Spoiler I Become The Wife of The Male Lead

Chapter 21 of the manwha just came out!

Here is a great pic of the MC scaring a b*tch maid:

https://ibb.co/807j1Vz

Sorry I'm still to new to have direct upload for images.

 

Hi all, I am learning Korean and bought the google books online. I've summarised a bit of the Green family's downfall from second half of Book 1 . If people like them, I'll keep putting them up here.

Spoiler: Green family's downfall part 1

Fiona POV

After dealing with the maid, Fiona goes for a walk to calm herself down. She runs into the countess and resists the very strong temptation to give the countess a good whacking. The countess’ rude attitude towards Fiona strengthen her resolve to bring down the Green family.

She smiles sweetly at the Countess and makes it clear that she wants nothing to with the family. She doesn’t want money or jewels, she just wants to leave the family.

She walks away and sends Abel a letter later that day asking him to give her the “severance pay” he had offered previously.

Abel POV

Turns out the “severance pay” Fiona was talking about was referring to some dirt on Count Green.

Abel ponders about how Fiona could be so sweet at times but stone hard cold at others – e.g. how she worked so hard to protect Halon but in the end she just left easily without hesitation. Abel was actually a little sad about this.

He thinks about how the shock would probably be greater for Sigrun- everyone thought the two of them were in love but in the end Fiona even left Sigrun who she cherished the most.

At this moment, Sigrun knocks on the door. He keeps forgetting to call Abel his master “Ab... I mean, Master” He comes in Abel’s study with massive attitude.

When Abel tells Sigrun that he got a letter from Fiona, Sigrun becomes obedient. He sighs after reading her letter. Sigrun then tells Abel he is going to see Fiona so that means he has to go to the Capital.

Abel flashbacks to a few years ago when he offered to help Sigrun be recognized as a prince officially but Sigrun refused because it was his mother’s wish. However, now that Fiona was in the capital and he wanted to go there with her, he recently accepted.

In order for Sigrun to be able to return to the capital, he needs to make a achieve something extraordinary – he is going to slay a dragon.

Fiona POV

Abel replies to Fiona with a condition (of course) - the condition is she has to go to the Halon mansion in the capital to take care of something for him. Fiona is surprised the condition wasn’t for her to call him ‘father’.

The reason Fiona doesn’t want to call Abel father is because she doesn’t want to change the original plot too much so she is avoiding any major changes (I.e. becoming the adopted daughter of Abel who is supposed to be instrumental in helping Sigrun).

Fiona sighs to herself and thinks ‘I really need a good rest after all this’.

The beginning of the novel is when Sigrun and Abel return to the capital after Sigrun kills the cursed dragon in the North as a hero. The royal family can’t ignore such a feat so they have no choice but to recognize Sigrun as a prince. Then Eunice would appear.

She worries that Sigrun has become too dependent on her. She laments that being a parent is so hard (omg gurl lol).

She starts thinking about the dirt Abel had on the Green family. Although the Green family are very rich, they were involved in the drug trade. Everything related to drugs in the Empire is illegal and penalties included all of the family’s wealth being confiscated. Even those of the same surname would be punished. Only the Count and eldest son, Kindel, knew about the drug business. The countess and Zen (the younger son) didn’t know about it. However, Zen has a huge gambling problem and is in debt so this is why he wants the inheritance – to repay his debt.

Fiona likens the family situation to a house of Jenga – just pull out one and the rest will fall.

She decides to target Zen as she thinks he would be the most desperate.

Abel had actually bought up all of Zen’s debt in secret and Fiona notes to herself never to be Abel’s enemy.

Fiona goes to find Zen and sugars him up. She says it is unfair that Kindel is the heir just because he is the oldest although he has no talent as a wizard. The Green family has been famous for the wizards it has produced. Zen (of course) agrees with this. Fiona then sugars him up more saying that Zen is the most talented in the family so he should be the heir. Zen is eating out of the palm of her hand however he isn’t completely stupid to try and confront Kindel without any plan. Fiona then pulls out a little baggy of a powder and says she found it in Kindel’s room by chance. Zen hooks on immediately and takes the drugs planning to use it to get rid of Kindel. As Zen is plotting in his mind, Fiona asks him to help her out by giving her permission to re-organize the family registry. She needs the head of the family to give her approval to change the family registry. She tells Zen she doesn’t want to be an illegitimate child anymore but in reality she plans to remove her name instead before the drug stuff becomes public.

Fiona then tells Zen which maids saw Kindel with the drugs. She has already paid them all to be “witnesses”.

Zen doesn’t know that the Count and Kindel were actually involved in the drug business, he thinks Kindel is just using drugs so it won’t affect the whole family.

Over the next few days, the two brother’s fight gets more and more intense and the countess doesn’t even get involved anymore. Zen is smarter than Kindel while Kindel is quick to lose his temper. Kindel’s actions make everyone question his ability to become the head. Meanwhile, Zen is buying more and more debt to pay off his previous debt.

After a lot of patience and witnessing all the drama, Fiona decides it is time to bring the house down.

 

Thank you so much for this!

 

Rest of the Green family's downfall

Spoiler: Green family's downfall part 2

Fiona POV cont.

Fiona gets another letter from Abel.

[Are you done yet?]

Fiona scrumples up the letter.

Bringing down the Green family is no easy task, after all, they ARE a wealthy aristocratic family. Kindel and the Count were both really good businessmen. But now that Kindel was out and Zen was the temporary head, all Fiona had to do was wait and watch. Zen was not a good businessman (considering all of his gambling!). However, if she waited, it might take a few years and she wanted to finish it quickly.

Fiona thinks about how she wants to go sightseeing after all of this.

She prepares a letter that anonymously accuses the Green family of being involved in the drug business. She sends it to the treasurer who would confiscate all the Green family’s fortunes when the accusations were proven true.

Two days after sending the letter she goes to see Zen to congratulate him for becoming the Head. She wants to take his mood even higher so it hurts even more when he falls. This is something she learnt from (daddy) Abel. She gives him the family registry document to stamp with the family seal. He stamps it without looking so he doesn’t realize it is for her to leave the family rather than be recognized as a legitimate member of the family.

Now everything is done and she is free. She smiles and says to Zen: “There is no easy solution to a gambling addiction, even more so if you are in deep debt.” Zen is shocked because no one knew about his gambling addiction. Fiona dances towards the door, looks at Zen’s confused face, grins at him and says “Well, see ya!” as she walks out.

As she is leaving, she bumps into the countess again who of course verbally abuses her again. Fiona looks at the countess and says “I just remembered I had one more thing I needed to do before I left”. She walks up to the confused Countess and gives her a good old SLAP. Kindel was banished, Zen was going to go into debt for the rest of his life, she wanted to repay the Countess somehow as well otherwise she might regret it later and have to take it on her pillows later.

Just as the house servants are trying to detain Fiona, a maid starts yelling that soldiers from the Imperial Palace have arrived. The countess immediately points to Fiona and Fiona admits that yes, she did this. She tells the Countess about the illegal business and the countess accuses her of lying because it will get her in trouble as well. FIona then shows her the papers that she has been expelled from the family register so she is all gucci.

The countess screams – how could she do this to her own family?! Fiona feels bad for the original Fiona for destroying her family. She walks out as the soldiers rush into the estate. Zen and the countess make a run for it as Fiona ponders what to do next.

 

Thank you again so much for the rest of this chapter! Can't wait to read the manwha when it comes out.

 

Spoiler: Sigrun returning to the capital part 1

Sigrun POV

-open scene-

Sigrun has just slain the cursed dragon. He is covered in blood as he drops his sword (resisting the urge to throw it to the side). He sits down and glances at the corpse of the dragon behind him.

Together with Abel and the subjugation squad they had taken down the huge dragon. The dragon was so big it made a human look like an ant. It was covered in scales as tough as steel and it was intelligent enough to rule the monsters in the North mountains. Sigrun managed to pierce it through the heart. He was now completely exhausted.

