The Mob Noble Who Got Reincarnated in a World Where Men Are Naturally Protected—So I Trained Like Crazy to Protect Girls Instead, But Their Love Got Way Too Heavy - Chapter 29 & 30

Act 03: Cursed Blade “Clear Mirror, Still Water” and the Phantom-Summoning Bell

Chapter 29: The Way to Break the Curse

The day after escaping from the “Royal Family’s Secret” mirror, Wiz, Aegis, and I met up in the academy’s quiet back garden.

In front of us, sitting stiffly on the ground in perfect seiza, were Narcis and two of his female followers.

That obedient posture was the proud result of Garland Boot Camp—which had lasted all night straight until sunrise.

“So? What was that all about? Why did you attack us, and why did Tect end up cursed?”

“…Why should I, a noble of high birth, have to explain anything to some woman?”

“Hah!?”

Aegis’s aura spiked so violently the air itself trembled. Narcis had no idea how close he was to becoming a crater in the garden.

I sighed. “Ten push-ups.”

“Y-Yes! R-Right away, sir!”

Narcis jumped like a startled rabbit and immediately dropped to the ground, pushing up and down with frantic energy.

The two girls beside him scrambled to follow, shaking as they tried to keep up.

I clapped in rhythm.

“One, two, three, four—two, two, three, four!”

“Ugh, he’s making them move to the beat…”

“Yeah, he says ten, but it’s really twenty.”

By the time Narcis hit one and a half sets—which, by my count, was three full rounds—he flopped flat like a deflated frog.

I looked down at him and spoke calmly.

“Narcis! You’ve only done one and a half! What’s the hold-up!?”

“S-Sergeant! I-I can’t do it! Ten push-ups is impossible for meee!”

“Don’t give me that, you newborn excuse for a human! In my house, even babies three days old could knock out a hundred—no, two hundred—push-ups easy!”

“Tect, that’s… definitely not normal.”

I pretended not to hear Wiz and kept barking orders.

“So then what happens when you can’t do them? Who’s gonna make up for the ones you missed?”

“Uh, t-these two will—”

“Hah?”

“Eeeek! N-No, wait! My future self! Tomorrow’s me will take responsibility! The stronger, more muscular me of tomorrow!”

“You can’t grow muscle in one day, idiot!”

“E-Even so! I’ll do it! Please let me try!”

“Fine! Then tomorrow, you finish the rest of your push-ups!”

“Yes, sir!!”

I crossed my arms and nodded proudly. Wiz and Aegis exchanged uneasy glances—half impressed, half horrified.

“Wow… you actually trained him that well…” 

“I can’t decide if that’s discipline or dark magic.”

What were they talking about? This was just basic family training.

“Alright, Narcis. Let’s try this again. Tell us everything you know about that ‘Royal Family’s Secret’ mirror.”

“Yes! I’ll speak! I’ll tell you everything!”

Barely managing to push himself off the ground, Narcis was finally helped up by the two girls at his sides, still trembling like a broken puppy.

“The curse that infected Garland… was actually a trap created by the previous head of the Orvieto family. It was meant to imitate the royal family’s trial—but twisted into a curse.”

“…Start from the beginning.”

“Yes. It all began with a power struggle in the previous generation of the Constantine royal family.”

Narcis took a shaky breath and started recounting the royal house’s history.

It was, honestly, your classic story of greed and ambition.

The current queen hadn’t always been the official royal consort. She’d clawed her way up—winning a brutal power struggle, bearing the prince, and claiming the crown for herself.

Along the way came sabotage, manipulation, plots to turn the king against his earlier wives, and even assassination attempts on rival consorts.

“The ‘Royal Family’s Secret’… was something my mother—the former head of the Orvieto family—was commissioned to create by one of those rival consorts, an enemy of the current queen. It was designed to curse her, even while she was still just a student.”

But in the end, the curse had never been used.

The “Royal Family’s Secret” was simply left behind, gathering dust—until it turned into an urban legend.

Over the years, rumors spread of a giant golem guarding the place, destroying intruders, and wiping their memories clean, leaving only fragments of the tale behind.

But anyone who truly knew its details would immediately recognize who had created it—and why.

And that, Narcis admitted bitterly, was exactly why the Orvieto family now stood on the brink of disgrace.

“That’s why I had to take care of the ‘Royal Family’s Secret’ while I was still enrolled here. The mirror can’t be destroyed before the curse activates, so only the Orvieto family—immune to the curse—can safely neutralize it.”

