CH 55

Chapter 55 (Misunderstanding leads to jealousy)

Asrazan belatedly grasped the direction her hand was heading and tried to stop it by grabbing her wrist. However, even the Duke of Kandel seemed to have no choice but to slow down when he was heated up.

“Wha…!”

Wait a minute, he tried to say something, but Lariette moved faster than he could complete the sentence.

Lariette put her hand on the target with a mischievous smile. Then, without hesitation, she grabbed something like a long stick.

Asrazan’s face was stained with embarrassment. In the end, he closed his eyes tightly and decided to accept the situation to come.

Soon, Lariette’s hand moved.

Swoosh

And it was merciless water that greeted Asrazan.

Lariette grabbed the handle of the kettle and lifted it up, pouring all the water it was filled with.

It was brought to help with bathing, and there was no lid, so there was a lot of water pouring out at once. As a result, Asrazan quickly became like a drowning mouse.

“Puhahaha! It’s cool, isn’t it? Are you excited?”

Lariette clapped her hands and smiled. I felt very proud at the thought that I had play Asrazan to my heart’s content. It was because he could not play even if he tried to play a prank because he noticed the presence quickly.

Hearing the sound of laughter tickling his ears, Asrazan slowly wiped his face with his hands, wiping away the water.

His forehead was exposed as his wet bangs went up, and between his long fingers, oily eyelashes were visible.

And as he slowly opened his eyes, Lariette shut her mouth involuntarily. It was because his blue eyes were blazing towards her.

Even as Lariette, who was very accustomed to Asrazan, his blunt expression was still terrifying, so she took a deep breath and looked at him.

“As-Asrazan. Are you angry?”

Lariette instinctively bit herself and asked. Then, Asrazan slightly raised the tip of one corner of his mouth and replied with a smile.

“Is that possible?”

But your face is very scary, isn’t it? Lariette swallowed the words without being able to spit out her honest feelings.

Asrazan kept a smiling face and spoke in a soft voice.

“Lariette, come closer.”

Asrazan reached out to her as if to approach her. However, the red light was already on in Lariette’s head. Even his face was not serious.

“I don’t like it. You will get revenge.”

Lariette quickly scrambled. Then Asrazan’s smile grew even deeper.

“Come here.”

“Look! You don’t even say no!”

Lariette was terrified of Asrazan’s repeating the same words and moved her body further away from him.

Then Asrazan shrugged as if he was disappointed.

“Well, if that’s the case. I have no choice but to go.”

“Ouch! Don’t come! Don’t come!”

Now think about a good thing! Lariette added, attempting to escape quickly.

Asrazan, who got up from the bath, still had his upper body exposed and only had a towel wrapped around it.

She hurriedly covered her face with both hands in a situation where the towel was about to fall off, but it was practically meaningless as she was showing her eyes openly between her fingers.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the towel draped over Asrazan’s lower body was barely loosened. Lariette breathed a sigh of relief or regret.

And Asrazan smiled and walked forward without hesitation and approached her.

“It is dangerous to run like that.”

“Right now, Asrazan seems the most dangerous, right?”

“My Lariette, you have pretty good eyesight.”

Lariette teased her feet as hard as she could, but it was at a pitiful level for Asrazan.

He got closer in an instant, and Lariette ran with a face almost crying. However, as soon as Asrazan warned, she slipped on the water splashed floor and slipped.

“Ahh!”

Lariette swung her arms in the air to fall without pain.

It could look ugly, but safety was more important than face. It is impossible to die without being able to purify it.

Asrazan’s hand gripped her body as she scrambled forward so hard.

“Didn’t I say it was dangerous?”

When the friendly voice tickled her ear, Lariette trembled. When she opened her eyes, she suddenly found herself in Asrazan’s arms. It was called Princess Hug.

“Asrazan! I’m heavy, let me go!”

“I don’t want to.”

Asrazan smirked and answered firmly. However, the hand that grabbed Lariette, on the other hand, was very careful not to get hurt.

The face in front of her nose was so perfect that Lariette stared at Asrazan with a hazy feeling. The voice that followed was sweet as honey.

“Now it’s my turn.”

Are you planning on dropping me in the water like this? Lariette shrugged in surprise.

Seeing her round eyes, Asrazan grasped the thought and laughed out loud again. She was just too cute to think of it as revenge.

“Uh, where are you going?”

Seeing him walking past the bath, Lariette asked with a bewildered voice. Asrazan respond politely.

