CH 174

‘I’m pretty sure he grew up with Yuric, but why is he like that?’

I shook my head inside the rattling carriage.

‘Well, he’s quite naive.’ 

Dietrich, who had taken off the playboy mask worn by Dylan, was much less attached to me and more stand-offish. 

“Dietrich.”

His gray aura, like a thick mist, flinched at my call as it tried to wrap around my ankle then receded. 

“Do you want to sit beside me?”

“It’s fine.”

Contrary to his firm answer, his aura was too clingy. His aura had been circling around me like a puppy since earlier.

‘Looking at his aura, it looks like he’s debating whether to stick to me or not.’

Nevertheless, I sighed softly as I looked up at Dietrich's side face looking out the window without even thinking of sitting next to me.

All I could tell were his feelings, not his thoughts.

‘Is it because he’s shy?’

It couldn’t be helped. In this case, the less naive me should come forward and make the move.

With that thought in mind, I got up from my seat and plopped down next to him, who had become strangely passive after I found my memory.

“.......What.”

Dietrich looked back at me with surprised eyes when I sat next to him.

‘Is this surprising?’

“I want to look out the window, too.”

I blinked slowly and answered Dietrich’s question nonchalantly. 

“You can also look out the window from your seat.”

“I think I could see better from this side.”

I couldn’t bear to say that ‘you’re aura is screaming of wanting to sit down next to me.’ 

‘Though I don’t know why you’re stubbornly holding back from sitting next to me.’

Should I ask him out loud?

However, Dietrich didn’t know that I could look into his heart to this extent yet. 

Eredia’s powers had become much stronger only after Hella was sealed. 

I smiled broadly as I stared at his aura, which fluttered from side to side in embarrassment.

“Where are we going now?”

“......Kirov.”

“Kirov?”

“It's a city where flowers are in full bloom.”

My eyes roamed at Dietrich’s explanation.

Kirov was a name I heard during Damon’s classes.

‘I think it was a commercial city.’

It was a city where merchants flocked because there were many craftsmen who continued their workshops from generation to generation, so it was one of the tourist attractions of the empire that naturally increased.

“Is that fine?”

“Yeah, it’s a city I wanted to go to.”

After my answer, silence fell on the carriage.

When the sound of the wheel rolling gradually died down, he called me while thinking about something with his mouth closed.

“Anissa.”

With my head out the window and the cool breeze, I looked back at him and smiled broadly.

“Why?”

Then, he suddenly got up from his seat, holding me by my waist to prevent me from being thrown out.

Clang!

Not wanting to attract people’s attention, they rented out a small, low-end carriage, and Dietrich, who was so tall, ended up hitting his head on its ceiling.

“......Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

“It doesn’t hurt? I think you hit your head pretty hard.”

“It doesn’t hurt at all.”

A strong denial meant a strong affirmation. 

I stared at Dietrich, who faltered with a flushed face. 

“Why are you going to the corner?”

“…….”

“Come here and let me see. What if there’s a bump?”

“…….”

“I said come here.”

Dietrich didn’t even budge at my urging. 

Eventually, as I tried to move my body to examine his head, he began to dissuade me by raising his arms and shaking them.

“It’s fine. Stay there.” 

“What do you mean fine? Lower your head.”

I ignored Dietrich's demands and approached him, grabbing him by the shoulder.

“I said lower your head.”

It was only at my prompting that he hesitatingly lowered his head. 

Putting my hand through his thick curly hair, I found a small lump and clicked my tongue.

“There’s really a bump, oh well.” 

“…….”

“Let’s get some medicine first when we get there. If it swells, it may hurt more tomorrow.” 

“…….”

“Hm? I can see the village. I guess we’re here.”

When I asked the coachman where it was because the scent of fresh flowers seemed to be coming close, he stopped the carriage with an answer that they had arrived at the entrance of Kirov.

“You can get off now, my lady!”

I glanced at Dietrich, who still had his head bowed, and opened my mouth.

“The coachman said we’re here.” 

“…….”

“You’re not getting off?”

“.....You can get off first.”

“Why?”

“Just because.”

“Huh?”

“If you’re getting off, then get off.”

‘Why is annoyed again?’

I got off the carriage alone, grumbling at Dietrich’s teeth-grinding remarks.

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“This is driving me crazy.”

