This Delusional Voice Keeps Telling Me I’m a Villain

A few days later.

In the last several days, eight study mates including Hauser-sama had quit… No, in this case, they were practically sacked. Anyway, more than half of the study mates had withdrawn due to their families’ misconduct or theirs. There were also some households that were set to be crushed entirely.

It was said to be particularly disastrous for Hauser-sama’s family—the House of Nyschager.

Duke Nyschager’s misdeeds such as the many years of match-fixing were exposed and at the same time, falsification of his past records was discovered that led him to be denounced not only by other nobles, but also the King himself. Following that, some whistleblowers also reported embezzlement of the knights’ fund and mistreatments of some knights; this started the countdown of his downfall.

Hauser-sama’s fractured bone was healed by healing magic and it was said he was able to hold the sword again… But he might never hold one ever again. Since he was from a ducal house, he was pardoned to an extent, but the thing he did was overboard. He would never be admitted to the knighthood.

In just a few days, fifteen fellow study mates became seven.

…And today, Urschel was quitting.

Urschel-sama was a strange child as expected. On that day, after Urschel-sama cornered Hauser-sama and all the study mates he condemned scattered away from the scene like they were running for their lives, he bawled in front of the parfait that was knocked down on the floor. He was nothing like the person who just denounced Hauser-sama and the gang; he returned to the child-like Urschel that I knew of.

“The parfait… My parfait…!”

The other study mates who always doted on Urschel were at a loss when seeing Urschel crying his heart out, but they tried to console him… To Urschel-sama who loved sweets so much, this incident upset him so much that he couldn’t stop weeping over it.

He kept sobbing while apologising to the patissiers who made the parfait for not being able to eat it and protect it.

…I honestly thought he had a total personality change.

To see the usually soothing Urschel change into someone even more vicious than any noble, but now I could only think that he was back to his usual self. No other explanation can better describe this than Urschel having different personalities inside him.

So far, Urschel-sama didn’t seem like he was acting as a child at all… So, what the hell was that all about?

I snapped out of my recollections and concentrated on what was happening before my eyes. Urschel-sama was bidding farewell to Prince Leodore.

“Thanks for these nine months!”

He said that with an innocent smile—nothing like when he was denouncing Hauser-sama. There was only a cheerful boy who loved sweets.

I could hear the patissiers crying outside the salon. Some voices in despair were even saying, “What do we have to work for now?”

‘Just do your work as usual, won’t you?’ I couldn’t help but inwardly retort.

The maids and other fellow guards felt sad about this as well. That was understandable… Our source of solace at work would be gone.

The rest of the study mates had complicated feelings regarding this but they decided to cheerfully see him off. They had prepared a small farewell gift. This was never the case when the other study mates were leaving. This must be Urschel-sama’s own charisma.

The salon was enveloped in a warm atmosphere… Except one whose face showed some disapproval.

It was Prince Leodore.

“Urschel. Are you really quitting?” Prince Leodore was clearly reluctant for him to leave, wanting him to stay.

“Didn’t you already give tit for tat to Hauser…? You don’t have to quit…”

That was rare. No, that was my first time seeing something like this. Until then, no matter who withdrew, Prince Leodore never stopped them as he saw them off, let alone expressing his disapproval. Just what was happening inside Prince Leodore’s mind?

Urschel-sama shook his head in response to Prince Leodore and said, “I’ve caused some trouble, so it’s better this way. Besides, I’m the only heir to House of Minusle, so I also have to do my own studies for that.”

“But, even if you’re the heir to that Minusle… No, just pretend you didn’t hear what I just said…”

Prince Leodore let out a sigh as if he had no choice. Then he looked at the remaining six study mates.

“I’ll tell you this upfront. It’s almost confirmed that the six of you will become my close aides.”

The announcement came out of the blue. Most of the study mates were astonished and most of them were frozen.

Prince Leodore let out a small sigh as he continued, “Father gave me an order the other day to quickly choose my close aides. Thanks to Urschel, I could do away with the problematic nobles and only you people are left, but more than that, there are no problems with your houses or your qualities—like how Hauser was—and I also trust you guys. So, you will remain as my close aides.”

Following that statement, the informally decided close-aides-to-be looked at each other, and finally let out their breaths.

…Among these six study mates, there was even one with the longest stint of eight years. Even the shortest one was three years. That was how long the struggle between them had been going on. And on this day—albeit not yet official—that period had finally come to an end.

Prince Leodore smiled at them approvingly.

“You all have come a long way.”

They bowed at these words. They were no longer the prince’s study mates, they would soon become his close aides; walking side by side with the prince towards the future in leading this country…

Prince Leodore fixed his posture in Urschel’s direction.

“I owe it all to Urschel this time. Thanks to you, the future of this country is bright. I’d like to thank you in some way if I could… Urschel, will you…”

“Prince Leodore! If you’re thinking of rewarding me, I’d love to have sweets!”

Prince Leodore was about to say something, but Urschel-sama somewhat interrupted him midway and requested for that instead.

“Sweets…”

“Yes! Your Highness, as long as there are sweets, I’m perfectly fine.”

Urschel-sama’s eyes twinkled.

…This person, he really never changed in this aspect.

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It seemed like Prince Leodore already had something else in mind for the rewards, but if that was what Urschel wished for… Prince Leodore agreed, although somewhat hesitantly.

“At a later date, I’ll give you one of our finest sweets that our country is proud of. I’m not sure whether you’ve eaten it or not, but I know you’ll like it, it’s custard pudding.”

C-custard pudding???

While in other countries it was deadly delicious, in our country it was famous for being deadly sweet? The amount of sugar used was so high that it had become a luxury sweet… But was he serious? Indeed, it might be true that offering these sweets would be the highest compliment, but…

It was said that one bite of this custard pudding would make you faint and two bites would make you ascend to heaven. Would he be okay?

Despite that, Urschel-sama looked visibly happy.

“Custard pudding…! I-I’ve never had this before! Thank you!” 

Later on, I heard from the wind that Mr. Urschel was so impressed with the custard pudding that he was quite crazy about it.

For real?