I'm A Sucker For Extras - Chapter 63

Chapter 63

“Did something pleasant happen?”
 
Aidan’s question made Brody, who had been humming, whirl around.
 
She stumbled and nearly fell when she stepped on Aidan’s long cloak.
 
“Careful.”
 
If Aidan hadn’t held her, she would have fallen.
 
Despite almost falling, Brody continued to giggle and laugh as if something wonderful had happened.
 
Aidan sighed and took her hand.
 
Brody’s skinny little hand wrapped around Aidan’s large one.
 
Brody liked the warmth of it, and she squeezed his hand.
 
“That’s the second time you’ve asked me that today, isn’t it?”
 
“Yeah. But you seem to be in a better mood now than you were earlier.”
 
Brody looked at the ground as she took one step, then another, as if trying to walk with purpose.
 
“Yeah, because this is the first time I’ve ever done anything like this.”
 
“A first for what?”
 
“Um, can I not laugh?”
 
A smirking Brody said, holding the index finger of her empty hand in front of her lips.
 
“…….”
 
As curious as he was about what she was going to say, Aidan couldn’t help but feel a tickle in his heart as she kept smiling with her eyes.
 
It felt a little dangerous.
 
Brody continued.
 
“I’ve never had this much fun before. I was worried about how to have fun, but… when it happened, it was so enjoyable.”
 
Haha. Brody brought both hands to her cheeks as if to cool her heated cheeks.
 
But with her left hand, she was holding onto Aidan’s right hand, so it was the back of his hand that touched her left cheek.
 
After confirming that Aidan’s hand was with her, she rubbed her cheek against the back of Aidan’s hand without embarrassment.
 
It was as if she was being silly.
 
A shiver ran through Aidan’s body.”Br…… Brody.”
 
But she saw through his embarrassment and spoke again.
 
“Do you like to have fun?”
 
“Uh, that…… well, banquets aren’t particularly fun.”
 
“Well, I suppose they are, if they’re like the banquets in Perdan. Then next time, we will make a more fun banquet. A banquet that Your Grace can also enjoy.”
 
“…….”
 
‘Next Time, We’ Aidan was thrilled by one word and heartbroken by the other. You and I can be ‘we,’ and as long as you’re by my side, we don’t have to throw a banquet’
 
But next time……. I wonder if there is such a thing as ‘next time’.
 
With a heavy feeling in his heart, Aidan spoke without answering.
 
“Maybe it’s just me, but you haven’t had much fun in your life either.”
 
“Yeah, I guess I’ve been working, studying, working, studying, and I haven’t had any friends, so I’m done.”
 
“…….”
 
His heart ached, so he changed the subject, only to have her heart ache even more.
 
‘Jax, even though he wasn’t related by blood, did he just abuse the child whom he had cared for as a family servant since childhood? ‘
 
He could imagine her life.
 
Study and work. Study and work. It was a life he was also familiar with, and he wondered if that was how she lived it.
 
Of course, that’s why she didn’t complain about being around someone as boring as him, because she didn’t know he wasn’t boring……..
 
“I’m sorry.”
 
“What? For what?”
 
“For not being the kind of person who can make you have fun.”
 
“Oh, well, neither am I.”
 
‘No, you’re fun. Just being with you is enjoyable. Sometimes, I don’t know where you’re going, and there are times when my heart flutters, but still, being with you makes me happy.’
 
Aidan muttered to himself. It was hard to get the words out of his mouth.
 
Regardless of his thoughts, Brody continued.
 
“But we’re good at what we do. We’re partners at work, so as long as we do our job well, that’s enough, right? We should wish for that.”
 
“…….”
 
Brody said, implying that she wasn’t a fun person either and wouldn’t be able to entertain him.
 
However, Aidan interpreted it as:
 
‘Apparently, Brody doesn’t find me fun to be around…….’
 
What was the point of being the Great Duke of Ice—the will of all people in the North? When he can’t make even the precious people next to him happy.
 
If she wasn’t happy with him, perhaps he should let her go, especially if her safety might be jeopardized.
 
If Brody isn’t happy or entertained by his presence, maybe it’s not worth holding on to her…… for that alone.
 
Despite thinking he had lived diligently, he felt utterly powerless. Aidan’s shoulders slumped.
 
At that moment, Brody shook the hand Aidan was holding.
 
Looking up at him with a determined expression, she seemed to have something to say.
 
‘A drunk Brody is too dangerous.’
 
He stuttered out a response to her, feeling a shock in his heart that made him forget his helplessness.
 
“Ha, do you have something to say?”
 
Brody nodded eagerly.
 
“Go ahead, say it.”
 
Brody opened her mouth as if he’d been waiting.
 
“Your Grace, did I do a good job?”
 
“Hmm? What do you mean good?”
 
“This potato field is here.”
 
With that, Brody stopped abruptly.
 
Instead of waiting for Aidan’s response, she lifted her head and turned to look into the distance.
 
Was she looking into the empty air to gather her thoughts? No, that wasn’t it. The vast potato field filled her view.
 
Contrary to her rosy cheeks, her emerald eyes shone elegantly, and her serious expression carried a hint of grace.
 
Her rich, curly hair swayed in the cold night breeze.
 
