A Practical Guide to Ending a One-Sided Love - Chapter 9 - ɪɪ.

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“So right now… are you asking me to tell you how to shake that noble lady off?”

Bjorn let out a small sigh as he looked at the paladin, Allen Bain, who asked back with a look of disbelief.

“To put it simply, yes.”

Realizing from Bjorn’s serious expression that this was not a joke, Allen spent a while scratching the back of his head.

“You’re not the type to pull pointless pranks… so is this some new way of bragging?”

Though Bjorn held the rank of Vice Commander, Allen was older than Bjorn and tended to treat his younger superior somewhat casually. Bjorn, for his part, respected Allen and maintained the minimum courtesy by using polite speech, but his flustered state was so great that a frivolous question slipped out.

“It really doesn’t seem like that. Some of us are pathetically single with no one at all. Vice Commander, you’re really speaking from a place of abundance!”

On top of that, at Allen’s side was the young paladin Todd Cameron, who always trailed after him closely. Letting Todd’s sharp voice, which went on at length about the preciousness of connections and his own loneliness, pass through one ear, Bjorn sighed once more.

He had set the goal of making Leila Bailey give up as soon as possible, but when it came time to think of an actual plan, he found himself at a loss.

After much deliberation, Bjorn decided to seek advice from Allen and Todd, whom he could at least consider relatively close within the order.

Once he actually laid out his worries, he began to regret whether it had truly been the right decision, but there was nothing to be done about words already spoken.

“I’ve heard requests to teach someone how to woo women, but asking how to make a woman fall away is a first for me.”

“Is this what you call the leisure of someone who has it all? Are we jealous? Yes, to the point of tears!”

“Well, setting the teasing aside. She must be pretty persistent, huh? It’s not as if our dear Vice Commander doesn’t have the chops to reject her, right? It’s not like you’d feel guilty about it or anything either.”

Seeing the faint irritation on Bjorn’s face, Allen finally steered the conversation back to the point.

With black hair and a small but solid build, Allen was known within the order as a romantic, and having established a family early on, he might be able to help with this sort of matter.

On the other hand, tall and slender Todd, covered in freckles, had been dragged into the holy war before even much time had passed since coming of age, and had no real experience properly meeting women. As such, it did not seem likely that any particularly good advice would come from him, but Bjorn decided it was better to have even one more head thinking together, and did not chase him away.

“I already rejected her five years ago. I thought she would naturally forget me once the holy war began…”

“She still has feelings for you, Vice Commander?”

“She said her feelings haven’t changed. She hasn’t even married.”

“A twenty eight year old noble lady? That’s pretty serious.”

“Rejecting her again wouldn’t be difficult, but she’s not the type to give up because of that.”

He had been so flustered by Leila’s second confession that he had even forgotten the need to reject her, but at the same time, he had a strange certainty that no matter what he said, it would not have been effective.

She would surely have worn that uniquely pitiful expression of hers, saying something like, “I’ll keep these feelings to myself. You don’t need to worry about me, sir,” and then fled the scene.

What Bjorn wanted now was not such a lukewarm ending. If things remained like this, even if he became a monk and entered the mountains, the sense of unease would never fade.

He had to confirm that her feelings were completely settled. He had to be sure that all affection for him had utterly drained away, that her old love had completely died. Only then would he be able to leave with a clear heart.

However, as things stood, no method to make Leila give up readily came to mind, and though he did not particularly like it, this was a situation where he needed Allen’s help.

“Wait. That young lady wouldn’t happen to be… Leila Bailey, would it? I think I heard a rumor about some eccentric young lady obsessively chasing after you.”

Bjorn nodded, his mouth still tightly set in displeasure.

Even Allen knew her name. That alone showed just how famous Leila was within the knight order. Of course, not in a good way.