Treat the Second Male Lead Like a Stone

"Lord Ricardo!"  

Rayler nudged my side excitedly.  

I shoved the macaron I was holding into my mouth and silently stared at a man walking through the ballroom.  

Ricardo Hessen.  

The head of the empire’s only ducal household.  

"Shouldn’t you at least say hello?"  

Rayler asked me urgently.  

Say hello? Pretending not to know him would clearly be more beneficial for both of us.  

Look at that. He definitely made eye contact with me, but he’s heading straight for the heroine.  

With elegant poise, Ricardo kissed the back of Idette’s hand, as if to show off.  

The young ladies nearby were all in a flutter, squealing with excitement.  

Some even sent me sympathetic glances, but it had nothing to do with me.  

There were no expectations, so there was no disappointment.  

But it seemed Rayler felt differently. She murmured with a disappointed look.  

"I thought he’d come to you first……."  

"……."  

"But I’m sure he’ll be more affectionate once you get married."  

Rayler offered a gentle comfort, lightly patting my shoulder.  

I was grateful for her sentiment, but that wasn’t something I particularly hoped for.  

Ricardo? Affectionate? Even a stray dog would laugh at that.  

Still, I could understand why Rayler was making such a fuss.  

Why?  

Because Ricardo was my fiancé.  

An engagement neither Ricardo nor I wanted.  

* * *

That was the novel I had transmigrated into.  

A cliché-filled romance-fantasy story where three male leads competed for the female lead, Idette.  

I had become Bianca, the fiancée of one of the male leads, Ricardo.  

She was in the childhood friend position, and in the original, she had pestered her grandfather into forcing an engagement with Ricardo.  

Well, Ricardo was handsome enough to suit a male lead, so it was a benefit to me in many ways.  

At first, I definitely thought that.  

But……  

〈Just because we were connected in childhood, don’t expect that to mean I’ll show you mercy.〉  

Ricardo, radiating nothing but coldness as he looked at me, was truly terrifying.  

……That’s right.  

Ricardo deeply despised Bianca.  

Though they had known each other since childhood, young Bianca had horribly tormented Ricardo.  

She had a one-sided crush on him and, when rejected, would bully him instead—leaving him with trauma.  

As a result, to Ricardo, I was an object of hatred.  

Nothing more, nothing less.  

After learning the full story, I resolved to stop the engagement no matter what, but……  

〈Hoho, seeing the two of you all grown up makes me feel so proud.〉  

〈Now that I’ve seen my friend’s granddaughter and my own grandson engaged, I can die without regret.〉

The House of Duke Hessen and the House of Marquis Roygin.  

Their grandfathers were close friends.  

They met on the battlefield, where they narrowly survived, and made a promise to each other to hold onto hope.  

If they returned alive, they would marry their grandchildren to each other. So they swore to live through it.  

……And that promise led to this.  

On the day of the engagement ceremony, Ricardo had been furious.  

I didn’t even want to recall it.  

〈Are you satisfied now? I have no idea what you told Grandfather, but somehow a childish promise made by two old men was actually fulfilled.〉  

〈I—I hate this too, okay?!〉  

〈……And I’m supposed to believe that now?〉  

〈Why wouldn’t you?〉  

Even though I told the truth, Ricardo didn’t seem to believe me at all.  

Just like the original Bianca, he thought I had whined to my grandfather and forced the engagement.  

It was so unfair I could go mad.  

Who said I wanted to marry you?  

I fiddled with my wine glass and stared at Ricardo, who was dancing with Idette in the ballroom.  

He used to scowl whenever he saw me, and now he was all smiles—it made my stomach churn.  

Is it that good?  

I’ll find someone who actually likes me too!  

Not someone like you!  

The second male lead was always the one who loved the female lead.  

Marrying someone like that—it didn’t make any sense.  

I swore to myself.  

Not to be swayed by that handsome face.  

One should treat second male leads like stones.  

Could there be an easier formula?  

Compared to math formulas, this was the simplest truth of all.  

* * *

After the party ended.  

Grandfather welcomed me warmly when I returned home.  

"Dear, how was your day today?"  

Looking at Grandfather as he reached out to me kindly, I almost felt like crying.  

With a gentle smile, he tucked my hair behind my ear.  

He was the sole guardian of Bianca and her brother Cedric, having raised them with love after their parents passed away early.  

The reason I was able to adjust quickly after transmigrating into this world was all thanks to him.  

"It was fun, but……."

If not for Ricardo, it would have been a perfect party.  

As my face darkened at the thought of him, Grandfather’s expression dimmed as well.  

Ah, I hadn’t meant to worry him.  

I forced a smile and spoke.  

“I’m just a bit tired.”  

Grandfather, who had been staring at me closely, gently patted my hand.  

"……Is it because of Ricardo?"  

As expected, age comes with insight. I hadn’t even mentioned Ricardo.  

"He may be a little rough around the edges, but he’s a kind boy."  

……That only applies to the heroine and elders.  

Grandfather still seemed unaware of Idette’s existence.  

I debated whether to tell him that Ricardo loved someone else.  

It was something I had agonized over for a long time, but in the end, I held my tongue.  

‘……Now isn’t the time.’  

Grandfather was gravely ill. And his greatest wish was for Ricardo and me to be engaged.  

He wanted me, who had lost my parents early, to build a home and become a woman who was loved.  

I didn’t want to trouble him further by bringing up Ricardo.  

Whether Ricardo loved Idette or not didn’t matter to me.  

But from Grandfather’s perspective, it wasn’t that simple.  

He might end up suffering from guilt, believing he had forced the engagement.  

And then Grandfather’s condition might……  

I gripped his hand tightly.  

“I know that very well. The Duke is a much kinder person than he appears.”  

In the original novel, he certainly was.  

But Ricardo already loved Idette.  

Even in the epilogue, he never forgot her and spent his life alone.  

I was lost in thought for only a moment before Grandfather’s cough snapped me back to reality.  

“You should rest now. It’s late.”  

“Yes, Bianca. You have a good night, too.”  

Grandfather kissed my forehead softly.  

His gaze briefly landed on the key hanging around my neck.  

* * *

Creak……  

I stepped carefully out of the bedroom and took out the key I’d hidden inside my clothes.  

It was something I had carried with me since childhood, though I could barely remember when or why.  

The only item that proved my transmigration wasn’t a dream.  

It still amazed me that it had crossed worlds with me.  

Just then, I spotted someone approaching from the other side of the hallway—perhaps coming to see Grandfather.  

Cedric Roygin.  

Bianca’s older brother, five years her senior.  

Though they had lost their parents early, Bianca and Cedric weren’t particularly close.  

Not that they were enemies or anything.  

They were simply awkward around each other.  

Neither of them was especially warm or expressive, so their relationship was just that of ordinary siblings.  

With almost no serious conversation.  

You’d think there’d be more affectionate siblings in romance-fantasy novels……  

I hoped Cedric would just pass me by, but instead, he stopped in front of me.  

A moment of silence passed.  

Awkward, I rolled my eyes around and tried to break the tension first.  

“Are you going to see Grandfather?”  

“……Yes.”  

“He said he was going to sleep. Why not go see him tomorrow instead?”  

Was that meddlesome?  

Cedric didn’t reply and simply stared at me.  

His gaze was so intense it made me uncomfortable.  

I just lowered my head and fidgeted with my hands.  

Eventually, his eyes moved away from me.  

I let out the breath I’d been holding and quickly spoke.  

“Then, have a good night.”  

Just as I was about to walk away—  

“……Bianca Roygin.”  

“Yes?”  

Cedric had called me by my full name, which he never did.  

This… was not a normal situation.