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 31: The Duke’s Daughter Is Too Aggressive

Once lunch break ended, afternoon classes began.

After everyone changed into gym clothes and gathered on the school grounds, practical training in magic control started.

However, since the incident from yesterday had happened, they decided that actual combat practice was too dangerous. So today’s session had been changed to a menu focused on building basic strength, like stretching and practice swings.

First, we were to pair up in twos for stretching.

“Ask-kun, is it really okay?”

“I don’t have a partner either, so it’s perfect.”

When I held out my hand to the anxious-looking girl, we formed a pair.

Normally, boys and girls would pair up separately, but we were the exception.

The reason was simple: no one wanted to pair with Safira.

Well, it was understandable. After three broken engagements, plus the fact that she had beaten down bandits bare-handed during the recent attack, it was only natural.

No one would willingly want to stretch with someone like that.

“But it’s embarrassing…”

“It’s fine. I’ll be gentle.”

We started with basic stretches to loosen up the body.

I moved behind Safira and pressed firmly against her back as she did a straddle. Keeping her aware of the stretch in the backs of her thighs, I slowly pushed her forward.

Then, when we reached her limit—

“Hyah!”

A small squeal escaped her.

It was an adorably cute voice that no one would expect from her usual self.

“Are you maybe really stiff?”

“U-um, yeah…”

“That’s not good. Magic control depends heavily on how smoothly your body flows.”

To regulate the circulation of magic power, flexibility was the most important thing. Especially if the backs of the thighs were tight, it would throw off the balance of the pelvis and spine, ruining posture.

And once posture was bad, the flow of magic power would stagnate too.

“Let’s take it to your absolute limit since we’re here.”

“…Ask-kun?”

With the intention of guiding her, I supported her back and slowly added my body weight.

“Wait, hold on… it hurts—it hurts!”

“Just a little more. You can do it!”

“Hyaaah…”

A sweet, charming moan slipped out.

It was so seductive that I almost felt like I was doing something wrong.

Even though I was just seriously doing the stretch.

“I can’t… I really can’t go any further…”

She turned to look at me pleadingly.

In that moment, her golden hair fluttered, and a sweet scent wafted gently toward me.

“…”

Even though I smelled it every day, for some reason my heartbeat grew wildly faster. Maybe because we were in the middle of class.

Either way, it didn’t change what I had to do.

Somehow managing to keep my focus, I pushed her to her limit until time ran out.

“Haa… haa… I seriously thought I was gonna die.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“…Ask-kun, you’re so mean.”

Safira shot me a dissatisfied, teary-eyed glare.

That expression was so cute that I had no choice but to look away.

“Okay, now it’s my turn.”

“Huh?”

“Come on, Ask-kun. Stretch out your body.”

Now it was time for another pair to stretch.

That was fine, but the problem was that Safira was full of enthusiasm.

With an attitude that screamed she was planning revenge, she urged me, “Hurry, hurry.”

“I’m really competitive, you know.”

Saying that, she placed both hands on my back.

“…This is just stretching, right?”

“I’m the type who always returns what’s done to me.”

“So this is just stretching, right?”

Ignoring my question completely, Safira took a deep breath and put real force into it.

It felt like she was going all out—

“Wait a second. Are you putting magic power into that?”

“Hehe, if your body were flexible, it’d be no problem, right?”

“No, that’s not the issue—ughaaah?!”

She pressed my back with full strength.

It seemed Safira was seriously planning to take me down.

“Sorry, I was wrong! It was my fault!”

“Hehe, Ask-kun writhing in agony is kind of cute.”

“What part of it?!”

“You can still go further, right?”

Even though my chest was already flat against the ground, Safira only grew more intense.

I had noticed it ever since she kept me locked up, but her aggressiveness was way too much.

If she ever became the duke, I was genuinely worried she might start a war with another country.

In some cases, she might even overthrow the state.

“Let’s take it a little easier, okay? World peace comes first.”

“But Ask-kun, if humans and grapes ever went to war, you’d take the grapes’ side, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course. Grapes are justice.”

“I’m the same. For you, Ask-kun, I’d take over anything.”

“What?!”

The dangerously extreme word slipped out so suddenly that I couldn’t help but ask again.

Even though I didn’t have the mental leeway for it right now.

“Come on, Ask-kun, let’s do our best!”

“I’m telling you I can’t go any further! Seriously, I can’t!”

Her laughter echoed from behind me.

In the end, I was thoroughly pushed to my limit until time was up.

—The duke’s daughter is way too aggressive.

—

Chapter 32: Not the Protagonist

“Ah, the protagonist.”

It happened one day after school while I was walking around the academy grounds.

