Chapter 136

The small gathering turned into a lively house party as Arsen, Fyoren, and even the spirits joined in. It was no longer the intimate “double date” the girls had envisioned, mostly due to Enria’s excitement.

She had rushed to the office to tell Caldeon she wanted a wine party “right now,” and Caldeon, seeing his overworked aide Arsen, had naturally ordered him to prepare it. Caught in a wave of guilt as she locked eyes with the exhausted Arsen, Enria ended up inviting him too. Then came a call from Fyoren, followed by the realization that they should invite the spirits who had fought alongside them against the Black Mage.

“Enria, I think your son is about to pluck Windel bald,” Undy remarked, swirling her wine glass. She pointed to Windel, who was sitting in his white tiger form for Hayden’s amusement.

Hayden was perched on Windel’s back, giggling as he tugged on the tiger’s fur. Silri, standing nearby, fretted that Windel would end up with a bald spot, but Hayden was relentless.

“Well, the one getting plucked looks perfectly peaceful, so I suppose it’s fine,” Undy chuckled, taking a sip.

“At least our contracts are still intact,” Lonn said to Undy, his eyes on the child and the tiger. Undy nodded, mentioning that Silri had been relieved to see that the contract with Lahar hadn’t been severed.

Enria looked at Windel, who was chatting with Graum while letting a toddler rip his fur out. She felt a surge of gratitude for the spirit’s patience—he was often more indulgent with Hayden than even she or Caldeon were. She walked over to him.

“Windel, aren’t you going to have some wine?”

She worried he wasn’t enjoying the party since he was staying in tiger form for the baby. But before Windel could answer, Caldeon appeared out of nowhere.

“Windel doesn’t enjoy alcohol.”

Caldeon then took Enria by the shoulders and steered her toward the window. “Spend more time looking at me instead of worrying about other men.”

“How can you define Windel as just ‘another man’?” Enria asked, exasperated.

“He’s a male, isn’t he? Therefore, a man.”

“That’s not what I mean. He’s a spirit.”

“Do you think spirits lack the parts that make them male?” Caldeon retorted. Enria pressed a hand to her forehead.

“Oh, goodness, Lord Caldeon.”

Caldeon kissed her forehead softly and smiled. “Since we’re to be married soon, I think we should settle on how we address each other.”

“Address each other?”

“You’re still so formal with me. You use pet names with Lady Kaznaren, yet you treat me like a superior.”

“That’s because Rose is my friend…”

“And I am your future husband.” Caldeon challenged her to decide who was closer—a friend or a husband. “Since we’re on the subject, I should call you by a pet name too.”

“A pet name?” Enria asked warily, certain that whatever came out of his mouth wouldn’t be ordinary.

“What do you suggest?” he asked back.

Enria’s mind went blank. The only things that came to mind were standard terms from her old world: Honey, Darling, Hubby. She tentatively suggested ‘Jagi’*, a term common among couples in both worlds. She assumed a high-ranking noble like Caldeon would find it too common or “plebeian.”

[*T/N: Jagi or 자기 can mean Honey, Sweetie, and Dear.]

“Jagi…?”

Caldeon’s dark eyes sharpened at the word.

“I-is it a bit much? It’s mostly used by commoners in a cutesy way…”

“I like it.”

“Pardon?”

“The way your lips move when you say ‘Jagi‘ is lovely. So, let’s use that.”

“Wait, hold on.” Enria felt like things were moving too fast, but she was completely undone by what he said next.

“So, does my Jagi plan to stay here all night? I want to drink alone with you now.”

‘Oh my god, he said it…’

Enria’s jaw dropped. She never imagined hearing that word from the mouth of the cold Grand Duke.

“Give me some time to monopolize my Jagi, Enria.”

“Stop saying that word so much…”

Her face was burning. As she blinked rapidly, Caldeon wrapped a steady arm around her waist and turned toward the door.

“You call me Jagi‘ too.”

