This Novel is not my Novel

"I've received quite a lot of help from Pret in one way or another, and I expect that will continue in the future... Was I too cold to him?"

After the door closed, I asked Yor this, seeking her opinion.

I felt bad after seeing how plainly upset Pret had looked.

But the baby dragon seemed to think differently.

"Meow, meow."

Yor shook her head as she made a sound of denial, then thrust both thumbs up.

"You mean I didn't do anything wrong, and actually handled it well...?"

"Meow!"

There was unmistakable conviction in her crisp response.

If such a wise baby dragon was taking this stance, perhaps she was not simply siding with me unconditionally.

As if to reinforce that thought, Pret showed just as much interest in me when we met again at lunchtime, approaching me with his usual friendly yet mischievous manner.

"Karvaldr! Where are you going this afternoon?"

Had the pout and hurt feelings he had shown earlier been nothing but an act?

Then again, if he showed that he was upset in front of everyone, they might realize we had met in secret that morning. Perhaps he was simply trying hard not to let it show.

But the interest in his eyes as he looked at me was not something he could fake.

Still...

"Why do you think I'm going out?"

"Because there's a magnificent carriage bearing your family's crest parked at the carriage station!"

"...What?"

"Oh? That reaction... Don't tell me you didn't know about it?"

It was not as though I had no idea what this might be about.

After speaking with Reisir yesterday, I had returned to my room and immediately written a letter to Baltraus.

Then I had taken it straight to the academy's mail reception desk.

Did Baltraus receive the letter this morning and react to it...?

If that was truly the case, then a letter I had submitted at nearly ten o'clock at night had reached its recipient at least three or four hours ago.

After all, it would have taken a fair amount of time to send the family's carriage to the academy as well.

Apparently, letters came with overnight delivery in this novel's world.

"It's not that I didn't know... I simply wasn't expecting it."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"No. I have a rough idea who sent it and why."

I simply had not expected Baltraus to respond this quickly.

Much less in this manner.

At most, I thought he would deal with it himself and send me a letter with the results... Or perhaps not even bother writing one.

Could Baltraus have come in person to verify whether what I had written was true?

The thought briefly crossed my mind, but I quickly concluded otherwise.

If that were the case, Pret would have asked why Baltraus had come to the academy instead of asking whether I planned to go out.

Sure enough.

—Ding-dong~!

A clear chime rang throughout the cafeteria.

{ Attention, please. A carriage from House Austri has arrived at the carriage station. Student Karvaldr, please report to the carriage station after finishing your meal. Once again, a carriage from House Austri has arrived... }

The announcement echoed through the room.

As expected, Baltraus had not come himself. He had merely sent a carriage to summon me.

The announcement repeated the same message twice, then cut off with a cheerful "Ding-dong~."

Reisir, who had been staring at me with a face full of things he wanted to say, immediately seized the opportunity to ask,

"Does this have something to do with what we talked about yesterday?"

For some reason, I felt as though he saw me as a spoiled child who had heard something unpleasant from another student and gone whining to his parents to have them punished.

Reisir was not grinning, so he probably had not meant it that way or said it to tease me.

That was simply how it felt.

To be fair... the situation is somewhat similar, isn't it?

I had sent the letter not to Hard, the father of my possessed body, but to Baltraus.

And its contents had been closer to sowing discord than complaining.

Even so, rather than solve my problem myself, I had tried to borrow the hand of someone related to this body by blood.

Simply put, I felt awkward because the question had struck a nerve.

If I denied it now, I might genuinely get teased later when the truth came out.

Well... even then, it wouldn't exactly be a loss.

It would benefit me if people came to believe that Karvaldr was the cherished youngest son of his family.

There would be fewer people who looked down on me and spoke carelessly, like the nameless student from the lobby gossip incident or Dremby, the confession villain.

But that would remain true even if I admitted it now.

The real problem is that denying it probably wouldn't accomplish anything in the first place.

That was only natural.

Even before I possessed him, Karvaldr had freely wielded his family's power.

When his harassment of Reisir escalated into a serious problem, he had used his family's influence to fabricate a crime Reisir had never committed and get him suspended.

That was merely one example.

And when Tryggdrik kidnapped Helga, I had made liberal use of House Austri's name as well.

What about Chapter 56?

