“Damn, here we go again.”
I muttered quietly behind the fan.
He was approaching me. He was drawing the piercing gazes of the ladies who filled the banquet hall.
Duke Kydel’s eldest son, Locard Kydel. Handsome, both civil and military, outstanding background, personality breakdown, conscience failure, and...
While I was searching for another four-letter word, he was standing in front of me.
He was unnecessarily tall, and I didn’t like the fact that I had to lift my chin to look him in the eye.
Even his sleekly combed black hair was showing off, one by one. How passionate were those purple eyes focused on me? There was only one word to describe those shining eyes set on such a perfect face. Unfair. God is unfair.
Before he could open his mouth, I rolled my eyes and whispered with a smile.
“Would you please get out of here?”
“Lady Loire...”
Look at this kid's wounded face.
I straightened up my fan to hide my snicker.
At that moment, a heat spurted out from behind him. It was the flames of jealousy coming from the eyes of the ladies who were pretending not to notice.
Ha. This is it.
This kid is trying to burn me to death with that flame without getting his hands dirty.
I know this guy's dark heart. The reason he's doing this kind of play right now.
My tone was extremely rude and cold, but he took a step closer with a serious face. It was as if he was saying that he would cherish even the scars on his heart if it was something I gave him.
I opened my eyes as if to say, 'Stop right there!' and ended up meeting his moist gaze.
With that pitiful face, he made me the public enemy of the ladies of the empire.
I don't know if he's captivated the empire with that overwhelming expression, but I have no idea.
Where on earth can you buy eyes like that? Damn it.
As soon as I lost focus, he slammed in.
“Lady Loire, I was going to ask you to dance, and if I offended you, I apologize in advance. However, if there was any misunderstanding, I would like to clear it up. May I talk to you for a moment?”
It seems that he can’t hear what I’m saying because I told him to shut up.
“We serve different masters, but that is no reason why we cannot become close. Miss Loire... If I kneel, will you open your heart?”
“Oh my.”
I walked up to him before he could attract more attention. I carefully controlled my movements as I felt surrounded by his wide arms.
Even though I was not tall enough to stand on tiptoe, I glared at him, and he bent down slightly. Only then was I able to put my lips right next to his ear?
The faint scent of perfume mixed with high-quality musk wafted along with my breath. Do you have to brag about how rich you are even about your body odor? It smells good, but...
I whispered quickly.
“Don’t you see that no one is dancing right now? Everyone is watching us! Why don’t you just shut up?”
He immediately showed his true colors. His evil and playful breath brushed past my ear.
“Dinner in the city? If you accept, I’ll leave right away.”
“At a fancy restaurant crowded with nobles who have nothing to do even in broad daylight?”
“Of course. Etrang would be good. I’ll send a carriage.”
“So that the rumor will spread that I, the Princess’s maid, betrayed the Princess and fell for you?”
“That would be good. Or at least it would give us a chance to uncover your fraud.”
“Oh my, such ugly words! Who would misunderstand if they heard them, Prince Kydel?”
“I told you to call me Locard. Say my name loudly. So that everyone can hear. It’s okay if you get angry. I like how your voice is full of emotion.”
“Hohoho. Stop saying such perverted things.”
I barely hold back from telling everyone to shut up. I hold back again and again. He was a walking tester of my patience.
But Prince Kydel, who I thought would fight back, was looking down at me with a slightly blushing face.
Even though we were at war, I wondered if I had gone too far. My heart sank as I met his gaze with those calm purple eyes filled with silence.
“Did you just call me a pervert?”
His beautiful voice had become heavy.
But I had a gut feeling. I shouldn’t be pushed around at times like this. This wasn’t just my fight.
I braced myself and spoke as calmly as I could.
“Your hearing is fine, Prince Kydel.”
After a brief moment of silence, I heard an unbelievable sound.
“Pfft.”
His face turned red from holding back laughter, and he calmed himself by looking somewhere in the air.
Then he suddenly took my hand and kissed the back of it. His lips whispering secretly tickled the back of my hand like a feather.
“His Highness the Second Prince doesn’t call me the Lion Cub of Tagar for nothing. Miss Lorisha Loire. I will definitely destroy you.”
I waved my fan gently like a butterfly flapping its wings and smiled brightly.
“If you can, try.”
1. A spring deep in the mountains
My mother was a herbalist. We lived in a small hut in the Tunbar Mountains on the border.
When my mother went into the mountains for several days to gather herbs, I waited for her alone.
People said that Tunbar Mountain hated people and would often eat them and not let them go. They said that was why there were so many accidents and disasters.
