🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 2
“What are you doing? Open the door.”
“W-Well, the thing is…”
“Move. I’ll open it myself.”
The hesitant employee was so frustrating that Abelin opened the door herself. She heard the employee cry out, “Ah!” from behind her, but ignored it and walked inside.
‘I just have to meet him for a moment and leave. It won’t be difficult.’
It was only a formal meeting, and after today, she wouldn’t have to see him again until the engagement ceremony. If luck was on her side, Baron Berta might even reject her.
Of course, that would hurt her pride in its own way, but being mocked was far better than being sold off to marry a complete stranger.
“Ugh… the smell of alcohol.”
The moment she stepped inside, she understood why the employee had hesitated. However much he had drunk alone, the entire room reeked of liquor.
“Oh, you’ve arrived.”
“Baron?”
Empty bottles were scattered across the table. The thoroughly drunk Baron Berta staggered to his feet as soon as he saw Abelin.
“Hehe… You are… absolutely beautiful.”
The tiny hope that the baron might reject her shattered into pieces.
Watching the drunken Baron Berta wobble toward her like a newborn giraffe, Abelin failed to keep her expression under control.
Still, she did her best to remain calm and spoke carefully.
“Baron, you’ve had quite a lot to drink. Are you alright?”
“What? Are you looking down on me because you think I’m not alright?”
At her words, Baron Berta suddenly became angry.
“I’m perfectly fine!”
‘He’s definitely not fine.’
With an absurdly crooked gait, the baron somehow managed to stop right in front of her. Startled, Abelin had unconsciously stepped backward until her back hit the door, leaving her nowhere to escape.
“You know… why we’re meeting today, don’t you?”
As Baron Berta rambled on with a satisfied grin, Abelin cursed him inwardly.
‘I know, you ugly bastard.’
For several reasons, Abelin found the current situation unbearable. His ugly face was far too close, and every time he opened his mouth, his foul breath washed over her face.
‘Ugh… your breath.’
None of the male leads in the romance novels Abelin had read looked this ordinary, nor did any of them have breath that smelled like rotten oysters.
She had certainly never heard of a male lead who was such a hopeless drunk!
She wanted to drive her knee straight into this drunkard and put him down, but she’d come here to do the task her father had given her.
‘I can’t go back like this and disappoint him.’
Barely regaining her composure, Abelin spoke calmly.
“Baron. Please step back a little.”
“What? You’re telling me to step back? How much longer do I have to stay behind that damned older brother of mine?!”
The baron, whose veins seemed to be filled entirely with alcohol, was impossible to reason with. No longer able to endure holding her breath, Abelin calmly answered,
“That’s not what I meant. Your breath smells.”
“Heh. They say your younger brother is handsome, and it looks like you’re pretty easy on the eyes too.”
Pretending not to hear her criticism, Baron Berta casually ignored it. Then he raised a damp hand and grabbed a fistful of Abelin’s pink hair.
‘Endure it. Just endure it.’
She wanted to slap his hand away immediately, but she thought of her father and squeezed out every last drop of patience buried deep within her mind.
“Baron. I think you’re far too drunk. How about we both just go home and tell everyone the meeting went well?”
“What if I refuse?”
Baron Berta curled his thick, lifeless lips into a grin.
“Aren’t you just the unwanted child your family threw away? Didn’t they send you here because they wanted to pair up all the useless leftovers?”
Suddenly worked up, he shouted while spraying spit everywhere.
“But… you’re still pretty lucky. I never imagined I’d get such a young, pretty woman as my wife.”
His eyes suddenly darkened.
The drunken trembling vanished, replaced by a sticky gaze that slowly swept over Abelin from head to toe.
“If you’re going to marry me anyway… why don’t I have a little taste now? What do you think?”
Baron Berta stepped closer and closer until there was almost no distance left between them.
With her back pressed against the door and nowhere to run, Abelin tried to calm him down.
“Baron. If you step back now, I won’t use my hands.”
“Hahaha! Your hands? What can a mere woman do? At best, it’d feel like a feather—ugh!”
The baron, who had been laughing like a madman, suddenly clutched his mouth and tumbled backward.
Abelin had punched him square in the mouth.
“My feather happens to be rather heavy.”
Leaving Baron Berta sprawled on the floor, groaning while clutching his mouth with both hands, Abelin threw open the door and ran outside.
Who would have thought the physical training she’d done while obsessing over female knight novels—dreaming of becoming a knight herself—would actually come in handy?
Even Abelin was stunned by what she’d done, but she gathered herself and hurried toward the exit.
“My lady, do you need anyth—”
An employee approaching down the hallway gasped upon seeing the state she was in.
“What happened in there is a secret.”
