I Don’t Want To Be The Protagonist of a Romance Novel – Chapter 53

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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All five of them, including the four women and Rudrick froze in their spots as if they had turned to ice.

Rudrick had stopped moving out of surprise at the four women who had suddenly barged in without warning, while the other four had stopped like statues and then hurriedly turned their gazes away.

But that sight had already been imprinted in everyone’s minds long ago.

Especially for Arwen.

‘What an unsightly…’

First of all, the fact that they were “living together” in the same room was important.

Of course, it was a basic courtesy to considerately leave the room so that Rudrick could change clothes before going to bed.

The sound of fabric rustling as he changed was already a daily hardship just from the auditory stimulation, but this time, she had actually witnessed the scene she had only imagined.

And for her, who had had absolutely no contact with the opposite sex for hundreds of years, it was a stimulus she couldn’t handle.

Even Eileen, who had built walls with the opposite sex for less than thirty years, was now bleeding from her nose, unable to control her body, making her title as the Empire’s Black Lion meaningless.

“…Ugh, ugh…”

Arwen, who had been repeating the same sound like a broken wind-up toy, soon closed her eyes tightly with a face that had turned bright red.

Just recalling the skin-colored silhouette visible through the thin sleepwear made her so embarrassed that she didn’t know what to do.

And this reaction wasn’t just limited to Arwen.

“I-I didn’t see anything…!”

Eileen hurriedly took out a handkerchief to wipe the blood and turned her head away.

“……”

And Sylphia, who had unconsciously activated a complete memory magic to store the momentary scene she had witnessed, belatedly held her forehead as a sense of self-loathing welled up.

“A-Ahahaha. S-So, Rudrick, I didn’t see anything, okay? Really? I was about to see something, but I closed my eyes right away and didn’t see it, you know?”

Even Lassiel, who had lost her usual brazen attitude and closed her eyes, was earnestly denying something while waving her hand, as if she had agreed upon it.

Rudrick, who had been watching the farce created by the four of them, closed his mouth.

“……”

In fact, it was indeed embarrassing.

However, that feeling of embarrassment didn’t stem from the fact that they had seen him changing clothes, but from the fact that the four of them had suddenly barged into his room late at night and swung the door open.

Rudrick, who had been standing in an awkward posture, having been interrupted while changing his upper garment, finished changing his clothes and asked with a displeased expression.

“…What are the four of you doing together?”

“T-T-That’s…!”

“Did the four of you gather again and conspire something, barging into my room in the middle of the night without even knocking?”

It wasn’t a question filled with annoyance but a question asked out of genuine curiosity about the reason.

However, Lassiel, who had interpreted it differently, was the quickest to kneel down.

Thud.

“I’m sorry! I had no intention of peeking! No, we just had something to say and gathered together in a hurry, but in my haste, I opened the door without knocking and ended up seeing that scene! I can really swear on my life that this is the truth! I’m sorry! I committed a sin worthy of death!”

And her words poured out like a machine gun.

In fact, it was indeed Lassiel who had grabbed the doorknob without knocking, driven by her impatience, and opened it.

However, due to the urgency of the matter, the others had also acted in agreement without thinking, so to speak, it was the difference between an accomplice who simply cooperated in a crime and a principal offender who led and committed the crime.

Even Lassiel, who was speaking, was just blurting out whatever came to mind, not realizing what she was saying, but at least she knew she had to apologize.

Whether they had intended to peek or not, they had intruded while Rudrick was changing clothes and ended up seeing something they shouldn’t have.

It was an act that bordered on a crime.

If it were a real crime, it wouldn’t be too difficult to cover it up with power, but at least all four of them were aware that their recent actions were wrong, even if unintentional.

“…What did you say?”

But Rudrick’s reaction was indifferent.

Rather than indifferent, he tilted his head, unable to fully understand Lassiel’s pouring words.

From Rudrick’s perspective, it was an absurd story like a bolt from the blue in the middle of the night.

If they had seen him completely naked, it would have been a bit, no, not a bit, but very embarrassing.

Anyway, it was a situation where they had barged in and seen him while he was simply changing his upper garment.

It was only natural that he couldn’t understand the reason for Lassiel’s sudden apology and the others’ reactions, as he himself wasn’t even aware that this fact was embarrassing.

Just like the four of them earlier, it was a case of them having the same dream but different intentions.

Their focus was completely misaligned, so it was impossible to have proper communication.

