I Don’t Want To Be the Main Character

11. Northern Grand Duke Special) Cool

1.

“……That, who are you?”

There is a world of difference between roughly guessing the other person’s identity and hearing a definite answer from one’s own mouth.

The woman who had been looking at me with a sad expression as if she had come to her senses made a short sound before she quietly opened her mouth.

“Excuse me. I’m late introducing myself. This is Eileen Nord.”

“……Ah.”

Eileen Nord.

I was aware of the atmosphere to some extent just by looking at the atmosphere from the outside. It’s like I had black hair in my previous life, but now I have brown hair. In this life, dark hair was largely reserved for northerners.

In addition to the dark hair unique to northerners, the proud and cold atmosphere is felt from the outside.

It was exactly the same as the typical atmosphere that anyone would think of a northern grand duke.

“……This isn’t the right place to have a conversation. If it’s okay, could we move around for a while?”

“Ah…Well, that’s right.”

Eh tsk. I thought I could get some rest now.

I didn’t expect to work so suddenly on the first meeting we just met, but I nodded my head. I don’t think there’s anything particularly good against the words of the Grand Duke of the North of the World.

The attendant who had been making a troubled expression next to me now gave me a pitying expression.

Well, thinking that the son of a country count is having a one-on-one interview with the grand duke alone is mind-boggling, but it’s true.

There is a saying that even if you are bitten by a tiger, you can survive as long as you stay alert. I hope there is something special

There are so many things I want to say, but it’s been a long time since I followed Archduke Eileen with a patient look on her face. When I found a suitable drawing room and entered, Archduke Eileen waited for me to enter and then closed the door.

“First of all, I’m sorry for calling you out so suddenly.”

“Oh, that’s fine.”

Actually, it wasn’t okay. But if it’s black, what should I do?

Still, I thought something was going to happen, but Archduke Eileen just stared at me. I wasn’t just looking at it, I was staring at it. Rather, to the point where I felt burdened when I faced that gaze.

“Do you have any problems…?”

“……Ah.”

As if coming to his senses at my words, Archduchess Eileen scanned my body here and there. As if looking for something. Then he asked in a quiet voice.

“This time, I heard that Elena recognized her magic talent from you who were in the estate and recommended her to the court mage.”

“That’s right. It was at a dinner party, and Master said that it was true that he had magical talents. I heard from my older sister…”

“……I know this is an rude question, but maybe.”

“……?”

Duke Eileen, who was staring at me, hesitated for a moment, then finally opened her mouth.

“Did anything unusual happen during that process? If it was Elena, that would be more…”

“Anything else?”

“Yes, nothing special. I wonder if I harmed you.”

“No, that never happened?”

“……I see.”

Archduke Eileen let out a sigh of relief.

Once I came this far, I was able to notice how things were going. Archduchess Eileen and Princess Elena are relatives before they are rivals. In terms of degree of kinship, they are close relatives, like cousins. This is a fact that I found out while reading the newspaper.

And the reputation of Princess Elena in the newspaper wasn’t all that good.

In the pre-modern caste society, newspapers were, to put it bluntly, mere buglers, and considering the fact that the royal family could not be openly criticized, he had a rough idea of how the world looked at Princess Elena.

Perhaps he was worried that Princess Elena might have done something strange in that sense.

Archduchess Eileen, realizing that her worries were unfounded, nodded her head.

“……Then it’s fortunate. If you’ve heard the rumors, you know that too, but I can’t say that Elena’s reputation is good with empty words.”

“…….”

I just kept my mouth shut.

The Grand Duke of the North said that his cousin, Her Highness the Princess, was gossip, and he agreed that I had nothing to do with it. Rather, it would be fortunate if it went into the ears of others and was not caught as blasphemy.

This is Archduke Eileen. He’s the Grand Duke of Nord, so it won’t matter if you get caught talking behind his cousin. He is, at best, still a member of the royal family? I don’t know if I’ll get attention or not.

But what about me?

If a pseudo-nobility or the son of an aristocratic Hosoin family is caught cursing the imperial family, that day they will be sentenced to death on the guillotine.

No, even if it’s a bad man, it could be poisonous.

“I was just checking to see if Elena had started some other nonsense now.”

Hmmm.

There were tiny cracks in Archduke Eileen’s expressionless expression as she cleared her throat. Even if I just heard it, I called it out once and saw it, but I know it was like an excuse, and I belatedly realized that fact, so I wonder if I felt ashamed.

If it were me, I would have been embarrassed and couldn’t speak properly.

I didn’t want to be the Grand Duke of the North for nothing.

“Ah… It’s okay. It could be. It’s possible to misunderstand something as you live, and that’s it. Did you call to confirm that?”

“……That’s right. Thank you for understanding.”

Of course, just because you noticed that, huh? Are you confused, Grand Duke? Couldn’t say Unless I’m crazy.

Yes, the difference in social status is still clear…….