“A place to take revenge on you.”

Drops of water dripped from them all the way from the bathroom to the bedroom.

* * *

The next day’s Lariette was only able to get out of bed in the afternoon. Asrazan had already gone to the Imperial Castle a long time ago.

‘Ugh, my waist…’

Two hours have passed since I woke up and my back still hurts. Lariette clenched her fists with a grunt and continued to tap her back.

Halstein’s face brightened in front of her at the action with a clear reason. In his mind, he even drew a picture of him dying with a proud heart after having raised the young master and the young lady.

He opened his mouth, criticizing his excessive imagination in his heart.

“I’m still unable to contact the priest.”

“Oh, still can’t?”

“Yes. I only got a reply from the temple side that they didn’t know.”

Lariette bowed her head with a sullen expression. I wanted to learn more about hiding quickly, but it was a pity that I couldn’t, and I was worried because it was the first time I had not been able to contact Doha.

Halstein quickly turned away, as if he didn’t want to talk more about the priest.

“By the way, how is your schedule today? Do you have an appointment with the ladies?”

“Um, no. Today is nothing special… No.”

So, what am I going to do today? Lariette thought blankly.

Since entering the Duke Kandel mansion, she has always spent time with Asrazan, Doha, or a group of ladies. When I had time to myself, I didn’t really know what to do.

As I unconsciously turned my gaze back and forth, I saw a closet in my sight. It was the closet where the notebook was hidden.

‘I’ll have to prepare to leave soon.’

Lariette hid her lips in the creeping melancholy. Without realizing it, strength entered my clenched fist.

She continued with a smile as if painted over her face.

“I’m going to go downtown alone for a while. Can you prepare a carriage for me?”

“Yes, I understand.”

Halstein bowed his head politely in reply, and then left the room.

I was worried that he would ask a knight 

to accompany me, but as usual, he did not seem to feel the need to do so. Lariette was also disappointed by the coolness, but it was fortunate for him to leave.

Of course, this was only an illusion because she did not know that an escort was attached without her knowledge. Gerard, in charge of today’s escort, was already ready to accompany her.

An hour later, Lariette arrived in the city, rummaged through her bag and took out her notebook. Then I looked at the bucket list written on the very first page after a long time.

“My bucket list before I die”

<1. Give Anne a cake>

<2. Independence (Let’s Save Some Money)>

<3. Call Off the engaged with Marquis of Segreb (with moderate courtesy)>

<4. Dating a handsome person >

<5. Travel>

I’ve already accomplished everything except number 5. Lariette muttered in her heart, feeling too empty to be called satisfaction.

Seeing the line drawn on ‘Handsome Man’ made me laugh. At first, she approached Asrazan only by looking at his appearance and her situation. But in just two months, he became her most precious person.

Lariette, who was about to fall into depression once again, took a big breath and exhaled. As the cool air circulated through her lungs, she seemed to wake up.

‘Travel, I need to prepare for a trip! Before leaving, go with Asrazan, and after leaving, enjoy my alone time! It’ll be fun!’

She made an effort to keep a positive mind and moved forward. There were only a couple of things to buy, such as sturdy clothes to wear when traveling alone, a large bag, and travel books.

Thanks to the price she received for healing Doha, the funds overflowed. She was nervous that someone might look at her thick pockets and have an argument like the last time, but fortunately, that didn’t happen.

Lariette thought it was a virtue of being cautious, but in fact, it was because Gerard had preemptively subdued strangers who approached her.

Time flew by as I walked around the store. All of a sudden, her hands were heavy with shopping items.

‘Hah, let’s take a break.’

It was too much of a day for Lariette’s stamina. Stop by a variety of shops to choose items, try on some clothes… 

No, even with these things, it was largely due to the fact that the excessive things were still accumulating in the body all last night.

‘Never again.’

Lariette, leaning on the bench, made a deep determination in her heart. It was as if his tenacious voice could still be heard vividly in her ears, no matter how much she suffered under the name of revenge.

– Lariette, are you having a hard time? I’m not yet.

-If you provoked me so much, shouldn’t you take responsibility?

No matter how much Lariette begged and begged, yesterday’s Asrazan didn’t stop. It seems that what she did in the bathroom was very bad.

As a result, she could not sleep and had to stay up all night with open eyes. It was difficult to count how many times we did it because I was so restless.

