CH 11

At my words, Dante put on a puzzled expression and shook his hand once.

The dangerously sparkling shards of glass quickly fluttered into dust. Following Dante’s gesture, a purple wind flowed, and the wind wrapped around the shattered glass then disappeared.

I mean, magic is amazing even when you look at it. While watching the scene without thinking, Dante clenched his fists and sent the wind away.

“If you wanted me to hate you, you wouldn’t say that.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

His voice was so small that I couldn’t hear it properly. Instead of repeating it, Dante strode towards me.

I was still sitting on the couch, and Dante was standing in front of me. I’d rather him sit next to me. Before he gets a sore throat.

However, in this confrontational situation, it seemed a little out of place to recommend him a seat next to me.

Just as I was thinking if I should get up, Dante looked down at me and said.

“Is that all the reason I’m wasted on you?”

What do you mean that’s all? I think it’s an understandable reason, but what the hell is that tone of asking, “Is it just that”?

But I didn’t bother to express my doubts, and nodded my head obediently. Because I can’t tell him the reason why I can’t trust his heart, which is covered by the excuse that Dante is wasted on me.

I don’t know what the hell he was thinking, but Dante kept asking questions.

“You mean you don’t hate me?”

He kept talking about that. I gave Dante a puzzled look, then he replied with a sigh.

“Yeah, I don’t hate you.”

If I didn’t like him in the first place, I wouldn’t even think that he was a waste on me.

As soon as he got his answer, Dante relaxed and smiled softly. All of a sudden, to the point it’s embarrassing.

“Then that’s enough.”

What happened? I almost fell for his face at the moment, so I hurriedly grabbed my reason.

My gaze, which should have been raised high, suddenly lowered. This is because Dante sat down next to me, and my eyes followed him to the side.

Before I could react to the sudden change of seat, Dante spoke first.

“I thought about it while listening to your story, but I think it will be difficult to organize my mind as you said.”

“…What?”

“It’s not something that can be dismissed just because I’ve heard some harsh words.”

I don’t think you knew. At the added mischievous tone, I blinked without saying anything.

No, I didn’t think he would be able to dismiss it right away, but… I didn’t expect to hear that it would be difficult at once.

I don’t know where his pale and embarrassed look went. In an attitude I had never seen before in the time I had known him, I looked at Dante as if I was looking at something unfamiliar.

“If you can’t organize your mind, you’re the only one who suffers, though? I can’t reciprocate your feelings.”

Even while briefly shaken by Dante’s change of attitude, my words flowed freely. I was grateful for the calm and low-key voice that didn’t reveal my feelings well.

“I know, what you said is equal to rejection.”

However, to say so wasn’t the attitude of a rejected man.

“But you don’t hate me either.”

“…Dante, what you don’t dislike is different from what you like.”

“It’s different. I know that too.”

Suddenly, Dante’s completely different atmosphere caught my eye. A faint smile hung on his lips, and he didn’t feel the same impatience as before.

“Then wouldn’t it be enough to make you like me?”

“…?”

What does this mean? Perhaps it was because I didn’t even think about managing my expression for a moment, my face distorted like someone who heard nonsense.

Even though he must have checked my expression, Dante calmly continued.

“I have already changed your mind once. There’s nothing you can’t do twice after you’ve done it once.”

“When did I change… Ah.”

Is he talking about that time? The day Dante woke up, I remembered the moment he ‘convinced’ me for him to stay here longer.

He can’t ask me to like him while giving me money like back then. I thought a little crookedly.

“Whatever you may think, I’m pretty confident. There is something I believe in.”

“Ah, sure. What is that?”

No matter what he said, I was going to refute it. I tried to answer that no matter what he believes in, it won’t work for me, no matter how much time passes.

I’m sure it would have been like that if Dante’s answer hadn’t baffled me.

“My face.”

“…”

“You like my face.”

I put my hand on my forehead without answering.

If I say yes, my pride will be hurt, and if I say no, my conscience will be hurt. Why is he speaking so boldly in the first place? Isn’t he ashamed?

But I guess I was really embarrassed. Far from being shy, Dante continued to speak casually.

