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Chapter 5

"What else should I do?"

"An evil woman who suddenly appears one day as the Duke’s lover, she has to have a good background for it to be convincing enough."

"Right."

He could not just push her like a subordinate or a friend. He would have to treat Selena as a lover in order to bring her to the world.

".....It\'s getting more troublesome."

Kalcion sighed.

"The easiest thing to say is that you just saved a damsel in distress and couldn\'t let go of her because of her beauty. It\'s convincing, isn\'t it?"

Selena asserted, pointing to her face. Kalcion answered without even looking at her face.

"I like that."

"Ah…"

It was very obvious that he answered without even thinking about it twice.

But it would not be that simple. Selena scratched her chin and glanced at Kalcion\'s hard face.

"Then, why don\'t you take a look at me? You might develop feelings for me that way."

"....."

The silence lengthened until he spoke up.

"What kind of eyes are those?"

"....."

This time, it was followed by Selena\'s silence.

But he needed her to explain it.

His chest was starting to feel stuffy. No matter what, Kalcion had to pull off his act.

"They are much more beautiful than anything else in this world… The more you look at them, the more difficult it becomes to shift away your….eyes, right?"

"In this world?"

Kalcion asked, wrinkling his eyebrows. Selena frowned, feeling agony again.

"Well, there\'s no way the Duke has ever been in love, is there?"

"....."

Kalcion\'s silence confirmed it. This time again, she omitted the phrase, "The Northern Duke". She thought if she had mentioned it one more time, she would have been chopped down by the Duke\'s sword.

"Now then…. What is the Duke\'s favorite thing in the world?"

"Well...it is this guy."

Kalcion lifted up the sword that he was holding.

"It was made by hammering the finest iron around the horns of the beast for over thirty days."

He could easily feel the energy that was pulsating from the sword. However, the way he looked at the sword was like the way one would want to swing it right away and see the blood splattering from the monster\'s body.

\'Ugh.\'

"Then….how would you feel if the sword was broken or lost?"

If he could not be lovable, he would at least stare at it with pain in his eyes. Kalcion shrugged after pondering for a while.

"Well, I would feel the need to make a new one."

"....."

But Selena just wanted to get rid of it all. She managed to assuage her patience, which had run out in an instant.

"You want to make me act like your lover, don\'t you? Why don\'t you at least try it yourself?"

"Well."

Recalling his original intentions, Kalcion looked at Selena in a rather serious manner. Perhaps, in his own way.

"....."

Selena made eye contact with him for a moment but soon she shifted her gaze. She could not keep her eyes on him because she was scared.

".....This was not what I asked for."

"I tried my best to look at you as forcibly as I could."

"It\'s not all about intensity."

"Then, it is difficult."

Since then, he attempted the same process dozens of times, but repeatedly failed. She even noticed his every attempt of forcing himself to laugh. However, there were only two kinds of laughter that could be seen in Kalcion.

A mocking laughter saying, "You?" or a cold-blooded evil laughter saying, "I\'m excited to kill you soon." Besides that, it was just awkward for him to smile since it was an expression he was not used to. Selena could understand it all.

She moved her head silently to look at the burning wood. It seemed that it was better if he could show his evil laughter all the time.

Eventually, Selena decided to give up.

"....Let\'s change our strategy."

"How?"

It was clear that Kalcion was tired too.

\'I\'m tired.\'

He has never faced something like this in his life before.

He had never felt this tired even when he went out hunting alone, wielding his sword for three hours, and even when he was surrounded by fifteen beasts. It seemed like making a romantic facial expression was more exhausting than fighting with fifteen beasts.

"A sudden act would be terrible, so let\'s start with the background."

"Hmm."

"The woman went to the forest to seduce the Duke, and then he accepted it without thinking about it twice because she was stuck to him like a leech. That\'s what it is all about."

"I\'m afraid I\'m going to lose credibility in accepting it thoughtlessly."

"Of course, I suppose. But I think this situation will be more reliable than having the Duke to fall in love with someone just by looking at her beauty."

"....."

It was also very rare that someone could make Kalcion this speechless.

"Think of it as a background for the Duke to act."

"....I\'m beginning to wonder if I have to work very hard."

"So, are you going to give up?"

Kalcion inadvertently choked up.

\'Going to give up? If only I could.\'

She was not that important to him. He could have easily found other people to spy on the criminal. But, putting Selena in this was the best and the only solution he could come across, in order to eliminate suspicions.

But, the word \'giving up\' was not in his vocabulary. Kalcion\'s spirit was blazing with fire.

"....Who said that I would give up?"

Kalcion growled. Selena burst into laughter. But it would have been a disaster if she didn\'t fix her face quickly.

"I will seduce you."

Selena declared solemnly.

".....What?"

