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Chapter : 8
“I think he’s a good person, except for the part where he keeps increasing my workload.”
She had no idea how many new tasks he brought every day. On Freya’s desk were piles upon piles of documents that needed to be reviewed and turned into reports.
There was already plenty of work flooding into their department, and since it happened to be directly under Raiden, it was even busier.
Knowing she wasn’t joking, Raiden wore a slightly guilty expression.
“Haha. I do ask you to handle a lot of work. I’m sorry. But it’s because your abilities are outstanding, Freya. I trust you with it.”
“I know. You like how I handle things.”
It had been that way since their academy days. Though only through indirect experience, all of it remained in the memories of this body.
When Raiden had been the student council president and she the vice president, he had given her at least three times as much work as anyone else. He’d said similar things back then too.
‘I trust you the most, Freya. Your ability and your meticulousness.’
Who could doubt him when those ruby-like eyes were filled with such deep trust?
Whenever she produced good results, he praised her almost excessively and made sure to reward her, so even Freya, who was usually stingy with her effort, couldn’t help but work hard.
Pushing people just a little past their limits, coaxing them with rewards, and then compensating them properly—that was Raiden’s way of managing others.
The over-the-top praise that made the listener embarrassed was a bit burdensome, and the way he gently but persistently pointed out mistakes when things went wrong was annoying, but still, Raiden was a good colleague and superior.
“I don’t really like it when someone else does it for me.”
He blinked slowly, then looked straight at Freya.
“When you report each thing to me yourself, it’s easier to understand, and the results are better too, so I feel at ease.”
Yes, those eyes. Those deep, sparkling red eyes had a way of stirring people’s hearts.
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I even like your calm voice so much that I want to keep listening to it.”
“That’s a bit exaggerated.”
There it was—the kind of praise that embarrassed the listener. When she averted her gaze slightly with an awkward expression, Raiden chuckled softly.
“Not at all. There’s nothing about you that could be called exaggerated. It’s all my sincere feelings.”
“…I see.”
“You’re a reliable colleague and a good person, Freya. I know that better than anyone. So what I’m about to say now isn’t a joke either.”
“What?”
At Freya’s puzzled question, he took a breath and continued.
“Earlier, you said I was a good person, didn’t you?”
“Yes, and?”
“Then, as two trustworthy colleagues and good people, let’s take this further.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Take what further? Freya frowned, not understanding.
Raiden loosened the hand he’d been clenching and met her eyes.
“Please go out with me, with marriage in mind.”
“…What did you say?”
Freya doubted her own ears.
“Go out with me, with marriage in mind, Freya.”
“……”
His face as he repeated it was serious. His gaze on her was steady, as if to show he wasn’t joking.
…Isn’t this strange?
Did father and son eat something bad together? What on earth is going on?
She couldn’t understand why he would say something like this to her, who wasn’t even the female lead.
After being momentarily speechless, Freya hardened her expression and spoke.
“When you say go out… do you mean dating?”
“Yes. Not as colleagues, but I want to properly date you, as a man and a woman.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to develop a romantic relationship with you.”
“……”
This man—did he really eat something wrong? Or hit his head somewhere?
Otherwise, there was no way he’d suddenly say something like this.
He wanted to “date” her, not Astella. And on top of that, with marriage in mind?
‘What kind of conversation did he have with Savanna?’
Why are the two of them doing this to me?
She was already getting a headache because of Savanna and Astella, and now Raiden too. What was she supposed to do?
After thinking deeply, Freya asked,
“Do you know that I’m Astella’s cousin?”
“Of course.”
Then he should know how Astella would react, so why was he doing this?
“…Your Grace, did Lady Savanna perhaps tell you to do this?”
“No, this has nothing to do with my mother.”
“It looked like the two of you talked about something first.”
“We did talk about you. My mother brought up marriage and said there was a young lady she wanted as her daughter-in-law.”
“That would be me, then.”
Savanna suddenly bringing up marriage—and specifically picking her—was suspicious enough.
“That’s right. But I opposed it.”
“What? You just said you wanted to go out with me with marriage in mind.”
“Ah, I didn’t oppose marriage itself. I opposed getting married right now. I wanted to take things more slowly and follow the proper steps. If we skipped too many stages, I don’t think I could handle it yet…”
“Handle what?”
What could he possibly not handle?
At Freya’s puzzled gaze, Raiden hesitated, then said with reddening cheeks, as if embarrassed,
“I-I mean… forms of address. If we got married, we’d be husband and wife, so the way we’d call each other would change, like ‘w-wife’ or ‘husb—’”
“Husband?”
“…!”
His eyes widened as he stared at her.
For a moment, the focus left Raiden’s eyes, then his face turned bright red. He lowered his head and muttered,
“How can you say something like that so easily…?”
“Is it really that hard?”
It’s just wife and husband.
Was he always like this? It didn’t seem so. He was strangely weak in unexpected ways.
At this rate… he really looked like a man who had fallen in love.
Freya narrowed her eyes at him, then after some thought, asked,
“Your Grace. Do you like me?”
After a brief pause, Raiden answered,
“…Yes, I do.”
“You mean in a romantic sense?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. I like you, Freya.”
The raised corners of his lips, his curved eyes, his flushed cheeks, his reddened ears.
Anyone could tell from that face and reaction that he was confessing. Freya barely held herself back from letting her mouth fall open and discreetly pinched the back of her own hand.
‘Not the female lead… but me?’
That was impossible.
She was just a supporting character. Just a fool for the heroine.
Sure, they had a lot of interactions, but they were just colleagues—superior and subordinate. Nothing more, nothing less.
…Something had to be wrong.
From the fact that there was nothing special about Raiden in her memories, it was clear that the original Freya had no such feelings for him.
Yet here Raiden was, saying this…
‘Could this be… unrequited love?’
Was it one of those stories where the male lead, tired from one-sided love, is approached by the female lead, comforted, and then finds new love?
And she would be the supporting character who coldly rejects him?
…It sounded plausible, but no matter how hard she tried to remember, there was no mention in the original story of the male lead liking someone in the past.
Or maybe it was something the author didn’t bother to mention since it wasn’t important?
Yeah, just a light, passing crush…
At that moment, a lingering doubt popped into her mind.
‘But Savanna said Raiden wasn’t dating Astella and had no intention of marrying her. She even said he felt uncomfortable because she approached him too much.’
And what man would make a confession like that with light feelings? A confession like that was something you could only make with serious emotions.
Besides, judging by Raiden’s personality, he wouldn’t confess lightly either.
Even though he answered her questions confidently, it was clear from his 모습 that saying those words hadn’t been easy.
He’d glanced away from her gaze, his face, ears, even his neck flushed red, covering his mouth with his hand.
“…So this is really that embarrassing, huh.”
“Are you okay?”
“Probably… no, um…”
“You look quite troubled, Your Grace.”
“Th-this is my first time with something like this.”
Raiden covered his face with both hands, then ruffled his blond hair.
Somehow, he was reacting like the one who’d just been confessed to.
