MCBD 18

Chapter 18

Miss Dalia’s eyes widened as she reached a realization. The other ten ladies looked just as moved.

But Aldehide remained indifferent. People being impressed by a single word of his was nothing new to him.

The lesson continued. Aldehide listened closely to Miss Dalia’s lecture.

“Natural cuteness is the best kind. Forced baby talk with exaggerated tones? That’s something only genuinely cute people can pull off.”

The problem was…

Every single thing she taught felt like a direct attack on him.

“Don’t use baby talk! Baby talk is cute only when babies use it!”

“Who even uses baby talk these days?”

Thunk—
A dagger stabbed straight into Aldehide’s chest.

‘That’s not true. Noona said my way of speaking was cute.’

…Well, maybe the way you speak doesn’t matter.

Repeatedly denying it to himself while taking some emotional damage, he listened seriously to the next part.

“Alright, everyone, look at the mirror in front of you and smile.”

Aldehide looked at the mirror on his desk. His impression was cold and a bit rough-looking.

When he lifted the corners of his mouth, he somehow looked even scarier, but…

‘Am I kind of cute?’

Unfortunately, to Aldehide’s own eyes, he actually looked fairly cute.

“Next, your mindset is important. You need to equip yourself with the mentality of ‘I don’t need you!’ Got it? The foundation of romance is push and pull.”

Aldehide could no longer hear Dalia’s words.

‘If noona won’t meet me, I’ll stay single for life. Or I’ll become a servant in her household.’

After making this firm resolve, he thought with a strange expression,

‘Huh. I didn’t really learn much, did I?’

But just then, Dalia spoke as if unveiling her secret weapon.

“Does anyone here exchange love letters with their partner?”

There is. Right here.

‘Not a partner exactly, but an aspiring partner…’

…That’s basically the same thing, right? He pricked up his ears.

“Then I’ll teach you how to use winning emojis you can put in your love letters!”

Winning emojis? What was that?

“Are you still sending stiff, plain letters?”

Yes. He was.

Aldehide stared at Dalia as if enchanted.

Seeing his intense, scowling focus, Dalia quickly averted her gaze and stumbled over her words.

“S-so, um. Try spreading your love more by adding cute emoticons to your letters! Here—this booklet contains all my secret techniques. Read it at home!”

Dalia handed out a booklet to each lady, then looked at Aldehide. He had his hand out.

“A-a-and, Aldehide-nim, yours too.”

“Okay.”

Aldehide was extremely happy, though outwardly he looked irritated.

Because every single cell in his body was focusing on this class—deeply, seriously.

‘If I have this secret weapon, will noona meet me?’

Just thinking about it made his heart pound wildly, and he clenched his teeth.

‘This lecture is actually pretty useful.’

As he was leaving the classroom after the lecture ended, Aldehide suddenly thought—

It wouldn’t matter if today’s events became public. But…

‘I want to look naturally cute to noona, not like I’m forcing it.’

Of course, noona didn’t even know he was Aldehide, and honestly wouldn’t care whether he took a cuteness class or not.

‘Depression route.’

Still, he would endure it strongly. Like a real man.

Aldehide looked around and said,

“Come to think of it, I’m thinking of placing a geas spell on everyone here. Do you agree?”

“Huh? A geas spell? What kind?”

“A geas that forbids you from telling anyone you saw me here. This is… very important.”

Because noona mustn’t find out. The most important thing in the world.

At his words, Miss Dalia and the ladies looked puzzled, then widened their eyes.

“Y-yes! Of course!”

“Oh! I see now. I wondered why you came—so it was for official duties!”

“It must be palace business ordered by His Majesty!”

“Ah, yes! His Majesty would surely—!”

“B-but really, why would His Majesty assign such a task…?”

Amid the ladies, strangely excited by the idea of “official business,” Aldehide nodded.

‘If the old man gets misunderstood, that’s not my problem.’

For his beloved “noona,” it was important to block all misunderstandings at the source.

Aldehide didn’t know this, but strange behavior from a superior always reaches the ears of subordinates.

‘They say Aldehide’s gone crazy since yesterday.’

Apparently, he’d been carrying around a memo and muttering strange things.

I looked at Aldehide with suspicion. I tried to glance at the memo he was holding, but he quickly stuffed it into his pocket.

“Why?”

What are you hiding?

“Then let’s go protect world peace.”

