Chapter 50: A Request
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 50: A Request
At best, Noel Astria Seimurs’s reputation on the job could be described as “faithful to her duties.”
She maintained a strict separation between public and private matters, engaged in no small talk during work hours, and handled everything with rigid efficiency.
Since she never abused her power or threw tantrums, it was hard to call her a bad boss. However, if asked whether she was a boss one could easily grow fond of, everyone would likely hesitate.
After all, it’s difficult to feel close to someone who is so relentlessly formal.
As a human, she surely had days when she felt off or simply didn’t want to work. But during office hours, Noel operated like a machine, her expression never changing. It was only natural that while people admired her, they also found her difficult to approach.
In that regard, the current situation was unprecedented.
“Dame Noel, are you alright?”
“Are you feeling unwell?”
“If something’s wrong, perhaps you should go inside and rest…”
Hearing such words of concern from everyone around her was an event that had practically never happened before.
Every time she tried to speak, she groaned as if suppressing something intense. Her face had been strangely flushed all day, and cold sweat poured from her entire body. It was a sight that would make anyone worry.
“…If I let my guard down for even a moment, I feel like I’ll say something terribly embarrassing.”
“…”
“So, Aiden, please try not to speak to me if you can help it.”
When he had asked what on earth was wrong, that was her immediate reply.
…Come to think of it.
The first time she had experienced something like this was also because of him, wasn’t it?
Noel shot Aiden a look filled with a strange sense of grievance. But Aiden, on the receiving end of that gaze, wasn’t in much better shape himself.
What do I do about this? he thought, cold sweat trickling down his back almost as profusely as Noel’s.
Although she had her quirks and sometimes seemed to be lost in her own world, she had never once shown a single flaw when it came to her “work.” This was the woman who had crossed swords with the Lord Protector herself when she deemed it necessary.
For the potion to be causing her this much trouble… its power was downright terrifying.
The only saving grace was that the potion he’d just bought from the Point Shop—the one Noel had gulped down—was described as having a “short duration.” This state wouldn’t last very long—
— System Message
▶ The remaining duration of the ‘Lowest-Tier Random Potion’ applied to the target ‘Noel Astria Seimurs’ is 14 hours!
“…”
So it wasn’t that short.
Aside from their random effects, the potions from the Point Shop were proving to be surprisingly potent in many ways. The problem was, right now, that fact wasn’t the least bit welcome.
If this goes wrong, won’t it become a huge problem?
If it were anyone else, you could just brush it off as them being drunk all day. But the person who drank it was someone who interacted with all kinds of VIPs as naturally as she breathed. If this state continued and she accidentally committed some grave discourtesy, it could escalate into a massive diplomatic incident.
“…”
In that case, he had no choice but to take drastic measures.
Aiden took a deep breath, approached Noel, and leaned in close—so close that she flinched and instinctively took a step back.
“Dame Noel.”
“—”
The moment their eyes met, Noel’s breath hitched. She squeezed her eyes shut and spoke.
“—Aiden. If you come any closer, I will punch you.”
“…Pardon?”
“Compared to the other impulses popping into my head, that would actually be the best option.”
“…”
“Please, will you help me avoid doing something strange to you?”
He was too afraid to even ask what she meant by that. And while he felt a bit bad for her, he couldn’t just leave her like this.
“Dame Noel, let’s go.”
“—What?”
Even if he got punched, he couldn’t just leave her in this state.
* * *
Katya Heinkel Craven had been in a rather foul mood lately.
To be precise, since the highs and lows of her emotions were almost entirely determined by Aiden Kellermain, this meant she hadn’t had much contact with him recently.
And he was going on about scoring points or whatever.
She recalled the detestable face of the Pope, who had suddenly departed for the Holy Kingdom not long ago. Honestly, hadn’t she done all the important things during that fight?
She had installed the suppression pillars, saved Aiden when he was on the verge of death, and even tried to support him so they could escape at the very end. The outcome of the battle didn’t matter; she had protected his safety—which was far more important—much better than Lionheart ever did.
And yet.
Lately, instead of paying attention to her, Aiden was completely absorbed in other things. He was wandering through the library, devouring strange books like The Ecology of Demonic Beasts and Demonic Beast Studies. He was running around all day doing basic physical training that didn’t suit him and even studying how to maintain his sword and guns.
“…”
Come to think of it, they all seemed like productive activities, but Katya was dissatisfied regardless.
Why is he doing such useless things?!
If anything dangerous happened, she would handle it all anyway. Weren’t they friends? Instead of all that, he could at least give her a word of praise—
…Ah, right, he did praise me.
—but still, would it kill him to say a few more words? Or at least spend less time with Lionheart, who was just as detestable as the Pope, and more time with her?
Unfortunately, Katya was not someone who knew how to hide her emotions. As a result, anyone who ran into her at the Imperial Military Headquarters was so terrified they would immediately turn and walk the other way. Before long, rumors spread that Katya looked ready to murder someone, but that was clearly none of her concern.
However, the scene unfolding before her eyes was definitely something she had to pay attention to.
Aiden was holding Noel’s arm and dragging her somewhere. It was obvious at a glance that he was taking her away.
Seeing this, Katya’s face instantly contorted.
—What is this?
They looked like they didn’t have a care in the world, leaving her completely behind.
