I Was Reincarnated as the Villain in an Eroge, but I’ll Live Honestly ~Because the Protagonist Was Useless, I Ended Up Making the Heroines Smile and Somehow Built a Harem~ - 31

Chapter 31: Freya Realizes Something Important

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When Freya woke up, she noticed that her skin was bathed in an amber-colored light. When she straightened her body while still sitting, she heard something fall to the floor. When Freya checked, it turned out to be the sound of a blanket.

Someone must have covered me so I wouldn’t catch a cold…

Rubbing her eyes, Freya left the room and spoke to a nearby maid, Flora.

“Hey, I think I want to head home soon… Wait, did something happen?”

“Ah, Freya-sama…”

Her lips, usually bright and cheerful, were trembling now.

“Noah-sama returned home a short while ago, but…”

“Oh, right. Today was the knight qualification exam…”

Judging by that reaction, he must have passed. He’s probably being considerate of me.

Freya thought so because that was what she herself would have done. The beginner-level knight qualification exam was generally an easy test that almost anyone could pass. So failing it was practically unthinkable.

On top of that, the fact that he was acting cautiously around her meant he knew she had failed at the dance party. He must have understood that celebrating openly in that situation would be insensitive toward her.

If only I had made it through the dance party without messing up…

Negative fantasies spun endlessly through her mind. Surely he would have been jumping around with joy right in front of her. Given how energetic Flora was, it was easy to imagine. And then…

“…I wonder if I could have congratulated him too.”

Freya muttered the words as if spitting them out. Flora tilted her head and went, “Um?”—she must not have heard her.

“Oh, no, it’s nothing. Please don’t worry about it.”

She lightly shook her head, trying to shake the negative thoughts out of her mind.

“More importantly, I think I’d like to go home soon…”

“Understood. Your carriage has already arrived…”

Flora replied, but her tone was strangely hesitant.

“U-um… I thought you came today to see Noah-sama, but I’m terribly sorry. Could I ask you to come again another time…?”

“…Huh? What do you mean?”

Freya blinked in confusion, unable to understand what Flora was saying.

I mean, I wasn’t even planning to see him anymore today…

“W-well…”

Her voice trembling, Flora furrowed her brow and pressed her lips tightly together, as if holding something back. Even so, she forced the words out.

“…Noah-sama failed today’s exam.”

Freya’s eyes widened as she looked at Flora, who sadly lowered her gaze to the floor.

“…I see. Then, where is Noah right now…?”

“Noah-sama is in the garden, but.. Freya-sama?”

She knew full well that running down the hallway was bad manners. Even so, she couldn’t stop herself from running. Even though it wasn’t she who had failed, her heart hurt unbearably, as if it were her own failure.

I’m the only one who can truly understand how Noah feels…!

To Freya, Noah was someone tied to her by fate. He had caused her trouble with the broken engagement, but she also owed him. More than anything…

I don’t want anyone else to feel what I felt back then…

With her mouth set in a tight line, she hurried down the stairs and reached for the door leading to the garden. At that moment, a woman placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke.

“Freya-sama, please wait a moment.”

The voice belonged to Layla. Contrary to what Freya had imagined, Layla was remarkably calm. That calmness irritated her just a little.

“You’re planning to see Noah-sama, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am! He failed the exam, didn’t he? I’m the one who can understand his feelings better than anyone…!”

Being exposed to a gaze so cold it made her want to shrink away. Her mind going completely blank, to the point she couldn’t remember what she had been doing just moments before.

The urge to turn away from someone she loved and be alone… She knew all too well that being alone at times like that only led to something awful. That was why she wanted to believe that only she—someone who had failed in the same way—could stay by Noah’s side. But…

“Given what I said earlier, I deeply apologize, but could you please refrain from meeting Noah-sama today? Please allow him to be alone for now.”

At those words, Flora’s eyes snapped sharply upward.

“Why…? Layla, aren’t you sad?! Aren’t you shocked?! Noah failed the exam! Normally, you’d comfort him and stay by his side, wouldn’t you?!”

Freya raised her voice, but Layla’s expression did not waver in the slightest. That only made Freya’s thoughts boil even more.

“That’s enough!”

As Freya tried to force her way toward Noah, Layla stopped her again.

“Then at least, could you go around to the back entrance? Please only watch over him… Don’t speak to him. I beg you.”

Seeing Layla bow her head, Freya finally felt some of the anger drain from her chest. Looking more closely, she noticed Layla’s shoulders trembling.

