Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: A Devoted Reader's Reformation Life
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The second day wasn't all that different.
At most, Lucia and Kim Yu-hyun hadn't emerged from the Clauzen Count family's annex.
The party was still as lavish as ever, and the nobles gathered there were exchanging words laced with hidden daggers.
"..."
Amid it all, Sion sat in his seat with an utterly exhausted look on his face.
Just moments ago, he'd been cornered by a parade of noble ladies and reduced to the role of a dancing puppet.
'Hey, you bastards... Maybe it's just once for you, but this is my twelfth already... Spare me, fuck.'
Twelve dances without even a breather to a slow tune—that was straight-up impossible.
And mixed in were fast-tempo pieces and lively ones, which had drained what little stamina Sion possessed—like the beggar among beggars hitting rock bottom.
If one more person came up asking for a dance right now, he'd probably dive straight into the deep ocean.
Or maybe just say, "Farewell, everyone. I'm done with this shit and off to find my own happiness!"
And make a grand escape.
"Young Lord Sion Clauzen."
In that instant, something inside him snapped.
Sion swallowed the curse tickling the tip of his tongue and spoke without turning around.
"No more dance requests.
I'm on break and can't move, so if you have business, leave a message..."
He trailed off, the voice in his ear sounding oddly familiar.
And carrying an unmistakable air of dignity. Sion turned around, thinking, 'No way, right?'
"..."
"..."
Yeah, no way my ass.
Fuck.
"Wow, Your Highness."
Sion shot to his feet, not bothering to hide his dismay.
No wonder the noisy surroundings had suddenly gone quiet.
He should have noticed the shift and checked around, but he'd slipped up.
Still, he hadn't expected the princess—who'd been sitting beside Edgar IV, silently watching the hall—to leave her seat and approach like this.
"You look quite worn out.
Were Hispania's noble ladies rougher than Nudia's soldiers, by any chance?"
What?
Some new form of snark?
Sion stared at her silently, gauging the situation, and Vanessa cleared her throat lightly with a hum before continuing.
"Should I ask if I can sit beside you?"
"Ah, y-yeah.
Please, have a seat.
Your Highness."
"You're more flustered than I'd expect from you."
"I didn't anticipate Your Highness leaving your seat to come down here."
No empty flattery—that was genuine.
Even in the novel, the princess had kept her eyes fixed on Kim Yu-hyun but never once left her spot throughout the entire party.
Unlike Prince Erader, who roamed freely.
'She must have been wary of starting rumors about a power struggle with Prince Erader... but now...'
For the moment, Sion decided to observe a bit longer.
With the princess's sudden appearance, the noble ladies who'd been eyeing him for their next turn sighed in disappointment and backed off on their own.
As he sat quietly, waiting for her next words, Vanessa's eyes darted around thoughtfully before she cautiously spoke up.
"It's about the apology."
"Pardon?"
"Our second meeting wasn't exactly pleasant.
I-I came to apologize."
"An apology, Your Highness?"
It seemed she wanted to address his sharp reaction from yesterday.
Even as a princess, her counterpart was the heir to the Clauzen Margrave Territory, one of the kingdom's great noble houses.
She'd shown open wariness, so she meant to clear the air on that front, or so Sion figured.
"Y-Yeah.
That's... the apology... to apologize..."
Vanessa resented her lips that refused to cooperate.
Her mind was berating her—Why can't you just say 'I'm sorry'?—while her mouth shot back, Do you know how embarrassing that is?
'He helped Father.
And he's a true war hero who secured victory against Nudia...
Making an enemy of him does the royals no favors.
So!'
Just apologize. Say you're sorry.
That was all it should take, but she wanted to slap her own mouth for not cooperating.
When Sion gave her a slightly worried look and said, "Your Highness?" her heart plummeted with a thud. Panicking that he might have heard it, she blurted out.
"I-I apologize!"
"...Pardon?"
