It Seems Like I Fell into a Reverse Harem Game V2 C10.7

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Volume 2 Chapter 10.7

“I do not think this is the way.”

“Well, that way seems even more wrong. I’m telling you, I live here.”

“It seems to me that people who live here don’t necessarily know how to find their way around.”

“That’s because the streets have changed since there’s a festival. I know where I’m going now.”

“But haven’t we been going uphill since a while ago?”

“That’s because you kept insisting that we go left…”

I grumbled, furrowing my brows. Suddenly, I realized that he was beaming at me.

I was about to get annoyed by his expression because it seemed to say that getting lost wasn’t that big of a deal. I had come with a companion, and I felt miserable that he was probably angrily searching for me. 

But I hoped that he wasn’t taking things too seriously, that he was doing some sightseeing and taking breaks too. 

“Do you suppose all of the people here lack a sense of direction?”

He asked with a curious expression. He was asking because we had already asked for directions five times, and been pointed in a different direction each time. Thinking back, two of the people might have been foreigners.

“I apologize for making you go through all this trouble. I should have escorted you better…”

“Just be honest. It’s my fault.”

“No! That is not true. Please do not concern yourself over it.”

He denied it, even waving his hands. 

The way things were, I felt bad about asking him for compensation. And I was beginning to regret letting myself be blinded by money into helping him. If he’d asked someone else for help, he would have easily found his way to the square. 

Anyway, if we went higher up, we would be able to see our surroundings at a glance. Then I could quickly get him off my back, and go find Sieger.

At that moment, the man picked a weed and held it out to me. It was a yellow flower.

“It’s pretty like you, isn’t it?”

“But you just killed it.”

He set the weed back down without another word, even though that wouldn’t make the stalk reattach.

Suddenly, I noticed that there were fewer buildings and the trees were getting denser. I considered whether to trudge on or to head back down. 

Whether he read my hesitation or because of another reason, the man grabbed my hand. 

“I see the end over there! It’s downhill after that!”

I had no choice but to run after him as though it were the last stretch in a race. 

Soon, the wide open sky and the festival with its embroidery of colorful lights came into view. I saw the palace that I both loved and hated, and the wall around the capital which snaked along the base of the mountains. 

Beyond the wall lay the rugged mountains and a calm, black lake. In a word, it was magnificent. Very much so.

“Ah, it’s so beautiful.”

It seemed as though he was captivated by the view as well.

I finished appreciating the sight before the nameless man. My sweat cooled and a shiver ran along my spine from the cold wind.

When I examined what lay below us, I saw where people were concentrated in the middle of the festival. The pointed tower-like building nearby was the place where I had been swept away by the crowd.

I had found the way. I pulled my hand out of the man’s and grabbed his wrist. He looked at me with wide eyes. 

“Hurry up. I’ll finally take responsibility and bring you to your destination.”

“Ah… Thank you.”

He smiled without deception. For the first time since we’d met, I found myself liking his smile.

The square with the fountain appeared after we turned the corner from the tower-like building. It was a hollow feeling of success. Obviously, we wouldn’t have reached the square because we’d gone in the completely opposite direction from the get-go. All those people must’ve lost their sense of direction because of the festival, because the directions they gave us were incoherent.

“For your compensation–”

“Ah, it’s fine.”

“Pardon? But…”

“I’m sorry for putting you through all of that. Goodbye then.”

“Ah, wait!”

I was about to dash off but I stopped in my tracks one last time.

“What?”

“May I know your name?”

“We’re not going to see each other again, so what’s the point in knowing my name?”

I waved my arm in a wide arc. 

“Have fun!”

Then I bolted toward the place where I’d gotten lost.

I had to find Sieger. It had to have been two hours since we’d lost each other, and I frantically thought of ways to make him less mad.

Ding!

At that moment, the system window that Yuriel must also be seeing appeared. First, with the bug, and then, properly.

[The Defiant Commoner Knight – 1]

Sieger distrusts the empire. He detests the imperial family. However, if he is able to protect the things he holds dear, he doesn’t really care what happens. Because of that, he used to hope to climb his way up but for some reason, he doesn’t seem very motivated now. Become the person who is dearest to him. If you do, it will be harder for you to die than to live. First, give him new motivation to move up in the ranks. Give him courage and help him realize he’s wrong about his prejudices.

