Chapter 60: Fear
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 60: Fear
We had just finished our meal and were cleaning up when—
Margaret suddenly turned to Evangeline and spoke.
“By the way, you’re a real beauty.”
“…What’s this all of a sudden?”
“It’s just, I never noticed because of the curse… I can see why Disciple was so smitten he wouldn’t even glance at other women.”
With the curse temporarily lifted thanks to her passionate sex with Yohan, Evangeline’s true appearance was on full display.
Even when hidden beneath the curse that made everyone despise her, Evangeline had been beautiful enough that one could tell she had a lovely face. Now that the curse was gone, she was a true beauty, the kind that could topple a nation.
“Hmph. Complimenting me now won’t get you anywhere, you know.”
“That wasn’t my intention… Anyway, Disciple is one lucky guy. You mean he’s been keeping this beautiful teacher’s face all to himself?”
“That’s right, that’s right. Yohan, you’re incredibly lucky, you know? You were able to see Teacher’s face clearly from the very beginning!”
“Ah, yes.”
Yohan, who was washing the dishes, gave a half-hearted reply and glanced back. They say even a whale dances for a compliment; Evangeline was struggling to keep a smile off her face after being praised for her looks, while Margaret’s eyes were curved into crescents, clearly up to something.
Watching Evangeline’s smile stretch from ear to ear, Margaret slyly made a suggestion.
“So, Evangeline. How about you go on a date with Yohan?”
“A d-date?”
“Yes, a date. I’ve been on a few with Yohan, and it was great. Everyone’s eyes were glued to us, and there were even a lot of people who looked at Yohan with envy.”
“…How is it a good thing that people are staring at Yohan?”
“Because it lets everyone know what an amazing person he is.”
Hearing this, Evangeline glanced over at Yohan, lost in thought. In truth, a walk through the streets with Yohan sounded wonderful.
The envious gazes of others were worth receiving, simply for the fact that they wouldn’t be filled with disgust.
Sensing her thoughts, Yohan finished the dishes and smiled lightly.
“Teacher, let’s go.”
“Huh?”
“I want to go. On a date with you.”
Unable to refuse her beloved disciple’s request, Evangeline nodded and looked at Margaret.
As if she had been waiting for that answer, Margaret took Evangeline and vanished somewhere, leaving only the words, “We’ll be back soon, so get ready.”
I changed into some simple clothes suitable for a date and soothed a whining Beatrice, asking where I was going. As I waited in the living room, Margaret appeared by herself.
“Margaret? Where’s Teacher…?”
“It’s a secret. For the fun of it later.”
“What on earth is that supposed to mean…?”
As I tilted my head in confusion, Margaret just said I’d know when I got there, grabbed my hand, and teleported.
A familiar city came into view. A city I’d been to two or three times before. It didn’t have any particularly special features, but I remembered it was a city where the Church’s influence wasn’t very strong.
As soon as we landed, Margaret said she’d be back to pick me up around six and disappeared.
“Wai—!”
But there was no stopping Margaret, who vanished in an instant. Shaking off my bewilderment, I started walking.
Margaret had dropped me in an alley. A dead-end alley, blocked on one side. The reason for dropping me here was simple enough. It was a sign for me to walk toward the light spilling out from ahead.
Following her intention, I walked forward, and a wide plaza, passing carriages, and crowds of people came into sight.
It was definitely a city. A massive collection of civilization where tens, sometimes hundreds of thousands of people lived.
‘Teacher is…’
But what mattered now was Evangeline. I was here to go on a date with her, and Margaret had disappeared without telling me where she was.
I scanned my surroundings, looking for my teacher. Thousands of people were walking about at once, but my teacher was a being who would shine even among hundreds or thousands of millions. There was no way I wouldn’t be able to spot her.
‘She’s not here…’
The fact that I couldn’t see her meant she wasn’t in this immediate area. I closed my eyes and listened to the chatter of the people.
…Three silver coins.
…Looks delicious.
…I wanna fuck that bitch.
Amidst the hundreds of noises flooding my ears at once, I overheard a blatant conversation and walked in the direction of the voice.
In this day and age, where every beautiful woman was either captured to become a noble’s concubine or lost her life in a witch hunt, a beauty on the level of my teacher drew attention by her mere existence.
This wasn’t the 21st century, where anyone could easily see beautiful women having sex in the nude. This was a medieval fantasy world without so much as a camera.
To these people, my teacher’s beauty would be an unforgettable sight.
