There Is No Hidden Villain in This Novel Chapter 70

“No, do I look like I’m talking nonsense right now? You don’t doubt even the fact that he loves you? Do you think Ryuseong is so extreme that he’d kill you outright just because you’re a de Millang? He’s different from you, you bastard! He’s different from you…!”

But the principal didn’t know that Ryuseong was a regressor, so he could speak so freely. When I just stayed silent and smiled, the principal clicked his tongue.

“I have no intention of interfering with you becoming the family head.”

“It’s not that you lack the ability to interfere, right?”

“If your teacher is giving you serious advice, you should listen a bit.”

“Hmm.”

“You, if you drop out like this, you’ll get killed.”

That’s what the principal was saying. But I wasn’t without words to say either.

“Do you think I don’t know that?”

That was right. I had already gone through two assassination attempts. Circumstantially, it meant that assassins sent by the family head had nearly killed me twice. Rather, because of that, I needed to become the family head quickly. If I didn’t want to die, I had to eliminate the enemy first. And to do that, above all, I needed to gain fame first, so I couldn’t afford to rot away in the lower ranks.

However, the principal still seemed to have more to say.

“…Yes, I know that you know it all too well. I also know the backup you’re relying on.”

“Haha, if you’re just going to keep saying boring things, it’d be better if you just shut your mouth…”

“Your great-grandfather will protect you. But, isn’t it obvious that he’ll only protect you? Is that enough for you?”

“Then what more do I need to protect…”

At that moment, the principal suddenly twisted his face and tried to grab my shoulder. It was an unusually intense reaction. I stepped back and dodged it, but the principal, as if he’d gone mad, was trying to grab me again. Of course, I wasn’t the kind of good person who would hold back just because an attack came flying first, so after blinking my eyes twice, I was about to counterattack…

“You! Don’t you have a conscience?! Is it okay if Ryuseong dies?! How hard has he been living…!”

“…Yes? Why is Mr. Ryuseong here.”

Suddenly, a bomb exploded.

“He said he’s dropping out with you!”

“…?”

What, what did he say?

What the hell is this?

“…Ryuseong, you mean? He’s dropping out with me? The Mr. Ryuseong that I know…?”

“Yeah! Don’t pretend you don’t know…!”

Ignoring the principal who was yelling and flapping his arms, I took out my phone from my coat pocket and held down the number 1 for a long time. Ring, ring, ring… click.

[What’s going on? You told me to soothe him with clothes, but now you have business with me?]

“…”

The call connected, but my words were stuck, so nothing came out. Then, hearing the principal’s shrill screams bursting like background noise, a sigh spread from the other end of the line, as if he had grasped the situation.

[…Calm down, sir. He doesn’t know.]

“What? What do you mean, you punk? A moron who decides to drop out following his lover but doesn’t even tell his lover, where in the world is there such a…!”

[…]

When the principal realized that moron was right here, he grabbed the back of his neck with a smack and trembled before collapsing.

“…”

I couldn’t do it out of pride, but I felt like collapsing while grabbing the back of my neck too.

After that, the principal and I called Ryuseong. And until he arrived, we didn’t say a word to each other, didn’t even look at each other, and just let out deep sighs.

“Ha…”

“…I’ve arrived.”

Then, Ryuseong, who arrived late, wiped the sweat beading on his forehead and walked into the reception room without hesitation, as if it were his own bedroom.

I knew it was a place where Ryuseong and the trio came and went like a playground in the original story, so it made sense that he was familiar with it.

But at this point, you’re supposed to be coming here for the first time too, so you’re not planning on hiding that you’re a regressor at all?

Fortunately or unfortunately, the principal didn’t notice Ryuseong’s strangely familiar attitude due to his panic. He just kept pressing the issue.

“…Yes, you punk. What the hell is going on? You said you’re leaving school with him too.”

“I asked you to keep it a secret. But you broke it.”

“Did you think I’d interpret that as keeping it a secret even from your lover! No, what kind of crazy bastard decides on a secret joint dropout?! Are you in your right mind?!”

His words were so reasonable that I wanted to give him a standing ovation. However, Ryuseong couldn’t apologize straightforwardly and instead dodged around, changing the subject.