So basically, it was just cleaning up his own family’s mess.

That had been Narcis’s real objective all along.

After hearing the whole explanation, I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“So basically, it wasn’t The Royal Family’s Secret—it was Your Family’s Secret, you damn idiot!!”

“Gyaaaaah!!”

I kicked Narcis straight across the garden. He screamed as he flew like a sack of laundry caught in a tornado.

“Narcis!” “Are you okay, Narcis!?”

The two girls scrambled over to help him while I clutched my head in pure frustration.

“I knew it felt too convenient! The whole thing was barely a challenge! So this is what they mean when they say curiosity kills the cat, huh!?”

Seriously, with that kind of difficulty, anyone would’ve thought, “Wow, we just conquered an ancient trial and got a legendary treasure!”

Of course I dropped my guard—anyone would have!

“N-No, the trial Garland went through actually was modeled after the real royal test… or, well, copied it almost exactly.”

“I mean, I still think it was plenty difficult. Both me and Shorty here were struggling, remember?”

“Yeah, but Miss Gloomy over here spent the entire time staring at those ancient letters on the surface and completely missed the writing on the lake floor.”

I groaned and rubbed my temples. Somehow, while I was lamenting life choices, Narcis was flailing again—and Wiz and Aegis had managed to start another scuffle right next to him.

What even was this situation anymore?

I cleared my throat loudly and turned back to Narcis.

“So what’s the deal with this curse anyway? My arm still hurts a bit, but other than that, I feel totally fine.”

It was just a dull, lingering ache—annoying, sure, but not enough to keep me from passing out last night. And when I woke up this morning, nothing had changed.

Narcis looked away. “…I don’t know.”

“Hah?”

“N-No, really! I have no idea! I was just supposed to lift the curse, break the mirror, and take care of it! I did hear it wasn’t the kind of curse that kills people, though!”

I grabbed him by the collar and raised a fist. Narcis immediately started shaking his head like a bobblehead in an earthquake.

Judging by that reaction, he really didn’t know anything.

I folded my arms, thinking. The pain wasn’t unbearable, just irritating enough to be a problem.

“What the hell am I supposed to do about this…”

“Hmm… can I take a look? If I can see the pattern, maybe I can tell what kind of curse it is.”

I rolled up my sleeve and held out my arm. Wiz studied the dark markings closely, tracing her fingers lightly over the lines as her eyes narrowed in concentration.

“…I’m sorry. I can’t tell. The only thing I’m sure of—it’s not magic.”

“What? You serious, gloomy girl? You get all handsy with Tect’s arm and still can’t be useful? Fine then, I’ll hug his arm next!”

“Excuse me!? You’re making this worse! Then I’ll just hug Tect around the waist instead!”

“What! Then this time, I’m getting my kiss on the cheek, for real!”

“Stop turning this into a competition over who gets to sexually harass me!”

Just when I thought these two were finally getting along, they started competing over the weirdest things imaginable.

Then Aegis suddenly spoke up. 

“Hmm… alright, how about this? I could use one of my connections. Not someone I really want to owe a favor to, though.”

“Your connection?”

“Yeah. Coincidentally, she’s in the same class as me.”

“Wait—what, a curse specialist or something?”

Aegis shook her head. 

“No. You’ve actually seen her before, Tect—just not up close. What I mean is…”

She paused for dramatic effect, eyes narrowing slightly before dropping a bombshell.

“Someone connected to the real target of your curse—Her Majesty the Queen… and her daughter, the Princess.”

Chapter 30: Her Highness, Princess Illucia

I figured I should put together what I actually know about Princess Illucia Fararche Constantine, the third princess of the royal family—and our batchmate.

The first time I saw her was during the entrance ceremony, when the royal family gave their greetings.

“Nice to meet you all. I am Illucia Fararche Constantine, the third daughter of the current queen.”

She had soft features and elegantly curled, rose-blonde hair that screamed high-class lady.

Her speech was calm, perfectly polite, and carried a quiet confidence—refined and intelligent, yet with a kind of mysterious charisma that pulled people in.

In fact, within just a short time after enrollment, she had already formed a small faction of her own. Her influence among the first-year students was massive, and rumor had it she was practically guaranteed a spot in the student council.