As the memories of dawn suddenly flooded in, Lariette’s face turned red like a ripe apple. She stared into the distance, trying to think differently.

And then, a familiar back came into her sight.

Brilliant golden hair, tall stature and broad shoulders. Erze was a person who deserved to be this beautiful just by looking at her back.

‘Erze?’

Lariette woke up with joy. She didn’t even make an appointment, but it was a pleasure to meet her.

Erze was acting more sullen than usual, wondering if anyone would recognize her. She wore trousers over a shirt that commoners would wear, and perhaps because of that, her gender looked more ambiguous.

If you look closely, you can see that she is a woman on her face, but from a distance, she is not recognizable at all.

Lariette approached her with a light step. She planned to surprise her by gently touching her shoulder from behind without calling out her name in advance.

However, as soon as she heard the conversation between the two young men walking from opposite directions and passing her, Lariette’s face immediately hardened.

“What kind of woman is that big? I didn’t even know it was a woman until I saw it up close.”

“Tsk. I can’t even taste the inside in bed.”

“Is there anyone who wants to hug her?”

The young men giggled and laughed as if they had heard a very funny joke. They were speaking with their own voices, but it was loud enough to be heard by Lariette.

And Lariette had no intention of letting go of those who dared insult my friend.

“Excuse me.”

The young men turned their backs at the light hand that touched their shoulder. When they lowered their gaze, they saw Lariette’s face with her eyes wide open and looking up at them.

It was so cute that one young man answered with a blush on his face.

“Ye-yes?”

“Hey, someone in that alley called a gentleman.”

Lariette said while pointing her finger at the alley across the street. The young men looked puzzled.

“Who, us?”

“In fact… my friend has something to say to the gentleman, but she is ashamed to come in person…”

She deliberately blurted her words, pretending to be embarrassed. The young people’s faces lit up with pride at the content that looked nothing like hunting.

“Which one do you mean?”

“Of course, me! Can’t you tell by looking at it?”

“Don’t be silly. If she has eyes, of course It’s me.”

The two young men were busy arguing with each other that they had something to say to them.

Lariette, who looked at him with a cold expression on her face, didn’t know exactly who she asked to be called, so she asked to go with him, and of course the two young men did not refuse.

But when she entered the place she pointed, all she saw was an empty street.

“Well, where is your friend? Was she embarrassed?”

“No, here it is.”

The two young men shook their heads to find that person. And Lariette continued with a sly smile.

“Justice is calling you guys!”

A huge gust of wind engulfed the youth in an instant. Without screaming, they were blown away by the wind and banged their heads against the stone wall. It wasn’t powerful enough to kill, but it was enough to stun them.

Lariette stood in front of the fallen two young men with a proud face and looked down at them. Thanks to Doha’s, I was able to easily subdue it without using a lot of mana.

But she was so focused on using magic that she didn’t know that someone was watching her from behind.

“Is this for me?”

Lariette turned around, startled by the sudden voice. And there stood Erze with a happy smile.

“Your heart is so cute. This is really impressive.”

It’s the first time I’ve gotten this kind of help. Erze added, curving her eyes.

“Hey, Erze. Since when did you see me…?”

“Well, since your friend is ashamed?”

Erze frowned playfully. It was something she had seen from the very beginning.

“I didn’t know you were such a good wizard, Lariette. Do you have any plans to work for me in the future?”

“Uh… Well… me, that’s….”

I have no future! Lariette quietly swallowed the words.

Judging that hesitation was hesitating about the sudden offer, Erze smiled cheerfully and wrapped one arm around Lariette’s shoulder.

“We’ll talk about the future later. Today, I’ll buy something delicious. Do you have time?”

“Ah yes! That’s fine.”

“Okay, then let’s go.”

Lariette was led out of the alley by Erze’s hand. It was a sudden acceptance, but, as usual, the conversation that followed was very pleasant, so I had no regrets.

And, a street in the city where you can see them even if they are small.

Coincidentally, other acquaintances of Lariette were watching their backs from afar.

One of them was the person Lariette had been looking for for a long time.

“Sir. Mikhail, the blonde man over there and the woman who was cuddled…”

Joshua was so startled that he openly explained the situation. He regained his awareness and lowered his voice, but it was already too late.

“You better shut up, Joshua.”

Before I rip that mouth open. Doha whispered in a low, subdued voice.

His golden eyes filled with jealousy that he couldn’t hide. To him, who was denying and denying his liking, it was only jealousy that was more confusing.