Chapter 77
I furrowed my brows with a “No way…” expression.
“Did you sneak out without permission?”
“…….”
Jieunha avoided my gaze stubbornly and stayed silent. That, more than anything, was a definite answer.
Shocked, I couldn’t help but scold her:
“How could you leave the imperial palace without telling him?!”
“I-I’m sorry… but I wanted to meet Miss Christener in secret, without letting the Duke know…”
Jieunha flinched and shrank her body, her voice shrinking to a barely audible whisper as she explained.
I was dumbfounded. Could this be what Michael’s feelings were like when I, sneaked out of the mansion in the middle of the night and got caught by Rixion Luhanes?
Yet, what caught my attention oddly was Jieunha’s desire to meet me in secret, without Rixion Luhanes knowing.
“Me? Why?” I asked.
Jieunha raised her head, still clasping her hands tightly and shrinking her body.
“I want to ask Miss Christener something.”
Her gaze met mine directly, and an uneasy feeling bloomed in my chest.
I remembered that at the festival, when I accidentally bumped into her, I had called out her name without realizing it.
Of course, anyone unfamiliar would be startled if someone suddenly called their name.
I quickly ran through my options in my head: if I said I heard it from Rixion Luhanes, would she go and check the truth directly with him? Then I’d need Rixion Luhanes’ cooperation too.
Honestly, it might be easier to just retreat to the mountains and live as a hermit rather than go see her now.
Or… should I lie that I just happened to hear about her? But if she asks how I, someone barely inside the palace, could know such a secret…
Or maybe plead that I really did hear by chance and ask her to keep it secret?
In less than two seconds, I ran through all these thoughts and, holding back my urge to send Jieunha back to the palace immediately, I answered:
“…Go ahead.”
Even with my permission, Jieunha hesitated for a moment.
There wasn’t much time, I thought, and just then, she finally seemed to summon courage, closing her eyes tightly and asking:
“Are… are you two… dating?”
She didn’t explicitly mention me or Rixion Luhanes, yet I immediately understood what she meant.
Flustered, I stammered, and Jieunha watched me carefully before adding:
“At the festival, when I saw you two meet, it looked like you were very close.”
“No! Absolutely not!”
Before she even finished speaking, I frantically denied it, even standing up abruptly from the sofa in shock.
“We have no relationship at all! We just… know each other a little by chance! We’re not going to date or anything in the future, so don’t worry!”
Jieunha shrank back under the force of my sudden words, but I could see her deer-like eyes sparkling with expectation as she watched me vehemently deny any connection with Rixion Luhanes.
“R-Really?”
“Yes, really!”
I firmly stated it to prevent her from thinking otherwise.
“Good.”
Jieunha’s face lit up with a joyful smile.
Even just being still, her face was beautiful, and seeing her smile so brightly made it feel as though a shower of flower petals fell behind her.
“Ah, sorry… please pretend you didn’t hear that,” I muttered absentmindedly.
Jieunha blushed, flustered by my offhand remark. Seeing her relieved and happy that I wasn’t involved with Rixion Luhanes, I felt deep relief myself.
Anyone could see that she had clearly fallen for Rixion Luhanes. The original male lead suddenly claiming he liked me didn’t matter; the original female lead was safely on track to like him. In this situation, that alone was truly a relief.
Now the only problem was… the original male lead.
All I needed to do was somehow steer his feelings back to Jieunha as in the original story.
I silently thanked Jieunha for showing up in this world, and for safely ending up liking the original male lead.
Because of this mindset from the start, my gaze toward her naturally carried warmth.
It seemed Jieunha didn’t mind my gaze either. She seemed to trust me, or at least didn’t feel negatively about me looking at her.
Surprisingly, she was also quite talkative, so our conversation proceeded fairly normally afterward.
“Normally, I’m not allowed to wander around or meet anyone without permission. The Emperor instructed it. They said I mustn’t be discovered here… I said I came here by God’s calling. So everyone treats me as someone very important, and because bad people might target me, they all protect me… Everyone calls me a saint, though sometimes I dislike that title. I’m just an ordinary person with no powers, but everyone treats me as if I’m extraordinary, and that can be scary and stressful.”
Though it was more of Jieunha monologuing than a conversation, I didn’t mind. Even though I mostly knew these facts, since some things had gone awry before, it was necessary to understand the situation more clearly. So her visit proved very helpful.
‘She still hasn’t realized the extent of her powers,’ I thought.
Listening to her, it seemed she wasn’t fully aware of her abilities. I considered whether to honestly explain her powers to her, but I stopped myself.
I didn’t know how deeply meddling in the original story here would affect my own life, so I didn’t risk it.
Another thing I noticed during our conversation: Jieunha seemed to trust me almost unnaturally.
She spoke freely, trusting me with secrets, until I intervened:
“Is it okay to tell me all such important things?”
“Yes, it’s fine,” she said cheerfully, looking at me with eyes as clear as a lake.
“Somehow, from the start, I felt you’d be okay, Miss Christener. I’m glad my feeling seems right.”
I looked at her beautiful smile and swallowed a sigh.
Even in the original story, I thought she trusted people too easily. It made her endearing.
But seeing it in person, I was more worried than charmed.
What if I weren’t as good as she imagined? Or what if I indiscreetly blabbed about her to others?
I looked at Jieunha, a young adult, innocent in a good way, naive in a bad way, with genuine concern.
Knock, knock.
While I pondered whether I should warn her to be careful, a cautious knock echoed in the room.
A man’s voice followed, likely one of the knights accompanying her:
“Miss Eunha, it’s time to return.”
Even through the door, I could hear their clear anxiety.
It was understandable. They’d reluctantly agreed to her request, but if Rixion Luhanes or the Emperor found out, their heads could be at risk.
‘Life must be hard for them too,’ I thought, feeling a pang of sympathy for the palace knights.
For them, the best thing I could do now was send Jieunha out of our mansion as quickly as possible.
“It’s better to leave before anyone notices you snuck out.”
“Huh? Ah, yes!”
At my push, Jieunha scrambled to rise from the sofa. I walked ahead to open the door for her.
But before I could take a few steps, a hand grabbed my clothes from behind.
Huh? I turned around and saw Jieunha holding onto my clothes, hesitating to speak.
“Could you… keep today a secret? About me coming here, and everything we talked about.”
I didn’t need to ask which part she meant or to whom—it was obvious. It must be about Rixion Luhanes.
I quickly responded to put her mind at ease:
“Of course. I won’t tell anyone, so don’t worry.”
Once again, Jieunha’s face lit up with a flower-like smile.
“Thank you.”
Ugh… why is she so pretty? Her smile even intimidated me, and I took a cautious step back.
“You really are a good person, Miss Christener,” she said, unaware of my thoughts.
