Chapter 8: CH 7

“Hello, Milady. I am the maiden, Arene.”

Smooth, alabaster skin like an immaculate snow field.

Long cascading hair like pitch-black waves.

Everything about her appearance was impressive, and she was the young woman who came by Mary’s introduction.

“Everyone in the Chantra residence knows Arene. Don’t you know that with only a single hand gesture, everyone will fall for her, regardless of gender?”

Sure enough, what Mary said was right. Apart from her beautiful outward appearance, her gestures and facial expressions would just naturally catch your eye.

“Did you hear all the details, Arene? From now on, you have to teach me how to seduce a man.”

Somehow or another, she would need to seduce Ethan so that her engagement with Lehman wouldn’t push through.

“Milady, I am the maiden, Arene. I am someone who can turn a man who has never held a woman’s hand before into the world’s biggest flirt.”

Reina cracked her notebook open and took notes diligently, a satisfied smile pasted on her face as she listened to the boastful voice. Seeing her model student, Arene smiled and immediately started her lesson for today.

“Milady, do you know what the most important thing is when seducing someone?”

“I called you because I don’t know.”

“That’s very smart of you.”

“I don’t know how to seduce a man, but I’m a quick learner.”

Of course, in this life, she wouldn’t make it that obvious that she’s got quite a head on her.

With a gentle smile, Arene continued to explain in a melodious voice.

“The most important thing is this—push and pull.”

“Push and pull… Ah! I’ve heard of this before. Push just a bit and pull back just enough, right?”

At the confident answer, what returned was not a compliment but a straight face.

“No.”

Reina looked back perplexedly at Arene, who shook her head slowly.

“Huh? No…?”

“Push and pull is important, but ‘just enough’ isn’t right.”

“T-Then?”

Why was the atmosphere so tense suddenly? Reina gulped dryly and leaned her upper body forward, towards Arene.

Then, as if she was passing on a deeply kept secret, the teacher whispered into the student’s ear.

“When pulling, don’t do it ‘just enough’. You have to pull ‘until they’re out of their mind’.”

“Oh… It’s like that. Hold on. Let me take notes. Pull… until they’re… out… of… their mind.”

“If I stick like a leech at the other person, that’s a good way to do it too.”

“Stick… like… a leech. Okay. I’m done writing. But can I ask, at what point is ‘until they’re out of their mind’?”

As if she understood her student’s confusion well enough, Arene smiled warmly.

“Let me give you an example. Suppose Milady is walking down the street, and then you bump into the person you like.”

“Yeah.”

The student’s eyes sparkled as she straightened her posture, listening to the teacher’s words intently.

“Now, how would you behave when that kind of scenario happens?”

“Umm… I’ll go and say hello first, right?”

As soon as the student uttered her answer, the teacher shook her head.

“Wrong.”

“Huh? Then what should I do?”

“A normal greeting like that will never give off a strong impression.”

“Strong… impression?”

Reina’s eyes shook as if she couldn’t understand.

“Then is it important to make a strong impression towards the person I like? Um… Not a subtle or a good impression?”

“Of course. A subtle or good impression has less ripple effects. But if you do something like that and just greet him with only a smile, you’ll be forgotten the moment he turns around.”

“Ah… Now that you say it, you’re right.”

Reina was slowly getting immersed in Arene’s theory, which was opposite hers.

“Now then. What kind of words or actions do you think would make a strong impression, Milady?”

Did she ask a question that was too difficult for the first lesson? Her student pressed one temple with an index finger and thought about how to answer for quite a long while.

“If you don’t know, you can say that you don’t know. We are here to learn, not to just take exams.”

Arene gently reassured her. Only then did Reina’s expression loosen up a little.

“I’ll tell you about a past experience of mine, Milady.”

With bated breath, Reina waited for the teacher’s next words.

“It was a hot, midsummer day, five years ago. While I was out on a walk alone, I found the person I fancied. I approached him and shouted.”

“I’ve been looking for you for such a long time!”

“What…? Me?”

“Yes! You! Where on earth have you been?”

Reina got sucked into the bland story much better than she had expected. As if she saw the signal, Arene continued with a smirk.

“Of course, the other person asked back with a very flustered expression.”

“What’s wrong, Arene? Did something happen?”

“So, I answered.”

“Of course! I almost withered away just because I couldn’t see you anywhere, my sun!”

“Cough, cough… S-Sun?” Reina asked.

“Yes. I shouted, ‘I am a sunflower who looks only at you, my sun!’”

“And, uh… that worked?”

“Fufu, right after that, he and I officially became a couple.”

“……”

As she listened to Arene’s story, she couldn’t help but pull a confused face.

‘Um… That kind of pick-up line works?’

If you say such a thing in Korea, people would think it’s a hidden camera prank.

“Does it… really work?”

“Milady. I am the maiden Arene. As long as I put my mind into it, there is no one in this whole world who I cannot seduce.”

Was it because of her confident way of speaking? Her reliable appearance? It sounded absolutely ridiculous, but for some reason, what she said made total sense.

‘Hm… I guess that’s how seduction works in this world.’

Indeed. If you think about it, maybe this was the equivalent of a ‘classic’ pick-up line back on earth? A classic. If it’s a pick-up line that really clicked in the past, then it’s something like a line that had been used in many plays and literary works.

Just as time went by, it’s just that the ‘general trend’ soon became the ‘classic’.

“Gotcha. I believe you, Arene.”