🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 50
I swallowed back the sigh that was about to escape, pressed my temple firmly, and turned toward the man.
“Einra, are you alright? Are you feeling unwell?”
It seemed my gesture of pressing my temples looked odd to him.
The man, who had been picking up two glasses from the nearby bar, asked nervously.
I swallowed down another sigh and opened my mouth.
“No, I’m fine—”
That was when I suddenly realized—I didn’t even know his name.
Not that I particularly wanted to, but since we were in the middle of a conversation, it was only polite to ask.
I put on a polite smile at the corners of my lips and spoke.
“Come to think of it, I don’t know your name. May I ask how you’re called?”
The man, who was just handing me a cocktail glass, flushed red as if embarrassed.
“Ah… I committed the rudeness of asking for your name without first giving mine…”
“It’s fine, really.”
I hastily waved a hand and accepted the cocktail glass he was offering.
The Emperor specifically ordered that all drinks served in the hall be low in alcohol, so it should be fine.
I had just taken a sip of the cocktail, shimmering in a deep sky-blue color, when the man smiled sheepishly and spoke.
“I am Lloyd de Baharman, heir to the Grand Duchy of Baharman.”
“—Pfft!”
I spat the cocktail out on the spot.
What? What did he just say…?
I had gone out of my way to avoid the Grand Duke of Baharman’s gaze, and now this man’s family name is what?!
“Einra, are you alright? It seems you choked.”
The grand duke’s son offered me his handkerchief with a worried face.
Still coughing, I waved it away and pulled out my own handkerchief.
“Haha, I-I’m fine, cough.”
But I was absolutely not fine.
You’re way too wonderfully, fantastically, amazingly, and insanely high-status for me to be fine at all!
“I’m glad you’re alright, then.”
Though I had already wiped my lips, he insisted on dabbing them again with his handkerchief, smiling brightly.
I inched backward, step by step.
“Well then, I’ll just… go.”
When faced with a lunatic, fleeing is always the best strategy.
I made my way as naturally as possible toward the center of the hall.
Whether he didn’t notice my discomfort, or pretended not to, the grand duke’s son followed me closely.
“Einra, did you know? I never used to believe in love. I’ve met countless women, but never once did I feel anything beyond passing interest.”
“Mm…”
“But the moment I first saw you, a thunderbolt of feeling I’ve never known before struck me. Isn’t this what love is?”
“Mm, no, I don’t think so…”
“I am the heir of one of only two grand ducal houses in Elberk, and you are the world’s only spiritist contracted with the Spirit King. Don’t you think we’re perfectly matched? Isn’t this fate?”
“Mm, also no, not at all…”
This guy was clearly completely insane.
Cold sweat trickled down my back.
As I quickened my pace to shake him off, a long shadow suddenly blocked my way.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
A voice I knew better than any other dropped right above my head.
Harnen pulled me behind him and smiled crookedly down at the grand duke’s son.
Harnen!
Overwhelmed with relief, I nearly screamed, but clamped a hand over my mouth.
I wasn’t used to noble society—my only option until now had been to flee.
But Harnen, who had once been an emperor, could handle such situations with far more poise and grace than I ever could.
If it were me, I’d probably have bluntly refused and been gossiped about in society for years…
But Harnen was different!
The moment my dependable ally appeared, my body almost gave way with relief.
I gripped his clothes tightly.
Feeling my grasp, Harnen flinched for a moment, then drew me closer behind his back.
Lloyd, who had been following me, frowned.
“…That’s exactly what I’d like to ask you. Who are you to act so rudely toward the lady?”
“You’re the rude one. If she’s clearly avoiding you, why do you keep chasing after her?”
Harnen stepped closer to Lloyd.
When someone taller loomed over him, Lloyd faltered under the shadow, but quickly straightened his shoulders and glared back, unwilling to back down.
“The lady and I were conversing. Who are you to spout nonsense about her avoiding me?”
“Oh, since you keep asking who I am, I suppose you must be dying to know…”
Tilting his head with a sunny smile, Harnen reached out and patted Lloyd’s shoulder.
“I’m Einra’s closest childhood friend. I can read her expressions like no one else.”
The hand patting his shoulder suddenly gripped hard and yanked him closer.
Lloyd let out a stifled groan under the crushing grip.
Still smiling, Harnen bent his head and whispered in his ear.
“And when she walked out into the hall, her face said loud and clear that she wanted to get as far away from you as possible.”
“What the—ugh…!”
“So stop crawling around her like a worm and get lost.”
Lifting his head, Harnen smiled just as pleasantly as before, and neatly straightened the wrinkles in Lloyd’s shoulder.
“Oh dear, you didn’t even notice your uniform was wrinkled. You must be careful—your attire is no different from your face, after all.”
After brushing him down carefully, Harnen stepped back.
“Y-you vulgar…”
Lloyd, pale as a sheet, trembled and mouthed insults at Harnen, but didn’t dare make a scene.
Of course he didn’t.
Raised as a grand duke’s son, he had surely never been threatened like this before. And Harnen had so cleverly hidden it from others’ eyes, there was no proof.
He could have pressed the matter with his status, but Harnen was known as the spiritist’s closest friend.
Even if he didn’t know Harnen was also the emperor’s and the Grand Duke of Serenia’s favored sorcerer, attacking the spiritist’s friend was no different from making the spiritist your enemy.
And no one in society would back someone who picked a fight with the spiritist. Only Lloyd’s own reputation would suffer.
I secretly teared up as I watched it all unfold.
Yes… this was all something Harnen had experienced in his past life, wasn’t it?
Ah, my poor favorite. How many times must he have been subjected to these tactics in his last life, for threats to slip so naturally off his tongue now…
Whether he knew my thoughts or not, Harnen turned to me with a gentle smile.
He held out his large hand.
“Shall we go, Einra?”
“Yes…!”
I nodded hard and grasped his hand.
As I followed his lead, I glanced back and locked eyes with Lloyd, who was glaring at Harnen.
Wait for me.
He mouthed the words.
A chill ran straight down my spine.
Wait? Wait for what, exactly?!
Did he not hear a single thing Harnen just said?!
I snapped my head back around and clung even closer to Harnen’s arm.
If I showed just how close we were, maybe it would discourage him.
I stuck right at Harnen’s side all the way into the lounge, refusing to let go.
It was entirely for Lloyd’s benefit—just in case he was still watching.
“Whew, that was draining…”
As soon as Harnen shut the door of the lounge and even pulled the curtain down, I rushed over and collapsed onto the sofa.
Harnen came to sit by my head and sighed.
“When some worm like that pesters you, you should come straight to me.”
Despite his scolding tone, his hand gently stroked my hair.
I pouted and lifted my head to look at him.
“But you didn’t even look me in the eye first.”
His hand froze.
“…I didn’t?”
At his quiet question, I nodded firmly.
“Yeah, you did.”
“….”
Harnen said nothing more.