I was checking the location of the fields to look into the academy’s grape cultivation situation when Luxol’s figure suddenly caught the corner of my eye.

“The culprit is definitely someone from the nobility. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they carried out the crime themselves.”

“So you’re saying it’s possible they had a servant do it?”

It seemed he was solving some incident together with the saintess.

As expected of the protagonist. He was smoothly advancing along the saintess route today too.

By the way, the saintess is exactly what the title implies—a person from the church.

Her position is inherited through bloodline, and she’s a symbolic figure of the church, but well, none of that really matters. She has nothing to do with grapes.

I glanced again at the girl dressed in pure white monastic robes with black hair and black eyes, and thought to myself.

The real problem was that Luxol had entered the saintess route.

In the final part of this route, the church gets burned down, and the flames spread to the grape fields, leading to the absolute worst bad ending.

The two of them end up together in the end, but the grapes suffer catastrophic damage, so personally, this is the route I least want him to take.

“……”

But right now, I didn’t have the leeway to interfere.

I already knew that an attack from Lavanda’s assassination organization was coming soon, so I had no spare energy to go around stopping other people’s routes.

“The clues to the incident are always at the scene. Let’s go!”

“Yes, let’s head over.”

After watching the two of them walk toward the training grounds, I turned back to my grape investigation.

As I reached the courtyard, I spotted my classmate Ekoro-kun growing grape seedlings in a planter.

“As expected of Ekoro-kun!”

When I called out without thinking, Ekoro-kun’s shoulders, which had been bent over, gave a little twitch.

Then he fearfully turned around to face me.

“Hii… I-I didn’t do anything, so please, just spare my life!”

“What do you mean, ‘didn’t do anything’? What do you think I am?”

“…The next head of the duke’s family.”

“Huh?”

“Everyone’s saying it. You two are basically about to get married.”

“No way, that’s not true.”

We’re just living together, that’s all.

We go to school together, sit through classes together, spend breaks together, and stay together after school. It’s not like we’re in a romantic relationship or anything. We’re just always together.

…Wait. How is that any different from being married?

While such a question floated through my mind, I lightly patted the trembling Ekoro-kun’s shoulder. His neatly trimmed mushroom-cut hair swayed.

I showed him a big smile to prove I meant no harm.

“It’s okay. Anyone who loves grapes is family to me.”

“Hiii—”

It seemed I only scared him more, because Ekoro-kun froze for a moment.

Maybe my love for grapes wasn’t getting through?

“You know, I think all of humanity should love grapes. We should grow grapes, learn about grapes, and walk alongside grapes.”

“Um… what do you mean?”

“From my perspective, everyone in our class is lacking in grape love. You should spend at least three hours a day thinking about grapes.”

“Isn’t that a bit much?”

“Not at all. Look, Ekoro-kun, you’re always thinking about grapes, aren’t you?”

“My family runs a grape farm, so yeah. Plus lately I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

Ekoro-kun looked down with an anxious expression.

“Something wrong?”

I crouched down next to him and listened while we both gazed at the planter.

“Lately, grape prices have been going up and down like crazy…”

“Yeah, they’ve been fluctuating every day.”

“It’s tough for farmers. Our lives become unstable, and we can’t even estimate our income, so it makes us anxious.”

“It also makes it hard to hire help, right?”

“…Yeah. So my dad’s been worrying about what to do next. He hurt his back, and it’s getting hard to keep going…”

“I see.”

It sounded like the situation was serious.

“I want to take over the farm. But with things the way they are, it’s tough. I have to attend the academy, so I can’t be there full-time to look after the fields.”

Attending the academy was mandatory.

You could take time off, but you had to graduate within three years.

To graduate, you needed to attend classes and earn credits.

So realistically, balancing school with the family business wasn’t possible.

Helping out a little was one thing, but settling in as the heir and running things properly was difficult.

If things continued like this, the farm might go under. The country could lose one of its grape farms entirely.

I couldn’t stand the thought, so I raised my voice.

“If there’s anything I can do, just tell me. If you need extra hands, I’ll come help. I’ll do everything I can. Oh, I know! How about asking Safira to send some people over?”

I thought it was a great idea and suggested it, but…

“N-no, please don’t!”

He rejected it with full force.

“Relying on the duke’s family is a last resort. Until then, I’ll struggle as hard as I can.”

“I see.”

He must have his own way of thinking.

“If you ever need extra hands, just call me. I’m used to harvesting grapes.”

“Then… would you help out during harvest season?”

“Of course!”

We shook hands.

We looked at each other and nodded with smiles.

“Ask-kun, you’re actually a lot kinder than I thought.”