Transmigrated As The Villainess' Boyfriend With A... SSS Harem System?

We walked. Layda at the front, me behind. As always... Wait. Layda isn't Lianza; trailing behind her was uncalled for.

The east wing hallway remained deserted. Lunch emptied Mayorka's corridors. Only the two of us remained, and the echo of our footsteps on the marble.

And for some reason, this whole situation made my skin crawl.

"You've changed," Layda said without turning around.

"Excuse me?"

"The Dariel Elcronne from last week wouldn't have survived a match against Alexia Vane even as a joke. Let alone devised such a... such a... elaborate? strategy. You're learning too fast."

"Maybe I'm just a good student."

"You're not." She stopped. She turned. Her large, expressive brown eyes scanned me. "Good students learn, certainly. You seem to remember."

The word 'remember' echoed between us. What did she mean?

"Remember what?"

"I'd like to know that too." She smiled. The usual shy smile that made me so uncomfortable. But her eyes weren't smiling. "It's as if you know what's going to happen. It's something I can distinguish the moment I see it. You knew I would fall down the stairs on my first day at Mayorka. You knew Ardwyn would try to rescue me... Even our encounter in the hallway on the night of the Welcome Ball..."

"It was just luck."

"I stopped believing in luck a long time ago, Dariel."

"Fair enough, but if everyone could find a four-leaf clover, then luck wouldn't exist. It's called luck because it only happens in rare moments, bordering on the impossible."

"Interesting analogy. You're too... smart to be a member of House Elcronne."

"The same could be said of a commoner who comes from a godforsaken village."

Layda tilted her head.

"You know what?" she said. "I know someone who speaks like you too. As if, for that person, life were just a book they've already read... and they're just waiting for everyone else to catch up."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes. That person made many mistakes the first time. And the second. And the third. But every time they started over, they tried to correct them. All of them. One by one. Gave their best until not a single mistake remained."

The first, the second, the third... What she was trying to tell me eluded my understanding. Could there be someone with an Empero that allows them to relive? Who could it be?

Whether it was a hint or a trap was unclear. With Layda, both were the same, truth be told.

"That person sounds very perseverant."

"Sounds like someone who no longer wants to exist, but keeps doing it for someone else."

We looked at each other.

"I have some questions about you too, Dariel." Layda resumed walking. "How did you know I was going to attack you? What was that pocket watch? How did you know how to react to my Empero?"

"I just improvised."

"You didn't. You analyzed my ability... exactly as I did with you."

"I don't understand, Layda. If you already know all that, why walk alone with me?"

"Because there are still things I don't know. And you have no idea how much that bothers me."

Resuming my pace, the hallway seemed to narrow. Candlelight bathed the surroundings in a warm yellow that contrasted with the gray sky beginning to peek through the windows.

"The king has set the date."

An immense weight settled over me.

"What date?"

"What other date, Dariel? The wedding. Ardwyn and Lianza will marry on the first of February."

That was three weeks away.

"How do you know?"

"I just told you: the king has set the date. He placed an announcement at Mayorka's main entrance."

Layda stopped in front of a window. The gray light fell on her face.

"'Every noble will be invited to the most important wedding in all of Earolden,'" she continued, quoting a fragment of the announcement with evident annoyance. "Does it bother you?"

"No," I lied. "My duty is only to protect Lianza D'Tariel."

It was more than annoying. The mere thought of someone like Ardwyn being with Lianza made me sick. It made me want to smash his face and his entire entourage's.

But doing something like that right now was akin to suicide.

"How curious." Layda's gaze shifted to a flat, almost expressionless one. "In another life, I might have said that the most important princess in all of Earolden matters too much to you to be just her bodyguard."

"In another life," I repeated, now annoyed by her obtuse comments, "I might have believed you when you played the little damsel in distress that only everyone else falls for."

Layda fell silent for a few seconds. She hadn't liked my comment.

"You throw pretty sharp barbs when you answer, don't you, Dariel Elcronne? You don't seem to know the word 'limit.'"

"I don't understand why or what you're hiding behind this facade, Layda..." I sought Layda's eyes. "Can I tell you something?"

"Go ahead, bold young master."

"You look tired."

No reaction from her.

Deciding to press on, I had a mission to fulfill, after all.

"Not from today or this week. It's as if... you're tired of something beyond simple physical exhaustion. It's something bigger. Who could have hurt you so much? It's unforgivable that eyes like yours and a smile so pure were tarnished by the cruelty of this world."

The blush arrived unbidden. It crept from her cheeks to her nose and ears. It was brief, as someone like Layda knew how to disguise things far too well to show it voluntarily.

[Mission completed! 😏]

[+10 Experience Points → Base Empero]

Layda turned toward the window. She hid her face in the gray light of the cloudy afternoon.

"You should go see your princess," she said. Her voice had become soft again. "She almost died and you did nothing to stop it. What a useless bodyguard you are, Dariel Elcronne."

How dare she say that? Opening my mouth to reply, Layda simply turned around. She walked further east, past the infirmary. Her messy braid swaying over her shoulder.

And she left.

Watching her disappear at the end of the hallway, I couldn't help wondering why, every time we spoke alone, everything had to be so awkward and strange.

This wasn't how the heroine of a novel like The Throne of Ashes and Thorns was supposed to be.

The infirmary door opened. The nurse stepped out with a steaming bowl of soup and a yawn.

"Well," the nurse said upon seeing me, "if it isn't the subject our dear Princess Lianza D'Tariel has been whispering about so much. You've made her very angry, young master. If I were you, I'd resign from the bodyguard post."

"Never."

"Such is your conviction? Certainly, House Elcronne is quite loyal to the D'Tariel."

The nurse nodded to herself, then raised a finger.

"You know what? I'll leave you in charge of the infirmary while I go to lunch. Who knows, maybe you'll manage to fix things with her and keep your position. But considering how upset she is... most likely you'll end up frozen."

That last remark made me turn my gaze toward the infirmary entrance.

A freezing wind blew from it, and the floor had a thin layer of ice.

I swallowed hard.

The nurse was right.