VWTI 09

Chapter 09

Yulian, who had fallen silent for a moment at Evgenia’s heartfelt(?) appeal, soon wiped all expression from his face.

After gently removing her hand, as he walked around from behind her back to the front, his gait gave the feeling of a person from an unapproachably high position.

The posture that had seemed like the personification of ‘cockiness’ had now changed to that of a high-handed ‘superior’.

Placing his interlaced hands on his crossed knee, he looked down at Evgenia clearly.

His attitude was akin to that of a royal family member hearing a petition from the nobility.

“Well, Lady. Are you confident you won’t regret it?”

The words were just as fragmented as before, but unlike before, his voice carried weight.

Evgenia swallowed dryly and lifted her chin slightly.

At least here, it would be more effective for her to present a dignified appearance.

“Even if I do, that’s a problem for me to bear. You erase the Name, and I… will wish for their happiness. That’s how it has to end.”

Yulian’s narrowed eyes lightly scanned her.

With a tilted chin, he asked with a cold smile.

“Love that offers her body to a man she’s just met for the sake of her fiancé. It brings tears to my eyes. Prince Larson should appreciate such feelings, shouldn’t he?”

So, even if he wavered a bit, he still couldn’t bring himself to trust her.

His smiling face, seemingly intent on openly irritating Evgenia, was quite infuriating.

Grr, suppressing the anger rising within her, she spoke.
“…Since you made such a baseless demand for my body, I thought you were just trying to anger me so I’d leave. I never imagined you’d actually want something like my body.”

Evgenia, feigning pitifulness, covered the corner of her mouth with her hand, her gaze openly drifting downwards before returning up.

Her bright yellow eyes were soon hidden behind her gracefully curved eyelids.
“How did the Empire’s Second Prince become so starved for women? It really brings tears to one’s eyes, doesn’t it?”

The room, which had fallen silent in an instant, seemed filled only with their shallow breaths.

They stared directly at each other without avoiding eye contact, as if sparks were about to fly.

Yulian, who lightly shrugged his shoulders, was the first to raise his hand in surrender.

“I’ll admit it. I was being short-sighted on that point.”

The tightly drawn tension snapped and dissipated in an instant.

Perhaps because they thought they had seen each other’s true depths, the atmosphere had lightened considerably.

Evgenia clicked her tongue softly, dropped the hand she was using to feign pitifulness, and asked with a tilt of her head.
“Good that you know. So, is there really no other way?”

She held onto a hope that it wasn’t the case, or more precisely, a wish that it ‘wasn’t the case’.

No matter what false identity he was using, a person who had lived as a prince couldn’t possibly easily suggest such a ‘relationship’ to a high-ranking noble, could he?

When no answer came to her casually thrown question, a chilling sense of foreboding trickled down her spine.
“…Don’t tell me you’re serious?”
“For now.”

Yulian shook his head slightly, looking at the horrified Evgenia, and began to explain.
“Given that you know my true identity and my ability, you must also know why ‘Names’ are so important in the Empire, right?”

It was a story her father had told her.

She nodded shortly, and the explanation quickly moved on.
“Then you must also know why I live in hiding.”
“…Because of the ability? Because there’s nothing good that can come from people knowing about this kind of ability…?”

For a moment, Yulian’s eyebrow twitched slightly, but it returned to normal before she could notice.
“Well, that’s part of the reason too.”
“…?”
“It’s an ability one can hardly be proud of, so I’ve experimented with various things from the shadows… First, finding Name bearers was difficult, and conducting various experiments on bearers was also challenging.”

Hearing the word ‘experiments’, her face contorted involuntarily.

She remembered how the original ‘Evgenia Martur’ had ended.

Yulian continued his explanation nonchalantly, however he interpreted her reaction.
“And there’s exactly one method I haven’t tried experimenting with yet.”
“…Don’t tell me that’s it?”

Yulian, with a wry twist of his lips, crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

The words he uttered with endlessly arrogant bearing were precisely those of ‘royalty’ itself.

Therefore,
“I have a rather precious body; I can’t just tangle with anyone.”

It meant it was dreadfully unfortunate.

When she shot him a look that openly condemned him, he let out a small laugh not long after.
“I’m joking, joking.”
“……”
“Everyone refused, saying they didn’t want to betray their loved ones. I can’t understand believing that fate, love, or whatever, such abstract things, will last forever.”

