Copy Skills with Affinity!

Chapter 3

So Heartless

The armor of a knight was, by its nature, a top-grade product.

Equipment was something crafted to suit its user, and for knights, who were the finest elite within the Empire, ordinary gear would have been meaningless.

“But this is what it ended up like.”

At Noel’s words, as she pointed to the completely crushed armor, Aiden’s back quickly began to grow damp.

Even someone with no particular talent for combat would have realized at once that the force Noel was exuding now was anything but ordinary.

“Do you understand what this means?”

“…What does it mean?”

“It means that if he hadn’t been wearing armor, Gale would have died instantly. From a single, sloppy strike you threw without even taking a proper stance.”

Noel continued, speaking with a faint smile.

“It’s absurd. Gale stands head and shoulders above the average combatant.”

“…”

“Even a knight granted a formal title couldn’t produce this result with one ridiculous attack.”

I wished she would stop praising me.

My mouth felt so dry it was cracking.

“Come to think of it, there’s exactly one person who comes to mind who might be capable of the same feat.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes.”

The smile on Dame Noel’s face grew a little wider, and soon her lips parted again.

“It’s me.”

“…”

“The pure white qi you just drew from your body is the most refined of all qi. With output alone, you could certainly do something like this.”

“That—”

Aiden trailed off.

To be honest, it was a scene too difficult to explain in any convincing way.

Knights were a group where even those called geniuses could only barely stand shoulder to shoulder with their comrades. And among them, the one who stood at the pinnacle spent their life honing precisely this—this Heart of Pure White.

So, what this woman was really doing was questioning me in a roundabout way.

How could someone like you possibly be wielding the ultimate culmination of the skills I have dedicated my life to perfecting?

“Explain yourself, Aiden Kellermain.”

The longer she spoke, the faster the dampness spread down Aiden’s back.

Noel’s face was smiling as she said it, but her eyes were not smiling in the least.

“Just what sort of person are you?”

Swallowing the feeling of his throat closing up, Aiden barely managed to reply.

“You saw my records, didn’t you? I really am just someone with nothing—”

“You mean those records written up just to cover yourself? Yes. I’ve seen them. I have.”

Tap, tap—

Noel slowly moved her fingers, drumming them against her arm.

“…What?”

Records to cover himself—what in the world was she talking about now?

While Aiden blinked blankly, Noel continued speaking in her calm voice.

“Why do you think, out of all the countless people I could have chosen, I brought you here?”

I had no idea why she was asking me that as if I’d know the answer.

In the entire world, the person most curious about that was me.

Fortunately, Noel wasn’t the type to drag out her explanations unnecessarily.

“If you truly wanted to hide your identity, you should have left at least one blemish somewhere along the way. If you’d played your tricks in moderation, maybe I’d have believed you.”

“What are you—”

“Aiden. No matter how big a criminal is, they get caught at least once. No matter how lucky or skilled they are, inevitably, they slip up at some point. Even a sage who sees through everything in the world never knows when life will hit them in the back of the head. But—”

Noel’s gaze sank even deeper.

“Here you are, claiming to be some ordinary, worthless swindler, and for over ten years, you’ve not only never been arrested—you haven’t even been investigated once.”

“…”

“Looking at your record, you managed to avoid any involvement with major incidents. Whenever something looked like it might get dangerous, you withdrew in advance.”

“…”

“To be blunt, doesn’t that mean you ‘knew’ about all the dangerous situations and avoided them deliberately?”

My mouth fell slightly open.

…Well, she wasn’t exactly wrong.

If you worked outside the bounds of the law, you were bound to get tangled up in big cases sooner or later.

I really had done everything I could to avoid getting caught up in anything dangerous.

Of course, it was only possible because I possessed knowledge of the original story.

But simply running away from trouble to avoid being involved in dangerous incidents wasn’t exactly something that should make anyone overestimate me.

“That’s why I brought you.”

…The problem was that this person clearly saw it in a completely different light.

“No matter who I chose to play the role of my husband in this sham marriage, it was obvious they’d struggle to pull it off. At least among the people I know, there isn’t a single one who could manage it.”