Abel gives Sigrun a rare congratulations and asks him how he feels to have accomplished an amazing feat – killing the dragon. Sigrun doesn’t really care, he killed the dragon because it was necessary for him to do to be able to go to the capital. Now he is going to go back to his hometown, the place that killed his mother and also the place where *she* is.

He wonders if Fiona is still even in the capital because she always talked about going sightseeing. Abel tells him not to worry, he has a “final weapon” to keep Fiona at the mansion. Sigrun is curious but Abel walks off. Sigrun wonders how the hell he will keep Fiona from leaving and how it was already impressive that she stayed in the north for 5 years.

As he stands up and sheaths his sword he flashes back to when he met that young girl and what she whispered to him– I won’t hurt you. One day... you will have everything.

That girl who had said that to him was now gone. She gave him unconditional love and then left without regret. Ironically, Sigrun had only ever wanted one thing but he needed so many other things to get that one thing.

He walks over to the dragon’s corpse and cuts the heart of the dragon out as proof. This was the first step.

Fiona POV

Fiona goes to Halon mansion and meets the head maid – Celine (Celine is like grandma age). When she goes there everyone comes out to greet her. Everyone was expecting her (nice one Abel!).

All of the food was Fiona’s favorite and Celine is a master delayer. Fiona asks Celine to direct her to what she needs to do for Abel and Celine is like “Of course I will guide you!” and starts taking her around the mansion explaining the history of the mansion.

Turns out the task Abel wanted Fiona to help him with was to organize huge piles of books which had been accumulated over many years.

Celine suggests to take Fiona to a dress shop later to buy some more warm weather appropriate dresses. Fiona finds it really hard to say no to Celine who is so kind and gentle – a grandmotherly figure.

Fiona goes to the study to start organizing books. Celine then comes around lunch with a picnic basket saying it is time to take Fiona flower viewing because Fiona previously said she wanted to tour the capital. Fiona wants to keep working but Celine reminisces about how she used to go flower viewing with her granddaughter and she even sheds a tear. She goes on to say how her granddaughter was around Fiona’s age and how she reminds her of her. The guilt trip works and Fiona immediately says she will go. Fiona thinks to herself she would feel like trash if she didn’t go at that point. Celine immediately smiles again.

They go to a viewing area for nobles. Fiona goes for a walk. She thinks about the world she created and how cruel the lives of the characters are. She only went into a lot of detail for around 10 characters but now she was in that world full of endless people. As she is in deep though she bumps into Arendt Clovis, the second male lead. He has red hair and golden eyes, in his mid-20s and is well-groomed. She doesn’t recognize him at first but when she picks up his magic stone that dropped she realizes who he is. The stone reacts to her when she picks it up so he immediately recognizes she can use magic. Normally people use the mana stones to help them control their magic, she never needed one because she has top-notch mana control.

When Arendt asks for her name, she panics and lies saying it is Celine. As she leaves she calls him Marquis Cloves but he never told her that and of course, it piques Arendt’s curiosity.

Remember when she sent a letter anonymously to the treasurer? Well that person was Arendt Clovis, he is head of the Ministry of Finance. He is also the person who turned Fiona into the final boss by making her absorb the power of darkness. She chides herself for focusing too much on Sigrun. Arendt only appeared in the middle of her novel. Although he appears approachable on the outise, he is the opposite on the inside.

She ponders whether she should just kill him and the other characters who try to make her the final boss. She laughs at the unexpected situation.

Arendt POV

Arendt notes that “Celine” didn’t give him her family name and unlike other young noble ladies, she didn’t try to grovel when she found out his family name. Furthermore, the fact that the stone reacted to her so strongly meant she was probably a high level wizard.

He decides to look for a noble lady called Celine.

Fiona POV

Fiona wants to give up on the task and curses Abel. Celine comes in and says her dresses are ready so they leave to the shop. Fiona wonders why it took so long to make a few dresses.

When they get to the dress shop, turns out they had made a ballgown for her. She realizes the dress shop she is in is the one Eunice liked to go to.

The dress they have made for her has a long indigo blue skirt with tiny jewels embedded in it. Celine suggests to Fiona to wait at a café across the street while they wait for final adjustments to be made to the dress. As she is drinking her drink, Arendt approaches her again. He asks her if she is a wizard and she says no. She isn’t surprised he is interested in her magical talents considering his role in the novel. He offers her a job to work as a wizard.

Before Fiona can answer someone interrupts them - “That’s not going to happen.”

Fiona looks up to see a smiling Abel.

Spoiler: Sigrun returning to the capital part 2 Fiona+Abel moments

Fiona is shocked, they weren’t supposed to return so early.

Abel says he returned to show her the dragon they caught. Fiona introduces Abel as the Duke of Halon and Arendt questions their relationship. Abel outright says that she is his daughter. Abel catches on quickly that Fiona lied about her name so he doesn’t say anything.

Fiona asks Abel why she is back already and he smiles at her and says “I have come to end the winter”.

Celine isn’t surprised to see Abel back and Fiona realizes she has been played.

Some cute dialogue:

A - “Looks like you enjoyed your vacation Fiona.”

F - “It’s not a vacation, it is my retirement.”

A - “Yeh, about that”

F - “What about that?”

A - “Think of this as re-employment then"

That’s not it at all! This man really doesn’t listen to me at all.

He sent me off so coolly before but he hadn’t actually given up on the inside!

A- “There are flies flying around now, it would have been fun to see if Sigrun was here.”

F- “Flies? Are you talking about Marquis Clovis?”

A - “Yeh, just ignore it from now on. I can give you whatever you want.”

F - “My Duke, are you telling to ignore the current Marquis of Clovis?”

A - “It’s fine as long as you have Halon Castle behind you.”

But, this was a really good example of Abel’s typical actions.

I retorted, not giving up.

F - “I’m not your adopted daughter though?”

A - “You will be soon.”

F - “......”

Fiona was speechless so she changed the topic.

F - “So, where are you going now?”

A - “To meet Sigrun.”

F - “Didn’t he come with you?”

A - “We came together but it takes time to get through the checkpoint so I left first. Like I said, there’s something I want to show you so I had to come pick you up.”

How long did you even wait at the checkpoint? I groaned.

F - “Didn’t you say that you can do anything with Halon Castle behind you?”

A - “It isn’t an identity issue.”

F - “Then what?”

Abel smiled mysteriously.

A - “You will find out soon.”

Abel takes Fiona to the gates of the capital. When they arrive people are screaming that a monster is coming. Sigrun rocks up with the other knights and soldiers in their armour.

Sigrun looks taller and more mature than when they last met. They cut off the dragon’s head from the neck because the rest of it was too big to bring back.

Abel tells Fiona he wanted to show her the body but it was too big (XDD). Abel seems really proud of the dragon.

When the other soldiers see her they all yell out and they are all happy to see her and she feels embarrassed when she sees the men blush and wave at her. Abel says its time to go back to the mansion and tells Fiona to get in the carriage leading the procession with the dragon right behind. Fiona laughs and says hell naw, I ain’t getting in that carriage. I will walk. (may or may not have paraphrased that last bit :x)

 

Thank you for the sumary-style spoilers!

 

Here is the rest of book 1.

Spoiler: Sigrun returns to the capital part 3 Sigrun+Fiona moment :)

Sigrun is walking in Halon mansion at sunset. He didn’t want to make such a big entrance but he had no choice. Abel said he had to make a big impression to imprint himself in the minds of the people.

Fiona calls out to him and they walk towards each other. They start talking comfortably, as if they hadn’t been apart.

F- “You’re wet. Is it raining outside?”

S - “Ah...”

The hem of Sigrun’s sleeves and his hair were damp. It was raining lightly outside.

S - “A little.”

Fiona grabs Sigrun’s wrist and pulls him a bit towards her.

F - “You can still catch a cold in Spring when you get wet.”

Fiona leads Sigrun to her room as it was the closest. She hands him a towel to dry his hair.

F - “Do it properly.”

Fiona takes the towel and starts helping Sigrun dry his hair. Sigrun sighs and Fiona pauses. He was upset with her before she left. The atmosphere is awkward.

F - “Wasn’t it difficult to catch the dragon?”