Even her “Public Morals Committee” activities—something Aegis was also involved in—were apparently part of her network-building. And while Aegis sat near the top of the academy’s social hierarchy herself, even she couldn’t ignore the princess.

That said, Illucia wasn’t completely free of rumors.

For example, one of the more persistent ones claimed that despite being a member of the royal family, she preferred women.

In this world, where the male-to-female ratio was about one to thirty, that kind of thing wasn’t exactly shocking. Female-female relationships were pretty common—there were even marriages between women, where they’d just get a man’s “contribution” for children when needed. For commoners, it was nothing out of the ordinary.

But that was only true for commoners.

Among nobles, same-sex love was treated as taboo—practically a sin.

Noblewomen were expected to marry men, bear sons, and strengthen their family’s political ties through bloodlines and heirs.

But the princess? She was royalty.

And for someone of royal blood, being gay wasn’t just scandalous—it was unthinkable.

Yet despite that, she had built a faction made entirely of girls who shared her distaste for men.

People called it the Yuri Harem, and its leader—the one we were about to meet—was none other than Princess Illucia herself.

My impression of her?

Someone far, far above the clouds.

Her rank, her aura, her very presence—everything about her was on a completely different level.

Just the thought of talking to her felt like some kind of violation of the natural social order.

And now, here I was, being dragged along to meet that very person… after class.

“My stomach hurts,”

I groaned, clutching my side as Aegis led the way.

“T-Tect…! E-Everyone’s staring! They’re all staring at us!”

“C-Calm down, Wiz. Aegis is leading us—nobody’s gonna kill us. Just… uh, walk tall. Yeah. Confident. Confident…”

“You two call that confident? You’re attracting more attention by acting shady than by being lower nobles.” 

We crept down the corridor like a pair of terrified rabbits, flinching every time someone so much as glanced our way.

Aegis just sighed again, shaking her head.

But seriously, could you blame us?

This was the upper noble class—the sons and daughters of families so powerful that people like us wouldn’t even dream of speaking to them under normal circumstances.

Still, Aegis shot me a sharp look before saying—

“By the way, you two do realize we’re about to meet the top of the noble class, right? A member of the royal family. If you’re already trembling in front of a few nobles’ kids, how do you plan to hold a normal conversation with a princess?”

“Obviously I can’t! I’m a knight’s son—basically a commoner with a fancier last name!”

“I-I can’t do this either…! M-M-Miss Aegis…”

“Tect, stop acting like you’ve already accepted your doom! And you, gloomy girl,—stop calling my name all sweet and desperate only when it’s convenient!”

Aegis finally lost patience and grabbed both of us by the collars, dragging us down the hall like two misbehaving kittens.

And that’s how we ended up stepping into Class 1-A, the elite classroom of the academy’s highest-ranking nobles—the very class Aegis belonged to.

“Your Highness! I brought them, just like we discussed earlier.”

As Aegis called out, every girl in the room froze, then turned toward us in unison.

Their gazes hit like daggers—sharp, judging, and filled with the kind of hostility that screamed “How dare the lowborn step into our airspace?” My spine went cold.

Then, from the far end of the room, a gentle, melodic voice cut through the tension.

“Thank you, Aegis. Please, bring them here.”

Swallowing hard, I followed Aegis to the back and stopped in front of the one who’d spoken.

“So, you’re the one who wished to speak with me?”

The girl before us was the very picture of refinement.

Her long, softly curled pink-blonde hair shimmered in the sunlight, and her drooping eyes gave her an elegant, almost ethereal calm.

There was no mistaking it.

The Third Princess—Illucia Fararche Constantine.

“Tect.” 

Aegis nudged me sharply.

I straightened up in an instant.

“Ah—yes! Thank you very much for agreeing to meet with us, Princess Illucia. I am Protelclus Garland, son of the knight Garland.”

Dropping to one knee, I bowed my head deeply.

It was a full step above the greeting I’d given Aegis the first time we met—formal, polished, straight out of the noble etiquette manuals my mother had beaten into my brain since childhood.

The reaction, though, wasn’t what I expected.

A wave of murmurs rippled through the room as the surrounding girls started whispering among themselves.

What the hell? Why do they all look so shocked? This is standard etiquette, right? I didn’t mess this up, did I?

The princess smiled faintly, her expression gentle and composed.

“My, how polite you are. But please, there’s no need to be so formal. This is a school, not the royal palace.”

