I was the Unrequited Love of the… - Chapter 32

Chaers chuckled as he sat on the chair again. But even though his eyes were smiling, his mouth was strangely calm. I stared at him defiantly.

“Why aren’t you untying me?”

“I want to believe you but I also don’t want to believe you.”

“…What?”

“The information that you heard in Movale by chance? Alright, I’ll accept that. But even if I believed you, you have been acting… weird.”

“That’s because―”

“―the ladder disease?”

“……”

His brows furrowed.

“You used to be a bit more… but when I saw you kick… wow.”

Chaers started to compare Arielsa to me and I started to feel worse and worse.

“So. You tied me up because you don’t like me?”

“I heard it at the inn in Movale, Arielsa.”

I broke out in cold sweat.

“You injured your hand because you ripped off the hive, boiled it for hours and squeezed it. That was what saved the Duke, right? How did you know that?”

“Sir Chaers should learn more about tea. You’ll probably learn about it too!”

“Hmm… So what about the broken boat and the goblin grass in the horse’s ear during the hunt?”

“It’s because I’m looking closely! It’s only natural to see things if you look at the person that you like!”

“……”

Chaers’ mouth opened a bit but he did not say anything any more. I also froze. It was true that I like Duke Kyron but if I said that in this situation then…

However, I ignored that and just spoke to him.

“Untie me!”

“…But I don’t want to.”

“What?”

Chaers stood up with a dark face.

“Do you like the Duke as your master and your lord? Or…”

“Of course I…”

I shut my mouth but I suddenly felt speechless. I felt happy that I could like him to my heart’s content but in the end, it turned out to be an embarrassing question.

Of course, me and him…

I stared at Chaers’ gloomy face as I replied vaguely.

“I just want the Duke to live happily.”

Chaers shut his mouth as he headed towards the door.

“Sir Chaers! Untie me!”

“I don’t want to.”

Then, he really slammed the door and left me behind.

“Ha…”

I was so stunned that all I could do was scream in my seat.

“What kind of dog sht is this!”

But only my shouts rang loudly in this empty warehouse. He did not come back even if a long time had passed.

“I’m going to tell my dad!”

I screamed again. But in the end, I couldn’t help but sniffle.

The brazier was burning red so I would not get cold during the night. But my arms were tied and they were hurting. In addition, I felt scared that I was left in a secluded place.

I mumbled as I looked down on the brazier.

“Where on earth am I…”

“In my heart.”

“Duke!”

Duke Kyron was the one who opened the door and came in. He grinned as he sat on the same chair where Chaers sat on before. Then, he poked through the brazier with the iron that he had placed there earlier.

According to his gesture, he did not want to release me either. I looked at the charcoal that was burning red with every breath that I took. All I could do was bite my lip.

I had realized that everything Chaers did today was ordered by Duke Kyron. Chaers wouldn’t tie me up like this without Duke Kyron’s permission. It seemed like Duke Kyron had never abandoned his suspicions of me.

“What are you going to do to me?”

Duke Kyron looked at me in doubt.

“What am I going to do with you?”

“After all, you used me as a bait to hook Gaurin. You used me as a bait to find out what kind of person he really is! And you won’t even let me go!”

“Hmm. This is really interesting. I can’t believe that he’ll respond that way. You believed that Gaurin will really be the administrator, right? I was sure that he’ll be in a hurry to see the conclusion while he’s still in the castle.”

Seeing how he was enjoying this situation, I couldn’t help but feel scared.

“…So did you find out who was behind him?”

“That’s what we’re going to do from now on.”

“You’re really thorough.”

He showed me a very attractive yet sullen smile.

“I’m a bit like that. So it won’t be just one or two people who will be shuddering in fright.”

“What about Gaurin?”

“How dare he hurt my maid right under my nose? He’ll have to pay for his sins.”

Despite his complicated plans, his solution was quite simple. But that did not matter to me.

“What about me?”

“You haven’t satisfied me yet.”

“Yes…?”

I looked at Duke Kyron dejectedly. I did not know what in the world was so funny to him but he was staring at me with his eyes glistening with mirth.

“I thought that you were going to cry and cry in front of Chaers while spilling your secret. But you disappointed me.”

“My goodness!”

“No. It was Chaers’ fault. I never thought that he would be so soft on you. He’s a long way off.”

I couldn’t help but be engulfed with emotions.

“You wanted me to tell him that I possessed this body?”

He smiled strangely at me.

“If you did, then Chaers would have let you go right away. He would definitely think that you went crazy since you hit your head. Actually, all of us thought so. We were just pretending that we didn’t know because we were minding Sir George.”

He spoke calmly after letting out a sigh of disappointment.

“But it seems like you were very keen on keeping your secret.”

“…….”

I looked drearily at Duke Kyron.

Did he hear that I like him or not?