“…”

“It’s embarrassing if I’m the only one doing it.”

Enria squinted at him. He didn’t look embarrassed at all. Was it the wine, or was he always this naturally cheesy? One thing was certain: Caldeon was in a much higher spirit than usual—perhaps because of the wine, or perhaps because the Emperor’s approval was finally secured.

***

In the privacy of their bedroom, sitting on the sofa by the window, Enria ended up overindulging. The wine was sweet, the conversation was intimate, and before she knew it, her tongue felt heavy.

“You’ve had too much,” Caldeon noted.

“That’s… because you keep saying ‘Jagi‘,” Enria mumbled, her face flushed red.

Caldeon smiled at her as if she were a precious small animal. “Does my ‘Jagi‘ not like being called ‘Jagi‘?”

“No? I like it. I like it a lot, but…”

“Then there’s no problem.”

“I like it, but something… something… Hmm. What is it?”

Drunk and unable to find the words, she rubbed her face with her hands. Caldeon gently caught her wrists and pulled them down, cupping her hot cheeks with his large, cool palms.

“Ah, that feels good.”

Enria leaned her face into his hands instinctively. Caldeon’s throat hitched as he watched her. He looked at her with a gaze full of suppressed longing, finally letting out a sigh of resignation.

“You truly are like a messenger sent by the gods to test my patience.”

Enria, eyes closed and rubbing her cheek against his palm, suddenly caught a word.

“You said you’d call me ‘Jagi‘.”

Caldeon let out a small laugh. “Right. Jagi.”

He brushed his thumb across her skin.

“Your hands… are so cool. I like it.”

“It’s helpful in this situation that my body temperature isn’t high.”

“Actually, I would’ve liked it even if they were hot.”

“Why?”

“Because… I like everything Lord Caldeon—no, everything Jagi does.”

She spoke slowly, trying to enunciate clearly through the fog of alcohol. Caldeon’s Adam’s apple bobbed again.

“Should we stop drinking?” he asked, his voice suggesting they move to the bed.

But Enria, still leaning into his hand, started talking about something else entirely.

“Actually… I don’t know if I’m allowed to be this happy. I still don’t know why God chose me—a plain office worker from South Korea—to put me in this body.”

“…Hmm?”

Caldeon’s eyes widened slightly at her nonsensical words. But Enria was too far gone. She began rambling about the “intentions of the God who transmigrated her into a novel.”

“God always has a plan, right? So I thought there must be a reason I was put into Enria’s body.”

“…”

“But no matter how much I think about it, I don’t get it. Why me? Because I read the book? But I wasn’t the only one who read it. It was a pretty popular novel.”

She went on about how she couldn’t understand why she was chosen among so many readers, why she was put in this woman’s body, and why she ended up having Hayden—a child who didn’t even exist in the original story.

“I favored you, the male lead, quite a bit… but I never once thought about stealing you or getting in the way of you and the female lead. No, Jagi—I mean, not you, but Jagi.”

“…Enria.”

“So, actually, when things turned out like this, I felt a bit sorry for Roseanne. She was the original female lead, after all.”

“Enria, what you’re saying right now…”

“And Jagi is the male lead.” Enria cut him off, pointing a finger at him.

At first, Caldeon thought it was just the rambling of a drunk woman. But as she pointed at him, her eyes momentarily clearing with a strange spark, he remembered the moment she had arrived at the castle and suddenly started feeling like a completely different person.

“So, when I first realized I’d transmigrated, I tried to run away from you first, just to survive.”

“…Transmigrated. Are you saying the soul inside this body… is not you?”

“Pardon? Um, yes. No? Wait, is it?” Enria tilted her head back and forth before shaking it. “No, no. It’s me. I wasn’t ‘me’ before I transmigrated, but I’m definitely ‘me’ now.”

Caldeon’s eyes flashed with a sharp intensity.

“When exactly… did you ‘transmigrate’?”