I Don’t Want To Be The Protagonist of a Romance Novel – Chapter 91

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“You’re a bit late.”

As soon as Rudrick opened the door and entered, he came face to face with Arwen.

She spoke with a somewhat flustered expression.

Normally, she would have greeted him in cat form, but now her appearance was that of an ordinary human.

No, it would be somewhat inaccurate to describe it as an ordinary human appearance.

The black bat wings that sprouted near her shoulder blades, and the red light that flickered between her amethyst eyes that always exuded a mysterious atmosphere, created an eerie ambiance.

This was her true form as a True Ancestor, revealing her genuine power before a fight.

Also known as an Elder Vampire, she was born with power comparable to dragons and was the monarch of all vampires who had lived since ancient times thousands of years ago.

As it had been almost a month now, her cat act had reached a level of near-perfect unity with a real cat, except for the occasional awkward performance.

Just as she wasn’t really a pet even when she lazily settled in and spent time idly like a real cat.

“…”

“…?”

As soon as she sensed signs of an anomaly, she had recalled the secret agreement made with Sylphia and had prepared herself to fight in her own way.

But making those preparations seem meaningless, it appeared everything had already ended, as Rudrick returned to the room and silently passed by her.

Arwen’s expression became confused.

Having lived for so long, she possessed magical knowledge far beyond that of an ordinary mage, and she knew.

The entities that had attacked from beyond the door Lorenzo opened were alien beings from another world that operated on entirely different principles from this world.

In other words, they were products created by the laws of another world, not creatures made by the hand of God.

But the fact that the situation had already ended, and the sight of Rudrick passing by silently without acknowledging her greeting, could only make her feel perplexed.

“Your expression looks dark. Did something happen?”

“…”

The room was darkened with all the lights off and curtains drawn when Rudrick was away, as Arwen, though not burning in sunlight like low-level vampires, still preferred to avoid it.

Whether it was due to the darkness or not, Arwen suddenly felt that Rudrick’s expression looked gloomy.

It wasn’t just that his face appeared dark due to the lack of light, but his tightly pressed lips and eyes seemed to have lost their luster.

Moreover, crucially, Rudrick didn’t reply to Arwen’s words this time either, and simply sat down on the bed.

Watching this, Arwen couldn’t help but think something must have happened.

Rudrick had surely been there until just now.

If he had returned, it meant the incident must have already been resolved.

As this thought occurred to her, Arwen carefully approached and examined Rudrick’s face.

She wondered if he might have been mentally shocked from witnessing Lorenzo’s death, or if he had been injured somewhere during the intense fight.

As she approached Rudrick with a worried face, wondering if he might have been injured somewhere, a low voice echoed in the dark room without any lighting.

“Don’t come any closer.”

“…Huh?”

As Arwen asked again with a puzzled face, wondering if she had heard correctly, Rudrick muttered quietly.

“I said don’t come any closer.”

“…What happened? Did something bad happen?”

As Arwen, who had hesitated for a moment at the completely different attitude from usual, opened her mouth, Rudrick let out a hollow laugh.

“Your cat act was occasionally awkward, but your acting is quite good in this area. Or have you improved a lot by doing it?”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

As Arwen tried to play dumb after being hit right on the mark, Rudrick, who had been muttering, added.

“I heard everything from Sylphia.”

“…”

“I heard you two plotted this situation together.”

His thoughts were still confused, but for Rudrick, he couldn’t just quietly watch Arwen’s behavior as she tried to deceive him as if she knew nothing.

Why on earth?

The question that he understood intellectually but still couldn’t comprehend emotionally.

Just as Sylphia had orchestrated this incident because she was a dragon who had fallen in love with a human, not a human herself.

She too had agreed to and participated in this incident because she was a True Ancestor, not a human.

In any case, they had made the judgment thinking that it would be beneficial, or at least not harmful, to Rudrick in the end.

Her focus was not on human morality or universal empathy.

Rather, such things were of little concern to her, belonging to the category of things she didn’t care about.

Just as Sylphia couldn’t be judged by human standards, the same applied to Arwen.

The reason Arwen had agreed to this plan was solely based on her judgment that this would ultimately bring the greatest benefit to Rudrick compared to other options.

Yes, that must have been it.

“…Why did you do it?”

“…”

Arwen couldn’t answer Rudrick’s question.

Just as it was between Rudrick and Sylphia, the relationship between Arwen and Rudrick was also parallel.

Even if they looked at the same thing, they were ultimately parallel lines that could never meet.

And seeing Arwen at a loss for words, unable to find an answer, Rudrick laughed softly as if he had expected it.

It wasn’t mockery, nor was it laughter containing passionate anger.

