I Became The Male Lead’s Female Friend

 

 

As soon as I woke up, I didn’t pause to rest.

 

After all, I was the only one who had made it back to reality unharmed.

 

At first, the two people I’d just found were lying on the ground.

 

Aside from Rudrick, who was bleeding out and unconscious, even Dahlia, who had been fine just moments before, showed no sign of awakening.

 

So nervous. For Rudrick’s sake, I should have called for help right away, but I couldn’t bring myself to show people Dahlia, who was lying there with me, looking exactly like me.

 

After much deliberation, I finally decided to hide her.

 

By shoving her right under the bed.

 “What the…!” 

The butler, who appeared just as I rang the bell, was horrified to see Rudrick sprawled out on the floor.

 

While I stopped him from running to call the doctor, I told him that I wanted him to be taken to my room first. The butler looked at me with a questioning look on his face, but eventually complied without asking any questions.

 

Luckily, Rudrick was fine. He’s lost a little blood, but he’s alive. He’s unconscious now, but he should be able to wake up soon.

 

After hearing the doctor’s words, I, who had been fidgeting beside him, almost slumped in my seat.

 

When I finally regained my composure, I went back to Dahlia’s room, hoping that she would be awake by now.

 

But she wasn’t there. She had already disappeared without a trace. 

 

As if she had never been there in the first place.

 

‘Where did she go?’

 

Wondering, but I was also getting anxious again.

 

Wondering if she’d gone off somewhere else, up to no good, or if… she’d vanished in a flash, just like the old Rudrick.

 

But it wasn’t long before she reappeared before me once more.

 “Princess.” 

Tending to Rudrick as usual, I turned around, startled by the sudden call.

 

At the same time, I froze in place.

 

There she was, O’Neill as she had been, and Dahlia from another time, the one I’d been wondering about until just yesterday.

 

She looked up at me and smiled.

 “Do you have a moment?”  

Sitting on the couch, I calmly sipped my tea, all the while sneaking glances at Dahlia…no, I mean O’Neill.

 

In the few days since she’d shown up, O’Neill had become more withdrawn than before.

 

Whatever had happened to her now, her face was as white as a corpse, sunken everywhere.

 

O’Neill must have noticed my concerned gaze, because she spoke first with a bitter smile.

 “You’re pretty banged up, aren’t you?” “Yeah, well, a little…” 

Flustered, I stammered, but eventually nodded. I nodded because what she said was true, and because I wanted to know why.

 

But the answer was more shocking than I expected.

 “It’s losing its life force.” “…What?” “I’m dying, me.” 

She said ‘

dying

’ as if it were something else, but she didn’t seem to mind. On the contrary, she continued in a more relaxed tone than anyone else.

 “You might have guessed it… but my original body died a long time ago.” “…” “I’ve been left with only my soul ever since, and the only reason I’ve been able to hold on to it is because the curse of regression prevented me from dying.” “That means…” “The spell is broken now.” 

She paused for a moment, then smiled wearily.

 “Normally, I should have died with him the moment the spell was broken, but I guess my limitations were deeper than I thought, because when I opened my eyes, I realized I was still alive.” “…” “But now I’m nothing more than a lump of resentment, and at least I don’t have to regress anymore…” “…” “It will disappear by itself over time.” 

I was speechless, just staring at her, opening my mouth to say something, anything.

If only she hadn’t spoken first.

 “I’m sorry.” “…” “I’m sorry for all this time, for getting caught up in things and putting you through things you shouldn’t have to go through.” “…” “And thank you for talking me out of it. If it weren’t for you, I would have chosen to stand still forever, not knowing anything, and of course, as insensitive as it sounds now…” “O’Neill.” 

On a whim, I called out to her. Her low-sunken eyes turned to me.

 “Are you leaving?” 

O’Neill answered straight away.

 “Yes.” “Why? It’s over, like you said, and you don’t have to suffer anymore. If you’re only going to be gone for a little while, you might as well be happy for that little while…” “Dahlia.” 

O’Neill looked straight at me. She was smiling softly, but her eyes were hard with determination.

 “You’re sweet, to want me to be happy after everything that happened.” “Of course I do! O’Neill is me, after all. You’re no different than I am.” “No, we’re not, because you’re the one who should be moving forward, and I’m the one who should have died in the past.” “…  “And I don’t want anything more, I just want to live quietly now, waiting for the day I’m gone.” “…O’Neill.” “So, Dahlia.” 

O’Neill held out her hand toward me.

 “You need to be happy.” “…” 

For a long moment, I stared at her, then grasped it with a wistful smile.

 “You too.” 

We held hands for a while.

 

I knew, and she knew, subconsciously. If we parted this time, it would be hard to see each other again, and this handshake might be the last.

 

Her eyes were downcast, lost in thought, and she flinched when I tried to pull away. Then she blurted out.

 “But there’s one thing…” “What?  

She hesitated a moment longer, then spoke cautiously,

“Could you do me a favor?” 

At her request, I gave her a dubious look. But in the end, I just nodded wordlessly. Despite my affirmative answer, her expression remained dark.

 

This continued until the next day.

 “Oh my, what’s wrong, I thought we were going to have dinner together…” 

I smiled awkwardly and looked ahead. In front of me… my parents.

 

O’Neill’s request was as strange as it was simple.

 “Can I meet my parents… just once?” 

It was obvious which parents she was referring to. She was referring to the Duke and Duchess of Averine, my parents, her parents.

 

Having never spoken of them before, I looked at her hesitantly, but somehow I felt like I knew what she was thinking, so I agreed.

 

So I invited her to a formal dinner that would naturally lead to a meeting with our parents. 

 

Of course, I had already told my parents that they had a guest.