S - “Not really.”

Fiona lets out a small laugh. She apologizes to him inwardly because he is going to fight stronger dragons in the future.

Sigrun grabs Fiona’s wrist to indicate to her to stop drying his hair, he stands up, looking down at Fiona. He has the urge to hug her but he resists. Then Fiona hugs him instead. Sigrun takes the opportunity and puts his arms around Fiona’s waist. He rests his forehead on her shoulder which prompts Fiona to ask if he is feeling tired. Fiona squirms a little in his arms.

Sigrun asks Fiona what she was going to do next. Fiona says she needs to finish the task Abel gave her. Sigrun and Fiona talk about how Fiona is a bit of a pushover and gives in easily even though she can also just as easily cut others off too. But Fiona’s soft personality is part of what he likes about her.

Sigrun asks what she will do after she finishes. Fiona says she wants to buy a house in the countryside.

Sigrun asks Fiona if she remembers what she said to him – if Sigrun needs help, she will always be by his side. Sigrun then says he needs her now.

Sigrun told Fiona about his birth two years ago and he was worried she would treat him differently after she knew but she was still kind to him and treated him preciously. He felt a sense of serenity in Fiona’s words and actions. He can’t imagine what it would be like if she was gone.

Sigrun asks Fiona to stay in the capital to help him. Other than Abel he doesn’t know anyone else. Fiona then remembers it is almost time for Sigrun to meet Eunice. Fiona says maybe he will meet a girl soon and fall in love. Sigrun isn’t angry but he looks sad – he thinks Fiona is just making up an excuse to get away from him. He says – I get it now, you must find me annoying, just like everyone else. Fiona is worried that she was triggered some memories related to his childhood trauma and feels guilty. He turns around and starts slowly walking away. Fiona feels like his broad back looks very lonely all of a sudden. Her heart aches for him. As he is about to leave, Fiona grabs his collar. Considering they have been friends for 5 years, she decides to stay.

Sigrun says you don’t have to force yourself to stay and Fiona says they are friends and she wants to see all the stuff in the capital anyway.

Fiona then starts to think about what she should do about Arendt. As she is pondering, Sigrun smiles with satisfaction – he achieved his original purpose.

Spoiler: The rest of book 1.

Fiona POV

In Abel’s office, Abel gives Sigrun the formal invitation from the emperor. Abel tells Sigrun not to crumple it. Sigrun is not a happy chap and leaves.

Abel complains to Fiona that she won’t stay in the capital for him but she would for Sigrun. Fiona sees Sigrun as special because she feels like she raised him.

The reason Abel wants to adopt someone to take over instead of getting married and having his own children is because Abel actually has imperial blood in him. The current emperor killed anyone who could threaten his position and that’s why Abel’s father was driven to the North. When Abel’s father went to the North, the territory was a mess and his father became a Duke there (fallen from a Prince). Now Halon was thriving during Abel’s reign. If the emperor actually supported Abel, he would have sent proper wizards instead of Fiona.

If Abel has a child, that child would have a claim to the throne and would put that child’s life in jeopardy. This is why Abel wants to adopt someone to inherit his title and he wants to adopt based on ability. Abel thinks Fiona is very capable and this is why he keeps pushing it on her. Fiona finally accepts and agrees to become Fiona Halon.

A - “Now call me father.”

F - “So persistent.”

Fiona is surprised he still hasn’t given up!



They prepare to go to the ball. Sigrun tells Fiona she looks very pretty in her dress. Fiona notes that although Sigrun asked her to stay because he was scared, he actually looked very calm.

Sigrun plays with Fiona’s necklace as they chat. Sigrun wishes he could escort Fiona and she reminisces about their time in Halon. When they had parties in Halon, she always danced with Sigrun or Abel (and sometimes Zeron, Abel’s aide). She thinks she wasn’t very popular because no one else approached her.

Abel interrupts them. He points at Sigrun and tells him to stop flirting and get into the carriage.

As Fiona is walking, she stumbles because she is wearing higher and thinner heels than she is used to. Both Abel and Sigrun try to support her. Abel looks at Sigrun and tells him to keep moving.

When they get to the castle, they walk up with Fiona sandwiched between Abel and Sigrun. Fiona laughs as she wonders where that lonely boy who begged her to stay went when all she can see in Sigrun is his burning desire to kill anyone who annoys him.

The first chapter of the og novel is now starting - enter the ball.

Livia POV

Everyone is talking about Sigrun – how he is an illegitimate child but they also wonder if he is handsome or whether he has strong abilities. There are rumours that there is a cruel wizard in the north as well that can start storms. A lot of gossip going on.

A bunch of ladies are gossiping and someone asks Lady Priscilla what she thinks. She holds a lot of social power amongst the noble ladies. They talk about how the daughter of a low-level aristocrat has become a saint (Eunice) and now an illegitimate child is becoming a prince and how the social world is in a huge commotion due to these changes.

Lady Priscilla yawns with her jewel studded fan in typical villainess fashion and declares she has a head ache and is bored.

Then Sigrun enters. Lady Priscilla smirks as she watches.

Fiona POV


Fiona makes eye contact with Livia Priscilla. In the novel, Livia is a proud lady who gets everything she wants and tries to get between Eunice and Sigrun – typical noble lady villainess.

She feels a camaraderie with Livia because she was originally a villainess too.

Sigrun presents the dragon’s heart to the emperor. The heart looks like a giant chunk of black mineral, like obsidian. The emperor then declares Sigrun officially as a prince. Some nobles clapped and some nobles outwardly showed their displeasure. Sigrun and Fiona make eye contact and Sigrun blushes then shakes his head. Fiona thinks he is just embarrassed being the center of attention.

Sigrun is swamped by people who want to talk to him.

People approach Fiona to ask who she is and Abel deflects them all saying it will be announced at the meeting of the five great families. They eventually lose interest in Fiona.

Fiona gets tired towards the middle of the ball and sneaks onto a terrace to get some rest. She overhears the crown prince trying to woo Lady Priscilla. Lady Priscilla is obviously uncomfortable and tries to leave but the Crown Prince keeps pressuring her and forces her to stay. The Prince grabs Livia and Fiona decides to help her. She jumps out and says that Duke Priscilla is looking for the young lady. The Prince says the Duke can wait. Fiona then pretends she didn’t realize the prince was there and she introduces herself as Fiona Halon and apologizes for interrupting. They manage to get away.

Livia POV

Livia asks Fiona if her father was really looking for her. Fiona confesses no and apologizes for meddling but Livia thanks her instead. They decide to call each other by their first names. Livia offers to repay Fiona and Fiona refuses so Livia offers to invite her to a tea party instead which Fiona accepts.

Enoch POV

Enoch, the crown prince, is furious that Livia keeps rejecting him. He tries to find Livia again but can’t and he sees Fiona instead. Now in the light, he realizes that Fiona is quite pretty. Her silver hair and red eyes are a rare combination. He thinks that Fiona looks more compliant than Livia.

As he is thinking about how it would be good to marry someone from the Halon family too. He is startled by a voice. Sigrun approaches Enoch.

Sigrun looks in the direction Enoch was looking at. Enoch notices and asks Sigrun to tell him about Fiona since they were both from Halon.

Enoch is looking at Fiona and says he has been bored lately and she is very pretty. Sigrun calls Enoch pathetic. Enoch grabs Sigrun by the neck and tries to hit him. Sigrun catches Enoch’s fist and Enoch can’t even pull it out of Sigrun’s grip. He tries to pull Sigrun by the neck but Sigrun doesn’t budge. Sigrun says it is his turn now and he grabs Enoch by the collar and pushes him. Enoch gets pushed back into a pole. Sigrun is choking Enoch as Enoch tries to call for someone to help but no sound comes out. No one can see them thanks to the pillar.

Sigrun warns Enoch – he doesn’t really care about the crown prince position or becoming emperor, there is only one thing he wants in the world and anyone who touches her will die a painful death. He lets go of Enoch.

Enoch slides down the pillar, gasping for air. He tells Sigrun that he will hang him one day.