[Current Progress]

Loss of prejudice 0/1

Motivation to climb the ranks: 8%

Sieger had met Yuriel?

I stopped thinking. I ran to find him.

***

“Your Highness. You will grow fatigued. Please, let us return.”

The bodyguard in disguise approached the crown prince who now stood alone. The crown prince had a faraway look on his face for a moment, as if he could still see the woman who had disappeared into the crowd. But he soon let out a hollow laugh and turned around.

“We should, once I’ve had a bit more fun.”

“But you still have not recovered from the fatigue of your long travels, so overexerting yourself is…”

“It’s fine. I got some exercise and it was nice.”

“…Would you like me to follow her?”

The prince seemed to waver for a moment, then finally shook his head. Suddenly, he burst into laughter and patted the knight’s shoulder.

“That was some quality acting. When we asked you for directions, you pointed in the opposite direction so innocently…”

“Y-You flatter me.”

“Your companion, however, let his expression slip a little. Tell him to practice more.”

With a lingering smile, the crown prince glanced in the direction the woman had gone one final time, before walking away.

***

I saw Sieger from the back. Worried that I would lose him in the crowd again, I called his name loudly.

“Sieger!”

The people passing by glanced back at me.

“Sieger!”

Finally, he halted. And he turned around.

I slowed down a moment too late, so I ended up running into his chest. He wobbled and staggered back one step but received me unflinchingly.

“Where did you…?”

I abruptly grabbed Sieger by the collar. 

“Are you okay?!”

“Wh-What do you mean, am I okay?”

I gasped for breath and spoke hurriedly,

“Are you okay?!”

“…Me?”

I scanned him from head to toe, too frazzled to wait for his reply. For a person who had met Yuriel and awoken as a capture target, he was too… He was just a sweaty mess.

“Am I okay?”

As he asked the question again, his voice which came from above my head was terrifying.

“Um… I’m sorry!”

He let out a long sigh and pulled me back into his embrace. I rested my chin on his shoulder and allowed him to hug me. It didn’t seem like he was going to get angry. 

He buried his face into my neck and let out another sigh. It tickled, and I laughed soundlessly, but my trembling shoulders gave me away. 

“You’re laughing?”

“Ah, no… It was just ticklish.”

“Where exactly were you?”

“I got lost, while I was trying to help someone who was lost.”

“What?”

He looked at me with an expression that said he was tired of hearing me say absurd things all the time. There was nothing I could say, even if I had another mouth. 

“Do you know how dangerous these busy, nighttime festival streets are? A minute ago, I even saw…”

He suddenly looked daggers at me as if he’d realized something.

“What did you do with your mask?”

“Ah, right, the mask.”

“And what’s that one you’re wearing?”

“Someone… bought it for me.”

“Someone.”

“The person… who was lost?”

“A man?”

“….Um, yeah, a man.”

He narrowed his eyes to slits. I quickly made my move. I took my mask off and put it in his arms. 

“You can wear it.”

“I don’t need it.”

“F-Fine then. I’ll give it to Sia.”

“Why would you give it to Sia? Why would you give her something that’s used?”

It was funny how he wasn’t even trying to hide his jealousy. But my laughter died down. 

I couldn’t help but feel relieved. 

Couldn’t help but think to myself how glad I was that he was still the same Sieger I knew even after his encounter with Yuriel. 

But I was also scared to think about whether it was okay for me to be doing this. 

The bug was even happening in the system window now. I could guess that it was because Sieger had changed a lot from how he was supposed to be.

“You… like me, don’t you?”

“…”

Sieger stared at me silently. The night was still noisy as it raced toward dawn, but also oddly quiet. And there we stood in one corner of the festival, facing each other with dazed looks. 

“How much do you like me?”

“I hate you,”

He said.

“I hate you. I really hate you.”

“…”

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, I can never predict what you’re going to do, and you never tell me anything. You always do what you want! All you do is toy with people, so I have no clue why I’ve been running around in the middle of the night looking for you. You make me so angry that I can’t even sleep at night.”

