Declaration of Departure
...Scumbag.
Yeah, even you think so, huh?
Fortuna locked eyes with him, her gaze narrowed to slits. Jun couldn't bring himself to meet that stare head-on. Even he had to admit that his behavior and the way he'd been looking at the girls were pure blonde-tanned-delinquent material — the textbook definition of a scumbag. And he'd done it right in front of his own wife, no less. Calling him worse than a scumbag wouldn't have been unfair.
Ugh. That's just family affection. Fortuna, hold it in. Just hold it in.
Fortuna was fighting hard to keep her temper in check. If the hands wrapped around Heni and Linda's waists had carried even the slightest hint of ulterior motive, she would have immediately raised hell about him cheating. It was the complete opposite of her earlier talk about taking on concubines — but she had her reasons. The two of them were fine as friends, she claimed, but their compatibility for marriage was terrible, or something like that. In any case, Heni and Linda had failed to clear Fortuna's exacting standards.
Jun knew the two of them had been fond of Leon since way back, so he hadn't particularly set his sights on them either. They were rare, wonderful women, no question — but the world was wide, and there were plenty of women in it. He had no desire to go out of his way to redirect their love toward himself.
You're sure? You really don't have feelings for either of them?
I already told you. I'm just messing with Leon and Donald a little.
Those two already left. So how about letting go now?
Jun couldn't quite bring himself to obey. The soft warmth and fragrance of the bodies pressed against his sides felt far too good for that.
Urgh! Aaaargh!
Fortuna's jealousy was about to detonate on the spot. Jun hurriedly planted himself in front of the charcoal-grilled pork barbecue stall.
"Mister."
"Hmm, who—? Oh, Jun? Still all bundled up today, I see. It's a festival — why not loosen up a little?"
"I put on some makeup for my coming-of-age ceremony today. Is that still all right?"
"...Now that you mention it, better keep it on. All right — three portions? They're just about perfectly done."
"Just a moment."
Jun glanced at Fortuna. She was staring fixedly at the barbecue, practically salivating. That settled it for her, at least.
"Want to order just one and share it?"
"Sounds good, Oppa. Looking around, there's a lot of other tasty stuff too."
Save money, save stomach space — two birds with one stone. Jun nodded at the girls' suggestion and ordered a single portion of barbecue.
"Here you go. Congrats on your coming-of-age, Jun."
"Thank you, mister."
"But Heni, Linda — why are you two glued to Jun like that? Haven't you been going out with Leon for a while now? Anyone looking would think you'd taken up with Jun."
"Leon did a lot of wrong by Jun, you see."
"Hmph! That Oppa needs a little punishment."
"If even you two — who've been crazy about Leon since you were snot-nosed kids — are saying that, he must've really screwed up."
The man clucked his tongue and tossed a few extra pieces of meat onto their order. Jun, Heni, and Linda thanked him and settled onto a nearby bench. Torches burned here and there, so even in the cold weather it wasn't too chilly.
"Ahn∼. Mmm! So good!"
Fortuna took a massive bite out of a barbecue nearly the size of her own head and beamed with pure bliss. Jun snorted a laugh at the sight and asked,
"Goddess — no, Angel-nim — is being small that happy?"
"So, so happy!"
"Aww, look at you. Oh, you've got sauce on you. Hold still — I'll wipe it off."
"Heheheh."
Fortuna broke into a full-faced smile and puckered her lips. Looking at her like that, all the jealousy that had been about to explode seemed to have completely settled.
Should I call this a relief? Or lament that my wife is way too simple?
Jun had no idea what expression he was supposed to make.
Just then, Heni muttered as she watched Fortuna — who had somehow already finished off the head-sized barbecue and was starting on a fresh one.
"I'm so jealous. Isn't there some way to get smaller? I want to eat food bigger than me too. Especially cake."
"A cake bigger than me. Hehe. Just thinking about it makes me happy."
"Right, right? Unnie feels the same. Fortuna, isn't there some way?"
"Munch munch. Nope. Just give up. I'm keeping this all to myself."
"That's so mean! Ei! Ei! Spit it out already!"
"Still a long way off! Munch munch."
Heni stretched out her hands to grab Fortuna, who dodged this way and that while still managing to keep eating her barbecue. It was the kind of everyday scene that always happened — but the thought that this everyday scene would no longer be everyday left Jun with a deep, bitter ache. And he wasn't the only one who felt it.
"I suppose today is the last time I'll get to watch Fortuna and Heni play around like this."
