Chapter 2
Silence filled the room shrouded in darkness.
After being freed on the condition that I wouldn’t scream or call for help, I cautiously asked:
“So… you’re saying you want to sleep in my bed?”
The Crown Prince, who had dragged over a chair and sat beside the bed, nodded.
“That’s right.”
“C-Could I ask why?”
“Well…”
A crease appeared between the prince’s handsome brows.
Reynard Baldic Rehnberg, Crown Prince of the Rehnberg Empire.
And one of the secondary male leads in Looking for a Husband.
The novel was famous among readers for having exceptionally attractive secondary male leads.
Even though the main male lead was firmly established, there were three secondary male leads who were so charming that readers constantly lamented their fate.
Every chapter had comments saying the secondary male leads deserved better.
I was one of the people posting them the most.
The story followed Ayla, who couldn’t inherit her parents’ fortune unless she married. The novel chronicled her search for a suitable husband.
The secondary male leads were all candidates for that position.
But in the end, the true male lead was always Cedric.
Cedric was Ayla’s childhood friend and contract fiancé—a black-haired northern grand duke whose warmth was reserved exclusively for the woman he loved.
Much of the novel’s appeal came from watching Ayla, who believed Cedric only saw her as a friend, and Cedric, who struggled to express his feelings, continuously misunderstand each other.
Readers also adored Cedric’s jealousy toward the secondary male leads.
Personally, I wasn’t all that interested in him.
As for me…
I had spent my entire life suffering from terminal Secondary Male Lead Syndrome.
Whenever I found a character I liked, he inevitably ended up losing to the heroine’s chosen man.
Naturally, Looking for a Husband had become one of my favorite novels.
Every chapter, I left comments mourning the secondary male leads.
“Author… if I buy a hundred chapter passes, could you please let the secondary male leads end up with Ayla too…? Let’s go for a harem ending…”
“The secondary male leads are so pitiful… I’d die happy if they could be male leads just once…”
“Honestly, aren’t the secondary male leads more attractive than Cedric? I don’t understand Ayla’s taste. Just my opinion, Cedric fans don’t attack me.”
“Whatever! Ayla already has Cedric, so I’ll take all the adorable secondary male leads for myself!”
…
Looking back now, I sounded like a complete nuisance reader.
I had really become way too invested in that novel.
Regardless of my embarrassing past, the important thing right now was the man sitting before me and staring at me as if he wanted to cut me in half.
I had adored Reynard as a fictional character.
Meeting him in person was another matter entirely.
Because this wasn’t just any secondary male lead.
This was Reynard.
In truth, his narcissism wasn’t the only reason he wasn’t suitable as the main male lead.
He had another major flaw.
Cruelty.
These days he carefully managed his image, but originally he had been infamous for brutally slaughtering his political enemies.
As I nervously sat there, Reynard finally spoke.
“You asked why I want to sleep in your bed.”
“Y-Yes.”
“I should tell the person involved, but… you’ll probably think I’ve gone mad.”
“No, never! I wouldn’t dare. Please tell me.”
Crossing his long legs, Reynard radiated nobility and confidence even through such a simple movement.
Just like he had in the novel.
“The truth is, lately I haven’t been able to sleep.”
Come to think of it, there were dark circles under his eyes.
“No matter how much I exhaust myself or how many sleeping potions I take, nothing works. I’m exhausted as hell, but sleep simply won’t come.”
His expression darkened irritably, causing my heart to pound for some reason.
“Because of that, my perfectly ordered life has been ruined. Look at this. Even my flawless skin—once admired by everyone—has suffered.”
…
He wasn’t wrong.
But hearing him say it himself felt incredibly awkward.
“And every time I try to sleep, I hear a voice.”
“A voice?”
“A hallucination. Only I can hear it. A horrifyingly vivid hallucination.”
He frowned.
“It constantly whispers in my ear. Relentlessly. I’ve heard it so many times that I can recite every word perfectly.”
I swallowed nervously.
Looking for a Husband was supposed to be a romantic comedy.
Why was this suddenly turning into a horror story?
Reynard adopted an unusually serious tone as he repeated the mysterious voice’s words.
“Author, since the male lead belongs to the heroine, I’ll take the secondary male leads instead. Reynard, come to my bed immediately.”
“…What?”
My brain briefly stopped functioning.
Of all people.
At a completely unexpected moment.
He had just said the most unexpected thing imaginable.
What had this man just said?
“I don’t know what it means either. What’s an author? What’s a secondary male lead?”
Apparently I hadn’t misheard.
