Raziel's eyes widened as he realized how devastating this news was for Sylfi. A scandal like this could seriously damage her reputation.
Given her position as the daughter of a noble and having a fiancé, being labeled an unfaithful woman would be nothing short of disastrous.
On the Éden continent, where medieval traditions were deeply entrenched, the nobility placed immense value on political marriages, making them highly intricate affairs.
When powerful families arranged engagements for their children, strict requirements had to be met to avoid bringing disgrace to their names.
For men, these requirements are more lenient, but for women, they are far more demanding. A potential wife must be beautiful, remain pure, and maintain a flawless reputation to be considered an acceptable match.
A headline in a newspaper accusing an engaged noblewoman of having a lover is deeply damaging, tarnishing both her personal reputation and her family's honor.
"Yeah, that's... pretty bad," Raziel said, meeting Sylfi's furious glare.
"YES, IT IS!" she shouted, gripping his collar even tighter than before.
Raziel didn't know what to say. As he tried to collect his thoughts, his mind drifted back to his conversation with Erick before entering the arena to watch the qualifiers.
It seemed his words had been misinterpreted in a much more complicated way than he had intended.
"Because of your words, people think I'm betraying you, and now I'm being labeled as an unfaithful woman!" Sylfi snapped, her voice filled with both anger and frustration.
Her eyes started to well up, and she fought to hold back the tears as she continued.
"If my dad sees this, I'm going to be in a big trouble!"
Although Raziel planned not to get involved with most of the heroines or the protagonist, he definitely didn't want to cause any harm or prejudice toward them.
"Sigh... You're right, Sylfi. I messed up. Can you please let go of my collar so we can talk about this?" Raziel said, gently attempting to free himself.
Sylfi opened her mouth to say more, but a cold shiver ran down her spine as she noticed Eve glaring at her from behind Raziel.
The intensity of the look was enough to make Sylfi quickly release her grip on his collar.
With surprising politeness, Raziel invited Sylfi to his office for a private discussion. She hesitated at first but eventually agreed, reassured by his promise that it would be a simple, honest conversation with no ulterior motives.
In the office, Raziel sat at his desk while Sylfi remained on the couch, her hands tightly clutching the newspaper, her anger still evident on her face.
"Getting out of this situation is going to be tough," Raziel admitted, scratching his head in frustration.
"Don't tell me!" Sylfi remarked sarcastically, her tone sharp.
An awkward silence settled in the room for a minute, with Raziel unsure of how to break the tension.
His mind raced, contemplating whether he should get involved. Raziel knew the consequences for him wouldn't be too severe. However, Sylfi, at this point in the story, had no way of clearing her name by herself.
Maybe Erick could help, but as the rumored lover in the scandal, his involvement would only make matters worse, intensifying the already raging fire.
Suddenly, another troubling thought crossed Raziel's mind. As soon as his father heard about it, he would undoubtedly use it as leverage to demand better benefits from Sylfi's family, knowing that finding another suitor for her would be nearly impossible since no noble house would accept a "tainted" lady.
While wrestling with the problem in his mind, a muffled sound began to echo in the room, catching Raziel's attention. He quickly realized the sound was coming from Sylfi, who had suddenly frozen in place for some unknown reason.
"What is happening?" Raziel asked, noticing her strange behavior.
"M-my father... is calling me," she stammered, her voice tinged with fear as she pulled out a peculiar green stone from her pocket.
This was her communication stone.
She held the stone with trembling hands. This particular one was set to receive only mana signals from her father's communication stone.
Sylfi already knew what would happen, so she quickly poured mana into the stone to activate it and said, "Father, I—"
"Shut up!" The voice coming from the stone interrupted her angrily.
"I don't want to hear anything from you! I'm just calling to tell you that if Mikael Harvestead decides to break off your engagement because of your stupidity, never dare to come back and call me 'dad' again, insolent daughter!" Sylfi's father roared, his anger evident, making her tremble in fear.
"B-but it w-was no—" She tried to speak, her voice trembling, but her father cut her off once more.
"Silence! I don't want to hear a single word from you! I've already instructed the servants to block your entry to the academy house until I resolve this. Pray that Raziel's father accepts my new offer; if not, you're on your own." With that, the communication stone lost its glow, signaling that her father had ended the call. Sylfi's heart sank as the weight of his words settled in.
Raziel remained silent, watching as Sylfi, frozen in place, silently cried. Her grip on the stone tightened as tears slid down her smooth, pale cheeks.
She didn't move, her whole demeanor broken, as if the weight of her father's words had shattered any remaining strength in her.
This was something Raziel had never wanted to happen, and seeing Sylfi in such pain filled him with guilt. He knew she had a bright future ahead and the last thing he ever wanted was to be the one to mess it all up.
