Chapter 38

This felt similar to the vague sense of anxiety she had experienced during her unemployed days.

The fear of never finding a job and being left behind by society forever.  

Yet, despite these worries, she couldn’t let go of the comfort of her bed and simply stayed there, worrying without taking action—a hopeless kind of life.  

“This can’t go on.”  

There’s a saying: “You don’t notice your clothes getting wet in a drizzle.” It wasn’t coined for no reason. She needed to be very wary of such gradual seepage.  

If not, the title of this novel might as well change to <Haphazard Romance.> 

“Don’t you think so?”  

“Pardon? What did you say?”  

“Never mind. Just tidy this up for me.”  

She quickly moved her steps.  

With a loud bang, she flung open the office door. Eched, who had been reading some documents, looked up at her.  

“If you’re not busy, care to train in swordsmanship with me?”  

It wasn’t exactly something one should say to someone who clearly looked busy… but she didn’t care.  

Of course, paperwork was important, but Eched had promised to help her with her swordsmanship training first.  

“Let me finish this, and then we’ll go.”  

Monster Activity Report.  

That was the title of the document Eched was reading.  

It seemed to be a report stating that the number of monsters, which had temporarily decreased after the recent monster subjugation in Haltonea Forest, was increasing again.  

‘Monsters are a nuisance no matter where you go.’  

“Alright, I’ll go change and wait outside. Take your time finishing that.”  

She was glad Kirin had told her to bring her training clothes from the academy when she moved to the duke’s estate.  

Though it was an outfit she hadn’t worn in seven years, her physique hadn’t changed, so it still fit.  

Dressed in a simple, monochrome training outfit, she stood in the garden.  

“Alright, I’m going to master swordsmanship for real this time.”  

Her determination was strong.  

***

The pink bob of her hair fluttered in the wind. Her breathing was rough, and her whole body felt hot.  

“How… how much longer do I have to run?!”  

She felt like she was going to die just from speaking.  

She exhaled deeply, her breath catching in her throat, and glared at Eched, who was sitting in the corner of the training ground.  

“Two more laps.”  

“……”  

She wanted to scream that he had already said “two more laps” earlier.  

But since she had promised not to complain about any training beforehand, she clenched her teeth and endured.  

By now, she had been running around the training ground for ten laps.  

That demon-like man didn’t even glance her way, but if she slowed down even slightly or tried to walk, he’d immediately call her out.  

Eched’s training was simple. Basics, basics, and more basics.  

Of course, she agreed that building basic stamina was important before swordsmanship training. But still…  

‘Isn’t this too much?’  

Only the spot where Eched was sitting had the shade of a tree. The water he gulped down looked so delicious.  

“Don’t walk.”  

“……”  

‘I really want to hit him.’  

She started running again under the blazing sun, without a single sip of water.  

And the next day.  

When she woke up, groaning from muscle pain, Eched suddenly handed her a glass of water.  

“You wanted water that badly?”  

It was the water that had been haunting her dreams. The cool liquid soothed her parched throat.  

“Are your legs alright? You were talking in your sleep a lot.”  

Eched said she had mumbled about wanting water and whimpered about her legs hurting in her sleep.  

Strangely enough, her legs didn’t hurt. Apparently, Eched had massaged them for her during the night.  

“What the…?”  

It was the epitome of giving the disease and then the cure.  

Feeling embarrassed, she cleared her throat and thanked him.  

Eched smiled proudly, took the empty glass, and then pulled her out of bed. Without hesitation, he said something utterly shocking.  

“Let’s start morning training.”  

“……What?”  

And so, it began. Morning training on an empty stomach.  

‘Is this even right?’  

She swung her sword. If her hand dropped even slightly, Eched, standing beside her, would tap the tip of her sword to correct her posture.  

“Relax your shoulders.”  

“……”  

“Spread your legs a bit more.”  

“……”  

“Don’t look at me; focus on the tip of your sword.”  

“……”  

Eched truly adhered to everything he said. He didn’t just give vague instructions or go easy on her.  

He was a very passionate teacher.  

‘Of course, I didn’t want to learn half-heartedly either.’  

But she never imagined he’d push her this hard without any leniency.  

This was practically training her to become a final weapon.  

At this rate, one day, he might even suggest they go monster hunting together.  

Training continued every single day, without exception.  

The muscles that used to ache no longer hurt. Only the slightly stinging palms, where blisters had recently burst, reminded her of the intensity.  

“This is upsetting.”  

Kirin scolded her, saying she never thought she’d see her like this after graduating from the academy. She lamented over her once delicate hands, now rough and calloused.  

“I didn’t think the Duke was like this… Is he taking revenge on you for tormenting him at the academy?”  

