I’m Looking for the Male Lead for the Ending - Chapter 74

Chapter 38.1

Marie, who had gotten into the carriage, spoke in a bubbly voice.

“Thanks to you today, Lady, I got to enjoy real desserts to my heart’s content! There’s no one happier than me in Arbonis right now!”

“Did you like them?”

“Absolutely! Honestly, even though this café is famous, I didn’t expect much. But now that I’ve tried it, I totally get why it’s so popular. There wasn’t a single item on the menu that wasn’t delicious!”

“Did you bring the leftovers?”

“Of course! When I get back to the marquis’s mansion, I’ll share some with Belle and Anne as well!”

She held out a box with the cafe’s name engraved on it, her face bright with excitement.

As I smiled and complimented her for doing well, Marie, who had been shyly smiling along with me, suddenly asked, concern crossing her face.

“Lady, I’m really grateful for everything you’ve done for me, but is it okay for me to eat this much?”

“Well, I don’t think it’s a problem. I’m sure he wouldn’t have given me a blank check without thinking it through.”

“I-Is that so?”

‘Of course, if Heron saw how much I spent at the café, he’d probably be surprised.’

I shrugged, thinking to myself, who said anything about giving me a blank check?

In fact, when I first thought about suggesting we go to the café, I never intended for it to go this far.

To be honest, when I first had the idea of visiting the café, I didn’t plan on going this far. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how unfair everything that had happened was. Once that thought crossed my mind, I pushed the dessert into Perideline’s hands, even though she was trying to refuse politely.

〈 I’ll really enjoy this, Fairy! 〉

[ 〈 SYSTEM 〉

Perideline Kaisian’s trust increases by 1%.

Perideline’s current trust: 69% → 70% ]

I wasn’t sure if it was because of the dessert, but thanks to that, Perideline’s trust went up to 70%.

‘Raising trust without spending my own money is the best!’

I forced myself to stop smiling and turned my gaze out the window, trying to suppress the grin that kept creeping up. Even though she was worried she might have overeaten, Marie, who had a satisfied look on her face as she rubbed her full stomach, suddenly seemed to remember something and spoke up.

“Come to think of it, you said you were meeting Lady Perideline today to catch up on the things you need to do. Did you get it all sorted?”

“…Ah, that. Hmm… I went to meet her to get things sorted, but it feels like I ended up with even more work instead.”

“Pardon?”

She asked, not understanding what I meant.

I shook my head as if it wasn’t a big deal, but I couldn’t help but think back to what had happened at the café earlier. More specifically, it was when I was trying to bring up something I’d encountered in Neitzia, and Perideline’s voice seemed to be muffled by some kind of static.

〈 But, back then, that must have been ??, right? I was curious about what it could be, so I searched through the Grand Duchy’s library, but I couldn’t find anything. 〉

I blinked for a moment at her words, which I couldn’t hear clearly.

〈 Fairy? 〉

Perideline must have noticed something was off with my reaction because she was looking at me with a worried expression.

I looked away briefly, then apologized with a slightly embarrassed smile.

〈 I’m sorry, Lady Perideline. I think I was just lost in thought for a second there. Could you repeat what you just said? 〉

〈 Pardon? What was I saying… Ah! Of course! What I meant was, that thing that appeared back then… it might have been ??, right? Honestly, that’s the only explanation that makes sense. 〉

To be honest, I didn’t think I’d be able to make sense of it even if I heard it again. I was just trying to read Perideline’s lip movements to infer the meaning. But, as if she knew what I was thinking, every time she opened her mouth, my vision flickered.

I smiled at Marie, who was watching me with curiosity, then quickly turned my gaze away again.

Up until now, there had never been a time when I couldn’t hear someone’s words. Sure, there were moments when the system window deliberately blocked certain information, like with Estieren’s favorability, but it had never affected my actual vision like this.

That could only mean the system didn’t want me to know this information.

‘But why isn’t Estieren’s favorability being displayed?’

I could understand Perideline’s words since they were related to the mission, but when it came to his favorability, I had no idea why it wasn’t showing. Since I needed to know his exact favorability to make it easier to approach him, I couldn’t help but feel a bit frustrated.

After thinking for a moment, I finally accepted that I probably wouldn’t be able to find out anything more about this right now.

I shifted my gaze and checked the mission I had put off for later once again.

[ 〈 SYSTEM 〉

Ongoing mission — Investigate Heron’s situation! ]

‘If it’s something I can’t resolve right now, I’ll have to start with what I can do first.’

At that moment, footprints began to appear on the path.