CH 5.1

It would have been better if she had lost her ability to smile.

Unable to go to the forest, she was brought back into the castle.

Duke Kyar sat in front of her, and she noticed that his eyes were tired.

“Smile.”

Staring back at him, she plastered a smile on her lips at his command.

She had no idea how many times he had told her this.

However, he frowned at her as if he didn’t like the smile she showed him when, in fact, he was the one who told her to do it.

“Smile like before. Why don’t you smile at me like that?”

Now, she couldn’t remember how the hell she was able to smile like before.

Her grin widened as she showed him the same smile, but Duke Kyar wasn’t satisfied.

She exhaled a sigh and simply gave up.

Then, she opened her mouth to speak.“I think it would be better if I wouldn’t smile from now on.”

Her helpless words about choosing not to smile anymore made Duke Kyar’s body shake from the cool air that surrounded him.

In an instant, his cold energy spread across the drawing-room, and the objects had turned into ice.

Did he freeze them or what?

She looked around in surprise, and it seemed like the frozen objects weren’t the only things affected by his energy.

It was embarrassing to see everybody standing in the drawing-room and shaking hard from the cold.

At this rate, he would freeze everyone to death with his power.

She thought about saving the people from him.

As she made up her mind, she flashed him the warmest smile she could muster.

“Your Highness, aren’t you in a hurry?”

Smile.

He wanted him to smile, didn’t he?

Her urgent words melted the powerful ice in the atmosphere.

Fortunately, everyone and everything in the drawing-room returned to normal.

She snorted at the thought of her mouth, shaking with convulsions due to the cold.

She also had no idea what kind of crime she did in her previous life that she had to experience this kind of ordeal.

All she did was study hard, work harder, and die in vain.

If God/ Author appeared in front of her, she would grab him by the collar and punch him in the face.

“Again.” He said calmly as he leaned against the back of the sofa.

Did he still hate her smile?

She already anticipated this.

She smiled for a few more hours after that, but she hadn’t passed according to his strict standards yet.

“Can we continue this tomorrow?” She pleaded with exhaustion, and he nodded, his expression unreadable.

Unfortunately, she had to repeat all of this tomorrow, but at least he would release her until tomorrow came.

She forced a smile for him before her fingers rubbed the sore muscles around her mouth.

Then, all of the tension in her face relaxed when she walked away.

“You must succeed tomorrow, my lady.”

Mei said as she followed behind her quietly.

She knew it was an attempt to cheer her up, but the tone was somehow sad.

“I’ll try.”

Should she look in the mirror and practice?

She did nothing but sit down and smile in front of it, but she was just so tired as if she was marching all day.

“Isabella!”

Ignis flew quickly toward her the instant she entered the room, wearing a dog-tired face.

“Your face looks like a rotten corpse.”

At Ignis’ blunt statement, her face cracked a rotten smile.

Wishing that tomorrow would never come, she collapsed on the bed and laid down to sleep.

+++

Archduke Kyar’s face hardened coldly when he read the report Luches had submitted.

“She said hi, and you laughed?”

Duke Kyar asked while he read the first line.

Luches grimaced while he looked at him.

“Yes.”

Luches had known what this was all about, but he had no choice but to write a detailed report on why Isabella laughed, and it was killing him.

“Aren’t you cold? And you laughed.”

The voice of Archduke Kyar, who had read the text below, turned even cooler.

Then, he mercilessly crumpled the report that Luches struggled to write down.

“You laugh at this kind of joke?”

Luches found it sincerely unfair.

Isabella’s strange medicine made him a little insane, but it turned out his obsession with her was beyond imagination.

“Did the Lady like the assistant’s face?”

Marc, the butler, who watched the tableau quietly, said in a deep baritone.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Archduke Kyar’s sharp gaze moved to Luches’ face.

“I like this face.”

Luches quickly waved his hands in the air at the Archduke’s threatening glare in his desperation.

“It’s not like that. I was just smiling POLITELY at her.”

“How come you were smiling so brightly?”

“She is not my type!”