While applying ointment, Kirin brought up the past.  

“I don’t want my heart to hurt when my body already does.”  

She quietly added that she hadn’t tormented him that much.  

“Sometimes, the Duke doesn’t seem human. How could he push the woman he likes to train until her hands end up like this?”  

‘Well, that’s because he’s not human.’  

Even after living as a human for centuries, he didn’t seem to grasp proper emotions.  

“And about liking me…”  

She shuddered at the thought, saying she didn’t want to hear such nonsense.  

“In any case, I think the Duke needs to read some romance novels. …Would you like to read one too, Miss?”  

“Why would I?”  

“Well, you don’t know much about romance either, just like the Duke.”  

“What…? How could you say something so harsh? Are you seriously comparing me to Eched?”  

“But it’s true, isn’t it? Honestly, the Duke is young, he’s a Duke, he’s wealthy, he’s good at his job, he’s in good shape, and even though he’s a bit indifferent, his personality is so great.”

‘He’s not young.’  

He was an ageless Divine Beast, after all.  

“No matter how perfect he is, you don’t have even a speck of interest in him, Miss.”  

“…I’d say I have about a hair’s worth of interest.”  

Oops. Kirin’s sharp glare made her quietly avert her eyes.  

“You don’t even treat him like a person, yet you’re fine sharing the same room, even the same bed, with him.”  

“……”  

Again, Eched wasn’t human.  

But now that she thought about it, she found it strange herself. How could she share a bed with a grown man and feel nothing?  

‘Did I really think of Eched as nothing more than a pet?’  

Images of a silver-furred wolf floated in her mind. Its fur looked so soft that she wanted to pet it.  

“How could the Duke not do anything when the woman he likes is sleeping right next to him?”  

He did touch her—holding her hand every night had become a habit.  

“Maybe he needs a refresher course on s*x education.”  

Now she was being accused of lacking common sense too.  

Imagining herself sitting next to Eched during a s*x education lecture…  

“Absolutely not!”  

She frantically stopped Kirin, fearing she might actually call an instructor to the duke’s estate.  

“I was joking.”  

“From now on, no such jokes. They’re banned.”  

Even in her sleep-talking, she trembled at the thought of saying such things.

“Ha… Still, I was serious about telling you to read some romance novels.”

“That’s not allowed either.”

She didn’t want Eched to get any more strange ideas.

‘Why complicate things when it’s already a headache?’

When the time came, she would leave this place and never have to face him again.

The long-awaited day was not far off.

***

“Commander, did you know that a novel titled <That Lady is Too Cool> has been trending in the Empire lately?”

“Is it related to any crimes?”

“No, it’s just a pure romance novel.”

Eched gave him a look that asked why he had brought it up.

There was only one reason why Lutz, Eched’s adjutant, mentioned the novel. It was because of the scenes he had witnessed while entering and exiting the Duke’s mansion over the past few days.

Summer was approaching in the Empire. Summers in the Empire were oppressively hot and long.

Under that blazing sun, he had seen the Lady Shaterian wielding a sword. She was undergoing an intense level of training that even most Imperial Knights would find hard to endure.

When Lady Shaterian swung her sword for the thousandth time—

‘Five hundred more.’

He had heard that the lady had already been swinging her sword for three hours.

Her expression had noticeably soured at the added count, but she resumed her swings without a word of complaint.

Lutz, fearing this might genuinely harm her, quickly intervened.

‘Commander, let’s end today’s training here.’

‘Hmm? It’s only been three hours.’

Lutz thought something was seriously wrong. This… no matter how he looked at it, wasn’t right.

‘The Commander is just inherently self-centered.’

This man had a bad habit of setting all training standards according to his own capabilities. If the knights collapsed, he would only look at them with a puzzled expression, as if wondering why they couldn’t handle it.

“You should read it at least once.”

The novel <That Lady is Too Cool> was a masterpiece popular among people of all ages.

Its title, which sounded like a third-rate novel, was a barrier to entry, but the content was entirely different.

As the title suggested, the protagonist, the lady, did everything brilliantly. The dialogue was stellar, and it was a great work that seamlessly combined romance and action.

Even Lutz, who had been forced to pick up the book by Taltos, ended up reading it through the night.

“If you read it… I think you’ll be able to get closer to the Chief of Counseling Office. If you pay close attention to the protagonist’s actions, you’ll learn how to capture someone’s heart.”

It was a book that fundamentally taught lessons about consideration and understanding.

“The heart…”

Eched said he would read it and memorized the title.

However, what happened a few days later was entirely different from what Lutz had anticipated.

“The female lead is so cool…!”

“…Ah!”

Seeing an unrelated person completely absorbed in the book, Lutz belatedly smacked his own forehead.