I Will Not Fall For the Villain’s Flirtations - Chapter 5 Part 2
I finished the theology class and returned to my dormitory. I was still distracted by what happened earlier.
Leila teased me before she went to Hakan or Takan’s room, asking if I saw a ghost or something. But my mind was in a hazy state, floating on fluffy clouds.
[In that case, since you caused it, you should take responsibility.]
“Ah, I’m crazy, I’m crazy.”
But no matter how I think about it, this isn’t something you just say jokingly to anyone, right?
Unless it’s someone like Keene, where ninety percent of what he says is a joke. Peido Carmel is far from that kind of person.
Besides, he clearly said something like this just before he left. He said, ‘I don’t think I can take you there.’
In other words, if Mr Medin and the priests hadn’t come and taken up my time, he would have taken me all the way to the West Building. It might make some sense in Luticia, where there is some danger, but isn’t that unnecessary when going to the temple?
Well, it’s hard to say that he had absolutely no ulterior motive when he offered to accompany me……
“Ah, seriously, what are you going to do later!”
I hit myself on the head as my thoughts kept going in that direction. Yet the muscles around my mouth unfailingly relaxed against the orders of my brain.
“I hope his road to getting married is blocked.”
Duna Carmel. It doesn’t sound bad.
As I continued to think pointless thoughts, I kept laughing like a fool. Then suddenly, it seemed like I fell into a daze.
When I woke up from a nap, I felt a slight stiffness in my shoulders and waist. It seemed like I fell asleep on the sofa.
But.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Ah!”
Startled, I quickly sat up in response to the question that I heard from the uncertain being sitting at the low table.
“W-when did you come!”
“About twenty minutes ago?”
“…What have you been doing until now that you didn’t wake me up?”
Smirking, Keene, shameless as ever, whispered.
“I was enjoying watching you sleep because you looked cute.”
“…….”
I don’t know how I’m supposed to understand that. If he really came twenty minutes ago, he’s completely insane, isn’t he?
“You looked happy, did you have an exciting dream or something?”
“…I don’t remember.”
“Again, I wonder if I appeared.”
“…Do you have a conscience?”
I glared at him as if to say I’ve had enough. I asked as Keene shrugged his shoulders.
“But I’m better than Du, I supposed. At least I’ve never secretly fed something strange to Du.”
“…….”
“Do you have any idea how much I suffered yesterday because of that?”
Right, if the potion I took back then wasn’t vagra but vigra…
Keene, who was observing my constantly changing facial expressions with interest, said.
“I almost went to the hospital. It wouldn’t go down.”
“…….”
I muttered apologetically in a small voice, averting my gaze in embarrassment.
“If I hadn’t been stimulated, nothing would have happened….”
Taking vigra doesn’t immediately produce any magical effects. It works by improving blood circulation to facilitate treatment, so sexual stimulation necessarily happens beforehand.
I know this well because Con, out of curiosity, once obtained something from the black market with unclear ingredients and suffered from side effects.
After hearing the doctor’s explanation, my parents and I were extremely angry at his reckless actions. That day, I hit that bastard even more so because it was raining.
But at that moment, Keene came up with a frustrating remark.
“How could I not get stimulated when Du is right next to me?”
“…….”
Wow, what a real idiot.
I gritted my teeth at his shameless audacity, which I couldn’t possibly overcome.
“You know that was unnecessary, right? You just need to tell me, I’m always ready.”
“….It was a mistake, so please shut up.”
“Oh, I thought you wanted to finish what we didn’t do last time.”
“…….”
I furrowed my eyebrows in response to his hint at a memory I wanted to completely erase. But the person in front of me was busy scratching at my insides with a face so innocent that I wondered if he was doing it on purpose.
“Surely you haven’t turned into an ‘after marriage’ kind of person just because you entered the temple, have you?”
“Ugh….”
It seemed like this bastard still had a long way to go to fill today’s quota of nonsense. I replied, half-resigned.
“What should I do then?”
“Well, we should get married.”
“What did you say?”
Did vigra have a side effect of increasing bullshit? His was particularly severe today.
“Are you crazy? No, if I really wanted to do it, what would you do then?”
It seemed like this bastard hadn’t met anyone as shameless as himself, so he blurted out those words. If I had been a bit thicker-skinned, I would have given him a proper education!
“What can I say, we need to get on family planning.”
“…What?”
“Do you like children? I like them, but since I’m not the one giving birth, I can’t make the final decision.”
“……”
Once again, I felt it. Normal people can’t deal with lunatics.
It wasn’t just a problem of being shameless. This guy was a genuine lunatic.
“I really don’t understand why you’re acting like this towards me. What’s the reason behind it?”
I asked once again in frustration, thinking that I deserved an explanation.
I never thought that he genuinely liked me. He probably just found me amusing. But I couldn’t grasp where that amusement came from at all.
“Does there need to be a reason? Maybe there is, maybe there isn’t.”
No, this isn’t some Schrödinger’s flirting!
“Well, even bullshit can contain a hint of sincerity…”
“There aren’t that many things in the world that exist for clear reasons. It’s the same with meaning.”
He gently smiled and reached his hand towards my face.
“The fact that Du is so cute, and even Du’s existence….”
His large hand brushed away the hair near my temple and covered my cheeks. His gaze, partially hidden by his eyelashes, felt particularly cold.
“None of this means anything, and neither does me doing this to you, Du.”
“……”
Clearly, this was nothing but baseless arguments, just like the nonsense he had been saying all along. Perhaps it was because of his indifferent gaze, but he oddly reminded me of him when we were at Rosenwood.
