Translator: Kimmy
Editor: Ship
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It was possible in novels for the main character to meet an Emperor, Duke, or a swordmaster coincidentally but Eva was well aware that it was not true in real life. That’s what it meant by it’s in a different world.
She barely saw the nobles’ faces despite having a house in a pretty wealthy area. Also, they always used carriages so the only time she could interact with them as a commoner was to be their maid.
That’s why she could put nobles or the Emperor in her books. It was because she thought this was all a dreamy fantasy anyway.
But the muse for her new male lead was a real swordmaster! She was in awe of her neighbor’s nerves to scam on a swordmaster.
She calmed herself down. After agreeing to serialize the book in multiple parts instead of publishing it whole with the publisher, Eva was walking home.
It was her first time publishing serially. She walked delightfully feeling the excitement she felt when she first wrote a book.
‘Serialization, hmm how should I end each chapter? What parts should I edit when publishing? I shouldn’t put 18+ scenes.’
Eva’s small head swirled with all kinds of thoughts.
‘Brigitta said she wasn’t coming back today.’
It was obvious that she went to meet the Emperor so Eva decided to just have leftover bread and soup.
She had enough money to not starve but she was too shy to hire a housekeeper and her cooking was terrible so improving her diet seemed too remote.
‘Ah, but the omelet Brigitta made this morning was so good.’
Eva smacked her lips and turned around the corner to enter the street leading to her house.
“Huh?”
There was someone in front of the house.
It was a lean man that was as tall as Brigitta or a little taller. His age seemed to be around Brigitta’s. His black hair curled down along the back of his neck.
His eyes that detected Eva were deep blue. The man looked like a fine-grained noble. He walked towards Eva with big steps almost twice as big than Eva’s and spoke.
“Are you the one that seduced my lily.”
He was a handsome lunatic. Eva immediately defined him.
*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*
There were many ways to define Maximilien Rumillesa Gardelli.
Duke Gardelli, Troublemaker of the Magic Tower, Kingdom’s best mage, Immoral Duke, B*tch on fire. The last name was what the soldiers of the enemy country or the Emperor called him—though the Emperor called him that without the ‘on fire’ way more often— but anyway he was an outstanding man who had all those titles.
It was not that there were not many names to define his personality. It could be all synthesized into one. A lunatic. Or more, like unsophisticated, a wack, dirtbag, etc. could be used but they all ultimately meant the same thing.
Maximilien’s reputation since his debut in society was notorious. Documents describing him in the Information Department were full of swear words or negative descriptions. He was the hot issue of high society. 9 out of 10 people would say that God compensated his good looks and power by making his personality like that. He was also the cousin brother of the current Emperor that made the Emperor grit his teeth and train under the moonlight.
He was 16 when he became a Duke. He killed the previous Duke, who was a womanizer, and went to the Emperor that night to be titled Duke. It was a big affair that shook the entire Kingdom but no one knew what made the previous Duke grant him the position.
From then he grew up gracefully as a troublemaker that no one could bother because of his fancy family background and outspoken personality.
The current Emperor’s problem was the intimidating aura that made people avoid him. On the other hand, the Duke had an approachable face but the problem was his mouth that caused problems whenever it opened. The only people that could comfortably converse with him were the Emperor and the Chancellor so there was no need to even mention how done the other nobles were with him.
It was the same to his vassals and servants so he was called a universally fair c*nt. Because of that, no one wanted to assist him nor did he want one so he was always alone despite being a high noble.
“Did you seduce her?”
“What….?”
Because of that Eva knew he would be some kind of noble judging from the quality of his clothes but he didn’t have servants or guards with him so she did not think that he was the Kingdom’s Duke.
Maximillien glared at Eva then opened his rosy lips.
“Tiny.”
“What?”
“Do you even reach my shoulder? No? Smaller?”
“What……?”
“You couldn’t have seduced her with looks since I’m more beautiful…..Is it the size……It was my blind spot. Polymorph is quite difficult.”
“Uh, um…..Are you looking for someone…..?”