At her soft instruction—“Bring chairs for our guests, please”—the girls around her immediately moved, fetching chairs from nearby desks with the kind of efficiency that could only come from royal training.

“Please, have a seat. I’d like to hear your story.”

“I’m honored, Your Highness.”

I sat down as calmly as I could manage, though my heart was hammering. Around us, the whispers only grew louder.

“Wait… do boys even know etiquette?” “I’ve never seen one actually use it before…” “I once saw a baron’s son walk past the princess and just snort at her like she was beneath him…”

Their wide-eyed stares made me want to sink into the floor.

Fantastic. Apparently, being polite was weird for a guy here.

I let out a silent plea to the universe to give me a break—then took a deep breath and forced myself to move forward.

If awkwardness was inevitable, I’d just bulldoze through it.

“The reason I came to seek your counsel, Your Highness… is because this concerns your mother—the current Queen. That’s why I thought…”

“I see. That’s quite all right. Everyone here is someone I trust. I’ve already had the room cleared of outsiders.”

I glanced around the classroom. A few girls were still lingering near the back, but judging by the way they stood silently with their heads bowed, the princess’s word alone was enough to count as “cleared.”

“Then, please forgive me for showing something unpleasant.”

I rolled up my right sleeve.

“Gasp!” “Oh my goodness!” “That’s—unbelievable!” “On a man’s skin, too—!”

Gasps rippled through the room as the girls saw the black curse marks crawling across my arm.

Even Princess Illucia’s eyes widened for a heartbeat before her expression hardened into quiet composure. She reached out, her fingertips brushing lightly against my arm.

“Where… did this happen?”

“It was inside one of the academy’s so-called urban legends. When I drew a sword there, this appeared. I’d rather not name specifics—there are still too many unclear details.”

Narcis had already been properly educated. No need to drag his name into this mess. He wasn’t the main culprit anyway.

“I understand.”

Her delicate fingers traced the dark lines again, and the markings pulsed faintly—rising off my skin like wisps of black smoke.

“Your Highness, please don’t touch it any further—it could be dangerous.”

I grabbed her hand and pulled it back before I could stop myself.

Her eyes went wide, locking onto mine.

…Oh crap.

Did I just commit high treason by grabbing a royal’s hand!?

“M-My apologies, Your Highness!”

“It’s quite alright. You simply startled me, that’s all.”

I quickly looked away as Princess Illucia gave me a calm, gentle smile.

S-So scary! Royalty is terrifying! Every single word feels like walking through a minefield! One wrong move and—boom, I’m executed for ‘breathing near a princess!’

“…Even a princess touching Tect’s hand.” “She’s bold… I’ll give her that.”

Wiz and Aegis were glaring daggers at the princess, but Illucia didn’t so much as blink. Grace under pressure. Impressive.

She went quiet then, her gaze fixed thoughtfully on the black markings running along my arm. I didn’t dare move. I was too scared to even blink—one twitch and I’d probably violate some obscure royal etiquette law.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the princess spoke.

“I believe I understand the nature of this curse. In fact, it seems rather simple to remove.”

“Really!? That’s… that’s incredible! Thank you so much!”

I smiled and bowed deeply, only to glance up and find the princess staring at me—her eyes wide again, gaze locked right on mine.

“…Your Highness?”

“Ahem. Yes, well… allow me to explain what this curse actually is.”

She cleared her throat softly before continuing, her composure slipping back into place with regal precision.

“First, to confirm—the curse is indeed connected to my mother, Her Majesty the Queen. Or, more precisely… it was intended to target her.”

“I see.”

A collective gasp ran through the room, but Princess Illucia’s calm tone didn’t waver in the slightest as she went on.

“I don’t know all the details myself, but I have seen this pattern before. It is said to appear on those once branded as the Accursed within the bloodline of the ‘Phantom Queen.’”

“The… Accursed?”

“Yes. Those who rebelled against the very phantoms they were meant to command—and were slain by them. They were considered the shame of our lineage.”

Phantoms… commanding…

So it was a bloodline that specialized in summoning or illusion magic, huh? That would fit with the name ‘Phantom Queen’.

“Because of that history, this mark became a symbol of disgrace within our family. If my mother, the Queen, had been afflicted by such a curse, she would have faced harsh judgment within the royal bloodline—perhaps even exile.”

“I… see, I think?”

I nodded uncertainly. Something about this still didn’t sit right.

So far, all this explained where the mark came from, but not what the curse actually did.