Even in her panic, she didn’t forget to make sure the employee kept quiet.
The stunned employee nodded and pointed toward the exit.
Treating that gesture as the starting signal, Abelin ran for her life.
At any moment, she felt as though the door behind her would burst open and the baron would come chasing after her.
Thump. Thump.
Her heart pounded so loudly it felt abnormal.
—Prove your worth to me.
The pounding of her heart gradually transformed into her father’s voice echoing in her ears.
‘Why can’t I even do something this simple?’
All she had to do was meet him and come back.
Maybe she should have waited until he’d sobered up before leaving.
But she had genuinely felt threatened.
His awful breath had been disgusting, of course, but what truly frightened her was being cornered against a wall by a fully grown man with nowhere to escape.
She remembered Ares desperately trying to stop her earlier.
‘I should’ve listened to him.’
Instead of getting excited just because Father had finally entrusted her with something.
The moment she left the restaurant, Abelin climbed into the carriage waiting directly outside.
Click.
The moment she entered the enclosed space surrounded on all sides, relief washed over her.
She was finally somewhere safe.
“Hic…”
As soon as the tension left her body, the tears she’d been holding back burst free.
“Waaah!”
Abelin cried loudly like a child.
She hadn’t shown it, but she’d been terrified.
The moment with Baron Berta already felt as distant as the nightmare she’d had a few days ago.
“Sorry to interrupt your crying, but…”
A voice suddenly came from inside the carriage she had assumed was empty.
Startled, Abelin hastily wiped away her tears and turned toward the sound.
“This is my carriage.”
A man with jet-black hair and deep blue eyes looked at her with a wary expression.
He was so handsome that it felt as though the Creator had secretly made him for personal enjoyment before accidentally letting him loose into the world.
He seemed far more concerned that a stranger had suddenly barged into his carriage than by the fact that she was crying.
“So you’re the young lady of House Herrols.”
With a voice every bit as captivating as his appearance, the man identified her.
‘How does he know me?’
She rarely left the estate and had almost no friends.
Meanwhile, Abelin had absolutely no idea who he was.
“They say you and the heir of House Herrols are twins. You do resemble him. I often see the young master of House Herrols at the Central Council.”
Only then did Abelin realize who the man before her was.
A man so handsome that no one who saw him could ever forget him…
Yet impossible to read, no matter how long you looked at him.
She’d heard those rumors before.
“…Duke Ribes?”
The Emperor’s nephew.
The leader of the noble faction opposed to the Emperor.
And, together with the Crown Prince and her younger brother, one of the Empire’s three most handsome men.
A man rumored to be…
A polite lunatic.
“You’re seriously sending her to meet that reckless scoundrel?”
“Hmph. What kind of behavior is that in front of your father?”
“Why not use me to build connections instead? With this face, I’m confident I could even charm men.”
For the first time during the conversation, Count Herrols frowned.
“What nonsense are you talking about? You’re meant for far greater things. Abelin has finally found something she can do. Didn’t you see her? The moment she was given a task, she happily went on her own.”
At his father’s words, Ares recalled the look on Abelin’s face earlier.
—It’s the first time Father has ever expected something from me, so I’m a little excited. Don’t ruin it.
She’d tried to act tough while climbing into the carriage, but it had been obvious how nervous she was.
No matter how useless she had been, hiding away in her room all this time, this was too much.
Abelin was only twenty.
That old man was already well into his thirties.
Anyone who heard about it would surely spread rumors that he’d sold his own sister off for the sake of his career.
Ares excelled at everything.
He was even blessed with extraordinary looks.
The thought of such a filthy scandal staining his flawless reputation was utterly intolerable.
As that realization settled in, Ares became even more anxious than before.
He had certainly come because he was worried about his sister…
But at this point, he was just as worried that his own perfect reputation would suffer.
“No matter what you say, Father, I’m bringing my sister back.”
“How dare you!”
“However.”
Before kicking the door open, Ares turned back toward his furious father with a relaxed smile.
“In return…”
“I’ll retrieve the Duke Ribes documents that you failed to steal before. I guarantee it.”
Bang!
Slamming the door behind him, Ares practically ran out of the estate.
“Prepare my horse.”
The stable master immediately brought him his horse.
The well-groomed white stallion, its coat gleaming beautifully, was Ares’s favorite.
“Let’s go, Beauty!”
“Neigh!”
Living up to its perfectly fitting name, the horse recognized its equally handsome master and let out a loud whinny.
Ares leapt gracefully into the saddle.
Mounted atop the white horse, he looked like a breathtaking fairy who had stepped straight out of a storybook.
“Wait for me. Your big brother is coming.”
With a face overflowing with self-admiration, Ares urged the horse into motion.
