Chapter 54

A week had already passed since the most chaotic Christmas party in my life came to an end, and the new year had begun. I still found myself thinking of Miel’s face as she cried upon receiving the video letter I had given her while testing the waters.

She had been so touched and hugged me tight, and that alone had almost made my heart stop from joy, but human greed has no bounds; I could only hope that next time, it wouldn’t just be a hug, but a kiss.

Anyway, I had intended to properly look after Ahre’s education in the new year, practice my swordsmanship harder, travel a bit, and even go on a cozy date with Miel, but things never went according to plan. I seemed to have planned things as well as any archmage, but what I was actually doing was setting up house inside my blanket.

The temperature had dropped sharply as if just to spite me after a few days, making me utterly unwilling to move. Who knew winter would be this cold? Since it was beyond my expectations, I consoled myself and continued refusing to leave the warmth of my bedding.

“Young Miss, the weather is warmer than yesterday, so why don’t you head outside?”

“It’s cold, so I refuse.”

“Keep that up and you’ll gain weight.”

I had heard those exact words before. I scoffed at Yul’s remark. For this perfect body to gain weight was absolute nonsense. Well, even if I did put on a little weight, I was confident I could take it off quickly. Still, surely I hadn’t actually gained weight.

“Where’s Ahre?”

“She is in the kitchen.”

Hmm, figures. I thought something might change with the new year, or that she might even hibernate since it was winter. Well, she’d probably come back once she ate her fill.

At that moment, someone knocked on my bedroom door.

Knock, knock.

“Speak.”

Hearing the noble form of condescension naturally slip from my lips, I thought to myself, I really am becoming a true noble…

“It is the butler. Sir Carusien has come to visit.”

I was startled by the butler’s words. Why on earth is he here? I had clearly told him that there wouldn’t be any swordsmanship lessons for a while. My heart wanted to tell him to just turn around and leave, but that wasn’t polite to someone who had traveled all this way.

Haah, I really didn’t want to move.

“Phew, please ask him to wait a moment.”

Since our estate’s butler was a person deserving of polite speech from me, I spoke casually and then immediately looked over at Yul. Yul was already pulling out a light dress to prepare before I even had to say anything. She seemed quite pleased, as if she had been frustrated with me for living in my pajamas every single day lately.

“Why on earth did Teacher Carusien come here?”

At my question, Yul looked like she was pondering for a moment before opening her mouth.

“I am not certain.”

I had no idea why Yul even bothered pondering, but since even Yul didn’t know, there seemed to be no choice other than meeting him in person. Did a loving woman who caught his eye finally appear in our estate or something? That was the only reason a man would suddenly drop by. Well, as long as it isn’t me, I suppose it’s fine.

“Let’s go.”

I slowly led Yul downstairs to the reception room, and there sat Carusien like a wooden statue—a handsome man so striking that any woman would fall for him at a glance and hand over her heart and gall bladder alike. I flinched for a moment at the sight of the tea set before him growing completely cold without him touching it even once.

Damn it, the pressure is suffocating.

Feeling like I had suddenly turned into a bad girl who kept a guest waiting for ages, my impression of Carusien dropped a notch once more.

‘The man has zero flexibility.’

In situations like this, he usually should have noticed me coming and shown some consideration, but this guy knew nothing of the sort.

“Greetings, Lady Armienne.”

“Hello, Teacher.”

“……………”

“……………”

We had exchanged greetings, but since Carusien, who had sought me out in the first place, wasn’t opening his mouth, I had nothing to say. What is this suffocating silence? Left with no choice, I, feeling stifled, spoke up first.

“May I ask what brings you here today?”

“Ah.”

Ah? What was this? After saying just a single syllable and shutting his mouth again, Carusien, who had been staring at me, hurriedly spoke up.

“I came because I was wondering if the Young Miss might have gained some weight. You haven’t had your swordsmanship lessons lately, after all.”

“………….”

A crazy bastard. To come all the way here out of nowhere, greet me, and then say that—he had completely lost his mind. No, was his head hit by a bullet or something?

Even if I weren’t a woman and had been a man, hearing something like that would make me furious. But right now, I am a woman, and since Yul had said the exact same thing just moments ago, I had already been harboring a shred of anxiety—and this guy had to go and act like a total jerk.

“This is absurd. If you came all this way just to say something like that, I’d appreciate it if you turned around and left right now.”

I issued a clear order for him to get out, my voice dripping with irritation. At my words, Carusien opened his mouth once more.

