Chapter 18

The next day, I glared at Carusien, who arrived right on time with the precision of a machine.

‘To think Miel actually likes this damn guy.’

He possessed glossy black hair that looked perfectly styled without any effort, blue eyes that reminded one of the ocean the moment they saw them, and a sharp, well-defined nose. With lips that curved into a soft arc, combined with a protagonist’s cheat-like talent for swordsmanship, he was truly a walking fantasy.

Looking at Carusien, who boasted such fraudulent looks and abilities that it would be strange for any woman not to fall for him, I poured out a flood of curses in my head.

‘This son of a…!’

Perhaps sensing that I was cursing and spewing venom at him, Carusien tilted his head in confusion.

“Is something the matter?”

“It’s nothing.”

My teeth gritted together on their own, but I held it back.

I had to endure it, if only to drag him to ‘Adre,’ a shopping city filled with women that ranked in my top three list of places I never wanted to visit.

I had no intention of getting on Carusien’s nerves today, at least.

After the most peaceful swordsmanship lesson in the world finished, Carusien nodded as if satisfied.

“You really worked hard today. Honestly, I can only say it was impressive.”

“Huff, huff. I, is that so?”

I gasped for air as I answered. I had focused five times harder and exerted five times more energy than usual, so I was incredibly exhausted. Even if someone told me to lie down and sleep right here in the training hall without even taking a shower, I could have passed out instantly.

“T-Teacher Ca-Carusien?”

“What is it? If you were thinking of swinging your sword more, I am happy to watch over you.”

You crazy bastard. I’m already on the verge of death, and you want me to keep swinging? Are you even human?!

I suppressed the urge to punch my chest in frustration at the fact that Miel liked a guy who was so obsessed with swords, and brought up the purpose of this whole ordeal.

Since this was the very reason I had worked so hard at swordsmanship today, I vowed that if he refused, I would really shove a wooden sword into his head.

“That’s not it. Do you happen to have any time tomorrow?”

“Well, I don’t believe I have any special plans. But isn’t tomorrow the day of the magic lesson with Master Capeldeor?”

“Ah, I already asked Grandpa to excuse me from tomorrow’s lesson.”

“I see. Though I don’t know why you are telling me this.”

As expected, he was a blockhead who couldn’t understand anyone else’s feelings even by one percent. Usually, when a beautiful woman like me said something like this, a guy would catch on at least a little bit; the brain cells inside this man’s head were clearly shaped like longswords.

“I’m going shopping tomorrow, would you like to come with me? I’m going with Lady Harmiel, but the world is a dangerous place these days. It’s a bit scary for just two women to go alone.”

I only said I was going shopping because I knew he would refuse instantly if I mentioned where we were going. Carusien tilted his head as if he couldn’t understand.

“Pardon? As far as I know, the Celion Ducal House and the Harun Ducal House have plenty of capable escort knights.”

“As it happens, they’re all on leave tomorrow.”

I’ll have to ask my dad later to make up some leave for them, even if there wasn’t any.

“Is that so? Hmm… now that I think about it, won’t your maids be following you as well?”

Of course they would. Even if I told Yul not to follow, she would clearly tail us in secret.

“Our maids are like a part of us, so I didn’t think to count them separately. Besides, the maids aren’t knights, you know.”

Stop nitpicking, you damn bastard.

I gathered the very last shred of my patience to keep from shouting that, and grabbed his hand with a desperate expression.

“Please. I really want to go with Teacher Carusien.”

“Whew, I have no choice. Very well. What time did you say? But I will not be accepting requests like this from now on.”

“Yes!”

He plays so hard to get, the jerk. Regardless, I had secured the promise, so I let go of his hand in pure joy and turned around, walking with light steps toward the warm bath that was waiting for me.

Perhaps because of that, I failed to notice the man behind me whose face had turned red as a beet the moment I turned away.

“Yul, I have no strength left. Wash me!”

By the time I arrived at the shopping city, ‘Adre’—also known as the City of Women—around lunchtime, I began to feel unnecessarily sorry for Carusien, who was tagging along with us today.

I had somewhat expected this. Shopping for women was simultaneously a game, a life pleasure, and an invisible war.

In the distance, I saw a scene I often witnessed whenever I went to department stores or similar places.

“Kya, that’s so pretty. Let’s go, Oppa.”

“Uh, u-un.”

