As soon as the training ended, I stepped away to get some distance and found myself observing my surroundings. This was Baroness Catherinne's fortified castle, built atop a sheer cliff. I climbed onto the battlements and looked down. The view was every bit as magnificent as the novel had described.
Lush green meadows merged with golden fields below. From the hill where the castle stood, a waterfall flowed downward and fed into a river that ran right past the town sprawling across the plain. The entire scene looked as if it had leapt straight out of a painting. And astonishingly enough, this was not even the most beautiful vista described in the novel.
There were countless places I still wanted to see, countless lands I wanted to explore, but I had not even managed to complete the very first fate quest yet.
All I had to do was prevent a young woman, who already did not like me, from falling in love with me. And somehow, I had managed to botch even that. Perhaps I had underestimated the myths about how unfathomably complex women could be.
Why would you be drawn to a man who neither loves you nor notices you, instead of one who shows you affection and care?
Women... they were impossibly difficult to understand. The system itself had instructed me to act cold and indifferent toward Lucienne. Apparently, even the system was incapable of truly understanding women.
With those thoughts in mind, I sat down on the castle walls before opening the system. From a brief experiment earlier, when the maid had brought me water, I had confirmed that only I could see the system panel. That meant I could activate it freely in the open.
I immediately navigated to the quest tab.
[New Fate Quest Generated]
[Fate Quest: Remain Indifferent to the Girl the Hero Was Destined to Love]
[Difficulty: B+]
[Description: In the original story, Aurelius Emberforge falls in love at first sight with a young woman who later becomes one of the most important emotional anchors on his path. This sentiment shapes his growth, inner conflict, ideals, and ultimate transformation. You have rejected this path.]
[Objective: To remain cold or indifferent towards her. To avoid forming an emotional bond.]
[Reward: 20,000 System Coins]
[Note: This divergence will erase the hero's romantic development, severing a small-scale fate chain.]
As I read the quest text, a detail I had either overlooked before or deliberately chosen not to dwell on made a bitter smile curl my lips.
B-plus difficulty.
More dangerous than clearing a dungeon. More complex than a duel. And certainly more perilous than an assassination.
Because this quest targeted a human heart, and ironically, it would be completed not by winning it, but by losing it.
"Remain completely indifferent," I muttered to myself. "Calculated. Cold. Uninterested."
I closed the system and turned my gaze back toward the horizon. The wind wandered across the battlements, gently stirring the edges of my cloak. Below, the sounds of the town reached my ears as a faint murmur. Life was flowing exactly as it should.
Everywhere except around me.
Lucienne.
The moment her name crossed my mind, I realized I was clenching my teeth. In the original story, at this point, Aurelius was a lovestruck adolescent whose heart raced at the sight of her, whose world narrowed, who spoke foolishly romantic lines.
I had to do the opposite.
No interest. No curiosity. Not even the slightest warmth.
The problem was that the more I did exactly that, the more Lucienne's interest in me grew.
The classic chase dynamic.
And that was the most cursed part of it.
The more distant I became, the shorter my answers, the harder I tried to ignore her existence, the more her gaze lingered on me. I was consciously rejecting the attention that should have naturally fallen upon the hero, yet fate itself seemed to be flowing stubbornly in reverse.
Coldness alone was not enough. If the other party perceived it as a challenge, a mystery, or an emotional void, indifference ended up achieving the exact opposite of its intended purpose.
Which meant I needed to try something different.
At that moment, I noticed Baroness Catherinne in the garden below, whispering strange phrases and coaxing the plants into vibrant life. Describing just how beautiful she was felt genuinely difficult. She sat on the ground with her legs extended to the side, whispering to the roses and gently blowing toward them.
What reached my ears sounded almost like a song, or perhaps her voice was simply so beautiful that it felt that way.
Because of how she was seated, the hem of her dress had slid upward slightly, revealing a glimpse of her milk-white legs. There was no straight man who would remain unaffected by such a sight. Even homosexual men might have struggled.
And right then, an idea struck me.
In that instant, something clicked into place in my mind.
Lucienne's interest in me had less to do with what I did toward her, and more to do with the empty space around me. She believed she was searching for a special place in my world.
The clearest message I could give her was that this place was already occupied.
My gaze fixed on the woman in the garden.
Baroness Catherinne.
By this world's standards, she was not merely a noble. She was an absolute authority within her domain, holding political power, economic control, and military command in her own hands. In the original novel, her path rarely crossed with Aurelius's, and their relationship never extended beyond mutual respect and distance.
But I was not Aurelius.
And after breaking fate chains already, what harm could one more do?
When Catherinne finished whispering to the roses, I noticed how the plants visibly flourished. Their leaves grew brighter, their buds fuller. This was not simple nature magic. This was the work of one who had spent years forging a bond with her land.
Unlike Lucienne, Catherinne was not the kind of woman whose interest could be triggered by games. She was drawn to power. To competence. To control.
And that was a field I could play on.
This was not merely a tactic. It was a rational investment.
Forming a connection with the Baroness would fundamentally alter the way Lucienne saw me. She would stop viewing herself as a romantic possibility. At the same time, the advantages of securing Baroness Catherinne as an enduring sponsor were impossible to ignore: training opportunities, political protection, access to information, and, above all, freedom of movement
The system's desired outcome was clear. Prevent Lucienne and me from becoming soulmates.
There was not a single line about caring how I achieved it.
I smiled. This time, it was not bitter.
"If cold indifference isn't enough," I thought, "then I should appear to be interested in someone else. And the Baroness is the perfect candidate."
Then I looked at the Baroness's curvaceous body and her juicy protrusions and smiled involuntarily.
"And I am definitely doing this to complete the quest..."