Taming The Lady - Chapter 4

Raon’s break time happened to coincide with mine and it was also a coincidence that we happened to sit down together on a very large and spacious stone.

Happily, I kept trying to sneak closer to Raon, but the distance between us kept getting wider and wider.

‘What! Is this some sort of magic?’

Without giving up, I tried to talk to Raon.

“R-Raon! I prepared this for you, please eat it!”

To be accurate, it was just not me who prepared this.

Rather, it was a product of my endeavor of waking up Betty early at dawn. The two of us jointly created that “Love Sandwich”. Betty made the sandwich filling, I put the filling inside the sandwich bread, Betty then baked the bread, and finally, I buttered it.

For sure, I felt a prick in my conscience.

“……”

Raon looked at the picnic basket that was held out in front of him, with a straight face that showed little expression.

“Uh…umm…so this is the sandwich I made for you! Won’t you at least try it?”

“What did you put in it this time?”

His voice was full of suspicion.

I understood Raon’s reaction. It was because Estina made Raon eat anything in the past. Some of them were too disgusting to even think about. So I had a duty to reassure Raon.

“I-it’s safe and you can definitely eat it. I didn’t add frogs or anything like that in it!”

Of course, he did not believe me. He had an expression that showed little to no trust in my words. Rather, he looked more suspicious than before.

‘Eck!’

Raon’s eyes narrowed at me.

“…then what kind of poison have you put in it this time?”

‘Why will I ever poison you, my favorite character?’

Unfortunately, my current body had a history of doing just that.

Estina had poisoned Raon before. It was not a poison that could endanger his life, but it certainly caused pain and Estina liked to rejoice at any pain that she could inflict on Raon.

‘Why did you do that? The ‘me’ in the novel?

It was all because of Estina’s doings that Raon had developed some resistance to poison in the novel. There was even a scene where Raon ate poison in Liliana’s stead.

When I glanced at Raon, I saw a disgusted expression on his face. I did not think he was ever going to eat the sandwich if I left it like that. I made the sandwiches with my heartfelt labor just for him to eat them, but all my hard work seemed to be in vain.

‘What do I do now?’

‘Oh, that’s right! There’s a very simple way to do this!’

“Raon! Please wait a bit!”

My eyes became wide with determination as I pulled out a sandwich from the basket. Then I stuffed it all in my mouth which puffed my mouth into a squirrel-like expression, and gulped it down at once.

To add a dramatic effect, I even smiled a real soft smile while eating like that.

‘I won’t hurt you. I won’t ever give you pain.’

I kept the smile on my face all the while, careful not to make it weird.

‘Won’t he believe me to at least a minuscule extent now?’

“So now you have even developed resistance to poison?”

Raon looked like he had a headache.

“What are you talking about?! I already promised you that I won’t do any of that stuff again! Haven’t we made up already?”

“……..Oh right. We did.”

Roan replied with a face full of sarcasm. I was speechless for a moment. However, I deserved that because Estina had wronged Raon big time in the past.

I already promised Raon that I would not do anything bad but at the same time, I threatened him using the fact that he did not want the Count to know about his activity and I also struck a deal with him.

Even I had to admit that was a stupid move on my part.

Currently, the Ryan family was nobility only in name and it was up to its neck in debt. The Count had no power, and even the Countess, who had been supporting the family, committed suicide.

Raon was the only family left for the Count who was gradually losing his sanity. As Raon had a very beautiful face, the wealthy nobles coveted him very much.

To paraphrase a dark saying from the novel, Raon was being bred to be used as a tool for the sake of money.

That was the reason why Raon, whose body was covered in scars, did not have a single scar on his face.

The good news was that Raon would safely enter the academy. On the strength of his genius swordsmanship, he would conquer all the things that ever trapped him.

As a child, the Count took Raon to the houses of various noble families. The Count was looking for noblemen who had enough money to support him and turn his life around. The grand noble family of Lacia was one of those families that he had his eyes on.

From the Count’s point of view, Raon was a son who was only useful for ornamental purposes. If Raon became extraordinarily strong, it would be troublesome for the Count to achieve his goal, because then, he would not be able to use his son at his own sweet will.

Therefore, the fact that Raon was secretly training in swordsmanship every morning could not be revealed to anyone. If it was to be found out ever, the Count would lock Raon in a cage without a moment’s delay.

He must be training with his life on the line but I used his weakness to threaten him, so it was expected that he would react sarcastically.

But I really could not help it. I really did not want to resort to threats like that but if I had not done that…….

‘You would have surely moved to another place to practice since I showed up here, then I would have to try to find you all over again and I wouldn’t get to see you again for a while.’

‘And once I found you, you would run away from me again, wouldn’t you?’

The repetition of chasing and running away.

I had to stop it somehow. Because…

‘Raon, I want to see you every day and I want to stay by your side.’

‘……so this is why stalkers are scary when they have too much power.’

Intending to reflect upon me, I took back the basket.

It seemed like it was too early to try and make Raon eat the food I made. ‘Let’s just try again after building a little more intimacy with him.’ I sighed inwardly and right when I was about to give up…

“Can I eat one of those sandwiches, My Lady?”

A shadow suddenly appeared above my head.

‘What was that? I didn’t feel anyone approaching me…’

I could see Sir Lerde, who had been silently listening to Raon’s conversation with me all this time, being slightly taken aback and looking warily at that particular person.

It seemed even Sir Lerde did not notice his arrival and just noticed him at that moment only.

“Master.”

My eyes automatically widened as I saw Raon addressing that person politely. ‘Oh, that’s right!’ Looking back at the novel I remembered that Raon had a teacher who taught him swordsmanship.

