I Don’t Remember the Number of Regressions of the Villainesses Who Have Returned.

After that truly indescribably noisy morning passed.

Moving between classrooms for lessons became an endless annoyance.

“Are you Aaron?”

“Hey, is he Aaron?”

“So you’re Aaron.”

Nobles came like waves in a defense game.

All of them have exactly the same purpose.

Though they approached me explaining grand purposes and reasons, it all boiled down to this:

‘You, join my faction.’

Some pleaded, and some threatened as they proposed I join them.

Adding sweet words about how they could restore not only my family but my honor as well.

Of course, my answer was:

“No thank you.”

Rejection.

‘No matter what you propose, I won’t side with any of you.’

The reason they’re acting like this must be because of what they saw this morning.

A fallen noble who occasionally walked with Aslan.

Though they thought I wasn’t a simple fallen noble since even Gwen had approached me, my value was still low.

A fallen noble is evaluated as equal to commoners. At best, a plaything for their amusement.

But what some students saw beyond those doors dramatically increased my “value.”

No less than a plaything of the Duke’s family, Elven royalty, and the Empress.

In an instant, I went from being a pretty bomb full of risk that might be discarded after a few days of play by a single noble, to a toy that high nobles seem to like to play with.

To them, I was a safety-tested lifeline.

That’s why they’re so desperate to catch me.

‘They’re all making useless efforts.’

They wouldn’t have made a good impression anyway if they approached them through me.

Besides, there was another major reason why they failed to persuade me.

‘Why would I want to restore my family? That would just be troublesome.’

If my title were restored, I’d have insane amounts of work to do, including managing territory.

Those parents who abandoned me might even come looking for me.

If my title had been something like Count, maybe. But why bother restoring a Viscount title that could be bought with just money like Arcana’s family?

I’ll just help Arcana’s group from behind the scenes, pick up a few artifacts to sell, and live freely as a wealthy commoner without responsibilities.

If that doesn’t work out, I can always attach myself to Sephir as a safety net and help with her dealings.

But first, I need to deal with this guy.

“You! Are you listening to my proposal!”

Even as I’m sorting through the situation, this Count won’t stop loudly pushing the slave contract that he calls a proposal.

With nobles swarming like insects every break time, even during classes, I finally mastered one definitive method to deal with them.

“Professor! I have a question about Arulo’s Magic Parallelization Theory…”

That method was drawing the professor’s attention.

“Excellent question! The parallelization of magic formulas…”

As the professor explained the theory I asked about, his gaze fixed on me.

“…Tch.”

No matter how far these nobles might try to go, that’s only when dealing with me, a fallen noble without anyone to rely on.

When the professor’s attention is fixed on me, even they have no choice but to back off.

The Count, whose name I didn’t know, expressed his anger with low mutters about status but soon quietly retreated.

‘Finally, some peace.’

Since this was today’s last class, just a little longer and I’d be in the dormitory where nobles wouldn’t come looking.

Thinking about my quiet space where no one would soon visit made me forget all the fatigue until now.

Maybe because I’d spent all day catching professors’ attention and bowing to nobles. With no students sitting on either side of me, I had a relatively spacious seat and could attend class comfortably.

—–

“What. Were you waiting?”

After the last class ended, as I stumbled out of the Academy with my creaking body, I saw Sephir leaning against a tree in the distance as if waiting for someone.

“Yeah.”

Perhaps still holding onto her dissatisfaction from when she left the classroom this morning, she turned her head away without meeting my eyes.

She walked forward silently.

And quite hastily at that, walking at a brisk pace.

‘…Does she really need to express it like that?’

Though I didn’t know why, I could tell she was pretending to be upset.

The reason was…

-Swish swish

Though her tail drooped as if in a bad mood, it was slowly swaying smoothly from side to side.

“Sephir.”

I called her name to check.

-Perk

Though she clearly stood still without flinching, pretending not to care, her ears responded to my voice by standing straight up and refusing to come down.

“Did something upset you?”

I approached behind her as she slowly came to a stop, lowering my head to ask.

“No.”

“Yes, something did.”

An unusually rushed answer.

“Sigh…”

Her response makes my chest feel tight.

“What bothered you so much?”

How should I put it…

Instinct?

Yes. It must have been instinct.

As I watched her seemingly sulking form from behind, somehow, I found my hand on her head at the same time as asking the reason.

