I’m Looking for the Male Lead for the Ending - Chapter 15

Chapter 8.2

He was a man of entitlement and paranoia, driven by the fact that he stuttered. Of course, up until now, Allen had made various efforts in his own way to overcome this sense of entitlement. Accumulating wealth by building the merchant community to prevent others from ignoring him or hiring strong knights to create the Bonn Bairmun Knights, the knight order of the Duchy of Basilic, were examples of his efforts in this regard.

Still, even if he did all that, it seemed impossible to erase the dismal goal engraved deep in his heart.

“Ca, calm down first, Lord. If, if I have offended you, I apologize.”

“You should apologize to my sister, not me.”

Allen’s face flushed at Heron’s warning-laden words. Perhaps, as a man, he couldn’t bear the fact that he had to apologize to me.

‘Honestly, while it wouldn’t hurt to just keep my mouth shut and finally get an apology from him here…’

Feeling the atmosphere akin to walking on thin ice, I subtly grabbed Heron’s clothing. His forehead wrinkled as if he found the gesture that seemed to stop him.

“Brother, it seems there may have been a misunderstanding between His Highness and me.”

“Ardi Aidelis.”

I turned my head towards Allen, pretending not to hear Heron’s voice calling me in a much lower tone. His emerald eyes sparkled as if he had found a savior who would help him out of this awkward situation.

“My brother was just saying this out of concern for me, so I hope Your Highness won’t take this matter to heart too much.”

[ 〈SYSTEM〉

Allen Basilic’s favorability increases by 1%.

Allen Basilic’s current favorability: 1% -〉 2% ]

…What?

Was it possible for the favorability to increase even though I haven’t opened the route?

While I was feeling defeated by the meaningless fairness, Allen’s face improved noticeably. He seemed satisfied, thinking that I had taken his side, and he smiled as he agreed with me.

“Th, thank you for clarifying that it’s a mis, misunderstanding, Young Lady Aidelis.”

“….”

“If, if you ever need my help in the future, don’t hesitate to come to me.”

After exchanging brief greetings, he hastily left as if running away.

Even though I wasn’t happy about the situation, I was relieved that it had ended without any major issues. As I let out a sigh of relief, Marie, who had been discreetly keeping an eye on the situation, cautiously offered a box containing a blueberry tart and whispered.

“Young Lady, here! I brought it from the cafe just in case!”

When I accepted the box containing the tart, guided by Marie’s gesture to change the sunken atmosphere, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was the right time to do this now.

I hesitated, unable to meet his gaze, and in that moment, the system window appeared before me once again.

[ 〈SYSTEM〉

Penalty due to decrease in favorability!
Heron Aidelis’s favorability decreases by 2%.

Heron Aidelis’s current favorability: 27% -〉 25% ]

What?

I stared blankly at the window that had appeared before me, at a loss for words as his favorability rating dropped without me having done anything yet.

Heron’s sharp voice reached my ears as he looked at me, dumbfounded.

“If you were Aidelis, you should have accepted the apology at all costs in the situation earlier.”

“….”

“And why did you stop me then because you were afraid of that b*stard?”

I gaped at the sight of him growling, baring his teeth and spitting out anger.

Of course, my behavior could have been misunderstood by Heron, who saw me in trouble and intervened. It could be seen as if his favor had been refused.

‘It’s not like that. I had no choice if I wanted to survive!’

Though I couldn’t explain my situation in detail, I felt a pang of sadness. Still, I tried to clear up any misunderstandings, remembering the relatively good relationship we had recently.

At least, until Heron saw the tart box in my hand and twisted his mouth.

“It seems you have no pride of being an Aidelis.”

“….”

“That’s why you’re carrying a tart made from the grapes he supplied.”

Did he know about the grapes imported from Efren?

‘No, more importantly, what is he doing now…!’

Before I could even attempt to stop his anger, the box containing the grape tart was ruthlessly dropped to the ground from my hand. I looked at the crumpled tart on the floor and thought to myself.

…If I had to express my favorability towards Heron Aidelis right now in numerical terms, it would probably be at around -100%.

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