13. Reason and Emotion

“What? A strawberry for a person? What does that mean?”

Boris was flustered by the strange metaphor and asked.

“Small and cute.”

The size of a strawberry that Nikolai imagined was slightly, no, very different from what ordinary people thought.

The strawberries, cultivated and imported from the land of Arsetia across the sea, were as big as a child’s palm, but in Nikolai’s hands, they became as small as raspberries.

When you take a bite, the white and soft flesh is crushed, and the refreshing and sweet red juice spreads all over the mouth.

Strawberry.

Katya was such a person.

Just being with her made him feel refreshed.

“Your Highness…? Your Highness!”

Boris clapped his hands a couple of times as if to snap Nikolai out of his daze, who seemed to be completely smitten.

“Didn’t you say that lady once pointed a sword at Your Highness’s neck?”

“Yes, it was a very unique experience.”

“The word ‘unique’ doesn’t cover it. What if you had gotten a scar on your neck?”

“It would have been a scar of honor, wouldn’t it?”

Nikolai replied with a smile.

The lodging fee for driving away the intruders and escorting him here.

What on earth was it that she insisted on repaying, saying she owed a debt?

If she had accidentally cut his neck even a little, he could vividly imagine her flustered and apologizing.

Thinking about seeing that made even a scratch seem trivial.

“What? A scar of honor, what’s that?”

“Among noble young ladies, I’ve never seen one who handles a sword so well. If I got hurt by such a lady, wouldn’t it be quite a meaningful scar?”

“What good is a lady who handles a sword well? Are you going to spar with her while dating?”

“Sparring! What if she gets hurt?”

Nikolai suddenly said with a serious expression.

Boris, who had seen countless knights carried out on stretchers after sparring with Nikolai because he couldn’t control his strength, was dumbfounded by his master’s two-faced nature.

Can a person change this much?

“Why are you suddenly getting angry? Think about it. Didn’t she subdue you against the wall and point a sword at you instantly? The fact that she can spar with Your Highness already makes her extraordinary, doesn’t it?”

“That’s what makes her more attractive.”

At that time, Nikolai’s guard had momentarily lowered in front of her.

He, who had been constantly on guard due to frequent assassination threats, experienced this for the first time.

It wasn’t because she was a woman.

There had been female assassins sent to him before.

So Nikolai found it truly fascinating.

This woman’s existence, which made all his principles and habits exceptions.

“And yet, you see her as a chick, a rabbit, even a strawberry? I always feel this way, but Your Highness’s way of thinking is, how should I say it? It’s not universal. It’s hard to understand sometimes.”

The loyal aide risked his life to add those words to his master.

“The one who doesn’t understand is me. I can’t figure out why such a lovely lady is called a villainess.”

“I didn’t hear everything because I was following Your Highness, but there’s a rumor that men in the south roll up their pants because of her.”

“What does that mean?”

“When she was young, she used to step on the hems of men’s pants from behind and pull them down, like a game.”

Boris shivered at the thought, saying it gave him goosebumps just imagining it.

Men’s underwear was usually made of fabric that didn’t cling to the body for breathability and mobility.

If the pants holding up loose men’s underwear were pulled down, it meant that the underwear inside would also be pulled down, exposing the buttocks.

Showing one’s buttocks in front of others, especially in front of a girl, was a disgrace to the family.

“How humiliating must that be? It would shatter a man’s pride. If it were me, I would have left the city altogether.”

“She wouldn’t have done it for no reason. They must have done something wrong first.”

Armed with the blinders of love, Nikolai took a defensive stance as if he were Katya’s spokesperson.

Boris realized that the answer the Grand Duke wanted was already decided.

“Your Highness–.”

“Enough. There’s no need to listen anymore. It’s obvious without seeing. Calling her a villainess just because she doesn’t fit their idea of a woman? The logic is absurd.”

Boris frowned, finding it ridiculous that the Grand Duke, who was waving his hand to stop the conversation he had started, was the one lacking logic.

Nikolai de Vasily had already completely identified himself with Katarina Smirnov, considering anyone who attacked her as an enemy.

There was an established truth that Boris didn’t know.

There is no basis for the claim that something is cute.

