Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: The Princess Likes You!
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Even knowing it was a futile endeavor, people always came to her with the same proposal.
Friend.
In other words, a playmate.
Did I, who wore an eyemask whenever going out because the outside world disgusted me, seem that pitiful to them?
It was unnecessary sympathy, unnecessary worry.
Because she didn't even take off the eyemask at home.
"...He's late."
This was a guest recommended by the Korean Hunter Association, so she had no choice but to meet him.
And so, Princess Kurumi headed to a specially made tatami room for guests, designed for meetings with outsiders.
A thin cloth hung in the center of the room, thin enough to make out only silhouettes, and the guest who would soon arrive was meant to meet the princess from the other side of it.
"It's pointless anyway..."
Kurumi went to the back of the guest room and sat on the pre-prepared cushion.
Then she tried to sense the presence beyond the cloth that concealed her.
Thanks to her Beast Hunter constitution, she could sense that repulsive human presence through senses alone, even without seeing it.
She planned to chat for about ten minutes once the guest entered—not too awkwardly—before politely sending them away.
That was when it happened.
Drrrrk.
'He's here.'
The sound of the sliding door opening echoed.
Kurumi stayed quiet, planning to greet the guest first once they entered.
But for some reason...
"...?"
The sliding door closed again, and no one came in.
No repulsive human presence emanated from inside the room.
Maybe one of the mansion's servants had mistaken the room, opened it, and closed it again?
About five minutes passed as she wondered when the guest would arrive.
"Um."
"?!"
"Uh... Should I have greeted you first?"
A human voice came from beyond the cloth, where no presence could be felt at all.
Kurumi was startled for a moment, but then...
'Ah, I see. The servants must have set this up out of consideration for me, allowing remote communication.'
The reason the sliding door had opened earlier.
They must have been moving some machine in to replace the guest with a TV screen or something.
...Or so Princess Kurumi initially thought.
"Hello."
"Ah, yes. Hello."
"...?"
Were electronic devices these days so advanced?
There wasn't the slightest electronic noise; it felt just like conversing face-to-face with a real person. Kurumi unwittingly said as much.
"It really feels like talking to a real person right in front of me."
"...Huh? I am a real person, though?"
"......Yes?"
"Pardon?"
A brief silence.
Then, though it was hard to believe, this wasn't some remote communication via machine.
'He's... right in front of me now?'
Realizing she had actually met a real person.
And yet, no repulsive presence at all.
Princess Kurumi held her breath for a moment.
And, in a very unaristocratic manner, she wiped a bead of cold sweat from her forehead with her own hand.
"Could you... come over here for a moment?"
"...Pardon?"
It would normally be a breach of rules.
But just in case, just maybe, she wanted to confirm it herself. She beckoned the person—or whatever—beyond the cloth to come to her side.
"Isn't crossing this cloth against the rules? The servants warned me about it so sternly before I came in..."
"It's fine. I permit it."
Of course, it wasn't fine.
For a world noble like her to invite an ordinary human to sit at the same level without any compensation whatsoever.
And from the voice, the other party was clearly a 'man.'
This could tarnish her family's name itself—a shameless act, no less.
But even a princess who always restrained herself, endured, and stayed silent...
"Qu-quickly, come over! Hurry!"
"Ah, yes!"
Couldn't contain herself.
This wasn't a monster without repulsion, nor a human steeped in it.
It was a human with none of that disgust at all, as if combining only the merits of both.
A being she had never even dreamed of, let alone imagined existed, might be right in front of her. In that reality, Princess Kurumi excitedly shouted.
Swish.
Passing through the thick cloth where only a silhouette was visible.
"......"
A man knelt on one knee so close she could feel his hot breath.
Still, no repulsion from his presence.
This was the first time feeling a human presence without disgust, but she would never forget this sensation for the rest of her life.
To that extent, this meeting with the man was poised to become an irreplaceable, sparkling treasure for Kurumi—more than anything else.
"Is this okay?"
"Ah, yes..."
Normally, being this close to an ordinary person would go beyond disgust to murderous impulse.
Yet now, there was nothing like that.
His massive frame completely shielded her slender body, but far from unpleasant, her heart raced for an entirely different reason.
'What is this feeling...?'
It was her first time feeling this, so she couldn't quite pin it down.
But at the very least, Kurumi was certain it wasn't bad.
After all, it felt like someone had splashed vibrant red paint onto a black-and-white world that had only ever known white and black.
Like a child seeing color for the first time, eyes sparkling—that was exactly how Princess Kurumi felt right now.
And then, the princess crossed the line.
Pok.
"Ah! S-sorry!"
"Pardon? No, it's nothing..."
The man before her was so fascinating that one of her demurely clasped hands accidentally touched him.
It was the briefest touch, but incredibly firm.
From the presence, he was kneeling and looking down at her.
So the spot she'd just touched must have been his collarbone?
