The next morning, Ayabe Yuuma woke up in one of the royal palace’s rooms, his thoughts drifting in a dense fog.

Were last night’s events real or just a hallucination? The sensation of Lady Liliana’s smooth skin, her sweet and ripe fragrance, and that coolly composed side profile when she said, “I have fulfilled my duty.”

(I… I did something terrible…)

A leaden sense of guilt. But this fragile emotion was quickly flipped into convenient self-justification by his 【Pushover Trait】 in just three seconds.

(No, I’m helping people! I saved a troubled noblewoman! I’m a hero! )

However, the memory of dying during the previous loop immediately shattered that sweet illusion.

Right… back then too, I put on a ‘nice face,’ went along with everything… and in the end, I pushed Akane into a corner and got myself stabbed.

In the end, nothing has changed. My essence is just an empty shell that gets swept along…

A deadly match of guilt and self-justification, self-loathing and raw instincts raged within his brain.

Trying to escape from the whirlpool of indecisive thoughts, Yuuma dragged his heavy body toward the dining hall.

Saint Agnes was already there.

Clad in a pure white dress, her silver hair swaying as she offered her prayers, she truly looked every bit the holy saint. The divine sight made Yuuma’s guilt rear its head once more.

(This is bad… I can’t even look at her face properly…)

Trying to hide from Agnes’ view, Yuuma quietly approached the dining table while hiding in the shadow of a pillar. But there was no way she would miss his presence.

“Yuuma-sama”

A clear voice echoed through the quiet dining hall.

Yuuma’s shoulder jumped dramatically.

“Oh, um… good morning, Agnes.”

Yuuma pasted on an awkward smile and desperately tried to appear calm.

Agnes slowly stood up and silently approached Yuuma. She stopped right in front of him.

Piercing blue eyes. Yuuma noticed her pupils were slightly open – a sign before entering Yandere Mode.

“Yuuma-sama. Where were you last night?”

“Eh? Oh, um… I was just getting some fresh air or something, thinking about things…”

Though he spewed excuses from his mouth, Agnes’ expression remained unchanged. She suddenly closed her eyes and leaned her face toward Yuuma’s chest.

Sniffing like a puppy, but persistently, Agnes began to smell Yuuma.

(Stop…! That nose isn’t just an ordinary nose! A saint’s soul has definitely sensed the “impurity” of infidelity stuck to me…! Please! Purify my scent with your holy buffs! )

“… It’s strange.”

“W-hat is it?”

“There’s an unfamiliar ‘scent’ coming from Yuuma-sama.”

His heart felt as if it were filled with icy water.

“No way! It must be just the fragrance of night-blooming flowers in the garden or something!”

“No, that’s not it. It’s not a flower scent. It’s… much sweeter, more intense… matured…”

Agnes’ words wrapped around Yuuma like sticky syrup. Her white fingers grabbed the collar of his hero’s uniform.

“…It’s the scent of another woman.”

A definitive statement.

Agnes’ eyes widened in shock. Her divine beauty twisted with jealousy.

“Which pig is that?! Who dared to attach such a filthy scent to my Yuuma-sama!!”

Sacred magic crackled through the air, shaking the dining hall’s candle flames and making silver dishes clatter noisily.

This is bad. If this continued, her jealousy buff would erupt again.

As if it were a warning sign, one of the maids in the corner of the dining hall suddenly blushed, her figure beginning to sparkle as though lit by a holy radiance.

(Ah, it’s starting! This is a sign of harem expanding! Please stop now!! )

Just as Yuuma imagined another hellish scenario and turned pale,

Loud footsteps echoed from the corridor, accompanied by an old man’s hoarse voice filled with anger.

“HERO!!! Where are you?! WHERE IS THE HERO?!”

The dining hall doors were violently thrown open by guards.

Leading them was Duke Ducas himself, Chancellor of the Principality of Albion.

Seventy years of age. The old man, who was usually as quiet as a withered tree, now had his face flushed bright red with fury, his ebony cane trembling in his hand. His eyes were completely bloodshot.

And those eyes filled with hatred locked straight onto Yuuma.

“There you are!!”

A scream that shook the ground.

At that moment, all the pieces fell into place in Yuuma’s mind.

(Caught! )

The fact that he had spent the night with Lady Liliana had already reached the Duke’s ears.

(Already!? What kind of information network does this country have?! )

Yuuma’s face suddenly drained of blood.

A déjà vu from Kumamoto. The feeling of despair when pierced by Akane returned.

Adultery. Conspiracy. In this world of swords and magic, what punishment would befall him?

Burning at the stake? Stoning? Or something even more cruel…

As Yuuma froze in terror, Agnes suddenly stepped in front of him like a mother bird protecting her chick, spreading her arms wide.

“His Excellency, Duke Ducas! How impolite to barge in uninvited! This is the Holy Hero summoned to defeat the demon king. You are not someone who can shout at him so freely!”

Projecting her dignity as a saint to the fullest, Agnes glared sharply at the duke. Yet deep within her eyes, a fierce flame—an intense blend of possessiveness and devotion, screaming (I will never allow my destined partner to be defiled! ) burned violently.

However, Duke Dukas was unaffected by the saint’s aura.

“Saint-sama! I’m sorry, but please step aside! This man… this man has committed an unforgivable great sin that shakes the very foundation of our Principality!!”

“A great sin…?”

Agnes furrowed her brow in confusion.

Duke Ducas saw nothing but Yuuma now. Behind his expression of rage lurked a deep despair—the fear that he might be the one to let the ducal bloodline die out.

