If You Cheat, Just Don’t Tell Me - Chapter 5

“That’s the kind of line nobles say when they don’t actually plan on doing anything.”

People in this town have all sorts of opinions about us. Some express gratitude like “you’ve been a big help,” while others loudly spread rumors like “those damn brats causing trouble in our town.”

I never really cared about what the townspeople thought of me, but apparently my fiancée felt differently.

“Hey, why do you ride that motorcycle? around making loud noises in the middle of the night?”

“Because it’s fun. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“You’re aware people in town have been complaining about you constantly, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.”

Somehow, it had become routine for us to talk in an empty classroom after school. One such day, I was getting lectured by Freya as usual… or so I thought, until she brought up something she’d never mentioned before – my late-night motorcycle rides.

“Don’t you think you should stop? Or at least consider that you’re bothering people?”

“Not particularly. If they have complaints, they can come tell me directly.”

“Do you even realize what kind of family you come from when you say that?”

“I never talk about my family outside, and plenty of the guys who hang out with me have tried to pick fights with me.”

Even my best friend Alta is one of them. You could call them fools who don’t know my face or family background, but at least they have the honesty and stubbornness to tell people they dislike exactly that to their faces.

I couldn’t care less about those who complain behind my back without the guts to say it to my face. Let them say whatever they want.

“You’re being foolish. Not everyone in town is confident in their fighting skills like the people who gather around you, nor are they strong enough to confront strangers they don’t know. You understand this perfectly well in your head, yet you refuse to change your attitude; that’s not good.”

“…It’s none of your business anyway.”

I tried to brush off Freya as she spoke these undeniable truths with an exasperated tone. Someone quick-witted might have been able to counter her arguments, but unfortunately, my mind doesn’t work that fast.

Apparently displeased with my attitude, Freya pointed her finger at me with a sharper tone.

“I’m your fiancée, so it’s absolutely my business! I’m not asking you to become some prim and proper nobleman, but I at least want you to be someone who doesn’t cause trouble for others!”

While I sat in my usual seat, Freya who as always had taken the seat in front of me without permission, leaned forward toward me with the momentum of her words.

“From our time together, I’ve come to understand that you hate your family, and I can comprehend why you wouldn’t care about your reputation in town! But that’s a separate issue. Making loud noises at night wakes sleeping people, and among them might be babies who just finally fell asleep, or sick people. You can’t just steal their precious sleep! And you might not care what people think of you, but what about your comrades!?”

“…Huh?”

She wasn’t raising her voice, but her words were powerful, filled with conviction as if instructing me.

“Your comrades, unbelievable as it is follow you because they admire you, right? Are you okay with them being spoken poorly of too?”

“…No, first of all, how do you even know about that? I never told you about them.”

“Since you wouldn’t take me with you, I secretly went to your meeting place when you weren’t there. Your comrades happily told me everything.”

“Those guys…!”

At that point, Freya pulled back her upper body and sat properly in her chair again.

“…They were grateful to you, you know? They said you gave them a place to belong when they had none. That’s why they follow you. Unlike here at school, everyone at the meeting place was watching you, admiring you.”

“……”

“It might not be a place you created yourself, but couldn’t you think about those people too? Even if you plan to leave this town eventually. Isn’t that the responsibility of someone in a leadership position?”

—Thinking back, the last time someone interrogated and scolded me like this was my grandfather.

Freya and my grandfather weren’t similar at all. Their ages and genders were completely different.

And yet, the way they looked at “me” myself without caring about things like family background or talent somehow made the two overlap in my mind.

“…Sigh. Fine, I’ll handle it appropriately.”

“That’s the kind of line nobles say when they don’t actually plan on doing anything.”

“That’s not true.”

“Ugh! Promise me properly!”

I thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to listen to what Freya had to say.

“…So, I’m stopping the night rides for a while. Freya’s being noisy about it.”

That evening.

At our meeting place where we gathered as usual without anyone telling us to, I informed my comrades of this.

“…Dude, are you already getting henpecked by Freya-chan, and not just in the future but right now…?”

“Huh? No way. I’m just granting her request. I didn’t obey what she said.”

That was my exchange with Alta, along with:

‘Freya sis, she actually got the boss to listen to her. She’s amazing!’ ‘Yeah, we better make sure not to oppose her.’ ‘From now on, if we want to tell the boss something, maybe we should go through Freya sis!’

“You there! I can hear you! I’ll remember this later!”

Such exchanges with my comrades echoed through the meeting place.

Somehow, the way we existed was beginning to change. It was a night where everyone could feel that premonition.