I, the Female Lead, Ruined the Original

The owner of the suddenly appearing figure was Rakrensius. He seemed to have come in the middle of hunting with an arrow nocked on his bowstring.

Unlike his appearance, which appeared cunning in her friends’ eyes, he appeared very flustered, as if he had not expected to encounter Selleana here.

“I,

, sensed the use of a magic tool I created, so I came to check….” His eyes barely managed to land on the gun in Rosalli’s hand as he mumbled an excuse.

“Magic tool?

, this?”

“That shouldn’t have been a personal commission…”

“

, yes. It would be troublesome if it was known that I put a commission in my name to the magic tower, so I commissioned the guild instead.”

“The guild…” Rakrensius’s eyes narrowed.

Magic Tower carefully examined the client and the purpose of the commission to decide whether to accept it.  When Doloret prepared the Benichi Salon and requested an ice machine, the previous Tower Master had put it on hold for that reason. So Rosalli commissioned the creation of the gun through Doloret’s guild. The magic tower found the purpose dubious, but since it was a commission from a friendly guild, they made it anyway.

And now it was in the hands of Lady Glen. Moreover, it was decorated with all sorts of jewels.

As Rakrensius’s suspicion deepened, Rosalli stood up and gracefully greeted him. “Greetings to the fifth prince. I am Rosalli of Glen.”

“…I am Rakrensius, in charge of the Magic Tower. I have heard much…” At that moment, the stunned man’s words were cut off.

“You have heard much?”

“Yes…? Yes.”

“From whom? From Lea?”

“Well, that is…”

“Didn’t you reject Lea? Then why do you remember what an acquaintance said?”

“…”

The swan of the social world, idolized by many gentlemen, knew too well how to make her opponent speechless. Especially if it was someone like Rakrensius, who had few friends except her.

Selleana chuckled and stood up, approaching the frozen tower master. “Master of Tower, it’s so nice to see you here. I’ve introduced Rosalli, and you know Lady Michi. This is my friend, Priestess Agnesia.”

“He-Hello.”

“Yes, we met yesterday…”

“So, why did you suddenly come here?”

“Well, about that.”

Rakrensius rubbed his forehead as if to organize his thoughts, then began to explain gently. “The magic tool ordered by Lady Glen. It was made with a principle that didn’t exist before, and it could potentially be used for indiscriminate killing… So I designed it to detect if it’s used in a populated area.” In other words, he had come because Rosalli fired the gun.

Rosalli grimaced, baring her teeth. “Isn’t that an invasion of privacy?”

“As you know, we don’t accept commissions that go against the public good. But since we have a friendly trade relationship with the guild, I made it for you.”

“So you came to check just in case?”

“If it were used for a bad purpose, I have the duty to manage the aftermath.” However… Rakrensius glanced around. There were no injured people, animals, or monsters.

“I used rubber bullets because I made it for the upcoming treasure hunt. And what I shot…” Rosalli shyly raised the gun and aimed again at the tree she had just targeted.

Rakrensius’s eyebrow twitched.

The rubber bullet hit the tree surface again and bounced off without leaving a trace.

“

, I see…” Relief passed over Rakrensius’s face.

“I wrote in the commission form, didn’t I? It’s just an item to hit targets at a distance.”

“Yes, the form did say it was a self-defense toy, but you never know if someone might put explosives in it…”

After seeing the form, Rakrensius had meticulously calculated the firing speed and bullet size to prevent it from being used as a weapon. He also cast a tracking spell just in case.

The friends swallowed their admiration at his accurate guess.

“Then you can rest assured now. Do you think I would kill anyone?”

Rosalli displayed her slender hand in a silk glove. It was the delicate hand of a noble lady who had never done any rough work. Her hand was so small and her expression so forlorn that, if there had been gentlemen from Nepelsian, they would have rushed to proclaim her innocence. Her friends, however, knew all too well why she had commissioned the gun to target Pavellian.

“Gender and status don’t matter in killing people… Not that I’m saying Lady Glen would do that, of course.”

Rosalli’s eyebrow twitched slightly.

See what this guy says? I told you, he’s different from others here.  The friends exchanged quick glances, silently communicating their thoughts.

“At least I understand that you truly made it non-lethal.”

“See? I told you I really made this magic tool with harmless intentions.”

“Yes, for now.”

“I’ll be shooting a lot during the treasure hunt tomorrow, so don’t be alarmed.”

“

, Lady Glen is also participating?” The question was directed at Selleana.

“Lady Rosalli doesn’t care what the crown prince thinks of her.”

“But I thought Lady Glen was participating in the selection.”

“Lady Rosalli volunteered to be a decoy so that many noble ladies could participate instead of me.”

“A decoy, you say.”

“I thought it would be polite to give the crown prince plenty of choices to replace me.” Selleana shrugged slightly.

“Understood, then…” Rakrensius, now calm, scanned the surroundings. “I sense four presences.”

“Two of my guards and two from Rosalli’s side.”

“Why only two guards for the Lady?”

“Sir Deren is participating in the hunting contest. Don’t worry. The remaining two are Elard’s excellent shadows.”

“I see…”

He feigned indifference, but Selleana could tell he was worried.

“Then, I’ll take my leave…”

“Master of Tower.”

“Yes?”

“I’ve been wanting to ask since yesterday… Why did you suddenly come to the hunting contest?”

Rakrensius’s face hardened slightly. “Did His Majesty suddenly call you? Because of something with me?”

“No, that’s not it.”

“Really?”

That part was true. On the day Elard inquired about his relationship with Selleana, Rakrensius had decided to confirm the imperial family’s stance. He sent a letter to the emperor, using the title ‘Your Majesty Father’ for the first time in his life. It was filled with platitudes about how he enjoyed seeing the emperor at the birthday celebration and how his support had elevated the Magic Tower’s prestige, but the main point was a request to participate in the hunting contest. The emperor readily sent an invitation, speaking of strengthening ties with the Tower.

Rakrensius recalled the scenes from yesterday’s celebration.

If the saintess knew he had something precious, she would surely be wary.

Discussing this with his friend would be good, but bringing his sword here would be like self-destruction.

Rakrensius recited his prepared excuse. “Well, I don’t know. Perhaps he thought my visit during the birthday celebration benefitted the imperial authority, so he sent an invitation.”

“So suddenly?”

“Yes, so suddenly.”

Selleana narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the man’s face, but there was no sign of deception in the well-rehearsed lie. Well, it didn’t matter. The important thing was that he came.

“If I had known you were coming, I would have prepared a handkerchief or something.”

“Lady, that’s…”

“Don’t worry. I wouldn’t give it to you openly in front of everyone.” Selleana teased him with a sly look. “I embroidered initials on the family ones, but if I made one for you, I would have stitched your full name. Maybe even added roses.”

“Really…”

His ears turned excessively red due to her straightforward words, much to the delight of her friends watching with sly eyes.

Selleana noticed this and stepped closer to Rakrensius with a chuckle. Was his blue eyes trembling due to the reduced distance? “You could at least look at me when you set off to say goodbye.”

“

, at that time….” Rakrensius’s throat moved up and down.

Of course, he wanted to look at Selleana. But he had been careful, fearing any gaze might arouse suspicion. However, he was growing tired of reciting the same excuses.