I Became the Second-in-Command in a Romance Fantasy Novel

“I used to firmly believe in the theory that Daisy was the root of all evil, but that belief is starting to shake.
Actually, the root of all evil isn’t Daisy, but Boradori.
No, Violet—that bastard, isn’t it?”
Sure, there probably is a romance fantasy female lead who’s good at threatening people.
But thinking about the original story Violet mentioned, she definitely wasn’t supposed to be this kind of character.
How on earth was her early education done, that such a clueless and naive romance fantasy heroine changed like this?

“Is this ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) a threat?”
“Yes, it’s a threat.”
Her smiling expression was fresh, just like a romance fantasy heroine’s, but the content was anything but fresh.
“Why do you think that’s a threat?”

I threw the question as if I didn’t know.
“Adam, you don’t like me being with Ellen, right?”
Daisy answered with a look that clearly said she knew everything.

“Why do you think that?”
“Just by looking roughly, it’s obvious.”
Is this the subtlety of a romance fantasy heroine?
What the hell has this damn Boradori created?
That bastard Boradori destroyed the original work, yet only blamed me.
I want to show the current Daisy to the one who first asked me to respect the original work.
“Do you think I’d do it for you?”
“I think you’d really hate this kind of thing and probably wouldn’t do it. But if you press the right way, it feels like you might even allow it? So if I negotiate well using Ellen as bait first… how could it not work?”

How could it not work? What nonsense.
“Do you know how trashy what you just said sounds?”
Before I realized it, the words escaped without filtering, and Daisy scratched her head awkwardly.

“Does it really look that way?”
“Of course. Fine for annoying guys like that, but what about the people who like the saint around you?”
A romance fantasy heroine isn’t clueless for no reason.
If she knew everything but still acted like this, one wrong move and she’d become a manipulative trash woman managing a harem.
So unless it’s a novel where the firm male lead is decided from the start, even romance fantasy heroines with good sense become clueless when it comes to relationships.
“But…”

Daisy answered with a troubled look at my question.
No matter what she said here, she’d look like trash.
“If they confess first… but I can’t suddenly say ‘I don’t like you’ when I know they like me.”
“……”
I was momentarily speechless.
I was waiting for an excuse, but hearing that, it was true.
It wasn’t just one or two guys; more than half the club members liked her.
If she went to each one and said she wasn’t interested, she’d be crazy.
And weren’t they all good friends on the surface?

“To be honest, they’re really good friends, but as lovers, it feels a bit burdensome. Also, since we just met, it’s not really a love feeling yet…”
That was true.
I wouldn’t deny love at first sight, but expecting the person who fell for you at first sight to like you back was clearly selfish.
And it wasn’t just one guy—it was multiple guys.
Pretending not to know that they liked her was managing a harem, but accepting all their feelings would just make her a bitch.
“Maybe after more time passes, I could like someone, but not now. So I can’t be asked to play a fake lover role even more…”
What she meant was that no one was more ill-suited for this job than me, who not only wasn’t falling for her but also was disgusted by this whole thing.

“So, it’s a bit embarrassing to say…”
Ahem.
Daisy coughed softly and stared off into the distance.
“Can’t you fall for me?”
“……”

Our world’s romance fantasy heroines really are trash, no matter how you look at it.
Now that I realized Daisy was far from the romance fantasy heroine I imagined,
I couldn’t be sure what would happen if I just sent her back.
“Let’s hear what you have to say first.”

I had no choice but to sit at the negotiation table.
“Thank you. Among the people I know, only Adam and Senior Belian can do me this favor… but Senior Belian would probably just run away.”
At that moment, I remembered who Belian was—the name of the deputy club leader.
Well, she’s the only one in the flower arrangement club who actually does flower arranging.
If the club leader got chased away by a confession attack, the remaining club time would inevitably turn into chaos.

“Isn’t there anyone else?”
“The guys I’m close to… they’re all club members. So if you don’t accept, I’ll inevitably have to ask Ellen.”
“……”
“Well, this is a threat… but it’s not just because of the threat! If you weren’t around, I would have really asked Ellen.”
What the hell did that mean?
“Why?”
“Because Ellen is the farthest from me, after all.”

After hearing the explanation, I realized it wasn’t Violet’s fault but mine.
Because I fought tooth and nail to avoid the Holy Nation and important events, paradoxically, the story wasn’t as developed for me, making me the most fitting fake lover candidate among the male leads.
“Well, isn’t there Gerard too?”
I called out the name of the third-rate minor lord’s son, the sidekick to Ellen, whom Boradori told me about.

“Ah! Gerard is third priority.”
Unfortunately, third priority it was.
“……”

Should I consider all this effort finally paying off?
“So, will you do it?”
Her sparkling eyes looked like the very image of a romance fantasy heroine, but inside she was just a terrorist in an academy story.
The romance fantasy heroine grabbed a hostage and threatened to blow up the place if she wasn’t cooperated with.

