“Aren’t you going to choose?”
“To be honest, none of them were that great.”
“I could buy them all for you if you asked.”
“Do you really think I don’t have money?”
Darius laughed and replied to my retort.
“I’ll buy you something really nice.”
Ah, I can’t hear that. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it.
“Foreigners have come to the square.”
Just then, another conversation caught my attention, diverting my interest.
“The fortune-telling foreigners? I hear their predictions are incredibly accurate.”
“I’m curious! But if Father finds out I had my fortune told by a foreigner, he’ll be furious.”
“That’s why we need to go quickly and secretly.”
People were unanimously quickening their pace.
“Foreigners?”
“They’re referring to the mountain people. They wander around Inkhart territory but don’t live here.”
Darius answered my question.
“They’re people who can cross the mountain range where magical beasts are said to descend. When food is scarce, they come down into the territory, but some days they suddenly return to the mountains. They say the mountains are their true home.”
‘Are they like gypsies?’
Their reputation for fortune-telling and their nomadic lifestyle were very similar to the characteristics of gypsies.
“The fact that they’re specifically called foreigners suggests they look different from us.”
“That’s part of it, but it’s more because they come and go as they please, rather than settling in the territory. They’re always a headache for us.”
Darius’s face showed the concern of a lord.
“They don’t farm, don’t pay taxes, have no jobs, so they cause trouble by stealing?”
“Exactly.”
Even as we said this, we were approaching the foreigners’ tent.
A large, worn tent had been set up in a corner of the square. People were curious about the foreigners’ arrival but maintained a strong wariness, standing at a distance.
The foreigners, seemingly accustomed to the hostility directed at them, paid little attention to the onlookers treating them like a spectacle.
No, they seemed to dislike the people of Inkhart Castle territory as well.
“The foreigners sometimes secretly steal people’s bracelets while pretending to tell their fortune.”
Darius quietly warned.
“Kyaak, ptui!”
A rough-looking young foreigner spat ostentatiously in the square. The hostility of the onlookers intensified.
“You fool, are you trying to drive away all the customers?”
A foreign woman scolded the young man who had spat.
Foreigners, foreigners.
Those unlucky foreigners who make things disappear every time they come and go.
“If it weren’t for the rumor that those who harm foreigners are cursed, we’d teach them a lesson!”
Murmurs of displeasure rose among the people. The townspeople bristled at these foreigners who claimed the mountains were their true home and only came to Inkhart when in need.
As I was about to approach the tent after seeing this, Darius held me back.
“Anette.”
“The fact that you don’t drive them out means that as a lord, you’re considering settling them here, right?”
Brushing off Darius’s restraint, I approached a woman near the foreigners’ tent.
“Is this where fortunes are told?”
The foreign woman smiled at me.
“Such a brave first customer! May good fortune follow you, and may you share some of that leftover luck with us!”
As she led me inside the tent, Darius followed. There were no guards. We both had the strength to protect ourselves.
“I’ll draw henna for you as a service. Our mountain people’s henna opens the path of the soul. It allows you to gain wisdom.”
The foreign woman busily drew henna on my wrist. Darius declined.
“A precious guest has arrived.”
When I looked around, belatedly distracted by the henna, a mysterious old woman was sitting in front of a crystal ball.
“Come closer, young lady.”
As I sat down in front of the old woman to have my fortune told, she suddenly touched my face. I was startled.
“What are you doing?”
“Your face can’t be understood just by looking at it with eyes. You’ve come from very far away.”
A warm, heavy scent rose from an incense burner placed to the side.
This is a scam.
I cautioned myself.
“Yes, I came from the south.”
“The south? Don’t lie. You’ve come from much further than our foreigners. From very far away… Ah, a place more prosperous than one can imagine.”
The old woman wasn’t looking at me. Her touch on me grew stronger.
“What on earth are you showing me?”
“It hurts!”
“That’s enough.”
Darius pulled me away from the old woman.
Feeling my dangling feet touch the ground and his warmth against my back, I felt reassured.
“Is it normal for foreigners’ tents to be this rude?”
The old woman ignored Darius and stared intently at me. Her gaze seemed to pierce through Anette’s body that I was wearing and look into my soul, making my knees tremble.
“Young lady, the number of souls that exist in this world is fixed.”
“This is going nowhere.”
Darius wrapped his arms around me protectively and turned me towards the exit.
As we left the dim tent and light became visible, my mind started to calm down. That’s when it happened.
“If you’ve come here, it means someone has gone there.”
I stopped abruptly at the old woman’s words as she followed us out.
Unconsciously, I turned back.
“What do you mean?”
The old woman smiled unpleasantly and turned back into the tent.
“Wait a moment.”
“Anette.”
