Extra's Path To No Harem-Chapter 209: Too Far

An unfamiliar ceiling filled my vision.

I woke up somewhere I didn’t recognize.

"...Where am I?"

Although my eyes were open, my thoughts lagged behind, wrapped in a thick, heavy fog. I couldn’t grasp the situation at all. All I could do was blink as I stared at the plain white ceiling above me—no patterns, no decorations, just emptiness.

Then a voice came from beside me.

"You’re awake?"

Slowly, I turned my head toward the sound.

Through my blurred vision, I saw Anna sitting next to the bed, wearing a gentle, relieved smile.

As if that smile grounded me slightly, I forced my aching brain to work and asked,

"Where... am I?"

"Here?" she said lightly. "My room."

...What?

The moment those words reached me, the fog in my head evaporated all at once.

My room?

No—her room?

Why was I lying in Anna’s room of all places?

Startled, I instinctively tried to sit up.

"Argh—!"

A sharp, overwhelming pain tore through my body, forcing a scream out of my throat. My limbs refused to obey me, strength draining away in an instant as I collapsed back onto the bed.

Every breath felt like it scraped against broken glass.

"Easy—don’t move!"

A familiar voice hurried to my side. Warm light flickered briefly, and I felt a faint sensation of magic wash over me, dulling the pain just enough to keep me conscious—but not nearly enough to make it bearable.

"Are you okay?" the voice asked anxiously. "I treated you with magic, but... you must still be in a lot of pain."

Pain?

That word didn’t even begin to cover it.

It felt as though my entire body had been crushed, rebuilt incorrectly, and then set on fire for good measure.

Tears welled up in my eyes before I could stop them, my jaw clenched tight as I tried not to groan again.

Only then did fragments of memory begin to resurface.

The explosion.

The deafening roar.

The ground vanishing beneath my feet—

Ah.

Right.

"I fell..." I muttered hoarsely. "From the blast..."

So that’s why.

No wonder my body felt like this. I must’ve hit the ground hard—very hard. I’d been so disoriented when I woke up that I hadn’t even processed it yet.

"How long was I out?" I asked, forcing the words past my dry throat.

There was a brief pause.

"...About two days," she replied carefully. "A little more, actually."

Two days.

"...You’re kidding."

Two whole days unconscious. That wasn’t just fainting—that was practically taking a stroll past the gates of the afterlife and deciding, nah, not today.

"You collapsed immediately after the explosion," she continued. "Your condition was critical. Honestly... we weren’t sure you’d wake up."

I let out a weak, breathless laugh. "Good to know I made an impression."

"Don’t joke," she scolded softly. "Almost every bone in your body was shattered."

My smile froze.

"...Every bone?"

"Yes," she said gently. "Your ribs, your arms, your legs—most of them were fractured or completely broken. If help had arrived even a little later—"

She stopped herself.

"But the imperial court’s mages arrived in time," she finished. "They treated you immediately. You shouldn’t have any permanent damage."

The imperial court’s finest mages.

Of course they would’ve been mobilized. An explosion like that, in the capital, with people watching? There was no way they’d let me die—not after everything that had happened.

They saved my life.

Still...

Even their magic couldn’t erase the pain.

Another wave surged through my body without warning, and I couldn’t suppress the groan that escaped my lips. My fingers curled weakly against the sheets as I fought the urge to scream again.

I really, really could’ve used a painkiller right now.

Unfortunately, this was a world where magic outpaced medicine by centuries. Healing spells could knit bone and flesh back together, but they didn’t care much about comfort. Pain was something you were just expected to endure.

Fantastic.

I stared up at the ceiling, breathing shallowly, waiting for the agony to ebb—if only a little.

"...Guess I’m not getting out of bed anytime soon," I muttered.

She gave a small, helpless smile. "No. You’re on strict bed rest. If you move too much, the pain will only get worse."

Figures.

I lay there, barely able to lift a finger, my entire body heavy with pain and exhaustion.

Through the fog clouding my mind, one clear thought surfaced.

...Is it really okay for me to just lie here like this?

The moment that question formed, a wave of anxiety washed over me.

This was Anna’s bedroom.

Not a guest room. Not an infirmary. Her room.

Was it really acceptable for an unrelated man—no, worse, a former fugitive of the Empire—to be sprawled across her bed so casually? At this very moment, there should still be people out there searching for me with clenched teeth and burning eyes.

Yet here I was, lying in soft sheets, breathing in a faint, unfamiliar scent.

