This Novel is not my Novel

Valtraus's gaze followed the tip of my finger toward the confession villain, only to sweep past him and settle on his older brother sitting beside him.

Displeasure and contempt were plainly written across Valtraus's face.

Judging by that expression, he seemed to have reached a conclusion.

The older brother villain had lied to his family that he and Valtraus were friends.

The younger brother villain had taken that claim entirely at face value and carelessly run his mouth.

So those two really weren't friends after all.

That was what I had expected.

Since Valtraus was aiming to become the heir to the ducal family, he could hardly bestow the position of "friend" upon just anyone.

The dossier I had received immediately after possessing this body had not contained any information about the confession villain, either.

Even so, the only reason I had written the word "friend" in my letter was to provoke Valtraus.

If he received a letter from the younger brother he normally despised and looked down upon, telling him to choose his friends more carefully, he would think his reputation had been tarnished.

He would be so furious that he could not possibly let it slide.

That was all.

If Valtraus later clarified that he was not friends with Count Ofraushi's eldest son, I had simply planned to say that I had been mistaken and move on.

In other words, I had never intended to drive a wedge between them like this.

But what else am I supposed to do? They keep trying to turn people against each other....

No matter how I looked at it, these villainous brothers clearly loved sowing discord.

So I decided to give them a taste of their own medicine.

And while I was at it, I could also provoke Valtraus, who had been sitting there gravely in silence as if he were some kind of judge.

"W-Well... You see...."

The older brother villain fidgeted under Valtraus's gaze, looking deeply uncomfortable.

His eyes darted about as if the words I have a guilty conscience had been pasted across his forehead.

It seemed this man had boasted that he was friends with the eldest son of the Austri ducal family in an attempt to earn his younger brother's admiration.

Maybe he even lied that he'd become friends with the First Prince?

That was none of my concern, so I decided to let it go.

What mattered right now was that the older brother villain's reaction had confirmed Valtraus's suspicions.

"You dared impersonate my friend without even knowing your place?"

"N-No...! I merely said that I had dined and spoken with Lord Valtraus a few times...."

Had he sensed danger upon seeing Valtraus's expression turn icy?

The older brother villain began stammering out an excuse in bewilderment, then abruptly raised his voice at his younger brother.

"Dremby! Why in the world did you tell Lord Karvaldr such a lie?!"

"What...? A... lie...? N-No.... I never once spoke to Lord Karvaldr about the relationship between you and Lord Valtraus!"

The confession villain looked confused for a moment, but quickly suppressed it and focused on the immediate problem.

He might have been nothing more than a petty villain created for a heroine romance event, but he apparently possessed at least a modicum of social awareness.

Though it was quite literally the bare minimum and therefore practically useless.

"Are you saying that I lied?"

I spoke with a stern expression.

The confession villain had never so much as mentioned the first syllable of Valtraus's name, so I had indeed lied.

But that hardly mattered.

Not one person here could prove that my words were false.

Meanwhile, thanks to the conversation in the previous episode, he had already been branded a liar.

"N-No matter how cornered you feel...! How could you accuse Lord Karvaldr of lying?!"

The older brother villain was appalled as he rebuked his younger brother.

Only a few minutes ago, he had insisted that, as his brother, he trusted the younger man's words completely.

Yet now he refused to believe the "truth" that had come from his younger brother's mouth, dismissing it as a "lie told to escape the crisis."

"To think it was all a lie when you told me that our older brothers were friends, so it would be best for us to get along as well.... You even denied ever saying it...."

I scowled, tightly clenched both hands on the table, and trembled faintly.

It was all to present the appearance of genuine fury.

I could hardly turn my head to examine the expression of the person beside me while putting on such an act.

That meant I could not check Valtraus's reaction.

But I could see the faces of the two men across from me perfectly well.

"W-What in the world...?"

The confession villain's mouth fell open in disbelief.

His older brother glared at him, his face twisting hideously.

"I never knew you were such a liar that you couldn't even admit your own wrongdoing.... Dremby, I am truly disappointed in you."

"B-Brother...?"

"If you'd simply admitted your mistake and apologized from the start, this could have ended there! Why do you keep lying and putting me in such an awkward position? Don't you understand that earning the displeasure of these two lords will be bad for you as well?!"

"I... I...."

Was he shocked that the brother who had believed him was now openly distrusting him and even raising his voice?

The younger brother villain's face crumpled as he opened and closed his mouth.

