Chapter 12 - {The Sister of the Northern Grand Duke} 2
{The Sister of the Northern Grand Duke} 2
Translator : Elizabeth
"Winter Claw? The name of the restaurant is quite unique too."
The place Frederica guided him to wasn't a high-end restaurant with splendid chandeliers.
It was a building built with rough stone walls and massive wooden pillars, reminiscent of a mountain lodge or a fortress.
As soon as they entered the entrance, the smell of grilling meat, stew, and boisterous noise wafted in along with the hot heat.
"Welcome! Huh? Isn't it Frederica-nim!"
The owner wearing a bear skin apron opened his eyes wide and ran out.
Most of the customers filling the shop were hunters with rough impressions or off-duty knights.
As soon as they saw Frederica, they stopped their conversations, stood up from their seats in unison, and saluted.
"Loyalty! Glory to the House of Winter!"
"I came to rest, so don't stand on ceremony."
Frederica waved her hand roughly and headed to a corner seat inside.
Her attitude was natural.
Rather than a noble young lady, she exuded the feeling of a general coming for a company dinner leading her subordinates.
'She's definitely different from the two-faced people in the capital.'
Kang Jin-ho liked that point.
He detested noble young ladies who covered their faces with fans while laughing pretentiously.
It was rather more comfortable to deal with someone openly rough like this.
"Bring the best menu here. And for alcohol, make it 'Tears of the Snow Mountain'."
"Understood! We will prepare the best cuts!"
As the owner ran to the kitchen, Frederica rested her chin on her hand and looked at Kang Jin-ho.
"The atmosphere is a bit rough, isn't it? Noble young masters from the capital detested it."
"Doesn't matter. As long as the food is delicious, that's enough."
"Ho-oh. You pass."
Frederica smirked.
A moment later, steaming dishes filled the table.
A massive 'Giant Elk' steak the size of an adult male's face.
Red stew boiled thoroughly with various monster meats and spices.
And strong Northern liquor contained in a transparent glass bottle.
Sizzle—.
The steak was cooking on the hot iron plate making an appetizing sound.
Kang Jin-ho picked up his knife and fork without complaint.
'The smell passes.'
He brought the knife to the meat.
Usually, in a rough restaurant like this, or for a man boasting 'barbaric martial power' like Kang Jin-ho, it would be common to grab the meat with hands and tear it, or roughly cut it into chunks and shove it into the mouth.
Frederica also looked at Kang Jin-ho inwardly expecting that.
However.
Slice, slice.
Kang Jin-ho's hand movements were unexpectedly neat.
The knife moved smoothly along the grain of the meat, and the fork picked up a piece cut accurately into bite-size.
There were no unnecessary movements.
Sauce didn't get on his mouth, nor did the area around the plate become messy.
His dining etiquette was cleaner and more streamlined than most nobles in the capital.
"……?"
Frederica's eyebrow raised slightly.
"That's unexpected."
"What is."
Kang Jin-ho put a piece of well-cooked meat into his mouth and asked while chewing.
Meat juice burst inside his mouth. It certainly deserved to be called a good restaurant.
"Hearing only rumors, I thought you would tear it with your hands like a bandit. For a man who blows away city walls with his fists, you are quite… cultured, aren't you?"
"Cultured, my ass."
Kang Jin-ho retorted while wiping his mouth lightly with a napkin.
"It's a matter of efficiency."
"Efficiency?"
"If I tear it with my hands, grease gets on them. It's annoying to wipe. And if I cut big pieces to eat, I have to use more energy to chew, and digestion slows down too. Is there a reason to go out of my way to make my body tired before battle?"
To Kang Jin-ho, dining etiquette was not 'manners' but 'a means to prevent annoyance.'
It was a habit as a young man in his 20s born and raised in modern Korea, and also due to his practical personality of not wanting to soil his clothes by mimicking a barbarian unnecessarily.
"It's just comfortable to eat cleanly and clean up quickly. Even if I eat messily, it just looks unsightly."
He spoke indifferently and spooned up the stew.
Frederica filled her glass with a strange expression.
"You're an interesting man. You look like a beast, but you're unexpectedly delicate."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
Clink—.
The two lightly bumped their glasses.
The Northern liquor called 'Tears of the Snow Mountain' was strong. A burning sensation as if the throat were burning.
But Kang Jin-ho emptied the glass without blinking an eye.
Perhaps because alcohol went in.
Frederica's blue eyes dug into Kang Jin-ho more persistently.
She didn't have a way of speaking indirectly.
"Rumors about you are very widespread in the capital."
Frederica cut the steak and brought it up abruptly.
"Martial power is martial power, but… regarding women problems."
"Women?"
"Yes. I heard your popularity among the wives of high society is higher than the Crown Prince. Is your nickname 'Married Woman Hunter'?"
Due to the noise inside the restaurant, it wouldn't have been heard by others, but the content was quite provocative.
If it were an ordinary man, it was timing to choke in embarrassment or make excuses while blushing.