Of course… Layla is the one who loves Noah the most…

“…All right. And I’m sorry for raising my voice.”

After that, Freya followed Layla toward the back entrance that led to the garden.

“Freya-sama, Noah-sama said he wanted to become himself, didn’t he?”

“Yes… I honestly don’t understand what he meant.”

“If you see Noah-sama as he is now, I think you’ll understand without any words.”

“Does that mean—”

Before Freya could finish her question, Layla opened the back door leading to the garden.

“Ah… So that’s what it meant…”

The soft evening breeze brushed against Freya’s cheeks, which were still hot with anger. The sun had sunk a bit lower than when she first woke up. Crimson-tinged clouds glowed beautifully enough to make her heart tremble. She couldn’t tear her eyes away, not even to blink. But it wasn’t the sunset she was staring at.

It was Noah.

Is this what he meant by wanting to become himself?

She understood the meaning painfully well. Right before Freya’s eyes, Noah was practicing forms while crying. With his mouth bent downward, he rubbed his eyes hard, as if he didn’t care that they were swelling, and kept practicing—again and again.

“I have to practice more… More…! I have to become strong enough to repel anything… No matter what…!”

Hearing Noah’s voice carried by the wind, Freya could roughly grasp what had happened.

Of course there must have been interference when Noah took the exam… There might even have been something far more unreasonable…

As she watched Noah like that, Freya’s hands clenched naturally.

“Noah is… Not me…”

Her heart shook uncontrollably. Noah’s figure burned itself into her eyes and refused to leave. If she didn’t bite down hard on her back teeth, her tears would spill over.

“…I don’t want to be myself anymore.”

She didn’t want to keep dragging around her past failures. But…

“I want to become myself…”

She wondered if even the version of herself that had failed and stopped could start walking forward again.

“…Thank you, Layla. You’re right. Noah should be left alone right now.”

“Please don’t worry. And since it’s getting chilly, I’ll bring you something warm to wear.”

“Thank you.”

And so Freya kept watching over Noah until the shadows stretching at her feet disappeared. She was watching his distant figure as he practiced nearby—over and over again.

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Chapter 31.2: Noah Decides to Help Freya

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“Freya-sama, I think it would be best if you returned home soon.”

When she turned around, Layla the maid spoke to her. The sun had completely set, and the surroundings had grown dark.

“I was thinking of speaking to Noah-sama soon as well.”

“That’s true, I understand. Ah, then, may I go talk to Noah myself now? I want to tell him ‘good work’ too, even if it’s just briefly.”

As she watched Noah, Freya had been thinking about it for a long time.

About her failure at the dance party, and about how she herself had been unable to take a step forward all this time. Because she had finally sorted out her feelings, she wanted to speak with him as she was now.

“No, that won’t do.”

“Eh… Why not? It’ll really only be for a moment.”

“Your escort has already arrived, and I believe your family is worried as well. Wouldn’t it be better for you to return home as soon as possible?”

“Th-that’s true, but… Now that I’ve come this far, it won’t make that much difference, right? Come on, it’s fine.”

“As the household entrusted with Freya-sama’s care, we really can’t allow any more than this…”

Freya felt puzzled by Layla, who was being stubborn—almost unnaturally eager to send her home. After thinking about it for just a moment, she realized something.

“…Could it be that you don’t like it unless you’re the first one to talk to him?”

“………………”

“Hey.”

“………………”

“Hey, I said.”

After letting out a small sigh, Layla finally opened her mouth.

“Freya-sama, wouldn’t it be best if you returned home quickly?”

“Heeey! At least try to hide it a little! Layla, you really have that side to you, don’t you!?”

“Yes. And what, exactly, is wrong with that?”

Without offering any apology, Layla replied as if it were only natural.

“Geeeeez!”

Seeing Freya stomping the ground in frustration, Layla let a faint, triumphant smile slip across her face. At that moment…

“…What are you two doing?”

Their conversation must have reached Noah’s ears. With a stiff expression on his face, Noah came over. In an instant, Layla’s expression changed into a beaming smile, one reserved exclusively for Noah. Freya watched that with an indescribable look on her face.

“Noah-sama, thank you for your hard work with your practice. It seems Freya-sama will be returning home shortly.”

“I see. Ah, so that’s why you came over here? To see her off?”

“Yes. I apologize… Today’s visit wasn’t anything formal, so I didn’t want to trouble Noah-sama unnecessarily, but…”

“H-hey, wait a second! That makes it sound like I’m the one throwing a tantrum!”

Freya immediately protested at Layla’s apologetic expression.

