As many women as the stars in the sky, I have made them all cry. A flirt, heartbreaker, and a philanderer, that is what the world thinks of me, Hector Alderde. It’s only natural, since I act that way.

(I really hate women, though…)

Ever since I was a child, I’ve been chased by women. My food was drugged or my personal items were stolen. It seems that women really like my face. They are not interested in what’s inside me, but only in how beautiful I look, and they pursue me.

I was afraid of women until I learned how to roll them around in the palm of my hand, not how to run away from them with their ferocious beastly eyes. I still don’t like them at all.

(They’re a bit of a source of information, I guess.)

Women loved to gossip. However, only rumors, and many of them are miscellaneous and meaningless. But they can be useful. In order to hear what they have to say, it was convenient for me to be a soft-spoken man who could easily persuade anyone. I was aware that my appearance was attractive to women, so when I tried to use it, the effect was tremendous. Thanks to that, I can no longer show my true face and go out freely, but I have no regrets.

Well, anyway. My face and voice were powerful weapons against women if used consciously. If it’s a maiden, it’s especially effective, and no matter how stout they were, they would blush and become compliant if I whispered sweetly to them. Then they tell me whatever I want to know.

(This was the case for me up until…the investigation was canceled.)

It seems that there is a person who foresaw such a future in which pirates would attack a bustling port.

There was a lot of talk in the Knights about a person who foresaw the attack of pirates. If there is someone who can foretell the danger approaching this country and town as foretold, the Knights would like to have that person’s power to confront the danger. There may be a wizard who can foretell the future. Then they should seek out the person of prophecy. However, the investigation that had begun was soon abandoned.

Because as soon as they started looking into it, they heard that it wasn’t a prediction of danger, but a statement by a recently popular fortune teller.

There was a fortune teller who is often accurate, and that she was particularly successful when asked for advice on love, that the town official had been told that he might get hurt that day, and that he was also very right.

It’s not a prophecy, it’s just fortune-telling, it’s ridiculous. In that case, the pirates’ appearance must have been a coincidence or something, and in the meantime, I remembered a girl I had just met the other day.

A young girl with white hair and red eyes stopped me while I was walking around town in disguise so as not to make a fuss. Her hair and eyes had an unusual color, so it left quite an impression on me.

She shouted something like “You can’t go there, you’ll die!” and grabbed my arm and forced me to stop. She was surprised to see the face under the hood, so it’s not like she knew my true identity and detained me. And right after that, a runaway carriage rushed into the place where I would have walked if I hadn’t been stopped.

That was certainly a warning of danger. I am also almost convinced that she must be the fortune teller who advised the town official on the day of the pirate attack.

The Knights seem to have been fooled by the word “fortune telling”, but that power is something different from what women like and just have fun with. The formal investigation was canceled, but there should be no problem if I personally investigate. …so I decided to do a little research.

“Hello, beautiful Butterfly. May I have a word with you?”

“Sir Hector……!?”

It’s easy to find the fortune teller I want. All I have to do is smile and talk to the young ladies on the street and ask them about the fortune teller who is often accurate. I said “The next mission is in a dangerous place, so I’d like to ask if there’s anything I should be careful about.”

After saying that, the location of the shop, the appearance of the fortune teller, her name, her reputation was all eagerly told to me. I was able to get so much information just by asking one person. Cyril, a mysterious woman with snow-white hair and apple-red eyes, is a frequent fortune teller. That was all I needed to know.

Thinking it convenient that my appearance can easily make a woman’s smile lit up, and at the same time somewhat disdainful of women who allow their hearts to be touched only by outward appearance, I put a smile on my face and said my goodbyes. I repeated this research two or three times.

I had obtained the necessary information. All I had to do was disguise myself so as not to be seen, and visit the shop at a time when no one would be around. After that, it was business as usual. It was a young girl, so it was not difficult to get her to talk.

(All I have to do is smile and talk softly to her. I am the flower and she is the butterfly gathering for nectar. It’s…simple.)

Even though I’m using my own appearance to my advantage, is it a contradiction that I despite those who are lured by it?

It makes me want to distort my face when I am dealing with women who only look at me skin-deep. It is harder to bear the pain I constantly feel in my right hand, as if I am being pierced by a sword, and smile than it is to bear the smile that is about to be peeled off the smile I have made at their attitude.

Rather than enduring the pain in my right hand that feels as thought I am being pierced with a sword, it was more painful to smile at those superficial women.

…but this is the path I chose. Since my sword hand was no longer functional, I wanted to at least use something that I was good at and be of some help.

(Reactions from the public, gossip, and so on. Because he likes that kind of thing, that prince.)

Until one day when I was 15 years old, I was a friend and escort knight of the first prince, Kaios Sigi Ditotonix. I was a knight who had built a trusting relationship with the prince since he was a child, and would continue to protect him for the rest of my life. The role is chosen from among the children of the knight families who are the same age as the prince, and who excel in military arts the most.