He probably wanted to protest that this was unfair, but could not bring himself to say it for fear of making his brother even angrier.

"Apologize at once."

The older brother villain pressured his younger brother to apologize in a rather forceful tone.

The younger man stared at his brother with a wounded expression for a moment before letting his head droop.

He seemed to have realized that obeying was his only way to survive the immediate crisis and calm his brother's anger.

"I... apologize."

At last, an apology left the confession villain's mouth.

But this was not enough to bring the chapter to a close.

For one thing, the person to whom he owed an apology was Helga, not me.

And there's a good chance the original author won't be able to include this situation in her work.

Of everyone present, "Karvaldr" was the only major character in 《NaSE》.

Yet I, the one possessing Karvaldr's body, was not a character created by Author Senna.

She might not even be able to observe this.

"If you leave it at that, how am I supposed to know what you are apologizing for?"

"I misinterpreted something my brother said without any particular meaning... claimed that my brother and your brother were friends... and then even denied ever saying such a thing.... I apologize."

"Are you apologizing because you truly believe you were wrong? Or are you doing so reluctantly because your brother ordered you to?"

I propped my chin on one hand and tapped the table with the index finger of the other, assuming a dissatisfied air.

The other man must have felt a surge of anger, because his bowed head snapped up.

His face was plastered with resentment.

It kept bothering me to see him acting aggrieved when he had no reason to be....

It was a little better now that his expression actually matched his circumstances.

"I truly... and sincerely apologize. I am sorry...."

He bowed so deeply that I wondered whether he might plunge his nose into his teacup.

It was an astonishing display of submission.

Considering how he had ignored my reaction and carelessly run his mouth in Episode 260, it should have been impossible.

Did he only realize that he could never stand on equal footing with Karvaldr after seeing his brother grovel while watching both Valtraus and me for signs of displeasure?

The thought nearly drew a snort of laughter from me.

But I hardened my expression again and continued.

"Now that you have admitted to one wrongdoing, you should be able to admit to another."

"I am also sorry... for speaking about remarriage. There is no one in this world unaware of the Austri ducal family's great renown, and I know perfectly well that the duke did not fail to remarry—he simply chose not to. I was absolutely not speaking about him! But I am still truly sorry...!"

"You are speaking out of turn again. Who are you to keep voicing opinions about whether my father remarries?"

"W-Well.... I was worried that you two might misunderstand...."

"Do not attempt to append pointless excuses."

"Yes...."

"When you have done something wrong, you should apologize."

"I... apologize. I did not know my place and tried to make excuses...."

The moment the confession villain closed his mouth, I saw his jaw clench hard.

He was clearly swallowing his anger.

In other words, he felt no genuine remorse.

I suppose it can't be helped. Unlike Karvaldr, he doesn't commit evil deeds because of some tragic past. He's a villain whose entire characterization is that he was born a vile human being.

In the first place, I had merely used the ducal family's power to crush him and force an apology out of him.

There was no way that could inspire genuine remorse or repentance.

Fortunately, in fiction, seeing a vile villain forced to apologize in humiliation tended to be more satisfying than watching him repent and begin a new life.

Author Senna's readers were particularly fond of endings like this.

"But if you understand that it was wrong to speak carelessly about someone else's remarriage, should you not also apologize to those who heard those words firsthand?"

"S-Surely not...! Are you telling me to apologize to a mere baron and his daughter?!"

"Even if he is only a baron, he remains a noble whose title was recognized by His Majesty the Emperor, as well as a professor at the academy you attend. What possible reason could you have for refusing?"

"That is... true, but.... No, even so.... How could I apologize to a mere baron...?"

He was merely the son of a count and possessed neither a barony himself nor even the rank of baronet or knight.

Yet despite having just apologized for failing to know his place, he still had no grasp of where he stood.

Rather than say anything more to him, I merely—

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

—moved my index finger and resumed tapping the table.

The confession villain glanced nervously at me before cautiously speaking.

"We must pay compensation for the duel to that family anyway. Surely there is no need to apologize as well?"

The compensation would not come out of his own pocket, but from his father's coffers.

He was not only an outrageously unfilial son but a shameless one as well.

I gave a disbelieving snort, my expression asking whether he truly considered that a reasonable argument—

"I simply cannot understand why Lord Karvaldr cares not only about Helga, but even about her father. Could it be that you are in love with Helga?"

—and this utter nonsense came spilling from the confession villain's mouth.