CH 28

I have felt this while staying together, but the two handsome men didn’t like me talking about my illness casually. Of course, I understood their feelings very well. It must be awkward and embarrassing. That does mean that I can’t say that I’ll get better.

So, I did not even bother to bring up the subject, which they were uncomfortable with. In other words: I lived like I didn’t have a disease.

‘Actually, it’s nice as well to be in a bad mood from time to time….’

Maybe it’s because their smiling faces were easier to see. Unfortunately, however, the people over there were not worthy of such consideration.

‘I didn’t know that the rumors were already spreading outside the palace.’

The man there was saying something quite agitating, perhaps he was a supporter of the crown prince. Still, I didn’t know what to say. I felt a little dawn hearing it, but I was just about to move on.

“Don’t be silly! I never heard such rumors from anyone else but from you!”

“I’m sure I heard it. I heard that the princess was trying to commit suicide!”

“I mean, does that even make sense? Did the princess go crazy? Tsk, tsk. This guy, really …You’re too naive.”

When the other person did not believe them, the man spoke in an excited tone: “This is frustrating. Hey, you know Annie, right? She’s the one I talked about before.”

“Oh, yeah, I know her.”

“She was the one who told me! It’s not from anywhere, but from the people working at the Imperial palace themself.”

The face of the person, who was skeptic of the so-called rumor, turned suspicious, because one cannot easily mention the Imperial Palace.

“Seems true.”

“Because it is.”

Then the skeptical listener finished drinking and said: “If it’s true… Isn’t it good for everyone?”

While saying that, he just giggled as if he told a joke. I drew a sharp breath suddenly.

That punk just spoke recklessly about my unnie!

“Nobody likes her anyway. She is hated for her cruel nature and her cold demeanor.”

The conversation was loud. Maybe because their curses weren’t directly at myself I was able to hold it in. I bit the inside of my lips. If everyone thinks like that, it was a reason to worry. My image was worse than I thought. Then I casually looked over to my handsome men and swallowed.

“….”

Cain was angry, but he didn’t say a word. His face hardened and his stillness was somehow brutal. After looking at him for a while, I was able to relax again, because his angry face was also a rare sight.

Then he, who was sitting next to me, tried to cover my ears with both hands. But it was useless, because I could still hear all of their of ridicules.

“Good for her. A woman like her should have died sooner rather than later.”

I was looking at Cain in surprise at the excessive remarks, and Eugene, who was sitting opposite from me, disappeared. Soon there was a thud.

“Argh!”

“What the heck!”

The tavern was in an uproar. Regardless of that, without saying a word, Eugene grabbed the collar of the person who spoke up earlier with a scary atmosphere, that was not typical for him. The force was deadly. Soon I began to heard a strangled groan. Many people were shouting in confusion.

“Hey! Call the guards!”

And I’m just a human. Even in this chaotic situation, Eugene was so beautiful, that I was mesmerized by him. I’ve been having a great time today, but somehow today I was able to witness a wild beauty, which I would never see again in my life.

‘Oh, I need to get a hold of myself.’

I shook my head quickly, grabbed Cain’s hand with both hands and shouted: “Eugene, wait a minute!”

At that moment, Eugene’s brutal movement stopped. He stood there silent till he whispered something in the ear of the man who he was holding by his collar. Soon the man fell to the floor with a groan.

The atmosphere at the tavern eased up. People who were watching before, all ran away now. Before I knew it, less than half remained in the tavern when compared to before the fight. I approached him quietly and carefully raised my hand to him and said: “Eugene, are you okay?”

“You are…”

“Yes, go ahead”, said I as sweetly as I could. But Eugene remaines standing still.

“……Ticia”, said Cain instead.

“Yes, Cain.”

“Are you okay, Ticia?”

“Hmm? Me?”

I blinked my eyes.

The shock that I felt after hearing harsh words about Leticia unnie was gone.

‘Is it because Eugene got angry?’

