IGHC 06

Chapter 6

As soon as I saw his face, my memory finally started coming back.

Solard Artensia.

Among the fans, his nickname had been the prickly white kitten with a terrible personality.

An obsessive-type character with strong kuudere tendencies—cold on the outside, but absurdly devoted to the person he liked. He was also infamous for being so mentally fragile that one wrong dialogue option would send the story hurtling straight into a bad ending.

There had even been endings where he became disappointed after seeing Daisy juggling several male leads at once and simply walked away… or where he died in a duel with Lennox, wasn’t there?

Anyway, he was an incredible character in more ways than one. Seriously, just how fragile was this guy’s mental state?

And once that thought surfaced, another immediately followed.

‘Is it really okay to flirt with someone like this…?’

Hmm… I’ll just test the waters. If it doesn’t work out, I can always give up.

“Your Grace, are you alright?”

At this point, Solard looked completely out of it. His gaze on me was unfocused and dazed.

After hesitating for a moment, I decided to appeal to him in my own way. I placed both hands under my chin like a flower pose and smiled brightly.

See? Totally harmless. I don’t even have any other love interests.

“Um, Your Grace doesn’t scare me. I wouldn’t say I like you, but I don’t dislike you either.”

Was I being way too insolent for a mere maid talking to a grand duke? Probably. But maybe because I was certain Solard wouldn’t do anything to me, I ended up acting a little recklessly.

After all, he couldn’t kill me even if he wanted to.

In the original story, Solard had been blindly devoted to Daisy.

Well, of course he was. Humans are social creatures. If someone had spent their whole life unable to properly interact with others, it would practically be the same as being locked alone in solitary confinement forever.

That would be a living hell.

So if someone finally appeared—someone he could actually look in the eye and speak to for the first time in his life—then no matter what I did, he probably wouldn’t want to kill me.

With that rather rotten line of thinking, I casually asked my question. His answer came only after a long silence.

“Huh…?”

Like a ten-year-old laptop struggling to process information, he froze for several seconds before finally understanding what I’d said. Then he inhaled sharply and asked carefully,

“…You… don’t… dislike me? You’re not afraid of me?”

That reaction made me feel like garbage for assuming he could never hurt me.

What was with this abandoned-animal response…?

For a second, I was speechless, like I’d just fed a wounded stray cat that hissed at people out of fear.

Still, I shamelessly pushed ahead.

“Yep. So… any interest in taking me as your bride?”

Materialistic Minselly has proposed a deal!

Solard has fallen into confusion!

“Bride…”

I mean, nobody else wanted to become your bride anyway! Wasn’t I basically the only candidate? Daisy already belonged to someone else!

I smiled brightly and tried my best to sell myself, but Solard looked too stunned to even process what I was saying.

He just kept repeating my words in his head, desperately trying not to lose his grip on reality.

Sigh. At this point, nothing I said was going to get through to him.

After quietly watching him for a moment, I dusted myself off and stood up, then held out my hand.

“You’re lonely, aren’t you?”

Sure, I’d approached him intending to take advantage of the situation. But at the same time… I also felt sorry for him. Seeing his reaction made him seem even more pitiful.

And maybe I sympathized with him a little, too.

No matter where I went in this world, I could never shake the feeling that I was an outsider.

“I’ll stay by your side, so let’s make a deal.”

I wasn’t arrogant enough to think I could become the perfect spouse. This would only be a contractual marriage anyway, so “deal” felt like the most fitting word.

It’s not like I had any grand dreams for the future. I just wanted to become a rich unemployed person.

It wasn’t pure sympathy, either.

Calling myself kind would be suspicious, but calling me greedy alone didn’t quite fit either. That middle distance—a transaction—felt just right for someone like me.

I reached my hand out toward Solard, who was still sitting on the ground.

“Come on. Up you go. Give me your hand.”

And then, after seeing what I did, Solard suddenly…

…started crying?

Hey, what the hell? Why are you crying?! This makes it look like I bullied you!

“U-Um…”

Tears streamed down beneath the mask covering even the bridge of his nose. Feeling awkward, I wondered if I’d done something wrong and glanced around.

Within a radius of about three meters—wide enough that Solard could probably roll around on the ground if he wanted to—not a single person in the crowded festival street dared come close.

Ah.

Had this man always been forced to live with this much distance between himself and everyone else?

The moment I realized that, a bitter smile escaped me.

Deliberately joking around, I grabbed his hand firmly and tugged.

“Oh dear, now you’re crying too?”

At my words, he flinched in surprise and touched his own face.

Even though he looked twice my size, somehow he seemed incredibly small.

And when I tried to help him up, he kept instinctively trying to pull his hand away from mine. He was too flustered to use any strength, but even so, he was so heavy that I couldn’t lift him by myself.

“You’re not getting up?”

Only then did he scramble awkwardly to his feet.

Standing upright now, he still stared at me as if he couldn’t understand what was happening, tears continuing to spill from his eyes.

Aside from his long white hair, pale skin, and red eyes, everything about him was black.

Black clothes. Black robe. Black shoes. Even a black scabbard.

And those clothes obviously looked expensive.

Tsk, honestly.

My work instincts kicked in before I could stop myself. Leaving Solard standing there, I brushed the dirt off his knees and backside.