Sigrun smirks and says:

“I look forward to it, brother.”

End of Book 1

 

Now this is a proper loving-but-socially-awkward father, not the neglectful abusive shits that we keep getting. I love the Abel-Fiona dynamic so much

 

Thank you so much dear. This is so clearly explained. Thank you too to other who continuously graced us with MTL version. Every spoiler is appreciated You're all a star

 

Start of book 2

Spoiler: Start of book 2 - Fiona +Sigrun scene

Fiona POV

They’ve gone home after the ball. Fiona grabs a bottle of fruit alcohol to drink in her room. She is stressed and annoyed after everything that happened at the ball.

She loves the sweet drink.

Someone knocks on her door

“Fiona, are you there?”

It was Sigrun’s voice.

I opened the door right away.

Sigrun looked at me for a moment and frowned slightly.

S -“Did you drink?”

Drink? I had barely gotten started. I smirked.

F - “I only just got started.”

S - “......”

I was a bit bored anyway so this was a good chance. It’s nice to have a drinking buddy.

F - “Come in, let’s drink together. It has been a long time.”

As I pulled his wrist, Sigrun opened his mouth, shut it and then quietly came inside.

I pulled him to the chair opposite mine and stopped.

F - “Why is your tie like this?”

Sigrun’s shirt and tie around his neck were crumpled up.

I jokingly asked.

F - “Did you get into a fight?”

S - “Something like that.”

F - “Really?”

Getting grabbed by the collar at his socialite debut... surely not, right?

F - “Who was it?”

When I asked him with wide eyes, he chuckled.

S - “It’s not a big deal.”

As he replied, he started to untie his tie and look at me with frustration in his eyes.

S - “Sorry Fiona, I can’t see it well, can you please help.”

He lowered down to try to match my height. I reached out to untie his tie.

From a young age, Sigrun hated anyone touching his neck. Because of this, he never wore clothes or ties that were tight around the neck unless absolutely necessary.

“......”

The sound of rustling clothes was particularly loud in the quiet room.

Hmm, this is a bit awkward.

Sigrun was fiddling with my hair as I untied his tie.

F - “Done.”

I tossed the tie onto the bed.

F - “Now, let’s drink!”

I poured some alcohol into a glass for Sigrun.

F - “Cheers!”

Clang, I clinked my glass against his and shotgunned the drink.

Unlike me, Sigrun took a sip and set the glass down.

S - “Drink slowly. Why are you drinking so hard when you can’t really handle your alcohol?” (Sorry, this was hard to translate, so I guessed)

Unfortunately, there was no one-shot culture in this world. I’m the type who loves to drink a lot of alcohol.

F - “Yeh but I’m not that weak. Don’t you like it? It’s delicious.”

Sigrun replied sarcastically.

S - “Someone has to pick you up when you fall down drunk.”

F - “Huh.”

Surely I won’t get that drunk?

S - “You got drunk last time and hit your head when you fell. Don’t you remember?”

It was probably at Halon’s New Years Party last year.

I got drunk and fell over but I didn’t really remember. I had woken up with a lump on my head.

F - “You think it will happen again?”

Having said that, I drank my second glass. I drank it quickly, already feeling a bit drunk.

Actually, my alcohol tolerance was only medium, neither very strong nor very weak.

F - “Don’t you feel bored watching me drink?”

S - “It’s fun just watching the changes in your facial expression. Your face is turning red.”

F - “Really?”

Sigrun always nagged me but he made a face that showed he would put up with it.

He probably only sat down with me to slow me down rather than drink with me.

Well, Sigrun wasn’t fond of alcohol. I looked at him for a moment and asked.

F - “Sigrun, how was the ball?”

S - “It was bad.”

I wanted to ask him ‘Did you meet Eunice?’

F - “There was a young lady who was praised as a saint. Did you meet her?”

S - “No.”

Why didn’t they meet. I asked him with a sullen expression.

F - “Come to think of it, I didn’t see you at the front. What were you doing...”

No, there was no need to ask. He had already said earlier that he had fought with someone.

Fiona changed the question.

F - “Who did you fight with?”

This time Sigrun meekly responded.

S - “The crown prince.”

F - “For real?”

To be honest, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Still, he is Sigrun’s older brother. Was he okay?

F - “Why did you fight?”

S - “... he was more annoying than I expected.”

I nodded.

F - “Indeed. He is really bad.”

I suddenly felt annoyed again after remembering what happened. I inhaled.

Sigrun questioned me with a frown.

S - “What happened?”

F - “Nothing really. He was flirting with a certain noble lady.”

S - “Be careful to never go near him.”

F - “I will. I just hope we don’t run into each other again.”

As we talked, I continued to drink. I started to get really drunk. I regretted saying “You think it will happen again?” in front of Sigrun earlier.\

F - “Sigrun, you have two faces.”

S - “You’re drunk.”

F - “Even if you have two faces, it’s not that strange. You have two handsome faces floating around...”

I mumbled some nonsense as I raised my thumb.

Eventually, my head fell towards the table.

S - “...ha.”

Seeing my pathetic situation, Sigrun sighed as he caught my head.

Sigrun POV

S - “I told you to drink slowly.”

Sigrun looked down at Fiona who was lying face down. Her silver hair was a mess, over the table.

Fiona had acted like his older sister from the moment they met but when he saw her like this, she didn’t seem very trustworthy.

It was true that she was talented and had genius-like magic skills but she had strange weaknesses.

It was impressive how she was able to assess her surroundings so perfectly.

Sigrun got up from his seat and gently picked up Fiona. She was in a deep sleep as she didn’t even wake when her position was moved.

Sigrun put Fiona on the bed slowly.

He paused for a moment and debated whether to loosen her neck which looked uncomfortable but decided it would be better to get a maid to do it later.

Sigrun sighed quietly and muttered.

S - “Sometimes I want to open that head and look inside.”

F- “......”

Naturally, the sleeping Fiona didn’t answer.

S - “Why have you given me so much love since we met, yet you haven’t ever wanted anything from me?”

Sigrun pulled a blanket up to Fiona’s neck.

S - “There is no love with a price...”

Even love between friends, couples, parents and children, there was always something exchanged. If it wasn’t physical, it was emotional.

But Fiona wasn’t like that. Sigrun felt he didn’t know her well still, despite having been together for several years.

Fiona never seemed to want anything particularly precious. If it was convenient, then fine but if not, then whatever.

She was like a dandelion spore floating in the air without taking root anywhere.

S - “Someday you will want something. I wish I could find it.”

It was hard to imagine that someone who doesn’t want anything would be happy.

Humans are beings who feel happiness the moment they get what they want.

After his muttering, Sigrun blew out the candle that was illuminating the room.

S- “At least for now, I hope you have a sweet dream Fiona.”

My most precious lady.

Book 2 cont.

Spoiler: Five family meeting

Abel POV

The next morning, Abel has come to check on his adopted daughter, Fiona who is still in bed sleeping well after lunchtime. He comes into her room to find two glasses and Sigrun’s tie on Fiona’s bed. A maid even saw Sigrun leaving Fiona’s room last night.

Abel pretty much knows what happened – Fiona wanted to drink and Sigrun went along with it. Abel decides to let Fiona sleep and goes off to find the other person involved.

A - “I’m going to go catch Sigrun.”

Celine sighs as she watches Abel walk off.

Fiona POV

A few days after the ball, Sigrun was living in the Imperial Palace and Fiona was a bit worried he would be bullied. However, she had something else to worry about now too – the meeting between the five families.

The Five Families are – Halon, Priscilla, Clovis, Ernest and Erez.

Abel and Fiona are discussing the families on their way to the meeting. The current Empress is from the Ernest family so they support the crown prince. Abel and the Duke of Ernest also hate each other so they always oppose each other. The Priscilla and Clovis family are neutral.

In true Abel-fashion, he just tells Fiona to do whatever she wants as they head into the meeting.



Duke of Ernest POV

Duke is not happy with Abel, bringing in another prince and threatening the position of the crown prince. He thinks that although the crown prince is a bit wild currently, he will grow out of it.

