Chapter 138

“Huh? Who’s pretty?”

Rahar asked as he naturally took a seat beside Belona. Tearen, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, sat down next to Roseanne and asked, “Did you drink a lot?”

“No, only two glasses so far. What about you, Lord Tearen?”

“I couldn’t drink because I was busy talking to Rahar. Maybe a sip or two?”

“So, what were you two talking about so seriously?”

Instead of answering, Tearen looked at Roseanne and gave her a soft smile.

“He was asking if, since we have your father’s permission now, there’s any reason for you to keep staying at the Grand Duchy,” Rahar answered on Tearen’s behalf. He then turned to Belona and continued, “You too. There isn’t really a reason for you to stay in the North anymore, is there?”

“…Are you telling me to go back to the Magic Tower?”

“The Magic Tower? Why would you go there?” Rahar’s brow furrowed instantly at the mention of the place.

“Then where?” Belona asked back with a puzzled expression. Since he had said there was no reason to stay here, the Magic Tower was the only place she had left to go.

Rahar cleared his throat with a short ‘ahem’ before speaking. “How about staying with me?”

Both Belona’s and Roseanne’s eyes widened at the same time. Rahar immediately turnd his head toward Roseanne.

“And you stay with Tearen.”

When Roseanne whipped her head around to look at Tearen, he was already looking at her with an expression enchanting enough to bewitch anyone. “If you’re okay with it, I want us to be together.”

“…!”

As Roseanne’s face turned visibly crimson, Tearen reached out and smiled, gently stroking her cheek.

“Hey, I’m right here.”

Rahar frowned at Tearen’s display of affection. He pointed his index and middle fingers at his own eyes and then at Tearen, alternating back and forth. “I’m watching you with my eyes wide open, so don’t you dare act all lovey-dovey with my sister in front of me, got it?”

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned back to Belona and asked again, “So, who’s pretty?”

Belona gestured with her chin toward Rahar, who was demanding to know which bastard was supposedly prettier than a woman. “You.”

“…Me?”

In an instant, Rahar’s face turned beet red.

“Yes, you. I was saying that you’re pretty.”

“…Uh… Oh, is that so…?”

Rahar muttered as he covered the lower half of his face with his hand, his blush deepening significantly. “Am… Am I pretty…?”

“Yes.”

When Belona nodded and confirmed his muttered self-question, Rahar’s eyes darted around, having lost their place to rest.

“But staying together… where?”

“Huh? Oh, at… at my mansion.”

“Your mansion? You mean the Kaznaren estate?”

“Ah, yeah.”

“On what grounds?”

When Belona asked with a look that said ‘Does that even make sense?’, Rahar countered, asking why there wouldn’t be a reason.

“You lost half your soul trying to defeat the black mages and the Evil God. And because I came back from the brink of death, I developed an energy that stabilizes your half-empty, unstable soul.”

“Let’s get the facts straight. It wasn’t that I lost it trying to defeat them…”

“Whatever the case, the conclusion is that we both ended up in this situation while fighting the black mages and the Evil God, and I am helpful to your unstable soul.”

Belona’s eyes widened at the way Rahar suddenly cut her off, speaking as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Roseanne stared at her brother’s face as he insisted that staying together was completely logical and natural. She couldn’t help but let a smile slip, thinking that he had actually used his brain quite hard to come up with a justification to keep Belona by his side.

Roseanne turned and brought her lips close to Tearen’s ear, whispering, “Was this what you were talking so seriously about earlier?”

Tearen turned his head to look at her. Because their gazes met at such a close distance, Roseanne instinctively leaned back, only to have her eyes widen in surprise as Tearen naturally followed her movement. He brought his face right up to her nose before tilting his head and whispering in her ear.

“Yes. And about taking you to my mansion.”

Roseanne’s face felt like it was going to catch fire.

***

Warm sunlight tinted her dark field of vision with brightness.

Enria slowly lifted her eyelids and looked out the window. Realizing it was already midday, she blinked slowly, trying to shake off the grogginess. Lately, whenever she spent the night with Caldeon, she always woke up this late. She knew all too well that the reason was Caldeon tormenting her until sunrise, but a short sigh escaped her at the thought that she herself was more to blame for being unable to push him away even slightly.

Slowly sitting up and leaning against the headboard, Enria began to ruminate on the fragmented memories of yesterday—memories blurred by wine—when her body suddenly froze.

