Chapter 15
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: The Ideal Man Already Has the Ideal Woman
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Swish.
I straightened my bent knees and slowly rose to my feet.
It was nothing more than the simple act of standing.
But that one simple motion crushed the air inside the dining hall, weighing it down heavily.
A massive shadow loomed upward.
Over the table.
Over the chairs.
Over Kara.
Until it finally reached Kairun, enveloping the young lord's entire body in overwhelming mass.
"......!"
Kairun's gaze traveled from my waist to my chest, then climbed much higher still to the tip of my chin.
He had to crane his neck back until it ached just to meet my eyes.
My shoulders were broad enough to block his view entirely, and the gaze I directed downward was as cool as the eternal snows of a mountain peak.
It was the oppressive presence of a colossal mountain range rising before him.
"Th-that barbarian—no, that revered savage...!"
The escort knights instinctively placed hands on their sword hilts, tensing up completely.
Even amid all that, the Eisen Baron didn't forget to stay vigilant.
Definitely the young lord's personal guard.
He had a refined air about him.
Cold sweat began to trickle down Kairun's cheeks.
I scratched the back of my neck and looked down at him.
My eyes fixed on the crown of the boy's head, far below.
'From up here... he really is small.'
Kairun was seventeen.
Considering he was still in his growth spurt, he might even be average for his age.
In the original story's setting, he just happened to look small compared to Kara, who was unusually tall.
Plus, he ended up growing tall later on.
'But I've gotten way too big.'
Nearly two meters tall.
And when my blood boiled, my body swelled even larger.
At three years old, I'd slit a wolf's throat with an axe.
'Of course, even now I have no idea how I pulled that off.'
At eight, I'd teamed up with a wolf to slit a frost bear's throat.
Before reaching adulthood, I'd dashed across a snow-swept plain with eyes half-buried in snow, carrying my father—who was even bigger than me—in a princess carry while taking arrows to the back.
After that, in the war against the Blood Fang Tribe, I'd fought life-or-death battles alongside barbarians like me.
And now, this unreal, forged-and-tempered muscular colossus made anyone—no matter how tall—look like a child.
How much more so for an immature young lord?
I didn't even feel the need to flex.
Just standing there was enough to make the boy before me feel the reality of an "impassable wall."
Kairun's red eyes shook violently.
Fear, bewilderment, and miserable shame at his own smallness all mixed in his chaotic gaze.
Seeing him like that made my lips quiver uncontrollably.
'No. Can't laugh. It'll ruin the vibe.'
To hide my trembling lips, I whipped my head away and bit down hard.
Kairun flinched, shoulders jerking.
He must have taken my action as dismissal or contempt.
"......Let's go."
Kairun's voice trembled faintly.
The young lord could no longer look at me or Kara.
He just bolted out of the dining hall like he was fleeing.
"Y-Young lord! We'll escort you!"
The flustered knights scrambled after him.
Bang!
The dining hall door slammed shut, and silence returned.
The aftermath of that minor commotion swept through.
I listened to the footsteps fading beyond the closed door and let out a chuckle.
That was when it happened.
"Ah, my mask."
Kara muttered flatly.
Her eyes weren't on Kairun's vanished back or on me.
They scanned the empty floor.
"The one Baba the Elder gave me... where'd it go?"
She'd definitely taken it off earlier to give to Kairun when he was coughing.
But she hadn't gotten it back.
More precisely, Kairun had clutched it and run off.
As if he'd snatched a trophy.
'Look at this guy.'
I clicked my tongue inwardly.
Was he trying to take some trace of the woman he'd fallen for at first sight?
Or had he just grabbed it and bolted in his panic?
Either way, Kara couldn't care less.
"What, did that little kid take it? Oh well."
She shrugged without a hint of regret and turned to look up at me.
Her eyes held not a speck of curiosity or regret for any other man.
They brimmed only with worry and affection for me—her husband.
The original story's "fated love" had been Kairun's delusion, a tragic one-sided crush.
Kara had no romantic feelings for him in the original, nor now—this was reconfirmed.
"Barg, you okay?"
"Huh?"
"You bit your lip so hard earlier when you were mad. It's bleeding."
Kara reached out cautiously and brushed my lip.
I must have bitten too hard holding back the laugh.
A red drop of blood beaded on her pale fingertip.
"......"
She stared at the drop for a moment, then brought it to her own lips with a strange expression.
Smack.
She licked my blood and smeared it on her lips.
Like lipstick, my red stain colored her mouth.
"......Kara?"
I called out in surprise, and she grinned broadly, wrapping her arms around my neck.
"Tastes like blood."
She rose on tiptoe and pressed her lips between my cheek and ear.
Smack.
Soft, warm sensation.
And a low whisper in my ear.
"No need to be jealous. Don't worry. Big sis only has eyes for you, Barg."
My heart thudded down hard.
My wife, through and through.
I'd acted calm on the outside, but she'd already noticed I was bothered by that kid's arrival.
So she was showing me with actions.
I pulled her waist tight against me and whispered in her ear.
"I know. Same here."
We stood like that for a moment, feeling each other's warmth.
