Chapter 3 (Part 1)

“Duke… hiccup. I won’t let my Lia get married… hiccup… I will keep her by my side… hiccup… and live with her.”

Anthus frowned slightly at Matthias’s words but then showed a faint smile.

“If Lady Yuliana says she likes it, you will let her get married, won’t you?”

Anthus’s words implied, ‘You will let her get married if Yuliana wants it, right?’

“I won’t let her get married. Duke… hiccup.”

“Father, you’re very drunk.”

“When Lia was little… hiccup… she said she would marry her dad… hiccup.”

“That was when Lia was four years old.”

Louis, embarrassed, tried to take care of the drunk Matthias.

“I have raised my Lia with so much care, but Beonar… hiccup… Duke… I won’t let my daughter get married!”

Drunk, Matthias shouted with a father’s heart and collapsed.

“Leijin!”

“Yes, young master.”

“Take father out.”

“I will take him to his room, master.”

Butler Leijin easily carried the heavy Matthias out.

Louis looked at Anthus, who showed no sign of drunkenness despite mixing transparent whale whisker liquor with other alcohols. Even though his father was very strong with alcohol, Anthus seemed to have an even stronger tolerance.

“The enjoyable drinking session has ended, Young Lord Louis. Ah, hiccup.”

Anthus suddenly leaned against the sofa, looking at Louis.

“Young Lord Louis, I think I’m drunk. Hiccup. Hiccup. I feel very dizzy.”

Louis wanted to tell him to stop pretending, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t kick out a guest who claimed to be drunk at this late hour.

“I’m too weak with alcohol… hiccup. Hiccup.”

Suppressing his rising irritation at Anthus’s awkward drunken act, Louis barely managed to calm down.

“I will inform the butler. Please stay at the Earl’s residence tonight.”

Louis said what Anthus wanted to hear.

“Since Young Lord Louis insists, I will stay at the Earl’s residence tonight.”

Pretending to be drunk and hiccuping, Anthus smiled satisfactorily and stopped hiccuping as if nothing had happened. Louis, looking exasperated, glared at Anthus before leaving the room.

Guided to the guest room, Anthus thought about the alchemical potion ‘Strawberry Nose No More’ that he had asked Alchemist Anton to make before leaving for the northern dungeon and smiled. He was glad he had prepared it, thinking he might have a drink with the famously heavy drinker Matthias someday.

“Not being drunk at all… I should ask him to make more.”

The effect of the ‘Strawberry Nose No More’ potion made by Anton was excellent, beyond his expectations.

Guided by Leijin to the guest room, Anthus nodded at the clean interior and began to look around, thinking this would be a place he would stay often in the future.

* * *

The next morning.

Yuliana, who had fallen asleep kicking the blanket, woke up early as usual, unaware that Anthus had come and headed to her personal training ground.

She had trained her mana every day without fail since she was young. Handling spirits required more than just affinity. Mana was needed to summon spirits. Only by training and expanding the vessel of mana within oneself could one increase the mana stored in the body and freely use the power of spirits.

Yuliana closed her eyes and began to accumulate mana within her body.

Currently, Yuliana could only summon intermediate water spirits, but her goal was to summon advanced water spirits. The power of spirits varied greatly depending on whether they were low, intermediate, or advanced. To explain with an analogy, a fireball used by a 2-circle mage and a hellfire used by an 8-circle mage were both fire spells, but their power was different.

At that time, Anthus woke up in the guest room and shook his head roughly.

“I was too excited to sleep.”

He had wanted to sneak into Yuliana’s room during the night to see her sleeping face but held back.

Sitting on the bed, Anthus closed his eyes and began to sense Yuliana’s presence among the people moving around the Earl’s residence. He sensed Yuliana’s presence farther away than expected.

“Yuli is outside…”

Anthus smiled, got up slowly, and dressed. Then he carefully left the room and followed Yuliana’s presence.

“She’s training her mana.”

Anthus erased his presence and watched Yuliana gather mana in the middle of the training ground.

The golden mana swirling within her body shone beautifully and brilliantly.

Anthus imagined gently catching her golden hair fluttering in the wind and tucking it behind her ear, but he didn’t notice his surroundings and stepped on a branch.

Snap.

At the sound of someone stepping on a branch, Yuliana stopped her mana training, looked around, and found Anthus standing awkwardly behind a tree with a broken branch under his foot.

“Duke?”

“Oh… I was trying to leave quietly because you seemed to be training your mana…”

Anthus scratched his cheek and smiled awkwardly.

Yuliana was surprised. How could she not be, seeing him wandering around the Earl’s residence early in the morning!

“Why are you at our residence at this hour…”

Remembering the kiss with Anthus yesterday, Yuliana’s face turned red.