 “I told you before, there’s someone who has helped me a lot. I thought I’d introduce you to her…” “It is an honor to meet you. I’m a wizard from the Tower…” 

Contrary to my worries, O’Neill was unexpectedly warm.

 

She stumbled over her words as she introduced herself, saying something along the lines of, “

I’ve heard a lot about you,”

or

“I’ve been dying to meet you. 

My parents were confused for a moment, then intrigued to learn that she was the developer of a new power source. When they heard that she was the next Master Chief, they asked questions.

 

O’Neill calmly answered their questions, occasionally making joking remarks. Our conversation was cordial, and the dinner was moving along peacefully.

 

Finally, as the end of the meal approached.

 “You two…” 

O’Neill blurted out.

 “Are you happy now?” 

Everyone turned to look at her, including my parents and me. What kind of

‘now’

was that, let alone asking us if we were happy without any context?

 

As I looked at my parents in confusion, I broke out in a cold sweat. When I tried to smile and make light of the situation.

 

“

Yeah.” 

It was my mother who answered.

 

She was looking at O’Neill with a puzzled expression on her face. Even though she didn’t know what to say, she smiled sweetly at O’Neill.

 “We are happy.” 

Then, in a very motherly, calm voice, she said.

 “I hope you’re happy, too.” 

O’Neill didn’t say anything.

 

Not when Father asked

, “What’s wrong,”

or Mother asked,

“Are you okay?”

 

 

She just stood there, sullen and unmoving. But sitting next to her, I could tell.

 

She had tears streaming down her face.

  

At the end of the day, O’Neill said farewell for the last time.

 

When I asked her,

“Are you still thinking about staying?”

 

 

She shook her head in silence. She simply said,

“Take care,”

and turned away.

 

As I watched her walk away, I couldn’t help but secretly hope.

 

‘May you be at peace now.’

 

After such a bitter parting with her. It would seem that there would be no more pain left, but to my surprise, I found myself in a new predicament.

 

Rudrick wouldn’t open his eyes.

 “Didn’t you say he’d wake up soon?” 

The doctor sweated a cold sweat at my frantic pleading, and then, with a frustrated look on his face, he rattled off a string of excuses.

 “I swear to God, he’s physically fine. He’s more resilient than most, and his wounds are almost closed… I just don’t understand why he can’t regain consciousness…” 

Hearing the doctor’s mutterings, I felt my heart sink.

 

‘Did something go wrong then?’

 

In the same white space where I encountered Rudrick from the past.

 

He transferred the spell from Rudrick’s body to his own to break the spell, and something went wrong in the process.

 

So, if something went awry during the transfer, or if he got a blow to the head, or something…

 “What if that Rudrick was my Rudrick? What if it seemed to split in two there, but it was actually one consciousness? So when the spell broke and ‘he’ disappeared, did Rudrick…” “No!” 

As much as I wanted to go back there right then and there, grab him by the scruff of the neck, and demand to know what had happened, even O’Neill had disappeared.

In the end, I could do nothing but wait for Rudrick to wake up.

 

Before I knew it, his care had become part of my daily routine. At first, I would drop by in between trips back and forth between home and the Bouser mansion, and then I would stay at the mansion with some of my work.

 

And as I sat by his side, looking over the papers, I would sometimes reminisce.

 “Come to think of it, I would say, something similar happened before.” 

That was the time Rudrick fell off his horse.

 

Technically, he was trying to catch me when I fell off the horse, but he was pretty badly hurt from rolling with me in his arms. I’ve never seen a man bleed so much in my life.

 

It makes me dizzy to think about it now, but at the time I really thought the world was falling apart. I cried for him all day as he struggled to regain consciousness.

 

Eventually, I insisted to my parents that I would nurse him myself, and I stayed up all night, wide-eyed, by his side.

 

And then, without realizing it, I dozed off…

 “Dahlia.” 

When I opened my eyes, he was looking down at me.

 

Just like he was doing right now.

 “Dahlia, are you okay?” 

And he hadn’t changed at all. He was looking at me with concern, not towards himself, but towards me.

 

Still looking up at his face, I let out a small sigh.

 “You look just like you did then.” “What?” “I like you a lot.” “Yeah… what?” 

Taking the words in stride, Rudrick stiffened for a moment. I glared at him, then burst out laughing.

 “I shouldn’t have said it so easily, shouldn’t I?” “…” “But you have to understand. I’ve only just realized, I mean, I liked you before, but I thought of you as a friend…” “Not like this time?” 

His cold voice made me raise my head, and then I saw his face, somehow angry.

 “Oh, don’t be ridiculous. I’m going to tell you later that I’m not…” “No, it’s not.” “…” “I’m not even kidding.” “…” “Not even as a friend.  

Rudrick’s eyes twitched slightly. Keeping eye contact with him, I spoke slowly.

 “It’s just, it just occurred to me one day.” “…” “That I want to stay with you, that I want to be with you, that if we stay friends like this… that one day we’ll have to go our separate ways.” “…” “And ironically, I don’t want that.” 

Again, I paused to catch my breath. Then, feeling unnecessarily embarrassed, I averted my gaze.

 “It’s always like that in books. You blush when you look at them, your heart pounds when you’re with them, you want to see them every day, you want to touch them, and that’s love.” “…” “Because I honestly don’t.” “What…” “But I wonder if we might feel something similar, if not quite as intensely, and most of all…” 

I scratched my cheek, embarrassed.

 “Because when you don’t open your eyes, I always miss you.” 

Rudrick was silent.

 “What about you…?”

I asked, sneaking a glance in his direction.

 

At the same time, I realized.

 

That I will probably never forget this day.

 

The way he stared at me, blankly, and then when our eyes met, he smiled the brightest smile in the world.

 

That smile.