Noel set her teacup down with a sharp clack as she continued.

“The fact you’ve never once failed means no one has any idea where the limits of your capabilities lie. It means no one can see your ceiling. So I brought you here with half the feeling of scratching off a lottery ticket.”

…I understood.

It made sense, in its own way.

But the truth behind those records was nothing more than the desperate traces of me struggling to stay unnoticed and avoid getting dragged into the main story at all costs.

I never imagined it would come back around like this.

There were limits even to interpreting something in the most favorable way possible.

I opened my mouth again, determined to somehow make her understand.

At any rate, I’d built up plenty of experience in professions where smooth talk was a necessity. I should be able to come up with some kind of plausible explanation…

“I must say, it feels like I’ve won the lottery, seeing the abilities you displayed.”

“…”

…If only it hadn’t been for that.

He had shown something that could never fit the background he claimed to have.

Aiden’s mouth shut tight, like a clam snapping closed.

“Aiden. I’d prefer to resolve this peacefully. The fact you possess abilities beyond my expectations is actually good news for me.”

Noel’s eyes, which had remained calmly lowered until now, rose to meet Aiden’s gaze directly.

That alone was enough to overwhelm me.

If there were such a thing as a physical force behind a stare, it felt as if simply meeting her eyes would slice me apart.

“But at the very least, regarding the scene you just showed me—I’d like you to offer an explanation. That Heart of Pure White—whether you know it or not—carries quite a tangled history.”

“….”

Well…yes, it certainly looked that way.

 Skill Info

◈ Weaver of Fate

< Copied Skill >

【 Noel Astrea Simus 】

◆ Heart of Pure White

※Unique – This character alone possesses it!

Among all qi cultivation techniques, it boasts the highest efficiency, but to master it requires extraordinary effort and perception. This qi technique was passed down directly from Dame Noel’s master and has been honed to its utmost limits.

Even I would have wondered what in the world was going on if I saw a cultivation method inherited through direct transmission suddenly being used by someone else.

I could fully understand how she felt.

“So, it would be best if you spoke up quickly. Otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to draw my sword.”

I take it back.

There was no way I could understand this. Not in a thousand years.

“…Why does that conclusion follow?”

“Gale’s way of thinking isn’t always right, but at least when it comes to the fighting path he has built, you can be sure by crossing swords with him. With just that much, I can more or less understand how you came to learn it.”

As soon as Noel said that and her hand drifted toward the sword at her waist, the dampness at the back of Aiden’s neck went utterly cold.

Her face was still smiling, but the intent that seeped between her words was unmistakably genuine.

This woman—if she didn’t hear an explanation that satisfied her, she really intended to draw her sword and cut me down.

“…”

But…

How was I supposed to explain any of this?

How could I possibly tell her that I was someone who had possessed this body inside a game world, and that as part of that privilege, I somehow had the ability to copy and wield skills?

“Since you continue to remain silent, may I interpret that as your consent?”

But I had to do something.

If I didn’t, I might actually die here.

And as that thought echoed in my mind, I heard a soft click—as if a button had been pressed somewhere deep inside my head.

That was the sound that always echoed in his mind whenever he dealt with a client.

The feeling of shifting into a working state.

Convincing her that he was just an ordinary swindler…

He had already crossed a river he could never return from. Best to give up on that cleanly.

He couldn’t think of any explanation that would satisfy Noel here and now.

In that case, the only option left was—

I’ll deceive her.

That had always been his trade, hadn’t it? Lying to survive.

Aiden’s mind began to spin at full speed.

Knowledge from the original work that might be useful in this situation came flooding into his thoughts.

At its root, the art of a swindler was deceiving others, and the root of deception lay in provoking an emotional response.

Therefore—

When he combined everything he knew about this woman called Noel Astrea Simus, he sifted through it all to find the keywords that would most disturb her.

And at the end of that search—

“…Seems like…”

Even to Aiden himself, the words that came out felt less like something rational and more like something assembled by instinct.

“…It seems you don’t remember, do you?”

“…Pardon?”