I worried about my mother, who was so weak, climbing the mountain, and I was afraid that she would run into a beast like a bear or a wolf.
But my mother always promised me.
“Lorisha, I will definitely come back to you. If the mountain path is cut off, it may be a few days later, but I will definitely come back to our Lorisha. Do you believe me?”
Then I nodded vigorously and answered,
“Yes, Mom!”
When Mom came back and prepared herbs, I would take them to the herbalist in the market and receive the money.
The market tour on the way to run errands was always interesting. The unfamiliar people, the products, the bargaining, and the occasional fights.
But the road back home through the village was always difficult.
The children of the lower village would gather around me when they saw me, shouting that a monster from the mountain had come down, or stabbing me with a stick, saying that I was a fatherless child.
Perhaps that’s why I never wondered about or missed my father. The word “father” was always mentioned only in the most horrible situations.
One day, when I went home with blood dripping from my forehead after being hit by a rock thrown by the village chief’s son, Mom looked at me crying as if I was going to burst.
I thought Mom was really angry at me, so I cried even louder because I was scared and sad. But later, when Mom wasn’t home, I looked outside and saw her crying.
Not being able to scream as loudly as I did, and covering my mouth like a scared person, I muffled my sounds.
That’s when I realized how bad I had done.
My mother was my only family, my talisman, my blanket. And she was my mother. But I had made her cry so painfully.
That’s when I decided. I would never do anything bad to her again.
The next time I went to the herb shop, the village chief’s youngest son, who had a bulging belly, surrounded me again with the village children.
He poked me with a stick and shouted,
“The Tunbar Mountain monster has come down! A monster born without a father.”
I watched the children giggle and kept my mouth shut. I couldn’t go in after getting hit today.
“Damn it! Aren’t you going to clean that up?”
The children looked at each other with wide eyes at my shouting. I was probably seven or eight at the time. Children of that age were still afraid of harsh swearing.
My first swearing was so loud that it stuck in my ears.
The village chief’s son hesitated in surprise, and I, thinking this was the moment, swore with all my might.
All the swearing, criticism, contempt, and insults I had heard at the market poured out like a waterfall.
Swearing was so new that when I first started, it felt like breaking the most terrifying taboo in the world, and I was afraid that my soul would be corrupted.
However, once I started and went with the flow, it came out from deep within my soul like a song. Overflowing.
That day, the village children ran away crying.
After that, whenever I went to the market, I listened carefully to the adults’ bargaining and bickering and memorized them, and especially when a fight broke out, I would run to study.
Fighting is momentum. As long as I swore first, I never heard anyone call me a fatherless child. Behind my back, I might have been cussed out even more, but at least no one said the words my mother hated the most in front of me.
So swearing was a magic that protected me and my mother. In fact, I was a little proud of the fact that I was good at swearing.
But that peace was suddenly shattered one day.
One afternoon, the village chief came to the house instead of my mother, who had gone out to gather herbs.
“Come down to the village with me.”
I burst into tears at that moment. Something must have happened to my mother.
I muttered quietly behind the fan.
He was approaching me. He was drawing the piercing gazes of the ladies who filled the banquet hall.
Duke Kydel’s eldest son, Locard Kydel. Handsome, both civil and military, outstanding background, personality breakdown, conscience failure, and...
While I was searching for another four-letter word, he was standing in front of me.
He was unnecessarily tall, and I didn’t like the fact that I had to lift my chin to look him in the eye.
Even his sleekly combed black hair was showing off, one by one. How passionate were those purple eyes focused on me? There was only one word to describe those shining eyes set on such a perfect face. Unfair. God is unfair.
Before he could open his mouth, I rolled my eyes and whispered with a smile.
“Would you please get out of here?”
“Lady Loire...”
Look at this kid's wounded face.
I straightened up my fan to hide my snicker.
At that moment, a heat spurted out from behind him. It was the flames of jealousy coming from the eyes of the ladies who were pretending not to notice.
Ha. This is it.
This kid is trying to burn me to death with that flame without getting his hands dirty.
I know this guy's dark heart. The reason he's doing this kind of play right now.
My tone was extremely rude and cold, but he took a step closer with a serious face. It was as if he was saying that he would cherish even the scars on his heart if it was something I gave him.
I opened my eyes as if to say, 'Stop right there!' and ended up meeting his moist gaze.
With that pitiful face, he made me the public enemy of the ladies of the empire.
I don't know if he's captivated the empire with that overwhelming expression, but I have no idea.
