No, times haven’t changed!

As the saying goes, “Within the chest lies beauty like jade, within the chest lies a house of gold.”

No man could resist Nilou’s embrace, so full of “power.”

If I were some overpowered protagonist, by now I should have already maxed out Miss Nilou’s affection meter, and after we returned, it wouldn’t be long before some late-night escapade under a dark, windy sky… heh-heh-heh.

Unfortunately, I’m not.

And just as I felt Nilou’s trembling body pressed tightly against me, and wondered if I should “hold her back,” she instead forced herself to step away.

Still shaken, she hadn’t calmed down completely.

She breathed heavily, and when she saw Louise the Twenty-Third lying there, head bleeding from the stone she had thrown, she immediately inched back toward me, afraid Louise might suddenly wake up.

In silence, we both slowly regained our senses.

Finally, with a voice choked by tears, Nilou lowered her head deeply before me.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Euclid… even though I stayed in camp, I still threw a tantrum and ran off, got into danger, and almost dragged you into getting hurt…”

If my luck hadn’t been big enough, if I’d misread the script just now, I wouldn’t have been merely injured—I’d already be dead.

And looking at Nilou’s dirty clothes, her messy braid, her obviously battered state at Louise’s hands, I couldn’t bring myself to blame her.

After all, I shared responsibility for what had happened.

“The one who should apologize is me. I didn’t think things through. I didn’t expect Louise the Twenty-Third would chase us here for revenge.”

Then, with Louise’s “revenge script” merging with Nilou’s “protagonist script,” if I hadn’t intervened just now, it would naturally have turned into: “Nilou faces danger and awakens hidden power.”

Hearing her voice crack with sobs, still clearly shaken and pitiful, I added:

“Ahem, don’t be too nervous. It’s not like I find you a bother. Not only Kefir, but your matters too—I’ll always ‘foresee’ and notice them. So don’t think you’re just unlucky and dragging me down. Look at me—I’m alive and kicking, aren’t I?”

Though honestly, I had been terrified just now.

I’d already noticed through the script that Louise was planning revenge, but the fact that her weapon turned out to be a musket had truly startled me.

“But… isn’t it better if you’re with the young lady instead…”

“What are you even thinking? Out here in the wilderness, how could anything happen between me and Kefir? And besides, do you really think Kefir is that kind of person?”

More importantly, even if I had the guts, I wouldn’t dare lay a hand on the protagonist.

I’d be dead before I even tried.

Nilou fell silent, muttering something I couldn’t hear, but at least she seemed calmer now.

She didn’t suddenly unleash some mountain-crushing magic before me, so it looked like I had stopped her explosion at the last possible moment.

Relieved, I crouched and picked up Louise’s weapon—now completely ruined from backfiring.

The lingering smell of gunpowder, combined with the script’s description, left no doubt about what it was.

“Lord Euclid… is that thing she had… a weapon?”

“Yes, and a very dangerous one.”

Because I’d always been a great villain fleeing from place to place, I had seen such things before.

But Nilou, growing up in the Grand Britannia Empire, where magic and mana were revered, was naturally unfamiliar with firearms.

To high-level elites, a gun was nothing more than a fast projectile weapon.

But for lower-ranked people, it was a deadly tool that could ignore so-called magic barriers and kill with a single shot to the head.

If I remembered correctly, these muskets came from the frigid, mana-starved, martial Rosia Empire!

Not all those Russians had affinity for water or ice magic, so they researched all sorts of strange contraptions.

But where had Louise gotten her hands on one!?

My guard shot up, and I immediately checked the script.

And when I saw the answer, my fists clenched tight.

【Louise the Twenty-Third obtained the musket from Rasputin.】

It was those three Russians!

With this reminder about Louise’s revenge script, I would never again underestimate any villain’s script.

And those three, led by Rasputin, I had already pegged as villains!

Even if they’d seemed quiet recently, that didn’t mean they had no sinister plots!

What was Rasputin planning!?

【Rasputin decides to attack Kefir!】

Tch!

Kefir!

【Kefir is injured, but in the final moment counterkills and obtains the treasure, achieving a breakthrough!】

The old cliché—protagonist injured, then counterkilling, villain dying from greed and monologuing.

I’d seen it countless times, nothing new.

But…

I’d already latched onto Kefir’s thigh, proudly vowing that my “prophecies” would keep her safe.

How could I, knowing the script in advance, just shrug it off and keep rubbing against Nilou’s chest, thinking Kefir would be fine simply because she’s the protagonist!?

“Mr. Euclid? Should we… take care of her…?”

“Nilou.”

I didn’t think I looked panicked, but Nilou jumped, staring at me like I was a stranger.

“Kefir may be in danger. But this time, I really can’t stay with you. You must return to camp immediately. This time don’t run off, and don’t say a word. Can you do that?”

Nilou’s voice trembled.

“Th-then… what about you?”

Hmph.

Even as a great villain seeking redemption by clinging to a thigh, I still need a bit of professional integrity.

More importantly, how could I let Lady Kefir get hurt?