He sees Abel enter the room with a young girl. Abel is the last to arrive. Abel already made it clear that he was going to introduce his new heir at this meeting so that meant the young lady he brought would be the heir to the Halon family.

The Duke feels that she is a pretty, young girl who couldn’t kill an ant. He questions if this is a trap by Abel.

Abel introduces Fiona as Fiona Halon and states she is his successor.

The Duke of Erez asks since when did he have a daughter. Abel replies he has adopted her. Erez asks what family she is from. Abel looks at Fiona to signal to speak for herself.

Fiona nods her head. She declares she is from the Green family since they would all find out quite easily when they started investigating after. It is already well known the Green family is being investigated for their drug-related business. It was rumored that one daughter escaped through marriage but that was Fiona's sister, Jane, not Fiona.

At this point Arendt Clovis opens his mouth and explains, the Green family had another daughter who was taken off the family register. He doesn’t explain further out of respect for Fiona.

Fiona continues by explaining she is the illegitimate child of the former Count Green.

Everyone is shocked because not only is she a young lady but she is also the illegitimate child of a fallen family. The Duke of Ernest can’t accept this.

Abel chuckles and says “It’s way better to give my title to a capable adoptive daughter than an incompetent bastard.”

The Duke believed the opposite, he thought that someone of noble origin will always be better.

Abel then brushes him off since it’s none of his business anyway. He is the head of the Halon family.

The Duke of Ernest confronts Fiona and it’s obvious he is trying to make her look incompetent. The Duke of Ernest explains how the duty of the Halon family is to protect the North from monsters and questions whether Fiona has the ability to do this. So Fiona offers – if she can win the hunting competition that is coming up, then won’t that prove she has the ability? The Duke is surprised that Fiona is so calmly rebuffing him.

The Duke of Priscilla tries to help Fiona because she reminds him of his own young daughter.

However the Duke of Ernest still doesn’t think Fiona has any ability and accepts the condition.

All the while, Abel is smiling at the Duke’s bewildered reactions.

Fiona just casually replies:

“I will definitely take care of it.”



Fiona POV

“Celine, was it?”

Arendt comes up to Fiona after the meeting. Fiona apologizes for lying about her name. Arendt is quite gracious and decides to leave Fiona alone as she is now a Halon. Fiona feels relief, this means she won’t have to try to kill him if he leaves her alone.

Arendt figures out that the anonymous letter was from Fiona and apologizes for bringing down her family but also thanks her for her help. He tells her he will leave her alone as he doesn’t want to offend house Halon. He walks away as Abel stares him down from behind Fiona.

Abel walks up to Fiona and pats her head and tells hers “well done” as he ruffles her hair.

A - “Then, call me father now.”

F - “Don’t want to.”

A - “Dad is fine too.”

F - “I said no.”

A - “Then when are you going to call me this?”

F - “I don’t think there’s anything I have to call you...?”

Normally Abel would be smiling arogantly but this time he didn’t. It felt a bit suffocating.

A - “...fine.”

Fiona rolls her eyes. She is too proud still.

She thinks about when she should say it even if she feels ashamed.

Spoiler: Fiona visits Sigrun

Sigrun POV

Sigrun is training his knights. Sigrun is way stronger than all of them and he makes them spar with him and none of them can even scratch him. He takes note of which knights have a good attitude and which ones don’t.

A servant comes to tell Sigrun he has a guest whil they are training which Sigrun doesn’t like but when he finds out it is Fiona he does a 180. He immediately goes to see Fiona. Before he leaves, he tells the knights to do 50 laps of the training grounds.

Fiona POV

Sigrun comes to greet her, they talk about how Fiona’s nickname is the Winter Guardian and she tells him about what happened at the family meeting.

Sigrun says he won’t participate if she doesn’t want him to so that she can win it. He takes her hand and kisses the back of her hand slowly and tells her he isn’t her rival.

There is a tradition at the hunting competition where the winner of the competition would present their catch to a young lady and that the noble and lady usually would get married.

Fiona says Sigrun might want to impress a lady on the day. In the original story, he won and presented his catch to Eunice. She wonders if he has already met Eunice without her knowing. She hopes Sigrun will introduce her to Eunice one day. If he has then he would be Fiona’s biggest rival for the competition.

Fiona asks if they are actually rivals and Sigrun plays coy and doesn’t confirm or deny. Fiona feels a bit disappointed that she can’t read Sigrun’s emotions anymore like when they were young.

Spoiler: Hunting competition

Fiona POV

Fiona and Abel are chilling in their barracks at the competition. Abel is dying because it’s too hot for him. Fiona asks if he wants her to make it snow around the barrack to drop the temperature. Abel says no and to conserve her stamina since she got tired easily when using her magic.

Livia comes to see Fiona and asks to talk to her privately. Abel waves his hand to send them out.

Livia asks Fiona if Fiona is willing to offer her catch to Livia if she wins. This is because Livia is afraid that the crown prince will offer his catch to her and she wouldn’t have a good excuse to reject him but if Fiona offered hers first, the proud crown prince wouldn’t be able to offer his catch to her.

Fiona asks why her. Livia reveals she already knew about Fiona because they are an important house, they have a trustworthy information network.

In return, Livia offers to help Fiona in the social world of the noble ladies. The empress doesn’t like Fiona already because of her relationship to Sigrun so it would be hard for Fiona without Livia’s help.

Fiona accepts and decides to dedicate any monsters she catches to Livia.



The competition has started.

All of the nobles who participate in the competition do so with escort knights for safety reasons. Fiona easily kills monsters with her fire powers. She has to be careful not to start a forest fire though. When she was in Halon there wasn’t as many trees so she didn’t have to be as careful.

Fiona has caught a lot of monsters so unless Sigrun had changed his mind during the competition, she was sure to win.

Duke Ernest sees how many Fiona has caught and it broke his pride.

Fiona taunts him as she rides off.

“You’re also young, so I hope you don’t overdo it.”

Duke Ernest POV

The Duke decides he needs to catch a larger monster to beat Fiona so they go outside the safety line that has been set up. The knights reluctantly follow him in.

Fiona POV

After bumping into Duker Ernest, Fiona bumps into Arendt who sees Fiona has caught a lot of monsters. He asks her if she knows anything about the ‘darkness’. Fiona says yes she has heard of it – the ground becomes dry and the monsters in the area become more ferocious.

Arendt Clovis witnessed darkness appear when he was younger and the reason, he always carried a mana stone with him was to delay the effects of the darkness inside him. He was looking for a way to get rid of the darkness inside him. This was why he was interested in strong magic users. If he could find a strong sorcerer who could absorb the darkness without dying, they could help him get rid of it. This is why he uses Fiona in the original novel.

Then Sigrun appears. The three of them have a conversation while taking a rest. Fiona notes that there’s no way Sigrun needs to rest when he has monster stamina.

Suddenly the bell rings even though it is still mid-afternoon.

Something is wrong. The three of them go back to camp.

Spoiler: Emergence of darkness

Duke Ernest POV

The Duke has crossed the safety line. Suddenly the land turns black and everything around them dries up, as if the water has been sucked out of everything.

The Duke had never seen it happen before but he had heard about it. Monsters would get stronger around them. They try to evacuate

Monsters start attacking him, blood everywhere. The Duke hears a long horn from afar.



Fiona POV

Fiona and Sigrun go to find Abel. Someone had brought back a monster that looked like a large hunting dog but the skin was hard and black. A lot of people had tried to catch it, one had died and one other was wounded.

They suspect it is the emergence of darkness.

This hadn’t happened in the original novel. In the original novel, the point of the competition was just for Sigrun and Eunice to fall deeper in love.

Duke Ernest and his party still had not returned yet.

They return just as Abel is about to send out a search party. The party have returned injured – well the Duke wasn’t too badly injured but his knights were. Only a handful of knights had returned, the rest were missing.

Then Eunice appears offering to heal some of the poison. She has purple eyes like amethysts, peach colored cheeks nad lovely facial features. Her full name is Eunice Arlin.



Abel POV

Abel goes up to Ernest who tells them to take care of his knights first since he wasn’t as badly injured. Abel asks what happened.

