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Chapter : 04
“…Damn it.”
What kind of mess is this, right from the start?
Harten roughly raked a hand through his hair and let out a long sigh.
They had rushed at each other with knives in their mouths—ready to wound one another—dozens of times before.
And yet, for some reason, this time he found it hard to throw cruel words at her.
“How ridiculous.”
Am I just tired?
Harten frowned and deliberately spoke in a cold voice.
“Let’s go inside first.”
If he rested a bit at the villa, he’d regain his usual condition.
There would be plenty of time to tell her to leave after that.
With that, Harten strode past Eani and headed toward the interior of the island.
No—he was about to.
“W–wait, I’ll go with you—ah!”
If only she hadn’t overreached trying to follow him and nearly fallen!
In that instant, Harten turned back at a speed so fast it left no afterimage and caught her in his arms.
Thump.
Eani’s body fit surprisingly snugly against his, and the sensation where they touched was far too vivid.
‘Soft…’
Realizing this, Harten clenched his lips tightly.
Thump thump thump thump thump—!!!
Otherwise, it felt like his heart would burst out of his chest.
‘Why am I freaking out now?’
It wasn’t just his heart.
For a while now, all of his senses had been focused on her.
Something was strange.
‘Even when I first met this woman, my heart didn’t pound like this…!’
His whole body hadn’t trembled with tension like this, and the places where they touched hadn’t tingled so sharply.
His mind was in chaos.
‘Don’t tell me… that curse has returned?’
And worse than before.
Judging by his condition, it was a plausible guess.
‘This is dangerous…!’
If that was the case, he needed to distance himself from Eani Nacel as soon as possible.
Just as Harten bit his lip and was about to push her away—
“Thank you, Young Duke.”
Eani spoke softly.
“Thanks to you, I didn’t fall.”
She smiled sweetly as she said it, the corners of her lips lifting.
And then—
‘!’
The moment he saw it, Harten’s mind, which had been blaring warning sirens of danger, went completely blank.
Truly, stark white.
‘She smiled…’
It was the first time, he swore, that he’d seen her smile so brightly—and that alone made it shockingly impactful.
He couldn’t take his eyes off Eani’s smile.
As if unaware of his state, she whispered shyly.
“I’m a little embarrassed. I wanted to show you only my best side.”
“…It’s fine.”
“If it’s all right with you, could you help support me to the villa?”
“…Sure.”
Captivated by her smile, he didn’t even realize what he was answering.
By the time he came to his senses, it was already too late—he had offered her his arm.
‘…It can’t be helped.’
After all, he did bear some responsibility for her ankle ending up like this.
Helping her walk was the least he could do.
‘Yes, thinking the curse has returned is probably an exaggeration.’
His heart was pounding this hard simply because he was tired.
A little rest, and it would calm down.
Having finished rationalizing, Harten began to walk carefully.
He couldn’t bring himself to look directly at Eani until the end.
He had absolutely no immunity to her smiling face.
‘This is driving me crazy.’
Harten struggled to cool his flushed face.
Eani, watching him, smiled even more brightly.
What a pity.
If he had regained his senses and turned his head even once, he might have noticed that the look in Eani’s eyes was less like a wounded deer’s and far more like a wolf’s gaze locking onto its prey…
In any case, the two of them entered the island together, each hiding their true thoughts.
Harten Seind was certainly an interesting man.
I smiled faintly as I watched him step out onto the balcony yet again.
“Do you feel a bit more rested now?”
“…Yes.”
“And are your busy duties finally taken care of?”
“…I think so.”
“Then does that mean you can finally have a cup of tea with me?”
I smiled brightly and lightly shook the teacup I was holding.
Harten looked at the cup once, then at my smiling face, and let out a deep sigh.
“…All right.”
He shuffled over and sat down in the chair across from me.
Elin, who had been waiting behind him, swiftly poured tea into the cups that had already been set out.
