Chapter 79

“Iris? Why are you coming back alone?”

Estelle’s eyes widened as she saw Iris returning alone, with Theo still standing in place behind her.

She had no idea what had happened for Iris to come back by herself.

“You need time to talk with him alone too, don’t you? I told Sir Theo that I would send you to him. You should go and talk to him.”

“Uh… I mean, I only agreed to let you two talk earlier as a way of apologizing, you know?”

Of course, even if it hadn’t been out of remorse, if Theo had insisted on speaking with Iris alone, she wouldn’t have been able to stop him anyway. But still, the fact that she hadn’t objected at all was, in its own way, Estelle’s form of an apology.

“I know.”

And Iris who was well aware of Estelle’s usual prickly personality understood that as well.

“But are you really okay with telling me to go talk to him this easily?”

“If you don’t want to, then don’t. I’ll go fetch Sir Theo right n—”

“Hey, who said I didn’t want to?! That’s not what I meant…!”

Estelle hastily grabbed Iris and stopped her from rushing off to call Theo, then let out an embarrassed laugh.

“Well, since I’ve already said everything I wanted to say, I figured that if you also needed time to talk, I might as well let you have it.”

“…What did you talk about?”

“Don’t keep Sir Theo waiting. You should hurry.”

Iris simply gave a mysterious smile and didn’t reveal anything about their conversation.

In the end, Estelle could only nod and head toward Theo.

“…Anyway, about what happened before, I’m sorry.”

With that brief apology, she walked away.

“Hah. Estelle really does have a cute side to her.”

Watching her go, Iris simply let out a quiet chuckle.

Iris had never imagined that simply confessing all her feelings to Theo would bring her such peace of mind.

She had always been on edge, constantly worrying about what would happen if Theo found out how she felt.

Now that the weight had been lifted, she couldn’t help but think that she should have confessed much sooner.

Of course, if I asked Sir Theo whether he felt the same relief… well, I wouldn’t know the answer to that.

What still concerned her was Theo’s feelings.

He doesn’t seem… no, it doesn’t feel like he has no interest in me. Or in Estelle, for that matter.

She had felt it when she confessed to him earlier.

His expression had been filled with confusion, yet it was hard to say that there was no hint of positive emotion in it.

“What could Sir Theo be thinking…?”

He was truly someone whose thoughts were impossible to guess.

Perhaps that was what made him all the more intriguing.

With that in mind, Iris found herself growing curious about what kind of conversation Estelle would have with him.

***

“Ah, Estelle. You’re here.”

After Iris had left, Estelle approached me with a slightly bewildered expression, and I greeted her warmly.

Maybe it was because we hadn’t really talked properly since that awkward parting last time.

Something about the situation felt strangely awkward.

“Sir Theo, um… did you and Iris have a good talk?”

“Yes, well… I’m not sure about myself, but Iris definitely seemed satisfied with how it went.”

As for me, I was too busy trying to hide my own feelings.

I struggled to give a proper answer. I was too caught up in denying what I knew to be true and wondering where things had gone so wrong.

“First of all… about what happened last time, I’m sorry. You went along with everything at the restaurant, even playing along with the act, but I feel like I completely ruined the mood. I kept thinking I needed to apologize, but… my thoughts have been a mess ever since, so I’m only saying it now. I’m really sorry.”

The first thing that came out of Estelle’s mouth was an apology for that day.

Well… it wasn’t really something she needed to apologize for.

I mean, I wasn’t exactly thinking straight that day, either.

“I apologized to Iris, too. About what happened then.”

“That was the right thing to do.”

Carelessly speaking about someone else’s feelings… yeah, that wasn’t really okay.

“I… um, my feelings for you… they must be a burden, right?”

Estelle spoke cautiously, and I hesitated, searching for the right words to say.

Should I just tell her it’s fine? I couldn’t even give Iris a proper answer. Was it really right to do the same to Estelle?

But then, what was I supposed to say to Iris?

Conflicting thoughts swirled in my head, and once again, I found myself completely overwhelmed.

Ugh, why can’t I ever just make a decision and be done with it?

If only I didn’t know the original story, none of this would be so complicated.

“A burden… not exactly. I just feel bad that I can’t properly return your feelings.”