-Flinch

‘Ah.’

Only after Sephir reacted did I realize my hand had landed on her head.

Just as I started worrying she might be angry about me touching her body without permission, her response came.

“You… what are you doing?”

Her response carried more surprise than irritation.

“Uh… should I remove it?”

“Just keep it there.”

Seems it wasn’t so bad after all.

“So, what did you dislike so much?”

Though she had been expressing irritation with her whole body until now, she seemed to decide to stop that act, as her drooping tail was now touching my waist.

A moment of silence fell between Sephir and me.

She carefully opened her mouth.

“That you… just called me a friend.”

Perhaps she felt a bit embarrassed saying it herself.

Her voice gave that impression as she spoke with pursed lips.

“Well, that can’t be helped.”

But that doesn’t change what I have to say.

“I don’t know you.”

I slowly moved my hand on Sephir’s head so as not to startle her.

“Even if you know me, I don’t know you.”

I gently stroked her head.

“I don’t know what expectations you have of me, and your goals might differ from mine.”

Slowly, so her irritation could fade.

“So, wait a little. At least until I know you, I can’t say we’re more than friends.”

Since I don’t know how to comfort women,

I’ll just act like how those I could call adults had comforted me.

I stroked her head.

Sephir, who had been standing still, began to move.

She stepped away from my hand and walked in front of me.

Without turning her head, looking forward and lifting her head slightly, she answered.

“Okay. I’ll wait.”

“Thank you.”

With those words, we headed to the dormitory in silence.

—–

Sephir’s POV

“Well then.”

After waving his hand slightly in farewell, Aaron went into his room.

“…Ha.”

A laugh escaped after holding it in for so long.

Sephir opened her room’s door while recalling Aaron’s retreating figure once more.

-Thud

Though it was simply the sound of closing her room’s door, it felt like her heart sank simultaneously.

“Something’s strange.”

No matter how she thought about it, something was off.

The eyes of the elf princess she saw this morning were clearly not just looks of simple interest.

In the brief conversation they shared, that woman’s emotions were clearly felt, with thoughts of possibly touching what was mine.

That’s why I hurriedly approached Aaron and grabbed his waist.

To show her.

As a result, I was able to draw out that woman’s reaction, but I also felt a sense of dissonance about Aaron.

‘Is he… dense?’

From that woman’s eyes to her reactions, her manner of speaking as if disregarding status, and her genuine smile.

I could tell for certain because they were the same expressions I had shown Aaron.

But despite that, Aaron didn’t notice.

‘Why?’

The stories I told him were relatively mild. He had seduced any woman necessary for his work.

In severe cases, though the country was declining, he even had a record of seducing a princess of a nation.

Of course, since he didn’t give those creatures any affection, I let him off with just a few stabs.

Anyway, he was teased by other executives as being a half-incubus for how he handled women.

‘Yet that same Aaron couldn’t notice the gazes that even I could vaguely feel standing beside him?’

I wondered if perhaps his awareness had greatly diminished in this life.

But…

“It felt good…”

Even though he could have simply comforted me with words, Aaron seriously consoled me while stroking my head, just like he used to.

To say he’s unaware doesn’t fit – he gave a different, more… considerate? feeling than the previous Aaron.

Moreover, I could feel it because he was the same person – his supposedly unaware hand felt just like his hand in my memories.

That stroking sensation somehow made me feel like the from my memories was standing behind me.

“Unaware.”

I, with a hardened expression, mulled over the words again.

“But he is aware.”

Though it was simply stating the opposite, an impossibility that couldn’t exist.

“There’s something I don’t know.”

From his past life, I knew he was hiding something.

But I thought there must have been a reason why he, who told everything without hiding anything, didn’t speak of it.

After all, I, too, had many things I didn’t tell him.

However, the situation is different now.

“This time, I absolutely must find out.”

—–

Beside Aaron, who had collapsed onto his bed, a black window appeared despite him not calling for it.

However, for some reason, the black window merely floated in front of Aaron without any content.

Little by little, very gradually.

Mysterious cracks began to form in the black window and started to spread.

-Crackle

[Trait: {????} is interfering with your thoughts.]

[Indeed, I cannot let them meet now.]

[Though Sephir was unexpected, the others at least must not meet-]

-Crackle

[Emergency: Error detected.]

[…Corrected.]

And so the penalty window disappeared from before the sleeping Aaron as if nothing had happened.