With trembling fingers, he pointed at Yuuma and shouted with all his might, spitting out the words like they were poison.

“You…! You treasonous wretch! How dare you… how dare you lay hands upon my wife…!”

“Here it comes!” Yuuma thought as he braced himself.

(He’s doing that line! The classic “You laid your hands on my woman!” scene! This is the kind of cliché showdown you see a hundred times in shoujo manga! I know this! I’m an expert on this stuff! )

As Yuuma closed his eyes tightly,

The words that burst from the duke’s mouth betrayed Yuuma’s expectations—not just by going beyond them, but by blowing straight past the stratosphere.

“How dare you ‘plant your seeds’ on my wife!!”

“……………….Yes?”

Yuuma involuntarily let out a foolish sound and opened his eyes.

Planting…seeds?

Planting Seeds?

What is that word…? Something you’d hear at a farm, overflowing with way too much vitality.

Yuuma’s brain, which had been imagining NTR or infidelity scenarios, completely shut down in the face of such an overly direct, blatantly physical choice of words.

The maids in the dining hall and the guards accompanying the Duke began to whisper among themselves.

“Planting seeds…?”

“Oh, the Hero-sama with the Duchess…”

“How indecent… wait, that’s farming terminology!?”

Duke Dukas’ anger was still not subsiding. He repeatedly slammed his staff against the floor while spitting out words like they were poison.

“The bloodline of the Albion ducal house is a sacred treasure! For 300 years since this country’s founding, it has been inherited without ever being sullied by impure blood!”

“Oh,” a voice of awe and reverence leaked from around him.

“That is! To defile it with the blood of some unknown foreigner from another world! It’s unthinkable! A crime worthy of a thousand deaths!!”

At this point, Yuuma finally understood the essence of the Duke’s anger.

(Huh? That’s what you’re angry about!? )

This old man wasn’t angry about his wife sleeping with someone else.

He was furious that she had mixed foreign “blood” into the noble family’s bloodline.

It wasn’t a personal issue of his pride being hurt or betrayal. It was more systemic, social…

(I don’t get it… I don’t get it at all! Is my 【Pushover Trait】 affecting me too much?! )

No, that’s not right. My 【Pushover Trait】 doesn’t just affect people’s emotions. It melts and twists the very systems of this world – common sense, history, bloodlines themselves…?!

The fear of unpredictable effects caused by his own characteristics froze Yuuma’s spine.

“This is no longer a simple matter of infidelity! Disrupting the Duke’s bloodline threatens the peace of the royal family! In other words, it’s an act of state subversion!!”

State subversion.

A terrifying word that made cold sweat run down Yuuma’s back.

At that moment, as if the center of the commotion was a stage for the main character to appear, a woman entered with elegant steps.

It was Lady Liliana, Duchess of Albion.

“Oh dear, you. You seem to have quite high blood pressure this morning. It’ll harm your health.”

She showed no reaction at all to her husband Duke Dukas’ outburst or the guards’ murderous intent around her. She simply stood there with a perfect smile on her face. Her lips carried a mischievous color, as if she was thoroughly enjoying this chaotic drama.

“Liliana! How dare you…!!”

“Be quiet.”

Liliana’s cold voice cut through the Duke’s outburst.

“Do you think I gave my life for anyone else?”

She slowly and clearly explained it like a teacher scolding a bad student. Her smile seemed to contain both pity for her husband and a quiet resolve as a woman who had married into this house.

“Unfortunately, your ‘blood’ could no longer produce an heir. But connecting the Duke’s bloodline to the future was my ‘duty’ as someone who married into this house. I have only fulfilled that duty.”

It was sound reasoning. Too rational and unassailable for any counterargument.

Duke Dukas groaned, “Ghh… nnngh…” and found himself at a loss for words.

But his anger exploded in another direction.

“Silence! Silence! You damned whore!!”

Finally, the Duke’s mouth spat out words devoid of any dignity.

And again, his anger was directed toward Yuuma.

“Enough of this nonsense! Everyone, seize that hero! Take him to the guillotine immediately!!”

“Yes!”

At the Duke’s command, the strong guards rushed toward Yuuma all at once.

“Wait!”

Agnes tried to stop them but was overwhelmed by the numbers. Yuuma’s arms were easily twisted behind his back by the tough guards. One guard almost slipped while trying to grab Yuuma, but managed to steady himself—causing the helmet of the guard beside him to tilt with a light clank sound.

The cold, inorganic sound of iron armor.

A dull pain running through his joints.

“Uh? Wai… uh?”

Yuuma was completely clueless about what was happening as he was roughly pinned down on the floor.

(Blood? Planting seeds? State subversion crime? )

Unknown words spun around in his head.

(Guillotine… that thing that cuts off… heads…? After being stabbed in the stomach, now it’s my neck?! Don’t tell me this is some kind of body-part-specific death-loop!? )

Even self-justification now sounded hollow.

(Why is this happening!? I was just swept along… no, I only helped people!! )

At the edge of his vision as he was dragged away, Yuuma saw Lady Liliana smile faintly.

It wasn’t a smile of pity. It was elegant yet cruel—like she was genuinely enjoying the sight of a foolish man struggling helplessly in the palm of her hand.

And he thought he saw her lips move silently.

―Thank you, Hero-sama.

Yuuma was dragged away toward the execution ground without understanding anything.

(Ah, God… If there is a third chance… I hope this time, let me be reborn as a man who doesn’t get swept along… someone with an iron will…! )

(…Not that it’ll ever happen! )