The Hero is Standing in My Way - Chapter 15

We mixed with the crowd on the busy streets of the festival. Every time we passed by one of the stalls, the merchants had to rush to make a new sold-out panel after we had purchased everything they had. The merchants at the stall were selling many different kinds of sweets, so I bought all of them and had them packed. I handed most of the baggage to Siegfried with a delighted face. He silently followed me as he carried all the luggage, like a porter. It seemed that he would be carrying more than enough to make me full, even if I only ate snacks.

“It would be weird if you ate this much,” Siegfried grumbled, looking down tiredly at the small hill of cookie boxes.

“Why are you nagging like an old man?” I teased.

I watched his expression as I made fun of him complaining. It’s only for a day, so what?

“Of course I have to eat, and if I fill my stomach with sweets….” I said while trailing off.

“Ei.”

With his continuous nagging, I put a cloud-shaped cookie in Siegfried’s mouth. He widened his eyes and munched on the snack quietly. I listened to the sound of him crunching the cookie with a pleased expression. I happily laughed and sat down alongside him on the bench. He seemed to like the snack despite his nagging. If it was so delicious you could take it out and eat it yourself, I mused. I didn’t know he was this prideful until now.

I opened the wrapper of another pastry, Siefried looked carefully to see if it was a cloud-shaped cookie that I had previously fed him. After he learned it wasn’t a cloud cookie, he quietly murmured something. I occasionally caught Siegfried glancing at me while I held the cookie he liked for about 20 times until I finally fed him the cloud cookie. His face showed slight annoyance, but he remained silent as he waited patiently.

After eating a lot of snacks, I decided to take Siegfried to a puppet show. I got accustomed to squeezing through the crowds as he ran behind me. He almost lost sight of me several times. Suddenly, I looked back to see if he was following me. The thought of him waiting for me to look back to allow him to catch up bothered me. I offered him my hand so he wouldn’t lose me for the sixth time:

“Would you like to hold hands?”

“What?” he asked.

Surprised by the offer, he seemed confused and frowned. Then he made an excuse: “But I’m very cautious…….” he said, as he continued raising and lowering his hand, debating whether to take it.

He probably presumed I was forcing him to hold my hand, so I retracted my offer, “Or not. You have no choice but to lose me again.”

“Hold.” he awkwardly interjected.

At best, Siegfried just grabbed my cuffs. He is going to lose me again, I thought. I gently moved my arm and held Siegfried’s wrist firmly with my hand. I assumed he was a pretty little boy, but he actually has thick bones. Just by feeling his arm, I could tell he was well-built. Milliard, who is the same age, had a build similar to me and Siegfried.

Still, it’s going to be a long time till Siegfried becomes an adult. In the novel, when he became an adult, he had a much better physique than Abbysion. Abbysion is over 185 centimeters, but he was still taller than Abbysion…….

I really look forward to the future. I don’t know who the female lead is, but it is clear that she saved her country in her previous life.

“It’s not my hand, but your wrist. Is that okay with you?”

“…….”

It must not be okay with him, I concluded. He continued to remain silent. Then, he just rolled his eyes and looked down at his wrist.

Just grabbing your wrist won’t be enough reason for your eyes to tremble, right?

“I don’t hold onto anyone who says they don’t like it.” I felt ashamed for forcing something he didn’t want, so I tried to let go.

He shook his head and stammered. “I, I didn’t say I didn’t like it.”

Since he didn’t say he did not like it, I decided to take that as a yes. I dragged the young, awkward boy alongside me as we settled down under the shade of a tree. It looks like we arrived at a good time! The curtains of the stage were going up as soon as we came. As Siegfried watched several colorful marionettes dance on the stage, he muttered: “It’s interesting.” He had an innocent face full of fascination, completely engrossed with the show.

It was when the female marionette on stage placed her drooping hair over the male marionette’s ears that I got up slowly, that way, I wouldn’t interfere with Siegfried’s appreciation for the puppet show. Since he was completely immersed in the play, I was thinking of going somewhere, so I made sure to inform him before doing so. “Your High, no. Laxien. Stay here for a second.”