“Are you stupid? I’m obviously looking for my lily.”
Ah, he is the kind that conversations don’t work.
Eva was helpless. He looked normal but pitiably it was none of her business. He looked like he had a problem in his head so she wanted to avoid him but he was blocking her only way out so she could only muddle in place.
“A, Are you looking for Lord Brigitta?”
“Yes. My lily.”
Well of course he is. Brigitta was the only one that lived with her during her years as an author and this all happened just yesterday so if the person wasn’t looking for Brigitta, the person would have visited the wrong house.
But a lily. Eva thought to herself that it was odd. If it was something like a silver wolf it would make sense but as an author, that description didn’t seem to fit.
“I, Is she a friend of yours?”
“No, it’s a deeper relationship.”
He calmly said what Brigitta would faint or chase with a sword if she heard and observed Eva.
Maximillien had a composed and objective part to him that many did not know. But it was only enough to be a basic refinement as a mage and his temper exceeded that so it looked like he had no composure at all. But he definitely had a part in him that objectively observed and analyzed people.
Was it Evangeline? Twenty-seven, a year younger than him and a novel author with a small build. Lived in the temple until age 5 as an orphan but she wasn’t adopted so she was chased out to the streets with one silver coin.
After that, she was lucky enough to work in an inn doing chores but she was involved in an incident of violence and was jailed for a year. She was cleared from false charge and was released at 14 but she wasn’t employed anywhere. So she worked in a brothel doing chores. Then, Baron Otto pitied her and gave her the opportunity to work in his house as a maid. She debuted at 18. Currently, she was a popular author.
It was the Chancellor’s specialty to make background checks but as a Duke, he had few secretive information guilds. It was a piece of cake to investigate a commoner girl.
He couldn’t say her life was easy but around the time Evangeline was born, orphans were quite common. It was actually a quite successful life now that she became a best-seller author.
Maximilien possessed many things but he did not pity her. It was thanks to him and the Emperor that worked under the Chancellor to make a Kingdom that gave opportunities to people like her.
“D, Deeper relationship.”
“Yes. We are about to marry.”
She was really small. It looked like she could break if he just put a little force on her.
She looked like she lacked confidence and she stuttered a lot. There was a high chance she couldn’t look at anyone in their eyes not because it was him in front of her.
She was the type young men fascinated by chivalry would want to protect but, well, ah, could that be the reason my lily fell for her.
“I did not get her consent yet.”
“S, So you are not in a deep relationship….?”
“My soul is my lily’s so it is a deep relationship.”
“Wow….Oh my. There really are people that say such things out loud…..”
She was terribly shy but she still said what she thought out loud. What a weird person. Maximillien tilted his head. He looked so good that even a small tilt made him look like a masterpiece.
Eva was thinking it was a blessing to her eyes to see such handsome men recently. Well, one was not a man but she looked like a handsome man. At least her personality was way more handsome than this hooligan.
“She….. said she’s not coming today…..?”
“I know. I want to see the place my lily stays in.”
He spread his hands and her house door opened. Just as she was about to ask how he knew that she froze and looked at the door and him interchangeably and yelled “mage!” and covered her mouth.
“I can’t go in without the homeowner.”
Eva was thinking that that lunatic was being respectful in weird things.
*.·:·.☽✧ ✦ ✧☾.·:·.*
It was a small house. That’s what Maximillien felt.
If Eva heard that, she would have argued that it was moderately sized but he was one of the two only Dukes of the Kingdom, and the previous Duke was driven by vanity so the Gardelli Mansion was as big and fancy as the palace. So to him, her house was tiny.
But being tiny was not the only problem. Despite looking like a lady who stayed home all day, it looked like she was not accustomed to housework.
There was dust on unused places and there was a broom on the living room floor. It was way better than the mages of the Magic Tower but to his standard, it was a messy and dirty place for his lily to stay in.
If Eva heard this too, she would have argued that it was impossible to clean this big house alone every day. She cleaned the house once in two months and only a month have passed since the last cleaning day.
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