Chapter 79: Chapter 79

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: Vine

Chapter Title: The Confidant of the Third Princess

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Since that day, Seron had returned to her usual self.

"Lightning, give me your pudding."

"Finish your own first."

Her appetite had also returned to its usual state, to the point where she tried to snatch my pudding during lunchtime.

Seron, who was constantly doing something a little clumsy and foolish.

She was exactly like the usual Seron.

"Your pendant, it's gone."

Just then, Seron glanced inside my clothes and said so.

As she said, I didn't carry the pendant when I was in Hanon's form.

It was to prevent her from getting the wrong idea.

"I lost it."

"Hmm."

Seron didn't ask further and ate her pudding.

But I was not unaware of the faint wistfulness that sometimes lingered in her eyes.

It's just that, because of that, I felt Seron had become a little more mature than before.

'Was it heartbreak?'

I unintentionally showed a rejection that wasn't quite a rejection.

I didn't know if it was right for me, who wasn't the Vikaman she remembered, to arbitrarily reject her, but the current Vikaman was me.

'The real Vikaman…'

I had no idea where he was.

Whether he simply vanished.

Or, conversely, if he entered my original body.

As long as I couldn't know any of this.

I had no choice but to live as Vikaman.

Therefore, I couldn't give Seron any answer.

By the time Seron's situation was settled.

The boycott group had definitely grown larger than before.

At this size, it was about time.

"Vikaman, someone has appeared who wants to sponsor our boycott activities."

I thought it was time to take the bait.

I turned my head at the words of Roizen, the boycott president.

"Who's the sponsor?"

"It's a secret from the others."

Roizen seemed to have already been ordered to keep it a secret.

"It's the Third Princess."

The Third Princess, Iris Haisirion.

Roizen, who had mentioned her name, subtly gauged my reaction.

I had told him the reason for my anger.

Roizen remembered my story of seeing Nikita's death and vowing to overturn the student council.

That's why he seemed to be watching my reaction.

"Vikaman, I apologize to you. The fact that our boycott activities could grow this large is mostly thanks to you."

But the sponsorship offered by Iris must have been an amount Roizen couldn't just pass up.

He absolutely wanted to boycott the student council.

Although he spoke of a great cause, Roizen actually had a personal reason too.

'Revenge.'

Roizen was originally a noble.

However, one of the Four Great Dukes, Draffen, abolished his family for some reason.

In the end, he lost his family and his estate.

Because of this, Roizen harbored a desire for revenge against Draffen.

And this desire for revenge was directed entirely at the student council president, Sylvester Draffen.

Just as his own family had fallen, he also wanted to bring down the student council president with his own hands.

Although it was a very dark desire, he looked at me without revealing it.

"So I decided to refuse."

Huh?

What in the world was he talking about?

"…Refuse? Why?"

"I told you. The reason our boycott activities could grow is mostly thanks to you."

Roizen looked back at me, his face filled with a strong sense of mission.

"Vikaman, you see. It's embarrassing to admit, but I originally intended to boycott out of revenge against the Draffen family."

He confessed exactly what I had said earlier.

"And you, like me, are confronting the student council out of revenge for Nikita. Seeing you like that, it made me think."

Roizen tightly clenched both his fists.

"We have to make the boycott succeed with our own power."

The boycott would only be valuable if we achieved it with the strength of the boycott members alone, not with the help of others.

Roizen was thinking that.

"If it were just me, I would gladly take the Third Princess's hand, but if we all are together, we don't have to.

More than anything, I'm no longer driven solely by revenge."

He looked up at the night sky.

His eyes shone as if he were a boy dreaming.

"The current student council is wrong. I'm going to fix it."

Roizen looked back at me again.

His eyes were brighter than ever.

"Vikaman, if I'm with you, I'm sure we can do it."

And I felt dizzy.

While thoroughly preparing the boycott for the scenario.

Perhaps because I prepared too thoroughly.

The boycott president, Roizen, had a revelation.

Looking at him, I showed an exasperated reaction.

Why was he having a revelation here of all places?

"Roizen."

I had no choice.

"I understand your intentions well."

I would persuade Roizen to my side.

"But if you rejected the Third Princess's offer because of me, you don't have to."

"But Vikaman, the Third Princess…"

"That's right. She's the cause of Nikita's death. But I know the inside story. That wasn't the Third Princess's will, but the will of the Third Princess Faction."

In my eyes, the will to avenge Nikita was clearly visible.

"The student council is the first step. As you said, I must absolutely make the boycott succeed to avenge Nikita.

Even if I have to sell my soul to the devil, I will avenge Nikita."

For that, I would gladly join hands with the Third Princess.

Seeing my firm resolve, Roizen clenched his fists and swallowed his tears.

"…Vikaman, you rascal!"

Roizen made an expression like a protagonist from a youth drama.

"Alright. If you insist, then I'll do the same."

I briefly felt relieved inwardly.

It's a good thing Roizen is simple-minded.

"That's good. Just in time, I'm meeting the Third Princess's confidant today."