Only after seeing the carriage door close did Dietrich let out a deep sigh as he buried his face in his hands.

“Ha.” A feverish sigh escaped between the gaps of his long fingers. 

‘Are you really going on a trip with just the two of you?’

In an instant, the voice of Yuric, who was seriously worried about him even though he had always beaten him under the pretext of training every day but was never discouraged, lingered in his ears. 

‘That’d be difficult…..’

‘What’s difficult about it?’

‘It’d be difficult for you to hold back.’

He had no intention of holding back in the first place so he didn’t want to continue the conversation with Yuric.

‘Hey, you really! Don’t go! Come here and listen to me.’ 

After grabbing on to Dietrich, who had turned his back without any hesitation, he recited his love career like it was an exhibition and got to the main point.

‘If you keep going like that, Anissa will run away.’

‘What?’

‘She’s a sensitive girl, unlike you. If you continue to act ignorantly, you might completely drive her away.’

‘Do you want your head to roll?’

Yuric hesitated for a moment at Dietrich's indifferent, cold muttering, but he did not lose and continued to speak.

‘Stop talking and listen to me, you bastard.’

‘I don’t want to.’

‘If you want to be dumped by Anissa before you even start, then do as you please.’

‘...........’

‘If it’s Anissa, well, it’s not like there aren’t only one or two men who like her.’ 

Dietrich's ankle, who was trying to leave without hesitation to prepare for the trip with Anissa, was eventually caught by the murmur.

‘Are you going to listen?’

‘......Whatever, chatter away.’ 

Yuric, who succeeded in putting Dietrich down, opened his mouth with a smirk.

The self-proclaimed playboy, Yuric's quick lecture lasted quite a long time, and Dietrich remained silent, contrary to his expectations that he would sprint along the way.

‘......Just do it like this, okay? Don’t be gross.’

‘............’

‘Naturally! Gently! Understand?’

Naturally, gently.

It wasn't hard to summarize Yuric's lengthy lectures in his smart head.

The problem was that it was impossible to expect a natural gentleness from Dietrich, who had wasted his boyhood rolling on the battlefield.

So, Dietrich sat in front of Anissa, who had an innocent face unknowing of his circumstances, and fell into agony. 

Her hair which looked as soft as a long stretch of cotton candy danced, fluttering over her white cheeks.

‘If you want to touch her, don’t touch her recklessly, ask Anissa’s consent first.’ 

Dietrich, who had reached out his hand to tuck Anissa’s hair behind her ears, clenched his fist at Yuric’s advice that came to mind. 

Her consent, right? 

He wanted to know, too.

Dietrich shook his head at Yuric’s advice and asked. 

‘Can I just ask her if I want to touch her?’

‘Are you crazy? Do you plan to shatter the atmosphere by asking like that?’

He wanted to know if he could reach out, but he shouldn’t ask if he could.  It was too difficult for him. 

Thus, he couldn’t dare to touch Anissa and leaned on the sofa with his arms crossed. 

“I want to sit next to you.”

Anissa, ignorant of his insides burning black, moved like a squirrel and sat next to him.

Even though he held his breath quickly, Dietrich closed his eyes, barely holding back a painful groan as the scent of sweet peach pricked the tip of his nose.

He wanted to embrace her.

But to do so, he had to ask her consent. 

“Anissa.”

When he finally opened his lips with all his heart and soul –

“Why?” 

She smiled with her eyelids lowering down her azure eyes which were as clear as the summer sky. 

The way that the sunlight spread over her white forehead was so pretty that Dietrich forgot the words he had prepared to say.

Someone seemed to have cut her hair last night. 

‘I can’t hold back.’

He closed his eyes tightly to the desire that felt like it would overflow like a broken dam with just a touch of a fingertip. 

He struggled to move his wobbly leg, picking up a cushion that was sprawled in the corner. 

As he hugged the cushion and grunted when he had never shown any pain in his life, Anissa chewed her lips with a perplexed face.

“Why are you running to a corner?”

“…….”

“Does it hurt that much?”

Now, it was no longer just a matter of asking for her consent.

He didn’t even touch her.

It was just a matter of facing her fair face that didn’t show any signs of knowing his feelings.  

Instead of answering, Dietrich kicked Anissa out, who was asking about his condition.