Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Lena Rubel's Taming
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“Crybaby?”
Rubid shot to his feet at Lena’s sudden appearance. He shrieked without even thinking to wipe away the tear tracks on his face.
“W-What the hell! Why are you here!”
“Because I was worried.”
At the word “worried,” Rubid’s face twisted in the strangest way. He scowled at her, and Lena tilted her head, asking again.
“But did you really cry?”
“No!”
Rubid bellowed. It was an unconvincing denial from eyes still glistening with moisture. When Lena didn’t buy it, he yelled even louder in anger.
“You—! What the hell are you! You said you were leaving! Why’d you come back to pick on me!”
“Yeah, right. I figured you’d chase after me if I pretended to leave, but I underestimated your stubbornness, Mr. Rubid.”
“You…!”
Rubid glared at her with a face full of outrage. His nose was red from sniffling, but his eyes brimmed with venom. Lena sighed deeply, finding the sight both infuriating and pitiful.
“Acting all tough like that just makes you look cute.”
“What!”
“You know we’re in a dangerous spot right now, don’t you? Are you gonna keep this up?”
Lena asked Rubid, who was snapping at her again. He flinched, then bared his teeth.
“What’s it to you.”
“Nothing.”
“Then get lost.”
“So you can cry alone again?”
Rubid’s face flushed so red he couldn’t say another word. Watching him, Lena let out a long sigh.
“Rubid Plenus.”
She called his name in a gentler tone.
“Why are you trying so hard?”
“Huh…?”
“Aren’t you scared right now?”
Rubid was struck speechless by her blunt, piercing words.
“Animals do that. The more cornered they get, the more they howl and growl.”
“Don’t act all high and mighty…”
“High and mighty?”
When Rubid muttered in a choked voice, Lena chuckled as if she’d heard an amusing story.
“If I really wanted to act high and mighty, do you think you’d be okay?”
Rubid was at a loss for words. He had no choice but to admit it now. That Lena was far stronger than him. He hesitated for a moment, then muttered with his spirit deflated.
“…So what? You want a pat on the head or something?”
“You’ll cry if I don’t, won’t you?”
“Ugh…!”
“I’m not doing this because I like you or anything. I’m just considering your position. Though you never once considered mine.”
As she spoke, Lena muttered as if it were absurd.
“If you’d respected me even a little, you wouldn’t have sent that invitation. You wouldn’t have humiliated me in front of everyone.”
Rubid’s face twisted again as she brought up the eve-of-battle banquet. But Lena pressed on without backing down.
“I never did anything wrong to you, but you invited me from the start planning to screw me over. Without a thought for my position or feelings.”
“That’s…!”
Under her calm interrogation, Rubid started to defend himself but bit his lip instead. After agonizing for a long while, he muttered awkwardly.
“…That was my bad.”
Lena’s eyes widened at his admission. Rubid was just as shocked by his own words. Truth be told, he’d never been grilled like this before. Everyone always backed off when he yelled, so this was practically his first time being persistently called out and scolded. That’s why he’d admitted it without thinking and panicked afterward. Lena finally realized how to handle this guy and smiled faintly.
“And?”
“And what!”
“If you did wrong, you apologize.”
“Like hell I’ll…!”
“Of course you will. You lost to me, after all.”
Rubid bit his lip in fury, fidgeting awkwardly with his fingers. Then, in a small voice, he said.
“Sorry.”
‘Simpleton.’
Lena swallowed a laugh at his blunt apology. This guy was really straightforward. Not just straightforward—extremely so.
‘He folds when you push him.’
Maybe all that barking around was because no one ever pushed back. Seizing the momentum, Lena crossed her arms and pressed harder.
“Fine, apology accepted. Got anything else to say?”
“What else!”
“Help me out.”
Admission, apology, and now a request. As the difficulty ramped up, Rubid shot her a dirty look. But Lena knew this resistance was just a tantrum and met it with an even more commanding gaze.
“I’m helping you out because of the situation. Or do you wanna be left alone to cry again?”
“I didn’t cry…!”
Rubid only argued the irrelevant part, no longer insisting he didn’t need help. Instead, he bristled like a cat, eyeing her intentions suspiciously. Seeing that wary look, Lena gave a weary smile. This was why she’d come back. Because of that desperate clinging. Lena knew better than anyone the despair of being abandoned in a grave. She remembered all too well that moment when she’d needed kindness and help, so she couldn’t just leave this bratty kid behind. Plus, thinking back to how she’d once yelled “son of a bitch” at Regina out of nowhere, she could almost understand Rubid’s whining.
“Even if you didn’t cry, you were in a bind, right?”
At Lena’s words, Rubid’s face went a bit blank. But only for a moment—his princely features twisted up again. He was annoyed by how Lena spoke like she knew him. Confused, too. All his relationships had ever been were two types: submit or subjugate. Anyone who didn’t fit was an enemy. To Rubid, who’d always kept things that simple, Lena’s attitude felt alien and awkward. So he tensed up again and glared at her.
‘Tricky.’
Lena was getting tired of the back-and-forth. For a quicker resolution, she decided to play a little dirty.
“Having a hard time asking for help?”
“Sh-Shut up…”
“Keep being stubborn, and I might go blab about it.”
“About what?”
“You crying alone. The Eastern Duke would love that.”
“You—You…!”
“Think it over. Resisting just hurts you.”
In truth, the real hassle was on Lena’s end with all the convincing, but she didn’t show it and waited. Rubid was an insolent brat, sure, but compared to those villains who sold off their daughters or shoved crying kids into the abyss, he was at least salvageable. She’d show some mercy.