Anyway, my efforts to do everything in my power to calm Archduke Eileen so she wouldn’t be embarrassing have yielded some results.

Eileen’s expressionless poker face was typical of Archduchess Eileen, but upon closer inspection, her expression was much more relaxed than before. Then, he took out a thin card from the inside pocket of his uniform and held it out.

“……What is this?”

“It’s an artifact of some sort. If you’re a wizard, you’ll recognize it.”

First of all, I checked the card I gave out with a shy face. Luxurious gold leaf border on a small piece of paper the size of a business card. At first glance, it was just a business card with nothing written on it.

“Oh?”

First, I grabbed it and poured a little magic into it, and a small magic circle was clearly engraved on it.

I checked and found that the engraved magic is communication magic.

“An artifact that allows you to communicate directly with me at any time. Just like this.”

– It is an artifact that allows you to communicate directly with me at any time. Just like this.

I heard Archduchess Eileen speak over and over again. The voice speaking in front of my eyes and the sound flowing from the magic circle were the same.

If you can use magic, you can communicate one-on-one at any time, like a cell phone that can only make calls.

“……Wow, there was something like this.”

And I burst into exclamations with sincerity.

This is magic and an advanced civilization…… ?

Then what the heck did I learn in Yeongji until now…… ?

“You can always contact me if anything happens, especially if Elena does something strange.”

“Then, if I just put magic into this, will the Archduke be contacted right away?”

Prince Eileen nodded instead of answering.

Certainly, it was a suspiciously excessive favor to give to a first-time acquaintance, but why are you giving it here? It’s ignorant to ask.

I looked at the artifact resembling a business card with a bewildered face and Archduke Eileen, and Archduke Eileen coolly turned and left as if her business was over.

…… So, are you really here for this?

I was left with no choice but to shake my head right away, saying that good is good.

2.

That’s good.

After handing over the artifact, Eileen walked around the corner of the hallway with brisk steps as if she had finished her work after closing the parlor door without any regrets. She and she leaned against the wall and breathed heavily, she thought to herself.

The worst thing she imagined did not happen.

Of course, even though I had lived a life like a wooden stone, not interested in Elena, her, or her opposite s*x until I met Rudrick.

If so, isn’t there something called IF?

Her damn cousin hadn’t flirted or done anything weird, so she’d said it was safe, and Eileen herself didn’t think Elena had done anything weird already.

Anyway, the confirmation process was absolutely necessary.

Apart from that, suddenly meeting Rudrick again before he even mentally prepared was a burden even for the best swordsman in the north, who had six chains of magic attached to his heart.

“……It’s still the same. Just as I remember.”

A corridor in the Imperial Palace where no one passes by.

Standing against the wall, Eileen muttered in a low voice. She didn’t realize it, but a faint blush bloomed on her cheeks, as her always icy poker face was cracked.

Her heart, which had been stopped for a long time, was pounding for no reason, and the expressionless mask that had always been unbreakable simply by looking at her face cracked.

Happiness, joy, memories, recollections, nostalgia, sadness.

All kinds of emotions were mixed and swirled. Eileen herself couldn’t define what she was feeling.

“Yes, it was the same.”

Eileen gently closed her eyes, fanning her face with a feeling of heat.

Still, Rudrick was a boy who didn’t know much about the world. It was stronger than the negative feeling of being an ignorant, stupid aristocratic boy, but a pure feeling that the world hadn’t burned yet.

The reaction of most of the aristocrats in the capital when they saw themselves was usually similar.

The figure of sensitively calculating the profit and loss as there is no way to get into a relationship with the Grand Duke of Norse in a political way, or the figure of fearing or shunning oneself following the image known to the public.

Neither way, it wasn’t a very pleasant reaction. The former was more distasteful if I had to divide it.

But Rudrick was different.

No matter if the opponent is the princess or the grand duke, he’s a confident young boy who always stays the same and boldly says what he has to say. His first impression was like that, and wasn’t that the reason he was attracted to him?

Eileen smiled lightly as she recalled what had just happened.

The vassals must have been in a frenzy as they suddenly vacated their seats and headed to the capital. I’m sorry to them, but I meant to leave the place often and head to the capital.

Instead of meeting Rudric again, seeing his face, and having a conversation, it was a business that would make sense if you think that he would soothe the vassals below him from making a sound of pain or listen to nagging under the guise of remonstrance.

And.

“……There are three people who haven’t revealed themselves yet.”

Eileen, who had returned to her usual cold and expressionless Grand Duke of Norse, with the gentle face of the moment gone again, calmly sighed.

If the damn cousin also returned, it’s a reasonable inference to assume that the other three also returned.

I had no intention of taking away this opportunity that God had given me again.

Besides, I had to be busy trying to find a way to solve the curse on Rudrick.

Another one.

Eileen leisurely left the palace with light steps. Apart from the fact that her castle bloomed with ice flowers at every step she passed.