* * *

“Are you very upset? You don’t look happy. That wasn’t my intention at all.”

“Ah, no, it’s not that…”

The irritation that had been rising up subsided.

But it wasn’t just because of Ateol’s obedient attitude.

It was because, while we were making eye contact, his favorability toward me shot up in real time.

The favorability that had been steadily increasing by 1% at a time suddenly stopped at a whopping 80%.

[Favorability: Ateol]

80%

Ateol thinks of you as ‘■■…’

Are you kidding me?

Shouldn’t it at least show me the first character?

How am I supposed to know what ‘■■…’ means?

Does the system even realize how many words in the world start with ‘■■’?

Because I sure don’t. There are too many to count.

But even if I didn’t know what was hidden behind those black squares, the fact remained—his favorability had skyrocketed.

Seeing it rise so quickly made me feel strangely anxious. Like I needed to do more.

But… maybe not right this second.

I kept looking up at Ateol and asked,

“Will you come again tomorrow?”

“So this means we’re stopping here for today.”

He was planning to do more, wasn’t he?

Just from the kiss alone, my poor heart was already beating way too fast.

I quickly slipped out of his arms, mumbling vaguely.

Fortunately, this time, he let me go without resistance.

After taking about three steps back, Ateol gave me a slow, knowing smile and said,

“I don’t know how I should take this.”

“Wh-what? Take what?”

“Whether you’ve suddenly developed feelings for me… or if you’re trying to seduce me with your body.”

“…….”

I was caught off guard and instinctively avoided his gaze.

Seducing him with my body…

Well, technically, the system made me do it, but it wasn’t entirely wrong.

“If that’s the case, you really don’t need to go that far.”

Ateol took a step closer.

“You probably don’t remember, but even without such methods, you already have the power to make me kneel before you.”

“…That’s not… what I was trying to do.”

“Isn’t it?”

Well, strictly speaking, he wasn’t completely wrong.

But it’s not like my only goal was seduction.

The bigger objective was raising his favorability through physical contact.

I hesitated, unsure of how to explain it, then finally opened my mouth.

“Then what is it?”

“I… I just… want you to like me.”

“…….”

Ateol’s eyes widened, as if he’d heard something completely unexpected.

I added an explanation.

“Because if you like me, then I’ll be safe.”

A brief silence fell between us.

Ateol’s expression slowly returned to normal—or maybe it grew even more rigid than usual.

“That… is quite the statement.”

As he spoke, Ateol suddenly closed the distance between us.

His scent filled my senses.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, he murmured,

“If I truly did like you, that statement would have hurt me deeply.”

For a moment, the air between us froze.

I was flustered, but I quickly regained my composure.

“…But you don’t, do you? That’s why I said it.”

“That is true.”

Then what’s with all the seriousness?

We’ve barely even known each other for that long.

The tension that had briefly spiked fizzled out.

Ateol, too, had a faint smile on his lips now.

Seeing his lips—just as swollen as mine—made my face heat up.

I turned my head away in embarrassment and waved my hand at him.

“Just go already.”

“As you wish, I shall take my leave.”

Ateol bowed deeply, then lifted his head and added,

“I’ll take that as an invitation for tomorrow.”

“You don’t need me to say it; you already know.”

“Then… shall we kiss again tomorrow?”

“…….”

“If you say no, I won’t do it.”

I didn’t say no.

Raising his favorability was crucial for me right now.

It was basically a daily quest at this point.

I’d only just cleared the first day—if I even cleared it at all.

Besides… the kiss… wasn’t exactly unpleasant.

“Just go.”

Turning my back on him, I spoke in a firm voice to hide my emotions.

I heard the faint sound of him bowing again before his footsteps gradually faded away.

I walked over to the window.

It hadn’t been long since he left my room, but I could already see Ateol at the entrance of the tower.

At some point, he had changed into a different outfit.

Without once looking back at the tower, he disappeared into the distance alongside his attendant knight.

Only after he was out of sight did I call for Cloden.

“You called for me.”

“I…”

Clang.

I was about to ask, ‘Aren’t you curious why I called Ateol to my room?’—but before I could finish, my gauge dropped.

And by quite a lot.

Unbelievable.

I only said one word—I—and it penalized me?

Suppressing my frustration, I glared at the system window before quickly changing the subject.

“…Never mind. Can I… just be alone for a while?”

“Master.”

I was about to say ‘I want to be alone,’ but I hesitated, afraid my gauge would drop again.

So I adjusted my words.

To my surprise, Cloden’s expression turned incredibly serious.

“What?”

“Have you… been troubled by something lately?”

“…Troubled?”

“Yes.”

Ah, here it comes.

In my past life, Cloden had asked the same question.

In a way, it was a relief.

Now I wouldn’t have to worry so much about my speech around him or the others.

“If something went wrong during your experiments…”

Cloden looked at me with genuine concern.

Now, what had I said back then?

I think it was something like…

“Y-yeah. An experiment. There was a problem. So… I’ve been feeling a bit timid. Yeah.”

“Timid…?”

“That’s right.”

He mulled over my words before nodding.

A side effect of magic that suddenly makes someone timid—it sounded ridiculous, but given how absurd the magic itself was, wasn’t it only natural for the side effects to be just as bizarre?

Thinking in such a modern way, I nodded along with him.

My speech pattern had changed, I hesitated before doing anything, I was constantly anxious and restless—I was practically the textbook definition of timid.

“I think I’m starting to feel better now.”

“That’s good to hear.”

As Cloden smiled, I saw my gauge recover slightly.

Yes!

Finally, I wouldn’t have to worry about losing points every time I spoke.

This was about when I had pulled myself together in my past life, too—realizing I needed to adjust so that the people in the tower wouldn’t find me strange.

Luckily, the way Yuriel spoke in the book was similar to my usual speech.

Not too arrogant, not overly formal—truly a stroke of luck.

“Shall I prepare a snack for you?”

“Yeah.”

When I said I wanted a snack, Cloden seemed oddly relieved.

He quickly responded that he would prepare it right away and left the room.

Looking out the window again, I saw that Ateol had long since disappeared.

I absentmindedly touched my lips—then suddenly realized.

‘My lips are swollen—he must’ve noticed?!’

* * *