Chapter 43: The World Doesn't Revolve Around Me

Zeldryn stared at Hera, who was standing among the other servants. There was actually only one thing he wanted to say to her right now.

'Hey, Hera. Please clear up what happened last night.'

Simple. He should have been able to say that, let Hera explain everything, and put an end to the misunderstanding.

But when Zeldryn slowly looked around the kitchen, he immediately saw the problem. The other servants were still watching him. Some only glanced in his direction, others stared openly, and a few were not even trying to hide the suspicion on their faces.

'Shit.'

The situation felt like having a gun pointed directly at his face while a bottomless cliff waited only a few steps behind him. Moving forward was dangerous, but backing away would not help either.

If Zeldryn suddenly told Hera to explain that nothing had happened last night, what would the servants think? The simplest conclusion would be that he was forcing Hera to lie.

That possibility was especially believable because Hera was his personal servant. With the old Zeldryn's reputation, it would not be difficult for the others to imagine that she had been threatened into covering something up.

Unfortunately, the other option was just as bad. If Zeldryn asked Hera to leave the kitchen so they could speak alone, that would only make the situation even more suspicious.

'That's even worse, damn it.'

Rumors had already spread because Hera had been summoned to his room late at night. If Zeldryn came looking for her again the very next morning and took her somewhere private, there might be an entirely new rumor by tomorrow, or perhaps within the next hour.

There was still a third possibility. He could ignore everything, ask Hera where Kera was, and then leave.

Zeldryn considered it briefly, but the idea did not sit well with him.

'I can't.'

This rumor genuinely bothered him. If he simply left it alone, it would eventually interfere with the comfortable life he was trying to build inside this mansion. Every time he left his room, people would continue staring at him as though he were some disgusting pervert. Every conversation with Hera could create another rumor, and everything he did might continue to be interpreted through the reputation left behind by the old Zeldryn.

Zeldryn almost wanted to grab his head and scream.

'Why do characters in novels never have to deal with shit like this?!'

His irritation continued to grow.

'Were those novel authors drunk or something? Something this basic almost never gets considered.'

Whenever Reka had read novels, problems like this had usually been brushed aside. The protagonist did something, a misunderstanding appeared, someone explained what had happened, and everyone accepted the explanation before the story moved on to the next problem.

Simple.

Now that Zeldryn was actually living inside a world like this, however, he had somehow become trapped in exactly the kind of problem an author might have considered too insignificant to write about.

Rumors, prejudice, the way other people perceived him, and small mistakes spreading from one mouth to another were all problems that refused to disappear simply because they were inconvenient.

'Bastards. Must be nice being you guys, novel protagonists.'

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The more Zeldryn thought about it, the more annoyed he became. Those protagonists could act however they wanted, make stupid decisions, and create problems, only for everything to be conveniently resolved a few chapters later without any meaningful consequences.

It was almost as though the entire world stood still until the protagonist decided to do something. When the protagonist moved, only then would everyone else begin moving with them.

The reality Zeldryn faced was completely different.

This world did not revolve around him.

Even after someone from another world entered Zeldryn's body, everyone else continued living their own lives. The servants still talked among themselves, rumors continued to spread, and other people formed their own thoughts and conclusions. Zeldryn could not control any of that simply because he might be someone special.

'But I'm a transmigrator, right?'

Zeldryn almost laughed from sheer frustration.

'By story logic, shouldn't I be something like the protagonist? Then why is my life this damn complicated?'

He let out a long sigh.

'Shit. I really hate this kind of thing.'

Whether he liked it or not, however, he still had to choose what to do.

Zeldryn finally started walking toward Hera. Several servants around her immediately became tense as he approached. Their hands slowed, and one servant even stopped cleaning the table entirely. Hera herself seemed slightly nervous when Zeldryn came closer.

“L-Lord Zeldryn?”

He stopped only a few steps away from her and briefly glanced at the surrounding servants once more. Every one of them was clearly listening.

'Fine.'

Zeldryn made his decision. Rather than trying to hide the situation, it would be better to address it openly in front of everyone.

“Hera.”

“Y-yes, Lord?”

“I want you to clarify something about what happened last night.”

Several servants visibly reacted to his words. None of them dared to speak, but their expressions changed immediately, and even Hera looked confused.

“C-clarify?” Hera asked.

Zeldryn noticed the shift in the servants' expressions at once.

'Tch. Of course.'

From their perspective, even those words probably sounded suspicious. It really did feel as though he were standing between a gun and a cliff, and in the end, he had chosen to face the gun.

“Yes.” Zeldryn deliberately raised his voice just enough for every nearby servant to hear him clearly. “I want you to clarify it.”

Hera still appeared confused, so Zeldryn continued.

“You know the servants in this mansion must've misunderstood what happened last night.”

Several of them immediately exchanged glances. Zeldryn noticed the reactions from the corner of his eye, but he continued speaking without acknowledging them.

“The only way to deal with that is for you to tell them yourself what actually happened.” He paused briefly before adding, “I know they might think I'm forcing you to say something.”

The faces of several servants grew even stiffer.

Zeldryn had brought up that possibility deliberately. If he pretended not to understand why they might suspect him, he would only make himself look even more suspicious.

“But there's no other choice,” he continued, keeping his attention on Hera. “If I explain it myself, they won't believe me either.”

No one interrupted him. The kitchen, which had previously been filled with the sounds of servants working, had become noticeably quieter.

Hera shifted awkwardly. “U-um, Lord Zeldryn...”

Zeldryn frowned. “What?”

She lightly clenched the edge of her clothes and hesitated before answering.

“Actually... I already spoke with several servants who asked me about last night.”

Zeldryn stared at her.

“...What?”

Hera gave a small nod. “I already explained that you really did only have something important to discuss with me. And Lord Zeldryn didn't do anything strange to me.”

Zeldryn said nothing.

Hera glanced toward several servants standing nearby. “Even some of the servants here already know about it.”

She turned toward one of the female servants.

“I already explained it to you this morning, right?”

The servant immediately became awkward after suddenly being drawn into the conversation. She glanced at Zeldryn for a moment before quickly lowering her head.

“Y-yes...”

Zeldryn remained silent as a strange heaviness slowly settled over his thoughts.

'Huh? What's going on?'

If Hera had already explained everything, why were they still looking at him that way? Why was the rumor still being discussed? Why had the servants he encountered in the corridor still been talking about the possibility that something had happened to Hera the previous night?

Zeldryn looked over the faces around the kitchen, and little by little, the answer became obvious.

'Shit.'

This situation was even more complicated than he had thought.

Unfortunately, it also made perfect sense.

Considering Zeldryn's reputation, why would the servants immediately believe Hera just because she told them that nothing had happened? They had spent years watching the way Zeldryn treated the people around him. They knew Hera was his personal servant, and they knew that she was afraid of him.

So when Hera told them that Lord Zeldryn had done nothing to her, they did not necessarily have to believe her. They could just as easily conclude that Zeldryn had forced Hera to say it, and as that possibility finally clicked into place, Zeldryn fell silent while his gaze moved across the suspicious faces surrounding them.

'...Damn it.'