“What…?”
Uncharacteristically flustered, Niel blinked his eyes.
“The thing Jella hates most in the world is annoying noble bastards. And you look exactly like the epitome of a noble.”
“……”
“I’m relieved. I was worried that the man who would become Jella’s first husband might be to her taste.”
He was a rude man.
But what bothered him more than that was…….
‘She… dislikes it?’
Upon returning to the Duke’s residence, Niel spent the whole day staring at the mirror.
More precisely, at his own face in the mirror, looking like a perfect young nobleman.
Platinum blonde hair shining like sunlight and green eyes reminiscent of a fresh summer. Elegant and aristocratic features.
From his earliest memories, everyone had praised his face.
Wasn’t it said to be the most perfect masterpiece produced by the Alpenhayers…….
Crash!
He shattered the mirror.
Blood dripped from his clenched fist.
The servants who came running in alarm made a fuss.
“Oh my, young master! Are you alright?”
“Oh no, blood. What should we do?”
Eleven-year-old Niel Alpenhayer was a very well-behaved young master. The biggest mischief he had ever done was secretly picking flowers from his mother’s garden to give to the princess.
The people of the Duke’s residence were surprised by the young master’s sudden action, and his father, Duke Alpenhayer, called him and asked why he did it.
But Niel couldn’t bring himself to answer.
He couldn’t possibly say that he did it because he didn’t like this face… this face that couldn’t receive the princess’s love.
And a few days later.
When he had to visit the Imperial Palace again.
She was again with that pink-haired boy.
She, who was always indifferent when with him, burst into laughter at that boy’s story.
So, Her Highness laughs like that.
Lovingly crinkling the corners of her eyes, smiling so brightly that dimples formed on both cheeks, smiling so prettily like that.
It was a sight she had never once shown when she was with him.
Yupheon, who casually patted her head, and she, playfully pinched his cheek without hurting him.
Niel, not daring to even think of interrupting between them, just stared blankly at her smiling face as if entranced by something.
In the midst of this, suddenly that voice came to mind again.
“Jella doesn’t like those who look like you.”
Perhaps the reason Her Highness didn’t laugh like that when she was with me was because she disliked seeing my face.
“Especially someone who looks like you!”
Suddenly, he remembered what she had said to him during their third meeting.
It was a phrase whose meaning he couldn’t understand and remained a mystery for a long time, but now he could understand.
‘She meant don’t approach me because I look like an annoying noble bastard.’
He felt gloomy upon belatedly realizing its meaning.
However, Niel never showed this gloomy feeling outwardly.
Even at this moment, because of the aristocratic nature ingrained and learned from a young age. Because Niel Alpenhayer was the very epitome of the annoying noble bastards she was said to dislike.
‘It would be better not to disturb them today.’
Niel quietly turned around. He planned to spend some time and then leave.
But just at that moment, she noticed Niel.
“Niel Alpenhayer? Why didn’t you greet us if you were here… What happened to your hand!”
“Ah……”
His right hand was wrapped in bandages. It was the wound from when he shattered the mirror recently.
Niel quickly hid his right hand behind his back. He couldn’t show her such an unsightly appearance.
However, Jella was quicker, striding over and grabbing his face.
Whack!
“What’s this? You’re injured here too?”
“…!”
Niel’s eyes widened round.
She, her face was too close.
Her pink eyes, which he had thought were as lovely as spring flowers, were scrutinizing his face from a very close distance.
Niel froze in place, feeling the warmth of the small, soft palms touching both his cheeks.
“Are you okay? What a shame to injure such a handsome face.”
Jella clicked her tongue as she saw the small scratch left on his face.
Niel felt his chest strangely warming at her voice murmuring with concern.
Ah, what should I do?
Your Highness, I like you so much. I really like you. I truly… like you very much.
Words he couldn’t bring himself to utter were swallowed down his throat.
The innocent feelings that the eleven-year-old boy felt gradually developed into something deeper and more mature.
He knew her feelings were not the same as his.
He also knew that she was postponing the wedding day after day.
Thanks to that, as time passed, rumors spread that Niel Alpenhayer had fallen out of the Emperor’s favor.
