Accidentally Formed a Reverse Harem in the Apocalypse – Chapter 55 – A Battle Of Wills

Author: Asternkm

Aston was moving his steps in silence so that Elizabeth, who was sleeping softly on his back, wouldn’t wake up.

A white hand reached out toward Elizabeth.

“What is it?”

When Aston turned around, Michael—holding a handkerchief—flinched.

“……As you can see, I was simply going to wipe her tears with a handkerchief.”

What Michael held was a pure white cotton handkerchief, finely embroidered.

It was so elegant that it felt almost sinful to even compare it to the plain handkerchief Aston had offered Elizabeth.

Seeing that a holy knight carried something prettier than what a Grand Duke had made him feel unpleasant.

“……”

‘Should I have carried better things around?’

He felt a kind of regret he had never experienced in his life.

Back when Jacqueline Celeste had nagged him endlessly to carry items befitting a Grand Duke’s rank, he had ignored her.

Why this woman on his back made him think such things, even Aston Clitter himself didn’t know.

He’d only ever heard her speak up boldly and meddle, yet he felt neither anger nor displeasure toward her.

All he could feel was that the sound of her breathing and her body heat against his back weren’t unpleasant.

“……The Duchess looks very tired. Let’s leave her be. I don’t want to wake her unnecessarily.”

Michael’s hand paused just short of Elizabeth’s eyes. With nowhere to go, it withdrew.

“……By the way, who are you? Things were chaotic because of the zombies, so I didn’t get the chance to ask.”

“I am Aston Clitter, Grand Duke of Whitewood. That’s all the introduction you’ll get.”

“……Understood, Your Grace.”

‘He’s wary of me.’

That reaction was only natural. If anything, Elizabeth—who had stared at him as if spellbound when they first met—was the unusual one.

‘But it’s not just wariness. I can see displeasure mixed in too.’

Though his life hadn’t been long, Aston was used to receiving looks filled with negative emotion.

He didn’t particularly like the way Michael, Ruth, and even Benedict were closely watching him either.

All three of their gazes were fixed on the woman asleep on his back—Elizabeth Keaton.

‘……But why am I getting irritated over this woman?’

He barely had time to dwell on the question.

Benedict Fairman, the fairy-blooded half-breed, stepped forward and held out both hands.

“What is it?”

“The Duchess you’re carrying… please hand her over… Your Grace.”

The awkward pause in his speech suggested he wasn’t fully accustomed to human customs.

“She isn’t heavy.”

“It’s because I want to carry her.”

Even after being gently turned down, the young-looking Benedict stubbornly persisted.

‘You exhausted yourself using spirits, and yet you want to carry this woman?’

What nonsense.

“You said your name was Benedict, correct? You’ll be low on stamina because of the spirits. I’ll carry her, since I’m still fine.”

“…….”

Having his stamina pointed out left Benedict with nothing to say. Lights that looked like spirits flickered beside him. He frowned and muttered,

“Fine, fine. I’ll just train harder.”

A mage with dark-blue hair and tired-looking silver-gray eyes let out a small chuckle at Benedict.

“To think Ben, who always said training was unnecessary as long as you had spirits, would say that.”

Ruth seemed to have recovered some of his depleted mana; his previously pale face looked much better now.

He gave Aston a light bow.

“You’re the Grand Duke of Whitewood, correct? I am Ruth Critchern, from the Southern Mage Tower.”

“……A pleasure to meet you, Ruth Critchern. I’ve often heard that your magic is powerful.”

Since he was carrying Elizabeth, Aston couldn’t offer a handshake, but he returned the bow.

Even to Aston—who had spent his life moving from battlefield to battlefield and fighting magical beasts in the frozen lands of Whitewood—Ruth’s name was well known.

‘The youngest candidate for next Mage Tower Lord. An illegitimate child of the current lord, yet acknowledged for his talent and named the official successor.’

He’d heard Ruth had been cooped up in the Mage Tower lately. He hadn’t expected to see him beside Duchess Elizabeth Keaton.

“What brings you here, Mr. Ruth?”

“I came at the request of Duchess Keaton. When I heard zombies had appeared in the capital, Agatha, I rushed over. It’s a dangerous situation—times like these are when we must lend our strength, don’t you think?”

It wasn’t exactly the truth, but Ruth answered shamelessly, claiming he’d come purely to help the righteous Duchess Keaton.

‘Childish.’

Aston scoffed inwardly.

Even in Whitewood, the territory granted to him, news from high society still reached his ears.

‘The Crown Prince’s fiancée… Siena Evergreen, was it? Weren’t these men the ones rumored to be involved with her before she was engaged to Louis?’

And back then, Elizabeth Keaton had been branded a villainess, constantly treated with contempt and scorn by the men before him.

Aston knew that well—and that was why he said this:

“I see. I didn’t expect the Mage Tower’s heir to be so concerned about the Empire’s future. Especially to answer the call of a Duchess you once went beyond disliking—to outright hating.”

