46. Inside the Carriage
46. Inside the Carriage
The carriage connects the road with a rattling sound. I turn my head and glance beyond the window to see a vast grassland. Just pul-pul-pul-pul. Why couldn't he just hold it quietly in the city instead of hosting a wedding way out in some hick town at the edge of the continent? Is this some rich bastard perk? My hatred for Paul Helts, who is marrying Seolhwa, keeps growing for no good reason.
Regretting my past words and actions of boldly proposing that I accompany them to the wedding, I narrowed my eyes and glared at that bastard Siwoo sitting next to me.
"......Why are you glaring like that all of a sudden?"
"No, seriously, is this really the right way to do things?"
"What is?"
"...Whatever."
Wrecking the wedding venue and taking Hong Seolhwa back from the pot-bellied middle-aged billionaire. To successfully complete the operation, aptly named the Wedding Disruption Rampage Operation, the method I devised after much agonizing was for that bastard Siwoo and me to infiltrate the wedding as guests pretending to be a married couple.
Naturally, ordinary weddings tend to focus on the bride and groom, but Paul Helts's wedding is not like that.
To him, a wedding is a kind of product of his urge to show off and also a meeting ground to hunt for new prey.
Before the main wedding ceremony is held, he hosts a social party under the pretext of an eve party.
At that social party, there are a few people who could truly be called Paul Helts's connections, but they are merely a minority. Most of the people visiting Paul Helts's wedding as guests are just idiots disguised as wedding guests who want to offer up a 'tribute' to somehow establish a connection with him.
Those idiots act out something that will catch Paul Helts's eye along with the 'tribute' they brought along. From a happily married lovebird couple, to a close appa and daughter, a boss and junior at work, to bickering childhood friends. They do this so that the pot-bellied middle-aged man can look at the tribute he has carefully bred and drool over them.
Those who are lucky enough to catch Paul Helts's eye in that way get the opportunity to be chosen by him and spend a night together, and if Paul is quite satisfied there, he takes that tribute as his concubine—such acts are brazenly perpetrated under the guise of a wedding ceremony. And the leftovers dropping from there are handed straight over to the person who offered up that tribute.
That is also the reason why Siwoo and I could participate as wedding guests without much difficulty. Because we weren't participating in Paul Helts's wedding simply as wedding guests, but rather participating as Plaything 1 who could entertain Paul Helts, given the nature of Paul Helts's wedding where anyone could participate as a guest as long as they were handed a few coins and had a passing face score, it was exceedingly easy for that bastard Siwoo and me to set foot into Paul's wedding.
So today's goal is to safely catch Paul's eye and have a one-on-one meeting with him. Frankly speaking, I can be confident that with a face like mine, I'll definitely be picked. Except.......
"But fuck, can you stop staring at me?"
"Ah, you noticed. Sorry."
"......."
Seriously, if you stare at me that intensely, anyone who isn't blind would notice.
I gave a chestnut to that bastard Siwoo, who was glancing sideways pretending not to look at my chest. It seemed that bastard Siwoo found my punishment acceptable this time too, as he just winced his face while getting hit and accepted my chestnut without saying a word.
After rolling my waist and shoulders around, which felt unusually stiff today, I turned my head and looked at the mirror placed beside me. A blonde-haired, red-eyed beautiful girl dressed in academy uniform, who felt far too awkward to be me, was reflected in the mirror.
......It's pretty damn big, though. Honestly, any guy wouldn't be able to help looking at a size like this.
It goes without saying, but I must not participate as a guest in Paul's wedding in my original appearance. Not only could my face be sold out as a tribute if I make a slight misstep, but to begin with—not that it's anything to brag about—since I, who was already quite famous in high society, have become a person of considerable notoriety due to recent incidents, if I participated as a guest with my bare face, big trouble would happen. That truly is a genuine social death. At least for the women participating as tributes in Paul Helts's wedding, it's practically no different from saying—I came here all ready to get nailed by Paul Helts.
Therefore, that bastard Siwoo and me have completely transformed our images using disguise magic instead of our usual appearances. I am a blonde-haired, red-eyed, big-breasted beautiful girl, and that bastard Siwoo is a relatively ordinary male student wearing Harry Potter glasses.
Of course, if a good-for-nothing person uses disguise magic thinking they'll catch Paul's eye, they're always immediately seen through and rejected, but someone of my level can manipulate even a high-ranking noble like Paul to recognize me as a blonde-haired, red-eyed, big-breasted beautiful girl without any sense of incongruity. Who am I? The Miracle of Elysia. Yuriel, the strongest talent in the empire's history, appearing once in a millennium. Well, this much is a breeze.
