Refuse Harem
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Prius
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 199 – Sophie Linier’s Dream ―The Given Words― VIII
Author Note:
In the end, Sophie is Sophie after all (*’▽’)
“What part of me isn’t a lady?!”
“You keep insisting on claiming to be a lady, but you’re just aiming for the psychological effect, aren’t you? By saying it repeatedly, such an idea would stick in the brain of the other party. And by making that declaration, it also creates pressure on your mind. I don’t understand why you’re doing that much self-suggestion, though.”
“Urgh…”
Because Remiel hit the mark, Sophie couldn’t deny it immediately.
As expected of the man who saw through her admiration toward Christina as the longing for a mother—his insight was sharper than other students.
“That’s why I decided to follow your example and keep saying that I’m your best friend.”
“That’s very annoying. Having a male best friend is just a recipe for a scandal for aristocratic women.”
“But your best friend is a man, right?”
“…It’s not like I declare that out loud. Besides, Tenma is…”
Not a human who exists in this world.
No one knew what he looked like. He was a person whose name was only spoken by Sophie’s mouth.
“But it’s okay since he doesn’t exist…” was something that Sophie didn’t want to say.
Seeing Sophie squinting and biting her lips as if enduring something, for some reason, Remiel suddenly swept away the richu pieces in front of him.
The sound echoed as several pieces rolled on the floor.
“Wait, what are you doing suddenly? Was there a bug or something?”
“…No, I don’t understand why myself.”
It seemed Remiel himself didn’t understand why he did that as he stared at the pieces scattered on the floor with a bewildered expression.
Instead of Remiel, who was stunned by what he did himself, Sophie got down from her chair and picked up the pieces that fell.
She could tell how much he treated the set with care seeing the lustrous color of each piece, which made it hard to believe it was something given to him when he was a child.
As she forgot the loneliness in her chest just a few seconds ago, Sophie tilted her head.
Why did he suddenly sweep the pieces away?
Remiel might be a strange person, but he was brought up well. He didn’t seem to be an emotional type of person either.
In the first place, it was hard to imagine his emotion would move to begin with.
He was someone who didn’t even flinch when a sword was pointed at his throat. Even when he lost the richu game, he stayed expressionless and didn’t seem to feel bitter about his defeat at all.
The more Sophie knew him, the more she felt he was a strange man, but he didn’t seem to be an obstinate person who never bent his claim, so she gradually got used to his behavior.
Just as Remiel analyzed Sophie, Sophie put her index finger to her lips as she thought about Remiel’s personality.
The answer derived from that was,
“Basically, you just have nothing to do, right?”
At the words that came out of Sophie’s mouth, Remiel turned his blank eyes to her.
“Since you have nothing to do, you became curious whether it is possible for a friendship to develop between a man and woman, so you challenged me to a match.”
By being demoted into a retainer, Remiel’s goal was successfully accomplished. Therefore, he was at a loss right now.
“Since you have nothing to do anyway, just help me with my task. You read my proposal because you were somewhat interested, right? That’s not something you can understand and claim to be ‘seemingly imitating something’ just by casual reading once or twice.”
Sophie’s words were mostly based on a hunch, but from Remiel’s silent demeanor, it could be deduced that she wasn’t mistaken.
“Her Highness the Queen seems to wish you to participate, and you’d get to help your beloved onii-sama, so you’d kill two birds with one stone.”
“…If I make my move, you’ll never know how the fools who tried to support me might behave.”
“Oh my, I could resort to anything to handle something like that.”
When Sophie triumphantly said that, Remiel’s eyes widened even more.
“The moment I accepted His Highness’ request, I became his double-edged sword. Depending on whether the task is carried out successfully or not, he will either be praised as a wise king or be slandered as a foolish king. In that sense, you’re the same as me.”
The existence of Remiel, whose right of succession to the throne hadn’t been eliminated, put Ferio’s position in jeopardy.
However, if he showed his stance of supporting his brother splendidly as a retainer and made it known to those around him that he had no intention to succeed the throne, it would eventually become a good tale.
“Many nobles love gossip, but there are also many who love good tales. As long as we utilize rumors well, we can achieve considerable results with a small amount of effort!”
“I guess… you’re really the daughter of a gold star. You’ve got a way with words.”