I thought about it quietly. Let’s see. The noisy tavern became a little quieter while the handsome men next to me showed their beauty in full glory after their hoods had fallen. They were really my escorts. Whoo-hoo!

I think I heard bullshוֹt, but I decided not to leave a single word of it in my memory, because I didn’t want unnie to hear it. So now I’m…….

I spoke to Cain, feeling the corners of my mouth raising slowly.

“Of course I’m fine.”

After all there are angels who get angry like this for my sake.

In fact, the tavern in the fantasy world was more romantic than I imagined, so I became quite drunk on the atmosphere. Under the slightly yellowish warm light of the tavern, two men showed off their blinding beauty.

Ahhh, I put my hand on my forehead in a playful way, as if I was getting weak. Then Eugene came next to me and helped me, all while not showing his face to me once. Uh, well, it’s just a joke.

But… Oh my god.

Is it because you moved a little? Up close, I could feel Eugene’s body temperature.

‘Oh, this is so good!’

Even though I was unable to see Eugene’s face, unlike usual, he showed a wild beast-like charm. And it is really…. In addition, Cain’s eyes, which looked deeper than usual, gave off a feeling like the endless universe.

“I mean it. I’m fine. Because you two are here with me.”

Handsome men… Shall we come to this tavern every day? Of course, I’m going to have a drink every day as well!

“I’m happy now.”

As I spoke those words without thinking, silence fell in the tavern for a moment. A group of people besides us and the few clerks, who remained, also went silent at that moment.

༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

One of the clerks, who looked at the three, who were surrounded by a delicate atmosphere, licked his lips as if he were interested. It was a boy with golden curly hair and green eyes. His angelic lovely appearance was very noticeable. Nevertheless, it was thanks to the boy’s special ability that no one paid attention to him earlier.

“Princess Leticia and Sir Volton, plus the Duke of Eirik. What a strange combination, isn’t it?”

The boy, no, actually the grown man who murmured that was Harace, the leader of the information guild. There was a light film surrounding him, so the sound did not leak out.

“So the rumors were true.”

Herace’s green eyes narrowed, as if he was grinning. At the end of his gaze was her, Princess Leticia. As if the people saying she should just die earlier had nothing to do with her, she smiled brightly. Her beautiful lips, which paused and  then said that she is happy, and her friendly touch, that carefully comforted Sir Volton.

“Hmm.”

It’s troubling.

“Well, I want to make her cry.”

“Harace.”

At that time, someone stepped into the membrane that no one recognized. It was a tall man with a deep blue robe.

“What do you mean you want to make her cry?”

A soft voice leaked out. All one could see was a slightly exposed chin and lips. His soft curled-up gently lips looked delicate.

“Hey you”, said Herance as he stared at the other man and whispered in a very dubious tone: “Do you want to die? Obviously, I told you not to invade my space.”

His warning had a clear intention of murder.

“Oh my”, said the man with a gentle, gentle voice filled with laughter, “You have to be kind to your friends, Harance.”

“Damn it.”

“I’m saying this because I care about you. Some people might think you’re a pervert who likes making people cry.”

“That’s true though”, replied Herace, who was pushing the man away with a vicious force, with a puzzled face.

The man was at a loss for words for a moment. Taking advantage of that opportunity, Herace tilted his angelic face and said to the man: “Worry about yourself first. Every time you find a lover, the amount of corpses increases.”

“Oh, that’s a misunderstanding”, replied the man in a jittery tone. But the soft smile around his mouth remained unchanged.

“Which part? The one about your lovers or the one about corpses?”

“The lover part. I never had one”, he was just like an older brother swearing at his younger brother, “Why would one love their target?”

“Well, are you crazy?”, spat Herace out and began to giggle.

At some point, the face of the man who was facing the laughing Harace, turned slightly. His gaze went to the smiling woman in the center of the tavern.

“I don’t know”, murmured the silent man softly, “Is there a reason to love who’s dying?”

The corners his mouth became lost in the shadow for a moment.

After a while, o one was left where they were before.