Chapter 12

“This is none of your business.”

Judith grumbled while glaring irritably at the hand Johannes was holding. Whether she did or not, Johannes brought Judith’s fingertips to his lips.

“What are you doing?”

Judith quickly looked around. As expected, the people peeking this way were covering their mouths.

“A greeting.”

“That kind of stiff greeting might work on Grandmother.”

“Might work on your grandmother? Then I suppose I’ll have to change how I greet you.”

Smack.

“!”

The warmth that touched her cheek and then withdrew was shameless. Judith covered one cheek with one hand and opened her eyes wide. Was there ever such a shameless thief? The cheek stolen from her in the middle of the city burned hot.

“Ah, my mistake.”

She had thought he was about to apologize, but then those lips came flying in again, and every hair on her body stood on end. It was infuriating enough that he had stolen a kiss on her cheek, but there he was, that madman, openly putting his mouth on hers for all to see. With so many eyes watching, had he lost his mind?! Coming back to her senses, Judith shoved Johannes away.

Johannes stepped back a pace and grinned brightly. Whatever pleased him so much, the laugh spilling out of him was innocent and radiant. Completely oblivious to how tormented she felt.

“Are you insane?”

“No. I’m perfectly sane.”

“And yet you do something like this?”

“So what? We’re adults.”

“Ha!”

As Judith trembled with rage, unable to control herself, Johannes lowered his head and brought his face to her ear.

“By the way, when are we meeting again?”

“What?”

“I told you, didn’t I? Your m*ans are my type. I’d like to hear them again. We’ve met again after so long, so shouldn’t we properly exchange greetings?”

“I don’t think we’re on good enough terms to exchange pleasant greetings.”

“Why?”

Why? Judith found Johannes’s brazen attitude appalling. After ignoring her confession, he was now even coveting King Pirap’s old book, and yet he stood there shamelessly confident. Was it that confession was confession, business was business, and desire was desire? She did not want to hand a single thing over to self-willed Johannes. Not business, not desire. Not even the name of a friend of ten years.

“Because thanks to you, I’m on the verge of losing King Pirap’s old book.”

“To be precise, it’s not because of me. Judith, the problem is that you haven’t met someone you love.”

“Grandmother was always like that. If you hadn’t shown up then and brought up the Princess’s engagement, she never would have set a deadline until Christmas.”

“So this is all my fault?”

“Not all of it. But you did help provoke Grandmother.”

Judith rubbed her lips with the back of her hand and frowned. No matter what, it was true that Johannes’s appearance had complicated everything. So she wanted him to at least reflect on that and reverse this whole matter with King Pirap’s old book.

“I see. So it is such an urgent matter that the great Judith would run straight to the newspaper office just to find one man. How long is left until Christmas?”

Far from reflecting, he tapped at his wristwatch and knitted his brow. Judith glared at the man standing before her as if she wanted to kill him.

“If you have even the slightest shred of conscience left, take your hands off this matter.”

She bit back the word shameless. Unlike before, Johannes no longer acted like a gentleman. If she provoked him carelessly, she had no idea what he might do. Between him and Judith there was not only the matter of King Pirap’s old book, but also the deeply awkward fact that they had spent a night together. Johannes was too uncooperative and twisted for her to write it off as a one-night mistake. Without the slightest shame, he had even committed the outrageous act of kissing her cheek and lips in the middle of the street while stressing the word ‘adult.’ Living abroad must have thickened his skin.

“I don’t think you are really in a position to speak of conscience, Miss Judith Loewe.”

Smiling faintly, Johannes pointed with his index finger toward his chest, where the marks from Judith’s nails remained.

“Ha.”

Judith pressed her clenched fist against her temple, rubbing it in circles as she breathed out the heat boiling inside her.

“So you really intend to go all the way with this?”

“This matter is tied to my livelihood too.”

Why did it have to be King Pirap’s old book of all things? People from Udiya, after all, came from the empire that had once conquered the continent, and they had long dismissed all the border kingdoms as barbarians. Declaring themselves the only people recognized by God, they had at one time cut off exchange entirely with countries on the frontier. Times had changed, but the contempt and discrimination that permeated them probably had not disappeared even now. So there was no reason for them to take an interest in something like King Pirap’s old book. Unless someone had gone and babbled about it for no reason.

“It’s not as if your circumstances are so poor that you have to sell some old book just to keep food on the table, are they?”

“I can’t lean on Grandmother’s shadow forever. I have to think of how to make a living too.”

“Then why of all things are you coveting even a friend’s belongings?”

“So now I’m only your friend when it’s convenient?”

Johannes lightly flicked Judith on the forehead with his fingertip, then wrinkled the bridge of his nose.

“If it’s really that hard, should I help you?”

“With what?”

Judith scrubbed at the forehead Johannes’s hand had touched with her palm.

“With finding a man.”

“You? The one who would even sell off a friendship for the sake of making a living?”

“Exactly. Which means it would be right for me to pretend I don’t know and just get my hands on the old book, but even I still have a shred of conscience left.”

Johannes closed one eye and opened it again, then looked at Judith as though savoring candy.

“Think it over. If you have to find a man anyway, wouldn’t it be better if he suited your tastes?”

“My tastes?”

“There won’t be many men who can endure having nail marks left on their body and their chest bitten painfully. Fortunately, I seem to fall under your preferences, and since we’re friends too, I think we’d make a pretty good combination.”

Johannes brought his palm to the back of Judith’s neck and moved his lips. The heat transmitted through his hand made goosebumps rise. There were people all over the street, yet he showed no hesitation about touching her. What was he going to do if rumors started because of this?! Judith took a big step back and slipped free of Johannes’s hand gripping the back of her neck.

“You’d better not touch my body without permission.”

“When you act like this, it really hurts my feelings.”

As if emphasizing the point, Johannes tapped the watch on his wrist with his finger. He must mean there was not much time left.

“Ha.”

Judith rubbed the back of her neck where Johannes’s palm had touched and ground her teeth. Even though he knew how precious King Pirap’s old book was to me! Judith belatedly regretted ever sharing that secret with Johannes. It had been a promise with Grandfather so precious and so private that she had even hidden it from Elijah.

“Don’t waste your strength for nothing. Do you really think a man you find through an advertisement will be normal? Just use me, Judith.”

Johannes stepped closer by the distance she had created and lowered his face.

“This is my business. Stay out of it.”

Judith’s shoulders trembled as though trying to erase the sensation left on the bridge of her nose by Johannes’s breath. Is he playing with me right now? His conduct was infuriating beyond measure. She could not control the anger boiling up inside her. Judith swallowed down the curses she had held in her mouth and breathed hard.

“Ha. Really…… you think I’m easy, don’t you? Because I’m a woman people whisper about, you want to make fun of me too? I……”

Look who made me end up like this. She had promised herself not to blame others, but standing before the very person involved and being put through this made her anger surge upward. Judith lowered her head with both fists clenched.