This time too, the expressions of the four women, who had interpreted Rudrick’s reaction differently, noticeably darkened, and Eileen, who had gracefully wiped away the nosebleed, placed her hand on her chest and spoke.

“Rudrick, I’m sorry. What happened just now was truly unintentional. We didn’t gather to peek at you changing clothes, but we had something to say and ended up in this tangled situation.”

“…Oh, so that’s what it was.”

Now the misaligned focus had finally been corrected.

Rudrick, who had been feeling frustrated, unable to understand why these four had suddenly barged in and were reacting like this, showed an expression as if the indigestion he had been suffering from had subsided.

“Then you should have knocked before entering. What if I had just taken a shower and was only wearing a gown?”

“Shower… Gown…”

As soon as Rudrick finished speaking, Sylphia muttered with a blank face.

Her face, which seemed like it couldn’t get any redder, had now completely turned as red as a ripe persimmon.

“Get a grip…”

“…Huh!”

Arwen, who had a contemptuous expression, clicked her tongue softly, and Sylphia, who had belatedly come to her senses, lifted her head abruptly.

Momentarily overlapping with the image she had just seen, Sylphia, who had imagined something she shouldn’t have, belatedly held her face in her hands with a sense of self-loathing.

“…Ah, I imagined it.”

“Now that you’ve seen this side of Rudrick today, you’ll probably lock yourself in the bathroom for a few days. Don’t overdo it. Nothing good comes from overdoing anything.”

“That won’t happen! Don’t arbitrarily project your own experiences onto others!”

“…Do you think I’m like you? How vulgar.”

“This person is really hopeless! No, not a person, but a vampire!”

Although the flow of the conversation was briefly interrupted by Sylphia and Arwen’s bickering…

Lassiel and Eileen, who were watching them, almost simultaneously shook their heads.

It was a rare sight for the two of them to agree.

Soon, Lassiel spoke up again.

“Ahem, anyway… We came to see you because we have something to say.”

“…Something to say?”

Rudrick, who had been blankly watching the farce unfolding in front of him, unable to keep up, finally came to his senses and asked back.

“Yeah, something to say. I’ve already heard the whole story. I heard the princess made a fuss and left.”

“…?”

“The ball… You don’t want to go, right?”

Rudrick’s eyes widened.

Now the hidden last piece of the puzzle had fallen into place, and the whole picture was revealed at a glance.

It was just a short while ago that Elena had visited Rudrick and “informed” him that he had become her partner for the ball before disappearing.

But if these four had gathered together and acted so quickly, there could only be one reason.

The regressors were not just one, but five.

And these five were bound by the name of the main heroines, the leading regulars.

But anyone other than a fool or a dense male protagonist from a harem light novel could immediately figure out why these four had come to ask if he didn’t want to go to the ball.

‘…They’ve come to raise hell!’

Rudrick thought, clapping his hands.

It wasn’t difficult.

No, in fact, it was a conclusion he had reached immediately.

Based on the reasoning that if they couldn’t be his partner together, it would be more rational for none of them to become his partner, the four in front of him had reached that conclusion.

The so-called “if I can’t have it, no one can” tactic.

The tactic derived from that greedy mindset appealed to Rudrick.

He refused to be dragged to a bothersome occasion like a ball, and he especially refused to become Princess Elena’s partner and be the center of attention.

And even if it was a matter directly decided by the mighty Princess Elena, if the four in front of him joined forces, it would be more than enough to ruin the plan.

Rudrick’s eyes sparkled as he reached this conclusion, and he spoke.

“Of course. I have no desire to become a spectacle for people to gawk at.”

“Well, it seems our opinions are in agreement.”

As if she had been waiting for those words, Eileen’s expressionless face only had her eyes shining.

The Grand Duchess of the Nord Duchy, Eileen Nord.

Also known as the Northern Grand Duchess.

She was the strongest swordswoman in the North who had made a name for herself with the sword, and the Black Lion of the Esgelant Empire.

There was a strange perception among the public that she might be weak in matters that required using her head, although she might be good at directly smashing or crushing things with her body.

But at least right now, her brain was spinning so fast that it was buzzing.

Numerous ways to give her damn cousin a taste of her own medicine and shatter the already arranged plan were coming to her mind.

“…Huhu.”

Rudrick, who was equally delighted by the proposal, also grinned.

It was a night when a conspiracy unknown to Elena was blossoming.

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