“I didn’t come to the Earl’s residence this morning. Actually, I came last night.”

“Last night? Why?”

Anthus’s eyes drooped, and his eyes turned red.

“After you left yesterday… feeling suffocated, I came to the front of the Earl’s residence and ended up having a drink with Earl Loengrin. I woke up… on a bed. I must have passed out drunk. My head hurts a bit from the hangover, but I felt your presence… I missed you so much… I just came to see your face. I…”

Yuliana was flustered, seeing his reddened eyes and teary red pupils.

“I’m sorry for coming to the Earl’s residence just because I wanted to see you, even though you might feel uncomfortable because of what happened yesterday. I was thoughtless.”

“No… Duke…”

“I’m afraid you might hate and dislike me because of what happened yesterday.”

Anthus was apologizing with teary eyes. Yuliana approached him, worried that he might cry at the slightest touch.

“I’m sorry for kissing you. I’m deeply reflecting on it, so please forgive me.”

“It’s not that I hate or dislike you because of what happened yesterday… I’m just a bit embarrassed…”

“Really?”

Anthus clutched his left chest and let out a deep sigh. Yuliana felt sorry for him, seeing him apologize with teary eyes.

“Yes.”

Only then did Anthus smile brightly and wipe away his tears.

“But Duke, how much did you drink yesterday? You still smell like alcohol.”

Anthus frowned. He hadn’t thought about the smell of alcohol at all.

“Did you drink a lot…? Are you okay?”

“Yuli… Are you worried about me?”

Tears began to well up again in his red eyes.

“My stomach hurts from drinking too much, but I’m okay.”

“You should have just refused the drinking session with my father.”

“I could have refused, but the Earl welcomed me despite the sudden visit. So, I gratefully joined the drinking session.”

“Do you like alcohol, Duke?”

“I don’t like alcohol.”

“My father loves alcohol… It must have been hard for you to keep up with him… I apologize on his behalf.”

“It’s okay.”

Anthus began to stagger, showing a pained expression as Yuliana looked at him with pity and concern.

“Duke, are you okay?”

“I guess the alcohol hasn’t worn off. I didn’t want to show you this side of me…”

“There’s a bench over there. Let’s sit down, Duke Anthus.”

“Yes.”

Yuliana supported the staggering Anthus and sat him on the bench. Then she took out a handkerchief from her pocket and called Undine.

[Yuli, what’s up?]

“Undine, could you wet this handkerchief with some water, please?”

[That’s easy.]

Yuliana soaked the handkerchief in water, wrung it out, folded it into a square, and wiped Anthus’s forehead.

“I feel very dizzy…”

“Are you okay?”

“If it’s not too much trouble… Could you lend me your shoulder for a moment?”

“Pardon…? Yes.”

Anthus gently rested his forehead on Yuliana’s shoulder, groaning.

“I think I need to go back to the guest room and lie down for a while.”

“Shall we?”

Supporting Anthus, Yuliana helped him back to the guest room. Seeing Anthus collapse on the bed in pain, Yuliana worried.

Hearing that Anthus had skipped breakfast because he felt too sick, Yuliana prepared a light salad, soup, and food good for hangovers on a trolley and brought it to the guest room herself.

“Yuli, you brought this food for me yourself… You brought it yourself.”

“It’s food good for hangovers. You drank because of my father, even though you dislike alcohol…”

“It’s okay. I chose to drink. And you worrying about me makes the hangover not so bad.”

After finishing the meal and having a cup of tea, Anthus’s pained expression eased.

“The hangover has lessened a bit, and my head feels better.”

“That’s a relief.”

Yuliana sighed inwardly. She smiled, appreciating Anthus’s consideration, who said he was fine despite the difficult drinking session with Matthias.

“Yuli.”

Anthus stood up and walked over to Yuliana, leaning down to meet her eyes.

“Duke.”

“Anthus.”

“Duke Anthus, isn’t that position uncomfortable for you?”

“Do I look uncomfortable?”

“You seem to be bending your head too close…”

“Why do you think I’m bending my head?”

Yuliana’s mind was filled with thoughts of their kiss as she was asked a question in return.

“Why are you bending uncomfortably? Please stand up.”

As their faces drew closer, Yuliana’s face turned as red as a beet.

“I’m not uncomfortable. Are you, Yuli?”

Anthus placed his hands on the armrests of the sofa where Yuliana was sitting, supporting himself as he leaned closer to her.

“If you don’t like it, push me away.”

“Duke Anthus, why do you speak informally at times like this, like yesterday?”

“When are times like this?”

“Before you kiss me.”

Anthus traced Yuliana’s neck and collarbone with his fingertips. Yuliana involuntarily let out a small gasp and slightly parted her lips. Anthus didn’t miss the opportunity to capture her parted lips.

It was their second kiss.