I Don’t Remember the Number of Regressions of the Villainesses Who Have Returned.

The sunlight was hot.

It’s definitely a cool dawn right now, but for some reason, the sunlight that wakes me up feels as hot as the midsummer sun.

“Ugh!”

I got up from my bed and stretched my body while bending my back.

“Phew…”

I cracked my joints with a popping sound and stuck my head out the window to take a deep breath.

“It’s refreshing.”

More precisely, it’s invigorating.

It was a feeling that the heaviness that had been pressing down on my shoulders, making my body feel crushed by the accumulated fatigue, had disappeared.

Perhaps it was thanks to vomiting a lot of blood last night.

“It feels good to have a refreshing start today.”

—–

Since I woke up earlier than usual, I arrived at the academy a little faster.

I walked down the quiet corridor, with only my footsteps echoing.

‘I guess there aren’t any students who come this early.’

It was a morning close to dawn when the sun hadn’t yet completely crossed the horizon.

There’s nothing to do by coming to the academy early except for meaningless power struggles and flattery among the nobles, so it’s strange for someone to go to a place like this early.

-Creak

I opened the classroom door while humming, imagining the game of who arrived first among the guys.

“I’m first…”

“Then, when that guy meets me again, his behavior…”

The eyes I met the moment I opened the classroom door.

“”……””

The voices heard the moment the door opened stopped all at once.

At the same time, the other elves around the man who made eye contact with me also started looking at me.

With eyes that seemed to ask, “Who is this crazy bastard?”

‘Hmm.’

Anyway, it seems I’ve found one strange guy… no, guys.

—–

“Hello. I’m Aaron Dight.”

I introduced myself first.

I also bowed my head with it.

“We’ve met before, but I couldn’t reveal my name then because I was a bit confused.”

The last time we met and saw each other’s faces was when I was stopping Lioness.

Indeed, I was so tired that I couldn’t even exchange names because I ran away to the dormitory.

“Mordred Grinner.”

‘His introduction is quite blunt.’

Well, there’s probably no particular reason to say more.

The prince of the Elven Kingdom, Alfheim.

Mordred, standing in front of me right now, is one of the continent’s future leaders. He is in a different position from the nobles who serve the king.

It would be strange if the nobles at the academy didn’t know Mordred.

“”……””

An awkward silence followed.

We greeted each other since we met, but there was nothing to say.

Even if we try to converse, humans don’t have a good reputation among elves, so we can’t speak carelessly.

Moreover…

‘Could you guys say something?’

It would be fine if it were just the two of us in the classroom, but Mordred’s subordinates were standing still and staring at me without a word.

They were even glaring at me with eyes that could be described as burning.

With the continuing silence and their flinching movements whenever I tried to move, I finally opened my mouth first.

“…Shall we sit down and talk for now?”

I bent my waist a little, as if to pull out a chair, and pretended to lean on it with one hand.

“”……””

Did I just make them more wary?

The pupils of the elves only got smaller.

‘Please say something.’

Because I’m going crazy from embarrassment and awkwardness even though I spoke.

I remained in this ambiguous posture, and the silence continued a bit longer.

“Cough… Kuku kukuk!”

As if he really couldn’t stand it anymore, Mordred covered his mouth with one hand.

However, the laughter he had been holding in by keeping his mouth shut flowed through his nose.

“Puhahaha!”

It finally burst out.

“Ku… kuk!”

Starting with Mordred, even the elves around him covered their mouths with their hands and trembled.

“Hahaha!”

Mordred was just laughing heartily.

“…?”

Looking at Mordred like that, I could only tilt my head in a puzzled posture.

—–

“Ha… ha… It’s been a while since I laughed like this. Thanks, Aaron.”

He must have really laughed his heart out as he held his stomach with his hand as if it hurt and expressed his gratitude to me.

“You’re… welcome?”

But am I the one who should be thanking him?

Come to think of it, I just received thanks from the Elven royal family, so I guess it’s something to be grateful for.

“I’m sorry for laughing like this in front of you. But I hope you believe that you didn’t take it as mockery.”

Mordred seemed to have laughed so hard that his stomach hurt, but he finally regained his senses, reached out his hand, and apologized.

“No, it’s fine as long as you laughed to your heart’s content.”

I also reached out to shake Mordred’s hand and accepted his apology.

“You have a hearty personality, don’t you?”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“Then, as you said, let’s sit down and continue.”

“Yes.”

—–

“Uh… First of all, there’s something I want to ask.”