Proceeding with a one-on-one meeting with Paul Helts is the same. Paul Helts is no small fry. Outwardly, he's just a pot-bellied, hairy uncle who has lots of money and lives well, but if money was truly his only trick, could he have maintained neutrality alone in the brutal power struggles and survived so leisurely? If that were really the case, he would have been quickly eliminated like a pig impaled on a skewer at the beginning of the power struggles.
Paul Helts is a far more cunning, capable, and outstanding human being than people think. Cosplaying as a pot-bellied middle-aged man right now is also one of the products he put forth after thoroughly calculating the profits and losses generated by having his appearance underestimated. The fact that all the women who clumsily had a one-on-one meeting with Paul and tried to assassinate him have now been trained into sex slaves in the basement of his mansion, losing their sanity and craving only cum day after day, proves this.
Therefore, Paul Helts is a considerably dangerous human being. It's just that he's so crazy about women that he uses that cunning brain of his to embrace women.
Well, I spoke with a heavy atmosphere, but that's actually from the perspective of ordinary humans, and someone of my level can let their guard down as much as they want. It's not just letting my guard down—even the grandfather of letting your guard down could come and there would be no problem at all.
Thinking such nonsense made me yawn. Thanks to sleeping a lot yesterday, I wasn't particularly sleepy. My physical condition itself seemed extremely good. Only, my brow naturally furrowed at the acting I had to do at the wedding eve party.
At least inside the wedding, I have to act like a cozy couple. Linking arms while flaunting affection. Casually dropping gem-like lines, or busting out dance moves.......
"Ugh, I seriously can't stand this."
"Why, are you carsick?"
Yeah, because of you.
I'm not really the type to regret things. Back then, why on earth did I do that? Was that really the best choice? Tears are streaming down inside my heart.
I glared at that bastard Siwoo with a face that looked like it would die of anger. Someone with curly hair wearing Harry Potter glasses was looking at me as if worried. It's not carsickness.
Frankly speaking, that mug is a pretty handsome mug too, but feeling no particular thrill, I truly realize that looks are relative.
I normalized my perception of that bastard Siwoo with my eyes that see the truth. Looking at his face, the usual annoyed feelings slowly crept up. Yeah, that's more like that bastard Siwoo.
"That's right, what will I be doing while you're with that... bastard?"
"Just stay still."
"...I'm bored, though."
"Watch videos with the surveillance device."
"......."
In fact, while teaching Siwoo the detailed operations, there had been a slight clash. Because he immediately casted a "No" and rejected my proposal the moment I said I would have a one-on-one meeting with Paul Helts, a minor argument broke out.
No, is he my appa or something? Is he my boyfriend? Because of that bastard Siwoo spouting nonsense about how it's dangerous even though he clearly knows I'm strong, we quickly came to an agreement where we installed ultra-miniature surveillance devices around me so that he could monitor my situation during the wedding.
As I reminisced about the not-so-distant past, a sudden thought crossed my mind. Can this bastard even date?
First of all, in the original work, he is a body that hasn't mixed a single strand of affection with a woman. Because he only trained every day with the sole goal of becoming stronger, he ignored all the wooing of women that kept tangling up every time a rescue-and-run accumulated, leading to a no-romance ending. Son-of-a-bitch author.
Then what about now? Unlike the original work, he seems to have quite a bit of leisure, as he doesn't bet his life on training anymore. Sometimes he socializes with his classmates and goes out to the city to play. But he still coldly rejects women who make advances on him.
Frankly speaking, I'm not a person with good enough character to have absurd thoughts like, 'Even so, that bastard Siwoo is a decent guy, shouldn't he meet a woman who is capable enough to be called the Miracle of Elysia, super pretty, and has a moderately lewd body...?'
Rather, he needs to meet some rude woman who gaslights him on the daily to snap out of it. And suffer through some serious emotional agony. Then maybe after breaking up, he'd treat me a bit better. Realizing that Yuriel was a fairy.
...Wait a minute, come to think of it, if that bastard Siwoo gets a girlfriend, who is going to wait on me? I forgot the most important thing.
Whatever. I'm thinking about all sorts of nonsense. Anyway, that bastard Siwoo sitting next to me doesn't even look interested in romance.
"Did you call me?"
"Yeah, I called you to hit you with a chestnut."
"?"
I shook such absurd thoughts out of my head. Right now was the time to focus on putting on an amazing performance at the wedding and safely rescuing Seolhwa, rather than that.
"No, it feels like these days you hit me with chestnuts for no reason at all...."
"We're almost there. Focus."
"......."
The carriage rattled. The lights brightly illuminating the night were gradually drawing closer.