Where on earth can you buy eyes like that? Damn it.
As soon as I lost focus, he slammed in.
“Lady Loire, I was going to ask you to dance, and if I offended you, I apologize in advance. However, if there was any misunderstanding, I would like to clear it up. May I talk to you for a moment?”
It seems that he can’t hear what I’m saying because I told him to shut up.
“What kind of conversation do you want with someone who has poor hearing?”
Then he straightened his chest and answered.
That person probably wouldn’t know even if he were to come back from the dead, how much his shining self-esteem and confidence bothered someone like me.
“Lady Loire, why did you give me a chance...”
I cut him off and whispered fiercely so that only he could hear.
“Do you think I don’t know your intentions, My Lord? You devil!”
Mom, I’m a bad kid. When I was little, I thought the village kids were bad, but now I think they threw rocks at me because I was bad.
I was worried. Should I pour him a drink that he had just had a drink in his mouth, or should I pretend to comply with his request and take him to the balcony and crack his shins?
But neither of them was easy. If I dared to publicly insult the first messenger of the empire, the eldest son of the Duke of Kydel, the aftermath would have repercussions for my father, Count Loire. He was the Count’s second in command.
But if we went to the balcony together, it would be like getting a notarized certificate that I fell in love with him.
The people watching us now would not believe that the woman who spent time alone with Prince Locard Kydel did not fall in love with him.
This bastard knows that and is acting like this. He would rub his shins, where my skin was scratched, and laugh.
I glanced at the stinging gazes directed at me and then said lowly and quickly,
“Enough, go back. Right now, the victim in the eyes of others is the Prince, so isn’t that enough?”
Then he smiled and said,
“They say that in the emotions between men and women, the one who harbors the greater emotions is the loser. So maybe Miss Loire is right.”
“Oh. Yes.”
He must have picked that up somewhere. It’s really funny.
Then he straightened his chest and answered.
That person probably wouldn’t know even if he were to come back from the dead, how much his shining self-esteem and confidence bothered someone like me.
“Lady Loire, why did you give me a chance...”
I cut him off and whispered fiercely so that only he could hear.
“Do you think I don’t know your intentions, My Lord? You devil!”
Mom, I’m a bad kid. When I was little, I thought the village kids were bad, but now I think they threw rocks at me because I was bad.
I was worried. Should I pour him a drink that he had just had a drink in his mouth, or should I pretend to comply with his request and take him to the balcony and crack his shins?
But neither of them was easy. If I dared to publicly insult the first messenger of the empire, the eldest son of the Duke of Kydel, the aftermath would have repercussions for my father, Count Loire. He was the Count’s second in command.
But if we went to the balcony together, it would be like getting a notarized certificate that I fell in love with him.
The people watching us now would not believe that the woman who spent time alone with Prince Locard Kydel did not fall in love with him.
This bastard knows that and is acting like this. He would rub his shins, where my skin was scratched, and laugh.
I glanced at the stinging gazes directed at me and then said lowly and quickly,
“Enough, go back. Right now, the victim in the eyes of others is the Prince, so isn’t that enough?”
Then he smiled and said,
“They say that in the emotions between men and women, the one who harbors the greater emotions is the loser. So maybe Miss Loire is right.”
“Oh. Yes.”
He must have picked that up somewhere. It’s really funny.
“We serve different masters, but that is no reason why we cannot become close. Miss Loire... If I kneel, will you open your heart?”
“Oh my.”
I walked up to him before he could attract more attention. I carefully controlled my movements as I felt surrounded by his wide arms.
Even though I was not tall enough to stand on tiptoe, I glared at him, and he bent down slightly. Only then was I able to put my lips right next to his ear?
The faint scent of perfume mixed with high-quality musk wafted along with my breath. Do you have to brag about how rich you are even about your body odor? It smells good, but...
I whispered quickly.
“Don’t you see that no one is dancing right now? Everyone is watching us! Why don’t you just shut up?”
He immediately showed his true colors. His evil and playful breath brushed past my ear.
“Dinner in the city? If you accept, I’ll leave right away.”
“At a fancy restaurant crowded with nobles who have nothing to do even in broad daylight?”
“Of course. Etrang would be good. I’ll send a carriage.”
“So that the rumor will spread that I, the Princess’s maid, betrayed the Princess and fell for you?”
“That would be good. Or at least it would give us a chance to uncover your fraud.”
“Oh my, such ugly words! Who would misunderstand if they heard them, Prince Kydel?”
