Get Ahead of the Fallen Heroine and Make the Bull-Headed Man the Victim

66. Am I lying? I never said such a thing, how could that be considered lying?

Although Noah didn’t say it directly.

—

But a terrifying image had already surfaced in Valentina’s mind.

It was the grand scene of a group of adventurers from the kingdom charging forth to slay another red dragon for honor.

And the final outcome was that the adventurers, along with the father of these young dragons, perished together.

Just imagining that tragic scene made Valentina’s complexion turn quite grim.

Especially when she noticed Noah’s gaze, which seemed to look upon her as if she were a sinner.

She couldn’t help but take a step forward, placing her hand on her full chest, her face flushed with emotion as she exclaimed:

“But, but that wasn’t me!”

She hoped Noah would comfort her like her childhood friend Clyde would, or at least support her like her teacher Allen did. Instinctively, she sought solace from Noah to alleviate her guilt.

However, Noah was destined to disappoint her. The thing he could least tolerate was her need to rely on the victim or the blonde for comfort. Thus, he coldly rejected her with a voice devoid of warmth:

“No, Your Highness, although it wasn’t you who did it, you do bear responsibility. In fact, if you hadn’t seen those two young dragons, you would have already acted, right?”

“!!!”

Once again rendered speechless by Noah’s words, Valentina trembled violently.

For what Noah said was harsh, but it was indeed the truth.

“As you can see, the ‘evil dragon’ spoken of by your kingdom’s populace is no different from other beings; they are not inherently evil. It is your people who have arbitrarily deemed all dragons as evil, and they take pleasure in pursuing the extermination of these dragons as their life’s ideal, ultimately leading to numerous tragedies, even to the point of allowing themselves to die in such brutal revelry.”

“No, that’s not true!”

“What do you mean it’s not true? If you were just an ordinary adventurer, it would be merely foolishness. But as a member of the royal family, you don’t find it strange? You even joined in, indirectly supporting and encouraging your people to engage in this senseless slaughter, all for the sake of so-called honor. Can you truly say you bear no responsibility at all?”

“Ugh!!!”

Ignoring the increasingly pale complexion of the princess, Noah continued his tirade. By the end, Valentina clutched her chest, her face contorted in pain from the weight of her conscience.

What did that mean? So, the thing she thought was honorable was actually a crime?

Her worldview severely shaken, Valentina retracted the excited step she had taken toward Noah, lowering her head as she desperately pondered what the right choice truly was.

…Wait? Hold on, wasn’t it the evil god who told her that a great dragon was preparing to attack the nearby town?

In that case, killing these three dragons wouldn’t be meaningless slaughter, would it?

It could be seen as a reluctant sacrifice to protect the people from disaster?

“Ah, by the way, when I said that the great dragon intended to attack the town, I was lying. I just wanted you to understand the truth of this world a bit better.”

Ugh… So, it seems that one cannot simply label a dragon as evil before it actually commits wrongdoing. But who can guarantee that the dragons living near human towns won’t turn to evil?

The princess, whose complexion had just improved slightly, immediately turned pale again upon hearing Noah’s words.

Valentina had never considered such questions before. She had taken it as truth that dragons were evil and that dragon-slaying heroes were just and worthy of admiration.

What Noah was doing was forcibly broadening her perspective, freeing her from the constraints of human notions, and allowing her vision to expand.

Valentina certainly understood that not all humans were good.

But she did not grasp that not all dragons were evil, which was the fact Noah wanted to convey to her.

—

But if that was all Noah managed to do, he would become the kind of upright deity who, despite his tough words and harsh methods, was ultimately just a façade.

With Valentina’s personality as the righteous heroine, it was impossible for her to dislike him.

So, in order to provoke Valentina’s annoyance and lower her favorability, Noah decisively added another remark, and his tone was quite casual.

“Ah, by the way, the father of those two young dragons simply flew away. That’s just how the ecology of these dragons works; they have no human concept of family. The female dragon will attack weaker male dragons to reproduce, and that male dragon has probably long since fled who knows where. Of course, he might have been attacked again by other female dragons and used as a tool dragon.”

After saying this, Noah deliberately struck a pose of ‘Ah, as expected of me, I’m practically a biology PhD,’ placing his hand on his chin and nodding to himself, as if he were quite satisfied.

“…Huh?”

Hearing the unbelievable words, Her Highness the Princess let out a very cute sound of surprise and quickly raised her head to look at the relaxed Noah.

So, what does that mean? She had no reason to blame herself here?! This was all a scheme by the evil god to make her feel guilty and miserable!?

Realizing she had been completely fooled by Noah again, the Princess’s pale face quickly regained its color due to embarrassment and anger.

Or rather, it was too flushed.

“Why didn’t you say that sooner, you terrible deity! So it’s not my responsibility, and you still let me feel guilty! You idiot, go… go choke on some water!”

In fact, the emotional Valentina had originally wanted to say “go die,” but the moment she was about to say it, she realized that was far too extreme, so she hastily changed it to choking on water.

This led to her anger appearing significantly diminished, instead giving off a strong sense of grievance.

At that moment, her expression looked as if she wanted to swallow Noah whole, filled with a mix of frustration at being toyed with and resentment towards him.

However, even though Valentina was quite agitated, Noah remained as frivolous as ever.

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He smiled nonchalantly and teased:

“How can you blame me? From start to finish, it was all your own thoughts, wasn’t it?”

“Can I not think that way?! You clearly led me on purpose!”

The Princess was so furious she didn’t know what to say. Although Noah hadn’t explicitly stated it, his tone and the atmosphere he created clearly encouraged her to think in that direction.

“Oh dear, what an unreasonable princess you are! But isn’t it good? You can understand that dragons are not purely embodiments of evil, but just a common species in this world, and no male dragon was harmed.”

“That’s not the point! And he was harmed! He was invaded by that female dragon over there!”

Valentina retorted fiercely at Noah while pointing at the giant dragon in the distance that had been watching them for quite a while.

Noah’s reaction was to reveal a playful, ambiguous smile.

“…Ah.”

At that moment, the Princess realized she had been shouting quite loudly, drawing the not-so-friendly gaze of the giant dragon directed at her.

Oh no, this is bad.

—