The Main Heroine Falls for the Extra

Allen Ludwig is the son of the knight commander who serves the Duke Ignis family.
At the same time, being the same age as the duke’s second daughter Riel, he built a friendship with her from childhood by being her conversation partner.
Well, even so, since Riel was such a quiet person, it was almost a structure where Allen talked alone and Riel listened.
Allen was always by Riel’s side, and this continued for more than ten years.
So although it’s hard to tell from the outside, Riel relied on Allen quite a bit, and eventually accepted his feelings and became involved with him in the latter part of the novel.
For a main heroine, she takes a while to get together with the protagonist, but what can you do, that’s the kind of character she is.
Yes, I’m sure that was the content…
But I froze again at the harsh words that just came out of Riel’s mouth.
“What’s so great about that terrible guy that everyone’s going crazy over him?”
Looking at the context, this is clearly referring to Allen.
Well, um…
Honestly, as someone whose fiancée was taken away, I somewhat agree with the “terrible guy” part, but…
The fact that those words came from Riel, the main heroine and Allen’s childhood friend, is really…
Did I mishear?
“Always following me around like a stalker, and whenever I try to do something, he always appears to interfere—it’s really annoying.”
I didn’t mishear.
Moreover, her voice is filled with resentment.
“And he’s so clueless? Even when I give him hints to please go away, he gets some kind of wrong idea and just stands there with that disgusting smile…”
Wait, hold on.
Seriously, how much has she been bottling up?
I was inwardly lamenting as her criticisms of Allen continued.
“Is that your real personality?”
“Huh?”
Riel, who had been badmouthing Allen, paused briefly and turned to look at me at my question.
The way she opened her eyes wide looked strangely cute.
“Since you usually stay very quiet, I was wondering if you were naturally a quiet person.”
“Ah…”
Well, it’s a lie to say that’s how she appeared usually, but based on the original story where she was depicted as having a quiet personality, it’s true that I thought she had a quiet personality.
But what I was seeing in front of me was completely the opposite.
Riel’s face turned bright red.
“Now that you mention it, that’s true…?”
She said it as if she hadn’t noticed it herself.
“Well… I have something like a habit of getting nervous when I’m conscious of other people, so that might be why.”
“Nervous?”
“It’s like a feeling of being suffocated? I can’t speak properly, and my body feels like it’s shrinking.”
Ah, I’ve certainly heard that among people who are shy around strangers, some experience symptoms that severe.
But even so, I don’t think it was to that extent…
“Especially when that symptom gets worse is around that guy Allen.”
“Ah.”
“He’s already suffocating just by existing, but he drags a bunch of people along with him and won’t leave me alone—it’s really the worst!”
Well… I might have my own issues with not being able to express things properly in words…
Riel added that while looking up at the sky.
No, that seems to go beyond the problem of proper expression or not.
Does Allen emit some kind of foul odor that only Riel can smell?
As I was thinking that while keeping my gaze on Riel, she looked back at me and continued.
“But seriously, does it make sense that when a person openly ignores or glares at someone to give them a hint, they just keep sticking around with that disgusting smile?”
…
I have a slight inkling of what’s going on.
In the original story, Riel doesn’t have a single line of dialogue until the latter part of the novel, except for the incantations she uses to cast magic.
The protagonist Allen continues to speak to her and pays attention to her.
Because he likes her, because he cares about her.
“I don’t know what he’s misunderstanding, but he says things like ‘Don’t worry, I’ll always be your knight’… When did I ever appoint him as my knight?”
…That’s actually dialogue Allen said in the original work.
It’s what Allen said to comfort Riel when she was glaring at him jealously as he was chatting amicably with other sub-heroines.
Wait a minute… she glared?
So, is that it?
The irritating person (Allen) bringing a bunch of noisy people (sub-heroines) and glaring at him to go away because it was annoying…
In the eyes of the readers, this transformed into glaring out of jealousy because the person she loves (Allen) brought other women (sub-heroines) and was chatting with them?
“But you know what’s strange? I can talk to you, Kyo, without getting nervous.”
“Huh?”
“I vaguely felt that way when I first saw you, but now that I’ve come here and talked with you, I’m sure of it.”
Riel smiled brightly.
A brilliantly bright smile that was never described in the original work and that I hadn’t seen since coming here.
Looking directly at it, I unconsciously felt heat rising to my face and slightly lowered my head.
“Kyo, I have a favor to ask.”
“W-what is it?”
Riel Ignis said with an even brighter smile.
“Be my friend.”

Riel Ignis was born as the second daughter of the Duke Ignis family.
She grew up without any lack, under a strict but caring father, a kind mother, and an older sister who took great care of her.
She was the type to get very nervous in front of people.
That was no exception even with family, so she could only communicate with her family by looking at them or expressing herself physically.
At some point, her family seemed to have gotten used to it and accepted Riel as a child who was just very shy.
Nevertheless, Riel loved her family very much, and her family also greatly cherished her.
As she became somewhat able to communicate through her family’s love, Riel was spending a happy childhood.
Then one day, a calamity befell Riel.
Allen Ludwig.
The son of the captain of the knights who protected the duke’s family, a boy who was striving to become a knight like his father when he grew up.
He was a boy who was always bright and positive, loved by those around him.
But for Riel, Allen was a natural enemy.
Just having Allen in front of her made her breath catch and her body freeze.
It felt like someone was covering her nose and mouth and holding her limbs tightly so she couldn’t move.
“Hello, I’m Allen!”
Seeing Allen who greeted her with a bright smile and offered his hand, Riel swatted his hand away with her body that could barely move and fled from the spot.
The next day, Allen came again.