Sion blinked in utter bewilderment.
Just a moment ago, she'd looked unsure how to phrase it, so he'd assumed she came to apologize.
But no—she'd come to receive one?
'What the hell is this?'
Maybe she'd misspoke. He waited a beat.
Staring at her with eyes that said, 'Did you mean that? It's a joke, right?' Vanessa widened her eyes and raised her voice even more.
"I said, apologize!
It's about what happened years ago!"
"...Uh.
Yes.
I'm sorry.
I don't really get it, but sorry anyway."
Vanessa panicked at how effortlessly Sion apologized.
This wasn't it!
She'd come to apologize herself, but now she was demanding one—and he'd given it, and she'd accepted.
'You idiot... This isn't how it was supposed to go!'
If he hadn't apologized so readily, she could have brushed it off, but now she just looked like the petty princess.
Truth be told, the Margrave of Lichten had already apologized for that incident years ago, and Edgar IV had dismissed it as a childish mishap between boy and girl.
Demanding an apology now was like advertising herself as narrow-minded.
"Young Lord Sion... This..."
"It won't happen again.
Your Highness needn't worry."
It was too late, apparently.
Vanessa let out a small sigh—"Ahh"—and hung her head.
Watching her, Sion thought, '...What the hell,' and eyed her suspiciously.
'This won't do.
I need to change the subject.'
At this rate, Sion Clauzen would bolt from his seat before she could blink.
Yesterday, she'd barely gotten a chance to talk before he retreated to the annex, leaving her inwardly frustrated.
"Young Lord Sion."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"About that war...
It was..."
"Ah!
There you are.
Young Lord Sion Clauzen!
Escaped the noble ladies at last?"
Vanessa's eyes snapped up sharply at the cheerful male voice.
Only two men in this hall could dare interrupt the princess mid-sentence.
King Edgar IV, and the other...
"Prince Erader, I presume."
"Indeed, indeed.
Enjoying the party?
War hero?"
"As I said yesterday, I'm no hero."
"Ah, right.
You just fought alongside the real heroes, you said.
Such noble words.
They made my heart race."
Prince Erader grinned brightly and plopped down beside Sion without ceremony.
Sion inwardly tsked at the sight of him.
'He's a great prince... on paper.'
Suavely charming, willing to compromise, decent political instincts.
By princely standards? A pass.
But ascend to the throne like that, and the virtues vanish while the flaws amplify.
A man too soft to wrangle all his vassals, with thin ears and a suspicious streak.
'Pity—he'd lose more than he gains as king.'
Oblivious to Sion's thoughts, Erader pressed on.
"But escaping the ladies only to get cornered by your sister?
Vanessa, give the Young Lord a break already.
Still hung up on that thing from years ago?"
"Mind your own business, brother."
"Father said to let it go too."
"I don't want your lectures."
Squeezed between real-life siblings like a meat patty in a grinder.
Maybe it was time to excuse himself for his own good.
"Ahh, Young Lord Sion.
I heard when the Nudians moved to attack the Clauzen Margrave Territory, you stepped up and made them abandon the assault themselves."
"That's correct."
"I'm curious.
How exactly did you pull that off?
They had the gates open and the drawbridge down, yet they didn't even think to charge."
Erader asked, but the listeners included dozens of surrounding nobles—and Vanessa, sitting beside him with a scowl.
After a moment's thought, Sion opted for honesty.
"I sowed some confusion.
Used a short song to rattle the soldiers' nerves."
"A song?
Did you say song?"
"It was nothing special.
Just turned a 'come on in' welcome into a tune."
Singing in the middle of a battlefield, no less.
They knew about the lute, but topping it off by crooning and thoroughly trolling the enemy?
'What the hell is this guy?'
That thought was probably shared by Vanessa and the nobles around them.
Meanwhile, Erader exclaimed in awe before suddenly throwing an arm around Sion's shoulders.
"So, could you maybe do a short song here?"
