I’m Looking for the Male Lead for the Ending - Chapter 26

Chapter 14.1

As soon as I returned to my seat with Marie, the trumpet sounded to announce the start of the game. My father crumpled his face in disapproval as he looked at me slowly returning to my seat.

“If you don’t plan to embarrass your brother, shouldn’t you have taken your seat beforehand?”

“I’m sorry, Father.”

“How can you always…!”

“Your, Your Excellency the Marquis!”

As I lowered my gaze and listened to my father’s thunderous scolding descend like lightning, Darren hurriedly approached my father.

My father narrowed his eyes at the look of surprise on the butler’s face.

“Whether it’s her or you, why can’t nobody do anything right.”

“My, my apologies. The matter seems to be quite urgent…”

When Darren added cautiously as he glanced at my father’s eyes, my father gestured as if telling him to speak.

“I checked once again just before closing the participant registration, and there have been changes to the list.”

“Changes?”

“It, it is said that Grand Duke Estieren Kaisian will be participating in this tournament.”

“What?”

I involuntarily flinched at my father’s face, which had turned pale blue with surprise.

Estieren Kaisian.

With pitch-black hair and blue eyes that seemed to embrace the light of dawn, he was the leader of the Knights of Elle, the order of knights directly under the imperial family, and the sole grand duke of the Empire of Arbonis. While he was known as a war hero who defended against the battle and the invasions of outsiders, he was also considered a rival to Heron and a skilled sword master, though I had never thought about him before.

First of all, there was no connection between him and me, and most importantly, he wasn’t a target character in the game. In addition, even though this was already one of the dozens of competitions I’d experienced, I had never heard of him participating in any of them.

As I was taken aback by the unexpected change, the system window flashed before my eyes.

[ 〈SYSTEM〉 EVENT!

The competition has begun! Guess the winner who defeated the devil that almost devoured Arbonis and succeeded the spirit of the hero, Elle.

Answer: [ ]

(Reward – System update completed) ]

Wh, what is this?

The moment I checked the window that suddenly appeared, my mind went blank. Originally, the competition was nothing more than an episode to take a break before moving on to the next episode. This was because none of the target characters participated in the tournament, so I had never seen the system window here before.

But why now…

As I blankly stared at the system window, I could hear my father’s voice.

“Is it the Emperor’s command?”

As he asked, the sound of teeth grinding escaped from my father’s mouth, who had been predicting Heron’s victory. Darren, who seemed lost in thought for a moment in response to his question, quickly shook and responded.

“I’m not certain, but considering that His Majesty the Emperor has been encouraging the participation of His Highness the Grand Duke every year, it doesn’t seem to be due to a direct order.”

‘Yes, Darren is right.’

It was unclear why Estieren decided to change his mind and participate in the tournament now, but there were more pressing issues than that.

‘…The system window.’

As I carefully checked again, the text was different from usual. The choices that were always given as ‘YES’ and ‘NO’ were now presented as a blank space for the first time.

‘Is it asking me to fill in the winner?’

My heart, which had been pounding in confusion, finally found its own pace as I repeated those words in my head. I couldn’t understand why the system was presenting an event that had never occurred before at this moment, but fortunately, the problem didn’t seem too difficult.

At that moment, my father’s low voice reached my ears.

“I don’t know why he suddenly changed his mind, but it doesn’t matter.”

“….”

“No matter who participates, Heron will be the winner regardless.”

My father replied, keeping his gaze fixed on the stage. And as my father said, if the results were the same as in my previous life, the winner of the competition would be Heron.

Because it had always been like that all along.

However, contrary to my thoughts, it wasn’t easy to write Heron’s name in the blank space. The memory of the system appeared right after I heard the news of Grand Duke Kaisian participating in the competition that had been bothering me.

As if trying to tell me that the correct answer has changed.

I looked at the blinking system window as if it was urging me to make my choice, then clenched my dress. Perhaps I didn’t know whether I would regret giving this answer now.

‘Estieren Kaisian.’

His name was engraved on the window when I silently recalled his name. Then, I turned my gaze away from the system window and looked at the stage where Estieren Kaisian had appeared.

I fervently hoped that the impulsive answer I had written down wouldn’t be wrong.

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