Rather, the meaning contained in that brief laugh was self-deprecation.

“I thought so.”

“…”

“You leave too, Arwen.”

“…Understood.”

As if those words were a death sentence, Arwen nodded with a soulless expression, and as he watched her retreating figure leaving the room, Rudrick muttered softly.

“Right now… I just can’t stand the sight of you.”

It wasn’t a curse or a rebuke, but simply an expression of Rudrick’s current state of mind.

Knowing that was the meaning, Arwen flinched as she left the room.

It felt like an arrow had been shot into her back.

After Arwen had left as well, Rudrick, left alone in the room, sat limply on the bed and quietly muttered.

“…Was I too naive?”

Honestly, he still didn’t know where this tangled mess had started.

He hadn’t heard anything like this when Elena told him about the past.

Looking at the circumstances, it seemed to have been treated as an unexpected accident that only Arwen and Sylphia knew the details of.

Therefore, he could make excuses that he didn’t know, but regardless of excuses, Lorenzo, who was already dead, would not return.

Just as words once spoken couldn’t be taken back, a person who had already died couldn’t come back to life.

At most, they had only been in a master-disciple relationship for a little over a month, and not all the time spent together was filled with good memories.

But there was nothing more meaningless than weighing the value of a person’s life.

This time, he was simply shocked by the fact that someone who he considered close had died in such a manner.

That was all, he kept telling himself inwardly, but his heart still couldn’t find its bearings and was swaying wildly like reeds by the river, blown about by the wind.

Suddenly, Sylphia’s words flashed through Rudrick’s mind.

‘…There are too many variables in changing a fixed future.’

The future.

He didn’t know in what form this incident would come back to him in the future.

Having paid a hefty price for the lesson, he probably wouldn’t experience it in the same way again, but the method might change.

Just as he thought.

‘I was naive.’

Rudrick quietly repeated to himself.

That he had been naive.

That he had been too lenient.

Yes, perhaps it had been a foreseen misfortune.

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“So it ended up like this again.”

Tsk.

Elena rubbed her throbbing forehead.

The report that had come up from the inspection agency was a type of report Elena had seen once before.

It was a report she had seen during the fierce civil war she had fought against her older sister, the Crown Princess of the Esgelant Empire, over the imperial throne that could only seat one person before the regression.

Of course, she couldn’t forget it.

To summarize the content of the report in one line, it could be condensed to “Court Mage Lorenzo Tonali died in an unexpected accident during an experiment.”

It couldn’t have been a worse setback.

Although Lorenzo could hardly be called mainstream in the magical world even as a figure of speech, he was considered a core figure even in the magical world that didn’t particularly care about seniority, with achievements rivaling the best on the continent.

In other words, he could be considered the leader of the pro-Elena faction in the magical world.

Lorenzo’s sudden death was an accident that brought joy to the Crown Princess and sorrow to Elena, but after experiencing regression once and the future changing, some corrective force seemed to have acted.

Lorenzo died in the same manner much earlier than expected.

In the midst of the intensifying civil war, there hadn’t been time to properly investigate the incident, so they didn’t know exactly what the situation had been, but this time the story would be a bit different.

“In this case… we’ll have to appoint a new Court Mage first.”

Elena muttered quietly.

The investigation of the incident could be left to the mages invited from the Magic Tower.

There was no reason for Elena to poke around and meddle, as she wouldn’t be better than the experts.

Therefore, Elena had no choice but to think from the perspective of a ruler.

She decided to entrust the investigation of related matters to the inspection agency and mages invited from the Magic Tower, and since the position of Court Mage couldn’t be left vacant, she needed to start the process of appointing a new Court Mage.

“…It seems Rudrick is the only option.”

“Wouldn’t it be the most appropriate picture for the disciple to succeed his master’s position… at least for now?”

“Well, your thoughts are the same as mine. I’m thinking the same thing.”

When Sherin hesitantly voiced her opinion, worried it might be presumptuous, Elena nodded in agreement.

It wasn’t uncommon in the magical world for a disciple to continue their master’s research after their master’s death.

Although the position of Court Mage wasn’t hereditary, there might be room for controversy if the position itself was inherited, but it could be resolved by proving one’s abilities.

The next great mage to succeed Lorenzo, who had been a great mage.

The evaluation of being the next Court Mage had been circulating among the nobles frequenting the palace, so it wouldn’t be an unusual appointment.

Of course, the final approval authority lay with the Crown Princess, not her, but it wouldn’t be impossible if Elena exerted a little influence.

“Then… Rudrick would be good for the next Court Mage.”

Without knowing any of the inside story about this matter, Elena made her decision.

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