Rest spent a restless night at the inn, and thanks to everything that had happened that day, he found himself tossing and turning well into the night.
After his bath, he returned to his guest room. With nothing in particular to do, he turned off the lights and climbed into bed.
He half expected Celestine to come knocking on his door… but no one came, and before long he drifted off to sleep.
(Miss Celestine… what on earth was she thinking…?)
Lying in the dark, Rest turned the question over and over in his mind, but… there was probably no hidden agenda behind Celestine's words.
She was, by birth, a proper noble young lady — but more than that, she was a thoroughly honest woman.
When it came to something as important as marriage, she would never lie or try to sweep things under the rug.
(So she's genuinely open to the idea of marrying me… and she already has Viola and Primula's consent too… seriously?)
Now that he was really thinking about it — or perhaps it was more that the reality was finally catching up with him — it seemed he had truly become a noble.
He was already engaged to the Rosemary sisters and on the verge of a polygamous arrangement, but even so, he had never imagined he would end up in a political marriage. He really had come a long way.
(I really am in another world… the culture shock is unreal…)
Rest was wrestling with all sorts of thoughts, but… honestly, the joy outweighed the anxiety.
In his past life, he had worked part-time jobs just to pay tuition, his family life had been fraught with problems, and he'd never had the luxury of dating girls.
And yet, here he was — reincarnated into another world, and after a winding road, he had become a noble.
He had adorable fiancées in Viola and Primula, and on top of that, Celestine — a flawless lady of impeccable standing — had offered to marry him.
He was so happy that he started to wonder whether this was all some elaborate daydream.
(I'm glad I was summoned to this other world… no, truly. I'm absolutely happier than I ever was in Japan…)
Rest was savoring that heartfelt realization when he suddenly recalled something he had talked about during the day.
She — Her face surfaced in his mind.
(I found happiness in this other world… but Shoko, the queen dowager, was a different story entirely…)
Queen Dowager Frederica Aiwood—Sanada Shoko had been so desperately homesick for her original world that she had projected her homeland onto an illusory otherworld.
She had lost her family and her fiancé in this world, and she must have cursed her fate of having been reincarnated.
(So that's why she fell for the temptation of some weird chuunibyou cult… the ones trying to destroy this world, um… "Takfir Karhen," was it?)
Takfir Karhen.
Another organization of reincarnated people, separate from the Council of Sages.
According to Sanada Shoko, it was an evil secret society that hated the god responsible for their reincarnation into this world and sought to destroy it in revenge.
(They must have had strong ties to their original world, or perhaps they had ample reason to bear a grudge against this one…)
They were probably people who had failed at their reincarnation to another world.
In the world of manga and light novels, protagonists reincarnated into another world often get to start their lives over and live them to the fullest.
But… reality, it seemed, was not so simple.
There were people who were reincarnated into another world but never became protagonists—people who, unlike Rest, could not find success or happiness.
Takfir Karhen might well be a gathering of such failures.
(In truth, if I hadn't met Viola and Primula, I might have ended up resenting my family and that would have been it…)
If he hadn't met Viola and Primula. If the two of them hadn't come to love him.
If he hadn't been born under a good mother, if he hadn't met a priest he could respect.
From the tiniest of misunderstandings, it was entirely possible that Rest too could have come to hate the world.
(Come to think of it… Gascoigne from the Council of Sages warned me, too—was that to keep me from joining their ranks…?)
If Takfir Karhen truly intended to destroy the world, then they would inevitably become enemies of Rest, who had found someone precious to him in this world.
Perhaps someday, we might meet as enemies.
"Haa..."
As he let his thoughts wander, drowsiness began to creep over him.
Rest did not resist it. He simply halted his thoughts and released his consciousness into the realm of dreams.