Instead, he grabbed the cuff of my sleeve at a surprisingly fast pace while keeping his gaze on the stage, and asked, “Where?”

I reassured him and said, “It will only be for a minute. Don’t worry, I won’t lose you, unlike Milliard.”

“You treat me like I’m a baby,” he responded back.

“You’re not a baby, so I can leave you behind, right?” I reasoned.

I shook my cuffs. I tried to release the hand holding me back, but he continued to cling onto me as if he couldn’t help it.

“You said we would go together,” he argued.

Although he seemed dissatisfied, I have to go.

★★★

When I returned to buy what I needed, Siegfried was clapping along with the audience. Most of the audience consisted of parents with their young children. He’s such a baby.

Let’s say that my baby is a little better than other houses’ babies. (T/N: Aack, baby!)

I patted Siegfried’s shoulder, and, in response, he looked up.

“You said it will only take a minute,” he stressed.

“The line was too long.”

All of the audience began to scatter. I sat next to Siegfried, and asked, “Do you think I bought it?”

“You said I’m your wallet today. I can’t let you do it again,” he stated with a strangely serious look.

I rummaged through the envelopes and listened to him, then, I told him the reason why I left: “I wanted to buy you something.”

From morning until now, I was worried all day and couldn’t stand the thin scratch on Siegfried’s left cheek. His face should be designated as a national treasure. I couldn’t help but question why Killian had to attack his face when he could’ve attacked anywhere else. Due to my insistent worry, I decided to buy an ointment that was said to be good at healing wounds. I thought the pharmacy would be closed because it was a festival, but there were also many people that were injured.

“What the hell is that?”

Siegfried leaned in curiously, quietly blinking and waiting for me to provide an explanation as I handed him the ointment.

“Ta-da!”

“You went out for this?”

“You don’t need to worry about the details.”

I opened the lid of the ointment and the smell of medicinal herbs came out. Siegfried slightly opened his mouth, and inquired, “Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No. As you can see, I’m fine.”

“Then why did you buy it?”

Is Siegfried not looking in the mirror every morning? He didn’t care about that scar that prevented me from appreciating his beauty. (T/N: I also want to appreciate Siegfried’s beauty lol)

I think it’s better to show him rather than explain it. I squeezed the ointment bottle and applied it to Siegfried’s cheek.

He still hadn’t figured out the situation. As I got closer, Siegfried leaned back.

“Stay still,” I said.

Siegfried stiffened his shoulders, looking at me warily. Will I hurt you if you stay still? I said silently. As I pulled his chin closer to me, he kept shrinking away. He had eyes full of discontent, but he didn’t hit me.

By the way, what on earth is going on with your skin? I wondered. There were no pores even if I looked closely. Like the first snow, his skin was soft and white. I was awestruck by the porcelain-like skin without any freckles, spots, or acne.

Siegfried’s ears were red and his eyes were closed, his long eyelashes were flapping like a butterfly’s wings. His face was surprisingly stunning to look at. I couldn’t help but admire it and say it again:

“You’re really beautiful….”

“Stop it. How many times have you said that?” Siegfried shouted nervously.

He closed his eyes tightly and blushed, a tinge of red was obvious on his cheeks.

“I haven’t said it a few times. Maybe I should do it 200 times a day. Even if I were to compliment you that much, I have full confidence that I would never tire of saying it.”

Even then, that still wouldn’t be enough. His true beauty should be known by everyone around the world. I continued to ponder and suddenly thought: What would it have been like if Siegfried had been born a woman? It would be fun if he wore a fluffy dress all day long and had braided long hair.

“It’s all done. Does it sting?” I asked as I spread the ointment on his cheek.

When my breath reached his cheek, Siegfried’s black eyelashes fluttered, then he slowly opened his eyes. His purple eyes that reflected the sun were as transparent as jewels.

“You’re making a fuss over a little sting.”

However, the words that came out of his fine lips were unmatched in roughness.

“Oh my God, such rude words. I have to protect this pretty face.”

Seriously, that was worse than cursing right now. I had the immediate urge to grab Siegfried by the collar. I was baffled at how he could say something so insulting with such a fine face.

Just try and use your pretty face one more time……!