I Became the Second-in-Command in a Romance Fantasy Novel

Snap!
With a crisp sound, my eyes opened.

At first, I thought someone had set an alarm or something.
"Who told you to do that?!"
I could hear Violet's voice, filled with anger.

I got up from the bed and gently pulled aside the tent that surrounded it.
"Oh."
Then, I saw Daisy’s back, as if she were holding her right cheek, possibly from a slap.

"What do you think you're doing, trying to get yourself killed?!"
Violet was glaring at Daisy, her face wet with tears.
I had just fainted and woke up, and now it seemed like a tearful melodrama was unfolding.

Usually, in a situation like this, Daisy would cry and apologize, right?
"Who started it first?!"
Thwack!

"Ugh!"
But Daisy’s choice was to retaliate with a counterattack.
Damn, I didn’t see it clearly, but wasn’t that not a slap but a punch?

I didn’t expect such a funny situation, and I found myself missing popcorn from my past life.
"Who tried to die first?! Who are you angry with?!"
No matter what, Daisy growled with a voice full of rage.

Now that I think about it, she had a point.
She had planned to get stabbed in the gut first.
The person who was supposed to take the hit was stopped by someone else, so it was no surprise Daisy returned the favor with a punch.
I thought that way, but Violet clearly had different thoughts.

Thwack!
"I was confident I could dodge it!"
"Ugh!"

Violet’s fist stabbed into Daisy’s side.
The lucky part was that she aimed for the opposite side of where I had been wounded by Silence. After the Saint Awakening event, I had a wide-area recovery buff, but my body still needed healing.
In a fight, it's common to target such spots to win. Did she still have a conscience, after all?

"Damn it!"
But in battle, worrying about conscience only leads to defeat.
Daisy, her eyes filled with tears, screamed as she threw a punch.

It wasn't aimed at the wound, but it was a pretty heavy blow.
Daisy, overcoming the damage, immediately retaliated with a counterpunch!
"Ugh!"

Daisy’s fist landed squarely on Violet’s chin.
A clean uppercut, like a painting!
Caught off guard by the unexpected counterattack, Violet fell back with a cry.

"Wow, shit."
It was really a shame.
Why did such a talent, who should’ve joined the Swordsmanship Department, end up in the Magic Department?

Should I recommend her for a transfer right now?
If she tightened up a little, she could easily defeat a swordsmanship trainee with just her bare hands.
Well, even if we fought right now, Daisy wouldn’t lose to a swordsmanship trainee.

Even Ellen, the strongest in the world, wouldn’t be able to beat Daisy. What could you do?
"You’re weaker than me, and yet you’re acting all cocky."
Looking down at Violet, who had fainted, Daisy, the victor, snarled.

Then, her expression crumpled, and tears started falling down her face.
"Who’s supposed to be looking after whom?"
The scene of Daisy crying over Violet, who was lying defeated, might have looked like the tragic heroine of a story.

But after watching that clean fight, all I could think was that they were both crazy.
"Ugh."
Now that the fun seemed to be over, I carefully pulled the tent back into place and lay down on the bed.

Then, closing my eyes, I thought to myself.
"...Wasn’t this supposed to be a private room?"
I thought I had been assigned a private room at the academy.

Why the hell are these crazy girls fighting in someone else’s patient room?
I was about to pull back the tent by the bed again when—
"...Huh, when did you wake up?"

Daisy, who had lifted the tent, was looking down at me awkwardly.
Just then, the opposite side of the tent was pulled back, and I saw Daisy’s fist coming into view.
"Right now."

I couldn’t tell her I had just woken up and saw everything.
If I did, I felt like Daisy's fist, awkwardly positioned, would come crashing down on me.
"Uh, well. That’s…"

Daisy blinked a few times, thinking for a moment, then her fist began to glow.
What was that? Holy Punch?
Did she realize I was a witness and now was planning to throw me under the bus?

"I awakened the power of healing."
Luckily, it didn’t seem like that was the case.
To be honest, I was about five times more nervous than when I fought that trainee swordsman.

"Ah, yes."
"If I don’t use it now, when would I?"
Her fist unfolded, and a warm energy began to surround my body.

"I heard you stayed behind and fought until the end."
"That’s what I was supposed to do."
A noble’s punching bag doesn’t only take hits from princes. They also have a duty to take hits for the royal family.

"I heard. You’re Ellen’s bodyguard? Something like that?"
"Something like that. It’s a problem that I’m weaker than the actual person."
Even though I had these thoughts about the goddess’ miracle, ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ for some reason, it felt like it reminded me of physical therapy from my past life.

A feeling of my body relaxing in the warm light.
"Still, thanks to that, everyone survived."
My body, melting softly in the warm light, and the soothing voice I heard.

Truly, a romance novel heroine. She had mastered the art of making someone melt.
"Thank you."
As the healing light ended, I heard her warm voice.

"…"
Up until now, everything was fine.
"…?"

But suddenly, Daisy’s gaze, which had been on me, shifted to where my eyes were focused.
"Ah."
In one corner, Violet lay, perfectly stretched out.

"Th-that’s! We came here together earlier, but Adam isn’t awake yet! So we were waiting, but the kid got really hurt, you know? So I’m just letting her sleep for a bit!"
"Oh, I see."
It seemed Daisy didn’t want to admit that she knocked Violet out with an uppercut.

She quickly scrambled to make an excuse, but who the hell sleeps like that?
"Then, I’m done here, so I’ll be going!"
Seemingly thinking she had done her part, Daisy hastily left the room.

"...Look after her."
Leaving her half-dead childhood friend behind.
"Mi, mi…"

In the room, now left alone, Violet, who had just woken up, avoided my gaze and started to apologize…
"Crazy bastard, it was your fault!"
But instead of apologizing, she seemed to want to challenge me to a fight.

What was this guy thinking?
She’d just been beaten by Daisy, and now she thought she could win against me?
"I had everything planned! If you just cooperate with the academy, what’s the harm?!"

Her voice cracked with frustration, and I was dumbfounded.
"No, you fucked up your own plan."
"Well, that’s not—"

Even though I delivered the final blow, it was Violet who messed up by choosing to involve Silence and that cursed ritual. From what I could gather, if you didn’t understand the concept of a ritual, you wouldn’t have been able to control Silence.
Even if the head professor of the Magic Department was powerless against it, Silence would have easily escaped the academy using that power.
A killer of wizards, Silence. A name that suited its deadly nature, even capable of taking down swordmasters.

So even with Prince Ellen and the trainee swordsman there, it was clear why Silence kept making appearances in the story.
Yeah, I admit it.
The world-building in this romance fantasy was really top-tier.

"Well, whatever."
I casually tapped the bed beside me, signaling for her to sit.
"What are you trying to do?"

"Let’s talk."
I had heard the general outline of the story, but I needed more details. The more information I had, the better.
"What if I don’t want to?"

It looked like Daisy wasn’t going to answer unless I prodded her again, but the mental exhaustion hadn’t completely worn off yet.
So, I stood up and started walking toward the door.
And then…

Click.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
In case things went south, I locked the door first. What could I say?

"Torture."
"Huh?"
Having agreed to the fight earlier, I no longer had to avoid it. Wasn’t she going to watch that movie?

"Now, say hello. This is our kingdom’s torturer, our former lawyer."
Crackle.
As the brief flash of electricity lit up the room, Violet’s face turned white.

"Hey, hey!"
Looks like she must’ve seen the movie after all.