Evading the Hero’s Party with Full Effort

Chapter 148

Ch.148 Oh my! That’s so touching!  

Mia brought the tea leaves.  

“Didn’t you see Cecilia? She went looking for you.”  

She shrugged.  

“She was talking with Giovanni.”  

“What?”  

Memories of Cecilia’s words to Giovanni moments ago flashed in my mind.  

‘Oh crap! This is bad!’

I bolted from my seat.  

Giovanni’s life was in danger.  

In the game, Cecilia was gentle and docile.  

But if a man showed interest in someone else?  

She’d ruthlessly eliminate any woman who approached him.  

Of course, Giovanni was male—so he might not be ‘eliminated’ the usual way…  

But her cruelty knew no bounds. Who knew where that violence might strike next?  

And more importantly—this wasn’t the game.  

This was ‘reality’, where unknown variables existed:  

Selena. Regression. Things I couldn’t predict.  

Not knowing how those variables might interact, I panicked—  

Was Giovanni’s head still intact?  

—Thud-thud-thud!

I sprinted to his office, shouting,  

“Giovanni! Giovanni, where are you?!”  

My desperate cry echoed with no reply.  

No time to waste.  

I channeled ‘Divine Magic’ to strengthen my body and dashed through the mansion.  

In seconds, I reached Giovanni’s office—  

and saw the door completely smashed in.  

I rushed inside.  

Cecilia and Giovanni sat calmly on the sofa, facing each other.  

“Oh? Father Hans? What brings you here?”  

“Huh…? Baron? W-what are you doing here?”  

Seeing Cecilia relaxed and Giovanni flustered, I panted heavily.  

“Hah… hah… Cecilia… you didn’t do anything to Giovanni, right?”  

“Oh my? What would I ever do to Sir Giovanni? Oh… is this about that little joke earlier?”  

She gave me a sly smile.  

“Would I ever harm the younger brother you care about so much? Right… ‘young master’?”  

Giovanni forced a laugh.  

“Haha… The Saint was just asking how you’ve been, Baron, and I was answering.”  

But if nothing happened… why was the door shattered?  

The wreckage was utterly devastating.  

“Oh! About that—I’m sorry. I was trying to surprise Sir Giovanni and accidentally broke it.”  

Cecilia stuck out her tongue cutely.  

‘So… it wasn’t what I feared?’

I’d worried she’d smashed his skull in with a mace—  

thank goodness that hadn’t happened.  

Relief washed over me: the worst had been avoided.  

But… breaking a door to ‘surprise’ someone?  

Given her usual flower-garden mind, it actually made sense.  

“Well then—Mia’s back, so come along.”  

At my words, Cecilia rose from the sofa.  

“Yes! Sir Giovanni, I’ll take my leave now.”  

Giovanni bowed awkwardly.  

“Safe travels.”  

“See you next time!”  

With that, she followed me to the parlor.  

***  

Giovanni wiped cold sweat from his brow.  

‘Brother… you are so ‘fucked’!’  

He’d assumed that after Hans slept with four women, his relationship with the Hero Party would either collapse or at least become strained.  

He’d expected Hans and Mia to end up together—after all, they were clearly close.  

‘But the Hero hasn’t given up either…’  

Last time in the Imperial Capital, Scarlet had interrogated Giovanni fiercely—  

proof she still harbored feelings for Hans or hadn’t accepted his rejection.  

‘And now… even the Saint?’  

Should he feel relieved Leah wasn’t here? Or mourn this entire situation?  

If he were just a random bystander, he’d think: ‘One man’s life is ruined.’

But he wasn’t. He was Hans’s trusted retainer, steward of the Pisa estate.  

If Hans died childless, the estate’s future would descend into chaos.  

‘Ugh… what do we do now?’  

By noble law, estates passed to direct heirs.  

But Hans had no family, no offspring—his domain’s fate was uncertain.  

‘Is this really the reward for saving the world?’  

Giovanni had glimpsed Cecilia’s madness firsthand.  

Her request was simple:  

‘If any woman approaches Hans, secretly inform me.’

Given the murderous aura she radiated, Giovanni knew that woman would suffer horribly.  

Terrified, he’d nodded—and confessed that aside from Mia, no one else approached Hans.  

‘Since the Hero already knows… it should be fine to tell her, right?’  

Nervously chewing his nails, Giovanni spiraled into dread.  

‘What if Brother actually dies?’  

His imagination ran wild:  

After defeating the King of the Dead, Hans is torn apart by the four Heroines.  

With no lord, neighboring nobles would swarm the Pisa estate like vultures.  

After all, Pisa wasn’t just a barony—it was a thriving hub of commerce, industry, and agriculture.  

Its tax revenue rivaled that of a duchy.  

Greedy nobles would never leave it alone.  

And what about ‘him’?  

The thought alone made his head spin.  

“Aaargh! I’m going insane!”  

But what could he do? There was no solution.  

***  

In honor of Cecilia’s visit, I prepared a grand banquet.  

Aside from Aria stealing my dessert, I hoped nothing unusual would happen.  

But now… a note lay in my hand—  

a letter Cecilia slipped into my palm during dinner:  

‘Come to my room tonight.’

