Chapter 10: I Should Hate Him

What does it mean to be [familiar] with someone?

If you break down the word, “friendly” means “a person you treat with goodwill,” while familiarity marks a new stage—a “friend whom you both know and are comfortable with.”

At this stage, regardless of Dolores’s own wishes, when facing Green, the worst she could do is treat him as a friend.

And even at this level of friendship, you inevitably invest some emotion.

Because whether you’re cheerful, shy, or gloomy, you’ll still treat the friend you truly recognize in your own way.

You’ll care about their feelings.

Dolores felt as if her mind was still a blank, white pulp. What Green had done to her—truthfully, with her ability, she had figured it out rather quickly.

Touching and talking to increase favorability—since there’s a daily cap, and worrying she might realize what was going on, he probably didn’t speak earlier simply to wait for the right moment.

Maybe he completed some task at the forest ruins, but it only raised favor by seven or eight points, about ten at most, so to avoid dropping favor if she caught on, he had to find an opportunity to dump it all at once and push it to 50.

Dolores could see the panel and understood.

But.

How despicable, how…

Insulting words spun in her head, but they softened, and as they mingled with her thoughts, they felt almost trivial—just “terrible.”

Calling Green’s behavior “terrible” felt too gentle.

The maid, with anger, stabbed the knife that had been at Green’s neck into the tabletop, and her eyes toward him now brimmed with naked disgust.

Dolores needed to calm down. Her hands trembled slightly, and only after she sat down, fingers interlocked and pressed on the table, did her breathing finally soothe her mood.

Green was watching her expression.

So was the young maid at her side.

Everyone was waiting for her reaction.

Fine, now that she knew Green had done something wrong and had given Dolores such a chance—a chance to make use of this mistake—

What needed to be done was obvious. If Dolores wished, the maid at her side could at least make Green suffer a little.

To ensure the princess’s safety, only one person was needed by her side. The maid’s strength was beyond doubt.

So, Dolores spoke:

“Mr. Green, please go back for now.”

“As for this gift…” Dolores’s eyes, shimmering, glanced at the bracelet on the floor, her voice soft and gentle as she continued,

“I’ll accept it, after all, it’s a token of your goodwill, isn’t it?”

When facing a stranger’s goodwill, uncertain whether she could repay it, Dolores would most likely refuse.

But when it came to a friend, Dolores seldom turned down a gift given in good faith.

Because if a friend had prepared a gift, what they hoped for was definitely for her to accept it. Dolores would accept, and in time, she would return a gift or her own goodwill.

The maid picked up the bracelet, and Dolores put it on her right wrist, sincerely praising:

“I really like it. It looks beautiful—and it seems quite valuable, too~”

Green could clearly feel that Dolores’s attitude toward him had softened a lot; those strange reactions before seemed just a minor side effect of the system.

After all, back in the garden, when her favorability had gone from negative to [Friendly], didn’t Dolores also react oddly then?

“If Your Highness likes it, that’s all that matters.” Green responded offhandedly.

Dolores turned the bracelet on her left wrist, not answering Green immediately.

If only she hadn’t seen this bracelet—if he hadn’t done what he did—Dolores believed she would be happier than she was to receive this “liked” bracelet.

Perhaps this level of [familiarity] meant Dolores hadn’t yet developed a clear liking for him.

But it was undoubtedly starting to interfere, seriously, with her thoughts and influence her actions.

Who even remembered that before speaking, Dolores was thinking of making use of the opportunity to accuse him of offending the princess?

She simply, as if it was only natural, regarded him as a close friend and chatted with him comfortably.

Ignoring her earlier struggle, the attempts at resistance, the overturned box still lying on the floor—the culprit sitting right in front of her.

“If there’s nothing else, please leave, Mr. Green.”

Dolores’s voice turned gentle as she quietly wiped away the tear marks with the back of her hand, but this was the second time she had pressed him to leave.

“I’d like to talk with you a little longer.” Green continued, all the while watching Dolores for a reaction.

“…I’d like to be alone for a while…” Dolores paused, “to enjoy the gift you gave me.”

Maybe Dolores realized that, in her understanding, seeking a tactful excuse was an instinctively gentle act toward a friend.

So she said that to Green.

“You should leave now, Green—Mr.—Green—!”

This sharply disdainful line did not come from Dolores, but from the maid at her side. She spoke out what Dolores wanted to say but couldn’t, giving Green an outright rejection.

Even boldly showing her disgust toward Green was something Dolores wanted to do, but now found herself unable.

After overturning things, Dolores’s attitude toward Green had visibly softened and gentled, while the maid’s reaction was like a “black face” completely opposite the “white face” of Dolores.

Seeing Dolores’s reaction matching his expectations, Green had no reason to force her anymore. Or perhaps, with his current abilities, he truly could not afford to offend Visser.

The binding spell had left bloody marks on Green’s hand, and it still stung.

So Green left the garden, leaving only Dolores and the maid standing by her side.

After Green left, the maid suddenly spoke to Dolores:

“Your Highness, if he did anything to you, please don’t hide it. I will find a way to deal with it for you.”

“Even if the gift he presents might please the king, it’s no excuse to touch you as he pleases, Your Highness.”

Obviously, the maid had been paying close attention to what was happening, though perhaps she was still a little late.

She was showing her concern, but Dolores said nothing for a long while. Only after Green had been gone for more than ten minutes did she, accompanied by the maid, remain in silence in the garden.

“Should I stay away from him?”

Suddenly, Dolores asked the maid beside her.

“Personally, I hope Your Highness can stay away from him. At least in my eyes, his actions are no different from those frivolous suitors.”

“I don’t see any real feelings for you in him. Those words of love are the cheapest things of all.”

The maid, as if a box had been opened, went on:

“Things like that—among the gifts from your other suitors—are even the cheapest.”

There was something the maid didn’t say, or ask. She couldn’t understand why Her Highness was closer to Green, this frivolous man, than to anyone else.

“It’s the first time someone’s given me a gift like this. I should have refused—really, I should have refused.”

Dolores murmured, her left hand resting on the bracelet. But she didn’t have the strength to crush it, so she only gripped the table hard.

If he hadn’t used such underhanded means to raise her favor, Dolores would never have accepted such a gift.

Because those she could truly regard as friends, from her previous life to now, were very, very few. Let alone becoming a “confidant” with someone she had only met for a few days, like Green.

Even if she would be happy to receive such a gift, this was different. Completely different from what she had imagined.

“He really is a bastard, isn’t he?”