"...Pardon?"
"You drove them off with lute and song on the field.
I'd love to hear what the enemy got to enjoy."
"P-Prince...
That's..."
"Brother, enough.
That's quite rude."
Sion gestured his discomfort, and Vanessa tried to intervene, but Erader pondered hard, snapped his fingers, and declared.
"Right—a bold anthem of manly resolve, the epic spirit of a war hero.
How about it?
Sing me a tune?"
"No, Prince..."
Fuck, saying it outright like that has all these noble pricks perking up.
And from the prince himself, no less—back out now, and the hard-earned value of "Sion Clauzen" tanks.
Yesterday was yesterday; today demanded its own killer impact.
'Ah, damn it...
Useless prince.
Time to replace him.'
Another name scratched onto the hit list.
Unaware, Erader fetched a lute and handed it over.
"Come on, war hero—grace us with that beautiful piece?"
"..."
Goddamn it.
He'd gone nuts.
Back then, any old ditty sowed chaos just fine, but this was different.
Couldn't just belt out any crap with rural nobles to great house heirs all around, fuck.
'No, you total asshole!
A song out of nowhere?!
Give me prep time, or a heads-up!
This is just screwing me over.
No wonder you lose to Vanessa, you shitty prince.'
Caving to the prince's nagging, Sion took the lute.
But his mind blanked white.
He could bullshit off the cuff, but singing? Hell no.
And it had to be "manly resolve" or whatever—heroic and grand. Not a single tune came to mind.
'Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!'
Every second dragged like hours.
'That damn brother of hers!'
Vanessa was fuming in her own way.
Not content with barging in, he'd made an unscripted demand that put Sion in an awkward spot.
Maybe he meant it as friendly overture, but to the man himself? Mortifying, potentially humiliating.
'No choice—I'll shut this down.'
She was just opening her mouth when—
Ting, ting—
Tiriing—
Ting.
'Huh?'
Sion Clauzen had started plucking the lute strings.
Plenty of reason to freeze from Erader's blunder—no prep whatsoever—yet he played as if the melody had long dwelled in his heart.
And from his lips came a low, velvety baritone that bewitched the senses.
The dark wandering too
Desperate love too
Piercing sorrow too
With my heart's blade
I sever...
Right then, Sion's voice and strumming hand paused.
No one around dared even breathe.
And in that instant, Sion smirked inwardly and launched into the climax.
Man's tears
Don't call them weak
Even if fools laugh in scorn
I won't die
Blow, wind
Hide my tears from sight
What this world craves is my strength
I am a man...!
A flourish of strings, and the brief song ended.
Sion set the lute down casually, as if it were nothing, and eyed Erader like, "Well?"
"Uh, uhh..."
Maybe overwhelmed by how polished it was.
Erader forgot to clap, reduced to dumbstruck stammering.
In the end, Sion sought validation elsewhere.
"...How was it, Your Highness?"
"Ah, uh... Br-Brilliant.
Truly brilliant.
Short, but so intense."
Just like you. Her final words stayed trapped inside.
"Haha!
Tha— Ahem.
Thank you."
Sion smiled, as if he'd seen it coming.
Inwardly: 'Thanks!
Big thanks!'
Day one: stirring speech tugging noble heartstrings.
Day two: baring a man's soul.
Every fresh "Sion Clauzen" image in the bag.
'Sion Clauzen...
The more I see, the more intriguing...
Now I get why Father wants to mend ties with him.'
...
Sion had apparently gained something extra he never saw coming.
[Author's Note]
I Am a Man / Lee Hyuk-jun / Kim Ji-hyun /
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Reminds me of that army buddy from 6 years ago who belted this at karaoke and got 15 days in the brig...
Anyway, readers—you're infected with the 4-day streak!
Keep chaining and you'll kill this author!
Hit those recs hard, and maybe weekend streaks!
But weekdays? No way, no how—total strikeout! Aaaah!