Chapter 44: CH 43

“What’s that supposed to mean. His ideal type is a stalker?”

“Yep.”

Dispirited, Reina lowered her head and looked into thin air.

“A stalker? Someone who follows him around?”

“Yep.”

“……”

This… might just work out easier than Reina thought.

‘That’s what I’m best at, isn’t it?’

But before crossing a stone bridge, you’d have to knock on it first to see if it’s sturdy.

“Why a stalker all of a sudden?”

“You don’t know about this, but back then…”

So, here’s a quick summary of the long story Paul told her.

Apart from being a member of the nine households, Fran also had really good looks. It’s been said that when he was around twelve years old, a maid followed him around. She was crazily obsessed with him.

The problem now was that the maid was real clever about it. Whenever Little Fran avoided her, she made it look like they were playing hide-and-seek, so no one around them stopped the maid.

Therefore, that stalker went scot-free for three years.

“What does that have to do with his ideal type?”

With brows knitted together, Reina asked, and Paul answered as he neatly swept back Reina’s hair, which had gotten a little jumbled while she had her head on his shoulder.

“He keeps denying it, but it’s obvious that he misses that maid.”

“Hah.”

Reina was already aware of how much of a psychotic get-together this novel was, but wow, this was beyond her imagination.

“Are you sure? Maybe he just likes that maid, not stalkers as a whole.”

“Similar things have happened a few times here and there since then. At first, we thought that he’s just unlucky, but it turns out that the only girls he likes to date were the stalker-ish types.”

“Wow…”

Reina stared blankly with an incredulous expression.

“Wait, not that I think about it…”

In the novel, there was a time that Lehman persistently tried to stick around Fran.

“Geez…”

No way, was that the reason he fell for Lehman?”

“Whoa… Seriously?”

At that time in the novel, Lehman had been so popular to the point that he was so sick and tired of the attention, so there’s only one simple reason as to why he chased after Fran like that—to rouse Jeremy’s jealousy. And really, that strategy of his worked like a charm.

“But why are you suddenly curious about his ideal type?”

She had been thinking about something else for a while now, but once she heard the question that was thrown at her, Reina’s eyes curved and folded gently.

“Oh, I’m going to try and get along with Fran a little more from now on.”

While stalking him.

* * *

She let Paul know about the Fran strategy, too, so now, all that was left for her to do before leaving for Cressen was to strengthen her main base of operations.

“This is the right place.”

While wandering around the gate leading to the palace, Reina nervously bit her nails.

“It’s time for people to clock out from work already.”

But why wasn’t he coming out?

She stayed there for a long time, just walking back and forth like a puppy in need to relieve itself.

Shiiing—

But finally, she heard the warp gate’s magic circle activating.

Reina turned her head the moment she heard that sound, and then as soon as she confirmed that the person who warped was Ethan, dododo, she ran to him immediately.

“My love!”

Ethan’s expression looked slightly crumpled as though he was quite flustered by her sudden appearance. Seeing this slowed Reina down for a little while, but! What else could her handy dandy weapon be if it’s not her shamelessness?

“My love! I’m in trouble!”

After wrapping it up in the Thurn Village, his return to the capital was delayed for a little, so it’s been a while since they last met. And yet, this was how Reina was greeting him all of a sudden—without even saying hello first.

“I’m in trouble, my love!”

“Long time no see, Reina. What’s going on.”

Unlike Reina, Ethan took a moment to calmly say hello first.

“Ethan, there’s no time for this! Someone’s about to die!”

So he soon followed the woman who suddenly appeared and shouted all these things, and his expression also became serious.

“Then the guards—”

“No! You’re the only one who can save that person, Ethan!”

Questions started forming in his eyes, but Reina was so engrossed in her acting as she hurriedly clung to his arm.

“Let’s go!”

But as if he was suddenly burned by fire, Ethan flinched when she grabbed him.

“Ah…”

Oh, no. She got so immersed in her act that she made a mistake.

“I-I’m sorry. I’m in a hurry.”

She quickly apologized for what she did and let go of his arm. But then, an unexpected reaction came forth from him.

“…It’s alright.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t hate physical contact to this extent, at least.”

What do you mean.

“I ordered you to deliver your report. I never told you to lay your grubby hands on my clothes.”

“Take three steps away before you start talking to me. It’s become so difficult to breathe because of the stench coming from your mouth.”

Of course, these barbed words had not been directed at her before.

However, the only reason why that guy, who seemed to have a case of mysophobia, never directed those words at her was because she’d been thoroughly careful all this time.

She couldn’t believe that the answer she heard just now was that ‘it’s fine’. He didn’t even get annoyed after she haphazardly clung to the arm of this eternally spotless man.

Was the sun going to rise from the west tomorrow?

“Which direction should we go?”

Stunned for a while, Reina came back to her senses and clapped her hands together once. Clap!

“Follow me!”

His mysophobia wasn’t what she needed to focus on right now.

At this moment, she was in danger of disappearing from Ethan’s eyes for fourteen whole days.

Since she didn’t have time to fix it, the next best thing for her to do was to make impactful memories before she’d go to Cressen!

“I’ve prepared the carriage! Hurry and get on!”

In a nutshell, the answer was to leave a lasting impression.

* * *

“We’re here, Milady.”

As the coachman notified her, Reina glanced at the man sitting opposite her. Fortunately, he followed her into the carriage without asking a thing.

“We’re almost at that place, Ethan.”

“Then let’s get off.”

His voice was heavy as he said this, but he opened the door and got off first. Then he offered his hand and… Eh?

He offered his hand?

“…By chance, are you trying to hold my hand, my love?”

His straight eyebrows wriggled slightly, as if something had just touched his nerves.

‘Mmh. Guess not.’

Seeing his angry expression made Reina flustered, so she grabbed his hand quickly because she thought that she would change his mind.

“Where is your destination?”

“Over there, my love.”

The smiling woman pointed one finger over that way.

At the end of where she pointed was a place where red stone roads and cute shops were lined up, all tinged by the sunset glow.

And at one side of the town square, where the streetlights gave off a cozy illumination, there was someone wearing a beret while holding a paintbrush.