“Ah.”

Ah, what the hell? Did he seriously want to play twenty questions with me or something? Carusien shut his mouth again. What on earth is wrong with him today?

“And this time…”

Right at the timing when I was about to ask him out of pure frustration, Carusien added the rest of his “Ah.”

“Ah, now that I look at you, it really does seem like you’ve gained weight.”

“…………….”

At that exact moment, I realized whether a being could possibly exist in this world that could piss someone off this much. I came wondering if you might have gained weight. Followed immediately by: As expected, you’ve gained weight. To say something so freshly infuriating like that. In a way, it felt like an advanced strategy specifically designed to make me angry. It pissed people off in a completely different way from Heinel’s blunt insults.

And I fell straight into that strategy hook, line, and sinker.

“Yul.”

“Yes, Young Miss.”

Even though I had only called her name, she must have already figured out what I was going to say; seeing Yul hand a sharp longsword straight into my hand, I smiled sweetly. This was probably the first time in my life I had ever smiled this sweetly, too.

“Could it be that Teacher Carusien came here today just to pick a fight with me?!”

I shouted those words and swung my sword straight at him. However, I knew full well that my blade wouldn’t hit Carusien. Through our sparring sessions every now and then, I knew very well that my swordsmanship still had a long, long way to go.

What I was doing right now was merely blowing off steam. I had never met such a rude guest in my life.

Whoosh.

Without even taking his eyes off my blade, Carusien deliberately dodged it by a hair’s breadth and said, looking flustered.

“It’s not like that. That is…”

“Then what is it?!”

Knowing it wouldn’t hit, seeing Carusien continue to dodge so leisurely made my blood boil even more. Talk about a bundle of pure talent.

“Ah.”

At that damn “Ah” of his, I finally felt my last thread of patience snap. I swung my sword with all my might, and at the same time, Carusien stepped backward and tried to say something.

“The Young Miss is si–”

However, as ill luck would have it, a soldier burst open the door and barged in, preventing me from hearing the rest of Carusien’s sentence. Sick? Since we couldn’t have swordsmanship lessons because of the cold, was he suggesting we go somewhere warm like Africa to continue our lessons? What a terrifying fellow.

The soldier took one look at my face and hurriedly delivered his report.

“Young Miss, we’re in big trouble. A massive army of monsters is swarming toward us.”

Hearing the soldier’s words, I spoke in a dazed, flabbergasted voice.

“Ah?”

Unable to stop Armienne as she hurriedly rushed off to see the duke upon hearing that monsters were swarming in, Carusien sat alone on the sofa and fell into thought.

‘I came because I was worried she might be sick since they said she stayed in bed all day, but why on earth can’t I ever say those simple words out there?’

Clearly, when he had practiced before coming, the words had rolled right off his tongue, but the moment he looked into Armienne’s two eyes, his words changed on their own. Instead, the words that popped out of nowhere ended up making her angry.

Of course, looking at Armienne in person, she looked healthy enough that anyone could tell she was fine, so there probably hadn’t been any need to worry.

Carusien stared up at the high ceiling of the reception room and let out a sigh.

‘It’s only getting worse as the days go by.’

Shaking his head, Carusien felt like the feeling was intensifying more and more ever since he had realized his own feelings were love for Armienne.

In the past, he had been able to clear his mind of everything whenever he swung his sword, but nowadays, even when he swung his sword, Armienne’s face flickered in his mind.

Before falling asleep, the few memories he shared with Armienne would drift to the surface, and even the face of the villainess whom he once considered vicious had started to look cute to him.

On top of that, at worst, Armienne would even appear in his dreams to shake up his heart. The problem was his own heart, which couldn’t help but feel overwhelmingly happy and unable to suppress itself at such things. He had even wondered if he had somehow been cursed by magic, but right now, even if this were magic, it was a feeling he had no desire to escape from.

‘Teacher Carusien.’

Today, too, watching Armienne swing her sword made his heart pound. So much so that he wanted to let himself get stabbed by her sword just so he could hug her.

“There’s no time to be sitting around like this.”

Knowing the Armienne he knew, she would undoubtedly fail to suppress her curiosity and insist on participating in this monster army’s invasion as well. And if she lacked luck, she could end up badly hurt; imagining Armienne injured, Carusien hardened his expression, stood up abruptly, and walked toward the Celion Ducal Estate’s office.

“………….”

The chilly silence of winter began to fill the empty reception room once more.