“You told me everything. That I need to live with the awareness that I’m handsome, that I’m the most handsome person you’ve ever met…”

“Stop.”

“Yeah, alright.”

In the meantime, he’s a good listener. A sigh escaped spontaneously from my mouth.

The more I looked back at the situation in my mind, the more desperate it felt, but I tried to ignore the feeling.

“…Yeah, your face appeases me a hundred times… Let’s say it works well for me. But I still think you’re wasted on me.”

“But that’s what I mean.”

Dante, who had been speaking without interruption, suddenly paused. When I raised my head in wonder, I met Dante’s eyes, who were looking at me.

“Why do you think I should care about those things?”

“Huh?”

“Wealth, honor, and status you speak of.”

After saying that, he smiled proudly. As someone who witnessed that smile right in front of my eyes, it was such a pretty smile that all my thoughts flew away.

“You don’t have to worry about those things.”

“Well,”

I tried to say that even if he said that, it would definitely be a waste later. Dante suddenly used magic, so I couldn’t answer straight away.

In an instant, the wind blew past my face. While I was distracted by the purple earrings that shimmered and swayed in the wind, Dante stretched out his hand to me with a smile on his face.

The moment I realized that my wrist was grabbed, Dante’s hand slid down and put something in my grasp.

When I opened my hand, it was a small flower. As if it was made of jewels, the flower reflected the light and shone brightly.

…No, it’s not like a jewel, is it a real jewel?

Whether or not I looked up at him and asked what he was doing, Dante looked down at me and continued to speak.

“You’re right. I’m a super amazing magician. Also one of the strongest magicians on the continent. Do you know what this means?”

“Why, what does it mean?”

“Wealth, honor, and so on, whatever you think of, I have a lot of them.”

Unknowingly, I squeezed the jewel in my hand. It was because I realized that the statement, which at first glance might sound arrogant, was, in a way, an obvious fact.

For a moment, I forgot that the level of treatment of magicians on this continent was very good. Thinking so much about how to say no, I forgot the most important thing.

Once again, magicians are valuable, and good magicians are even more valuable. There are overflowing people who would give anything to a skilled magician even for a short while.

Dante already has everything, and of course he will have everything in the future. Things including wealth, honor, and status.

“Why do you need people with such things? No one has them more than me.”

I can’t believe he’s telling such a story casually. I’ve only recently seen him shy in front of me, so I must have forgotten for a moment.

That Dante was a bold enough person to ask for lodging in return for money to the person who saved him.

His eyes, shining so beautifully, drew strange lines and folded them. I don’t think he has ever laughed like that before, but I wonder if someone taught him that.

“Also, like you said, there were a lot of people who were greedy for me. All of them were high-ranking and had great abilities. I’m quite great.”

“Ah, yes.”

I expected it, but it’s unlucky to hear it directly from the mouth of the person involved.

“But I’ve never liked people like that. It doesn’t matter if you’re less than them.”

“…”

“I can make any humble person the noblest person in the world.”

Dante proudly said to me, who was smiling. Judging by the way he spoke, it pissed me off that Dante would really be like that.

“I know.”

Dante carefully lifted my hand and kissed the back of my hand. The part where his lips touched was exceptionally hot.

I wanted to say something, yet I just couldn’t say anything. I feel the heat on the back of my hand, but I don’t know why the heat is rising in my head.

“Don’t just keep trying to say no, think about it again. If you refuse me after enough time, then I will really do as you say.”

The galaxy in his purple eyes was flowing more brilliantly than ever. A really irritatingly handsome man with the prettiest smile I’ve ever seen, speaking in a brash manner and blushing cheeks, said so to me.

Even though he doesn’t say something like he likes or loves me, why does that look feel more like a confession, I wonder.

“But if the day comes when you allow me, then.”

Trying to hide the trembling, a calm but earnest voice reached my ears. He’s saying that he’ll do anything for me, so please, like him.

“I will make you happier than anyone else.”

He was saying that he would make me happy, who wasn’t confident in making him happy. I smiled with a look that was expressing how much I couldn’t stand him because I liked it.