“Ugh…”
Rubid ground his teeth at her ruthless threat. The picture of a cornered animal. At this point, it was over. Breathing raggedly, he finally squeezed out.
“Hel…”
“Help?”
“…me.”
Rubid mustered all his strength to finish the plea. His head was spinning already, but Lena was merciless.
“You gotta say who you’re asking.”
At the follow-up demand, his eyebrows shot up. Grinding his teeth, he had no choice but to add.
“Lena Rubel…”
“Nope.”
“Then what…!”
Rubid yelled, then realized from her smiling face. She’d demanded a new form of address earlier, conditionally. And damn it all, the condition was already met. He stared at her in disbelief. But her smile was firm, and his face heated up. He nearly spat out that she should fuck off.
“Ugh…!”
But he couldn’t yell. Not after she’d already seen him crying. No strength left for pride. In the end, with a beet-red face, teeth grinding, shoulders trembling, he muttered.
“…sis.”
“Couldn’t hear you.”
“…Big Sis.”
“Hm?”
“Big Sis! Big Sis, okay!? Happy!?”
Rubid shouted in a fit of desperation. At his frantic cry, Lena beamed.
“Yes, Mr. Rubid. I’m happy I can help you.”
. . .
Fortunately, one of the escaped horses was lingering nearby. Once she found it, Lena hoisted Rubid up by the torso with both hands and plopped him in the saddle. Then she hopped up behind him. Sharing the saddle wasn’t cramped since Rubid had shrunk; still, he grumbled, unhappy at being stuck in front like baggage.
“What kind of girl has this much strength…”
“Think a strong girl is weird? How about a crying boy?”
“Guh…”
With his weakness exposed, Rubid shut his mouth sullenly. Tail between his legs, he didn’t bark anymore. Lena gazed fondly at his round little head, now much meeker.
“You’ll go back to normal once we take down Hiems Grasha.”
“How do you know that?”
“Girls know everything.”
Rubid clicked his tongue at her pointed deflection.
‘What the hell is this girl?’
Nothing about her origins or behavior added up. Rubel said she’d latched onto the Southern Duke, but her actions so far didn’t fit “latching on.” Rubid grew curious about her again. But he wasn’t the chatty type, so he stayed quiet—until Lena spoke.
“We’ll enter the castle before the wraiths revive.”
“Wraiths what?”
“Soon, more wraiths will pour out of that castle. We need to get in before then, but if we’re late, can you clear the way, Mr. Rubid?”
Rubid panicked at her casual request.
“How, like this?”
“I was gonna ask anyway—do you have to swing a sword to use your slash wave?”
It was such an obvious question that Rubid was speechless. Not just him—all past Northern Dukes had swung swords to create slash waves. No other way existed, or had even been considered. When he didn’t answer, Lena muttered to herself.
“Guess that’s how it’s been passed down.”
“Huh?”
“Wanna try this?”
Rubid blinked in confusion, but Lena handed him her dagger as if she hadn’t heard. He took it without protest.
“Give it a go.”
At her urging, Rubid swung the dagger at empty air. A slash wave flew out—much smaller than usual, matching the dagger’s size exactly. He felt a twinge of humiliation at the pathetic thing, but Lena pondered briefly and moved on.
“Let’s head out for now. We’ll figure something out if it gets urgent.”
With that, she spurred the horse she’d been guiding slowly. They raced toward the castle, leaning like a burnt-out candle. As they approached, fireballs launched as if on cue. Gazing at the wraiths blotting the sky, Lena tsked shortly.
‘No wonder it was so quiet.’
They’d gathered their forces, waiting for us to get close.
“Mr. Rubid!”
“Damn it!”
Rubid irritably swung the dagger. But the puny slash wave made no difference.
“You think this’ll work!?”
Rubid howled. Meanwhile, the wraiths began colliding in midair—just like when they’d trapped him in that suspicious orb earlier.
“Stop! Hey, stop it!”
Fearing another weird trap, Rubid scolded Lena. But she ignored him, dodging the raining fireballs as she urged the horse on. Then she unfurled her whip with one hand.
“That won’t reach!”
Rubid criticized her anxiously. As if mocking him, Lena shoved the whip into his hand.
“Get ready for the slash wave!”
“What!?”
“One!”
Lena started counting without explanation.
“Hey!”
“Two!”
In a rush, Rubid turned his eyes blue. Then Lena grabbed his hand, swinging his arm wide on her cue.
“Three!”
Her strength whipped the lash out broadly, and a slash wave along its long arc burst the incoming fireballs midair. Not bad for an improvisation, but the enlarged slash wasn’t as solid as before—it shattered the flames but crumbled weakly.
“I’ll clear the path like this!”
Lena pushed forward, batting away the fires in a pinch. Then high-flying wraiths dove at them like they meant to block. As the wraiths closed in, Lena and Rubid unleashed another slash wave. But the wraiths’ tough hides pierced the feeble attack easily. Boom! Crash! They slammed down like meteors, targeting Lena and Rubid. The shock and heat spooked the horse into bucking wildly. Lena gripped the reins tight, too busy protecting Rubid to swing the whip. She struggled to keep balance, but it was no use. Finally, like a circus performer, she had no choice but to pull Rubid into an embrace.
“Mr. Rubid!”
“What now!”
“Go open the gate!”
“The hell—!”
Rubid’s complaint cut off unfinished. Lena had already kicked her feet free of the stirrups and stood up in the saddle, holding him. She balanced precariously with knees on the stirrups, one hand on the reins. Rubid instinctively sensed she was about to do something insane. Sure enough—the moment a chill ran through him, Lena sprang from the saddle.