Kaios and I were introduced to each other when I turned 5. The day we met, we had a big fight and became best friends that day. I don’t know when I began to take it for granted that I would support him as his friend and protect him at all costs.

So I have no regrets. I don’t regret protecting Kaios and having my right hand pierced by a demon.

(I can’t be an escort knight anymore, but I don’t intend to stop being his best friend.)

After that incident, even after the wound on my right hand healed, the pain remained, and I could no longer grip a sword because I could not use my strength properly. I was dropped as an escort knight because I could no longer hold the sword with my dominant hand, and even though I tried to use the sword with my left hand, I could not return to where I was before, and I ended up joining a knight’s order. Even so, I have absolutely no regrets.

Kaios has been worrying about me ever since. I didn’t want him to realize the pain that wouldn’t go away because he was feeling guilty about my immobile right hand, so I pretended to smile. I have endured this pain for a long time, taking painkillers, and have become quite accustomed to it.

Even now, I still meet with Kaios from time to time and talk about the reactions of the public or rumors, because that is what the prince is interested in. It’s been more than six years since I was dismissed as an escort knight, but neither Kaios nor anyone else has noticed that my right hand continues to hurt. But that’s fine.

(A fortune teller whose fortunes are often accurate and has some kind of special power…I’m sure Kaios will be interested in this story.)

I thought my best friend would be interested in the story of the fortune teller. That’s why I felt like looking into it, thinking it would be a conversation piece. I went to see the fortune teller really lightly.

I approached the fortune teller who came out to open the shop, and when she noticed me, instead of being happy, she distorted her face as if she was really annoyed.

I was surprised at her reaction, but she was only a young girl after all. I thought I could do anything, so I tried to talk to her as if I had broken into the shop.

(Hmm, that’s strange. It might be the first time I’ve been treated like this.)

She did not respond as I had expected. Instead, she’s being rather curt, and she’s not talking to me at all about what I want. Or rather, to begin with, she barely looks at my face. Sometimes she seems to be looking not at my face but at the air above my head, but I wonder if she is looking away from me on purpose.

(I see, everyone gets excited when they see my face, so if she doesn’t try to see it, it won’t work… huh?)

This reaction was fresh because women usually look at my face as if their eyes were drawn to it. So if I forced her to look at me, would she blush like the other women? Thinking that, I reached out my hand to her white cheek, but before I could touch her, she grabbed my right hand.

The pain was not intensified by the touch, but the smile peeled off my face for a moment, startled by the fact that she had grabbed my aching right hand. She was staring at my right hand and didn’t notice it though, so I immediately smiled again. I couldn’t even say out loud, “…… what are you doing?” because the red eyes staring at my right hand were so serious.

“If it hurts, make a painful face. It’s hard to tell.”

How did she know? I had never shown it to anyone, not even on my face, and no one had noticed it for years. I was frozen in various shocks, and she deftly applied medicine and bandaged me up.

…Strangely enough, the pain suddenly lightened after the medicine was applied, and I was surprised again.

(The pain has eased considerably, but what is this medicine?)

A medicine that relieves unexplained pain just by applying it. Expensive, but worth it. I was surprised at the effectiveness of such a medicine, but more than that, I was most surprised by her words, which she spoke without expression and in a matter-of-fact manner.

“It’s because you left it alone….If it hurts, you don’t need to force yourself to smile.”

If it hurts, there’s no need to force yourself to smile. Hearing that, I forgot to smile again. I thought I had to smile, but those words strangely permeated through my mind.

Who in the world is this person? I wonder, not out of disbelief, but out of curiosity. Even after I left the shop, my mind was filled with thoughts of her mysterious power.

(There is no doubt that she possesses some kind of special power….It’s unlikely, but maybe…a wizard or something.)

Just as demons, creatures with magical powers, are on the verge of extinction. Just as the wizard, a human being with magical powers, is on the verge of extinction. Wizards were special people who could use magic that differed from one family to another, but their power was only passed down through their bloodline, and their children did not always inherit their power. Their numbers were gradually decreasing, and they were captured and imprisoned by those in power who wanted to use their power.

Therefore, they did not flaunt their power, but lived quietly among ordinary people, and by mixing with ordinary people, their bloodline was further diluted and they rapidly lost their power. For more than a hundred years, no wizard has been found. It is believed that the power has ceased to exist.

(But whether or not she’s a wizard is not important at this point. I just…)

Since we have to hold each other’s secrets, I can’t even tell Kaios about the power she seems to have. But I’ll still go see her again while I’m buying medicine.

I just want to know what this strange girl named Cyril sees and thinks about in her life. What could make her blush like the women of the town? I want to see what she looks like when she does.

It’s pure curiosity. On this day, for the first time, I was curious about a woman, instead of hating her. I didn’t think such a day would come, so it’s a strange feeling. But it’s not unpleasant.

(If I am a flower and the women I gather are butterflies… what will she become?)

When I think of this, a smile naturally breaks out under the deep hood of my cloak.