This Novel is not my Novel

"That defense is hardly convincing. Perhaps you thought you could simply buy the professor off. Is that not the sort of idea nouveau riche families like yours commonly have—and the delusion they so easily fall into?"

"Nouveau riche...! Are you insulting our family?!"

"If not, were you planning to claim that Professor Dyuf Bitnir bore a grudge against your brother over what happened and forcibly dragged the two of you into the Demon Realm? That way, if you were injured, people would condemn Professor Dyuf instead of saying you had brought it upon yourselves."

"N-No...!"

The older villain swiftly denied my accusation, but he failed to conceal his momentary agitation completely.

Perhaps he had only just realized that their guide was Baron Bitnir, the very man his brother had insulted.

Or perhaps I had guessed correctly, and he had flinched because I had exposed their plan.

Either way, this was undoubtedly an opportunity to press him further.

"Come to think of it, the situation was strange from the start. Setting aside the fact that you had no reason to enter the Demon Realm in the first place, another Awakened Professor would have emerged if you had simply waited a little longer.... Yet you chose to travel through the Demon Realm with someone who had bad blood with you. That is highly suspicious."

The others had already been looking at the villain brothers with considerable hostility.

Now that I had said all this, it was only natural that their distrust would deepen and their hostility intensify.

Valtraus and Her Royal Highness the Princess were among those glaring at them, no less.

"I know Lord Karvaldr disapproves of my brother! But do you not think it goes too far to frame us like this without any clear evidence?"

The older villain hurriedly protested his innocence.

I knew. The evidence I had presented amounted to nothing more than circumstantial suspicion.

But his brother already harbored malice and had no intention of letting it go, making it impossible to reason with him.

If left alone, he was clearly the kind of person who would nurture his murderous intent until he eventually tried to harm someone.

What if I let it pass simply because no actual harm had occurred yet, only for someone to die later?

There would be no undoing it then.

"Why blame me? If your brother had apologized immediately, I might have dismissed the matter by assuming his remorse had compelled him to risk entering the Demon Realm so that he could seek forgiveness as soon as possible. But was it not your brother who fueled our suspicions by refusing to do so?"

"But apologizing in front of commoners would damage a nobleman's dignity...!"

"If his dignity is so fragile that it can be damaged by such a trivial thing, then it was never anything more than an unimpressive facade. Is it even worth preserving?"

Only after saying it did I belatedly realize that the imperial family was equally reluctant to apologize, but I soon stopped worrying.

If every such remark were taken as an offense, then even stating the obvious proposition that people should apologize when they had done something wrong would have become taboo.

Moreover, taking issue with what I had just said would require accepting the premise that the imperial family had committed some grave wrongdoing.

I don't know how Fjodora will interpret what I just said, though....

Such a premise contradicted the imperial family's stance that it was always flawless and incapable of wrongdoing.

Even if my words somehow reached the Emperor's ears, he would probably regard them as a comment about someone else and dismiss them.

They really were directed at someone else, after all.

"More importantly, even after matters have gone this far, your brother still refuses to emerge from behind you."

"Ha... haha...."

For the benefit of the dear readers experiencing this story in text form, allow me to explain that the laughter above was not an awkward chuckle the older villain had forced out.

His mouth remained firmly shut, and his expression was not one of embarrassment.

The laughter had come not from him but from behind his back....

I can practically feel the madness.

Laughing like that in a situation such as this could safely be taken as a warning sign that he was about to snap.

And that was exactly what happened.

"If you insist that I come forward...!!"

The true villain of this chapter sprang out from behind his brother and charged straight at me.

Had he finally exploded after suppressing his anger all this time? Had he been waiting for the right moment? Or had he charged recklessly because he thought this was his last chance to hurt me?

I let every possible explanation come to mind without bothering to settle on an answer.

Naturally, I was doing so to activate 【Character Analysis】.

Thanks to the warning that was not quite a warning in the form of the confession villain's laughter, the thought-acceleration effect took hold in time.

I was therefore able to examine him closely.

He was clutching some sort of glass bottle, and its cap was already open.

It looks like he plans to throw the contents at me.

He would not be charging so furiously merely to splash me with an ordinary liquid, so I suspected it was poison.

The fact that he had been carrying such a dangerous liquid was clear evidence that he had deliberately planned to harm someone.

I carry a top-grade Antidote Potion, but there is no need to let him hit me on purpose.

Doing so would not only make Yor worry but also guarantee me a lecture from her.

Reisir and Ríolíkin would worry about me too.

Come to think of it, Pret had said he liked me, so would he worry as well?

I was not sure about Sveinn, but the other major characters from the original work would probably be concerned. They were all relatively kindhearted, so even seeing someone they were not close to get hurt would inevitably trouble them.

I continued vaguely tracing the emotions of those around me to maintain 【Character Analysis】 as I moved my Ether.