“……What did you just say?”

Ruth’s eyes twitched. The words weren’t wrong—but coming from the Grand Duke of Whitewood, they didn’t sound pleasant.

“I’m not wrong, am I?”

It was strange. Until meeting Elizabeth Keaton, Aston himself had remembered her only as a reckless troublemaker.

Yet after meeting her and revising his judgment, he found himself displeased with the men who had treated her poorly and still remained by her side.

At Aston’s words, Ruth’s expression hardened sharply.

“Coming from you, Grand Duke—aren’t you the extinguished sun the Imperial Family threw away?”

Who knew where he’d picked that up from.

“…….”

A subtle battle of nerves passed between them. Silver-gray eyes and red eyes glared at each other as if they might tear one another apart.

Even so, all four of them remembered to keep walking softly and silently.

Zero, who was sitting on Elizabeth’s shoulder and munching on sunflower seeds, watched the men’s battle of wills and suddenly felt like drinking a beer.

「Someone else should really be seeing this fun scene too.」

Watching the quiet, underwater kicking of men fighting over love was always entertaining.

「After seeing this, you can’t deny that the possessor has a green light!」

Heh heh heh. Grinning wickedly, Zero cackled as he savored the amusing sight.

This, he thought with satisfaction, was the joy of being a trainee constellation in charge of a romance-fantasy world.

“I don’t understand why you’re picking a fight.”

“And what about you, Your Grace? You’re the one who overturned the calm atmosphere—the Grand Duke of Whitewood.”

“Bad luck for you, is it?”

“You’re no better yourself, Grand Duke of Whitewood.”

Crackle. It felt as if sparks were flying between Aston and Ruth.

As the atmosphere grew cold, Zero eased his boredom by peeking into Michael’s and Benedict’s thoughts.

Their thoughts went like this:

‘I should’ve supported Duchess Keaton first. I said I’d serve her as my lord, and yet—what is this mess?’

‘……She looks even smaller all curled up like that. When she fought the zombies so bravely, she looked like a giant. Why is her frame so slender? If she’s a Duchess, shouldn’t she be eating well?’

Not long ago, they’d all fought together to defeat the zombies, yet now the four men were locked in petty tension, wary of one another.

Watching it all unfold, Zero felt pleased.

「Good, good! A love rivalry is the perfect kind of story to report upstairs. I can patch up the collapsed “original story” by filling it with high-quality causality.」

When he first encountered the soul of a possessor that had flown in from another world due to an error, he hadn’t liked it much.

But lately, the possessor inside Elizabeth Keaton’s shell had been producing quite decent results.

‘……Even if she is a rather materialistic human who loves rewards far too much.’

Zero didn’t know this—but what best led a K-national gamer safely to the ending was immediate rewards tied to quests.

“Duchess Keaton probably doesn’t think very highly of you either, Grand Duke.”

“And how would you know that, making such claims so casually?”

“Isn’t it already proven by the fact that she refused your escort once, only to accept it later?”

“The spirits say her first impression of you is already the worst.”

“That’s just what Duchess Keaton thinks of you people.”

“…….”

Without yielding an inch, the four men continued their verbal duel, swords drawn with their tongues.

“Hah. Then what do you know about Duchess Keaton to be stepping in this far?”

Just as their voices were about to rise—

“Uuugh…….”

Elizabeth stirred and let out a small sound, and all four men shut their mouths at once.

“…….”

The noisy secret passage fell silent again.

“Hmm…….”

Elizabeth’s furrowed brow slowly relaxed, and her breathing returned to a steady rhythm.

Careful not to wake the sleeping Elizabeth, Aston spoke.

“……This isn’t the time for us to argue. We should get Duchess Keaton to her bedroom as quickly as possible.”

“I agree.”

“Same here.”

“She needs rest. She’s already pushed herself far too hard.”

With their opinions aligned, the four of them quickened their pace through the secret passage.

Thanks to that, they soon emerged at the entrance inside the Keaton Ducal Estate.

The sun was already preparing to rest, sinking slowly into the crimson sky.

The servants of the Keaton estate—who had been guiding over sixty sudden survivors and waiting tensely for their mistress—gasped in shock when they saw Elizabeth being carried in.

“D-did our Duchess get hurt somewhere—?!”

“No. She’s just sleeping. Don’t worry. Where is the Duchess’s bedroom?”

Aston cut off the butler’s words and looked around.

A nobleman they had never seen before was carrying their precious Duchess with great care.

At the sudden appearance of an unfamiliar Grand Duke, the servants’ eyes widened.

‘Who is that?’

‘I’ve never seen him before.’

‘……But wow, he’s really handsome. Seriously handsome.’

“Why is that……?”

“I carried her all the way from the other side. It would be better to lay her down without waking her.”

“We will take the Duchess from here. From the looks of it, you seem to be someone our Duchess brought along—we wouldn’t want to trouble you.”

Inside the butler Patrick’s head, a red alarm bell rang.