“When you were young, I mean.”

He let the words drop softly, almost absentmindedly.

As if he were feeling a quiet sadness. A hint of loneliness, perhaps a trace of reproach.

He himself couldn’t believe the nonsense he was saying.

Of course she wouldn’t remember. He’d never met her in his life.

But the moment Aiden spoke those words—

“-”

Noel’s movement froze.

Her eyes flickered, her expression twisting and cracking for just an instant.

She returned to her usual demeanor almost immediately.

But for a fleeting moment—

In the very last fraction of a second, a tiny gap opened and Aiden’s eyes caught it precisely.

This woman.

If he recalled the game’s information, she had lost a portion of her childhood memories due to some incident.

He didn’t know exactly what that incident was. The game never covered it in detail.

What matters is…!

This woman truly had lost her memories and likely had never shared that fact with anyone. She wouldn’t have had any reason to.

Therefore—

If he could slip his presence into that reservoir of unknown information that only Noel herself could know, it would be enough.

Simply demonstrating knowledge that only the person involved could possess would massively increase the credibility of his story.

“…What exactly do you mean by that, Aiden?”

And the fact that she returned a question trying to mask her agitation meant that this absurd excuse had worked at least to some degree.

It was only natural. He had struck directly at her private secret.

Her mind was probably spinning now, churning with every possible hypothesis about who he was.

And that, in itself, was a fine shield for him right now.

After all, the first priority was simply to survive this encounter alive.

And so—what remained was…

“No, it’s nothing. I didn’t expect you to have truly forgotten.”

I merely let my words trail off, as if there was no point in explaining something she couldn’t recognize herself.

And just that alone made Dame Noel’s face turn rigid. Now, she couldn’t even pretend she wasn’t shaken.

“I’ll see you later, Dame Noel.”

In other words—

This was the perfect moment to say something that sounded impressive and get the hell out.

Aiden’s voice fell, carrying a melancholy note.

“…I hope that next time we meet, you’ll greet me a little differently.”

Noel would never know what that was supposed to mean.

Because—

I don’t know either…!

He himself had no clue what kind of nonsense he was even saying!

But no matter how anyone looked at it, this was the most obvious moment to quickly slip out of the room.

Feeling Dame Noel’s vacant gaze fixed on him, Aiden strode out without hesitation.

▣

That was what had happened yesterday.

The whirlwind that had struck him on his very first day of employment—the series of events that had left Aiden utterly exhausted. Now, he was holed up alone in his private quarters, refusing to see anyone.

 Skill Info

◈ Weaver of Fate

Only you know the truth of this world. By building bonds with important characters in the main story, you can gain new rewards!

【 Noel Astrea Simus 】

 Bond: Level 2

 You can copy 1 additional skill.

◆ Heart of Pure White

...

...

It was a good thing.

No matter how you looked at it, it was good.

Yesterday’s stunt had worked so well that he’d even received a free skill copy as a bonus. There was nothing about it that could be called a loss.

◈ Sham Marriage

 You have been selected as Dame Noel’s spouse. Maintain your contract with her to the end!

 A related event will soon occur.

…Except for this part.

And what’s this “related event” supposed to be?

He frowned, glaring at the message window.

No matter how he looked at it, nothing about that sounded promising. It reeked of imminent personal danger.

…Should I try to gather more abilities?

Honestly, he’d rather not get tangled in any fights, but if the system was going out of its way to tell him that something bad was coming, sitting around doing nothing would be the height of idiocy.

…But from whom?

He couldn’t very well go back to Dame Noel and try to grab another skill. After everything that had happened yesterday, even showing his face to her would be unbearably awkward.

Wasn’t there a suitable candidate somewhere?

While he was lost in such thoughts—

He noticed the sudden commotion around him.

“His Highness Daniel will arrive shortly!”

“Everyone, finish tidying up and clear out! Don’t draw unnecessary attention!”

Amid the unexpected commotion, he cautiously poked his head out into the corridor. It looked like some very high-ranking personage was coming to visit.

