I Was Reincarnated as the Villain Who Confines the Heroine in an Eroge World, But for Some Reason I'm the One Getting Confined by the Heroine Instead

Chapter 23: It Seems She Has No Intention of Stopping the Confinement

“Ask-kun, we should get going soon or we’ll be late.”

“…Oh, yeah.”

An hour had passed since we started living together.

Safira acted completely normal, as if she hadn’t been keeping me confined until yesterday.

She prepared for school as if nothing had happened and stood in front of the mirror fixing her hair.

I stood frozen, unable to understand her behavior, when she peered into my face with a worried look.

“Does it hurt from yesterday’s injury?”

“Huh? I don’t have any injury.”

“But when I checked your body yesterday, the area around your stomach was all red.”

“…You checked my body?”

“I thought maybe you got hurt during the surprise attack.”

I didn’t understand what she was saying, but the reason for the red mark on my stomach was clear.

“Oh, that was just from the grape juice bottle hitting me.”

“Grape juice?”

“More importantly, when did you check my body?”

“While you were sleeping.”

Safira casually muttered something outrageous.

She secretly checked my body while I was asleep?

“So you attacked me in my sleep?”

“I just examined you carefully. Very carefully.”

“…Oh, I see.”

She confessed so openly without any sign of guilt. She acted as if it was completely natural.

Her attitude drained my energy, and all I could do was force a dry smile.

“…Well, it’s better than being confined, I guess.”

“I haven’t stopped confining you, you know?”

“Huh?”

“I just don’t have the time for it right now. I need to take over the duke’s family, and if I kept you locked in that shed like before, it would be dangerous. It’s safer to guard you while we attend the academy than to protect you in the shed, right?”

“No, taking over the duke’s family…”

“It’s safer, right?”

“That…”

“It’s safer, right?”

Safira pushed forward forcefully. Her face wore a smile, but her eyes weren’t smiling at all.

“…”

“It’s safer, right?”

“…Yeah.”

“As expected of Ask-kun! We really need to hurry now or we’ll be late!”

She said that and pulled me by the arm.

I would probably need to have a serious talk with her.

Because it didn’t feel like we were having a conversation at all. It was completely one-sided.

For now, I decided to head to the academy.

Luckily, I had a one-month time limit.

I planned to work out an escape plan abroad carefully at the academy.

The problem was that Safira never left my side, but I would somehow manage. I had no choice but to try.

※

“Ugh… You guys are together from the morning?”

As we left the room, we ran right into Luxol.

He looked sleep-deprived, rubbing his bleary eyes, but when he saw us, his face twisted as if he’d bitten into something bitter.

“No, this is… there’s a special reason.”

“Reason? Did you get married or something?”

Luxol raised an eyebrow and slowly looked back and forth between me and Safira.

His gaze naturally fell on Safira’s hand firmly gripping my arm.

“Going to school holding hands from the morning? You totally look like a couple.”

“It’s not like that! It’s not that kind of thing!”

“I know. There’s no way you two would stop at some vague relationship like dating. It’s marriage, right?”

“I told you, it’s not.”

I denied it with all my might against Luxol, who muttered as if exasperated.

If I married a duke’s daughter, I wouldn’t be able to escape the country.

Plus, I didn’t want to live in a dangerous place like the duke’s mansion. The security was lax, assassination organization members were lurking, and no matter how many lives I had, it wouldn’t be enough.

“Then why were you in the same room?”

“If I had to say… it’s because she’s guarding me?”

“You became the guard for a duke’s daughter?”

“No, Safira became my guard.”

“Huh? It’s usually the other way around.”

“I really think so too.”

“You’re still as confusing as ever…”

Luxol scratched his head with a laugh, though he looked somewhat stunned.

Then Safira, who had been watching us, spoke up.

“Could you not get too close to Ask-kun? I’m suspicious that you might be connected to the thieves.”

“Thieves? What are you talking about?”

“Ask-kun’s life was targeted yesterday. He was attacked by three thieves.”

“…Huh?”

Luxol froze at those words.

“I can’t tell what’s real anymore.”

“The attack was real.”

“…That’s bad.”

“The attackers are definitely from some organization. There must be others targeting Ask-kun’s life.”

“It’s a serious situation.”

“So could you stay away?”

Safira said it again, on guard.

“You’re pretty suspicious.”

“I think you’re absolutely fine, though.”

When I chimed in, Safira shot me a fierce glare.

“Ask-kun, don’t talk. Right now, I’m speaking to this dangerous person.”

“I told you, he’s the only one I trust.”

Because he’s the protagonist.

I wished the main heroine wouldn’t suspect the protagonist. There were others more worth suspecting. Like the personal maid. Lavanda.

By the way, I hadn’t told Safira about her.

It would complicate things and be troublesome, and Lavanda wasn’t much of a threat anyway.

Luckily, Luxol lived next door, so if I got attacked, I planned to push it onto him and make him handle it.

As a villain should, I needed to push other villains onto the protagonist.

“…The scale is totally different.”

Whether he knew my thoughts or not, Luxol muttered with a wry smile.

“The scale is different. Compared to that, I’m normal. Of course I don’t belong to any weird organization, and I’m not targeting his life. I’m just a perfectly ordinary student.”

“You’re not normal.”

“I am normal. I haven’t been confined, I haven’t skipped the academy, I haven’t been attacked by thieves, and I haven’t lived with a duke’s daughter. You have, right?”

“…I have.”

“See, you’re not normal. What did you do to end up in such terrible situations? You’ve got seriously bad luck, man.”

“Where’s the bad luck? It’s completely unlucky—”

As I started to say that, Safira’s grip on my hand tightened.

When I looked over, she glared at me with terrifying intensity.

“Ask-kun, what’s unlucky?”

“…”

“…Ask-kun?”

Being tangled up with a duke’s daughter for no reason was the unlucky part, but if I said that, things would get even more unlucky, so I swallowed my words.

“Getting attacked by thieves was unlucky.”

“Hehe, that’s right. Being confined by me is lucky, after all.”

“…Hahaha.”

“It’s lucky, right?”

“…Yes.”

How far would my bad luck go, forcing me to nod under pressure? I felt like lamenting.

My expression must have been hilarious to her.

“What a pain-in-the-ass life you’re living.”

Luxol gave a small laugh, slapped my shoulder, and left with one last comment.

“Well, it might suit a protagonist.”

“Huh?”

I could only hold my head at those words.