PDHTFV 16

~Chapter 16~

“…What? Where did you say?”

I thought I’d misheard and asked again, but Yushen didn’t answer. That silence seemed to tell me I hadn’t heard wrong.

See? He really only acts this way with me. Just a moment ago he was all nice in front of people.

I frowned and stopped walking.

‘What is he planning to do, taking me somewhere with no one around?’

It’s not like I expect anything romantic to happen, like when I first possessed this body and knew nothing.

On the contrary, since I’m in Yushen’s territory now, even if I were to disappear without a trace, no one would suspect a thing.

That’s why I had to be even more careful about being alone with Yushen.

‘…Still, after all that fuss earlier, at least today he probably won’t do anything to me.’

Yushen stopped walking and turned around to look at me when he sensed I wasn’t following.

His eyes seemed to say, Why aren’t you coming?

“Tell me exactly where we’re going before you start walking.”

“If I tell you, will you even know where it is?”

“……”

I shut my mouth. Even though he hadn’t used a mocking tone, it was annoying.

Maybe it was because… Yushen wasn’t wrong.

He stared at me for a moment, then continued.

“And you’d better fix your way of speaking.”

With a completely different, firm tone from before, he warned me.

“At least within Luche, show me respect.”

Why?

My first reaction was to want to push back.

Yushen had never once scolded me for speaking informally to him until now.

But that feeling quickly died down. I realized why Yushen was suddenly cracking down on me.

‘This is his turf, and there are a lot of eyes watching us.’

If I wanted to stay in Luche, it was right to listen to him.

If I kept treating Yushen the same as I did outside, I might just end up being treated like a thorn in his side for being rude to the captain, despite being just a low-ranked member.

After saying his piece, he started walking again.

Judging by his attitude, it seemed he really did want to talk, not do anything to me.

Something that absolutely no one else could overhear.

‘But… are there just a lot of members in Luche, or are people following us around? Why is every place so crowded?’

We just couldn’t find an empty spot.

That was already our third miss.

“…That’s strange.”

Yushen seemed to have a similar thought, closing the door of yet another occupied room and tilting his head.

He really is a tofu-hearted male lead, unable to even say a harsh word.

If it were me, I would’ve just kicked everyone out and claimed a room.

But with his gentle personality, Yushen would never do something like that, even if I told him to.

In the end, we wandered through the building until we finally ended up…

“Is this really the best option?”

“…All the other rooms are being used, so there’s nothing else we can do.”

A dusty old supply room.

…It was, as he said, a deserted place, but I didn’t like it at all.

Wanting to finish the conversation quickly, I waved my hand through the dust floating in the air and asked first,

“How did you even know I was here… sir?”

“Aydin told me.”

“Oh.”

As if I could’ve kept my entry a secret… from the captain of Luche, no less. Who else could’ve approved it?

Still, I wondered—what was Yushen thinking, approving my entry? He had to know I couldn’t get in without his say-so.

If it were me, I would’ve used that as an excuse to make things miserable until the person gave up and left.

“From what I hear, you really pulled off quite the con.”

I couldn’t help but bristle at the clear tone of accusation in Yushen’s words.

It’s true I have the power of foresight, and… Aydin just misunderstood how good it was.

I never said I was that amazing! Okay, maybe I acted like it, but still…

“It’s not a con, you know?”

“You’re saying you can really see the future?”

“You said you heard everything from Aydin… sir!”

I hadn’t really thought much about my ability until now, but the way Yushen pressed me made me feel like I’d done something seriously wrong.

Honestly, I did feel a little guilty, but I didn’t think it was fraud. Knowing the future of this world is basically the same as having foresight!

When you just look at the result, it’s a little… unfair, isn’t it?

Yushen stared at my indignant face, then slowly nodded.

“Well, it might be true that you have that power.”

“It’s not ‘might be,’ it really is… sir…”

The more I spoke, the more it sounded like a flimsy excuse, so my words trailed off.

Unbothered, Yushen shot me a sharp question.

“Then let me ask directly. Why did you join Luche?”

“……”

“I seem to recall you didn’t like being near me.”

Well, at least he knows. I thought he didn’t.

But how was I supposed to answer that? It’s not like I never thought about it—I knew this would be the first thing Yushen would want to know when he found out I joined.

But there was no way I could tell him the real answer.

‘How could I say I planned to use Aydin as a shield for a year, stay alive, and then leave this world?’

Not only would it be shameless, but it would also be admitting to Yushen’s face that I conned Aydin (even though I don’t think it’s fraud, since Yushen calls it that… let’s just roll with it).

Phew, Letitia, get yourself together.

Even if you’re in a tiger’s den, as long as you keep your wits, you’ll survive! You have to act shameless at times like this. It’s not like you have anywhere else to go, right?

I recalled the wisdom passed down from my ancestors and carefully turned things over in my mind—when a question popped up.

‘…Why is he being nice to me?’

He’s still sharp with me, but it’s definitely gentler than before.

Strictly speaking, I was the one who deliberately did what Yushen told me not to do and made a mess of things.

You’d think he’d be angry since he’s the one who has to clean it all up, but instead of being mad, he’s kindly asking why I caused trouble in the first place.

‘He’s got to have a reason for this. Did something change in his heart?’

If not, then what?

Nothing’s really changed between us while we were apart.

‘If I had to guess, it’s probably Aydin…’

No matter how much I thought about it, Aydin was the only answer.

In the original, Yushen was quite fond of Aydin, and went to a lot of trouble to keep people from noticing Aydin’s weakness—being a commoner.

Now that Aydin personally vouched for and recommended me, Yushen didn’t have any good reason to refuse.

If he rejected me for no reason, it would just give people an excuse to bite into Aydin.

Besides, if I had no ability, it’d be one thing, but with foresight, refusing me would just put Yushen in the crosshairs instead.

‘So that means… with Aydin backing me, can’t I act a little more confident in front of Yushen?’

As my thoughts shifted, my hunched shoulders straightened out like a fan opening up.

A cocky glint entered my eyes as a bonus.

“So you’re that curious why I joined?”

Yushen seemed to notice the change in my demeanor and raised one eyebrow.

He clearly didn’t like my attitude.

“The reason is simple.”

“It’s simple, huh.”

“Yeah. I wanted to mess with you.”

“To mess with me?”

He looked like he couldn’t understand what I was saying.

Well, it’s not like he’s had people try to mess with him before. And if he did, no one would say it to his face like I just did.

“To be exact, I wanted to make things difficult for you. As much as you made things hard for me.”

“……”

“Don’t tell me you thought I suddenly developed some kind of noble sense of justice?”

“…I never expected or hoped for that. I know who you really are.”

Ugh, that again.

Aren’t you tired of saying that? How many times do I have to tell you I’m not a witch?

I’m too tired to keep correcting you. Think whatever you want. I’ll just find Leana for you myself.

When I bring her, you’ll at least apologize for the misunderstanding.

“I plan to make a real mess where you can see it.”

If possible, I wanted to keep hanging around in front of Yushen, always getting on his nerves.

“That’s really your only reason?”

“Yeah. That’s all there is to it.”

I put on an expression that said, “What more reason do you need?”

The more suspicious Yushen got, the more shameless I had to be. That was the only way to keep him from discovering my real motives.

‘You’ll never know, but just for one year, let me owe you my life.’