Darius firmly held my face and looked into my eyes. His blue-gray eyes stared at me.
“Foreigners can also bewitch people, Anette.”
Bewitch people?
But that old woman was something…!
“Calm down.”
He covered my ears and pressed his forehead against mine. As if trying to stop me from thinking about what had just happened.
“You shouldn’t believe too deeply in suggestions.”
People were passing by, looking at us with interest as we had just come out of the foreigners’ tent.
Darius ignored those gazes and focused only on me.
“Look at me.”
Black hair, a straight nose bridge. Blue eyes that showed different colors depending on the light.
My rapidly beating heart slowly calmed down.
“It was nothing. They always drop vague words pretending to know about fate.”
Darius’s low, explaining voice was comforting. I quietly nodded.
“Good girl.”
He patted my back. A touch I would normally have rejected felt good, and I buried my face in his shoulder, acting spoiled.
* * *
Today’s business was a complete failure. The foreign woman lamented while counting money.
When the young couple who seemed to have money came to have their fortune told, she thought it would spread by word of mouth.
But whatever the fortune-teller mother said, both the man and woman were horrified and left the tent. And that was the end of customers.
People who saw the first customers come out pale-faced absolutely refused to enter the tent.
“If only they had spread good word, we could have had some business. Mom, what exactly did you see?”
The elderly fortune-teller wasn’t the foreign woman’s real mother. But the foreigners called each other mother and child.
“Business isn’t that important.”
“Just because we’re mountain people doesn’t mean we actually eat dirt, Mom.”
“Our family who left is returning.”
The foreign woman paused.
“The prince is coming.”
The old woman smiled faintly.
* * *
Our standard romance novel date didn’t have fireworks lighting up the sky, unfortunately.
There were skewered meats and a suspicious fortune-teller, though.
Darius thoughtfully escorted me back to the castle.
“Did you enjoy your date?”
I was a bit curious how the castle maids knew Darius and I had gone on a date when I had never mentioned it, but I just smiled.
The unsettled feeling after meeting the foreigners continued even after I had finished preparing and entered my room.
“Anette, are you going to sleep?”
I quietly watched as the Duke, who had finally learned to sleep alone at the age of twenty, was about to leave my room with the attached bed.
After I admitted that I had no romantic feelings, Darius didn’t try to force himself to sleep in my room.
That was what I encouraged.
Nevertheless, seeing him about to leave made my fingertips feel cold.
“Ah, this won’t do.”
Thump.
Darius sat back down on the bed, putting on an awkward act.
“What are you doing?”
“Just because.”
“I thought you said we’d sleep separately now.”
“Today, I just want to sleep here with Anette.”
The familiar warmth that used to heavily fill the side of the bed was now in place.
That one small thing reassures me.
Unable to say thank you, I lowered my head and grabbed his sleeve.
“What is it?”
“Just…”
Just, just.
Grateful for Darius who doesn’t leave me alone in this moment, with a heart numbed by an inexplicable loneliness.
So I held onto Darius’s sleeve tightly, afraid to let go, and crawled into bed.
“You can hold my hand too.”
That was our first night dialogue. Suddenly, laughter burst out.
“Ah, because we’re a married couple?”
“I’m being generous. It seems like I’m at a disadvantage, but still, you’re my wife.”
“I’ve gained a lot. With the Duke of our territory.”
I’m strange today. But Darius knew that and was indulging me.
I was grateful that he didn’t ask anything and left me be.
Finally, my eyes closed.
“Don’t go anywhere without me.”
“We’re holding hands, aren’t we?”
“Don’t let go and leave.”
“Okay.”
He tapped my cheek lightly.
“I won’t let go, so sleep. We walked a lot today.”
Will you stay until morning then?
If I wake up alone in this big bed, I might be confused, wondering whose body I’ve possessed this time.
__________
Male Lead, The Black-Hearted Lotus (Female-dominant)
Short intro by Yuushi L:
At first, the male lead despised the female lead. Later, he misunderstood that she liked him, so he condescendingly and reluctantly reciprocated her feelings.
Then, he suddenly discovered that she was kind to everyone in the same way, and there was already someone she cherished in her heart, and that person was not him.
The male lead couldn’t believe it, he became angry and crazy. He was determined to capture her body and heart by any means necessary.
Synopsis:
Want to see how a green tea bitch male lead falls in love with the female lead?
Want to see how he flirtatiously pursues the female lead?
Want to see how he gets slapped in the face repeatedly?
The male lead is a green tea bitch, a poisonous lotus, jealous, ruthless, unscrupulous, with a venomous heart, and he’s also a delusional maniac.
The female lead is righteous, positive energy-filled, kind, a holy mother.
Let’s see how two people with extreme personalities come together~