I listened to him speak in silence. 

“I hate you so much, I get so angry when I see your face.”

“…”

“But I get more annoyed when I don’t see you. I get more angry when I can’t see you, when you’re not hanging around me.”

“…”

I didn’t know if he was trying to confess, or if he was mad. 

Sieger puffed out a breath. And he gripped both of my shoulders.

“Yeah, damn it. I guess I like you.”

He repeated,

“I like you.”

“Sieger, I…”

“And I don’t give a crap what you feel.”

“I-.”

“Don’t say it. I’m begging you.”

He bowed his head with his hands still on my shoulders. I felt conflicted as I looked down at his curly black hair. 

I didn’t dislike him. Actually, I liked him, more or less. 

But… That’s what made it harder. Because of our different situations and statuses, and the other problems that came from it. 

“I hate it when you’re with other people. Whether you’re talking to them, or smiling at them… I hate it all. I hate everything you do with anyone other than me.”

“I understand. I get what you’re trying to say.”

He lifted his head. I stretched the end of my sleeve and wiped the sweat on his brow. While I did that, he watched me intently. 

When I finally lowered my arm, he asked me this. 

“Can I kiss you?”

I deliberated for a moment before responding,

“Yeah.”

Right away, we slipped into a nearby alleyway. He caressed my earlobe with his thumb and placed his hands on my cheeks. He dipped his head until our foreheads were almost touching, then tilted his head and kissed my upper lip. I put my arms around him. He slid his hands to my waist and pulled me close. 

I was on my tiptoes until he lowered his head more to let my heels touch the ground. We kissed each other frantically, and our parted lips pressed together. Our tongues brushed up against each other.

We pulled back for a moment before Sieger tilted his head further and pressed back into me, deeper this time. I felt a suction on my tongue. When I lifted my head and broke the kiss, he impatiently made chase and found my lips. 

I laughed quietly. His mouth curved up in a smile only after he had swallowed the sound of my laughter. 

Nose to nose, we laughed together. Then we parted our lips again. I slipped my hand down and caressed his back and shoulders before slinging my arms around his neck again. 

I tugged on his hair, and he hoisted me up with his arms around my waist. He put an arm under my bottom to hold me up before staring up at me. I grinned, ran my fingers through his hair, and grabbed his face with both hands. I dipped my head down and pressed my lips to his. 

As I wrapped my legs around his waist, he released the arm he had been using to support my weight. He put his now free arm around my waist and drew my body close. We spun around as we kissed until my back hit a wall. It made me laugh, and I accidentally bit his tongue a little. 

Seeing his brow furrow, I gently caressed his tongue with mine. He kissed me hard again. Our teeth bumped into each other now and then. Whenever my hand went to his back, his Adam’s apple bobbed. I couldn’t stop rubbing the bulging muscles of his back over his clothes. 

He gave me a peck on my lips, then another and another. And he asked,

“Can I bite your lip?”

I nodded my head, and he gave my bottom lip a teasing bite. Even as he was doing it, he kept checking to see that he wasn’t hurting me. When I laughed, he licked my lip and asked again,

“Can I lick your ear?”

“Are you going to keep asking before you do anything?”

“If I don’t, I won’t know what you like and don’t like.”

“Fair point.”

“So, about your ear?”

I laughed and lowered my head to bite his ear. His brows twitched like it hurt. I slowly licked up and breathed into his ear,

“Seems as though you like it.”

He gripped me tightly. I hugged him too and pressed my cheek to his. 

We embraced like two people who knew they would never again experience a moment like this. Everything about him was hot and kind. I liked it all.

***

Eclot was receiving a report. His two subordinates who were giving it didn’t seem displeased even though they were working during the festival. 

“Are you telling me that Aiden Fran is not their base?”

“Yes. It appears that they are only using it for an unspecified term as the site of a secret rendezvous. While we were staking out Aiden Fran, they did not come out, not after they went in.”

“It was one woman and two men. To be careful, we did not follow them, but it looked from afar as though one of the men was giving a report.”

“A report?”

“I can’t be sure, but if it was not a report… I assume he was being threatened by the other two or receiving orders.”