Ernest said he saw the land turn black and is confused – is this the darkness scholars talked about?

Abel gives orders to prepare to evacuate as monsters are coming. He sees Fiona staring at Eunice. Abel recognizes Eunice as the rumored girl saint. He walks over to Fiona asks what she is staring at. He asks her if she knows Eunice. She says no, she says it’s cos she’s so pretty. Abel tells her to focus.

Abel chuckles and feels sorry for Sigrun. Fiona is mesmerized by the face of some girl she saw for the first time. He then realizes Sigrun isn’t around when he is usually stuck to Fiona like a guard dog.

Someone yells – A demon is coming! Fiona thinks it followed the smell of blood. There were a lot of people wounded in camp.

Abel is about to tell Fiona to leave as she is tired from the hunt but she wants to stay. She runs to Eunice to tell them to evacuate. Eunice says the person she is treating can’t be moved yet. Fiona decides to protect Eunice until Sigrun comes. There is a lot of yelling and although she is terrified, Eunice keeps working on the patient.

A monster suddenly tries to attack them. Eunice closes her eyes and screams while Fiona kills it. Eunice asks her who she is and she replies “I am Fiona Halon.”

Fiona POV

Eunice looks at Fiona with wide eyes - “I’m Eunice Arlin”. Even in this situation, she maintained good manners.

Fiona keeps fighting monsters as Eunice heals the man. Fiona is worried that they won’t be able to keep the monsters back for much longer and asks a passing rider if back up is coming.

Fiona then comes up with an idea. Sigrun finds them and turns to look at Eunice. Fiona has happy that they have finally met but Sigrun has no reaction to seeing Eunice.

They move to the evacuation area and Sigrun tells Fiona to stay there too. Fiona refuses, she wants to help. She tells Sigrun her idea – although the monsters are stronger now, they still rely on their instincts so they can use that to their advantage.

Although not a perfect plan, Sigrun trusted Fiona’s judgement. Fiona suggests they create a huge fire. They could get everyone in the center barracks and surround it with a controlled fire. They won’t be able to kill all the monsters so they need to wait for reinforcements. Sigrun asks if it is dangerous and Fiona replies they can control it. Sigrun replies he meant for her, wouldn’t it take too much out of her?

Sigrun is worried about Fiona’s body but she says this is their best chance to survive. If she faints, she will rely on Sigrun to catch her.

They gather everyone and set up the fire.



Eunice POV

Eunice looks outside, she hasn’t seen a wizard before. She looks at Fiona. Fiona is standing in front of the fire, her hair blowing in the wind.

Behind her Arendt and Livia are praising Fiona’s power. Neither of them were able to get as much information as they wanted thanks to Abel hiding Fiona so well.

They all think that although dangerous, Fiona was also weirdly alluring as well. Eunice thinks she would like to have a conversation with Fiona one day.

 

Thank you so much!

 

don't tell me Eunice "falls" for Fiona and becomes Sigrun's rival

 

Reminds me of "my next life as a villainess: all routes lead to doom"

It would be interesting but I hope not 'cuz Fiona must only belong to Sigrun and not anyone else
Also, who wants to hear Fiona call Abel "dad" or "father"?

 

It would be quite funny to see Eunice and Sigrun fight for Fiona.
Fiona resemble Katarina Claes a lot, both don’t understand love matters. Eunice I think is similar to Mary Hunt while Sigrun, the prince Geordo.

I want to hear Fiona call Abel “dad”

 

Enjoy

I translated all the cute dialogue and summarised what I couldn't be bothered spending time to translate properly.

My translations may be wrong in some parts so it is what it is . Some things are hard to translate directly to English.

Spoiler: After the hunting competition

Fiona POV
Fiona is recovering in bed. Everyone is busy planning for future prevention of monster invasions.

Abel tells Fiona he should just rest and not worry about anything but invitations are piling up on Fiona’s table. She wants to get back into the social circles. Abel asks her why she is so worried about it, she is a strong fighter. Fiona notes there is a difference between battlefield tactics and social tactics.

Fiona asks what happened to her wager with Duke Ernest and Abel just laughs that the Duke is probably too ashamed because he crossed the safety line just to beat a “little girl” and he can’t wait to laugh in his face about it. Fiona thinks – they probably both don’t get along because they are both immature.

Fiona tells Abel off for being childish when was already almost 40 (although he looks to be in early 30s).



Fiona doesn’t know many other people in the Capital so she often goes to visit Sigrun. Sigrun is usually always at the training field when she goes to see him.

Fiona is worried that Sigrun has no male friends who he can confide in. Sigrun finds it hard to trust others, he has been wary ever since childhood. Sigrun tells Fiona that she has no friends other than him either. Fiona says she is going to be busy soon and Sigrun tells her not to visit him for a while. Fiona wonders if it’s because she is annoying him too much but he says it is because a new knight from the Erez family had been assigned to him. He suspects they might be a spy. (the Erez family supports the crown prince).

Fiona feels sympathy for the Knight of the Erez family who was yet to arrive.

Cain POV

Cain Erez was due to return to duty after resting due to injuries. His father, Marquis Erez orders him to spy on the second prince (Sigrun).

On his first day of work, Cain reluctantly goes to see Sigrun. When he gets to the training ground he sees all the knights stretched out lying on the floor. He asks them what they are doing and they reply training of course.

Sigrun returns to the training ground after Fiona leaves. Everyone gest up when he gets back and he sees Cain has arrived. Cain bows at the knee to greet Cain.

Sigrun tells Cain to hurry and get ready, if he isn’t up to par he will kick him out straight away. Cain is confused until Sigrun pulls his sword out and starts to advance. The two of them start sparring.

Cain is impressed with Sigrun’s skills, even though he is only 20.

“I will do my best not to get kicked out”

Cain curses his father that it’s all his fault Sigrun is treating him like this.



Livia POV

Livia is talking to Empress who is trying to convince her to marry the crown prince. Livia tries to get out of it because the crown prince is disgusting. She needs to find a way to avoid it and get out of it. On the way out she bumps into Sigrun who doesn’t remember her. Livia says she knows Fiona as Sigrun goes to walk away. At this moment, Fiona came out of nowhere and said hi to both of them. They all leave together.

Fiona POV

Fiona received an invitation to the Empress’ ball – a social gathering for young nobles to mingle.

Abel asks if Sigrun will be her partner. She says she isn’t sure. Abel then says if not Sigrun then she has to take him as her partner. It must be either Sigrun or Abel only.

A - “Although you are an adult, it is rude to go without your guardian.”

Abel taps Fiona’s head.

A - “What if you do something stupid? I am your father.”

Fiona has no reply and she felt a tickle in her heart but kept her mouth shut.

A - “Are you impressed? Now call me dad.”

F - “......”

With just those words, any desire Fiona had flew out the window.

Fiona slaps away Abel’s hand and says “No.”

Spoiler: The Empress' ball

Fiona POV

Abel escorts Fiona to the ball. They are both standing around, without intention to dance. The Empress comes up to them. The empress is more interested in talking to Abel who she didn't expect to attend.

Empress is trying to talk smack about Fiona subtly but Abel will have none of it. Abel and the Empress banter with Fiona caught in the middle until Sigrun interrupts them. Sigrun asks Fiona if she would spend some time with him. Abel tells Sigrun she can't but Sigrun ignores Abel and asks Fiona directly. Fiona agrees.

Sigrun grabs Fiona's hand, smiles and kisses the back of his hand. It gives Fiona goosebumps. She feels like she is being seduced by Sigrun. Abel raises his eyebrows at Sigrun. Sigrun just gives a bold look.

Everyone is watching them now since the Empress, Duke and Prince are all in one place together.

As Fiona is being escorted by Sigrun, she thinks - I want to go home.







Sigrun and Fiona walk away, as soon as they are alone.

F - “What did you eat?”

S - “What?”

F - “What’s with the attitude.”

Sigrun made a funny face

S - “What attitude?’

F - “......”

How do I explain this. Are you trying to bewitch me?