‘Found her.’
After walking for some time, I found a spot where a crowd of people had collectively paused. They stood for a moment, gazing intently at one place as if admiring a work of art. Even those who were just passing by would turn back to look at that spot again.
There was no way a work of art captivating enough to draw this many eyes would exist in a plaza like this. It was plain to see what was there.
I pushed through the crowd and saw Evangeline, beautifully dressed.
‘…Ah, Margaret.’
Thank you.
I silently bowed three times in gratitude to the absent Margaret and carefully approached Evangeline.
I could hear people whispering around me. It seemed a few men had already approached her and been shot down.
A sense of anticipation so strong it sent a shiver down my spine washed over me—the fact that the woman before me was here on a date with me, and that all these people would soon be staring at me in shock.
“Teacher.”
“…Yohan.”
As I drew closer, Evangeline casually tucked a strand of hair, fluttering in the wind, behind her ear. I’d heard that tucking one’s hair behind an ear was a way to seduce a man, and now I understood why.
It wasn’t just the act of tucking her hair back. The way she breathed, the way she walked, the way her eyes moved—every single living, breathing action she took felt like it was meant to entice me.
There was, of course, only one reason I felt this way.
“I fell in love at first sight.”
“Didn’t you already say that a long time ago?”
“I fell for you all over again today, so it doesn’t matter.”
I said, extending my hand to her. She let out a few small laughs but took my hand nonetheless.
I could hear gasps of shock from the people around us, but I ignored them completely.
It felt as if we were the only two people left in the world.
“Shall we go, Teacher?”
“Mm-hmm…”
Whether she was embarrassed by my words or simply unused to the act of holding hands in front of others, my teacher’s cheeks flushed red as she followed me.
And so, my first date with my teacher began.
Just because it was a date, and our first one at that, didn’t mean it had to be something spectacular.
There was no need to rack my brain trying to come up with something special. For my teacher, who had been despised for hundreds of years, simply walking through a city like a normal person was a special event in itself.
“Ugh… Yohan…”
“Yes, Teacher.”
“Why is everyone staring at us like this?”
“Because you’re beautiful, Teacher?”
However, she was still not used to people’s gazes. Having only ever received looks of disgust her entire life, she couldn’t distinguish looks of admiration and desire from those of hatred.
“Is that what it is…? The curse isn’t back, is it…?”
“If the curse were back, people wouldn’t be staring at you like that. They’d be scowling and walking past, right?”
“R-Right?”
I led the trembling, anxious woman around various places. We stopped by a clothing store to buy her an outfit that suited her, put a pretty ring on her finger at an accessory shop, and had a meal together at a fancy restaurant.
When I was with Margaret, nobles and mercenaries had tried to accost her, but perhaps it was true that people don't dare to touch someone who is on a completely different level. The people in this city only stole glances at my teacher, not daring to even speak to her.
“Ah, dark clouds…”
While we were in the middle of enjoying our date, dark clouds gathered in the sky. As it began to rain, I led my teacher into an alley where we could take shelter.
As we stood under the eaves of a building, facing each other, my teacher suddenly flinched and began to tremble slightly.
“…Yohan, just a moment—wait here for a moment.”
“Teacher? Where are you going…?”
“I-I’m going to go pick some flowers!”
Apparently unable to bring herself to say she was going to the bathroom in front of her disciple, Evangeline left me with the euphemism and quickly entered the shop next to us.
Standing in the alley waiting for her return, I looked up at the sky. The drizzle that had just begun was steadily growing heavier.
‘I can’t just call Margaret…’
As I wondered where we should spend our time, I felt something fall from the sky and immediately looked up.
Blonde pigtails flew through the air as something slammed hard into my chest.
“Ugh—!?”
Hekaterina pinned me to the ground, planting a foot on my chest and straddling me arrogantly. Her eyes gleamed as she looked down at me.
“Yo. Long time no see.”
“Heka…terina…!”
“You actually remember. Then again, you should remember the witch who almost killed you.”
She said, pressing down on the hat she was wearing.
Rain began to pour from the dark, gloomy clouds.
Her violet eyes sparkling with madness, Hekaterina asked me.
“Where’d that fucking bitch go?”
“Fucking bitch? What are you talking…”
“That damn witch who sent me flying—”
“—Yohan?”
Just then, my teacher, who had gone to the restroom, reappeared.
She frowned upon seeing Hekaterina with her foot on my chest.