That cursed “world peace” again…

And somehow, once again, he’d pinpointed the rift’s location perfectly.

I draped a brown robe over my shoulders as I looked down at the map Paul handed me.

“This is a spot where a rift could appear in the capital. Even the time is specified, isn’t it?”

“Uh, y-yes…”

“Aldehide-nim wrote it down. Check it.”

My eyes widened.

‘No, how did he know this? It’s exactly the same future I know.’

Could Aldehide be a regressor like me?

I thought it was suspicious—briefly—then decided to ask directly.

“Wow, but how do you know all these rifts, Aldehide-nim? That’s amazing.”

“Oh, I heard he secured a map from a dragon’s lair while wrapping up the war. It’s basically a book of prophecy.”

Paul said it without a hint of doubt, but…

‘As if the heavens help you and a rift map just conveniently appears.’

With lingering suspicion, I looked at the five marked zones on the map.

At present, the capital was divided into five districts:

The Imperial Palace at the center, the southern nobles’ district, the western harbor, the eastern holy district, and the Shadow Street in the north where the lower class lived.

Seeing Shadow Street—the place where I first met Bbu-bbu—I chuckled.

‘Just seeing the name reminds me of when I first saw Bbu-bbu. He was just like a puppy.’

Resting my chin on my hand as I looked at the map, Paul spoke.

“Oh, Aldehide-nim is coming. Let’s move. Today, it’s not a rift—we’re handling another incident.”

“Yes, understood.”

Watching Aldehide stride over, I calmly put the map away.

His face was slightly flushed, his ears oddly red—enough to give me a guess.

‘Did he spend the morning killing monsters or something?’

It was an impression so fierce it was hard not to be suspicious.

Thinking that, I quietly followed Aldehide.

Right after attending <Lady Dalia Blair’s Full-of-Cuteness Class>, Aldehide was completely absorbed in practicing cuteness to show noona. But no matter how much he practiced, nothing satisfied him, leaving him irritated.

‘When I’m annoyed, monster extermination is the answer.’

But for a while, no rifts were expected to appear. In such cases, Aldehide usually focused on capturing criminals or resolving illegal incidents in the capital.

This, too, was his way of protecting peace in order to meet noona.

Everything was going smoothly—except for one problem.

The woman who kept scampering after him like a squirrel was extremely distracting.

“Why are you wearing a brown cloak today?”

“Huh?”

You really look like a squirrel, you know?

Instead of saying that out loud, Aldehide narrowed his eyes at Lirielle.

She replied awkwardly.

“It’s a cloak issued by the palace.”

“Oh, really?”

“Everyone else wears the same one.”

Unlike Lirielle’s puzzled expression, Aldehide was very serious.

‘Come to think of it, the others are wearing the same cloak?’

He hadn’t noticed. Honestly, he probably wouldn’t have noticed even if they were naked.

With a complicated expression, Aldehide looked at Lirielle.

“And why are you out here in such danger?”

“Danger…?”

Lirielle looked around.

The bright daytime streets were filled with armed knights.

“…Then why did you follow me?”

“Well, because I’m your assigned aide, Aldehide-nim.”

Yeah. That was an obvious answer, but—

His heart thudded heavily.

The strange sensation that Lirielle might be noona kept throwing him into confusion.

Avoiding her gaze, he thought,

‘For now, follow reason and logic. Treat her the same way I treat everyone else.’

After hesitating oddly, Aldehide narrowed his eyes and said,

“We’re going to smash a stowaway ship near the harbor. So you—”

“Oh, y-yes! Then, do you perhaps need stabilization?”

Lirielle looked innocently unaware of his inner turmoil.

But just imagining their fingertips touching made his throat move on its own.

Aldehide averted his eyes and said,

“No. I’ll send you to the flower garden. Switch places with Rend.”

The flower garden was full of flowers and aesthetically pleasing. She suited tea parties there more than looking at monsters bursting out of rifts.

So this was his own way of being kind—to someone who might be noona.

But Lirielle’s expression darkened slightly.

What? Is she the type who really wants to work?

Meanwhile, Lirielle looked up at Aldehide with extremely complicated feelings.

She thought:

‘The flower garden Aldehide mentioned… isn’t that that place? The garden with the murder flowers?’

He’d been saying weird things all morning—was he telling her to stay out of the way and go die in the garden?