“Th-That’s….”
Just as Hilde was about to come up with an excuse, Friede plopped down on the empty space of the sofa – right by Hilde’s legs – cutting her off.
And then she asked again.
“Is that all?”
In a distance so close they could smell each other’s breath, yet another pointed question was thrust at her.
“I’m a little different.”
No, it wasn’t a question. Instead of asking about Hilde’s feelings, Friede slyly mentioned her own… but much more directly than before.
‘What’s, what’s different…?’
Hilde barely managed to swallow her response. Whatever the answer, she couldn’t handle it.
“Party member, ally, friend… Yes, being friends is nice, but… I want to go beyond that.”
Of course, even if she swallowed her words, it wouldn’t stop Friede’s mouth from running.
“…Are you not interested, Hilde? You don’t like it…?”
So shamelessly upfront.
That she still thought she hadn’t confessed her love at all just proved how intoxicated Friede was.
Whether it was booze or the heat of her heart, no one could tell.
“Um, uh, Friede. So, I….”
Hilde stammered, looking for an excuse, because this was a state of emergency.
One wrong word and the party could explode, or on the flip side, she’d have to accept Friede’s feelings.
Either scenario was an unwelcome outcome for Hilde.
Losing a comrade of comparable strength, who she completely trusted and found easy to talk to… no, someone she’d come to treasure like this over such a matter.
Even if she was twenty, she looked like she was around sixteen, making the thought of becoming a partner in ‘that way’ something she’d never considered.
Especially the latter was something her conscience wouldn’t allow.
A man disguised as a woman manipulating the heart of someone who looked like a minor to become a partner?
By the ethics of her original world, wouldn’t she be supposed to be shackled with handcuffs at the wrist and ankle cuffs at the feet?
Though, having killed over two hundred people, she felt she’d strayed too far to follow those ethical standards now…
‘That thing and this thing… they’re different…!’
At least, for Hilde, it was a matter of a different caliber. Responding to Friede’s feelings.
So.
“Um, so… Friede, I appreciate your feelings, but I can’t return them.”
Hilde rejected Friede’s practically confessional statement and decided to string along an excuse that could make her back off willingly.
It was a so-called “I’m grateful for your feelings, but let’s stay friends” tactic.
If she rejected too bluntly, Friede might get heartbroken and leave the party, so she’d try to persuade her to stay as friends, just as they were.
“…Why?”
Friede replied, her face darkening slightly, inching her head closer to Hilde.
As the tension escalated, Hilde’s mind spun at an unprecedented speed, flipping through old memories to come up with an excuse.
In the media she had consumed, the lines people used to softly reject in such situations.
“Well, um, I’m sorry. I didn’t mention it, but… actually, I have someone I like.”
Hilde squeezed her eyes shut, blocking out the rising tension and a twinge of conscience, forcing out what she considered her best line.
She couldn’t accept a confession because she already had someone in mind, so let’s be friends instead.
It was the most typical yet effective rejection line she’d read in stories and comics. Hence Hilde thought this was her best excuse.
…Objectively speaking, it could be considered the worst line possible.
But it was a human response learned through reading romance.
◆◆
“……What?”
Friede’s pupils shrank as if they were points.
Hilde had her eyes tightly shut, so she didn’t even realize the smile had vanished from Friede’s face.
Should she call it fortunate?
Or unfortunate?
Had she met that look, she would have realized she stepped on a massive landmine, but since she didn’t, she continued speaking.
“…Is that about Amy? It can’t be Kikel, right?”
“No, it’s not Amy… it’s an old story. Actually, I’m from another country. It happened back then….”
From another country. Long ago.
Hilde’s statement about having someone she loved shocked Friede to her core, but then the clarity struck her like lightning.
If it was about her hometown, it could only refer to the time of the hero’s party.
‘Who is it?’
Then who could that person be?
The priestess from the party, Imelia?
The fairy archer, Irina?
‘It can’t be Gunther, right? Yeah, no way. I mean, she said she dislikes guys.’
Imelia or Irina, which one could it be? Definitely not Gunther, Friede gulped anxiously, her fingers shaking.
“Were they… a guy?”
“…It was a guy. I prefer girls, but… if you truly like someone, it doesn’t matter.”
‘A guy…?!’
Hilde sweated nervously while Friede mulled over who could be the one. Before Friede could speak, Hilde answered first.
“Uh, it was a comrade from another party. Not just any comrade… how should I put it? A pupil? It was a bit like that. They fought dangerously without knowing the basics of swordsmanship, so I helped them with the foundations.”
“……Huh?”
Friede gaped with a blank expression and let out a dazed sound.
A comrade from the same party and a master-pupil relationship.
A swordsman who learned the basics from her.
How could she not realize who that was?
‘…me?’
Exactly.
The one Hilde just revealed as someone she liked was none other than Friede herself from the hero’s party.
At that time, she had the body of a man, and to match, she used the name Friet instead of Siegfriede or Friede.
‘No, uh, wait, me? Me? You like me? Really…? No, she never showed any signs of that… right?’
It was a perplexing, no, shocking statement. The thought of this being unprofessional love didn’t even cross her mind.
Of course, Hilde, who had no clue about Friede’s identity, continued her excuse without realizing how it might sound to her.
“I thought if we kept getting along, maybe someday we could connect. But that didn’t happen. Too many real-life issues got in the way. Many people were obstructive. So… in the end, we had to part ways.”
Hilde dramatically pretended to confess a heart-wrenching story, continuing with her vivid lie filled with sorrow.
‘Ah, a sad thought, a sad thought…’
She scrambled to conjure sad thoughts to get her emotions under control, slightly distorting Brunhilde’s setting from fiction into a tragic love story.
“…You said you broke up. Isn’t that enough?”
Friede asked quietly. It was a question driven by an urge to know Hilde’s inner thoughts.
“Well, it wasn’t a good breakup. After I left, I was worried about what would happen next, so I kept saying harsh things to make myself feel detached… It just ended up being sad. Everything was just… sad.”
For Friede, that was a perfect ten out of ten response.
“So… I’m sorry. Right now, I can’t allow anyone else in my heart. It was really tough back then…”
…Hilde needed to pull out a solid answer to get out of this situation, but instead…
“Ah….”
Friede seemed so touched by those words that her face turned bright red as she let out a soft sound.
Hilde, lost in her performance, didn’t even notice.
“So, um, let’s just forget today. Let’s remain comrades, just like before.”
“…Please.”
So, Hilde, still with her eyes closed and a pitiful expression, communicated with Friede that it was impossible to accept her confession for those reasons.
‘…Okay, this should convince Friede, right? Even I think that was a perfect answer.’
She felt a sense of satisfaction inside.
…In fact, it shouldn’t have been a reason to feel happy.
She had inadvertently admitted to liking Friet to refuse Friede’s confession. Considering this irony, it was a bitter twist of fate.
Yet, Hilde remained completely oblivious to it all.
What she had just said.
What that would mean to the girl in front of her.
Well, if she had any inkling of that, she wouldn’t have found herself in this situation at all.
“…Yes. Then I have no choice.”
Hence, Hilde let out a quiet sigh of relief as she saw Friede turn her head slightly, giving a nod of understanding.
She felt thankful that her hastily crafted excuse had worked.
“Really sorry, Friede.”
“…It’s okay.”
Hilde remained unaware of the tremendous joy that filled Friede’s turned-away face.
