level-one and special agents operating outside the Empire,
They were certainly among the top-tier agents operating within the Empire.
Yet even they had been called bugs throughout the Founding Festival.
Despite being berated like that, they couldn't say anything in response.
And for good reason.
"There was another dark mage?"
It was because of that damned message from Adam.
-Uncle, I'm disappointed... they're showing up again.
Honestly, he couldn't help but be suspicious.
Dark mages were difficult to find even with the combined efforts of the Imperial Family and Intelligence Bureau.
Yet somehow, whenever Adam went on a date with the Holy Maiden, he caught dark mages as if he were pulling vegetables from a garden.
Were they being farmed? Had the world changed to where dark mages could be cultivated and harvested?
For shadows and intelligence agents, perhaps this was a world where the best means to build achievements was readily available.
As he was thinking this, he held his aching head and channeled mana into another communication device.
"Master. This is Arwen."
-...Yes. What is it?
The current head of the Jeika Duchy, one of the founding contributors when the Empire was still called a kingdom.
The holder of the greatest influence in the Empire, the leader of the noble faction.
Drain Jeika, a being whom even the Emperor couldn't treat carelessly.
Such a person was avoiding Arwen's gaze as soon as he received the call.
"Master. I know about the cancellation of the engagement with the Imperial Family."
-Yes, that's right...
"I worked hard for a week preparing for that."
-I'm always grateful for your work.
"But yesterday! Suddenly! The young lady! Got a boyfriend! Even though it's fake, he's the Holy Maiden's man. And he's asdkfjasldkfjaslkdfj"
As Arwen's desperate screams gradually devolved into inhuman language, Duke Drain lowered the volume of the communication device and muttered:
-Must be dark mage interference, the communication isn't working properly.
In a world of romance fantasy full of love schemes,
Even the head of the mighty ducal family couldn't manage his own daughter.
All he could do was raise the salary of the poor worker.