Feeling that unpleasant sensation again, Riel screamed inwardly.
“I heard everything from the Duke, don’t worry!”
“It’s okay! I’ll protect you!”
In a situation where she couldn’t say anything, Allen was proceeding with the conversation on his own.
She wanted to shout right now to stop, to disappear from in front of her, but her voice wouldn’t come out.
It felt like a towel had been stuffed into her mouth, blocking it.
The adults around just watched with pleased expressions.
No matter how much she glared or swatted his hand away, Allen just dealt with it as “Riel is just very shy.”
Such a situation continued for several months, and the action that exhausted Riel decided to take was thorough ignoring.
She ignored Allen whether he came to her side or said something, and if he tried to touch her body (hands or shoulders, etc.), she painfully swatted him away.
But Allen didn’t give up and continued to follow Riel.
Riel was scared of this, and it was terrible.
One day, Phyllis, her personal maid who was two years older than her and had been serving Riel since childhood, discerned Riel’s abnormality.
“Perhaps Miss is uncomfortable with Allen?”
Someone finally understood her feelings.
Happy about that, Riel nodded her head vigorously.
Phyllis looked at Riel, then smiled and said to leave it to her.
After that day, Phyllis followed Riel around and stopped Allen when he approached.
When Allen came looking for Riel, she sent him away with appropriate reasons.
For several months like that, Riel was able to spend peaceful time.
But the peaceful time didn’t last long.
One day, Phyllis suddenly disappeared from the mansion, and another maid named Illia took her place as personal maid.
‘Where did Phyllis go?’
She wanted to ask that, but due to the suddenly changed maid, Riel could only sit quietly.
And as soon as Phyllis disappeared, that guy came.
“Long time no see, Riel!”
“……”
Allen, whom she met after a long time, was still annoying, and looking at him made her feel bad.
Riel ignored Allen and turned her head sharply.
Ignore. She would thoroughly ignore him.
Thinking that, Riel decided to fill her mind with other thoughts.
“Oh, right! That maid who was intimidating you was expelled from the duke’s mansion!”
Riel’s mind snapped to attention.
What the hell is this guy saying right now?
Such a question filled her mind.
Riel looked at Allen with trembling eyes.
He was smiling brightly as if he had accomplished something.
“I thought it was strange that she kept preventing you from meeting me, so I told my father.”
Ah
“She seems to have a bad reputation among the other maids, and it seemed like she was hiding something.”
So it was you
Riel felt like something inside her had snapped.
“You can rest easy now, I’ll always protect you.”
Seeing Riel’s trembling eyes, Allen misunderstood something and approached to embrace her.
Riel slapped Allen’s cheek with all her might and fled from the spot.
It seemed that Phyllis was viewed with suspicion for blocking Riel’s contact with other people.
There had actually been several cases where a personal servant made their master dependent on them.
But Riel could assert that Phyllis was absolutely not like that.
It couldn’t be helped that she had a bad reputation among the maids.
In fact, not just Phyllis, but any personal maid for a specific individual becomes the object of jealousy among general maids.
A personal maid is exempt from most duties outside of being around their specific person, and their rank is higher than general maids, and their pay is higher too.
Of course, the difficulty of the job varies depending on who the master is, but in the case of a well-behaved master like Riel, the difficulty of the job drops dramatically.
It seemed that before being fired, Phyllis had confessed to the duke or other family members that Riel was uncomfortable with Allen.
But Phyllis’s words were dismissed as if they were just excuses.
Because Allen was loved by the people around him, the people in this mansion.
Riel disliked Allen even more.
After Riel hit Allen, Allen didn’t approach Riel actively.
But he still always followed Riel around, and Riel ignored him more thoroughly than before.
Years passed like that, and Riel entered Gransen Academy.
Riel, who left the Ignis territory and lived in the academy dormitory, was followed by her personal maid Illia.
And Allen followed as well.
Allen applied to Gransen Academy saying he would protect Riel, and he was able to enter with high scores in the practical examination.
It was enough to make her sigh that the annoying Allen was coming to the academy too, but Riel endured it.
Now even sighs that came out because of that guy were a waste.
As if it were natural, Allen became part of the same class as Riel, and Allen’s seat was in front of Riel.
Allen, who was popular in the Ignis territory, was also popular in the academy, and there were always girls crowding around Allen.
Riel felt like a flame was raging inside her body because of Allen’s voice chattering noisily with girls in front of her seat.
As Riel turned her head to the side, a boy entered her eyes.
In contrast to the silver-haired Allen, he had black hair and wore glasses.
Kyo Wentos.
He was the legitimate son of the Wentos Count family located on the outskirts of the kingdom, right?
And the blue-haired girl talking with him was Liliana Edwin.
The third daughter of Baron Edwin.
The black-haired boy’s eyes looking at the blue-haired girl seemed truly full of affection.
The blue-haired girl also smiles and responds to his words.
The two looked really well-matched.
Riel couldn’t take her eyes off the boy for a while.
One day, two months after enrolling.
Riel, who was still ignoring Allen who was noisy as ever, naturally directed her gaze to the black-haired boy.
He was just leaving the classroom with his lover.
Her eyes followed him and saw him going up the stairs.
Since there was only the rooftop above this floor, it must be the rooftop, thinking that, Riel lay face down on her desk.
And a few minutes later, as it was about time to start the afternoon classes, Riel opened her eyes.
Looking around, she could see classmates returning to their seats.
But the black-haired boy was nowhere to be seen.
Despite his lover sitting at her seat in the classroom, only he was not visible.
Feeling that something was wrong, Riel got up from her seat and headed to the rooftop.
She seemed to hear an unpleasant voice calling her from behind, but she ignored it.