Chapter 7

~ Chapter 7 ~

“Du, Duke!”

Hilvia was frustrated when she saw Verndia approaching them, and stuttered. It was well known in the Capital that Duke Verndia, was like a crazy dog in the north, who despise backtalk the most.

She made a hasty excuse.

“We, well I’m not saying it because it-it’s a bad rumor… but… I was just saying that the Duke is soon to be engaged with Princess Lillian.”

“Do you think it’s real?”

An indifferent Miss intervened between them. Even after knowing what was Verndia’s personality was, her curiosity still suppressed fear.

“Why do you ask that? Isn’t that obvious?”

The Miss, who was next to Hilvia, asked her and poked her on her shoulder.

“… Are you so curious about that?”

Verndia’s smile grew dangerously big.

It looked the same as a beast in a battle. No one can dent that even if he was scary, his handsomeness was on another level that it shone brightly.

The young ladies, who blushed with their own emotions, lowered their eyes.

As a result, only Psychke saw the assistant’s face whitened like flour.

The Duke’s gaze finally reached Psychke.

She dryly replied like a wind of sand blowing into the insensitive wall of courtesy, without averting her eyes.

“Yes, I’m curious.”

She could feel the utter surprise from her boldness, staring at the two, holding their breaths. But she looked at him without caring about the ladies.

Half a year later, after she died in her last life while drinking the poison given to her every morning, Verndia didn’t get engaged with Lillian.

Although she had never seen the two together in person, she was told that whenever he met Lillian, everyone who saw him was so shy about it.

Nevertheless, I was curious because I there might be an unexpected thing that would happen if he change his decision.

If Verndia was engaged to Lillian, she does not have to bother finding a way to deal with the northern monsters.

She can leave her family right away. His sharp eyes and her empty eyes were intertwined in the air.

Verndia looked at her with an inexplicable face that she didn’t know what he was thinking.

Then, at some point, he smiled.

“That would be in no way possible.”

After saying something negative,

“You are my only fiancée, and not Princess Lillian.”

Like real lovers, he affectionately put some strands of her silver hair behind her ears, that came down to the side of her face.

Long fingers with calluses crossed my ears. Verndia’s body temperature was higher than that of others, so she felt like hot as if she had touched a fire.

“No way!”

“Then was that a lie?”

Words that were close to screaming burst out. However, her eyebrows drooped slightly downward.

I was disappointed. Whenever he was with her, he always treats her like his real lover.

Therefore, his behavior or tone was something not new to her. Even so, it was just painful that her expectation of breaking their engagement early, would be delayed.

Verndia’s expression when she saw her became subtle.

“Princess, shall we move now then?”

There were too many eyes to talk about the breakup here.

When be think about the things that these ladies dared to say while I was absent, I felt an immaculate anger soaring above.

He had a greater desire to talk to Psychke, who was acting strangely than dealing with them.

If they had been a normal couple, he would have used the pretext of harassing his fiancée, to relieve the stress he had accumulated over the years.

“Yes, as let’s go “

“Let’s go.”

Verndia didn’t realize her behavior was strange, and Psychke’s shoulders…

He led her while hugging her shoulders.

The aide breathed a sigh of relief and followed him unexpectedly.

“I envy her…”

“Yeah. Talk about being lucky.”

The ladies that were left behind looked at the purity of the Duke with their jealous eyes.

Only Hilvia shook the fan she held and weighed down her lips.

***

They headed to the seat nearby a window, in a famous tea house. I quietly followed him, wondering if he wanted to show others how he was acting lovingly to me.

As soon as Verndia sat down, he leaned toward her fiancée opposite his seat. Then, he lowered his voice so that others could not hear it.

“Do you still want to break up our marriage?”

“Yes.”

As expected. I didn’t see that expression wrong.

‘When I told her not to do that, she then did it.’

Wouldn’t it feel like, the cat who was clingy to him, suddenly disappeared?

I didn’t have a good feeling for Psychke, but that didn’t mean he was sick of her.

Verndia felt strange.

He, along with the crown prince, was the best groom in the empire.

He has extremely handsome face, endless wealth, and strong power. Nothing was missing, he have them all.

That was why receiving this cold treatment from her, was odd.

Verndia, who had his arms crossed, also crossed his long legs gracefully. He frowned gently.

“Why?”

“Yes?”

“Why do you want to break up our marriage?”

“Is taking off the ring more important than maintaining engagement?”

“Yes.”

Verndia recalled the effect of their ring when he firmly said it was not worth considering.