She was silent for a moment, gazing off into the distance—into the fields she had cultivated.
 
Aidan seemed to know. She was probably seeing something beyond the field.
 
“Your hard work has been rewarded.”
 
Brody’s wheat-colored lashes fluttered in the wind.
 
“Seeing someone so happy and having that happiness expressed to me… it’s so unfamiliar.”
 
Brody’s gaze traveled beyond the potato field to memories of Doyeon.
 
She had always lived for her family. But it was something she took for granted as a member of the family—something she’d told herself.
 
‘Yes, I’m smart. Yes, I’m strong. Yes, I know how to work hard. Yes, I must do it now’.
 
Until the very end.
 
What was more challenging than making an effort and living strenuously was…
 
She wasn’t family to them. She wasn’t a person to them. She was just a tool, and she didn’t feel anything more than that.
 
“Too much was expected. Too much was given… and I couldn’t even express my happiness when our family could finally start anew.”
 
‘My mom, my dad, my brother. If any of them had expressed this to me…….’
 
‘Yeah, we were the same way.’
 
Doyeon seemed to know how Brody felt.
 
The love she had for Jax had trampled on his true feelings time and time again, undermining her efforts.
 
‘Now that I have my life back, I understand why I wanted to survive in this world so badly and be alone. Why didn’t I want to try? Why didn’t I want to be responsible? Even though Aidan was my favorite, even though I thought I liked him, Why I’d run away because I didn’t want to be an archduchess.’
 
Brody couldn’t stand it. To be taken for granted, even when she’d worked hard and given it her all.
 
She didn’t know if it would or not, but she was so exhausted that she couldn’t bear the thought of starting it.
 
‘It’s ironic that the North, the place I tried so hard to escape, would give it to me.’
 
Brody realized.
 
She realized how she’d felt talking to Connie and how she’d felt listening to the toasts at the banquet.
 
‘It was ‘rewarding.’
 
There’s something incredibly fulfilling about getting something back for your efforts.
 
It wasn’t just the women of the potato fields.
 
The people of Perdan and the Knights had given it to her, and Aidan had always given it to her, until now.
 
Brody swiped a quick fingertip across the droplets that had grown in the corners of her eyes.
 
Then she looked at Aidan again.
 
“Are you happy, Your Grace?”
 
Aidan understood the emotion behind her words. To be rewarded for her efforts……. He was acutely aware of how exhausted she must have been.
 
Aidan gazed into her moist eyes.
 
How could he treat her so casually when she was so precious, so dear, and so loving?
 
He brought his hand up and stroked a lock of Brody’s hair, starting at her forehead.
 
“Of course. I’ll never be able to thank you enough for what you’ve done.”
 
Brody’s eyes began to flutter open again.
 
Dots of moonlight flickered over the pool of water that covered the green orbs that stared back at him.
 
Brody slowly closed her eyes. With a pop, the overflow spilled over the ridge.
 
A stream of water trickled the path away; she blinked, and her eyes opened again.
 
‘Beautiful.’
 
Her ecstatic, overwhelming emotion washed over him, and his heart skipped a beat.
 
He resisted the urge to press his lips against her closed eyes. He couldn’t look away from those eyes.
 
Soon, her eyes curved gracefully as she looked up at him.
 
“Your Grace”
 
“……um.”
 
“Can you trust me?”
 
“…….”
 
He didn’t know what to say in this situation…….
 
She’s an amazing woman. In three years, they’ll let her go to wherever she wants, and she’ll just need help getting there, and she’ll be fine. How can she go through all this trouble to get something she could just close her eyes and enjoy?
 
Aidan liked her strength—her pride, her refusal to back down from her choices, her determination.
 
“I, I can do well.”
 
Her bright and serene smile shook Aidan’s heart. He had to be careful, or he might find himself listening to everything she said.
 
He lowered his eyebrows.
 
“It’s not that I think you can’t do it. I just hope it won’t become dangerous.”
 
Brody retorted immediately.
 
“I’m not weak enough for you to worry about. You’ve seen me in the South and in front of Perdan Fortress.”
 
Aidan lowered his gaze loosely.
 
‘Yes, I know you are strong.’
 
He agreed, but he couldn’t say it aloud. Because acknowledging that would mean acknowledging the danger that awaited her.
 
Brody locked eyes with him again.
 
“But when that’s not enough, you’ll be there to protect me, as you have done so far.”
 
Aidan’s blue eyes shook with anguish as he was held captive.
 
‘…..No, Brody. The real danger to you is me—this North itself.’
 
Aidan had been born with the power of the Ice Spirit, stronger than all his ancestors before him. To make matters worse, Brody is a botanist.
 
Ice and plants. How is this so different from the relationship between Hildieta and Cloria?
 
The deeper he got into this, the worse it was going to get.
 
He grabbed both of Brody’s arms that held her and bent her head to rest on his forehead, which was looking up at him with unearthly tenderness.
 
Only a nod of saccharine hair rested lightly on his forehead.
 
If listening to her was going to put her in danger, what choice did he have?
 
He whispered in anguish.
 
“Brody……, I…….”
 
But his words were cut short by the sudden intrusion of a voice.
 
“Well, that’s a nice picture.”
 
The two people, startled, suddenly raised their heads and looked towards the place where the sound came from.