Chapter 103: Promise Me a Chance

“Is he a person I shouldn’t know about?”

“If possible, I wanted it that way.”

“But what if I still want to know?”

I grabbed his left hand.

“I want to know.”

Philius looked down at me quietly. The fingers held by me twitched. As if tapping the table.

I know his appearance shown in front of Duchess Mare was thoroughly calculated. But now he was genuinely flustered.

“Phil.”

When I called his name, his hand held in mine shrank once again.

“I know you want to protect me.”

“Then,”

It must mean he wants me to stay like this. I shook my head before hearing his words.

“I also, want you to know that I want to protect you.”

Because I am a coward, I wanted to protect him even more. Because losing him is scary.

“I hope you give me a chance too.”

I hadn’t seen wrong. At this moment, Philius’s eyes shone. Like when he found out I wasn’t swept away by his pheromones that dominate consciousness.

I still couldn’t know the meaning. Whether it was joy or regret.

Philius nodded with a face as if he had no choice.

Descending to the underground storage, I felt the chilly air just like when I visited to see the scammers. Passing the place where various groceries were organized by type, as soon as we entered the empty section, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

“I feel like I’ve become a villain.”

“Some people will definitely think of me as a villain.”

Philius asked me.

“Am I a villain to you too?”

“No.”

“Then it doesn’t matter. Being a villain would be rather better.”

With those words, we turned the corridor. The space that was only darkness ended, and faint light began to be seen. Under that dim light was a person. Seeing us, he seemed to try to raise his body urgently.

“I wonder if you’ve been well.”

Philius spoke towards the person standing awkwardly. Unlike his relaxed greeting, the person with both hands firmly bound was clearly anxious. Philius called his name as if informing me.

“Captain Rassett.”

When Philius took one more step forward, the man jumped in surprise and straightened his body.

“Are you Captain Rassett who was the adjutant?”

“Correct.”

Our questions and answers discussing his identity seemed to feel like pressure to him. The man who was Philius’s adjutant in the New Continent stepped back as if avoiding him. Even after Philius stopped walking, he couldn’t stop stepping back. Until his back touched the wall.

Startled again by the cold feeling on his back, he shuddered. Hic. At the sound echoing in the empty space, Philius and I chuckled simultaneously. Hic. Hic. As the sounds rang repeatedly, Rassett lifted his bound hands with difficulty and covered his mouth. Still, the hiccuping sound didn’t stop. The man unable to control his own body was on the verge of crying.

“To that person, you definitely seem like a villain.”

“I think I treated him quite kindly though.”

The expression ‘kind’ might not fit since he was bound to prevent escape, but it was true that Rassett was receiving better treatment than the previous scammers. Sleeping place, and food too. Although that man wouldn’t know.

“Wh-why me…”

Even after the hiccups barely stopped, a heavily trembling voice flowed from Rassett’s mouth. A rustling sound resonated when he, clearly terrified, stepped back one more step.

There was another difference in treatment between the scammers and him. While the scammers were strictly blocked from contact with the outside, newspapers were provided to him. Spread newspapers covered the entire floor.

“If I hadn’t taken action, what state would you be in by now, having no place to stay in Noberten?”

The man dragged to this underground storage on the very day he arrived at the port couldn’t say anything.

“Haven’t seen it yet? Indeed, it’s not easy to find since it’s a small article.”

As Philius spoke scanning the newspapers, Rassett trembled even more violently.

“Here it is.”

I bent my waist and pointed to a small article above the obituary column. Philius’s gaze touched me. Since I haven’t released the cognitive interference magic circle yet, I don’t know how I look to him, but I curved my eyes as best as I could. Thinking of the eye-smile he often makes.

He tried to take my words ‘villain’ as his alone. But I wanted to be an accomplice with him.

I didn’t want to leave everything as his responsibility.

“You know you’re on the wanted list, right?”