No, that’s too straightforward. Let’s try an analogy, yes.

F - “That... it was like a male peacock doing a courtship dance for a female.”

S - “......”

Sigrun’s handsome face wrinkled.

S - “Can’t you at least use a different example?”

F - “It’s an analogy.”

S - “Of course.”

Sigrun stated and started walking ahead.

F - “Hey, wait.”

He didn’t answer yet!

Fiona grabs Sigrun’s hand and pushes him against the wall to keep him from escaping.

Sigrun seemingly sinks into the wall.

… Something didn’t feel quite right against the wall but for now, I decided not to care.

F - “Why are you avoiding answering?”

Sigrun narrowed his eyes and looked down at me.

S - “I’m surprised you are even asking me that question now.”

F - “Why?”

He reached out and lightly flicked my forehead. Then grinned bitterly.

S - “I did it on purpose because others were looking at you, Fiona. Do you understand my attitude now?”

I touched my forehead.

F - “Oh...ok. I was a little surprised because it was unexpected.”

S - “I see you still haven’t fully grasped the reason for my attitude.”

He spoke harshly.

It was difficult to understand his intention.

Sigrun showed no intention to explain. He rubbed the area around his tie in frustration.

Sigrun didn’t like having a tie around his neck normally and the feeling got worse when he was in a bad mood.

I never asked him why but it wasn’t as simple as him being upset or not liking it.

Eventually, I reached out to loosen Sigrun’s tie.

Sigrun looked down towards me. He seemed to be thinking about something.

S - “Fiona.”

F - “Yes?”

S - “Why are you staying here?"

Did this kid eat crow meat?* (This is a saying that means for someone to be forgetful).

F - “You asked me to help you before.”

S - “I remember that. But are you going to do what I request?”

F - “If it is something I can do.”

S - “It is something you can do...”

Sigrun fiddled with my hair with a strange expression on his face.

S - “If it wasn’t for my request at that time, would you have left?”

F - “I would’ve.”

My feelings for Sigrun were mixed.

In the beginning, it was simply a feeling of guilt but after spending years with him, that feeling had grown. These feelings were incomparable to other characters.

Truthfully, he was the most special to me.

F - “Why are you suddenly asking me this?”

Sigrun sighed.

S - “Because there is no such thing as a favor that does not have a cost.”

No, his trust in others was gone again. I pouted.

F - “We’ve already known each other for many years.”

I gave up on trying to loosen his tie and decided it would be better to just untie it.

It seemed Sigrun had no intention of going back to the front of the ball anyway.

S - “Then, I have another question for you.”

F - “What?”

S - “Why are you helping me?”

I had almost finished untying Sigrun’s tie. I answered as I concentrated on finishing the last knot.

F - “Because you are precious to me.”

S - “......”

I finally undid the last knot.

As I pulled my hand away from Sigrun’s neck, he grabbed it.

My eyes met his blue-grey eyes. He had a calculating look in his eye.

F - “What’s wrong?”

S - “You... really.”

Sigrun muttered and then slowly lowered his head.

Even in the dark hallway, his features were clearly visible. Dense eyelashes, cool eyes and a beautiful sharp nose.

I realized that our faces were too close. I could feel his warm breath.

F - “Sigrun.”

I called his name out softly.

Sigrun didn’t stop. He bowed his head and put his forehead on my shoulder.

At the same time, I exhaled in relief for an unknown reason.

F - “......”

I heard a murmur of discontent in my ear.

S - “In any case... you really have a knack for confusing people...”

F - “What’s the matter?"

S - “Nevermind. You keep doing it so I’m going to do whatever I want.”

F - “......?”

May I ask why you are saying this?”

He bit his lips as he raised his head and took the tie from my hand.

F - “......”

Sigrun looked at the tie for a moment, then opened his mouth.

S - “Fiona, do you have time the day after tomorrow?”

It was a sudden change of topic.

F - “Yes? It’s fine.”

S - “Then let’s meet.”

F - “Why do you want to meet all of a sudden?”

Where did that dissatisfied look up til now go? Sigrun answered bluntly.

S - “There is a big night market on the street. Let’s go take a look.”

F - “Just me?”

S - “Like you said, I don’t have any friends. Who else would I go with but you?”

F - “......”

Are you still not close with Eunice?

I wanted to ask but I thought Sigrun might get angry if I spoke these words right now.

F - “Okay.”

It wasn’t weird to go sightseeing together. There was no reason to refuse.

I graciously accepted.

Spoiler: The Night Market (Fiona and Sigrun's "date" ;)

Fiona POV

Two days later, Sigrun was waiting for Fiona infront of Halon mansion.

F - “How did you get out?”

S - “What are you talking about?”

F - “I mean, usually people in the royal family escape through secret passages, right?”

This is what happened in novels and movies.

Sigrun gave me a stunned expression.

S - “What would I do with a secret entrance?”

Yeah, that’s right. I guess reality is just different.

I grabbed Sigrun’s lapel and pulled him with an embarrased face.

F - “... Let’s go.”

As I moved, I looked around quietly. Sigrun patted my head.

S - “What are you thinking now?”

F - “Members of the royal family usually have a hidden guard, so I was wondering if you have one.”

S - “It’s really one thing after another with you, isn’t it?”

What a no-nonsense guy.

F - “Then what about knights?”

S - “They are resting.”

What a bland response.

S - “They have boring faces. And then it wouldn’t be just the two of us anymore.”

F - “That’s true, but...”

Well, this is probably a good thing.

We took a carriage to the night market. Horses and carriages were not allowed inside though.

Sigrun wore a hood. It was night time so I wasn’t too worried but I wondered if anyone would recognize me.

The outlay of the market was well organized. Tent stalls were spread out on both sides with people walking in the middle. Lanterns were arranged between each stall to light up the street.

S - “Is it bigger than you expected?”

F - “Yes.”

There were a lot of people. In order not to fall over, I took Sigrun’s hand.

Sigrun flinched. I gave him a curious look.

F - “What?”

S - “......”

F - “You don’t want to hold it?”

Sigrun sighed.

S - “It’s not that.”

Then Sigrun held my hand tighter. Thanks to this, I was able to walk more comfortably.

As I followed him, I asked.

F - “We did this when we were younger, right?”

When we were younger, we walked around holding hands quite a few times. Now that we were both adults, he might find it annoying.

There is often a subtle line between childhood friends.

S - “Holding hands with you isn’t a problem, Fiona.”

Having said that, he handed me the fruit juice that he bought from the stall.

S - “It’s my own problem.”

F - “......”

What problem does he mean? With that mind, I sipped the juice.

F - “Delicious.”

S - “It’s made from the fruit that you complained didn’t grow in Halon.”

F - “Really?”

He is indeed the male protagonist. His abilities cannot be compared with ordinary people. His memory was really impressive.

F - “I forgot about that.”

Sigrun shrugged.

S - “Not the first time.”

What does that mean? Do I have a bad memory?

S - “Let’s go.”

Before I could say anything, Sigrun pulled me along.

After drinking my juice for a while, I belatedly remember the topic we were talking about again.

F - “Oh yeah, Sigrun, what do you mean you have a problem?”

Sigrun turned his head slightly towards me.

S - “I’ll tell you later.”

F - “When?”

S - “Today, when we part.”

I couldn’t figure out the reason. Sigrun raised the corners of his lips.

It was an indescribably subtle smile.



Surprisingly, I may have a popular face in the capital.

I had been approached four or five times while walking around the night market.

“Lady, are you alone? If so, over here...”

F - “I am with someone.”

“Oh? Ahh-!”

Sigrun had an annoyed look on his face as he shoved the young man who had just flirted with me. The man took a step back.

F - “Wow.”

Sigrun didn’t look satisfied with my exclamation.

S - “... You look happy.”

I smiled happily and ruffled his hair.

F - “Of course. I surprisingly have a popular face in the capital.”

S - “......”

Sure enough, whenever Sigrun left, some men came up to me.

I am strong enough to hurt anyone who tries to do anything to me so I was just observing this strange phenomenon with ease.

Although, I shouldn’t use lightning unless I'm hunting.