— So, when I first realized I’d transmigrated…

— Are you saying that the person inside is not you?

“Oh my god…!” Enria gasped, covering her mouth with both hands.

— When exactly… did you ‘transmigrate’?

— If I don’t believe you, who would I believe?

Recalling Caldeon, who had swept his hair back and trusted her words unconditionally, Enria scrambled through her memory to see if any other important things had been said. Fortunately, it seemed they didn’t talk more about the possession itself, but a new “dark history” surfaced—one where she babbled about him being prone to getting scammed—and her face turned pale for a different reason.

‘I mean, what on earth did I say to a distrustful, cold-blooded man who looks like he wouldn’t bleed if you pricked him?’

It was absurd no matter how she thought about it. Just because she had a bit of wine, she told the great Caldeon that he was the perfect target for a con artist. She could practically see how flabbergasted he must have been without even genuinely seeing it.

‘Anyway, how am I supposed to fix this…?’

Since she had confessed her possession to Caldeon while drunk, she knew she had to have a proper conversation with him. However, she was in a bit of a bind because she didn’t know where to start or how much to say, nor did she know if he truly believed her when he said he did. She couldn’t even use the plot of the novel she had read as evidence, because somehow the reality had diverged too far from the original story.

‘Even if I talk about the world I originally lived in, he could just dismiss it as me having a vivid imagination…’

A sigh escaped Enria’s lips. Honestly, she hadn’t planned on telling Caldeon about the possession at all, so this situation felt overwhelming. It was a relief enough that he didn’t treat her like a madwoman.

As she was sighing into her hands, the door opened and Caldeon walked in.

“Are you awake?”

Enria instinctively pulled her hands away from her face and looked at him. His refreshing appearance was a literal treat for the eyes, no matter when she saw it.

‘Come to think of it, I’ve never woken up before him…’

The thought suddenly occurred to her that one day, she wanted to wake up before Caldeon just to see his puffy, just-woken-up face.

“Are you tired?”

Caldeon approached and sat on the edge of the bed, asking her. Although he looked good in any color, Enria couldn’t take her eyes off his black uniform, which suited him exceptionally well. Before she knew it, the thought she was having slipped out of her mouth, embarrassing her.

“You look good in everything, but black really suits you perfectly.”

“Hmm? Oh, the uniform?” Caldeon looked down at his clothes and asked.

It wasn’t something she had intended to say aloud, so Enria reflexively bit her lip. Caldeon gave her a tender smile.

“It seems you like my appearance today best out of all recent days.”

“…N-no. It’s not like there’s ever been a time I didn’t like it…”

“When did you wake up?”

“Just now.”

“Does your head hurt?” Caldeon reached out and kindly smoothed her messy hair.

Enria shook her head and mentioned that wine didn’t cause as bad a hangover as other spirits.

“Now that I think about it, I don’t even know Jagi’s alcohol tolerance.”

‘Jagi’…

Now that she thought about it, they had even decided on pet names for each other last night. Enria’s face flushed red as the memories rushed back. It was staggering to remember how she had even corrected him when he missed the title, making it their official way of addressing one another. She wondered how she was going to survive hearing ‘Jagi‘ come out of Caldeon’s mouth after acting so irresponsibly. Enria regretted it and vowed never to drink excessively again.

“I don’t really know my limit either. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve drunk until I was tipsy.”

“Did the place you originally lived have many wine parties like yesterday?”

The sudden mention of her possession caused Enria’s face to freeze instantly. She stared at Caldeon, searching his expression. He certainly didn’t look like he disbelieved her.

Enria swallowed hard as a strange sensation washed over her and she nodded. “It wasn’t exactly ‘wine parties,’ but there were many gatherings for drinking where I lived.”

She went on to explain that drinking in her original world wasn’t a grand party concept like here, but more like commoners visiting a tavern. Caldeon watched her with eyes full of curiosity and encouraged her to tell him more about her original world. Then, he paused and shook his head.

“Wait. We should eat first.”

Saying he should take care of her meal since she had just woken up, Caldeon stood up from the bed. After instructing someone outside to prepare her food, he turned back to look at Enria.

“I’d like to hear about the ‘you’ from before the possession while we have a leisurely meal.”

Looking at his face, Enria was now certain: he believed her words completely and utterly.