A Villainous Aristocrat’s Pursuit of Peace ~ Reincarnated as the Most Talented Mage in History, I’ll Achieve Supremacy in order to live a peaceful life with My Maid~

The rankings for the tournament arrived at the inn, and I found myself in last place. I didn’t mind too much since I’d only participated in one match and had lost it.
“Last place, huh? Well, I’ve only fought once, and I lost that, so it’s fair,” I commented.

“You kept your promise, didn’t you?” Mea remarked.

“Yeah, it was a promise with you, Mea. I wouldn’t break it,” I replied confidently.

“I think it must be tough and challenging for you, but keep up the good work,” Mea encouraged me, and as a reward, she even gave me a lap pillow. So, I had no complaints about my rank.

What concerned me a bit was that the ranking was exactly the same as in the game. However, it seemed like the protagonist had no intention of forcefully altering the story, which was a relief. With my current strength, I should be fine, even if the story remains unchanged.

I continued to enjoy my lunch that Mea had prepared for me in the deserted courtyard, lost in thought. That’s when three senior-looking female students approached me.

I felt like I’d seen them somewhere before, but I couldn’t quite place it. I hadn’t encountered them since my reincarnation. Could they be characters that appeared somewhat frequently in the game?

As I was trying to recall, the girl who seemed the most important among the three, although Mea was a billion times cuter, lightly smacked my head with something resembling a fan. Her entourage burst into laughter.

Wait, what? Can I beat her up? I mean, she just smacked me out of nowhere, and we’ve hardly even met.

“Greetings, my fiancé servant! It’s been ten years, and you don’t even remember my face?”

“Indeed, I don’t remember you. Besides, I have no interest in a deranged woman like you.”

Their faces went from surprised to beet red as they stammered out their responses.

“W-What do you mean by deranged? I am your fiancée, Yuffie Kale of the Kale Marquessate!”

“For someone who’s a failure, you’re incredibly rude!”

“Learn your place!”

Oh, right… I remember now. I recalled the information about this self-proclaimed fiancée in front of me.

This girl, Yuffie, was the perfect example of a ‘villainous noble girl,’ a term often used in light novels. She hated becoming the fiancée of someone weaker than herself and, in the original story, she had cheated on her fiancé and bullied Jin along with his brother. However, I had no interest in my fiancée in the first place, so I refused to meet her for ten years.

In many light novels, there’s a trope where the so-called ‘villainous noble girl’ turns out to be kind-hearted deep down. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case with Yuffie. In fact, she was worse than that. She constantly begged for money from Jin, who wasn’t particularly wealthy, and used that money to buy attractive male slaves, a far cry from the usual noble behavior.

The fact that I had encountered her at this crucial moment, during the most blissful time of the day when I enjoyed a meal prepared with love by Mea (or at least I assumed so), was infuriating.

But wasting time on these girls would be even more frustrating, so I decided to ignore them and focus on my lunch.

I took another bite of the bento Mea had prepared. I remembered telling her once that I loved tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelette), so she had made something resembling it from scratch. There was no soy sauce in this world, after all.

These fond memories made me savor the tamagoyaki, leaving it as the final piece to enjoy.

I was about to take a bite when…

“―――You can’t just ignore us!”

Crash, squish.

My lunch was knocked out of my hand by Yuffie’s minion and turned into an inedible mess.

These girls were absolutely relentless.

“…You realize what you’ve done to me, right?” I said, emanating a murderous aura, much like when facing a monster. Just that alone was enough to make the sheltered noble girls tremble and turn pale.

But Yuffie, despite trembling, didn’t back down and replied with defiance.

“What, what’s your problem? Is it not your duty as my servant to pay attention to me?”

“What? Why should I, a mere servant, waste my time on the likes of you? Besides, it’s your fault for suddenly hitting my head. Learn some manners first, you worthless, two-faced woman.”

I said just that and then turned my attention to the entourage shivering beside her.

“And you’re all the same. You think you can speak to me with such impudence just because you’re minor nobles? Even though it would be far easier for me to ruin your families than for me to learn swordsmanship. Would you like me to bring about your ruin by the end of today?”

“Y-Yes, we’re terribly sorry!”

They seemed on the verge of bowing deeply. Well, I guess I’ll leave it at that for now with these folks.

“If you understand, then leave that worthless girl behind and get lost.”

“Yes, yes, understood!”

“W-Wait!”

The two of them ignored Yuffie’s attempts to stop them and fled like rabbits.

“Hmph, they’re nothing more than that. Now then… there are a few things I’d like to say to you.”

“W-What! If you do anything to me, my father won’t stand for it!”

At this point, her audacity to threaten me of all people was almost admirable. But you see, holding a grudge over food is a terrifying thing.

“Hmm… well, I’ll let you off without doing anything.”

Yufie seemed relieved by my words, but did she truly believe I wouldn’t do anything? If so, she was remarkably carefree.

Then, I casually mentioned something that seemed to jog her memory.

“By the way… I remember now that once an engagement is annulled, things can get quite troublesome. It’s considered a taboo among nobles.”

“W-What?!”

Her expression, once filled with relief, turned to one of despair.

“D-Don’t tell me…”

Her face, filled with desperation, suddenly changed.

“Are you serious!? Even if you do something like that, there will be consequences for you as well—”

“There are already plenty of bad rumors about me; I don’t think I need to worry about it now. Jin Divinesword hereby announces the annulment of our engagement. When you return home, you’ll probably receive a notice too. Isn’t that great? You get to avoid marrying me. Now you can happily engage in an affair with my brother.”

“―――?!”

I left Yuffie, who was speechless, behind and returned to the classroom.

“―――One of Jin Divinesword’s paths to destruction has been eliminated.”