“Freya-sama, please calm down. As a lady, raising your voice like that is unseemly.”

“Who do you think made me raise my voice in the first place!?”

Noah stared at the two of them with a blank expression.

“I don’t know how to put it, but… You two have gotten really close, huh? I thought you only came to return something I forgot today.”

Freya immediately shot back at Noah.

“It’s not like that! And anyway, isn’t Layla being kind of rude to me!?”

“Is she…? I think Layla works really hard, though. She’s smart, she’s good at her job. Maybe it’s just your imagination?”

Behind Noah as he spoke with his head tilted, Layla nodded along with her eyes closed, humming in agreement.

That woman… I’ll make you remember this later, for real.

Suppressing the urge to stomp her feet, Freya spoke to Noah.

“F-for now, just come over here for a moment…!”

“Eh? O-okay, okay…!”

Freya forcibly grabbed his arm, and the two of them moved to a quiet spot.

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“Um, so… What did you want to talk about?”

“U-um… Well, you see…”

Pulled aside by Freya, Noah listened as she tried to speak. Perhaps Layla had read the mood, because she was nowhere nearby. From Noah’s perspective, Freya’s arms and legs were trembling. On top of that, her voice carried a hint of tears.

What is Freya trying to tell me…?

Still, when he saw the seriousness in her gaze, he couldn’t bring himself to stop her.

“D-do you… Know… That I f-failed… At the d-dance… P-party?”

“Y-yeah… I know.”

He believed he understood Freya’s circumstances and her worries. How, after failing at the dance party, she had realized she wasn’t something special like her beloved father and mother, and had fallen into despair.

And normally, Freya would be saved by becoming a special existence to the protagonist, Abel…

“T-that was… Because I stumbled… That’s why I failed… People say it was my partner’s fault, but the truth is, I failed! I was the one who made a mistake!”

Tears spilled freely as Freya continued speaking.

“It hurt for so long… I knew it was because I hadn’t practiced enough, but I hated myself for pushing that responsibility onto someone else and feeling relieved because of it!”

“F-Freya! If it’s that painful, you don’t have to force yourself to say it!”

How painful it must have been to honestly lay bare such memories. Even so, Freya spoke as if she didn’t care about the tears that kept falling.

“B-because… If I don’t start by admitting it, I can’t move forward! Even if it hurts, even if it’s exhausting, even if it’s embarrassing… I thought I had to say it now!”

Freya let out a small sob and hunched her back, crying softly. Those tears were surely necessary for her to move forward anew. It was strangely similar to when Noah had cried in front of Layla right after his reincarnation.

Understanding that painfully well, Noah stayed by her side in silence, continuing to support her.

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“Noah, thank you…”

“No, you’re welcome. Well, I didn’t really do anything, though.”

With a wry smile, Noah scratched his cheek.

“No, that’s not true. I was really happy that you stayed with me, Noah. Thank you.”

“Y-yeah…”

Her eyes were a little swollen, but Freya wore a refreshed expression, as if a burden had been lifted from her. He thought she would be all right now. Even so, he wanted to do something for Freya, who had taken a step forward despite crying.

“Hey, Freya? Is there anything I can do for you?”

As if she couldn’t believe Noah’s words, Freya froze for a moment with her eyes wide open. But it seemed she had a wish in her heart, because she spoke right away.

“I want you to watch over me, Noah.”

Hugging her knees, Freya wore a gentle expression.

“I want to try my best again. Of course, I might fail again at the dance party. But if you’re watching over me, Noah, I think I’ll be okay.”

“Freya… Is someone like me really okay? I mean, it feels like something really important…”

“Yes, I want you, Noah. No. Actually, that’s not quite right… It has to be you.”

“Okay. I understand.”

“Thank you.”

Saying that, Freya happily rested her head on Noah’s shoulder. At the same time, Noah’s shoulder twitched.

“If you’re watching over me, Noah, I feel at ease. Hehe.”

“S-so, Freya-san? Wh-what exactly is this…?”

“It’s fine, isn’t it? Just a little, just for a little while. That’s how I feel right now.”

“Y-yes, ma’am…”

As Freya leaned on him, Noah grew flustered and desperately tried not to think about anything.

She must be feeling like this because she finally worked through all that tension and worry. That has to be it! There’s no deeper meaning, so don’t think too deeply about it, me!

The moment that was bad for Noah’s heart continued until the scream of Freya’s personal maid—Lotte, who had come to fetch her—rang out.

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T/N: I skipped this chapter by accident. This is the chapter before chapter 32 (Freya’s Story)