Although addressed to Rassett, my gaze was still looking at Philius. While seeming to tell me everything, he still kept the most important facts secret. For example, things like how he, having met his Rut, can attend the victory ceremony. It seemed clear he wasn’t afraid and had countermeasures, but I don’t know exactly what method.

The same goes for that man named Rassett.

I scanned the newspapers spread on the floor in chronological order.

His wanted notice continued for a few days. The day his name disappeared from the wanted column was the day after his name appeared in the obituary column. The capital Noberten had deep shadows as much as it was splendid. Even at this moment, the corpse of someone unknown could be lying in a back alley.

If Philius hadn’t acted first to fake his death, he would have been in the King’s hands by now.

Or the obituary might have become fact.

Even in the New Continent, the King’s eyes would have existed everywhere. Since military power was in his hands, it would have been much easier than here in Noberten where his political opponents exist. And that man was the adjutant assisting Philius.

Combined with the fact that he was wanted by the Capital Guard, one conclusion emerges.

“Captain Rassett was the eye the King attached to you.”

“…You’re right.”

As Philius affirmed with a bitter smile, a thud sound was heard. It was the sound of Captain Rassett, who was pressing his body closely against the wall, collapsing as strength drained from his legs.

“H-how… Since when…”

“From the beginning.”

“Lie…”

He denied Philius’s words, but I couldn’t understand his reaction.

“I don’t know why you thought he wouldn’t know.”

When I looked at him, his eyes darted around unable to find focus.

At some point, his eyes stopped as if nailed to one spot. Catching his gaze, I barely suppressed a scoff trying to flow out.

He was looking at the ring on my hand. Seeing him mumbling something small after confirming Philius and I wearing the same ring, I saw his lips moving. It’s okay. There will be a way. His lip shape seemed to be saying so.

“I-I had no choice.”

His words were directed at me.

I looked down at the newspapers scattered on the floor. There were newspapers still talking about the ring and the King’s Brother’s engagement. Articles described me, no, precisely Liberalis Sella like Cinderella. A recessive Omega from the countryside whose name was completely unknown in the social circle. That was the image of Liberalis Sella viewed by nobles, and Captain Rassett would have accepted as written in the newspaper.

“I also had circumstances…”

He begged me rubbing his bound hands on his thighs repeatedly, but I didn’t feel the need to listen to his circumstances.

“Gasp…!”

Inhaling the lilac scent, he gasped for breath. Because I can’t handle pheromones skillfully like Philius yet.

“Are you okay?”

I thought my pheromones wouldn’t affect Philius much, but still, I couldn’t help asking.

“I am okay, but.”

Unlike his words, he smiled bitterly.

“You asked me to give you a chance.”

“Jay.”

“And, it seems you still have things you want to hide from me.”

As he couldn’t say anything, I had to confirm my guess was right.

“If it’s not because of me, I don’t intend to pry. But…”

The moment his smile distorted further, I unintentionally emitted the lilac scent even thicker.

“It was because of me.”

Choking sounds like being strangled were heard. Sounds made by Captain Rassett encroached by my pheromones. But I didn’t look back at him.

“Because I was a coward, I couldn’t give you trust. To you.”

“You are not a coward, Jay.”

At his appearance denying at once, a smile formed.

“Did you say I gave you a future?”

“No one can deny that fact. Even you yourself, Jay.”

I interlaced my fingers with his.

“The person who gave me a future is also you.”

Even I, who tried not to be greedy from the start fearing what I would lose in the future, couldn’t help but hold onto him. He was the person who let me find again what I tried to lose.

“You said it doesn’t matter if you become a villain to others, right? I also just need to be a good person only to you.”

I slowly withdrew my pheromones. Gasp. Gasp. The sound of Captain Rassett inhaling breath urgently echoed in the underground storage.

“Were you ever troubled because of that person?”

“…Yes.”

Philius was looking down at me with an expressionless face, but light was glimpsed in his eyes again.

“That was really unavoidable. Everything, everything was ordered by His Majesty the King…!”

If Captain Rassett’s voice hadn’t interrupted, wouldn’t I have known what it meant this time?