"Isn't it a little early to jump to conclusions, Linda-nuna? Depending on how the match goes, it might not turn out that way."
At Leon's request, Jun had agreed to face him one more time. If Jun won that match, Leon would never again be allowed to ask him to come along. If Leon won, Jun would have to follow him without a word of complaint.
What a pain in the ass. Why does he keep latching onto my ankles like this?
As someone whose escape skills were maxed out, Jun didn't particularly need to humor the request. Even Leonard wouldn't be able to catch him. But if he refused, Leon would use his authority as a prince to keep pestering him endlessly — so he had no choice. The more Leon pushed, the steeper the price of Special Protection Status became.
"You're hanging out with us like this because you're confident you'll win, right?"
"Well, honestly? Yeah. I'm extremely confident."
If Leon's Lion Banner kept him from using magic, he could simply borrow the power of Fortuna's holy arts. On the surface, she was his summoned familiar. A summoner borrowing his familiar's power was only natural. Of course Leon would try to nullify that too — but the Lion Banner wasn't without limits. It couldn't erase Fortuna's holy arts, not when the gap in rank and core output was that enormous. And if he somehow managed even that, well — Jun would just have to use Aura. Innate abilities that operated from within the body were even harder to suppress.
Leon might drown in jealousy and emptiness over it, but that wasn't Jun's problem. He'd brought it on himself. If anyone was at fault, it was Leon — for cornering Jun until things ended up this way, when Jun had been trying to avoid exactly that outcome.
"Jun, are you really not coming with us?"
"Yeah. I don't want to get dragged into Leon's business anymore. Even if Leon, Nuna, Heni, and the rest of the friends heading to the capital end up in danger, I won't save them. Disgusted?"
"Mm∼. Not even a little."
Linda said it lightly and rested her head against Jun's shoulder. A sweet floral scent tickled the tip of his nose.
"Thank you, Jun. For protecting us all this time. And even if we're far apart, don't forget that you're my little brother. As your big sister, I'll keep praying for your happiness."
"...Thanks, Nuna."
He wanted to tell her to stay safe, to take care of herself. But Jun couldn't bring himself to say the words out loud. If he opened his mouth, he was afraid something else entirely would come out — and he had no intention of saying things he couldn't take responsibility for. So he simply offered her his shoulder in silence, hoping the words he couldn't speak might travel to her through the warmth of his body.
"Our little Junie, what are you up to right now?"
"Unnie, Oppa. Aren't you two getting a little too cozy? It really looks like something's going on."
"Hehehe. Does it look that way? Jun, what should we do?"
"What do you mean, what should we do? Get even closer. You two, come here too!"
"Kyaa∼"
"Eek! Jun! Me too! Hug me toooo!"
Jun wrapped his arms around Heni and Linda's waists again and pulled them in tight, leaving no gap between their bodies. A jealous Fortuna burrowed into his embrace of her own accord. Snuggled up with three beautiful women like that, murderous intent started radiating from men in every direction. Jun was prepared to ignore it and stay right where he was —
Throb. Throb.
"What, exactly, do you think you're doing?"
Grind. Grind.
"Choose your answer carefully, Jun."
The bone-chilling, murder-soaked voices that followed made him scramble away from Heni and Linda at once. Even so, the owners of those voices — Leonard and Robin — kept their razor-sharp glares fixed on him without the slightest softening. Jun broke into a cold sweat for no good reason. It felt exactly like getting caught making out with a girlfriend by her father.
"...Hahaha. Boss, Robin-ajeossi. What brings you all the way out here? Weren't you busy with things you had to take care of?"
"We were. But—"
"Something more important came up."
"That important something isn't burying me in the ground, is it?"
"..." "..."
The two hopelessly doting fathers simply stared down at Jun in silence, as if that were precisely the correct answer. For the record, just as Linda regarded Leonard like a father, Leonard regarded Linda like a daughter.
"Y-you're joking, right? I didn't do anything!"
"If you didn't do anything, why didn't you notice us approaching?"
"You were so absorbed in something that you didn't even realize your radar was off, didn't you?"
"Th-that was... we were just having a heartfelt conversation, wait — what kind of misunderstanding is this?!"
At the words "heartfelt conversation," Leonard and Robin's eyes flew wide open. Surely they hadn't taken "heartfelt conversation" to mean a conversation of the body?
"Should we kill him?"
"Shall we kill him?"
Apparently they had. Jun resolved, once again, to make a run for it.
But seriously, haven't I been needing to escape way too often lately?