I’m a Second Male Lead in a Romance Fantasy, but I Don’t Like the Female Lead

‘What I want is for you to at least pretend to be on my side in front of Wilhelm.’
I recalled what Seol-ah had told me last night. Pretend to be on her side. Obviously, she wasn’t asking me to kiss her, but to go along with what she said. Though her intentions might be suspicious, I thought it wouldn’t be particularly difficult.

At most, I’d have to return her greetings and listen to her a bit—that was my naive thinking. I deeply regretted not asking her for a more detailed plan. What on earth was she plotting?

“Mikhail? Why do you look so surprised? We agreed to be friends, didn’t we? Last night.”

Seol-ah, or should I say Lily at this point, approached me with a morning greeting and firmly grabbed my hand. Hestia, who was walking to school with me, was utterly shocked. Wilhelm’s gaze from his seat was fierce. Does he practice staring contests with mirrors? His gaze is even more intense than yesterday.

“W-what on earth?! Let go of that hand right now!”

She hurriedly ran over and pulled my hand away.

“Mikhail! Come with me for a moment.”

Hestia went out into the hallway. It seems she doesn’t want to argue in front of everyone. Her voice was ice-cold. I had woken up 30 minutes earlier than usual because I wanted to walk to school with the exemplary student Hestia, but it was backfiring.

I followed her with my hands neatly folded and my head bowed, like a child who had broken his mother’s precious dish.

“Can you explain? What happened yesterday, and why is she clinging to you like that now?”

She seems to have sensed some connection between my dazed appearance yesterday and what just happened.

“Well, um, that, uh.”

I desperately tried to think of an excuse. If I were to honestly tell her that Lily was actually from another world, knew everything that was going to happen, and was planning to use me to catch the Crown Prince, Hestia would faint.

“Mikhail, please. Don’t create any more secrets between us.”

Hestia pleaded. It hurt my heart. The triangle of conscience in my heart spun like a fidget spinner. Should I just tell her everything? Maybe I could gloss over it somehow, just hiding the Earth part…

Just as I was about to speak, overcome by Hestia’s desperate gaze…

“May I explain?”

Lily, who had followed us out without us noticing, interrupted.

“Lady Adamas. This is a very ‘personal’ matter between Mikhail and me. I’m sorry, but could you step away for a moment?”

Hestia’s voice was sharp. Emphasizing “personal” strongly, it was clearly a polite version of “This is none of your business, so get lost.”

“Please just listen to me for a moment.”

But Lily didn’t back down. The gazes of the two women collided fiercely in mid-air. After staring at each other for a while, Hestia eventually gave in again.

“Sigh… if it’s just talking.”

Hestia’s expression wasn’t good. She doesn’t seem accustomed to asserting her opinions too strongly. Sometimes it’s okay to be stubborn. Though I’m the main cause of her troubles and shouldn’t say this, but living like that, she might not live out her natural lifespan.

“First, I want to apologize. It can’t feel good to have another woman clinging to your fiancé.”

Lily bowed her head to her. Hestia froze, seemingly surprised. I froze too. Honestly, I was worried she’d say something outrageous and upset me and Hestia again, but this was a surprisingly sensible response.

“Please raise your head first.”

Though better than the classroom, this is still a corridor. If other students saw this scene, they wouldn’t have good things to say.

“Now, it’s time to hear why someone who knows this still acted that way.”

“You both know I’m close to Crown Prince Wilhelm.”

“And?”

Lily immediately mentioned her friendship with Wilhelm. Hestia’s expression was not at all pleased. I too became uneasy. Is this some kind of apology followed by a threat leveraging her connection to the Crown Prince? She didn’t seem like such an ill-mannered woman when we talked yesterday.

“Since I’m asking for help, I’ll be frank. I was born into a humble family, and there’s a very high chance I’ll be sold off to some older man with a protruding belly.”

Hestia was taken aback by her sudden self-deprecation.

“What do you mean…?”

“So I deliberately approached the Crown Prince. I was confident. It’s irreverent to say, but I wanted to change my future through His Highness.”

Hestia’s expression hardened further. For Hestia, a model student to the point of being fastidious, this would be difficult to understand. Moreover, it was essentially admitting that she was responsible for inducing her friend Cordelia’s broken engagement.

“I feel truly sorry toward Lady Deneb. But, please look at this.”

Seol-ah rolled up the sleeve of her school uniform.

“This…!”

Hestia was shocked. Her arm was covered in dark blue bruises. Not just bruises. Bite marks were also scattered on her shoulder.

“What happened to you?”

I asked, substituting for Hestia who seemed to have lost her words from shock. This must be included in what she meant by asking me to play along.

And honestly, I wasn’t that surprised. Because those wouldn’t be wounds inflicted by Wilhelm. If she had such injuries, she would have shown them to me yesterday. There wasn’t enough time for her to meet Wilhelm after leaving me and get injured. It’s almost impossible to leave the dormitory after curfew.

She probably created those injuries through self-harm overnight for her plan. I felt like applauding her. How could someone be so ruthless?

“Sob… His Highness’s obsession… hiccup! gets worse by the day…”

Lily started crying without delay. She was completely immersed in the role of a tragic heroine. Method acting that would impress even Robert De Niro. However, Hestia, who knew nothing, seemed to be completely deceived.

“Stop! It’s okay. You don’t need to say more. Let’s calm down and talk again during lunch.”

Hestia tried to comfort Lily first. Then, anticipating a longer conversation, she set up a new appointment. Quite a bit of time had passed.

As she entered the classroom, she looked very confused.

