Chapter 29

“Girl?”

Oscar was the first one who responded to Dante’s remarks. He turned his eyes towards Cecilia.

Cecilia started to panic while being examined by his gaze.

“Eeeeeh…”

“What are y–”

“What are you talking about? He just has a feminine face, he’s undoubtedly a man.”

Oscar replied even before Gilbert made a follow-up. A surprised Dante widened his eyes at that unexpected reply.

“Eh? But no matter where I look at…”

“Surely, you can say his face is a bit girlish. But I really care about him so just cut it out and say no more.”

Dante alternately glanced at Oscar and then Cecilia. He turned his gaze to Gilbert, whose expression was stiffened, and muttered, “Hmm.”

“……I see.”

He nodded his head in a way that sent shivers down the spine.

However, soon after that, Dante opened the notebook in front of him without further pursuing Cecilia’s matter.

“Well, if Oscar says so, I guess it’s right! My bad, Cecil. I seem to have misunderstood. Did it bother you?”

“…No. It’s okay.”

She could only say that with a pale expression.

Then they began studying together, but Cecilia and Gilbert’s expressions remained tense all the way.

◆ ◇ ◆

“I absolutely got exposed! Dante surely knows!!”

“Well, with that reaction… It is certain.”

On that day, they decided to urgently hold a ‘strategic meeting’ in the dormitory lounge.

Cecilia would have preferred to hold the meeting in hers or Gilbert’s room to avoid other people, but Gilbert vehemently opposed to it. So they went to the lounge that usually only had a few people around.

Apparently, Gilbert said, “I can’t be alone with sis in a room with a bed in it”.

He said he wasn’t mature enough to exert that level of patience, but Cecilia couldn’t understand anything he said at all. She could only assume it was another unique and indecipherable trait of adolescent boys.

Currently, there wasn’t anyone else in the lounge. It seems not a lot of students could afford to talk leisurely during the period before the midterm exam.

Cecilia muttered with a frowning expression.

“We must figure out a way to shut his mouth…”

“There you go again with those dangerous ideas…”

“I still haven’t figured out what to do about Leanne’s romantic relationships, but why do these problems keep happening one after another?”

“The exams are creeping up too.”

“Aaaaaaargh!!”

Gilbert’s retort made Cecilia lurch while holding her head.

Her problems were piling up.

“Speaking of that, Dante is also a 'knight’, so isn’t he also a 'capture target’? What about pairing Dante and Leanne? Isn’t that good?”

“Hmm. Dante…you say…”

Gilbert bowed his head after hearing Cecilia’s reluctant tone.

“Are there any problems? Wouldn’t Leanne follow his 'route’?”

“That’s not the case, indeed, they were supposed to get along well but…”

“But?"

"Dante’s route is very difficult…”

Dante Hampton. His real name is unknown.

He claimed to be the third son of the Hampton household, but it was a lie. He was actually an assassin sent from a neighbouring country to watch Oscar. His mission was to befriend the Crown Prince and kill him.

But Dante chose to stay around Oscar as his genuine friend. He embraced and valued his friendship with Oscar over his assassin’s duty.

So his route is basically a constant struggle between his friendship with Oscar or the mission from his hometown.

Leanne discovered in a certain 'event’ that Dante was an assassin who came to kill Oscar, and therefore she was targeted by him. But Dante couldn’t kill Leanne. Even though he had a lot of opportunities to finish her off, he always stopped at a crucial moment.

Dante kept asking himself day after day why he couldn’t kill her. Until he finally reached a conclusion.

He realized he loved Leanne.

From that point, he decided to completely cut ties with the assassination business…

“It’s an 'event’…”

“Okay. It looks like he needs a warning too.”

“Why!?”

Cecilia exclaimed and turned towards Gilbert who looked like he was about to blow the lid off.

“Why? Isn’t it obvious? Why did you even leave such a dangerous person alone until now! I understand you can’t tell others, but at least let me know!”

“No, you see… If Dante’s route isn’t chosen, that story never unfolds. Gil, don’t you think it would be pitiful if Dante got caught?”

“Not really!”

After that merciless answer, Cecilia could only shrug.

“Well, we have a lot of things to consider now, but I get it. I’ll accept it for the time being. So, why is his route so difficult?”

“Well, Dante’s route is quite harsh. In any other routes, if you make the wrong choice, it will only lower your favorability… but in his case, you’ll end up dead.”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, Dante assassinates her, so Leanne dies.”

“……”

“After that, with Leanne’s death, Cecilia ends up being incriminated and therefore also dies. Either assassinated as well or executed in prison.”

Gilbert covered his face with both hands. He let out a long sigh, truly frightened.

“Why does that game have so many life-threatening situations?”

“Are you talking about the trend in dating sim games having life-threatening situations?”

“…I don’t know about that.”

Gil raised his face from his hands. His expression was mellow, he seemed to have managed to take control of his thoughts once again.

Cecilia rubbed the frown between her eyebrows.

“In the end, I want to drive Leanne as far as possible from choosing Dante’s route. If she makes any mistake, I will be dead meat too…”

“Yes, let’s avoid Dante’s route at all costs.”

Gil nodded deeply.

“The turning point depends on whether Leanne discovers Dante’s secret or not…”

“How does that happen?”

“If the favorability level increases to a certain extent, Dante’s younger brother, Huey, will be transferred to the Academy. After that, Leanne happened to witness a conversation in which Huey tries to convince Dante to return to the assassin’s guild.”

In the game, Leanne hid behind a tree, so Huey didn’t notice her, but Dante did. Then the assassination attempts towards her by Dante begun.

“In other words, if that Huey person appears…it’s a danger alert?”

“Yeah. Exactly.”

As expected, Gilbert’s discernment is high.

He held his temple with an exhausted look.

“On top of that, we still have to do something regarding you being exposed as a girl. Suddenly my head hurts…”

“……I’m sorry?”

“You don’t have to apologize for that.”

“Ok… But I don’t think Leanne is interested in Dante. She didn’t show any signs at all until now!”

Cecilia said that to encourage Gilbert.

–However…

“My name is Huey Cranbell and I just transferred to this school. Nice to meet you all.”

The next day, Huey transferred to Cecilia’s class.