The Hero is Standing in My Way - Chapter 38

Chapter 38

 

At that moment Siegfried reached out his hand again, as if to touch my blushing face, I unknowingly grabbed his hand. Siegfried paused and looked down at his hand mid-air.

 

“… Did you hate it that much?” Siegfried lowered his eyes and asked.

 

His shaded face looked a little dark. I’ve never pushed him back like this. Could it be that I offended him? I looked at his expression.

 

“It’s not that I don’t like it…”

 

“Then what? No, enough.”

 

Am I being assumptive over a person just reaching for a grape? Siegfried sat down next to me again and covered his face with his hand. I dragged my chair closer to him.

 

“I was just surprised. It’s not that I didn’t like it.”

 

“It’s alright to be honest, because you already said you didn’t like me.”

 

Siegfried still didn’t look at me. It’s not that I didn’t really like it… but I just suddenly saw the adult Siegfried and my heart was pounding with just the thought of that. 

 

“Didn’t you say you were going to drop that topic?” I turned my face to Siegfried.

 

Even with his eyes closed, his shoulders twitched as if he felt my presence.

 

“And why are you suddenly eating something from someone else’s lips? I was saving more for later.”

 

“…I didn’t know that.”

 

Of course, you didn’t know, because you just acted and didn’t even notice what was on my lips. 

 

“So, just like we did last time, we should drop what happened today. It was also a bit like that before.”

 

“Yes, let’s do that.”

 

I honestly thought Siegfried would be more upset. So I was speechless after Siegfried raised his head.

 

“Ah, by the way, do you know that you still haven’t told me what you saw in your illusion while you were hypnotized?”

 

Why did the topic go there? It just so happened after the adult Siegfried overlapped with Siegfried’s current face a little while ago.

 

“I do not know. I can’t remember.”

 

I am not obligated to answer.

 

It seems that I think of Siegfried as my ideal type subconsciously, even though I had only read about him in a novel, and I will be very ashamed of myself if he ever finds out about this fact.

 

I confidently told Siegfried that he didn’t look like my ideal man at all since he was still young, but what appeared was the adult version of him. My self-esteem was somehow hurt.

 

“You’re lying. I heard that you’re smart. Even the nobles who only greeted you once said it – that you will never forget something once you saw it.”

 

“….”

 

Why are you doing a needlessly thorough investigation? I feel quite awkward. 

 

With his head tilted sidewards, Siegfried was staring at me. He was trying to attack me with his beauty again.

 

But did you know that I can overcome it now? It wasn’t as effective this time. 

 

I turned my head and tried to ignore his destructive beauty.

 

“Aren’t you going to tell me?” Siegfried then turned his chair sidewards facing me, as if telling me ‘how dare you look elsewhere?’ “I’m asking you, aren’t you going to tell me what it was?”

 

Siegfried leaned over and looked up at me. It was obvious that he already knew the effect of his beauty from such an angle.

 

“… Wh-why do I have to tell you? Of course, I saw my ideal type.”

 

“And so, I am asking you who that was?”

 

“How can I know who he was? Maybe he was just a fictional character.”

 

“That’s impossible. I saw you, and married nobles saw their wives. Others saw their lovers…. Well, there are other nobles who saw you in their vision. But why do you have to appear in visions of other nobles other than me?”

 

Siegfried stopped speaking and shut his mouth tightly, as if he was suddenly angry. A bright blue vein appeared over the back of his tightly clenched fist.

 

Blame the Siren if you want to blame someone. Though of course, my demonic charm also played a part. 

 

“Why are you asking me that?”

 

They see what they want to see of course, no matter what you say to me about that. 

 

How on earth am I supposed to get out of this conversation? I shook my head. Then Siegfried asked me another question as if he would not give me a chance to run away.

 

“So, who did you see? It’s very suspicious that only you haven’t been able to tell me.”

 

“I saw a handsome man – my ideal type of a handsome man that Your Highness knew very well.”

 

“Is he more handsome than me?”

 

“Uhmm… Yes.”

 

I can say that as he was much cooler than the current Siegfried. I nodded. Siegfried frowned slightly, without even knowing who the person I saw was.

 

“I bet there is no man more handsome than me out of all the men you have ever met.”

 

“No, of course there is. What I saw was the adult ji – ”

 

“Adult ji…?”

 

I almost admired Siegfried’s beauty, so I hurriedly shut my mouth. But it was impossible to swallow back the words I already said out loud.

 

Siegfried beckoned me to continue what I was saying.

 

“Adult ji?”

 

“Adult ji… ji… ji… jireong-ih… who was wriggling.”