“Ask anything. I can’t shamelessly shut my mouth after laughing like that in front of you.”

Sitting face to face with each other, I asked Mordred directly without beating around the bush.

“What made you laugh like that?”

I was a bit upset.

Mordred rubbed his chin briefly, then answered with a big smile.

“Simply put, you were too different from our expectations.”

“In what way?”

“Everything?”

“?”

What the hell are you talking about?

How did you expect me to react like that?

I looked at him with eyes asking for further explanation.

Very intently.

He sighed as if he had lost to my persistent gaze and gave an explanation.

“Well, we had assumed you were a high-ranking noble of the Empire hiding your identity.”

“Me?”

What kind of expectation is that again?

What did I do to cause such a misunderstanding?

Reading my dumbfounded expression, he hurriedly continued as if making an excuse.

“No, my sister would be famous on the human side in many ways, so do you think I’d believe that someone crazy enough to stop her would be a ruined noble?”

His reaction also seemed a bit unfair.

“Indeed.”

But I understand.

It was indeed a crazy thing for me, who is no different from a commoner, to approach Lioness, who was trying to shoot and kill the annoying human like killing a buzzing mosquito on a midsummer night.

The elves behind him also slowly nodded as if agreeing with Mordred’s words.

“Moreover, for some reason, you’re seen together with Aslan Reinhardt from the beginning of the semester, but a duke and a ruined noble can’t stick together among humans, right?”

“…That’s right.”

Hearing that, I had no choice but to nod my head.

I don’t even know why I ended up hanging out with Aslan, a duke.

‘It just happened that way.’

That’s the only way I can explain it.

“As a result, your existence is an anomaly to us.”

“Well, that aside, why did you laugh?”

I think you’ve been missing the point for a while now, but I asked you why you laughed so hard that it went on for minutes.

“Haha. I’ll say it again, it’s because you were too different from our expectations.”

“…You laugh like that for that reason?”

“To be more precise, we had assumed you were some kind of pre-arranged identity planted by the duke, and we had discussed how you would approach us.”

“Ah.”

“But the person who entered the classroom, greeted me with a dumbfounded face, and when the atmosphere got weird, told me to sit down… How could I not laugh?”

“Uh…”

“By the way, until you came in, our prediction of your behavior was that you would try to establish a relationship somehow when we met and flatter us in every way possible.”

That seems roughly correct.

Considering that I’m sitting in front of Mordred like this and listening to this kind of story.

“Your worries were in vain.”

“I didn’t expect a human to be this different.”

Mordred looked at the ceiling as if it was futile.

Indeed, if a ruined noble who is not much different from a commoner suddenly stops Lioness as if he has a death wish and hangs out with a duke, you would definitely expect that there must be something going on.

And the revealed answer is… I’m embarrassed to say it myself, but I’m the opposite of what they expected.

Mordred, who thought of me as an unknown variable and was nervous, must feel quite futile.

“As soon as we met, instead of flattering like other nobles or stiffening up without a word, you ponder and then tell me to sit…”

“It hurts your legs if you keep standing, right?”

Hearing my words, Mordred made an even more dumbfounded expression.

“…Do you not know who I am?”

“I do. You’re the prince of Alfheim, right?”

“Didn’t you just order the prince of Alfheim to sit down?”

Uh…

“Is… that how it turned out?”

“Well, wouldn’t you normally wait for someone higher than you to move before you move?”

Hearing Mordred’s words, I fully understood.

‘You were tense and planned for two days with the mindset of finding a hidden boss, but the guy who appeared in front of you was just a lacking fellow.’

And quite incapable at that.

Even I think it’s funny enough to burst out laughing.

“To think my sister was halted with guts and no plan…”

You looked at me with a smile.

“Do you perhaps take your life lightly?”

“No. I want to live a long life.”

If you ask me if I take my life lightly, that’s not it.

In the first place, I’m doing this because I want to live long.

“And yet you approach my sister, who was holding a bow?”

Mordred’s voice held pure curiosity.

This is the first time I’ve seen someone ask it like this.

“I also wanted to ask something about Lady Lioness-”

At that moment

Someone grabbed my shoulder.

When I came to my senses, there was also a hand on Mordred’s shoulder in front of me.

“What about me?”

‘Ah.’

The thing on my shoulder was also a hand.

And that hand was connected to an arm, leading to a woman standing between me and Mordred.

“Keep talking.”

With very scary eyes.

“Don’t mind me.”