He also knew that Sylfi had never been close to her family. As the youngest in the line of succession, she was always overshadowed by her two older brothers, who were the pride and priority of their father.
Moreover, Sylfi was the daughter of a concubine who had died years ago. Because of that, she was mostly ignored by her family, including her father, who viewed her as little more than a pawn for marriage alliances.
In the game, after Erick defeated Raziel, he demanded the end his engagement with Sylfi. But Raziel, ever stubborn, refused to comply. He boldly declared that she belonged to him and no one else.
When Raziel was finally killed by Erick, Sylfi couldn't help but feel sorrow over his death, despite his scummy personality. It proved that she wasn't a bad person; she simply disliked his exaggerated approaches.
Raziel's death unleashed a wave of problems for Erick and the other heroines, setting off a chain of troubling events in the future. A lot of effort went into dealing with the aftermath.
By episode nine, if Sylfi's route was chosen, her considerable fame as a powerful High-Class B Mage would lead her to leave her family behind and follow the protagonist.
It was still too soon for her to try such a thing, which left Raziel sighing in helplessness.
Meanwhile, Sylfi tried to stand on her own to leave the office, but her legs trembled, and she collapsed, sitting on the ground with empty eyes.
Despite her troubled relationship with her family, Sylfi remained financially dependent on them. They had the power to expel her from the academy and withdraw their support, making it even harder for her to start a career as an adventurer.
She even considered begging Raziel for help, but her pride held her back, and at same time it was clear he no longer cared for her.
The girl thought he was probably satisfied, viewing her situation as punishment for the countless times she had rejected his advances.
Lost in her troubling thoughts, Sylfi suddenly became aware of someone standing before her. She looked up to see Raziel gazing at her with an unexpectedly gentle expression. He knelt down, his eyes meeting hers with a quiet intensity.
"I'm truly sorry for this," Raziel said softly, gently wiping the tears from her face. "I heard your conversation, and it's completely unfair that your father didn't even give you the chance to explain. Blocking you from your own home... as a father, he should never have done that."
Sylfi was taken aback by his words, never expecting Raziel to speak so gently. This was the same man who had always acted arrogantly and shamelessly, often giving her lascivious looks.
Seeing him like this made Sylfi doubt whether his words were genuine.
"I know you doubt the sincerity of my words, given that I've always acted like an asshole and a horny dog, so I can't blame you," Raziel said, smiling in a way that made Sylfi uneasy.
His words also echoed exactly what she had been thinking, causing Sylfi to widen her beautiful yellow eyes in surprise.
"Well, since this is my fault, I'll try to help you with this problem, but I need some time to figure out how," Raziel said, trying to reassure her. "Go try to rest for now, and when I have a solution, I'll let you know."
He then asked if she had any friends she could stay with for a while until the situation was resolved. Sylfi paused for a moment, still in shock and uncertain about his sudden willingness to help.
With a somewhat suspicious tone, Sylfi revealed that she didn't know anyone who would let her stay, as she didn't have friends at the academy.
After all, Sylfi was nothing like Anya, who could easily befriend anyone with her fake persona.
This made Raziel wonder if she could afford to stay in a hotel or rent a temporary dormitory room. However, she explained that the women's dormitory was already full, and her money was running low.
He considered paying for a room himself, but his available funds were tied up in future investments.
Given that his father was still upset with him, Raziel doubted his uncle, Jasir, would help this time.
The only solution that came to mind was letting her stay at his house for a while, though he knew she would likely refuse because of her personality. Nevertheless, he offered it, expecting her to turn him down.
"Well, you're probably going to refuse, but you can stay in the guest room if you want," he suggested, scratching his head and bracing himself for a firm 'no.'
"...Okay," she answered softly, her voice tinged with hesitation.
"I knew you would refuse, so we ne—wait, what? You actually accepted?" He blinked in surprise, genuinely taken aback that she had agreed to his proposal.
Her accepting so easily was something he hadn't anticipated at all.
"Of course I accepted. If I refused, where else would I go? I don't trust you, but I'm not dumb enough to be stubborn in this mess YOU put me in," she said, her voice laced with irritation.
Raziel sighed, getting to his feet. After helping her stand, she returned to the couch, and he swiftly called Clarice, asking her to prepare the guest room.
Clarice immediately agreed and went to prepare the room. Meanwhile, Raziel excused himself, saying he had another matter to take care of.
As Raziel left, Eve walked into the office and positioned herself in front of Sylfi, wearing a menacing smile.
Sensing the dangerous stare, Sylfi asked impatiently, "What do you want?"
Eve wasted no time and replied with a twisted smirk, "So you're the unfaithful bitch, huh?"
The moment Eve finished her words, Sylfi was hit by a sudden, intense wave of murderous intent from her, causing the girl to choke in fear.