Ricardo's words made no sense. But I had no idea where to even begin refuting them.
So I decided to act shamelessly too.
“You didn’t dodge this time, did you? Please break off the engagement.”
“…….”
Couldn’t argue back, could you?
See? He’s not making any sense right now.
Ricardo looked at me with eyes full of resentment.
For some reason, he also looked like he was grieving.
Anyone would think he was being forced into this!
“Ah, fine. I won’t avoid you anymore. That’s good enough, right?”
“……After the breakup, are you going to get engaged to that man right away?”
His answer didn’t match the question.
That man, he said.
Could he possibly mean Leon?
Just how far had things progressed between me and Leon in Ricardo’s imagination?
He was beating the drum and playing the cymbals all by himself.
Then, Ricardo shut his eyes tightly before opening them again.
“……That man doesn’t seem like a very good person.”
“I’m close to Brother Leon. If you’re going to badmouth him in front of me, stop.”
At my words, Ricardo frowned.
“You said love should be built on trust.”
“……What?”
“You said no one would like being rescued from trouble by their lover.”
Continuing his words, Ricardo let out a hollow laugh.
“Turns out all of that was a lie.”
“……I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
Could you please not run off on your own?
Then Ricardo replied as if to say, "You really don’t know?"
“I’m talking about the Hurrigon Mine. Didn’t you hand it over to that man?”
Ah, come to think of it...
When I gave Leon the Hurrigon Mine, I did tell him not to take the Seren Mine.
“At this rate, you’ll hand over your liver and gallbladder too.”
“Stop being sarcastic. Anyway, isn’t it good that you got Hurrigon instead of Seren?”
“How is that……!”
Ricardo flared up. But once he realized how loud his voice had gotten, he lowered it.
“Anyway, don’t do that again next time.”
Second male lead, take care of yourself first.
Who’s giving advice to whom right now?
At that moment, Ricardo’s gaze briefly shifted to something behind us. His expression made a wave of fear crash over me.
“W-why? Is it still following us?”
Ricardo looked a bit conflicted.
Why are you acting scary!
“I-it’s okay to be honest. It’s still following us, right?”
“Yes.”
Then there is no time to be standing around chatting.
I quickly pulled him along.
“We just need to go where there are lots of people, right? Let’s go.”
Ricardo’s eyes slowly widened. But only for a moment. Soon, he smiled happily and followed me.
“Sounds good.”
* * *
Ricardo and I were currently being chased.
That much was certain.
But why was Ricardo so excited?
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“I’m full.”
“I’m hungry. And you’re too skinny, so you need to eat more.”
He asked questions he had no intention of considering the answers to.
“My fault for ruining your dress. May I give you a new one as a gift?”
“It’s fine. I’m rich.”
“I’m doing this for my own comfort, so please don’t worry about it.”
He said something nice about compensating me for the blood-stained dress, and yet still managed to irritate me.
And he did it all with a bright smile!
“……But, is it really okay for us to be messing around like this? Isn’t this a dangerous situation?”
“Can’t we go over there?”
He really didn’t hear a word I said.
Oblivious to my anxiety, Ricardo dragged me somewhere.
“Lucky roulette……”
It was none other than a fortune-telling roulette disguised as a game of luck.
A man with hair like a failed experiment cackled as he explained.
“It predicts whether you’ll have good luck this year.”
Oh, this actually looked pretty fun.
The giant roulette was divided into five sections.
Each space had a drawing, including things like a cactus and a four-leaf clover. The cactus seemed to indicate the worst luck.
“But there’s no four-leaf clover.”
No matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find the four-leaf clover drawing. The man rubbed his nose awkwardly.
“Take a closer look.”
“Here it is.”
Then Ricardo pointed to a thick line. Narrowing my eyes at it, I could just barely make out a faint drawing inside the line.
Wow, that’s just too much!
I gave the man a resentful look, and he just shrugged lightly.
“That’s why it’s lucky.”
The man gestured with his chin, telling me to give it a spin.
With a strange tension hanging in the air, I carefully spun the roulette.
Drrrr……
Then with a click, the roulette stopped.
“Oh.”
The arrow had stopped right in the center of the cactus drawing. Watching that, Ricardo let out a brief sound of admiration. But the moment I rolled my eyes, he quickly pretended to be distracted.
“What a shame. Just a little more and it would’ve been the four-leaf clover……!”
It wasn’t even close enough to be a shame.
“Still, a cactus is cute, right?”
The man laughed heartily and handed me a cactus plushie.
Next was Ricardo’s turn. Standing there with a blank look, he seemed like someone who never expected luck in the first place.
Drrrr……
Swallowing my spit, I waited for the roulette to stop.
And then, the moment the spinning roulette came to a halt.
“Oooh!”
The man cheered and slapped Ricardo on the shoulder.
The roulette arrow pointed exactly to the four-leaf clover.
Wow, he actually got it.
“Never thought I’d see a lucky guy like this while running my stand!”
“……So you did know how outrageous the odds were.”
The man handed over a four-leaf clover keychain, covered in a thick layer of dust, to Ricardo.
“Wishing you nothing but luck from now on! Same to the young lady with you.”
“You too, mister.”
I returned the greeting and began walking away.
As we strolled along, I started getting annoyed at how intently Ricardo kept staring at the cactus plushie I was holding.
“……What is it?”
As if suddenly reminded of something, Ricardo opened his mouth with an excited tone.
“This looks like you.”
“…….”
“I mean, the prickly appearance—just like you.”
Only after finishing his sentence did he seem to realize his mistake, and he held out the keychain to me.
“……Want to trade?”
“No thanks? I’m not shameless enough to take someone else’s good luck.”
At my response, Ricardo let out a small laugh. Watching him quietly, I asked cautiously.
“By the way, when are you heading back?”
“What about you?”
“I’m planning to stay here for the night before heading back.”
It takes several hours to get to the Roygin estate. Better to rest comfortably than arrive at dawn.
Ricardo hesitated.
“……Alone?”
“Yes.”
I pulled out a map from my coat.
“Actually, I met you earlier because I got lost looking for the inn I reserved.”
“…….”
“You must be busy, so I’ll get going. I had fun today.”
At that moment, Ricardo snatched the map from my hands.
“Why did you—”
“I happen to need a place to stay for the night too.”
He tapped the map with his finger.
“Let’s go together.”
* * *
When I came alone, I kept getting lost, but with Ricardo, we arrived at the inn in no time.
Guess I really am terrible with directions.
As I was thinking that, Ricardo seemed to be in shock over something else.
“……Is this really where you’re staying?”
Well, I had a similar thought myself.
“Haha, yeah.”
I let out an awkward laugh and clenched my fist tightly.
Rayler, you really……
The inn she claimed to have reserved was, honestly, unbelievably shabby. It wouldn’t be strange if it collapsed at any moment—it was practically a ruin.
S-still, it’s just one night, so it should be fine.
“We’re all booked.”
The innkeeper lady said to Ricardo with a disinterested look.
“It’s festival season. If you didn’t make a reservation, you’re out of luck!”
“A-are there no rooms at other places?”
“Same deal. Even places outside the village are probably full.”
Just as she continued, the woman suddenly scowled. Then she looked back and forth between me and Ricardo with a puzzled expression.
“Didn’t the young lady reserve a double room? You two can just use that. So what’s the problem here?”
Ricardo and I locked eyes.
In that moment, his dazed, blinking face turned bright red.