Thinking about it again, a princess who would normally faint at mere contact with another person felt that red sensation from before amplify even more, on the verge of explosion.
In fact, steam was rising from above Princess Kurumi's head.
But the first time is scary; the second is easy.
"Um..."
"Yes. What is it, Your Highness?"
"If... if it's alright, could I touch you a bit?"
"......Pardon?"
She knew full well how shameless and perverse her request was.
In fact, the moment she finished speaking, she covered her face with both hands in embarrassment.
But this was her first time with someone like this!
A person she could talk to, yet who didn't repulse her oddly.
To an ordinary person, it might just feel normal, but for someone born as a Beast Hunter, perceiving her own kind as repulsive—this was exceedingly rare... no, nonexistent.
That's why, even knowing it was embarrassing, she couldn't help herself.
Like Columbus discovering the New World.
Just as Columbus wanted to be the first to set foot on the American continent he'd found, Princess Kurumi wanted to touch him a little more.
But with no reply coming, her wandering hands fidgeted as she endured, waiting patiently.
Right then.
"Sure, if that's what you wish?"
Like offering food to a starving puppy, the man beyond the eyemask consented.
And immediately,
Squish, squish.
Kurumi began groping his face to grasp its shape first.
"Amazing..."
"......"
Squish, squish.
"What's your name?"
"My name, Your Highness?"
Having roughly mapped out his facial features, Princess Kurumi now placed his thick, rough hand atop her own palm.
And, guided by instinct, she even sniffed it lightly, trying to memorize his scent.
Meanwhile, the answer from beyond the eyemask.
"It's Han Shin-woo."
"Han... Shin-woo..."
Han Shin-woo.
HanShinwooHanShinwooHanShinwooHanShinwooHanShinwooHanShinwooHanShinwooHanShinwooHanShinwooHanShinwooHanShinwooHanShinwooHanShinwooHanShinwooHanShinwoo.
Perfect, I've got it memorized now.
She resolved to write it in Japanese, Korean, and English later to etch it into her memory as writing too.
"What do you usually do?"
"Usually?"
"Yes. Hobbies, work, that sort of thing..."
This meeting should have... no, normally would have ended long ago.
The promised ten minutes she'd planned had already passed while she was inhaling his scent.
But strangely, for the first time in her life, Kurumi wanted just a bit more... no, much, much more time with him.
So she asked all sorts of odd questions.
Just to keep him by her side a little longer.
"No particular hobbies, but as for work, I'm a Hunter Meister."
"Meister... So that's why your hands are so rough."
"Haha, well... yeah."
Hunter Meister.
A mere equipment maker handling the grunt work for hunters—insignificant compared to the daughter of one of the world's top ten families.
But oddly, hearing him say it made it feel impressive.
She could sense the effort behind it.
Pulling iron with those thick, rough hands, hammering away, wiping the thick sweat flowing from his body...
...Slurp.
Something was off.
Imagining him sweating made saliva pool in her mouth.
But it wasn't hunger—her stomach rumbled with a different desire.
Princess Kurumi didn't know this feeling.
But what she did know was this: the hand of the man beyond her eyemask that she now cradled.
She wanted to put his finger in her mouth, just for a moment.
As her reason was gradually pushed aside by instinct...
"Your Highness. It's time for your lunch."
Right before she could lewdly suck on one of his fingers she'd slowly lifted...
She snapped back to reality at the servant's voice from beyond the room.
"Eh, huh? ...Ugh!"
"Your Highness?"
"Ah, s-sorry. I enjoyed today. You may go now."
"Pardon? Ah, yes..."
She had almost caused a huge disaster.
Almost done something utterly shameless, unworthy of a noble daughter.
More than that, it would have been confusing for him too.
'I don't want him to hate me...'
A world noble princess acting subservient toward a commoner.
Yet Kurumi didn't find it strange at all.
Because if she let go of these thoughts, acted arrogantly, and ended up hated by him, she'd want to die right then and there.
Being cautious like this was far more comfortable.
And then.
"W-wait!"
"...?"
Unable to bear sensing his presence receding, she blurted it out.
"Wh-when can we meet again? Us..."
"Meet again when?"
His puzzled voice made Kurumi's heart sink.
'D-did I... not appeal to him?'
Well, she'd suddenly groped him, secretly sniffed him, and even nearly... sucked on him.
Maybe to him, that was a huge offense.
"Ah, aaa..."
No.
I have to hold on.
Even if I have to clasp my hands in desperate begging.
Even if I have to strip naked and prostrate myself.
As Princess Kurumi was about to plead with the eyemask-wearing him, who seemed lost in thought...
"Well, whenever Your Highness calls for me, I suppose."
"...Ah!"
A cheerful agreement to come anytime if she called.
At that, Kurumi, rediscovering the bright smile of her childhood for the first time in ages, immediately said,
"Then... let's meet again tomorrow. We still have so much to talk about."