If the villain had attacked me normally—so to speak—with a knife, I would simply have hidden behind Reisir.

But I could hardly ask him to take a liquid that appeared to be poisonous in my place.

This actually works out better. I can just block it with an Ether barrier.

A third-rate villain could not possibly imbue the liquid with Ether and grant it penetrating force.

With that thought, I started extending an arm....

"——!!"

A loud shout erupted beside me at the same moment my body was yanked backward.

The one who had pulled me was none other than Reisir.

The sound had stretched out under the effect of accelerated thought, preventing me from hearing it properly, but he had probably shouted, "Look out!"

Reisir held me against him with his back exposed to the villain, meaning the dangerous liquid would strike him instead.

We did have a top-grade Antidote Potion.

And unlike his face, his back was covered by clothing, leaving no bare skin exposed, so even a poison absorbed through the skin was unlikely to pose a severe danger.

Better safe than sorry.

With that thought, I released my Ether and formed a broad barrier.

It proved to be the perfect decision.

Because....

It wasn't poison?!

Over Reisir's shoulder, I saw the Ether barrier melting away.

The sight startled me enough to break my train of thought.

Ssssss—!

I heard the sound as well.

When I lowered my gaze, I saw the liquid that had splashed onto the ground smoking as it dissolved the grass and stones.

There was no doubt that the liquid was a highly acidic substance.

If I had assumed it was an ordinary poison and simply let it hit me....

A chill ran down my spine.

Reisir had nearly been drenched in it as well, so his reaction was much the same as mine.

"...An acidic solution?"

Reisir heard the sizzling sound and looked back. Once he realized what the liquid was, he swallowed dryly.

Apparently, he too had imagined what would have happened if it had struck him.

As Reisir and I stood frozen side by side—

"Damn it...! You blocked it...!"

The villain burst out in frustration.

Hearing him, Fjodora abruptly came to her senses and shouted,

"Professor Dyuf! Restrain them at once!"

"Yes...!"

Dyuf had frozen in shock at the unexpected turn of events, but Fjodora's voice jolted him into action, and he bound the villain brothers with sturdy tree trunks.

"Dremby!! Why in the world did you throw that at Lord Karvaldr?!"

The older villain, only now grasping what had happened, shouted in horror.

Apparently, he was just as appalled by the confession villain's sudden actions.

Though perhaps I should call him the acid villain now.

However....

"That wording sounds rather strange. You make it sound as though your brother intended to throw the acid at someone other than me and you already knew about it."

"N-No! I knew nothing! My brother did all of this on his own!! No, that creature is no brother of mine anymore!!!"

"Are you trying to cut me loose now?! You're the one who gave me this and told me to throw it right in Helga's face when no one else was around!"

Apparently, the acid villain had resolved to abandon all restraint.

Then again, that must have been why he had tried to throw acid at me in front of so many witnesses.

"I've been thoroughly disappointed in you all day! You always told me that our family's influence was second to none and that I should carry myself with confidence! You claimed His Highness the First Prince cherished you dearly and that you were extremely close to Lord Valtraus! Yet here you are, groveling before Lord Karvaldr, of all people—the one who was called defective—not even Lord Valtraus!!"

The acid villain trembled with rage and betrayal.

"Lord Valtraus, I only exaggerated a little because I wanted to be a brother my younger sibling could respect! You also have a much younger brother, so I trust you understand how I feel!"

The older villain offered an excuse that Valtraus could never possibly sympathize with.

"Brother, why not stop now? The Austri ducal family will never leave our family alone after this anyway."

"Because you tried to throw acid at Lord Karvaldr!"

"No! Even if I hadn't done that, Lord Karvaldr would undoubtedly have crushed me completely!!"

"You provoked his displeasure, so you should have borne the consequences alone instead of bringing harm upon me and our family!"

"Do you truly mean that?!"

"Yes, I do!!"

All talk, the both of them.

They certainly had plenty to say for people bound tightly in tree trunks.

"Karvaldr enjoys insulting, belittling, and condemning others with his words too.... Why was that bastard born into a ducal family while I was born into a mere count's family...?"

Perhaps deciding that his life was already indisputably ruined, the acid villain dropped the word "Lord" when referring to my possessed body.

Then he began to ramble in a nearly mocking tone.

"Power truly is wonderful. Just look at the victim defending his abuser...."

"Professor Dyuf! We have heard more than enough to count as a confession, so please silence them."

Unable to endure any more, Reisir cut him off.

Dyuf immediately complied with his request. Leaves sprouted from the tree trunks and covered the villain brothers' mouths.

Considering what Karvaldr did in the past, I suppose being condemned for it is unavoidable....

Still, it was deeply unpleasant to hear those words from a villain who had been born a remorseless piece of human garbage without even a tragic story to explain him.

Worse, the acid villain's outburst had now revealed to Sveinn that Karvaldr had tormented Reisir.

I wish they had silenced him sooner....

That regret settled over me.