I’m Looking for the Male Lead for the Ending - Chapter 17

Chapter 9.2

Of course, the chances of finding a brooch that looked rather luxurious in the street shops were low. Nevertheless, I went to check just in case, though I ended up feeling bitter inside because my expectations were too high.

Seeing my expression, Marie carefully added her words.

“By, by the way, Young Lady! Does it have to be lapis lazuli? In fact, if it’s a gift for Young Master Heron, wouldn’t a silver-toned brooch be better than blue?”

“What?”

“Well, of course, gemstones that have a silver shine like diamonds are probably much more expensive…”

“N-no, that’s not what I meant. Why would I give a brooch to Brother Heron?”

She asked with a curious expression as if genuinely wondering about my question.

“W-weren’t the Young Lady trying to give the brooch as an apology? I thought you were looking for a men’s brooch because of that.”

Even though I wanted to respond to her words by saying I wouldn’t be giving anything to Heron and his stubbornness anymore, I swallowed my words. It was because if she asked who I would be giving it to, I wouldn’t know what to say. I awkwardly opened my mouth while looking at Marie, who was waiting for my response.

“I… I thought blue would be better for it as an accent.”

After muttering, “Ah,” as if she understood, her gaze eventually returned to the left board. I let out a shallow sigh and pursed my lips without her noticing.

‘I wonder if they have it in a boutique? Or maybe it will come out when the story progresses further?’

To be honest, I didn’t have the means to obtain anything from a boutique right now since the amount of gold I could possess depended on my father’s trust.

‘Even the gold I have is only seven gold… It’s out of the question.’

As I was about to walk away with a sense of regret in my heart, at that moment, I heard a sweet voice right next to me.

“Unless it’s a childish plaything, if you’re giving a brooch as a gift to an adult lover, wouldn’t you get it from a boutique rather than a street stall?”

Startled by the somewhat familiar voice, I raised my head in surprise.

[ 〈SYSTEM〉

Conditions met for unlocking the route of the Master of the Magic Tower, Diel Marsotis! You can now pursue the Master of the Magic Tower, Diel Marsotis.
Would you like to enter his route and experience an ending with him?

[ YES / NO ]

* Diel Marsotis’s route will be unlocked upon acceptance, while declining will decrease Diel Marsotis’s favorability. (A penalty will be incurred if affection reaches 0.) ]

Diel…?

Why was Diel here suddenly?

Of course, not all characters always appear from predetermined situations. But generally, there were similar events or foreshadowing leading to their appearance, like the arrival of grapes from the Duchy of Efren or accidentally stumbling upon him while strolling in the square, as in the case of Allen.

“Surely, he’s not so stupid as to not be able to distinguish fake gemstones like this.”

There had never been a character who emerged from such an utterly chaotic situation as Diel.

Diel, who smiled mischievously, held a worm-shaped piece of jewelry to my head.

I wondered where on earth he had found something like this… No, I doubted whether the owner had genuinely made it with the intention of selling it. When I sneakily glanced at the owner as I thought, he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

“A, ahem. W-well, you see, it’s said that earthworms are very helpful for soil improvement. There’s even a saying that all the world’s trees at the end of the continent of Liam were able to grow so large thanks to their work…”
[ T/N: ‘World trees’ here likely refer to large, ancient, and significant trees. ]

The owner hurriedly closed his mouth as he saw my increasingly crumpled expression. As I averted my gaze, Diel, leaning against the stall, turned to me and opened his mouth again.

“Perhaps something like this would be better. At least it has a good meaning.”

I sighed softly as I looked at Diel, who was handing me the worm-shaped hair accessory. Regardless of the fact that I had experienced situations similar to this before and I had already talked to Diel hundreds of times, I still couldn’t fathom what he was thinking.

Diel was different from other characters, since there was no clear answer to him.

So, to put it simply, in front of Vien, I had to keep him from realizing that I was Aidelis, and in front of Allen, I had to avoid touching upon his pride. However, despite the information based on my past life, Diel would give completely different results, leaving me in confusion. I even thought that half of the reason I hadn’t seen the ending of this game was because of him.

After experiencing several deaths like that, there were times when I thought that I might be able to see the ending with him through a series of coincidences… but in the final moments leading to the ending, I ended up being killed by his petrification magic.

〈 I’m documenting your most beautiful moments, Ardi. 〉

At first, my tongue stiffened, then my body, and finally, my heart hardened.

In the last moments of death, the touch of his cold hand on my cheek came to mind, sending shivers down my spine. And with that memory haunting me, I made up my mind.

Please consider sending some love either through the translator’s Ko-fi or by leaving a rating/review for this series on novel updates~!