That’s why, once you fall for the charm of ‘cuteness,’ there’s no solution.

Once you come to your senses, you’re already engulfed without a chance to escape.

For that reason, Nikolai was in a very unpleasant mood.

How hard must it have been for her because of the nickname men created to their liking?

“By the way, what did she do to have wanted posters put up? Is it just because she’s a villainess, and they want people to avoid her for some unreasonable reason?”

“No, it’s because Count Petrovsky’s villa is in that area. Ivan has been going around asking people to catch her and hand her over if she comes this way.”

“If it’s Ivan from the Petrovsky family…”

“Yes, that’s right. It’s ‘that’ Ivan.”

Ivan Petrovsky was quite famous in the north.

The fact that the second son of Count Petrovsky was a scoundrel was so widely known in the capital that even Nikolai had heard of his name, even if he didn’t know his face.

He was known for his love of gambling and women, frequenting brothels and living a promiscuous life.

Count Petrovsky would break into a cold sweat and change the subject whenever someone inquired about his second son in social circles, saying he barely graduated from the academy.

But everyone implicitly knew that was a lie.

The Arsetia Royal Academy was a place where geniuses from all over the world gathered, with strict discipline.

Though some leniency was given to high-ranking noble children, it was widely speculated that Ivan, who lived recklessly, couldn’t have lived diligently even in Arsetia.

It was believed that, for the sake of face, they contacted the Petrovsky family to quietly have him withdraw instead of expelling him.

“The man who got hit on the head with the lute she swung was Petrovsky.”

Now everything made sense.

“They say the woman in the portrait is his fiancée, and they were living together before marriage. But seeing that she ran away, maybe the lady didn’t want the marriage either?”

Boris said with a sympathetic expression.

It didn’t matter whether she was a villainess or not.

Anyone who knew Ivan Petrovsky’s notorious reputation would sympathize with any woman who had to marry him.

‘That kind of guy is trying to marry her.’

An unbearable sense of displeasure enveloped Nikolai.

Imagining Katya sharing a bathtub with another man and washing his hair made him feel dirty.

Especially with none other than the lecherous Ivan.

He suddenly felt a surge of anger towards the man trying to take the innocent Katya as his wife.

Nikolai unknowingly clenched his fists tightly.

Boris, glancing at the Grand Duke’s hand, was relieved to see it was empty.

If he had been holding a cup, it would have likely been crushed to pieces in his grip.

“Ahem. For now, go inside and get some rest. You had a rough night because of the assassins.”

Boris said, getting up from his seat.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to my room too. The knights have all passed out already.”

“Wait, room? How many did you book?”

“About three, why?”

“Hah.”

Nikolai snorted incredulously.

The innkeeper, who said there were no rooms when Nikolai and Katya arrived, had given Boris’s group three rooms.

From what Boris said, despite several people sharing a room, the price was significantly lower than what they had quoted Nikolai.

The innkeeper had overcharged for putting two people who seemed like lovers in one room, allowing for more guests in the remaining rooms.

“I knew it. They dared to scam me?”

Boris managed to calm his angry master and put him to bed.

Nikolai quietly lay down beside the peacefully sleeping Katya after taking off his outerwear.

Strangely, unlike before, he couldn’t fall asleep.

Nikolai, looking out the window with his eyes wide open, eventually turned his body towards the inside of the bed.

He saw Katya’s small back right in front of him.

As he reached out to her strawberry-colored blonde hair.

“Mmm…”

Mumbling incomprehensibly in her sleep, Katya rolled over and suddenly hugged Nikolai’s waist tightly.

As he tried to remove her hand without waking her, her leg flew over his thigh, locking him in place.

Trapped by her, Nikolai blinked in disbelief at the incredible situation.

As he was frozen like a statue, Katya rubbed her cheek against Nikolai’s chest.

It was a habit she developed from sleeping with Laika and rubbing her cheek.

Unaware of this, Nikolai was greatly flustered by the soft touch of her rosy cheek on his bare skin.

The difference in strength was clear, so he could easily escape from her if he wanted to.

Reason argued to push her away, while emotion suggested staying as he was, engaging in a fierce battle.

After both sides fought fiercely and perished, the final victor, seizing the opportunity, was another knight named Impulse.