Roizen suggested we go together while we were at it.

Originally, I was thinking of sending Roizen alone, but seeing him thinking like this today made me a little uneasy.

"Yes, let's do that."

I also decided to go with Roizen.

I needed to manage him closely so he wouldn't cause any trouble.

* * *

The place I followed Roizen to was a park behind an abandoned building.

Jerion Academy had many parks, as it was designed with various natural landscapes.

Among them, the park we found didn't have many lights and had an impressively eerie atmosphere if you came at night.

It was what people commonly called a haunted spot.

"Ugh, it's a bit cold."

Roizen shivered due to the eerie atmosphere.

As I waited with Roizen, a presence began to be felt in the distance.

Tap-tap-

The sound of shoes stepping on the grassy ground could be heard.

Soon after, what appeared there was a girl with peach-colored hair.

Hania Lepiddaia.

She was the one who appeared here in Iris's stead.

'As expected, Hania showed up.'

Even if things went wrong, Hania had deliberately volunteered to take the blame herself, rather than Iris.

She looked at Roizen, and then her eyes landed on me.

And then she slowly tilted her head.

"And you are?"

"Oh, that's Vikaman Niflheim."

Roizen introduced me on my behalf.

Hania knew my name.

As such, her question was understandable, but she didn't understand why I was here.

Strictly speaking, I had been expelled for interfering with Iris's faction.

Just then, the wind blew towards Hania.

Hania, feeling the blowing wind, wrinkled her nose, and then her eyes slowly began to widen.

At the same time, she quietly stared at me with somewhat sharp eyes.

"Roizen."

A strange killing intent emanating from her mixed with the night wind.

Roizen, feeling this, involuntarily recoiled.

"Could you step aside for a moment?"

Roizen's eyes met mine.

This guy seemed to think of me as a true friend.

When I gestured that it was okay, Roizen quietly stepped back.

"Uh, yeah, you two talk."

Roizen felt something unusual in the atmosphere.

But trusting me, he willingly gave up his spot.

Roizen left the park and walked away.

Before long, only Hania and I remained in this park.

I could roughly guess why Hania and I were left alone.

Vikaman had been expelled by Iris.

And recently, there was also the Nikita incident.

If she was smart, she would have figured out why Vikaman was here in no time.

So she must have judged me to be Iris's enemy.

"Hanon, what are you doing here?"

Huh?

I didn't expect that name to come up, so I had a slightly bewildered expression.

"…Hanon? What do you mean?"

I tried to feign ignorance for now.

Then Hania sighed and wrinkled her nose.

"The scent coming from Hanon's body is Iris's scent.

For such a strong scent to emanate, it's impossible without sleeping with Iris."

I, belatedly flustered, smelled my wrist.

But my nose couldn't detect any particular scent.

'No, more than that, I showered thoroughly after morning training.'

Besides, the time I slept with Iris was yesterday, not today.

My clothes were different too.

'Even so, could the scent still linger?'

What kind of nose did she have, anyway?

Hania's obsession with Iris was becoming frightening.

"And you have a tool that can transform into any appearance, don't you?"

I had appeared in Hania's form before.

As such, Hania could immediately tell even when I appeared in Vikaman's form.

No one else would have Iris's scent so strongly except me.

'This, I didn't expect either.'

If I were to tell one truth, Vikaman was my real form and Hanon was the fake, but…

People act based on information once ingrained in their minds, so it seemed she hadn't grasped this fact.

"So."

Hania crossed her arms, showing a little displeasure.

"What on earth were you thinking, coming here in that state?"

Through my glance with Roizen just now, Hania had noticed that I had been involved in the boycott for a long time.

Therefore, she was even more puzzled.

The look in her eyes suggested she couldn't find a reason why I would join the boycott group.

"…No way."

As she did so, Hania recalled something and squinted her eyes slightly.

"Hanon, did you hear anything from Iris?"

I had slept by Iris's side to help with her nightmares.

At that time, Hania was in the male dormitory instead of me, so she wouldn't know what conversations took place between Iris and me.

Iris was not someone who easily shared her stories with others.

But for now, Hanon and I were cousins, and we had been very close recently.

So she might have discussed the orders she received from Duke Robliaju with me.

"No, I haven't heard anything."

But I denied it for now.

It would be a headache if my words got twisted later and things got complicated.

However, my denial didn't seem to sound truthful to Hania.

"…Haa, if you're going to pretend not to know, do it properly. This is clearly an attempt to help Iris, isn't it?"

I had a history of saving Iris from Nikita's assassination attempt.

As my usual actions were often for Iris, Hania inadvertently misunderstood.

That I had created the boycott group for Iris.

If you think about it, some of it was actually true, so I had nothing to say.

Hania stared at me intently, and then crossed her arms.

Her chest was emphasized by it, but I didn't focus my gaze there.

"Alright. Vikaman, tell me what your plan is. I'll cooperate according to the plan."

This was Hania, who would do anything for Iris.

I had gained a steadfast helper who was like a girlfriend.