It was a fragrant herbal tea, but Harten gulped it down as if he were drinking cold water.
I blinked rapidly as I watched him.
‘Looks like he’s feeling stifled himself.’
Well, that was understandable.
After entering the villa with Harten, I had suggested having tea together.
I wanted to talk as much as possible with someone who knew the past.
But Harten had firmly shaken his head.
He’d said things like he needed to recover from fatigue, or that he had urgent work to handle.
He’d warned me very sternly not to disturb him.
Yet, amusingly, it was Harten himself who couldn’t sit still.
Just minutes after going to his room, he came out to the balcony where I was, saying he needed some fresh air.
He’d stare at me silently, then leave when it seemed like he might speak.
Then come out again later. And go back again.
Out, back.
Out, back.
‘He’s already repeated this four times.’
No wonder he looked fed up with himself.
Even now, Harten’s eyes were fixed intently on me.
Feeling his gaze, I tapped the table lightly with my index finger.
‘Hmm… shall I test it one last time?’
I casually tucked my windblown hair behind my ear and met his eyes.
Then I lifted the corners of my lips in a small smile—
Whip!
Harten scowled sharply and turned his head toward the sea.
Thump thump thump thump thump!
All while pounding his chest with one hand.
That confirmed it.
‘His heart is probably racing like crazy.’
Whether he liked Eani Nacel or not.
‘Harten Seind is instinctively drawn to Eani Nacel.’
Harten himself didn’t understand why he was like this, but I did—having read the original story.
I knew the true nature of that curse-like pull.
It began with an old legend passed down in this world.
“Long ago, in the Empire, there was a great mage who stood at the pinnacle of magic and was loved by all.
People praised the great mage’s radiant golden hair and called her the Mage of the Sun.
There was a man who loved this Mage of the Sun more than anyone else.
He tried every possible means to possess her, but ultimately failed.
Instead, as punishment for coveting the Mage of the Sun, he was cursed—never again able to use magic, nor receive its blessings, for the rest of his life.”
‘And even so, the man did not repent. He died still craving the Mage of the Sun.’
Predictably, that man was an ancestor of the House of Seind.
That ancient curse was passed down through blood, affecting his descendants as well.
‘Though now it’s not every Seind—just one per generation.’
In this generation, that person was Harten Seind.
He possessed a peculiar constitution: unable to use magic, and unable to benefit from it.
But that wasn’t the important part.
‘What matters is the side effect of the curse.’
True to being the descendant of a man obsessed with the Mage of the Sun, those with this constitution desired to possess the person with the strongest magical power of their era.
More precisely, a blonde woman with the strongest magical power.
‘And Eani Nacel just happened to meet all of those difficult conditions.’
With all those coincidences overlapping, Harten felt a powerful attraction to Eani at first sight.
Even though Eani never awakened the magical power sleeping within her to the very end.
There was also something the original story didn’t state outright, but which could be inferred from the current situation.
‘The reason Harten was able to let go of his obsession with Eani after the ending.’
The reason was simple.
After the ending, Eani—her ankle ruined and imprisoned on the island—lost all will to live.
‘According to the setting, lethargy is magic’s natural enemy.’
As her magical power weakened, Harten’s obsession cooled as well.
‘But now that I’ve taken over Eani’s body, things are different.’
I lightly clenched my fist.
Though I had never once felt anything called “magic,” I could instinctively sense it.
‘The power actively moving inside my body right now.’
If lethargy is magic’s enemy, then passion must be magic’s ally.
‘And I’m a bundle of desire who absolutely must seize what I aim for.’
Unlike the original Eani, who wanted nothing grand and simply wished to live quietly and calmly.
With my overflowing passion combined with Eani’s immense latent potential—
‘Maybe I’m like the best ingredients meeting the best chef?’
All that’s left is the ultimate recipe.
Then perhaps the ultimate dish could be born.
‘A dish far more valuable than I even expect~.’
“What are you thinking about so deeply?”
