I Am Really The Best Anti Hero In Another World!-System Of Anti Hero! novel Chapter 56

Chapter 56: Chapter 56 - Strange Promises

After she left the room, just like Noah, Ting walked toward the exit. As she passed through the door and noticed he was still coming down the stairs, she stepped closer, came face-to-face with him, and, taking small steps backward with a smile, said,

— Are you sure you’re leaving already?

Noah looked at her for a moment, confused, and as he continued walking calmly, he replied,

— There’s no reason for me to stay—and I don’t need to stick around. So please, get out of my way.

"Damn... why are you treating your fiancée so coldly?"

Upon hearing her words, Noah froze for a moment. He stared directly into her eyes for several seconds and, after a brief pause, couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out laughing.

"...Are you crazy, girl?" he said as he wiped a tear rolling down his cheek. Still smiling, he continued,

— I don’t even know you. What makes you think I’d marry you?

Ting looked at Noah with a serious expression and asked,

— Huh? And what makes you think that would be a bad thing?

She was clearly irritated by his tone and demeanor.

"And why wouldn’t it be?" he laughed. "I have nothing to gain from it, do I?"

"What do you mean by ’nothing’?" she retorted, annoyed. Then she turned and tried to say,

— Y-y-you... would have me. Isn’t that reason enough?

But Noah had only caught the last part—only that was audible.

"Hmm, probably not," he said as he passed by her. "Then forget that crazy idea."

She took a deep breath and returned to Noah’s side. As she walked beside him, she said,

— Look, I admit I never wanted to have to marry you either.

"Look, isn’t that great?" Noah replied, smiling.

"But I promised—and promises must be kept, so..."

"Very honorable of you, and I admire that about you. But I have nothing to do with that promise."

"Yes, I do," she interjected again as she stepped in front of him. "The promise was that I’d marry the person who freed me from that curse. So, for sure, I’m going to marry you."

"You’re really crazy. Who in their right mind would make such a promise? And what did you plan to do if, like me, the other person didn’t want to accept?"

[I don’t think you’re in any condition to say that to anyone]

[You did some rather odd things too...]

[Promising to help a half-dragon reach the level of a true dragon is, at the very least, madness—as you yourself just admitted]

Noah sighed when he saw the system messages and thought,

’It was a situation all its own... What did you expect me to do? Send off a creature that would kill me with a single breath—and then just, fuck off?’

[The same happened with the Stellar Demon Wolf...]

’Again, another scenario where I’d die just for breathing wrong... Your examples are really terrible. Just give it a rest.’

With a slightly sad look, Ting responded,

— Someone who wasn’t even a bit sure that this would ever actually happen...

They both fell silent for a while, but while the girl remained standing, Noah passed her and continued walking out of the house and toward the forest.

"Why are you so reluctant to marry me?" she asked.

"Huh? You’re really crazy, aren’t you...?"

"Let’s see... I met a few people back when I wasn’t confined to bed most of the time. And, whether it was among girls or boys, no one looked at me or treated me the way you do."

Noah found that reasoning odd and, closing his eyes, he looked at Ting and asked:

— So, you like being ignored...?

"Not exactly. But the girls always pretended to be my friends and then talked about me behind my back. As for the boys, they always tried to get close because of my looks. Yet you never did any of that, nor even pretended to be nice, let alone showed interest in my beauty. I admit I was a little curious as to why that happened."

Smiling, he said:

— So, you came after me just because you felt ignored? And what would you have done if I had shown interest?

(He knew that one of the reasons he got out of bed so quickly in the first place was that he saw her lying beside him—and his heart just wouldn’t calm down because of it.)

She shook her head and said:

— This conversation wouldn’t have happened, but either way, we were going to get married.

"Hmm, so I really had no other choice, after all."

"As I said. Even if you refused, in the end, the wedding would have happened."

"...Okay, the conversation’s fine, but I’ve already wasted too much time here," Noah said, continuing his walk toward the forest.

"Wait, I’ll come with you."

"Ah, no, thanks. But don’t worry—I’ll be back. Besides, I don’t want to be hunted by anyone, under any circumstances."

"One last question, then... Why is your hair like that?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"