Chapter 169
I had no idea what he was so determined not to lose to, but I was overwhelmed by the burning presence of Chesyen after a long time, so I just nodded.
He seemed to be putting too much into it… I wonder if he’s okay.
It’s all Chaeyen’s fault.
“I knew this wouldn’t work.”
I realized something from today’s events.
If I leave things as they are, who knows what kind of trouble Chesyen might cause me.
“Let’s talk.”
I approached quietly, and Chesyen responded as if he had been waiting for me.
“You’ve switched back to formal speech again.”
“Let’s talk.”
Even though my world’s “weakest-sense” alarm was ringing, warning me that this guy was dangerous and I should stay away, my courage was already halfway bolstered.
He wouldn’t kill me just because I annoyed him here, right?
“So, you’re finally willing to talk to me? You’ve been avoiding me all this time.”
That’s because you’re like a natural disaster!
When I squinted my eyes, Chesyen laughed, as if finding it cute.
I was already getting tired.
I didn’t want to deal with him if I could avoid it… but if I wanted to get rid of him, I had to talk.
“Why did you even come here? And why disguise yourself like that?”
I pointed out his “child” appearance, and Chesyen pouted, looking disappointed.
“You think it’s unfair to see me in my cute form?”
“Cute? Where exactly is cute?”
“From head to toe, everything.”
Would it be too late to just turn around and leave now?
Maybe he read my reluctant expression, because Chesyen raised both hands. Then he smiled warmly and stepped closer, bringing his face right up to mine.
“So, what did you want to talk about that made you bring me all the way here? You’re not curious about some trivial thing, right?”
His golden eyes no longer had the same intensity, but they still reminded me of a sharp, beastly yellow.
“What do you want from me?”
“Hm?”
“Why are you following me?”
Chesyen shrugged.
“Is that really that important?”
“I just don’t understand.”
“Hm…”
Chesyen dragged out the end of his words, and there was something unusual in his eyes.
“You also knew I wouldn’t live long?”
“It’s common knowledge that you’re terminal.”
“But you know it’s not just that simple, right?”
It was well-known that I had a limited lifespan, but no one knew what illness I had. Even I wouldn’t have known without the Laplace demon.
Chesyen still said nothing, just smiling mysteriously, and his presence felt overwhelming.
“Because you’re immortal?”
At that moment, his eyes shifted so suddenly that I froze.
“How did you know that? That’s not knowledge a little lady should have.”
I knew because of being a web novel reader, you bastard.
“I never thought it would be real.”
That the mark Chesyen left, called a “blessing” but actually a tracking mark, and the words the Great Mage muttered, would turn out to be true.
“Very interesting.”
I was not interested.
I glared at Chesyen, and he chuckled, brushing the corner of my eye with his fingers.
“Looking at you like this, you are a child, but your eyes tell a completely different story.”
“What story?”
“The eyes of someone experienced.”
“….”
“The kind of eyes that have gone through something already and lost both curiosity and interest.”
Cold sweat ran down my back unconsciously. His sharp gaze seemed to pierce right through me.
“Now that I think about it, you didn’t beg me for your life when we first met. Strange, isn’t it? Every human who sees me begs for their life.”
Chesyen’s shadow swirled like mist. I frowned at the surreal sight, and he smiled brightly.
“Why do I follow you?”
The mischievous smile that tapped his own cheek was so fresh.
“Just because it’s fun.”
“That’s it?”
“At first, yes…”
The gaze he fixed on me was sharp.
“Now, there’s another reason.”
Another reason?
What other reason could there be?
Ah… no way…
“My biological father, could it be…?”
You?
Chesyen looked down at my trembling eyes, and his smile deepened. As if saying, “What nonsense.”
“You wanted to be family with me that badly?”
“Never mind.”
Still, I asked just in case.
“Have you ever had a deep, close relationship with a woman named Sione?”
Chesyen smiled faintly, grabbed my wrist lightly, and released it.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just woke up from a very long sleep.”
“Ah.”
“I’ve been asleep for thousands of years…”
I swallowed dryly, staring at the violently shifting mist.
Right, so it’s not that.
“I wouldn’t want a biological father like you even if it were given to me for free.”
But if he’s not my father, then why is he doing this to me?
“After all that, aren’t you scared of knowing my true identity?”
“I’m just… not really feeling it yet.”
I could only feel the truth of what the Great Mage had told me: “Mortals entangled with immortals will be unhappy.”
Chesyen watched me with a strange expression, muttering to himself.
“Strange… I met the Great Mage, so I thought he would have taken action. Did he just let it go?”
“Action?”
“Or does your command magic not even work on her…?”
His interesting gaze landed on me, and it was unbearably heavy.
“So what exactly do you want from me?”
I asked because I wanted to give him whatever I could and break this connection.
Chesyen smiled brightly, as if waiting for this, and answered.
“You.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.”
No way…
I glared at him in disbelief, and Chesyen, laughing loudly, said:
“I want to get close to you. So I thought we could start as friends.”
I swear, that was the biggest nonsense I’ve ever heard.
Chesyen’s gaze shifted to Arelleyn, who was standing at a distance.
“Hmm…”
After coming all this way, and yet she acted like that. I felt a little hurt.
“It wasn’t easy, you know.”
He could change his appearance at will, but he had deliberately come in his true child form.
Chesyen brushed off the mixed gazes of favor and hostility from other children, chuckling.
There was no lie in what he said to Arelleyn. The first place they met was half within his domain, so now, with his powers weakened, he thought she might be able to see him.
Yes, at first, it was just a coincidence.
Maybe he hadn’t met a human in so long who wouldn’t tremble at seeing him. Maybe that’s why he was a bit lenient.
After visiting once or twice…
He noticed something strange.
“Does this little lady really not know what kind of being she is?”
A singularity.
Though he had never seen one in his long life, such irregularities usually died early.
Singularities rarely fully blossom.
The reason was simple: the laws of this world did not allow it.
Chesyen’s smile deepened.
“I really want to have it.”
“Whenever you need my help, just say so.”
Chesyen left those words with a slightly unpleasant smile.
Now it was class time.
I stared blankly at the blackboard filled with foreign letters, recalling my last confrontation with Chesyen.
“Don’t you want to live?”
“Of course I do.”
“It won’t be easy, by any means. Your body has been damaged beyond repair for a long time.”
“….”
“It’s as if something is determined to see you die.”
It was a conversation that unsettled anyone. Even I, weakened, could ask such questions.
“So… can you save me?”
“If you become my subordinate.”
I didn’t know what being a subordinate meant, but the nuance strongly suggested giving up one’s humanity.
Yes, the whole thing about the body… ugh.
I sighed in frustration, and at that moment, a twin suddenly poked my side, and I wondered why.
“Seems like my class is so bad it makes you sigh.”
“Uh…”
Ah, right, I’m in class.
Seeing my grumpy foreign language teacher smile sinisterly at me, I realized I was doomed.
No, I hadn’t sighed because of class… so unfair.
“Now, let’s see how good you are at foreign languages, Arelleyn.”
“Uh, well…”
“Here, read this.”
We were just learning basic daily language, and now he pulled out advanced foreign sentences?
Revenge for a single sigh… really petty.
“Can’t read it?”
I smiled at the teacher’s provocation.
“‘Thus we prospered, and leave this record for future generations. There is a reason for our prosperity; do not forget the origin and revere it.’”
“?”
“?”
Suddenly, the classroom went silent.
Everyone probably expected me to fail miserably.
“Does that mean I passed?”
I am a language master.