S - “I’m not having fun.”

Then I can do it. Sigrun was chasing them all away.

F - “You don’t have to worry too much about me. I can injure anyone severely.”

Sigrun looked at me with wide eyes and pulled the hood of my robe on.

S - “You could use this too.”

F - “No one will recognize my face here. Besides, it’s annoying!”

I huffed as I took off the hood that Sigrun had put on.

S - “......”

Sigrun gave up on putting the hood on me in the end.

S - “Fine. I just have to take you with me.”

I laughed.

F - “Don’t be so rigid. We are at a night market. I saw you get caught by some girls over there.”

Sigrun replied nonchalantly.

S - “But I came back to you right away.”

I giggled and joked.

F - “You didn’t have to. Who knows if the prince who snuck out to the night market will fall in love with a commoner girl at first sight?”

It would be so romantic.

Sigrun looked at me with a grin.

S - “No thanks. There’s no way that’s possible. It’s a love with a difference in status.”

Ah. I shut my mouth.

Sigrun’s mother was a commoner and had a night with the emporer. The emperor didn’t care whether she gave birth to Sigrun or died.

F - “I’m sorry.”

Sigrun shook his head at my apology.

S - “I think I know why you are apologizing, but you don’t need to.”

F - “But still.”

S - “You treat me too carefully sometimes. As I said before, I am no longer a wounded kid.”

Yes, he is no longer a child.

Upset, I automatically went to hold Sigrun’s hand.

His hand was rough; his skin covered in calluses after holding a sword for so long.

Sigrun paused.

S - “Fiona.”

F - “Yes?”

S - “...No, nevermind.”

Then he held my hand tightly.

With the gap gone, I couldn’t fiddle with Sigrun’s fingers.

F - “In Halon, I dragged you around like this...”

Sigrun grinned as he heard my murmur.

S - “Yes, you dragged me around.”

Of course, it was to help Sigrun’s emotional development...

Now that he has grown up well, there’s no longer a need to worry about that.

It was surprising and different.

I looked up at Sigrun’s back which looked much larger than before.

Spoiler: Sigrun's confession

Fiona POV

The sound of music echoed in the corner of the night market. It would be difficult to call it a beautiful melody, but it was a fun one. People spectating were excited and clapped to the beat.

F - “What’s happening?”

S - “You’ll see.”

I followed Sigrun through the crowd.

It appeared to be a wandering troupe. There were musicians playing instruments and dancers.

As they danced, their thin veils fluttered around.

F - “Pretty.”

It felt different from Halon. The dancers of Halon performed sword dances in traditional costumes. There were a lot of sword dances so the impression was more serious.

In comparison, the dancers in the capital wore thin, flirty clothes. They danced lightly like butterflies.

Hell, if someone wore that outfit while dancing in halon, they’d get pneumonia.

I hummed to the song.

F - “What is this song?”

S - “It’s a traditional song of the capital.”

F - “A traditional song?”

I hadn’t set such detail so I listened to Sigrun with interest.

S - “It’s a poem that has been handed down from time immemorial. My mother used to say it to me.”

Sigrun’s mother must have been very talented and sang beautifully enough to attract the emperor.

I glanced at Sigrun’s side profile. He usually had a strangely bitter expression on his face when he talked about his mother but this time he was smiling softly. Happy memories seemed to have come to his mind.

‘Thank goodness.’

F - “......”

When the song ended, Sigrun turned to me.

S - “Let’s go back now.”

F - “Already?”

S - “It’s late. If I make a mistake, Abel- I mean, Master will catch me.”

I replied frankly.

F - “If I’m late, the Duke might invade your palace.”

After coming to the capital, Abel had become subtly protective. He wasn’t like this in Halon.

Sigrun sullenly said.

S - “Of course he would.”

What, is it normal to be able to invade the imperial palace?

Anyway, we went to the entrance of the night market and got in the carriage.

I stared blankly at the scenery passing by outside the window.

It was time for sleep, and I was getting sleepy.

Come to think of it, Sigrun said he would tell me something when we returned.

S - “ - Fiona, we’ve arrived.”

Sigrun shook my shoulder gently.

I seemed to have fallen asleep without realizing.

S - “Come down carefully.”

F - “Ah, yes...”

He seemed to be anxious as he helped me out of the carriage.

Sigrun grabbed my waist and lowered me to the ground.

Hmm, I think this prince was overreacting. But thanks to him, I woke up a bit more.

I yawned a little.

F - “Thank you...”

S - “Go in and sleep.”

Sigrun turned around. He was about to return to the palace.

Oh, wait. I grabbed Sigrun’s jacket.

S - “...what?”

F - “You haven’t told me yet.”

Sigrun looked at me quizzically.

S - “If I tell you now, I think you will forget about it when you wake up.”

What do you see me as!

F - “Don’t worry. I’m almost fully awake.”

I rubbed my eyes to blow away the rest of the sleep.

F - “What is the problem? Is it uncomfortable to do the same thing as when we were young?”

Now that his identity had changed, was it difficult for Sigrun?

I had several reasons in mind.

S - “Fiona, I told you it wasn’t like that before.”

Sigrun took a step closer. He was closer than last time.

I blinked up at him curiously.

Sigrun grabbed my hand that was by my side and lifted it.

He wasn’t as casual as before.

He slowly lifted my hand and clasped it. His callus-studded fingers caressed each of my knuckles.

Sigrun’s hands were much larger than me, they seemed to swallow up my hands as he entagled them around mine.

S - “This is the problem.”

F - “Huh?”

S - “If I hold your hand -”

Sigrun wrapped his other hand around my waist and pulled me in slightly.

S - “Unlike you, more than that comes to my mind.”

...Hold up, I need time to process this.

However, Sigrun didn’t give me time to ponder.

S - “At first, I want to hug, then I want to touch. Then after that...”

Sigrun lowered his head slowly.

His long eyelashes appeared infront of me.

Wait a minute-!!!

Sigrun’s forehead touched my forehead.

He clicked his tongue.

S - “Calm down, Fiona.”

… I thought he was going to kiss me.

Anyway, thanks to that, I regained my senses.

I barely understood the situation.

F - “Oh, so do you want to do something sexual with me?”

S - “I was thinking about this since last time, can’t you change the way you talk a bit? Or is that really what you think of me?”

Sorry for the expression.

Still confused, I rolled my eyes.

F - “Um, is it just your youthful instinct, or -”

S - “Fiona”

Sigrun smiled wryly.

S - “Do I look like a pathetic guy who turns around to look at every woman’s skirt?”

F - “......”

S - “I feel this way because it is you.”

He emphasized it again.

S - “Only for you.”

So this meant...

F - “... Is this a confession?”

Sigrun sighed.

I know okay! Sorry for the pathetic response!

S - “Yes, this is a confession. I like you.”

This was coming out of nowhere. Did he turn on the blinker?

He carefully wrapped his hands around my cheeks.

My body stiffened involuntarily because of the conversation we just had.

Hey, what do you think this would make me think!

S - “Relax.”

F - “...Do I have to answer you now?”

S - “No.”

Sigrun gently stroked my cheek. It tickled.

S - “It’s okay, you can think about it.”

Contrary to my stupid reaction, Sigrun was very thoughtful. Did you practice this?

S - “But I’m afraid another guy might take the lead.”

That’s nothing to worry about since I’m not popular...

F - “......”

Sigrun kissed my forehead. It was a light, child-like, kiss.

Then with a voice as soft as feathers, his words echoed in my ear.

S - “Good night, Fiona.”

Sigrun immediately pulled away from me neatly. Then he turned around and walked away. I guessed he was going back to the palace...

I blinked and rubbed my forehead. My mind spinning slowly.

F - “Th-, is this a dog dream?” (*A dog dream is like a dream that makes no sense)

As I thought about what just happened, my face slowly grew hot.

F - “Ah...”

Ahhhhh?!

We have now reached middle of Book 2!

 

Hi! I have MTL of all 5 books of novel. If someone want it you can DM me. Please DM (direct message) me, not reply me here (at forum)!!!