I’m Not the Final Boss’ Lover

Fabian’s voice was accusatory, and his fists were clenched, shaking with anger. It was a ridiculous sight. Why was he getting mad? What did he have to feel indignant about? I stared at Fabian. His thoughts had been transparent to me until seconds ago, but suddenly they clouded over as if doused in muddy water. I had presumed to know his true nature, the worst part of him there was, and now I realized I was wrong. This petty and vulgar man who was yelling angrily at me wasn’t the Fabian I knew, but a complete stranger.

“You tricked me? Why the devil would you?”

“…Would you have acted friendly in my shoes then?” I asked, my face twisting into a frown. If he had forgotten what he had done to me, then I hoped he would remember quickly. It turned out to be too much of an expectation, though. Fabian looked at me as if saying I was a heartless person.

“Of course. We’re… old comrades, aren’t we?”

I scoffed at him with undisguised sarcasm. “Old what? Don’t be ridiculous, Fabian. How absurd. What kind of person would leave their old comrade to die?”

But Fabian took it one step further. His next words were in a placating tone as if suggesting I was overreacting. “Are you telling me you’re mad because I didn’t go to see you? But I had my reasons. I—”

“You must have felt the Ring of Fire was more important.”

“Why are you talking so sarcastically?” Fabian snapped in a fit of temper. No matter how much I wrapped my head around it, I couldn’t figure out why he was acting so unabashed. A second later, he drooped his shoulders and continued in the piteous tone of a victim. “It’s not like I wanted to do it. I had no choice if I’m to defeat the demon lord, yet you won’t even show a bit of understanding for that. Instead, you just secretly ridicule the sight of me trying to ingratiate myself…”

Fabian claimed he had a reason I didn’t know for giving me up, yet he just criticized me instead of ever talking about it. In fact, it was questionable whether he even had an excuse. And when he was talking about me mocking him secretly, he even looked like his pride was injured, which made me wonder… Was that all it took to hurt him?

If there was one thing I knew now, it was that he never truly experienced a situation of losing self-esteem. No doubt his idea of suffering was no more than the pain of leveling up again and groveling before the people who had revered him in the first playthrough. I, on the other hand, had my existential value denied by the man whom I had risked my future on.

I gazed at Fabian with contempt, but he didn’t notice at all. Or perhaps he just wanted to avert his eyes. All he did was turn the blame for everything to me as if his sins would disappear by doing so. “I thought you were a woman of deep understanding and kindness… Never did I think you were this kind of person. I’m disappointed.”

I bluntly retorted, “Why are you the one being disappointed?” Then I smirked as he fell silent for a moment, looking bewildered, which made him flushed in the face. But whether he liked it or not, I kept at it. “Then again, now I can’t even find anything more in you to be disappointed by. You can keep that word for yourself.”

“Jun, you—”

“I ridiculed you? How could I ever?” I put on a gentle and kind tone, unlike a moment ago, which made Fabian’s face brighten. I didn’t know what he was expecting, but he wouldn’t be getting anything good. I threw his hopes to the ground. “I pretended not to know you because I didn’t want to even bother laughing at you. I wanted to avoid even getting involved. Just looking at your face and talking like this makes me sick enough already.”

Fabian looked at me in a daze, like he had been slapped across the cheek. A strange emotion burned in those blue eyes of his for a moment before dying down into nothing. I thought provoking him this much would make Fabian reveal his inner self, his true character. Apparently, this wasn’t enough to break the noble hero mask he had been using to deceive everyone around him. With a bitter smile, Fabian shook his head as he said, “Fine. I’ll stop here since it seems like you’re feeling hurt.”

The way he spoke sounded as if he was letting me off, and he didn’t stop there, talking as if he really meant well for me. How incredibly phony! “The reason you joined the Dark Knights… must be because I wasn’t able to save you. That was my fault. I’m sorry.”

Wasn’t able to save me? As if he even had any intention of doing so! And worse, he was talking like joining the Dark Knights was the most awful outcome. His words weren’t even worth listening to, but I was curious how far he’d go. I kept my lips shut and glared at Fabian with my arms folded. I didn’t know whether he couldn’t feel my animosity or didn’t care about something like that. He kept an unaffected attitude up as he continued, looking into my eyes and sounding very serious. “But it’s still not too late. Leave the Dark Knights and come to me, Jun.”