If You Cheat, Just Don’t Tell Me - Chapter 17

“Freya, you—do you want to marry Lucius instead of me?”

“The deadline for the promise is approaching.”

Freya muttered painfully.

And I still couldn’t do anything for her.

Is this how it ends for us? It can’t end like this, not for us.

Such thoughts just spun uselessly in my head. Only anxiety and irritation kept building.

Lucius’s interference with Freya was growing stronger. Probably because the deadline was nearing, just as Freya said. He seemed confident that the Spirits family would fail to meet the conditions and Freya would become his.

He visited Freya openly, without caring about appearances. Acting like her fiancé, pushing me aside.

Given the circumstances, Freya couldn’t rudely reject Lucius either. Each time, she’d give me an apologetic look before going to him.

She didn’t need to make that face. I knew it couldn’t be helped. The fact that I was making her wear that expression was proof of my own inadequacy.

With this situation continuing, how others viewed us began to change. While it was common knowledge that Freya and I were engaged, lately it was obvious that the time Freya spent with Lucius had increased.

Freya, who had always been mindful of her position as my fiancée and rarely spoke to other men in public, was now frequently meeting with Lucius alone. Seeing this repeatedly, it was only natural for people to suspect something.

Every day, Freya’s worries about her family piled up. And here I was, making this proposal to her, confident she would refuse. Maybe I really was still that “Regis family dropout” fool.

After classes ended, in the classroom. The time when the setting sun streamed in, dyeing the room crimson. A moment alone for just Freya and me.

“Hey, Freya.”

“…What is it?”

“If it’s what you want, I can take you away from here. I have enough money for us to live somewhere far away for a while. I could find work right away.”

“…Don’t be stupid. That’s impossible, right? For my family’s sake and for yours. I can’t just abandon the clan we built for everyone.”

…Yeah. I knew from the start Freya would say that. So, this question was meaningless from the beginning. I’d understood that all along.

“Besides… well, Lucius might not be such a bad guy, right? It’s just that I dislike him now, but maybe if we became husband and wife, he’d be normally kind?”

“If he really cared about you and would treat you kindly, he wouldn’t keep coming to see you even though you’re not his fiancée yet, ignoring the Spirits family’s situation. He only sees you as a trophy that’ll soon be his.”

“…That might not be true. Maybe he’s genuinely concerned about me…”

“Don’t you, who’s interacting with him, understand best that’s not the case?”

“—What do you know about him, Dicca?! You’ve barely even talked to him!”

Hearing Freya deny my words and defend Lucius like that, I felt the blood rushing to my head.

Lately, I’d been constantly thinking about what I could do for Freya, how I could help? Why did I have to hear this from her?

“You’re not much different from me!”

“At least I talk to him way more than you do!”

“Is that really a conversation?! Just listening to whatever the other person says isn’t a conversation!”

“We are having proper conversations! Don’t make fun of me!”

This argument was pointless. It produced nothing. I should stop right now.

I understood that in my head, but my emotions hadn’t caught up. That’s why I ended up saying something unnecessary.

“Freya, you—do you want to marry Lucius instead of me?”

At my words, Freya’s face turned bright red, then pale, and finally drained of color.

She moved her mouth as if to say something, but eventually closed it as if giving up.

“—I’m going home.”

“Ah… hey!”

Still pale, Freya quickly gathered her belongings and, ignoring my attempts to stop her, hurried out of the classroom.

For a while after Freya left, I couldn’t move from that spot.

…Once I calmed down, it was obvious I was in the wrong. I’d known all along that Freya didn’t want to marry Lucius.

Her defending Lucius was just Freya’s way of trying to ease her anxiety about the future. I understood or thought I understood that she didn’t truly believe those things.

I thought I understood. But that’s all it was, just thinking. If I truly understood, I wouldn’t have gotten so worked up, wouldn’t have retorted at Freya. That wouldn’t improve the situation or ease Freya’s anxiety.

…I can’t even relieve the anxiety of the woman I love. That’s why I’m still just a kid.

I watched from the classroom window as Freya left the school. Should I have chased after her and said something? That wasn’t my true feelings or something. Probably would’ve backfired.

I just want what’s best for Freya’s future. I’d be fine if she could just be happy.

Why does everything have to go so wrong?

A little while later.

That day, I’d been told in advance that Freya wouldn’t be coming to school, so I didn’t go either and instead came to the town factory to check on my motorcycle.

“Dicca.”

The factory owner—the old man who sold me the motorcycle and was doing the inspection today called out to me. He wore oil-stained coveralls, with white hair and black grime on his face.

“You like that bike, boy?”

“What’s this all of a sudden…? Of course, I do. I wouldn’t ride it around otherwise.”

“You take good care of it yourself. Hard to believe you fight monsters while riding it, barely any damage.”

“Obviously. My life’s on this thing. I maintain it daily, following the manual you gave me.”

The old man kept inspecting the bike, his back to me.

He never usually talks during inspections. What’s going on today?

“A motorcycle will always respond to your riding if you maintain it by the manual. But people’s hearts don’t work that way. Right?”

“…What are you talking about, old man?”

“Your troubled heart is showing in the bike. It’s a different kind of disarray than when you first started riding.”

“…None of your business, old man.”

…The Spirits family problem, time is running out. And yet, I can’t do anything.

When the deadline comes, the Spirits family will probably call off the engagement with me. So, what I said when I first met Freya will come true. Except it won’t be because of any fault of mine.

“If you can see the direction you need to head straight for, your bike will respond to you even better.”

“…Is that so.”

It was right when I was having that conversation with the old man that two events came crashing into my world.

“…Freya?”

The factory faced a large street—busy, with separate sidewalks for pedestrians and a roadway for carriages. A carriage passed by on the roadway.

A familiar face peered from the carriage window. Red hair, red eyes. My fiancée, Freya and the face I saw behind hers was Lucius.

What is she doing? I didn’t even have time to finish the thought before the second event rushed at me.

“Hey, Dicca! Come to our place right now!”

“Alta?”

Roaring down the roadway toward me was my best friend Alta and his crew—the members of the Steel Whirlwind.

“Big job! We can make insane money!”