Before I could spiral any further, Anna’s calm voice cut through my thoughts.

"It’s fine. You can stay here as long as you need."

She stood beside the bed, arms folded, expression steady. "I’ve already taken care of everything. Just rest until you’re fully recovered."

"...Everything?" I asked weakly.

During the two days I’d been unconscious, it seemed Anna had done far more than just watch over me.

She’d explained everything.

Why I had entered the imperial palace in secret.

The bomb hidden within its walls.

My intentions, my actions, and the chaos that followed.

She’d pieced together the truth and presented it clearly—without embellishment, without hesitation.

"What about objections?" I asked after a moment. "Surely someone tried to make an issue out of it. I can’t imagine everyone just accepting the explanation."

"Well," Anna said thoughtfully, "there were a few voices like that at first."

My chest tightened slightly.

"But once it was made clear that if not for you, everyone gathered in the palace would have died..." She shrugged lightly. "Most of them decided it was best to let things go."

I let out a slow breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.

If it hadn’t been for Anna—no, for both of us—there wouldn’t have been anyone left to argue in the first place. That fact alone had silenced most opposition.

Of course, if things hadn’t turned out that way, I would’ve been forced to prove my innocence all over again. The thought alone made my head throb.

"And," Anna continued, "we’ve arrested all the culprits you subdued."

I blinked. "All of them?"

"Yes. Every single one." A faint, satisfied smile curved her lips. "Thank you. You made things much easier for us."

Hearing that, a strange feeling settled in my chest.

"No, well..." I scratched my cheek awkwardly.

In truth, none of it was as noble as she made it sound.

I caught Bane and his gang because I didn’t want a revolution that would leave me crushed under the rubble.

I dealt with the bomb for the same selfish reason.

I simply didn’t want chaos.

That was it.

And yet, somehow, everything had neatly resolved itself in Anna’s favor. From the perspective of an imperial princess, this really was the best possible ending.

"Then I guess my wanted status has been cleared?" I asked carefully.

"That’s right," Anna replied. "Some nobles even suggested giving you a

commendation. I... embellished the truth a little, but I didn’t expect them to react so favorably."

"Embellished?" I frowned. "What exactly did you tell them...?"

What kind of nonsense did she feed those snake-like nobles to make them suggest rewarding me?

Seeing my expression, Anna laughed softly, clearly amused.

"Hehe. I made it sound like you knew everything from the beginning."

"...What?"

"I claimed that your escape with Bane was intentional," she continued casually. "That it was all part of your plan."

My brain stalled. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

She went on, counting it off on her fingers like she was reciting a report.

"That you’d received intelligence about the bomb in advance. That you deliberately allowed yourself to be taken to infiltrate their ranks. And that you successfully extracted information while inside."

I stared at her.

"...Is that really okay?"

It was certainly convenient. A clean, heroic narrative that tied everything together. But that wasn’t a plan an ordinary academy student should be able to execute alone.

"They didn’t question why I didn’t inform them beforehand?" I asked. "That story has way too many holes. It feels like it could backfire at any moment."

Anna’s smile didn’t fade. Instead, her eyes sharpened slightly.

"Do you remember what I told you?" she asked. "That Bane and his group couldn’t have planted a bomb inside the imperial palace by themselves."

I did remember.

"That implication alone changes everything," she continued. "Once you introduce the idea of a larger force operating behind the scenes, your actions become reasonable. Even praiseworthy."

"So they assumed I was working under someone...?"

"Exactly. They believe you were acting as a hidden piece—either under imperial orders or as bait to draw out the real conspirators."

I let out a dry laugh.

"So they filled in the blanks themselves."

"They always do," Anna said calmly. "Especially when it suits them."

I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my temples.

This was bad.

No—this was dangerous.

If they truly believed I was capable of that level of foresight and planning, expectations would only rise from here. And if the truth ever slipped out...

"...I feel like I’ve been promoted into something terrifying," I muttered.

Anna tilted her head, looking almost apologetic.

"If it helps, you’re also much safer now. No one will dare touch you lightly."

That was supposed to be reassuring.

Somehow, it wasn’t.

I looked at her—this girl who could rewrite reality with a few carefully chosen words—and sighed.

"Well," I said slowly, "I guess I should thank you."

Anna smiled again, softer this time.

"You saved lives. That part isn’t a lie."

Maybe so.

But as I stared at the sunlight filtering through the student council windows, one thought lingered stubbornly in my mind.

At this rate...

I was getting further and further away from being just an ordinary