“Don’t look at it that way. If you keep looking at it like that…”
“Looking at it?”
“I might fall for you.”
“That’s nice. So you’ll play the lover role, right?”
When I said I might fall, I thought she’d refuse.
But the sharp terrorist wasn’t falling for it.
“Do you hate it that much?”
“Yes. Isn’t it weird to ask this from someone you dislike?”
“To be honest, it’s refreshing and makes my heart pound.”

Damn Boradori. What the hell did you create?
Seeing Daisy smoothly dodge everything, I finally had to surrender.
This girl was serious. If I refused, she’d ask the next in line—Prince Ellen.
No, she was a woman.
“One month only?”
So the negotiation immediately moved on.
No matter how great a romance fantasy heroine was, she couldn’t beat me, who made contracts with the royal family at age ten.

“Until the vacation. In one month, people will think it’s easier and cling more.”
“Then until the midterms. Say we broke up because we got busy with exams and different classes.”
“Absolutely until the vacation. If needed, I’m even thinking of changing majors.”
“…Really?”
“I’ve received many requests suggesting I transfer to the swordsmanship department starting next semester.”
I roughly requested it, but it seemed Swordmaster appealed quite a bit.
“Also, rumors about the Holy Nation are exaggerated and spreading more than expected. Even if I transfer now, everyone will understand.”

I’d heard the rumors too.
Unlike in the Leon Kingdom, at the academy, the most famous rumor was that Daisy split the sky.
Besides that…
“The Sword of Light touched the sky, cutting it. The goddess poured the sword of light like rain, punishing the fallen. She slashed a thousand holy knights with a single blow.”
Combining the information from the Intelligence Bureau and rumors spread across the continent created such a bizarre tale.
If that were true, why bother being a swordsman? Should just be a holy knight.

“Ah, no, that’s…”
She blushed and shouted as if she believed otherwise herself.
“Most of it’s exaggerated, so don’t really believe it.”
“Most?”

Does that mean some is true?
Thinking of all the effort to beat Ellen once, I wondered…
Did I learn swordsmanship for this? It was painful and depressing.
“Anyway! What’s important now is that we become lovers until vacation. Got it?”
“What do I know? I only agreed until the midterms.”
“You don’t have a lover anyway! If there’s a rumor for just half a year, that’s enough! I’m not asking for much!”
“No, the rumor is the problem.”
“Oh, do you have someone you like? I heard you’ve been meeting Violet often lately, but…”
Her eyes wide, hand covering her mouth—so irritating.
If it had been yesterday, or even this morning, I might have misunderstood and believed that for real.

“You know it’s not true, don’t you?”
“Pretending not to know!”
It felt like she learned how to tease people gently somewhere.
The negotiation lasted longer than I expected.
She kept the upright heart of a romance fantasy heroine, even though she broke every other rule.
What does that mean?

“Then, until winter vacation.”
She never gave up on the period.
Daisy knew well she had the upper hand in negotiations.
When I refused, she immediately declared a year and a half.
In other words, if I didn’t give in, she threatened to keep the fake relationship with Ellen until next year.
“On the condition that you keep the terms well.”
“Of course.”

But I succeeded in attaching many other conditions.
First, tell the flower arrangement club members, including Prince Ellen and the romance fantasy male leads, in advance that it’s a fake relationship.
And secondly…
“My first lover turned out to be so jealous!”
“Hah…”

During the fake relationship, minimize contact with Prince Ellen.
This was added as a condition to treat it as work, but seeing her smile as if she caught a good weakness made me regret saying it.
“Also, you have to accept my conditions well.”
“Yes. But please tell me at least a week in advance. I have a schedule too.”
In return, she requested one date per month.
Call it a date, but it was a way to use me as a scarecrow to chase away annoying events.
I was a punching bag to men but a scarecrow to women.
I was already worried about how the club leader would react.

Rumors spread fast at the academy.
That’s true even during vacations, even on Saturdays.
“Where are you going?”
Though it was vacation, many students were already attending classes.
Some academy classes were hard for an average person to keep up with unless they were a genius.
Professors or assistants sometimes held personal classes in empty classrooms during vacation time.
Even if not, many met people under the pretext of attending classes to build networks.

“Ah, well.”
Smiling brightly, Daisy thought:
‘Who could it be?’

Before becoming a saint, many pretended to know her because of flower arrangement club friends.
After becoming a saint, that number increased rapidly.
Since returning from the Holy Nation, most people at the academy pretended to be close to her, so it wasn’t strange for Daisy to be awkward about strangers pretending to be familiar.
‘Actually, these kinds of people are good for spreading rumors.’
Without hesitation, Daisy said:

“Since the academy reopens soon, I confessed to someone I like.”
“…What?”
The aftermath of the nuclear bomb dropped in the Holy Nation hadn’t even ended,
and she dropped another massive bomb at the academy.