No. Considering his personality right now, he wouldn’t even consider it to be special even if he heard something like that. It was only natural. After all, who would be happy after hearing that a stranger, who had peeked at and enjoyed his life, liked him? That did not sound right at all.

My body trembled as I shouted.

“I hate you! I hate all of you!”

Duke Kyron smiled cheerfully when he saw me like that. His face was so beautiful that I forgot about my misery and despair for a moment.

He took out a dagger, cut off the rope that tied me and pushed me out of the door. Before the door opened, his cape landed heavily on my shoulders. So when the door opened, I did not shrink that much from the cold wind that slapped me in the face.

In front of me was the black lake that was illuminated by the light. It was shining brightly like there were pieces of glasses that were scattered inside. We were by the boathouse near the lake.

He spoke as he placed his hand on my shoulder from behind me.

“Don’t hate Chaers too much. Because that punk likes you. If he did not, then your thighs would have been fully cooked by the iron now.

“……”

My feelings that were overwhelmed by the beautiful scenery in front of me were suddenly shattered by his words. But I did not want to cry anymore or get angry at all.

Chaers was still the Duke’s loyal servant and I felt like I had bought a bit of the Duke’s trust. Besides, the traitor who hit the Duke in the back was also defeated so it was already more than enough.

On our way back to the castle, I rode behind the Duke and hugged his waist. However, I couldn’t help but close my eyes from the fatigue and the warmth that surrounded me.

❄❅❄

“Aaack!”

I overslept the next day. However, it was only natural since I experienced a turbulent banquet night. The fact that my legs were still intact even if I was still not at work while the sun was already shining brightly felt like a small reward after all of the trouble that I went through yesterday.

Since I was already late, I decided to go to the garden first. I wanted to make sure that the greenhouse was safe. But I did not have a good feeling at all.

When I went out to my garden, my mind couldn’t help but fly away in shock. There was a huge hole in my precious greenhouse.

“Arielsa?”

George grabbed my trembling hands.

“Dad? The greenhouse, the greenhouse…!”

However, the only thing I ended up saying was a loud ‘Ack!’ after he flicked my forehead. His strength was close to a hammer pounding on a nail. His flicks so far had been cute compared to this one. I staggered back with tears in my eyes.

“Dad didn’t even know what happened yesterday…”

But George was staring at me with tears in his eyes. I felt terrified. I did not know what to do with a big and muscular guy that was crying in front of me. When our eyes met, he slowly approached me and held me in his pillar-like arms.

“D, ad.”

“Arielsa! The Duke told me not to wake you up because you had to be stable. I couldn’t even wink my eyes to sleep!”

“Daddy, I’m fine.”

“Where are you fine?!”

He let me go. Then, I looked at my greenhouse that had a big hole in the corner.

“My herbs…”

“That Gaurin bastard. I’ll break his neck with my own hands. He can avoid me while he’s still in the dungeon but that will be the end of his luck.”

“I heard that he’s the son of an elder who used to be an administrator in the East?”

“And I am Harpel’s Shield.”

I looked at his eyes that was filled with madness for a moment.

That’s right. This person, in the original, has the personality of a berserker.

‘Harpel’s Shield’ George, was a person who usually looked meek and gentle but his personality would change whenever he was in battle. I was just an extra that did not hold any weight so it seemed like the author did not describe that he had a setup of being a huge daughter-con but seeing this side of his personality so vividly was making me sweat.

It seemed like there were a lot of different things that were happening so I did not know what would happen to this world at this point in time. I sighed. I felt like I was Saint Wonhyo who drank the water in the skull.

“Do you know why he did that?”

I asked carefully to know the extent of what George knew.

“The Duke said that he will conduct the interrogation in secret. I’ll be able to know soon.”

His eyes were glaring. I couldn’t help but shiver in fright.

“He should be thankful that Chaers saved him from me breaking his neck! Do you really have to know about his situation right now? Are you hurt anywhere else?”

Just as I followed Chaers out of the banquet hall, he also followed me to the garden.

“Filthy bastard. My flower-like daughter…”

“D, dad! Let’s go inside!”

I quickly held George’s hand and pulled him inside when he started to get more agitated.

❄❄❄❄❄

Notes

[Saint Wonhyo who drank the water in the skull. 해골물을 마신 원효대사] – There was an incident when Saint Wonhyo was sent to study abroad and he was staying in the cave for a night. He woke up in the middle of the night thirsty and ended up drinking water from a gourd. He thought that the water tasted sweet and refreshing but when he woke up the next day and looked for the gourd, all he saw was a graveyard. This is a phrase that tells about the placebo effect and/or probably the mandela effect. Or when your brain/mind supplements yourself about things that you haven’t seen or experienced at all. Just like when Ron Weasley drank the  water that he thought was the felix felicis and he became lucky or so he thought.