Surprised at the word that popped out, Kalcion asked back. Selena shook her hand with a frown on her face.

"No, I don\'t mean to seduce you in reality. I just need a background for acting. It\'s about keeping up with the atmosphere."

"So?"

"If you are not giving up, then start stacking up the background. First of all, there is something you can see in your behavior that doesn\'t make any sense."

"So, what am I supposed to do?"

"No matter what I do or say, just say okay. I will take care of the pace."

"Is that all?"

"On top of that, you have to listen to everything I say. Especially in front of outsiders. No matter what crazy thing I ask for."

".....What crazy thing are you going to ask for?"

"Love is a crazy thing. You have to make it look crazy, so that the people can understand that it is true love."

Kalcion rubbed his temple. It became difficult for him to understand again…..

"Oh, but when you first meet someone, you\'re going to have to say something that you wouldn\'t like. Even if the Duke himself doesn\'t understand, he must have a certain heart to take me to the castle."

"So what do I do?"

"Hmm….."

Selena also needed to think for a moment because she had to pull out the lines.

In the meantime, Kalcion was terrified for the first time in his life. He did not know how he could handle a fear that was so unfamiliar to him.

" \'This woman is mine.\' How is it?"

"Like a slave?"

"Ah, no, not that."

Selena agonized again.

"How about \'I don\'t want to leave you in someone else\'s hands.\' ?"

"Someone else\'s hands…. Ha, you can just hit their hand away."

"Okay, I will think of a different line."

She thought to make it a little cheesy.

"What about \'Nobody is allowed to touch this woman.\' "?

"Why would they?"

"No, it\'s just to…...forget it. I will think of something else."

"Think of something that would not give me goosebumps."

Kalcion protested furiously.

Selena agonized over and over again.

After a few more trials and errors, it eventually came down to a very mild taste. To describe it, it was as gentle as a spoonful of salt and a glass of water. By Selena\'s standards, it was also a sentence that could be said often.

However, it might not be easy for him to say it out loud.

"No, let\'s forget about the situation. Talk comfortably as usual. Just like \'the sword on your waist.\' "

"My…..d-dear."

At last, there it was.

"Ah, right."

Selena almost cursed him. She was enduring this place as much as she could, she would have exploded if her life was not at stake.

Selena could pull out any act that she had never done before. So far, it was not even clear how many actors had been awarded for their talent in acting skills.

Kalcion did not require much acting. Of course, she thought she could teach him with all her heart, but he would not be at that level. He had to think about giving up.

"Why isn\'t this working!"

"It\'s you who excels in acting here. Do you think I\'m the Duke?"

There was no end to his hostility. Was this the nature of every Northern Duke? It had been a long time since she felt as if her head was going blank.

\'Kalcion, you bastard.\'

There was no answer.

"Ha….Now, let\'s return to the castle carefully."

Even if there was no reply, Selena held her patience. It seemed as if Kalcion was in a bad-temper even though there was no word from him to give up. But at least, she was thankful.

By the time she came down from the mountain after barely finishing a temporary acting session with Kalcion, the sun was rising up.

***

"Your Excellency!"

A group of knights, who were waiting in front of a huge wall, froze and stood close to Kalcion, who was approaching.

Kalcion returned in the same manner as he had when he went to hunt into the mountains alone. The knights were on guard at the wall, asking if they would go in first in order to get rid of the irritating incident in the capital.

"Welcome. Are you…..injured?"

One of the knights widened his eyes when he noticed Kalcion holding a short woman.

"No injuries. I found her being attacked by a beast in the woods and rescued her. It has been a long time since she was lost."

"In the woods? How the hell did she get there.…"

The walls that were built to prevent the beasts of the mountain range were not enough for humans to jump over. The knights also checked thoroughly if any mana was penetrating from any rat hole. There could never have been anyone who could cross the wall and escape the eyes of the outer wall scouts.

"She sneaked out when we went out the last time."

\'Maybe she escaped when the knights left the castle to hunt the beast.\'

"Guts? Huh, really….."

It was not at all uncommon for many plants to grow in the forest of the beast.

"Even if she was not born in Renbird, it was not that she was not scared. Since there is no place for her to go, I decided to keep her under Renbird\'s protection for the time being. That\'s what I have to say."

She was not meant to be protected by the Duke, but to be put in the prison. But since Kalcion was the Duke, the knights had to follow his orders without any long discussion.

"Okay. I will escort her to the guest house. You might be tired, your Exce—"

"No, Dion."

The gray-haired knight, who was called Dion, stared at Kalcion with his enlarged eyes.

"Your Excellency?"

"My….woman."

"Pardon?"

Kalcion tightened his arm around Selena. Immediately, she felt a shiver running down her hand, covered by his cape.

The time had finally come for the results of the special training to show.