A hot surge of dissatisfaction boiled up inside her. She felt an urge to immediately barge between them, scream at the top of her lungs, and tear them apart.
She would have done exactly that, if something hadn’t given her pause.
It was Aiden’s demeanor. As he pulled Lionheart along, his face was stiff and unusually serious. And Lionheart, being dragged along, had a face that was beyond red—she looked almost pale with distress. It was certainly not a romantic atmosphere.
“…”
Her intuition tingled.
Those two are about to have a very serious conversation.
With that premonition, Katya instinctively curled her lips into a smirk and concealed her presence.
A serious conversation involving Lionheart, huh…
She didn’t know what it was about, but she had a feeling that if she eavesdropped, it would come in very handy for getting under that woman’s skin later. Although they no longer fought openly, it was still obvious that she and Noel had an awkward relationship.
Following them stealthily, she watched as they reached a deserted corridor. Lionheart immediately and violently shook off Aiden’s hand, acting as if holding it for even that long had been an immense ordeal.
—The drama begins. Katya rubbed her hands together in excitement.
“I… I told you, my mouth is incredibly loose right now—!”
“If you have something to say, then say it. Even if it’s embarrassing, I’ll listen,” Aiden said without a hint of annoyance. He exuded an aura of someone who wouldn’t be fazed no matter what the other person said.
“We’re a married couple anyway, aren’t we?”
“…”
“I don’t think anyone would find it strange for you to say such things to me.”
Hearing those words, Noel blinked blankly. She looked so shocked that the restraint she had been desperately maintaining instantly vanished.
Noel closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, trying to trace the source of that shock.
The conclusion came surprisingly quickly.
Déjà vu.
…Come to think of it, Noel used to have this exact same attitude.
Before she had developed any real feelings for him, she had thought: We’re a married couple anyway. We agreed to be bound together. This was just a part of that “contract.”
Because they were bound by a sham marriage.
“…”
The moment she realized this, Noel’s eyes darkened. Realizing anew that this was how he defined their relationship sent her spirits plummeting.
To be more precise, she felt upset.
Very upset.
In the next instant, Pure White Qi erupted from Noel’s entire body.
“Wh-What? Dame Noel?!” Aiden cried out, flustered by her ferocious aura. She looked ready to start a battle right then and there.
No, it was more than that.
Aiden himself had handled Qi and had seen a great deal of Mayer’s Qi manipulation—and Mayer was the greatest martial artist of the era. Yet the aura Noel was emitting now was not the slightest bit inferior. The determination in her eyes was more than enough to match a general marching onto a battlefield.
“…Huuup!”
Even more absurd was what she did next.
Instead of channeling that fierce momentum into some combat technique, Noel forced all of that Qi back inside her body. Then, as she regulated her breathing and circulated the Qi through her system, the transparent liquid she had consumed began to drip from her fingertips.
She had gathered every last trace of the potion circulating through her blood and expelled it from her body.
—My goodness.
The thought arose in Aiden’s mind automatically.
To precisely detect only the substance that had already been ingested and was coursing through her system, and then force it out? To do something like that, with only a slight exaggeration, would require a level of concentration and calculation capable of controlling every single cell in her body.
It was a feat worthy of a knight who could manifest Qi of a single, pure color, but the problem was…
…Why go to such lengths?
It was a potion whose effects would wear off over time anyway. At worst, she would have just said a few embarrassing things. He hadn’t expected her to perform such a terrifyingly taxing feat just to avoid that.
Indeed, it must have been incredibly draining. Noel was gasping for breath, looking visibly exhausted. She was drenched in sweat, her face was bright red, and her breathing was ragged. In a way, she looked worse than when the potion was active, but it was clear this state wasn’t just from the physical exhaustion.
“You told me to speak if I had something to say, didn’t you?”
However, contrary to what Aiden was thinking, this was something she absolutely had to do.
The words she was about to speak had to be entirely sincere. She had to convey them with a sober mind, of her own free will, so they could clearly confirm each other’s thoughts.
“Yes. I will.”
But the sentence she had held back, the one she felt would burst out the moment she opened her mouth, now refused to form.
The returned emotions—self-control, embarrassment, shame, worry, and anxiety—weighed heavily on her.
Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly. Her heart pounded, her mind went blank, and every organ in her body was probably screaming at her to stop—telling her to quit this nonsense and just go back. Warning her that she was making a choice that could shatter the relationship they had managed to maintain.
But even so.
“Aiden—!”
“…Yes?”
Uh. Uh-oh. What is wrong with her?
The look in her eyes was extraordinary. A grim determination burned in her gaze, so intense that it wouldn’t have been surprising if she had just declared her intent to go and fetch the Imperial Prince’s head.
As Aiden broke into a cold sweat, Noel gathered her words from deep within her throat, as if summoning and detonating all the energy in her body.
“—With me!”
Red sparks practically seemed to fly from her eyes. She panted, grinding her teeth so hard it looked like they might shatter.
“Tomorrow!”
For Noel, adopting such a fierce attitude was unavoidable.
“Would you like to have dinner together—?!”
Because for her, taking the first step toward something “real,” rather than something born of a “contract,” was an act that required every ounce of her courage.
“…”
As Aiden finally grasped the meaning behind her words, his jaw dropped.
“…”
And Katya, who had been eavesdropping from the side, felt her face twist into a scowl.