“I told you to call me Locard. Say my name loudly. So that everyone can hear. It’s okay if you get angry. I like how your voice is full of emotion.”
“Hohoho. Stop saying such perverted things.”
I barely hold back from telling everyone to shut up. I hold back again and again. He was a walking tester of my patience.
But Prince Kydel, who I thought would fight back, was looking down at me with a slightly blushing face.
Even though we were at war, I wondered if I had gone too far. My heart sank as I met his gaze with those calm purple eyes filled with silence.
“Did you just call me a pervert?”
His beautiful voice had become heavy.
But I had a gut feeling. I shouldn’t be pushed around at times like this. This wasn’t just my fight.
I braced myself and spoke as calmly as I could.
“Your hearing is fine, Prince Kydel.”
After a brief moment of silence, I heard an unbelievable sound.
“Pfft.”
His face turned red from holding back laughter, and he calmed himself by looking somewhere in the air.
Then he suddenly took my hand and kissed the back of it. His lips whispering secretly tickled the back of my hand like a feather.
“His Highness the Second Prince doesn’t call me the Lion Cub of Tagar for nothing. Miss Lorisha Loire. I will definitely destroy you.”
I waved my fan gently like a butterfly flapping its wings and smiled brightly.
“If you can, try.”
***
1. A spring deep in the mountains
My mother was a herbalist. We lived in a small hut in the Tunbar Mountains on the border.
When my mother went into the mountains for several days to gather herbs, I waited for her alone.
People said that Tunbar Mountain hated people and would often eat them and not let them go. They said that was why there were so many accidents and disasters.
I worried about my mother, who was so weak, climbing the mountain, and I was afraid that she would run into a beast like a bear or a wolf.
But my mother always promised me.
“Lorisha, I will definitely come back to you. If the mountain path is cut off, it may be a few days later, but I will definitely come back to our Lorisha. Do you believe me?”
Then I nodded vigorously and answered,
“Yes, Mom!”
When Mom came back and prepared herbs, I would take them to the herbalist in the market and receive the money.
The market tour on the way to run errands was always interesting. The unfamiliar people, the products, the bargaining, and the occasional fights.
But the road back home through the village was always difficult.
The children of the lower village would gather around me when they saw me, shouting that a monster from the mountain had come down, or stabbing me with a stick, saying that I was a fatherless child.
Perhaps that’s why I never wondered about or missed my father. The word “father” was always mentioned only in the most horrible situations.
One day, when I went home with blood dripping from my forehead after being hit by a rock thrown by the village chief’s son, Mom looked at me crying as if I was going to burst.
I thought Mom was really angry at me, so I cried even louder because I was scared and sad. But later, when Mom wasn’t home, I looked outside and saw her crying.
Not being able to scream as loudly as I did, and covering my mouth like a scared person, I muffled my sounds.
That’s when I realized how bad I had done.
My mother was my only family, my talisman, my blanket. And she was my mother. But I had made her cry so painfully.
That’s when I decided. I would never do anything bad to her again.
The next time I went to the herb shop, the village chief’s youngest son, who had a bulging belly, surrounded me again with the village children.
He poked me with a stick and shouted,
“The Tunbar Mountain monster has come down! A monster born without a father.”
I watched the children giggle and kept my mouth shut. I couldn’t go in after getting hit today.
“Damn it! Aren’t you going to clean that up?”
The children looked at each other with wide eyes at my shouting. I was probably seven or eight at the time. Children of that age were still afraid of harsh swearing.
My first swearing was so loud that it stuck in my ears.
The village chief’s son hesitated in surprise, and I, thinking this was the moment, swore with all my might.
All the swearing, criticism, contempt, and insults I had heard at the market poured out like a waterfall.
Swearing was so new that when I first started, it felt like breaking the most terrifying taboo in the world, and I was afraid that my soul would be corrupted.
However, once I started and went with the flow, it came out from deep within my soul like a song. Overflowing.
That day, the village children ran away crying.
After that, whenever I went to the market, I listened carefully to the adults’ bargaining and bickering and memorized them, and especially when a fight broke out, I would run to study.
Fighting is momentum. As long as I swore first, I never heard anyone call me a fatherless child. Behind my back, I might have been cussed out even more, but at least no one said the words my mother hated the most in front of me.
So swearing was a magic that protected me and my mother. In fact, I was a little proud of the fact that I was good at swearing.
But that peace was suddenly shattered one day.
One afternoon, the village chief came to the house instead of my mother, who had gone out to gather herbs.
“Come down to the village with me.”
I burst into tears at that moment. Something must have happened to my mother.
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