CHAPTER 18: FAN

Quite by accident, I discovered a second love interest.

Little Lionel Ferder, who would later become the imperial tutor, was now just the illegitimate son of a prostitute. This character’s past was, one might say, the most tragic of all. Except for Rubiella, of course, but she was the villain.

I sighed. In fact, when I was playing the game, this guy caused me a lot of trouble.

The developers did a good job and made the gameplay as varied as possible. The difficulty of completing the characters’ storylines varied. The easiest was the emperor’s nephew, who brought the heroine to the palace. This was because he was initially attracted to the heroine. He can be considered the main interest for the walkthrough. With minimal effort, the prince’s route can be completed in a couple of hours and easily lead to a happy ending.

The second easiest was the archmage. At least, that’s what the players who went through his branch said. I refrained from doing so myself. All because I wasn’t too keen on the prospect of building a relationship with a boy who looks thirteen... Even if it’s just in a game. Even though his biography on the official website states that he is actually two hundred years old! I just couldn’t see him as a man.

Roger and Lionel fell into the "difficult to complete" category. It is on their branches that you will go broke and spend a lot of time searching forums for the right answers to the choices... And while everything is clear with the first one, Lionel, in my opinion, was the most disgusting character of all.

I only went through his branch because I was a perfectionist who couldn’t give up on anything halfway through. During the course of the game, this character managed to disappoint me several times. And even the happy wedding of the heroes at the end did not change my mind at all. Not only did Lionel treat the heroine rudely and manipulate her in every way possible, but he also managed to cheat on her a couple of times. And good-natured Angela let him get away with everything.

Lionel realized his behavior and began to treat the heroine differently only towards the end. At that moment, the heroine learned the tragic truth about his past, which explained why he behaved the way he did. As a result, after a big fight, they decided to start rebuilding their relationship and got married. Lionel promised Angela that he would change.

In the end, the developers used his past as an excuse. He was just an unhappy boy who had been unlucky. And that’s why he behaved like a jerk towards the heroine... At the moment when, after everything that had happened, Angela finally forgave him, I literally spat venom at the screen. Because in real life, jerks like that never change!

In a way, I’m lucky that I’m not the heroine and I don’t have to deal with all this crap related to love interests... I’m just an outside observer in the form of an unknown aunt. Now I was looking at a divinely beautiful child who lived with his mother in a brothel. He doesn’t yet know how interesting his fate will be in a couple of years...

In fact, I followed him for a reason. Now I was finally convinced that the adult man was not Lionel. At least one mystery less to solve. I could breathe a sigh of relief.

After watching the brothel for a while longer, I decided to go back. However...

"Grace!"

"....."

"Grace, is that you?!"

Suddenly, a man approached from behind and touched my shoulder. I turned around in surprise. He was a blond with long hair that could only be described as a mop. He had handsome features and smelled strongly of cologne.

"Who are you?" I asked doubtfully.

"Grace!" The man didn’t take his hand off my shoulder. "Even if you’re angry, please don’t pretend you don’t remember me!"

"......."

But I really don’t remember.

"Please tell me why you’re mad at me!"

"I’m not mad... I don’t even know who you are."

"Grace!" The guy’s cute face contorted in despair. "Okay! Fine! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I was wrong!"

Suddenly, this weirdo fell to his knees in front of me.

"This..." I didn’t know what to say.

What was happening was more like a circus.

"You said you wanted to spend your whole life with me!" he choked out through his tears. "Please don’t go back on your word!"

Finally, it slowly began to dawn on me what was happening. This guy was probably one of Grace’s fans. Even though I didn’t remember him (there were too many of them in my fragmented memories. How could I remember them all?) At first, they all annoyed me a lot.

They weren’t even aristocrats, but guys of dubious origin. They slept with Grace because of her high status. Some even fell in love and became annoying admirers. One of them was lying right now at my feet.

And since I had recently started a new life, I tried in every way to get rid of them. The last thing I needed was for Ruby to accidentally see one of them! I ignored their letters and didn’t open the gate when they stood guard right outside the estate. Edison threatened to call the police. Over time, there were fewer and fewer of them, and then they disappeared altogether. I hoped that I was finally free from the shackles of the past.

But that was not the case...

"Grace!" the blond man continued to cling to my leg, "Tell me you love me!"

"..."

"If I’m guilty of something, tell me straight! For the sake of our love, I’ll make amends!"

He stood up and tried to pull me toward him. At that moment, I couldn’t take it anymore and was about to hit the insolent man with my purse. But by an extraordinary coincidence, someone beat me to it.

"Young man, stop that immediately."

Serpens suddenly wedged himself between us and grabbed the guy by the arm.

"What...!"

"How dare you harass a lady in broad daylight?"

"Harass?" he said indignantly. "How is that possible? We’re actually lovers!"

"Really?" Serpens responded calmly and turned to me. "Lady Weinstein, do you know him?"

"This is the first time I’ve seen him."

The blond man looked at me in shock.

"Grace, how could you...!"

But Serpens didn’t let him finish.

"The lady said it all," he said sternly. "If you don’t leave right now, I’ll call the police."

"......"

After that, the young man’s ardor subsided somewhat. For a while, he continued to stare at me imploringly, but I turned away. Then he finally left.

Serpens and I were left alone in the middle of the street.

"What are you doing here?" I asked first.

"I’m watching you."

"What?"

I was taken aback by how quickly he admitted it. He didn’t even try to come up with an excuse...

"You are our leader," the man explained eloquently, "After the incident at the lake, we decided that the Order of the Shadow should take care of your safety."

"I see... But you should have at least warned me."

I was somewhat dissatisfied that this had happened without my knowledge.

"Okay. Next time I’ll tell you."

"You’ll tell me when you’re watching me?" I couldn’t help but smile.

Our meeting was accidental, and after some thought, I decided to pop into the weapon shop for a moment. Besides, I had a couple of questions for Serpens. We sat down in the same places again, and the man made us some fruit tea.

I casually began my "interrogation."

"Serpens, how old are you?"

He calmly replied:

"Thirty."

"Really?" I was surprised. The owner of the gun shop did indeed look very young. You wouldn’t even say he was older than me...

Meanwhile, I continued:

"Can I ask you one more question?"

"Of course."

Serpens took a sip of tea, completely unaware that I was about to shock him.

"Are you a virgin?"

The man choked and recoiled from me in horror.

"You... You... What are you talking about?"

Probably, at that moment, all sorts of thoughts were racing through his head. Including rumors about me. Serpens expected me to pounce on him at any moment. Just in case, he moved to the edge of the sofa.

I sighed.

"Why such a reaction? We’re adults, after all."

"Don’t try to sweet-talk me!"

"I just asked if you’ve slept with women in the last thirty years..."

"NO!"

The answer was extremely sharp. It felt like I had come to a priest in a temple and seduced him.

Serpens was still staring at me wide-eyed.

"You’re a noble lady! How can you ask such questions when you’re alone with a man..."

"Stop making that face. I’m not asking you for the password to your personal safe."

He pursed his lips in dissatisfaction.

I repeated my question several more times before I "got" some kind of answer out of him.

"There may have been one incident," Serpens reluctantly admitted.

Well, that’s better.

"So, do you have children?" I asked in return.

"Where would I get them? Of course not!"

"What if I told you that you have a son?"