“Don’t cry. You’ll ruin your looks. Wipe your tears.”

Compared to his large frame, his behavior was oddly immature. It reminded me of Daisy.

Though Daisy only acted childish around me on purpose, they were similar in the sense that both were people used to being dressed nicely and cared for by others.

Chuckling softly, I held out a handkerchief.

Solard accepted it… then just stood there motionless.

Clutching it tightly in his hand like it was something precious.

And then, out of nowhere, he said,

“…S-Sorry…”

“Huh?”

“For being… ugly…”

“…What?”

Wait. Did he seriously think I’d actually been insulting his appearance?

I’d only said it as a common joke people used to comfort someone who was crying.

What the hell happened to your self-esteem? I knew it was bad, but not this bad…

“No, I wasn’t calling you ugly! I just meant you should stop crying. And besides, how is looking like that your fault? Why are you apologizing?!”

The more I talked, the angrier I became.

The reason he was like this was obvious. He’d clearly lived through some horrible past.

A life without anyone saying kind or gentle words to you… that really would be darkness.

“S-Sor…”

“Stop apologizing. You didn’t do anything wrong!”

“……”

I stared at the endless stream of tears rolling down his jaw before snatching the handkerchief back.

I gave it to you to wipe your tears, so why are you just holding it?!

“Good grief. Hold still a second, I’m taking that mask off.”

At this rate, even the mask was going to get soaked through.

I rose onto my tiptoes, removed his mask, and gently dabbed his face with the handkerchief.

Even while crying like rain pouring down, his expression never changed.

It was less like he was emotional and more like his tear ducts had simply broken.

In the end, I could only sigh and shake my head.

“What did I even say to make you cry this much? People are staring. You’re making me look like the bad guy.”

I wasn’t really a warm or gentle person, so my complaints came out gruffly.

Though in truth, nobody around us even wanted to look in our direction.

Every time the handkerchief touched his face, Solard flinched slightly before suddenly speaking.

“…N-No one has ever… held my hand so casually before… It’s the first time…”

“Huh?”

What did he mean, first time? Wait—had this guy never even held his mother’s hand before?

His words caught me off guard, and I frowned as I asked. Solard lowered his shoulders.

Trembling fearfully, he looked like a giant baby kitten with a crushed expression.

He was bigger than me, yet shaking like this… pitiful and absurd at the same time.

“Because of the curse…”

“Oh, right. That. The witch really was a bastard.”

The handkerchief grew damp.

At first, tears had simply poured out of him like water from a broken faucet, but every comforting word I gave him gradually transformed his face into something more childlike.

“I-I killed the witch… but even after killing her, I became a body that can’t die… so I can’t lift the curse…”

What the hell is he talking about?

“…Wait. You killed the witch, but your curse didn’t disappear, and now you’re stuck in some state where you can neither live nor die?”

After a moment of thought, I offered my interpretation. Solard nodded.

And then the sobbing finally burst out.

It was heartbreaking… and ridiculous at the same time.

“Hey, writers! Why’d you make this poor guy like this?! I’ve never seen a male lead cry like a child this much before!”

Feeling sorry for him, I shuffled my feet awkwardly and sighed over and over.

“Oh dear… he’s crying again. This won’t do. Let’s get somewhere private first. Did you come here by carriage?”

He pressed his lips tightly together, trying hard not to make any sound, and only nodded.

When I asked, “Where?” he pointed toward the district of noble estates.

I quickly grabbed the immature grand duke by the hand and hurried off.

The way the crowd parted before us like the Red Sea made me hesitate for a moment, but that wasn’t important right now.

First priority: calm this guy down.

I hurried forward. Thankfully, our destination wasn’t far.

Though honestly, from the moment I saw that pitch-black robe that looked like it swallowed all light, I already suspected he wasn’t normal…

“Wow… seriously…”

What kind of reaction was I even supposed to have here? Was he the child of darkness or something?

Staring at the massive dark carriage that perfectly suited Solard, I found myself wondering, Surely his mansion isn’t completely black too, right?

I opened the carriage door and practically shoved him inside.

Then, after briefly glancing around, I thought, Why bother worrying now? and climbed in after him.

“Go ahead and cry as much as you want now.”

I sat down on the seat—

—and immediately widened my eyes.

Wait, what the hell? Why is this carriage ride so unbelievably luxurious?

While I sat there stunned by the absurdly soft cushions, the sniffling that filled the carriage gradually quieted.

Resting my chin on my hand, I quietly watched him.

Wasn’t this guy supposed to be the northern duke archetype…?

In fantasy romance stories, northern dukes are supposed to be lonely-but-never-crying, lone-wolf types, aren’t they?

There had never been a single mention of Solard being this airheaded and soft.

What happened here? This is complete character destruction!

I was definitely trying to seduce him earlier, but instead of seducing him, it felt like I’d somehow gained a second master to take care of.

So because I’m not the heroine, this doesn’t work or what?

Seriously, being an extra is already unfair enough, but now I have to play nanny for both the heroine and the male lead too? There’s a limit to unfairness.

It was so absurd I couldn’t even laugh anymore.

After staring out the window for a while and silently lamenting my fate, I turned my gaze back.

At some point, Solard had finally stopped crying.

Now wearing his mask again, he sat there quietly staring at me.