“Sigh… Yeah. I expected something like this.”  

Scarlet had stayed quietly in her room, but Cecilia? Never.  

Normally scatterbrained, she became a ‘master manipulator’ in matters of love.  

I cursed inwardly.  

I’d only meant to recommend romance novels…  

In Destiny, affection grew through gifts and conversation—  

not novels, since they didn’t exist in-game.  

But when I gave her a romance novel as a gift—thinking she’d like it—  

her eyes lit up.  

So I used my wealth to gather every novel she might enjoy.  

The result?  

She became absurdly skilled in romance—  

a ‘nine-tailed fox’ of seduction.  

I’d already told Mia not to visit tonight—  

she usually brought me calming tea.  

—Hmph!

She’d pouted for no clear reason, but after not seeing Cecilia for so long,  

I’d deal with Mia’s mood later.  

I checked the clock.  

“Time to go?”  

11 PM.  

Late enough.  

I headed toward the guest quarters, wondering what to discuss with her.  

Usually, we talked about food or opera—  

but tonight, I’d thank her for her hard work in the war.  

Reaching her door—  

—Knock, knock.

I tapped with my knuckles.  

“Come in.”  

Her familiar voice.  

I opened the door.  

She greeted me in a nightgown.  

Cecilia stood and rushed over, hugging me tightly.  

“You’re so late!”  

Her platinum hair buried in my chest hid her face—  

but I could guess her expression.  

“I had to be careful… people might talk.”  

A man and woman meeting alone at night was dangerous.  

And if one of them was the ‘Saint’?  

It wouldn’t just be gossip—it’d be a ‘mortal sin’.  

“Hehe…”  

—Rub rub.

She nuzzled her face against my chest.  

Cecilia and Leah were eerily alike—  

both short, both loved rubbing their faces on my chest.  

Even their personalities were subtly similar.  

“Didn’t you miss me?”  

She asked, still buried in my embrace.  

“Of course I did. I missed you so much.”  

I held her gently.  

“Then why not visit me once in a while…?”  

“It’s hard to visit a warzone. And I’ve been busy.”  

Truthfully, I’d been relaxed—as long as Roy didn’t show up.  

Figuring out how to separate Selena from Roy’s soul was frustrating, but not busy.  

I hugged her shoulders tenderly.  

“I wanted to call you—but without the Saint’s divine power, how could we stop the undead hordes?”  

Her shoulders trembled.  

In ‘Dragon War’, Leah was the overpowered one.  

In ‘King of the Dead’, it was ‘Cecilia’.  

So much so that in the original game, the community joked her tragic early death was just for “balance.”  

But I’d already eliminated the evil spirit that caused it.  

Actually… during ‘King of the Dead’, Cecilia was in the New Continent—  

so even without my intervention, she’d have been safe.  

She lifted her head, eyes glistening with emotion.  

“Father Hans… you really have been thinking of me, haven’t you?”  

“Of course. You’re all I have.”  

Her eyes shimmered.  

“Then… may I ask why you drink tea with Mia every night?”  

‘You’re asking that—now?!’ 

After setting this mood?!  

Before I could respond, her arms tightened around me.  

“Tell me exactly what happens. I’m so curious what you two do alone at night.”  

She smiled brightly—but it was terrifying.  

At this rate, it wouldn’t be Giovanni getting his head smashed—  

it’d be ‘me’.  

“Well, you see… uh—!”  

—Crack!

Her hug was so fierce, my spine popped, and I couldn’t breathe.  

“W-wait! I… can’t… br-breathe!”  

“Is it just the wind?! Or is Mia your second?!”  

Madness gleamed in her eyes.  

I slapped her arms desperately.  

“Let me… breathe!”  

Finally, she loosened her grip.  

—Thud.

I collapsed to the floor, limbs heavy as circulation returned.  

But her silent, smiling pressure was unbearable.  

I spoke fast—desperate.  

“I can’t sleep at night! The Champion’s duty weighs so heavily on me… I get anxious. Mia said she has tea to calm the mind… so I asked her to make some!”  

The flood of words tumbled out—  

because right now, I was utterly defenseless.  

I hadn’t brought my ‘conceptual artifact’—too cumbersome for daily use.  

It was locked in my room safe.  

Meaning…  

I had ‘zero’ way to survive if Cecilia turned violent.  

“Really?”  

For the first time, she frowned skeptically.  

“Of course! You’re all I have—‘second’? That’s ridiculous!”  

“Hmm… Are you sure?”  

She looked doubtful.  

I grabbed her small hand and pressed it to my chest.  

Maybe it was the nearness of death—but I blurted out the first cheesy line that came to mind:  

“Hear that heartbeat? It belongs to you.”  

She stared at me intensely—  

and I instantly regretted it.  

‘Damn it… that was so cringey!’

My mind went blank—white as paper.  

‘I’ve failed. She’ll kill me.’

“Oh my! That’s so touching!”  

She hugged me tightly as I sat on the floor.  

…Wait.  

Now that I think about it—  

the standard for romance novels here is terrible, isn’t it?  

And so… I survived by the skin of my teeth.

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