 

(T/N: 지렁[jireong) means ‘earthworm’ and has the same first syllable with Siegfried’s name in hangul. [지크프리트])

 

“…..”

 

“….”

 

Who in the world has an earthworm as their ideal type? There was no such unreasonableness as this. I even said nonsensical words, but Siegfried’s reaction was cold. I think that the atmosphere would be colder if I said that it was only a joke. I fell into deep thoughts.

 

“So you see as an earthworm.”

 

“No, how can that be? Wait, how did you kno…?”

 

In what part of this conversation did you infer that who I saw was the adult Siegfried? 

 

I looked at Siegfried in amazement. Before I knew it, he was smiling leisurely with his chin on the table.

 

“Your words gave you away. Did you really see me?”

 

“….”

 

And so, I said I only saw it once, liked it and moved on afterwards.

 

I opened my mouth blankly.

 

“I see. So your ideal type is the adult me. Then I’ll have to work hard so that I can grow up quickly.” Siegfried said with a soft smile.

 

At this very moment, I hate him so much even with his dazzlingly beautiful smile. I never meant to say that…! 

 

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

 

 

“Miss Arie Vera Ellifritz, are you inside?”

 

(T/N: Did the author just change her name? I remembered that last time, she was still Arielia Ellifritz… or was that supposed to be her second name? lmao)

 

It was early morning. Someone has been knocking outside. I got up from my room while packing my things with the help of the inn staff.

 

“What’s the matter?” I opened the door and answered.

 

The one who was looking for me was a middle-aged man in good quality clothes.

 

“Ah, nice to meet you. My name is Cavill, the owner of Corte Farm.”

 

“Ah yes. Thank you for the delicious grapes yesterday.”

 

I smiled as I greeted the man. It was a bit embarrassing, but yesterday was a very good day.

 

“I explained it to you wrongly. I should have said that I am the former farm owner.”

 

“Is that so… Well, what do you need from me?”

 

Why did you come all the way here in the morning and introduced yourself to me? I nodded my head dryly as I had to pack up and quickly go down.

 

“That’s because Miss Ariel is now the farm owner. I am here to greet you as the former farmer owner.”

 

“Uhmm….”

 

“I plan to stay here and work in the future. But of course, only if Miss Ariel allows it.”

 

(T/N: Maybe just some typo there… but where did Vera come from?)

 

“Yes?”

 

I widened my eyes as I roughly listened to his words. Ehh? What is this all of a sudden? 

 

“D-do you have the c-certificates?”

 

“Of course. I am here to deliver that.”

 

The man laughed and pulled out a thick sheet of paper that had been rolled up. I unfolded the paper handed to me by the man. My hand was trembling weakly. The name written in big letters at the top of the deed was definitely mine.

 

“Please sign below.”

 

The man naturally took out his pen and held it towards me. With a bewildered look on my face, I quickly came back to my senses as I tried to sign where he was pointing to.

 

“Please wait. I have something to check before signing.”

 

“Of course.”

 

The man nodded his head. I handed him the certificate and pen again, and quickly went downstairs.

 

There were hardly any people near the front door. Everyone seemed to be having breakfast. I went down one more floor and headed to the restaurant.

 

“Good morning, young Ariel.”

 

“Viscount, where is His Highness?”

 

Viscount Kariell greeted me as soon as I entered the dining area. He was standing in front of me, so I couldn’t properly look around the dining area.

 

“He is over there with Abbysion.”

 

I ran straight to Siegfried. He was with Abbysion and many others. He looked up at me as I found him.

 

“Your Majesty, what have you done!” I ran over to him as I rubbed my cheek and shouted.

 

Only Siegfried around me could commit such an absurd thing overnight.

 

The Corte village did not belong to any of the southern territories, so naturally, they operated the farm by themselves. A bunch of the grapes is basically 500 erks, almost the same price as a dress. If so, then what was the price of the farm with the fields that the grapes were grown?

 

Even though I was born as a Count’s Young Lady and was raised in the countryside, I couldn’t estimate how much it was. Abbysion would have gifted it to me if it was an amount that can easily be bought. If he can’t do that, then it was obviously outrageously expensive.

 

“Looks like you liked it. Thanks to you, I now know how to show off my wealth.” Siegfried smiled proudly.

 

At the same time, he looked up at me with his purple eyes twinkling like jewels, asking for a compliment.

 

“N-no…! Even so, this is a bit…!”

 

“Is that bad? Should I have bought the entire village then?”

 

“No! I didn’t mean that.”

 

“Then what about a project of expanding the size of the farm?”

 

That…! Even though that doesn’t seem so bad…?