There were also rumors that the Emperor had another man.
Vulgar and sensational gossip swept the capital, saying that the Emperor brought a young and handsome man from the slave market and kept him close as a personal guard, allowing him free access to the bedroom.
But Niel didn’t care.
He didn’t dare to hope for her love.
However, if she allowed, he wanted to serve her as her first husband and most loyal subject.
Although it hurt a corner of his heart whenever he saw her with other men.
Still, it was okay.
Because he loved her.
So it was okay.
He thought he could continue to love her.
If only Yuria hadn’t appeared. If only that man, Cail Aleret, hadn’t brought Yuria.
If that hadn’t happened, he might have been able to continue loving her from the same place.
Niel still remembers the strange emotions that appeared on Jella’s face when Yuria first appeared.
She was a bit strange that day.
She dismissed her cherished knight Cail Aleret, and was lost in thought throughout their conversation.
By the time the hunting festival was about to end, Cail Aleret had not returned.
But she waited for him quietly, as if she had expected it.
And when Cail Aleret finally appeared with that woman.
What appeared on her face was relief that something she had been waiting for for a long time had finally happened and an inexplicable faint fear.
‘Fear?’
It was an emotion that didn’t suit her.
Niel stared blankly at the woman who had caused Jella to feel such an emotion.
The woman with blonde hair and purple eyes could objectively be called beautiful, but well.
To Niel’s eyes, who had been looking at Jella for a long time, she didn’t look particularly pretty or special.
What did Jella see in that woman?
“We must kill Jella Shunaibel! If we don’t kill that woman, this world will be destroyed!”
And that night, when Yuria, who had secretly sought him out, said that.
He hesitated.
Only then could Niel understand. Why Jella had waited for this woman for so long.
“Interesting. Tell me more about that story.”
Niel broke his reverie by slowly closing and opening his eyes.
Perhaps due to recalling unpleasant memories, his hand gripping the reins was trembling slightly.
He turned his gaze away from Cail Aleret, who was staring straight at him from afar.
Then, as if nothing had happened, he looked at Jella with an elegant smile on his face.
It was time to engage in normal conversation so that she wouldn’t feel suspicious.
“Ah?”
Jella suddenly blinked her eyes and turned around.
“Killing intent!”
***
“Ah?”
It was while I was having an idle conversation with Niel.
“Killing intent!”
I turned around abruptly at the sudden sharp sensation.
It was definitely killing intent! Tremendous killing intent!
“Huh?”
But when I actually turned around, I couldn’t see anything.
“What’s wrong, Lady Jella?”
Niel asked in a puzzled voice.
“Didn’t you just feel some killing intent?”
“Killing intent?”
He tilted his head.
‘What’s this? Did I feel it wrong?’
While feeling somewhat uneasy, I noticed an arrow stuck in an ambiguous position.
‘That arrow… was it there before?’
I felt confused, but if there really had been killing intent, Niel couldn’t have missed it.
As I turned my horse’s head again, similar incidents occurred a few more times.
Whenever I thought I felt killing intent, I’d turn around to find nothing there.
‘Could it be…!’
Suddenly struck by a thought, I stiffened my expression.
‘Has my intuition completely died?’
Well, this body is no longer Jella Shunaibel’s body after all…
So it was natural that my intuition had weakened.
‘No way! My intuition…! To think my intuition has weakened!’
I didn’t want to admit it, but if it wasn’t that, the situation didn’t make sense.
“We should have lunch soon. This way, Lady Jella.”
“Yes…”
I followed behind Niel, answering in a gloomy voice.
***
“Are you mad?”
Cail glared at the other person with cold eyes as he blocked. The arrow that had broken against his sword rolled on the ground.
“Oh my, what a shame.”
Yupheon lowered the bow he was holding and gazed at Niel’s retreating back with wistful eyes.
“I could have killed him.”
His voice was sorrowful, as if seeing off a departed lover.
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midori
thanks! oohh we are getting info of the past, let’s gooo! i hope the author will keep doing it in bits and pieces, rather than a whole bunvc of chapters