‘Raon had been alone here when I saw him yesterday. So, is this person his teacher?’

I started scanning him right away. In the novel, Raon’s teacher was rarely seen and was not dealt with in detail.

The person in front of me looked way younger than I had imagined. In my head, he was a middle-aged man but the reality was quite the opposite. He did not look much older than Sir Lerde who was only seventeen years old.

The clothes he was wearing were old and tattered, and the way he was standing looked defenseless and full of gaps. His voice was a little scruffy, giving it a strong sense of overall coldness.

But still, he had an aura of refinement that made it hard to guess what status he had. And on top of that, he was a very handsome man.

“Raon, I am sorry. I hadn’t been able to come by before because I was busy with some work.”

“No, it’s fine.”

“You didn’t slack off from practice while I was away, did you?”

“Excuse me! What kind of nonsense are you talking about? Raon is the most hard-working person I know, okay?”

Silence fell when I, who had been listening quietly, jumped in opposition to the teacher’s words all of a sudden. Raon had a look on his face that was hard to guess. I felt sorry to disturb the mood but I just could not stand it.

Raon was a very hard-working and sincere person. I thought it was obviously rude to accuse Raon of slacking when he worked so hard. In my eyes, the teacher was kind of rude.

Looking at my pouty face, the teacher smiled at me with a meaningful smile which I did not understand at all. Then he turned towards Raon.

“Raon, it seems like the romance season is here.”

“Your joke is too much, master.”

Wow, Raon looked really sour while I was just blown away by the teacher’s wits.

‘I’ll have to cancel the thing I said about you being rude. Long live the teacher! I’ll be your fan from today, so please make Raon a bit more ready for the season of romance in his life!’

While I was watching the whole scene with eagerness, Raon’s teacher sat down on the wide stone on which we were sitting.

“You can also sit down comfortably, Mister Knight.

“……….I am fine.”

Sir Lerde was still on alert. He seemed to be still shocked that he felt no presence at all when the teacher arrived.

The teacher looked at me and Raon in turn and then smiled softly.

“My Lady, so can I have one of those sandwiches?”

“Of course! You can eat all of it! Oh, and of course, Sir Lerde, who is standing there, already ate his share, so it’s fine!”

“Thank you, My Lady. Raon, should we continue our talk while eating these delicious-looking sandwiches?”

“……”

“How about it?”

Raon had already resigned to his fate and his teacher also was feigning innocence. However, it looked like the winner had already been decided.

“Alright.”

Raon sighed and finally gave in.

Raon, one of the main characters of the novel and my favorite character, the Sword Master of Abyss.

Raon’s swordsmanship teacher, wrapped in a mystery.

Lady Estina, a grand noble who had been tormenting Raon his whole life.

Sir Lerde, the Knight of the Wind, the loyal retainer of the Lacia family.

It was how the bizarre story of these four people, who could have never fitted into a positive combination in the first place, began.

***

Sitting on the large stone, I silently observed the movement of Raon’s lips.

So cute!

I quickly covered my mouth to stop the words in my heart from leaking out of my mouth.

If they reached Raon’s ears he would definitely stop eating.

So I continued making the sandwiches daily with the recipe Betty taught me. And Raon continued to eat the sandwiches daily, even though he only did that because he had made a promise to his teacher to do so.

Raon ate them but his expression towards me remained as before.

That was the character set-up I hated the most in the novel; the set-up I wanted to get rid of the most if I ever came here. Raon’s set-up of having no appetite for any food.

Due to childhood trauma, Raon was not really aware of anything which was related to being delicious. Although his taste buds were fine, he had no attachment to food in general, so he almost always ate greens and vegetables or skipped meals altogether.

‘Is it because of his apathy towards food that Raon, who is the same age as me, is slightly shorter than me?’

Of course, he was only a buff munchkin who would shoot up in height in the future and would get a lot bigger than me. His body proportions would be perfect too.

However, I really wanted Raon to come to like food. It would be a waste if he never knew or tried the many delicious things that existed in the world.

‘If I keep working hard to make them, won’t he come to like them someday?’

Roan’s red lips parted slightly and took another bite of the bread.

“So cute……….”

Oh? No way! Did I just say it out loud?

Raon quietly put down the sliced bread.

“Oh…umm…hey…Raon?”

“…I am not one to play with food but I don’t really want to eat it right now.”

I tried to correct the blunder I just made but Raon did not give me time to say anything. He got up straight away and went back to practice.

‘Dang it! Why did I do that?’

After a long time of practice, Raon came back to where he was seated before. And, he ate all of the sliced bread without leaving any leftovers. As usual, he was still expressionless.

Time goes by really fast when you look back at it.

Over the past few weeks that flew by, I had improved my swordsmanship considerably and I got better at waking up early in the morning to make bread. Oh, and my stamina had become pretty durable too.

Raon’s efficiency grew in leaps and bound under the guidance of both his teacher and Sir Lerde. He was originally a genius swordsman but now he was truly becoming a monster. As he got better with each passing day, it became more and more difficult to find an epithet that would describe his ability in its truest sense.

‘Hmm…then what about The Great Demon King or the Sword Monster?

Raon’s teacher was a man named Lucas who was rarely seen anywhere. He kept saying that he was very busy those days. All I knew about Lucas was his name and nothing else.

‘And today, I am…’

“Cough cough.”

I had been proud thinking that I gained a lot of stamina but could my illness be the result of what I was proud of all this time?

My body, which had been chilly since yesterday evening, turned highly feverish overnight. Betty and Estina’s mother, the Duchess, who had become my exclusive maid, stood looking at me with worried faces.

To Be Continued.