Yeah. The original story? Let’s just throw that out the window.

Since things had already gone off the rails this much, I might as well throw everything aside, date whoever liked me, and get stronger. Strong enough to take down anything on my own.

But then… who would I even date?

Estelle? Iris? Honestly, I liked them both.

The feelings I had for them were pretty much the same.

But that didn’t mean I could date both of them!

No matter how much of a ridiculous mess this game was, even if it had Yuri mode, there was never a harem mode!

…Actually, now that I thought about it, that was kind of funny.

Why wasn’t there a harem mode?

Wouldn’t it make sense for one to exist?

Wait. What if this wasn’t actually a Yuri mode but a harem mode all along?

No, but even if that were the case, I was just an extra…!

What kind of lowly extra gets a harem?!

“Then… is it okay if I tell you I like you?”

“Oh, um… as long as it’s not too often?”

“What about asking you out on dates?”

“Wait, but we’re not even dating—”

“Friends can go on dates too!”

Uh… don’t people usually not call that a date?

Isn’t that just hanging out…?

Or is it different for girls?

“Ah, um, well. If it’s something like that, then sure, as much as you’d like.”

“Then… can I start talking to you again like before, Sir Theo?”

“Of course. I’m sorry too. I just couldn’t sort out my thoughts for a while.”

The truth was, I had been avoiding them under the excuse of organizing my tangled thoughts.

But it wasn’t as if I wanted things to stay that way forever.

After all, I did have some feelings for them. And even if I set those feelings aside, they were still good connections to have.

Not to mention, I needed to keep them close and keep an eye on them. Well, anyway, that’s that.

“Thank goodness…! I was really worried that we wouldn’t be able to go back to how things were. I kept thinking about what I should do to fix it.”

“You really thought about that?”

“Yes. I mean, what if you decided not to let anyone close to you anymore?”

Huh. I’d never actually considered becoming that much of a loner.

If anything, I’d rather live as a social butterfly.

Not that I have much of a choice. This body tends to attract attention no matter what I do, so I end up living like one whether I intend to or not. But hey, it’s more fun this way, right?

“I’m not really someone who wants to live as a total outcast, you know.”

“Phew, that’s a relief! Anyway, um… I guess it would be hard for you to tell me what you talked about with Iris, right?”

“Most likely? Wouldn’t it be better to hear it from her yourself?”

Now that the confession was out of the way and the mood had lightened, her curiosity seemed to shift toward my conversation with Iris.

I had a feeling she’d let me go a little too easily. Turns out, she was just holding back her curiosity all along.

“Hmm, then I’ll just have to ask Iris. Hehe, anyway, Theo! I’ll be counting on you again from today! From now on, I’ll do my best to act as Estelle, who likes you!”

Yeah, Estelle really didn’t hold back.

It looked like she had completely abandoned any thought of restraint.

Well, Estelle had a different kind of charm compared to Iris, who carried a more composed elegance.

Each of them had their own appeal.

Honestly, I had no idea how I was supposed to handle this from now on.

“Ah, by the way, Sir Theo, if both Iris and I confessed to you at the same time, who would you choose?”

“…I wouldn’t accept either of you.”

“No, I mean, forget all the circumstances! Just imagine that we both confessed at the exact same time! No other factors involved!”

Wait, wasn’t that way too unfair?

“Well… I don’t really know. I’ve never thought about a situation like that before.”

“Hmm, would it really be that hard to accept both of us?”

…So this really was turning into harem mode, huh?

No matter how I looked at it, the whole thing seemed to be shifting in my direction.

I wasn’t sure if this was okay.

“Accepting both of you wouldn’t exactly look good to other people… and wouldn’t it be a bit awkward for you two as well?”

“I’d honestly prefer you saying you’d accept both of us over just choosing Iris, you know?”

The more I got to know her, the more I realized. Estelle really didn’t hold back.

“Well, then, if Iris was okay with it, let’s settle on accepting both of you. Not that that would ever actually happen, of course.”

“Aw, don’t be so negative! You never know. What if it really does happen someday?”

Hmm. I doubted it.

Unless some system window popped up saying, “This is actually a harem mode, and you’re the true protagonist,” I didn’t see that happening.