A woman who was bursting with excitement and shouting with energy, and a man whose eyes were starting to develop dark circles, followed behind her reluctantly. That sight meant they had been here for at least four hours.

In other words, they must have come here the moment they woke up early in the morning and kept this up until now. How terrifying. Yet the amount of luggage in their hands was hardly anything. That man was probably repeating an incomprehensible, impossible question inside his head.

‘Damn it, if we’re going to buy something, buy it quickly and let’s go home!’

Hang in there, passing by man number one.

Yet scenes like this could be seen everywhere. Even though it was called the city of women, surprisingly, there seemed to be many women accompanied by men rather than just groups of women.

When would Miel and Carusien get here? Even though I had arrived a bit earlier than the promised time, I thought of the two people who were unexpectedly late and spoke to Yul to pass the time.

“Yul, if there’s any clothing you want, feel free to pick whatever you like.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

At the utterly ironclad response, I momentarily lost my words, but thinking it wasn’t truly Yul’s inner feelings, I spoke once more.

“Hey, you can buy whatever you want. You’re a woman too, don’t you want to buy clothes or something?”

Yul pondered for a moment at my words, then looked at me and opened her mouth.

“I see. If I had to say, rather than clothes for myself, I wish to purchase clothes for the Young Lady.”

“I have plenty of clothes though?”

No, I was at the point of overflowing rather than lacking, so what was she talking about?

“No, I feel it would not be enough even if Young Lady possessed every single garment in this world.”

“That’s a compliment, right? Thank you.”

“Thank you.”

Some strange conversation had passed between us, but I just brushed it off. Sometimes, Yul tried to take care of me even more like a mother than my actual mother did.

Ugh, the terrifying gap of my mother that came to mind once again gave me goosebumps on my arms. Right about now, another poor maid was probably having her life threatened by Mother.

However, one thing to keep in mind was that while Mother was a villainess, she wasn’t a villainess who threw unreasonable tantrums like Armienne. She strictly distinguished between public and private matters and only showed the appearance of a villainess to those who committed wrongdoing before her.

Of course… whoever witnessed that side of her would likely lose their life.

‘They’re still not here.’

Weren’t they supposed to meet on the way, chat, and take their time coming? Or maybe they abandoned someone like me and were wandering around because they fell for each other!

Feeling a sense of unnecessary anxiety, I spoke to Yul again.

“What do you usually think about before going to sleep, Yul? I think about you.”

Actually, I thought about Miel before going to sleep, but it was better to say something pleasant even as a pretense.

An immediate reply came from Yul as if my words required no thought at all.

“I think of the Young Lady.”

“Hehe, same as me.”

Yul was quite good at flattery, too.

“Come to think of it, I didn’t even know Yul’s hobbies. What is your hobby?”

“Well… It is taking pictures to preserve the Young Lady’s cute appearance as a memory.”

“Wow, really? Oh, I’m embarrassed.”

I laughed lightly at her words. She was good at lying, too. I had never seen Yul take a picture of me, nor had I ever seen her carry a camera around.

However, since I had no intention of teasing Yul over it, I brushed it off. At the same time, listening to Yul’s words naturally brought to mind the zealous fans of idols who were so common in Korea.

‘They’re truly amazing people.’

I smiled, thinking of people who loved idols more than themselves and invested their lives into those idols.

“Ah, they’re here.”

And right on cue, the blunt man with a look of dissatisfaction on his face, Carusien, and Miel—who looked cute like a rabbit even from afar—came running breathlessly with an unsettled expression, beads of sweat on their brow.

“I am sorry we are late. On the way, a carriage wheel got stuck in a muddy ditch.”

“It’s fine. Were either of you hurt, Teacher?”

Since Miel was in front of me, I felt good and naturally greeted Carusien with a soft smile, and seeing that, Carusien flinched slightly before saying yes and turning his head away.

Miel followed after Carusien, bowing her head in apology.

“Huhu, I’m sorry, Armien. I overslept.”

At the mention of oversleeping, I glanced up at the sky for a moment.

The sun was right in the middle of the sky?

Well, it didn’t matter.

A thought crossed my mind that she might not have been able to sleep because she was scared of me and tense, but I soon pulled a handkerchief out of my pocket and handed it to Miel.

“It’s alright.”

I smiled brightly as I looked at her.

“I just got here, too.”