Ignoring all the stares in the dining hall.
In that instant, it felt like the world held only us two.
"Ahem, ahem!"
Of course, until the tactless cough broke the spell.
I let out a sigh of relief and sat back down.
Across from me, the Eisen Baron sighed with a troubled look.
"Whew... I let the teasing go too far."
"You delayed the introduction on purpose, didn't you? You picked up on me wanting to mess with the kid."
I sat Kara down first, then followed suit, pressing him like that.
The Eisen Baron adjusted his glasses and smiled faintly.
"Busted?"
"......"
"I've served him since he was little... sometimes I just want to tease him a bit. I've never seen him so flustered before, so I got carried away."
Mischief danced in his eyes.
A stiff administrator type.
Of course, we'd already seen each other's ugly sides in the carriage, but I'd pegged him as a strict noble who valued etiquette like his life.
Turns out he had a surprisingly human side.
'This guy's secretly the type who enjoys it.'
I chuckled and resumed eating.
But a corner of my mind wasn't fully at ease.
I asked casually.
"But it'll be fine, right? He's the young lord of a grand ducal house—sending him off like that won't cause issues?"
"It's fine."
The Eisen Baron calmly scooped up some stew.
"I was in charge of the young lord's education. No one will question my methods. And... sometimes, a shock like that is necessary."
Pride thickened his voice as a teacher.
Confidence in the disciple he'd raised.
But my expression soured bitterly.
'...Pride, huh.'
Memories of the original story flashed by.
Despite that pride-filled education from Eisen, Kairun had sunk into a swamp of inferiority, jealousy, and obsession, abusing Kara and turning into a monster.
And the end of that path?
Eisen's tragic death, taking a sword meant for him from an assassin while cleaning up the mess his created monster had made and mending ties with political enemies.
I stared into the empty space where Kairun had vanished.
'The disciple you made ends up getting you killed.'
Of course, my intervention was changing the future now, but the kid's core nature probably hadn't shifted.
As my face darkened, Kara beside me scooped up a big chunk of meat on her spoon and held it to my mouth.
"Ahh—eat. The meat's getting cold."
"......Huh?"
I snapped back to reality and ate it on reflex.
The warm, juicy meat filled my mouth, washing away the bitterness.
Kara watched me with worried eyes.
'Yeah. The original is just the original.'
This time was different.
I was here.
And so was the smiling Kara.
I chewed the meat in my mouth with a grin.
'Well, if he doesn't wise up at the academy and comes at me again... then I'll show him the bitter taste of adulthood. For now, I'll let the green kid off.'
Same time.
Alley corner outside the dining hall.
A space where the escort knights formed a human wall, blocking all prying eyes.
Inside it, Kairun crouched, rubbing his reddened eyes with his sleeve.
"Sniff... damn it...!"
The young lord, shedding tears on a main street.
And not even hiding the sound.
Was it simply because "his first love was a married woman"?
That was part of it, sure.
But a deeper, more desperate despair crushed him.
His "object of admiration."
Since childhood, Kairun had idolized the sturdy northern warriors—especially the legendary chieftain "Gorgon."
The man closest to the "Khan" that his childhood tutor, the Eisen Baron, had praised endlessly.
The hero from the tales the Eisen Baron had passed on.
A massive build.
Strength to shatter boulders.
Overwhelming might.
That was Kairun's vision of the perfect man.
But what about himself in reality?
Average height for his age, but no matter how he trained, muscles wouldn't grow on his lean frame.
He had innate sword talent, but it was far from the "destructive power" he craved.
Yet the man he'd just seen—Barg.
He was exactly "Gorgon's younger days," the image Kairun had only imagined, never witnessed.
Overwhelming physique.
A feral aura that hit you just breathing the same air.
And at his side was the woman he'd fallen for at first sight—Kara, his ideal type incarnate.
Double blow.
"Damn it...!"
The "ideal man" he'd longed to become had already claimed the "ideal woman" he'd fallen for.
Perfect defeat.
The helplessness and inferiority from comparing his puny build to Barg's giant frame clawed at his chest.
"Just you wait...."
Kairun wiped his tears and lifted his head.
Poison glinted in his red eyes.
Jealousy?
No.
Survival instinct. The fighting spirit of a male.
The primal urge humans held before ever using their hands.
"I'll... I'll get stronger."
He clenched his fist tight.
Nails digging into flesh.
"And I'll prove it. Whether that guy Barg really suits her. Or if he's just a big empty shell."
And whether that man, so close to his ideal, truly was.
The boy's eyes changed.
No longer the gaze of a spoiled young lord—but the eyes of a beast that had found its prey.
This day's defeat would become the strongest venom and driving force propelling him to become the empire's "youngest Swordmaster" in history.
The same "youngest Swordmaster" fate as the original story.
Of course, he'd get crushed and beaten by Barg countless times along the way.
And while Barg couldn't become a Swordmaster with an axe.
His fellow sword-user rival, Kara, wouldn't join the title event this year anyway—being pregnant.
In any case, the fate of becoming the "youngest Swordmaster" began flowing exactly like the original, sparked by today's events.