[So, what’s the point.]
Maybe, just maybe, this man truly believes that.
Everything is just the same in those indifferent eyes.
When I looked silently at him, his cynical look was quickly replaced by his original smile. He then leaned in close to me and chuckled.
The adult man’s weight made the sofa cushion sink, causing my body to lean towards him. Seizing the opportunity, Keene pulled me towards his shoulder and playfully said,
“But I have a rough idea why you gave me the potion.”
“……Huh?”
“You couldn’t find the key, right?”
The look in his eyes subtly sharpened, as if he were asking indirectly. Feeling that this moment was similar to that time we just met at the temple, I averted my gaze slightly.
“I-I’m trying my best.”
“With just one day left?”
“…I tend to be optimistic.”
A low laugh erupted above my head.
“Du, you have so much free time.”
“….”
“What will I do if you don’t get the key to the vault by tomorrow?”
His perfectly symmetrical facial features focused on me like I was a criminal cornered in a cell. Even with his gentle smile, his gaze was chilling, as if he were interrogating a criminal.
I shrank back slightly in renewed terror.
It was baffling how such a handsome face could feel so horrifying.
It felt as if I was a mouse before a lion.
“…Can’t you give me more time?”
I begged with a helpless heart.
But he gave no response. I opened my mouth, trying my best to look as pitiful as possible.
“I also, in my own way, made a lot of effort. But…”
“I don’t like it when people make excuses.”
“It’s not an excuse… You know, it hasn’t been long since I came to the temple.”
His expression remained unchanged. But he continued to gaze at me, as if urging me to go on.
With a little hope, I decided to gather more courage.
“I haven’t even had a chance to speak with the Pope. How can I possibly steal the key to his room?”
“…….”
“This mission is simply impossible from the start…”
“Our Du is incompetent, but she talks a lot?”
“…….”
I was wrong. Completely wrong.
It seemed like this life was destined to be short-lived. I fixed a glare at the villain who spat out unfriendly words in a gentle tone.
Fine, I’m going to die anyway. Let me curse him and die with satisfaction!
I tightened my grip on his collar with all my strength, blurting out foul words.
“Hey, you heartless bastard…”
But as soon as I met his amethyst eyes, I couldn’t help but stop talking.
In an instant, I remembered something I’d forgotten.
Even though he was a man who spouted bullshit all day long, the man in front of me was undoubtedly the greatest enemy of the Holy Kingdom, a ruthless villain from the Magic Tower.
Even if he turned the entire town into ruins, he wouldn’t feel any remorse. This psychopathic villain.
Once again, as soon as I crossed the line, I couldn’t help but become timid. When he says something silly, I can slap him, but when he’s serious like this, like beans sprouting in a drought1used to convey that something happens very rarely or under rare circumstances, I can’t treat him lightly.
The hands that were holding his clothes loosened.
“Um, can’t you at least give me a magical item or something?”
“A magical item?”
I carefully pondered the words I squeezed out, and they seemed quite reasonable. If you’re going to give me an unreasonable task, you should at least provide some good equipment!
“Something that would make stealing easier, or something that could buy me some time. I mean, no matter how I get the key, if they realize it’s missing, it’s over.”
“Hmm.”
I said, even though I didn’t know what the hell that key looked like.
“At the very least, how about a cloak of invisibility!”
“Here.”
He held a hand out in front of me, cutting off the rant I was about to spit out. I looked at the mysterious white pouch placed on my palm and asked.
“What is this?”
“It’s a pouch that can be duplicated.”
“Duplicated?”
On the outside, it looked no different from a regular cloth pouch. I discreetly gestured at him, sliding my finger into the empty space inside. So, how do I use it?
As if he had read my mind, he added an explanation.
“If you put an item inside and channel magic into it, you can clone something. The duplicate will maintain its form for about three days before disappearing.”
“Oh….”
“By the way, it’s disposable. Just keep that in mind.”
Unlike the large-scale devices that are operated by a country, this small magical item was fascinating because it was the first time I’d seen something like it. It had a nice and soft texture, as if it were made of silk. I briefly stopped playing with the pouch, opening and closing it, and suddenly looked at him again with a thought that came to mind.
“I don’t know how to use magic.”
“Holy power is a type of magic, so it’s okay.”
“Really? I didn’t know that.”
I thought it was a similar but completely different power. When he noticed my confusion, he smiled significantly and elaborated.
“The Holy Kingdom claims that holy power is a divine blessing and the exclusive property of the Stellas….”
“….”
“In reality, if you cross the continent, you can find minority tribes who use similar powers. It’s just that the names are different.”
“Is that so?”
If the Magic Tower is almost monopolizing the creation and sale of magical items, the Holy Kingdom has a tight grip on healing and purification. That is why, even though it is small in scale, other countries strive not to provoke the Holy Kingdom and to receive the support of the temple.
And what made this possible was the unique power possessed only by the Stellas. The Holy Kingdom had firmly asserted that heretics could never use holy power.
“I knew it. So, that was just a propaganda.”
It was an unfamiliar fact that no one within the Holy Kingdom told her, but she wasn’t religious enough to question him. In fact, I’ve always thought that among the things the Holy Kingdom claims, there is not just one or two that weren’t backed by evidence, so it wasn’t too difficult to accept.
But then, Keene, who was silently looking at me, spoke with sincerity.
“It seems like you’re not objecting, after all, Du.”
“…Did you lie to me just to see my reaction?”
“No, that’s not it.”
- 1used to convey that something happens very rarely or under rare circumstances