Heroine Netori

It's already been two weeks since I joined the academy. Contrary to my expectations of it being tough, life here at the academy has been really enjoyable. These two weeks have been about realizing just how good a person Deokbae Asil is. There hasn’t been a single person who hasn’t treated me kindly, and I've had so many visitors every day that I've hardly had time to go see Cecilia.

Moreover, true to the romantic fantasy genre and the nature of a noble academy, the caliber of students is quite high, which has been a real treat for me. There are plenty of noble ladies who aren't quite at Cecilia or Luina's level but are still beautiful enough to thrill me when they gasp under my touch. Using therapy as an excuse, I've been slightly toying with the ladies who come to visit, planning to seduce at least one of them within the month.

But this Deokbae Asil guy, did he have a bit of a history with women before he got married? Since he became single, women have been making advances on him. You were my first love, you took my virginity, let's be happy like we were before, Asil I'm lonely, and so on. It wasn't just one or two women. Among them, one came almost every day to hit on me—a fellow teacher who would come to see me whenever she had a chance.

She is Rein Arman, a high noble and a fencing teacher at the academy. With her beautiful looks and refreshing personality, she is one of the teachers loved by students, regardless of gender, and she certainly stands out as prettier than other teachers. There’s a saying that only true beauties can pull off a short haircut, and she fits that bill. The only downside is her chest, which seems smaller than Cecilia's, possibly because she wears bandages for fencing. Was that why things didn't work out? The women he had relations with all had larger breasts. Deokbae Asil was a breast man. I don’t mind the size of a woman's breasts myself.

"Asil... to meet you here again... I never thought it would happen." "I'm really glad to see you. I hope you can count on me this time around. I'll be a lot of help."

At first, I thought I was just glad to meet an old friend again.

"Can I sit next to you?" "I remember those times. We used to eat together often at this restaurant." "It was really fun before Lintz enrolled..."

Gradually, I started to feel something subtle.@@novelbin@@

"How about a drink tonight?" "Could you... give me some advice?" "Asil... no, I just wanted to call you."

Recently, it’s become quite obvious.

Deokbae Asil, what kind of life have you lived? To receive such love from these women...

But I can’t reciprocate that love. Making a girlfriend now wouldn't benefit me in any way. For Nettori's sake, and for Cecilia, I plan to stay single. So, I keep politely turning them down, but Rein Arman, true to her knightly nature, stubbornly doesn’t give up on pursuing me.

If it were just about the body, I could have enjoyed a night like with Hanna the other day and then parted ways, but Rein Arman's love seems too heavy. Is she trying to release the emotions she suppressed because of Elise? It feels like touching her once might lead to marriage.

So I really need to firmly reject her, but it's not easy. Sigh… I'm exhausted just from refusing her offer to have a drink today.

-Knock Knock! "Luina Ober here. May I come in?"

Just as I was sighing, the protagonist abruptly came to find me.

***

She’s really beautiful. I never thought pink hair could suit someone so well. She looks so fragile that she might break with just a touch, but that just makes me want to cherish her more. Yet those eyes. Those eyes that always seem so bold, wherever she is—I can’t look away from them.

As I was blankly watching Luina Ober, she asked me for some medicine.

"Medicine? I haven’t heard anything about that."

"That’s... I was sure everything had been handed over..."

"I'm sorry, but I really haven’t heard anything. What should we do?"

Really. When I arrived at the academy, the previous teacher had already quit, so I didn’t receive a proper handover. Naturally, this situation was bound to occur. But was Luina Ober feeling unwell? If she came specifically to get medicine, it must be serious.

"Can you tell me what kind of medicine you need? I can make it for you."

"It’s... Mr. Meti personally concocted it, so I don’t really know the details."

Meti, you should have made a separate handover for something this important. If the protagonist dies, 'Heroine Nettori' is over!

"Then can you at least tell me the symptoms? I know how to concoct too."

"Well, it’s that…"

Wait? The symptoms Luina is starting to describe sound familiar. What was it? A terrible pain in my head, continuous voices tormenting me, a deep loathing rising from my stomach to my throat... Is this...? I used 'Observation' just in case, and indeed it was. And the name of this illness was 'God's Jealousy.' Really an apt name.