“As for how to remove it, I believe the method should exist within the royal archives. However, it would most likely be restricted to the Forbidden Library—as such curses involve highly classified royal matters.”

“The… Forbidden Library?”

“Yes. My family’s archivist serves as its keeper. If I order her to investigate, the records of the curse—and its countermeasure—should be uncovered.”

So that meant this was practically solved.

We’d just need to let the experts dig through the archives and follow whatever instructions they found.

I finally exhaled, feeling a wave of relief wash over me. At least it didn’t seem like the curse would suddenly kill me. If it could be undone, that was all I needed to hear.

But just as I started to relax, the princess spoke again—her voice still calm, but carrying a strange, deliberate edge.

“However, whether I choose to give such an order… is an entirely different matter.”

…Huh?

The air shifted instantly. Her tone was still gentle and polite—but beneath it, a chill crept in, sharp and deliberate.

Illucia smiled gracefully, her expression calm yet her eyes gleaming with quiet authority.

“If word spread that I granted a favor to a lower noble without expecting anything in return, it would set a dangerous precedent. Others would begin demanding the same—‘You helped him, so you should help me as well.’ That would be… quite troublesome.”

“Uh… I—see…”

“Therefore, I must ask for compensation. Something worthy enough to move me—Illucia Fararche Constantine, Third Princess of the Realm.”

Cold sweat trickled down my back.

So that’s what this was.

Basically: ‘You came empty-handed and now want the royal family to clean up your mess? How adorable.’

And the worst part? She wasn’t wrong. I’d totally let my guard down. I’d assumed that since Aegis had brought me here, everything would go smoothly. Big mistake.

Aegis suddenly stood, her voice cutting through the tension like steel.

“Illucia. I’m the one who brought him here. Are you seriously trying to embarrass me right now?”

The princess’s smile didn’t falter for a second.

“I mean no disrespect, Aegis. You are, after all, the top student of the first-year class and heir to the prestigious ‘Little Fortress’ line.”

“Oh? So you do have some backbone, huh?”

Aegis’s pupils narrowed, her tone dropping dangerously low. The air between the two of them grew heavy, crackling with tension—this wasn’t the friendly kind of rivalry she had with Wiz. This was real.

Before the atmosphere could snap, I hurriedly stepped forward.

“F-Fine then! What do you want me to do? You wouldn’t have agreed to this meeting if you planned to ask for something impossible, right?”

“Tect! Stop! Leave this to me and Illucia!”

Aegis’s voice cracked slightly—panic flashing across her face.

But before she could say anything more, the princess spoke softly.

“My, how perceptive. Polite, considerate… yet reckless and innocent all at once. What an intriguing man.”

I froze, glancing up. Princess Illucia was smiling—graceful, composed, and just a little too unreadable for my liking.

“Then, how about this? You’ll serve as my attendant for a while.”

“…Excuse me? A-Attendant?”

“Yes. My attendant. You are a knight’s son, aren’t you? Think of it as… training for your future.”

She smiled sweetly at my baffled face, then tilted her head slightly.

“Or… is such a lowly task too beneath a man like you?”

That did it.

The way she said it—the tone, the faint smirk—it wasn’t just teasing. It was like she’d lumped me together with every useless guy in this world.

And that ticked me off.

I shot to my feet before I could think. 

“I can do it!”

“Oh? Do what, exactly?”

“I said being your attendant would be easy! I’ll stick by your side from morning till night if that’s what it takes!”

“Tect!?”

“Tect—what are you saying!?”

Wiz and Aegis both shouted, but it was already too late.

Princess Illucia let out a quiet “pfft,” then broke into laughter—shoulders trembling, hand delicately covering her mouth as she tried to contain it.

“Aha… hahaha! My, you are delightful! What an entertaining man you are. Very well, then. I shall have one of my personal maids begin your training immediately. Come with me.”

The princess stood with effortless grace and made her way toward the classroom door.

“Eh—wait, right now? Like, right now right now!?”

“Of course. You did say you’d serve as my attendant from morning till night, didn’t you? No better time to start than now.”

“Wh—hold on, morning till night was just a—!”

“Fufufu… ahahaha…”

Her laughter echoed down the hallway as she vanished through the doorway, clearly enjoying every second of my meltdown.

I stood there, staring blankly after her, then grabbed my head and groaned.

“…Yeah. I definitely agreed to way too much.”