“It’s not a joint dropout.”

“Then what is it?!”

“I’m the one following and dropping out.”

At this point, the principal looked like he was about to die from high blood pressure, so I was wondering if I should intervene, when Ryuseong dropped a bombshell.

“I will follow Cassis. So if you don’t want me to leave, hold onto him.”

…What are you saying, you madman.

But those words seemed to catch the principal’s interest. In those two eyes that seemed to believe without a doubt that as long as he could hold onto me, Ryuseong would stay, I felt momentarily dumbfounded. They weren’t proper pupils but merely gazes filled with a golden glow.

I couldn’t figure out what he was basing it on to think that Ryuseong was speaking sincerely…

“…Hey, you know. You don’t necessarily have to drop out to become the family head, right? For example, field experience learning! Yeah! I’ll push through all of it as field experience learning! Huh?! Hunt monsters or yokai to your heart’s content! That should work!”

Ryuseong is a liar. He pretends to love me, acts affectionately, but inside, he’s a bastard trying to kill me. And yet… I thought I had no idea what Ryuseong was thinking.

The premise that Ryuseong was a regressor naturally made me expect his murder desire toward me to be fully charged. If it were me, I couldn’t forgive a bastard who killed all my relatives under the pretext of some nonsense about the world’s destruction, so no matter how affectionately he acted, I thought all of it was actions dreaming of my misfortune. Even his kind smiles were intentions to trample me…

But these words the principal kept throwing stuck in my ears and wouldn’t leave.

‘He’s different from you!’

So, what if.

‘What if Ryuseong isn’t trying to kill me?’

What if his stubborn determination not to kill people, as per the original setting, was so strong that even facing an enemy like Cassis de Millang, he couldn’t kill him?

If, this premise was correct, then you’re letting a murderer who killed all your friends and family-like people live just because you shouldn’t commit murder…?

“Just attend important events like math trips or academy competitions! For the rest, I’ll acknowledge attendance even if you run around doing raids! This should work! Huh?! Say something, you bastard!”

…Even to my ridiculously selfish way of thinking, that was too harsh…

＊＊＊

When the call came from Cassis, Ryuseong thought indifferently that even Teacher Damyun couldn’t be trusted. It was too harsh a conclusion for Damyun. He had only acted this way because he cherished Ryuseong more than Cassis.

However, Ryuseong’s mind was complicated for reasons even he himself couldn’t understand, so his nerves were on edge, unable to accommodate Damyun’s misguided consideration.

It was probably because of Cassis.

‘Yesterday…’

Ryuseong had spent the night with him. And Cassis had coldly left without even enjoying the afterglow. Was it only good for him? His mind was complicated with such thoughts, and now even the story he wanted to keep secret had been discovered…

Therefore, the reason he hurried his steps wasn’t because of Teacher Damyun. Of course, he was his mentor, but since he had a somewhat hot-tempered side, he had run urgently, sweating profusely, out of worry that he might say something unnecessary to Cassis de Millang.

Then, when he witnessed Cassis de Millang saying this with a pale face.

“…Yes, I’ll retract the dropout. The principal is right. If I can get attendance acknowledged during raid periods through a field experience learning application, that’s more reasonable than dropping out…”

Ryuseong blamed himself, thinking he must have come too late. Because Cassis de Millang was definitely not the type of gentle person to speak like that.

However, Cassis’s violet eyes were now distorted with shock and trembling faintly. Something must have happened for sure.

‘What have you done, Damyun!’

…Ryuseong didn’t know. Since he was the type of person who thought that upholding human decency was a natural duty of humans, he couldn’t even imagine that Cassis de Millang would view him as a pitiful creature bound by meaningless restraints, wasting away in futile days.

That’s why he also couldn’t foresee the future where Cassis de Millang would rampage to free him from that fleeting humanity.

‘I’ll become the family head. But I need to drop out, and it seems like I have to remodel that bastard’s mindset first.’

Of course, Cassis de Millang also thought it was good that he could avoid a future of murder and destruction.

But!

‘How is he going to survive this harsh world if he’s that soft…!’

―Cassis de Millang, who argued that, didn’t realize that he had blinders on his own eyes, filtering out Ryuseong’s temperament himself.

That was the beginning.