Those bizarre words had definitely come out of his mouth.
I slowly repeated them in my mind.
“Author… I’ll take the secondary male leads… Reynard… come to my bed…”
Wait.
Why did this sound so familiar?
Cold sweat formed in my palms.
Meanwhile, Reynard continued.
“Even if I don’t understand the voice, your face keeps appearing in my mind. My instincts tell me to go to you.”
He pointed at me.
“To go to your bed.”
“M-Me?!”
“Yes.”
His gaze burned intensely.
More specifically, it was focused on the bed beneath me.
“I feel as though I could finally sleep peacefully if I slept in your bed.”
Then he asked:
“So, will you let me sleep there?”
It felt like a bolt from the blue.
Several words spun around inside my head.
Author.
Secondary male lead.
Bed.
Me.
And then I finally realized.
That was my comment!
“Author, since the male lead belongs to the heroine, I’ll take the secondary male leads instead! Reynard, come to my bed immediately!!”
Reynard had been such a wonderful character.
A charming secondary male lead destined to lose.
I had felt sorry for him.
If possible, I wanted to become his new love interest myself.
Preferably while sharing some cozy moments in bed.
Don’t tell me this situation is happening because of that comment?!
I thought I had died in a traffic accident.
Then I woke up inside a novel.
And now one of the secondary male leads was asking to sleep in my bed.
In a way, my comment had literally come true.
No! This isn’t what I meant!
I wanted a sweet romance with Reynard.
I did not want him staring at me like he intended to devour me alive.
“Just to be certain,” Reynard suddenly said, “you didn’t place a curse on me, did you?”
“A curse?”
“The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that someone cursed me with insomnia.”
His eyes narrowed.
“The most likely culprit is whoever owns that voice. The voice keeps telling me to come to its bed, yet your face is the one I keep seeing. So perhaps…”
“N-No! Absolutely not!”
The way he looked at me made it seem like he’d draw the sword at his waist if I answered incorrectly.
I desperately shook my head.
“More importantly, I don’t have that kind of power. I can’t use magic at all. And since I’ve fallen out of favor with my father, I certainly can’t afford to hire a mage.”
Fortunately, my sincerity seemed to convince him.
His expression softened.
“Besides, except for today, I’ve been confined to the estate for months. If your symptoms only appeared recently, then I can’t possibly be responsible.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
He nodded thoughtfully.
“The young lady known as Cedric Hiclyde’s leech would hardly curse me instead of the Grand Duke.”
“Exactly.”
For the first time in my life, I was grateful people misunderstood my feelings.
“I’ve always loved Grand Duke Hiclyde. My feelings toward Your Highness consist solely of loyalty and respect.”
“And now that I’ve heard your voice, it sounds quite different from the one in the hallucination. Though both belong to young women.”
“T-That’s right!”
Wait.
Could that really be my original voice?
The voice from my real body before transmigration?
There was no way to know.
“Still…”
Reynard sighed heavily.
“There’s no guarantee I’ll actually be able to sleep in your bed.”
Exhaustion practically dripped from him.
His story about not sleeping seemed genuine.
“Even so, I’d like to test it.”
So all I had to do was lend him the bed?
I nodded vigorously.
“Of course. At dawn tomorrow, I’ll have my bed delivered to the Imperial Palace immediately.”
“If I intended to wait until tomorrow, I wouldn’t have come here in the middle of the night.”
“…Meaning?”
“Tonight, I’ll sleep in that bed.”
He pointed directly at it.
“One night should be enough to determine whether your bed is truly the answer.”
“E-Eh?”
I made a strange noise.
“W-Wouldn’t that be uncomfortable? A man and woman sharing a bed…”
I had fantasized about situations like this before.
Experiencing one without warning was another story.
But Reynard merely looked at me as though I were crazy.
“Have you actually fallen for me?”
“…What?”
“You’ll obviously sleep somewhere else.”
“Where?”
“Figure it out.”
Without waiting for my answer, he began changing clothes.
Suddenly exposed skin came into view, forcing me to quickly avert my eyes.
He even brought pajamas! He planned this from the start!
After changing into sleepwear, Reynard casually climbed into my bed.
“Sorry, but try to understand.”
He yawned.
“I’m so tired I could collapse right now. I’ve barely been holding on.”
And just like that, my bed was stolen.
All I could do was stare blankly at the back of his head.
To whoever had transported me into this world.
To whoever had somehow turned my delusional comments into reality.
I never wished for the secondary male lead to sleep in my bed while I got kicked out of it!