‘Tracking location, sharing emotions. Was there anything else?‘

There wasn’t.

No matter how much he thought about it, there was none.

And those two functions were agreements that Psychke was willing to bear from the start.

‘What kind of engagement ring was that, that you even out such features?’

I heard that it was made by the first Duke of Lestir, who lost his loved one in vain. What is the reason for passing the title down to the next generation?

Verndia has always been dissatisfied.

What was comforting was that unlike location tracking without restrictions, emotion sharing only applies when it is strong enough to capture the whole body.

‘Duke, I’ll do my best… Even if it’s shared, please don’t pretend to know. I beg you.’

‘Let’s do that.’

He has been leading a lonely family since childhood. He was used to controlling his boiling emotions.

But Psychke’s emotions would flow in from time to time.

Sadness, fear.

That was all.

That was all the emotions shared by her during the long engagement period.

If it doesn’t bother him at all, it would be a lie.

When Verndia shut up, Psychke opened her mouth this time.

“Aren’t you engaged to Lillian?”

“That’s right.”

The air around Psychke has subsided noticeably.

Her complexion was so dark that he thought she had misrepresented that I had decided to engage Lilian.

“… I see. We will cooperate as much as we can to deal with the northern castles.”

Psychke, who refined his shaken expression once, lowered her gaze. The shadow of his rich and long eyelashes cast under the eyes.

“When should I write the contract I told you yesterday?”

“……”

“Duke?”

Verndia, who frowned, heard her respond.

“Write it now.”

He was displeased with this situation.

But he didn’t know why it was unpleasant.

The breakup with Psychke was what he wanted. I don’t know if it’s true or bluffing, but she even said she would help him deal with the northern monsters.

Everything was going in my favor. But why do I feel so bad?

I was glad to find Psychke and the ladies immediately after taking the medicine. Otherwise, flames would have been popping from the fingertips out of my displeasure in this situation.

Verndia beckoned backwards. Isolet, who was restless while spying on him, commanded a piece of paper and a quill, not knowing where it had disappeared.

Psychke looked at the tip of the pen moving gracefully as he wrote.

Because of the distance between tables, I did not worry that others might peek at the contract.

“Sign here.”

After signing the clause, Verndia offered the contract.

Psychke’s eyes upon it, went from top to bottom.

The contents of the contract were simple.

1. Psychke Silkisia helps to deal with the superior monsters in the Northern Lestir. In return, as soon as the monsters disappear, the engagement with Verndia Lestir is quashed.

2. Without Psyche Silkisia’s help, or even if it is insignificant, Verndia Lestir and Psychke Silkisia will break the engagement as soon as the northern monsters disappear.

3. This contract cannot be reversed without mutual agreement.

According to the provisions, the engagement could be broken as soon as the monsters disappears, regardless of whether there was help or not.

It wasn’t bad.

Psychke signed where Verndia pointed without saying much.

What was so displeasing that he was mad?

Verndia, who had his brows wrinkled, looked down at her neat and rounded sign.

Then he raised his eyes a little and opened his mouth.

“How long have you been holding a sword?”

She was slow to respond to questions she had never heard before.

Psychke stopped for a while after signing, and then looked up at him.

“Yes?”

“I asked how long it’s been since you held a sword.”

Psychke rolled her eyes to where Verndia was looking.

She took a little time, and then responded quietly.

“… I don’t exactly know how long it has been, but more than a decade.”

He thought she only grew up beautifully.

Verndia stared at her with unfamiliar eyes, to be exact, at her hand with calluses and blisters.

Looking at the condition, it seemed that she held a sword yesterday.

‘You’re using a sword?’

Contrary to rumors that she was stupid, she was wary of many things, but he didn’t expect that she was using a sword.

A considerable shock knocked on the prosecutor’s heart.

‘…. What’s wrong with him?’

His unfamiliar yet vivid purple gaze to Psychke, was burdensome.

As a lady, rough hands are not worth it, and it has annoyed my family to the extent that it is engraved in my mind, so I hid my hands with gloves until now.

Now that I decided to let go of all that. I proudly revealed it because I wondered what it would be like to hide it.

When I faced the reaction of others, there was a small reaction in my calm mind.

She left the pen and lowered her hand to the table.

“I’m done.”

“Oh, yes.”

When what he was watching disappeared, Verndia, who came to his senses, an took the contract.

He filled out another identical one and handed it over to Psychke. And he couldn’t take his eyes off of her small hands until she finished signing.

“Duke.”

Psychke, who signed the completed contract, quietly called him.