His tone suggested he couldn’t believe in their feelings, their ‘love’, at all.

It was as if he had only learned about love theoretically.

‘No, is now the time to be interested in scandals of direct royals? The method to erase the Name is only that!’

Evgenia, lightly tousling her hair to clear her complicated thoughts, asked awkwardly.
“What about the methods you experimented with before? Can’t we use one of those?”
“Hmm. I wouldn’t mind, but I think the Lady would mind quite a bit.”
“…Why?”

Sitting up straight and leaning his upper body forward, Yulian whispered.
“They said it was really, terribly, extremely, to death, horribly, painful.”

His tone was light, as if teasing, but Evgenia knew better than anyone that it wasn’t a lie.

Even after trying various methods, if he emphasized it to that extent, it meant the pain wasn’t reduced at all by ordinary means.

Ugh… Letting out a pained groan, she thought for a while before asking slyly.
“…What’s the basis for saying it won’t hurt with this method?”
“An informant’s account that one can overcome the pain with extreme pleasure?”
“Haa…”

Should she really bet everything on this man?

What if, even after doing that, the Name remains…

‘Wow, my future really looks pitch black now.’

Since Evgenia was the heir to the ducal house, a single act of indiscretion shouldn’t be a problem.

The real issue was that the method to erase the Name without pain would disappear forever?

‘And my future becomes fixed to marriage with Raymond? Hahaha…’

Closing her eyes tightly, Evgenia spoke in a voice that was growing smaller.
“How about… how about trying that really, terribly, extremely, to death, horribly painful method first, and then trying that method?”
“There are more people like you in the world than one might think. People who have to bite gold or copper to know for sure.”
“…And so what?”

Grinding her teeth halfway, she asked, and only then did a proper answer spring from Yulian.
“I don’t mind. As long as you promise not to try to kill me if it hurts too much.”
“Fine, I promise. Hurry up and do it.”

Answering half-heartedly, she subtly thrust her collarbone towards him.

Ha, she heard a laugh that seemed to say ‘how absurd’, but she didn’t care.

As if urging him to hurry, she pushed her body forward, and cold fingertips touched her collarbone.
“Ugh…”
“You’re not hurting already, are you?”
“No. Just hurry up.”
“When you nag with that face of yours, it sounds strangely charming.”
“Stop talking nonsense and hurry up!”

It was frustrating to see him only move when she finally shouted.

The thumb that slowly swept over her collarbone soon pressed firmly on the area near the beginning of the collarbone, where the first character of the ‘Name’ was located.

At first, it was clearly a light, pressing pain, but gradually, flames began to bloom from that spot.

Small embers slowly grew in size, from match flames to bonfire flames, growing into a fire large enough to burn down a house.
“Ugh, ah, aah…!”

It felt as if the blood flowing beneath her skin had turned to lava.

Although he was clearly just pressing lightly on her collarbone, her entire body curled up on its own, protesting in agony.

Only when her forehead was drenched in cold sweat did Yulian’s hand fall away.
“Huff, huff, huff… This, this crazy, this goddamn…”
“See? I told you it was really, terribly, extremely, to death, horribly painful.”

She could hardly breathe properly.

Still gasping while trying to manage the pain swirling inside her, Evgenia rubbed the area around her collarbone.

Even though it was this painful, surely at least one character must have been erased, she thought.

If even one character was erased, she could create endless excuses based on that.

Looking at Evgenia desperately touching her Name, Yulian spoke in an artificial voice.
“What shall we do, Lady? Unfortunately, the Name is only half-erased.”
“…What?”
“Ah, sorry. Looking closely, it seems about a quarter erased. Practically, it looks almost the same.”

Seeing his face, which didn’t hide its snickering at all, he must have clearly foreseen this outcome.

His personality was grating enough to make one’s teeth grind on their own.

Taking a deep breath in and out, Evgenia’s voice had sunk low.
“You, how good are you?”
“It depends on the benchmark.”
“Are you really, too, amazingly good, good enough to overcome the pain?”

Her voice now sounded almost like a threat.

The sound of teeth grinding, grrt, grrt, sprang up with every word.

Yulian, pulling both corners of his mouth into a smile, answered.
“I’m really, too, amazingly, you’ll-long-for-our-night-every-day good.”