“If you don’t want someone to get in the way in the future, dialogue skills are essential. ―Let’s see. First of all, you should tell your thoughts to His Highness. You got yourself demoted into a retainer and cut your hair without consulting anyone anyway, right? Even if you show your respect in that manner, if you don’t speak your thoughts, your feelings won’t reach him. Both of you have never spoken to each other properly anyway, right?”
“…How did you know that?”
Remiel asked with a straight face, but no matter how Sophie looked at it, there seemed to be a misunderstanding between Ferio and Remiel’s brotherly relationship.
Sophie was sure that Ferio didn’t know about Remiel’s heavy feelings.
“Since your ability to learn is superior to other people, you will naturally acquire dialogue skills as long as you work together with me. You should use me to obtain that. In exchange, I will make sure to use your ability thoroughly as well.
“Both of us benefit that way, right?” Sophie’s figure as she smiled brightly was, after all, like a young man and a girl at the same time.
That smile shined brighter than the blazing sun, and Remiel nodded after being dumbfounded for a while.
“Well then, let’s get to the main issue.”
“Main issue?”
Remiel, who thought their conversation had already concluded, asked in skepticism.
“You said you couldn’t understand my feelings for Christina onee-sama, right? That’s why, to show how much I admire Christina onee-sama, I’ve created documents containing details about how I met her until this moment. First of all, read that and I will explain as you read.”
“――Hah?”
As Sophie said that, the object that Sophie took out from her bag was a booklet that contained more than 100 pages.
While being half-astonished at how well-prepared Sophie was, just like how she took out the contracts earlier, Remiel flipped over a few pages of the bundle he received and then said briefly,
“I’m not interested whatsoever.”
“By the time you finish reading it, you should be able to understand how I feel and how precious Christina onee-sama is. Once you know that, I’m sure your anxiety toward Christina onee-sama would diminish greatly!”
As Sophie said that triumphantly, Remiel was disgusted.
Just from a few words that entered his eyes, he could see so many flowery words there, to the point Remiel was sick of it.
Moreover, it was long. It was excessively long.
Seeing the booklet that dropped heavily into his hands, Remiel was horrified.
“…As of now, this is the first time since I was born that I’ve felt fear.”
“That must be bewilderment from the new knowledge. When humans touch something for the first time, fear and confusion tend to rise. However, once you understand it, you will realize there’s nothing to be afraid of, so you can rest assured!”
“I can’t feel even the slightest assurance at all.”
“You claimed to be my best friend just now, yet you don’t want to understand me?!”
“This thing isn’t something to understand you, right? Even if I read something that only describes your obsession over that woman, I still won’t feel any value in that woman at all.”
“First of all, read it out loud from the beginning.”
Sophie, who’d already gotten used to Remiel’s behavior, was able to shrug off his slander toward Christina.
Or rather, she didn’t listen to Remiel’s opinion at all.
“Christina onee-sama got a polished education and has sophisticated gestures. Her voice is so beautiful that even a skylark would be embarrassed to sing. Her beautiful and noble blue eyes contain great integrity, right? If she stared at you with those clear fountain-like eyes, even your heart would be cleansed!”
“…Everything sounds too abstract.”
“In front of that beauty, the sky becomes brighter, the sea deepens, and even the world becomes more saturated!”
“Is that woman in control of the world?”
Remiel shot one retort after another, but Sophie was enraptured in her own world and ignored it.
Perhaps getting increasingly irritated by Sophie’s behavior, Remiel raised his voice.
“Why do you express everything in lyrical terms? Does that even have any meaning?!”
“I’m teaching you about emotion at the moment, so shut up and listen!”
Sophie scolded Remiel with fixed eyes, and for the first time in his life, he wanted to escape from where he was.
Author Note:
I think this arc ends in about a chapter or two (*’▽’)
The next upload is planned for July 2nd (Sunday) (*’▽’)
AH, the 2nd volume of “Misunderstanding Marriage” was released today!”
I just remembered that!
It was on sale at a local bookstore yesterday, so I thought yesterday was the release date (;^ω^)
When did my memory get tampered…?
So if you’re interested, please buy some!
Want early access to Cannon Fodder, Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer, and I Was a Man Before Reincarnating, So I Refuse a Reverse Harem? Support the translator on Patreon!
Still not enough chaos. Suffer more, pal.