“How was it?”

“You’re really ruthless.”

As soon as Hestia turned her back, Seol-ah immediately stopped crying and whispered to me. She’s truly remarkable in many ways.

As we entered the classroom, Wilhelm glared at me again as if he wanted to kill me. Hestia must have felt his gaze too, as she looked at Wilhelm with disgust-filled eyes. I lightly ignored it and sat next to Hestia.

“What’s going on?”

Cordelia asked as soon as we sat down. From her perspective, it wasn’t a pleasant combination.

“Ah, Miss Cordelia…”

Hestia looked at Cordelia with the warmest eyes, then patted her shoulder.

“You’ve been through a lot, really.”

“Mikhail, what’s wrong with her?!”

I just smiled at Cordelia’s confused question without saying anything. How am I supposed to explain this?

“I’m coming too!”

When Hestia said she had something serious to discuss with Lily during lunch, Cordelia threw a tantrum. Hestia tried hard to persuade Cordelia to prevent the chaotic situation of having the victim whose man was stolen attend a meeting where the man-stealer would expose that man’s shame, but she was obstinate.

“I don’t want to lose my friend to that woman after already losing my fiancé!”

Even Hestia flinched at those words. However, she couldn’t bring someone new to the appointment with Lily without any prior consultation. In the end, we were able to get away from her only after promising to hang out together until curfew after school. She’s not a child, for goodness’ sake.

We waited for Lily at the fountain in the center of the school grounds.

“Have you been waiting long?”

“No, not too long. Let’s go quickly.”

Hestia was strangely hurrying. It seems she’s still bothered about leaving Cordelia alone.

Again, Lily was the one guiding us. Neither I nor Hestia knew anything about the shops near the Academy. I should send a letter home tomorrow asking for an explanation about the commercial area near the Academy.

The place Lily took us to was a restaurant with private rooms.

“I thought this would be more comfortable for our conversation.”

We were guided to the deepest room upon request to the waiter.

“Now, can I ask for an explanation?”

As soon as the waiter who took our order left, Hestia spoke up.

“I understand that His Highness the Crown Prince is… violent toward you. But what does that have to do with Mikhail?”

Lily began explaining calmly.

“Even though His Highness obsesses over me and hits me, I can’t escape from him. Everyone knows me as his person. Wherever I go, my every move is reported to him. Even this meeting is probably being reported.”

Lily trembled. It was the right acting at the right timing. A true great actor.

“No one wants to stand up to His Highness. Except for Mikhail here. When I saw him standing up for Lady Deneb, I thought, ‘It’s this person.'”

“Could it be that even at the eve party, provoking Lady Deneb was…”

“Yes. I feel truly sorry toward Lady Deneb. Not only did I steal her fiancé, but I also used her like this.”

Wow, she’s framing it this way. This doesn’t make her completely innocent, but it’s at least better than picking a fight just to bully her without reason. I was secretly impressed.

“So your constant flirting with Mikhail was all to escape from His Highness the Crown Prince?”

“Yes. I thought that if I publicly showed my friendship with Mikhail in front of everyone, His Highness wouldn’t treat me recklessly. He wouldn’t want to make an enemy of the Duke’s family over just one person.”

After Lily finished speaking, Hestia fell into quiet contemplation. She bit her delicate lips.

“I understand for now. I understand, but… ugh…”

“Hestia?”

“Why did you have to step in… but if it wasn’t for Mikhail, Miss Cordelia would have…”

“Hestia, are you okay?”

Hestia raised her head and looked at me. Her pupils were trembling. She sighed.

“I understand. I’ll lend you Mikhail. But I have conditions.”

The expression “lend” sounds a bit off. Of course, I didn’t make the mistake of saying that out loud. Even without my input, Hestia looked troubled enough.

“Absolutely no excessive skinship. For now, linking arms is the maximum allowed. And most importantly, you must act only in front of me. Meeting alone and doing such things is absolutely, absolutely, absolutely forbidden.”

“Are you really okay with this?”

“I don’t particularly like you.”

Hestia declared firmly.

“But I can’t ignore knowing that you’re exposed to violence and suffering. That’s all.”

After finishing her words, she slumped over the table and crumpled. Although she’s reluctantly cooperating with Lily, her true feelings must be against it. Considering that I’m also deceiving her, I couldn’t say anything.

Lily seemed a bit surprised too. Perhaps she was surprised by how readily Hestia gave permission.

Shortly after, the food arrived. Hestia didn’t say a word. Lily and I also kept quiet. The three of us finished our meal in silence.

After the meal, Hestia excused herself to go to the bathroom.

“Are you satisfied?”

“With what?”

“With deceiving her to proceed with your plan.”

I spoke in an aggressive tone without realizing it.

“You’re an accomplice too.”

I couldn’t say anything to her words.

“And it’s not all lies.”

She rolled up her sleeve again to show her arm.

“These are real injuries from being hit.”

“What?”

“That crazy bastard Wilhelm hits me. Then he cries saying he’s sorry.”

I couldn’t say anything. The world of romance fantasy is difficult.

“Why didn’t you say anything yesterday?”

“There’s a saying that to deceive your enemy, you must first deceive your allies. Well, you didn’t seem to believe it from the start anyway.”

“Then what about the bite marks?”

“That bastard really bites. Hard! When I read it in the book, I thought it was sexy, but when you actually get bitten, it hurts. Lily is a really tough character.”

“That’s supposed to be sexy?”

“Some people like it, you know?”

“Wow.”

I didn’t say anything more. The world of romance fantasy is truly difficult.