Had I not gone so far as to say, "I'll ask Father to pressure his family into disowning Tryggdrik, so he can be imprisoned in the same cell as you as a commoner"?

More importantly...

This novel was set in a class-based society, and Karvaldr belonged to a ducal family, the highest rank among the nobility.

In terms of the authority she possessed, Fjodora, the First Princess, held an overwhelming advantage.

However, Fjodora was locked in conflict with the First Prince over the right of succession.

Her reputation, political standing, factional struggles, and countless other considerations had to be weighed.

She could not simply use her authority as she pleased without clear justification.

And even when she did have justification, she had to consider what she stood to gain and lose by intervening.

But this possessed body has no need to worry about any of that.

Not only was he far younger than his brother and sister, he had long ago been branded "defective" and completely excluded from the succession struggle.

There was no reason for him to become entangled in politics.

In other words, he was free to make full use of the immense and unshakable power of a ducal family.

Of course, only within the limits of what Hard is willing to overlook. But Hard doesn't care in the slightest about what his youngest son does anyway.

There was no way the current Reisir knew that much about Karvaldr's family circumstances.

But the original author knew everything.

Even the fact that Karvaldr only feels reassured that he truly belongs to his family when he is wielding its power.

Given both the class-based setting and Karvaldr's disposition, the original author could not possibly fail to know that the easiest and most reliable way for Karvaldr to dispose of someone who displeased him was to seek his family's help.

And now, at this exact moment, a carriage from House Austri had arrived.

Should I say it's impossible to hide it from the original author, or that I've merely confirmed what he already suspected...?

In any case, Baltraus had sent the carriage without the slightest tact, and things had ended up like this.

It seemed I had no choice but to tell them.

"Last night, I did write to my brother regarding that matter. But I never expected him to receive it so quickly and even send a carriage..."

"Your brother must care about you a great deal."

When I deliberately trailed off and acted embarrassed, the Original Protagonist nodded and said this with a smile.

Apparently, he had misunderstood the situation.

He seemed to think that after I had tattled to Baltraus about every outrageous thing the confession villain had said and perhaps even thrown a tantrum, Baltraus had hurriedly sent the carriage out of concern for his little brother.

I wonder if Pret is feeling confused right now.

I considered turning to check his reaction, then decided against it.

Pret would undoubtedly hide his expression with practiced ease.

And if I looked for his reaction at this particular moment, it could only appear unnatural to everyone else.

"It's nothing unusual... We're fairly normal."

I gave a light shrug and said it casually.

I had no siblings, so I had no idea what a normal relationship between brothers was like.

But what I had just said was almost certainly a lie.

"But Karv, what do you mean by 'that matter'?"

The question came from Vigdís.

Her expression looked quite serious.

Come to think of it, although she did not know every detail as Pret did, Vigdís was also someone who had at least a vague idea of Karvaldr's family circumstances.

Moreover, in Chapter 42, I had introduced Yor to her as my "new family" and openly displayed my affection.

She could hardly have failed to realize that the owner of this body did not have a good relationship with his actual blood relatives.

Yet I had sent a letter to Baltraus first, and Baltraus had reacted in great haste the moment he received it.

She must have thought such a situation could not have arisen unless something truly serious had happened.

"Do you remember what Helga told us last Thursday?"

"Yes, I remember! She declared that she absolutely, positively hated someone named Dremby."

"......"

Vigdís must have found the sight of Helga shouting into the microphone extremely memorable.

Even though the context made it perfectly clear that was not what I meant, that answer had still come to her first.

"No, not that..."

"Hm?"

"I mean the part where he told Professor Dyuf that she had failed to remarry because her family was insignificant."

"Ah...! Yes, I remember that too."

"My father also lives alone without remarrying, does he not?"

"Ah...! That's true! But Karv's family is a ducal house. And your father is His Grace the Duke..."

"Even so, it does not change the fact that he spoke of remaining unmarried as though it were a fault. I thought he should pay the price for speaking so carelessly, so I sent my brother a letter."

"So that's what happened?"

"That is what happened."

What I had told Reisir yesterday was different. I had said I intended to make Dremby pay for insulting me.

But I did not want to create an uncomfortable situation by dredging up Karvaldr's former obsession with Vigdís.

So I explained it this way instead.

Besides, this was also what I had actually written in the letter to Baltraus.