"Every morning you wake up feeling like your arms and legs are torn off, and before you sleep, it feels so painful you can't breathe, right?"

"Yes? How, how did you know?"

"After eating, you always feel like throwing up, and drinking anything other than water feels like drinking blood, and when you look in the mirror, do you see your dead self?"

"Yes! That’s right! I haven't told anyone else that...?!"

"Luina... brace yourself. The disease you have is..."

It’s the incurable disease that Elise Lintz suffered from.

***

When Luina Ober heard the diagnosis of an incurable disease, her expression was unexpectedly calm, almost as if she had known in advance. Ah, that's right. Come to think of it, the protagonist of this 'Heroine Nettori' was a possessed character, wasn't she? Then it makes sense that she already knew.

However, she seemed unaware that it was the same disease that Elise Lintz had suffered from. Perhaps that detail hadn't been revealed in the original work? When I told her I could treat the disease, she was initially shocked and doubted my words. But after showing her my awakened healing abilities, following Elise’s death, she seemed to accept it, nodding and saying, "So that's how it is..." and then she pleaded with me, her expression fraught with urgency, to treat her.

I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but it's all good. Thanks to her easy acceptance, I was able to commit to treating her without resistance, which conveniently put me in a position to manipulate the situation.

An incurable disease-stricken heroine and me, the only person who can treat her. Naturally, during treatment, I could justify any act as necessary for her healing, and even if she disliked it, Luina Ober wouldn't be able to refuse. She wants to survive, after all.

The despair of death gasping for a cure bloomed into a beautiful flower of desperation for life. Even though it would be defiled by my semen, that in itself would be a pleasure of its own. I'm looking forward to what lies ahead.

-Knock. Knock! Knock. Knock. Knock!

As I was engrossed in these thoughts, someone knocked at the door. This signal... it's Cecilia.

I quickly subdued my arousal and opened the door, and as always, the adorable Cecilia rushed into my arms.

"Father! I missed you…"

"Lia… you were here just yesterday."

True, I hadn’t had time to go to her, but Cecilia had plenty of time to come to me. Being holed up in the infirmary all day meant I was available whenever Cecilia wanted to see me.

"Sniff… Did you not want to see me, Father?"

"Of course not! I always want to see my cute daughter. But if you come every day, I worry. What if your friends think you're frail or too dependent on your dad?"

Surprisingly, Cecilia blended in well with the other students at the academy. I had been worried that she might be ostracized due to incidents in the capital, but she quickly made friends and was enjoying her school life. Indeed, my daughter is cute and kind, irresistibly so.

"Hehe, it doesn’t matter. Time with you is more important. But… Father, did Ober come to see you?"

"Huh? How did you know? I just treated her. She said she was in pain."

I wonder if I should tell Cecilia that Luina Ober is afflicted with an incurable disease… it’s a dilemma. But probably best not to mention it. It might trigger Cecilia's trauma, and while the disease is treatable, it’s still an incurable disease after all.

"I see… I ran into her at the entrance earlier. But… there’s a rumor going around that you’ve been getting along well with Miss Arman lately… Is that true?"

"Ah, she's an old friend. We were just happy to see each other after so long, so we met up a few times. But that’s all there is to it, haha…"

Why do I feel like I'm making excuses to a girlfriend? But it's not an excuse, right? I had thought about having a fling with her, but I had no intention of dating. I definitely don’t want to deal with marriage demands after a one-night stand. So, I plan to firmly keep my distance in the future.

"Hmm… I see. Miss Arman is very popular. But she was your friend."

"That's right. Just a friend, nothing more."

To change the subject, I stroked Cecilia’s hair and asked about her day. Cecilia began talking happily, but I twitched every time Aria's name came up. What if she inadvertently mentioned something? Fortunately, it seemed like Aria hadn’t said anything as I had instructed. After all, why would she bring up such intimate issues to her friend's dad? I can safely move on to the next stage.

But why am I so sleepy…? It’s strange, but whenever Cecilia visits, I feel sleepy… Maybe it's because I relax around her…