The Imperial Capital Command was essentially the central nervous system of the Empire’s military. All kinds of people came and went here, but even so, it was rare to see a guest of this status a member of a royal family.

As the prince strode down the corridor in all his grandeur, the staff of the Imperial Command scrambled to clear a path for him, stepping aside with almost theatrical urgency.

Aiden’s eyes narrowed slightly as he watched.

If he’s royalty from the Holy Crown Kingdom…

He rifled through the game’s setting in his mind.

The powers wielded by the Empire’s people were qi granted by Karva’s authority. In contrast, the powers of the Holy Crown Kingdom came from divinity, the authority of Sia, the god of purification.

And those most adept at wielding that divinity were precisely the royals themselves—people whose existence was closest to the source of that holy power.

…Might be worth a try.

If building relationships increased bond levels and let him copy skills, there was no downside to at least introducing himself to someone like this.

If things went well, he’d gain something. If not, no harm done.

And since he carried the title of Dame Noel’s spouse, simply offering a polite greeting wouldn’t be such an unforgivable breach of protocol.

With that thought, he stepped into the corridor, catching sight of the prince walking with his chest proudly thrust out. Naturally, Aiden positioned himself in the prince’s path, as though to greet him.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Your Highness. I am…”

The moment he spoke and extended his hand—

With a sharp smack, his hand was brusquely slapped away.

A voice, steeped in the same disgust one might have for a cockroach approaching, immediately followed.

“Remove yourself. You reek of lowliness.”

“…”

…Life in this world really was harsh.

Aiden slowly let that realization sink in as he looked at the man who had struck his hand aside.

A young man with a slick, unctuous face. Every muscle on it seemed etched with arrogance and self-importance.

…So this must be why everyone scrambled to flee before he arrived.

If this was his temperament, their reaction made perfect sense.

“When you address royalty, you show respect by dropping to one knee. What is a clueless, ignorant wretch like you doing here at all?”

“…”

That sort of thing—wasn’t it a custom that had been buried and forgotten ages ago?

These days, even a royal would usually be socially buried if they dared demand such displays.

“I am the Seventh Prince of the Holy Crown Kingdom of Craven. My name is—”

Slick.

No need to even bother remembering his real name. To Aiden, this bastard was just Slick.

With a bored expression, Aiden mentally sliced the prince’s introduction to ribbons.

And judging by the next words out of Slick’s mouth, he’d clearly made the right call.

“And judging by the way you comport yourself like some guttersnipe, I don’t even need to ask about your lineage.”

“….”

Good grief.

Listening to this bastard reveal the entire breadth of his rotten personality in mere seconds, Aiden felt a throbbing pain explode behind his temples.

“…Your Highness. I think you should reconsider treating this man too lightly.”

It spoke volumes that even the fully-armored guard beside him stepped in, trying to dissuade him.

Of course, the prince’s face immediately puckered up in displeasure.

“Be silent. Who told you to interrupt?”

“But the person here—”

The guard leaned in to whisper something in a hushed voice.

Slick’s lips curved into a crooked smile, as if he’d just heard the most absurd joke imaginable.

“—Ah.”

It was the smirk of someone who couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“The one she brought back? The Lionhearted’s?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

At the guard’s reply, Slick let his repulsive gaze slowly rake up and down Aiden’s figure.

“This? This is the one?”

“….”

“She ignored all my requests and went and chose this wretch as her ‘spouse’?”

…From the way he was talking, it was obvious enough.

This bastard had apparently had a keen interest in the position of Dame Noel’s husband all along.

And only now did Aiden finally connect the dots.

◈ Sham Marriage

 You have been selected as Dame Noel’s spouse. Maintain your contract with her to the end!

 A related event will soon occur.

“….”

So this related event the system warned about—

It was none other than the spectacle currently unfolding in front of him, involving this degenerate royal.

And he had walked straight into it himself while trying to prepare for it.

Ah.

Aiden Kellermain.

Day two of employment.

On the first day, the sworn comrade of his new wife nearly drew a sword on him.

On the second day, he found himself entangled in a quarrel with foreign royalty.

Ah.

There was simply nothing left to say except a long, tired sigh.