But Kang Jin-ho answered calmly while dipping bread in the stew.
"So?"
"……."
"So what about it."
At the reaction that was too calm, Frederica was rather speechless for a moment.
She leaned her upper body forward as if interested.
"You don't deny it. Then does that mean it's true? That you go around bewitching noble wives?"
"Bewitching. The nuance is a bit off."
Kang Jin-ho smirked while filling his empty glass.
"To be precise, I didn't seduce them. They came because they liked me."
"They must have husbands?"
"They do. But what does that have to do with me?"
Kang Jin-ho's eyes were dry.
There was no guilt, nor was there any perverted joy soaked in immorality.
Only dryness stating facts as facts.
"If they have families, they shouldn't have come to me. Isn't that right?"
"……Ha."
"I don't block those who come, and I don't catch those who go. They come seeking me because they are lonely, bored, or their husbands are bad at night work; is there a need for me to go out of my way to mimic a virtuous man and turn them away?"
Kang Jin-ho rolled the wine in his mouth and continued.
"I was bored anyway too. We just played for a bit because our mutual Needs matched. It's nothing more, nothing less."
"Played for a bit, huh…."
Frederica repeated.
"There was no such thing as love or romance?"
"Love?"
Kang Jin-ho scoffed.
"That kind of thing only appears in fairy tale books. Reality is business. They needed my 'youth' and 'strength', and I needed their 'information' or 'payment', or 'momentary amusement'."
He picked up a piece of meat with his fork and put it in his mouth.
"Honestly speaking, the nobles in the capital are disgusting. Most of them act noble and chaste in front, but talk smack behind backs. Isn't it better to be openly faithful to desire like me?"
The hypocrisy of the nobles he had seen for 5 years flashed through Kang Jin-ho's mind.
Show-window couples formed by arranged marriages.
Families selling their children for power.
Amidst such suffocating pretense, the wives wanted a 'wild escape' called Kang Jin-ho.
Kang Jin-ho merely performed that role faithfully.
Frederica rested her chin on her hand and stared at Kang Jin-ho.
She thought she would despise him.
Because Northerners value faith and chastity.
But instead of a sneer, a deep smile hung on her lips.
"You… are honest to an unlucky degree."
"Is that an insult?"
"No, it's a compliment."
Frederica raised her glass.
"Certainly, you are much better than the pretentious scholars of the capital. At least you don't hide that you are trash."
"Trash is a harsh word. Let's say I'm a 'free spirit'."
"Wake up from your dream. Mr. Married Woman Hunter."
The two bumped glasses once again.
Along with the clinking sound, a strange current flowed between the two.
It was closer to a sense of kinship confirming each other's unpretentious personalities rather than sexual tension between a man and a woman.
"I like you."
Frederica emptied the alcohol in one gulp and asked.
"By the way. This request, capturing Mammoth Prime alive. Do you honestly think it's possible?"
Doubt was mixed in her voice.
Mammoth Prime is the calamity of the North.
To capture it alive beyond killing it.
It was an impossible task by common sense.
"Where is the question of possible or not. If I took the money, I have to do it."
Kang Jin-ho answered indifferently while tossing the remaining meat into his mouth.
"And I don't accept impossible requests. Because my life is more precious than money. The fact that I accepted means I can do it."
"Ho-oh."
Frederica's gaze deepened.
It wasn't a bluff.
Kang Jin-ho's eyes were peaceful as if stating the fact that 'the sun rises tomorrow morning.'
That groundless confidence. No, arrogance based on skill.
'Certainly… attractive.'
Frederica had no choice but to admit it.
Why the noble wives of the capital hung onto this man.
It wasn't simply because he was handsome and had a good body.
A man honest to his desire and certain of his strength.
He smelled of a 'real male' rare to see even in the North where wolves swarmed.
"Good. I'll look forward to it. How you will drag that fur ball here."
"You can look forward to it."
At Kang Jin-ho's answer, Frederica smirked and said.
"Both skill and personality are hot. I think I know why my brother asked you for help."
"I'm not interested in the circumstances of the North. I just follow the request, and you guys just have to pay the reward."
"Don't worry. The Winter family does not break promises. Especially to a guy who earns his keep."
The meal was satisfactory.
The meat was excellent, and the alcohol stimulated the appetite moderately.
Kang Jin-ho, who emptied cleanly up to the last piece of meat, wiped his mouth with a napkin and got up from his seat.
"I ate well. You are paying, right?"
"Of course. Since I brought you."
"Good. An older sister who buys meals well is always welcome."
Kang Jin-ho grinned and went outside.
Frederica watched his retreating figure and burst into a smirk.
Arrogant, shameless, and a man who ate up moral concepts with his rice.
But she didn't hate him.
Rather, that confidence resembled the rough snowstorm of the North, so she was strangely attracted.
'An interesting person.'
Frederica tossed a few gold coins onto the counter and followed behind Kang Jin-ho.