“What makes you think that?”

“He was subjected to violent acts. And he did not resist.”

“We were able to get the man’s personal information from a nearby patrol squad.”

“I assume you made sure the patrol would keep quiet?”

“Yes. I sent one of my soldiers one week ahead of time, under the guise of being transferred. They said no one knows anything about who sent my man.”

“Who did they say he was?”

“Among thugs, he goes by the name of ‘Hillakin’. He is a loan shark in the underdeveloped district. The organization has a head, but Hillakin is the one who does most of the work. Should I plant someone in the patrol squad over there too?”

“No need. Continue staking the place out, and interview the residents. You must investigate all outsiders who recently appeared, as well as anyone who appears to be ‘Hillakin’s’ ally.”

“Yes.”

“And most importantly, we must secure evidence. Prioritize finding the base where they keep the drugs.”

“Ah, one of my soldiers let slip something strange.”

“Speak.”

“They said that Hillakin sold a handful of jewels. They were all valuable, and some were the kind for sewing onto clothes. There were too many to believe he had stolen them.”

“…Look into it more.”

“Understood.”

Eclot sank into thought. If his sponsor had switched, that would explain his recent change in behavior. This sponsor probably lacked a secure title and immediate funds, but owned many valuables. 

He wondered who it was.

He became deeply troubled.

***

“Your Majesty. You don’t seem well lately. Is something the matter?”

“Is that so? Hm… I suppose I have not been able to sleep since yesterday. How did you know?”

“I owe you a great debt, Your Majesty. That also means you are my savior. It is only natural that I would take an interest.”

Yuriel laughed sweetly and turned her head like she was embarrassed. The emperor watched her, then took a sip of tea.

Two more capture targets had appeared, but Yuriel was putting most of her time and energy into the emperor.

If she could only get into his good graces, she could have anything she wanted.

But she was taking her time to get close to him. It had already been over two weeks since she’d told him that she was having a hard time adjusting to the vast and lonely palace. Every day since then, they’d had teatime together. 

Yuriel guessed that the emperor felt awkward about a woman he found attractive becoming his sister because he gave off the strong impression that he was deliberately avoiding her. 

To be more precise, he didn’t hate Yuriel. He was just trying to be cautious so nothing would happen. In other words, he still saw Yuriel as a woman. 

As long as that was certain, there was no rush. She would slowly overcome his repulsion, and things would fall into place quickly after that.

“Your Majesty. I apologize for continuing to make requests of you, but…”

“Don’t worry. Speak. It is fine.”

“To tell the truth, I snuck out of the palace to go to the festival without telling you.”

“Did you now?”

He was pretending like he didn’t know, but his expression said otherwise.

She’d expected as much. There was no way he didn’t have someone watching her. But the important part was whether they had followed her to the festival…

“To be honest… you introduced me to the crown prince of Rothschild, but the delegation keeps denying me an audience with him. I was afraid that it was because there’s something wrong with me.”

The emperor seemed a little surprised.

“What are you talking about?”

“I felt like I had caused you trouble, so I’ve been trying to start a friendly relationship with the crown prince these past few days. But nothing has gone according to plan…”

Yuriel teared up a little. 

“I ran into some ruffians and almost had something terrible happen to me.”

“What?!”

“But it turns out that the person who saved me is a knight of the imperial family. I told my maid to ask around because I wanted to thank him… But to my surprise, I discovered that he was selected to be a princess’s bodyguard. What a coincidence!”

“…”

For a moment, the emperor was lost for words.

Eclot had appointed the bodyguard for Princess Yeldria. It had nothing to do with Yuriel. 

But what did that matter? Yuriel was a princess too.

“I’ve been waiting but he hasn’t come to greet me yet… Could you send him to me any sooner? To be honest, I haven’t been able to sleep since that night because of my racing heart…”

“We can’t have that. I will instruct the physician to prescribe you some medicine for sleep.”

“Then…”

“As for that knight…”

The emperor paused, then continued without hesitation. 

“I will tell them to send him to you as soon as possible. Do not worry yourself over that incident with the ruffians. I will have a word with the head of public safety.”

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Translator’s note: Woo that’s the end of chapter 10!

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