CH 8

Chapter 8 ( A trap! )

Asrazan stared at her smiling face.

It was a contract where there was no harm in giving anything. But it was necessary to make sure.

“… Good. But I will add one thing.”

“What is it?”

Instead of answering, he took a fountain pen out of his coat pocket. He then added the words at the bottom of the contract in elegant handwriting.

<If A disappears without purging all of B curse, A accepts any consequences.>

Asrazan slowly moved his gaze from the contract to her. He had sharp eyes.

Lariette checked the last words and swallowed dry saliva without realizing it. Even though I vowed to purify all the curses and leave, I felt a little chilly.

“Okay, I agree.”

“Good.”

They signed a new contract together. Asrazan handed the contract to the servant and instructed him to keep it closely.

“Okay, how about tomorrow? Let’s go on a picnic! The mansion here was huge and looked pretty. There is even a fountain!”

“Tomorrow is the day I go to the Palace.”

“Then the day after tomorrow! I’ll be right the day after tomorrow!”

“… Do you need to be in such a hurry?”

He asked, sipping on the champagne served as an appetizer. It was because she was so impatient.

“It’s very urgent, I…”

“What?”

“Yeah, of course…, that one.”

To Asrazan who asked the question, Lariette replied playfully. She closed her mouth quietly as she squinted her eyes.

* * *

A day of doing nothing was very precious to Lariette.

‘Before, I used to waste every day without realizing it was precious, so stupid.’

Lariette laughed bitterly and said to herself.

I just rolled around in a spacious bed all day, but fortunately, my mana quickly returned to normal. I checked it a few days ago, and it seemed that purification would be possible by now.

‘Before I leave, I have to hurry to clean it all up.’

I was worried that there might be an accident and that I could not go to a picnic because I collapsed after purification, but I believed that the second time would be easier since I had already experienced it once.

Therefore, Lariette woke up as soon as the sun rose in the morning because of the appointment and went to Asrazan’s office. It was the same time as dawn, but he had already woken up and was processing the paperwork in a gloomy look.

“Does Asrazan not even sleep in the morning?”

“It seems to be the same with you, wizards.”

“It’s because it’s a waste of time for me.”

Asrazan wanted to ask what she meant, but he didn’t. Because it was clear that the unfamiliar lines of ‘It’s time to see you’ would return like the last time.

On the other hand, Lariette was having strange thoughts as he expected. To be precise, she was admiring the look on his face again.

‘How could he be so sculpturally handsome?’

It was a face full of decadent beauty. Sexy eyes, a high nose bridge, a sharp jawline, and thin and long lips, there’s nothing that doesn’t look good.

How tall he is and how wide his shoulders are! It was perfect as if someone had copied Lariette’s ideal type, from the thick side tube to the firm chest muscles.

As I stared at him for a long time, a crease crept into his pretty forehead. Before I knew it, Asrahan’s calm blue eyes were directed at her.

“… Stop staring.”

“This is my view, please respect my freedom.”

Asrazan closed his eyes as if in pain, and put his finger on his forehead. Then, in order to change the topic, he hurriedly brought up another topic.

“Picnics go during the daytime. It will still be cold for you.”

“Uh-yes. Do you have time now?”

“As you can see, I’m busy.”

He tapped the document with his pen tip for nothing. However, Lariette smiled brightly and approached him with her arms crossed on the table.

“Don’t you have time to clean up the curse?”

Asrazan’s head lit up.

Have you already recovered your mana? It was an amazing speed even for him who had met all sorts of wizards.

“I’ll sit down.”

She had already sat across her hips in the long chair where he was sitting and reported. Then she added cautiously. 

“I think it would be more effective to touch it with bare skin. Can I take the bandage off?”

“I will do it.”

As soon as Asrazan finished speaking, he quickly loosened the bandage around his right hand. Even though his tattered flesh was exposed, Lariette was still not surprised.

She placed her hand on his hand, as cautious as a baby. The bare skin touched and a white light spread out.

Unlike last time, the amount of leakage was much less. The warm light did not scatter, but wrapped around Asrazan’s hand, and immediately penetrated inside.

The skin that exposed the red inside gradually healed and started to return to its original shape. Recognizing this, his hands trembled again.

Lariette pulled out much earlier than she first tried. From what she understood, this was the maximum amount that Asrahan’s body could accept.

“Whew… The hand is not wide and the curse is not deep. I think it will be one time. Just like last time, the curse will be cleansed from the inside out over a few days.”

“… I can’t believe it.”

For more than ten years to purify the curse, I have been searching for a way. He was still looking for purification wizards until recently, when he gave up halfway.

But Lariette, who suddenly appeared, solved his long-term illness too quickly. He couldn’t believe it the first time he saw it, and now the second time it’s just like a miracle.

“… Is your body okay?”

It was Lariette who lost consciousness after using purification magic and collapsed. Asrazan took his eyes off of his hand and looked at her, but she looked fine.

“Yes. I knew the trick. At that time, I didn’t even know the proper amount, and it was very wasteful because I was not good at concentrating the power of purification on the cursed area.”

Got the trick in just one shot. Asrazan looked at her with a normal smile and admitted that saying that she was the number one purification wizard in the empire was not a lie.

“Now, the curse has been cleaned… Shall we go on a picnic?”

“The morning wind is still… .”

“I don’t care as long as you’re okay! It doesn’t hurt to me.”

Although I had a minor incurable disease! Lariette smiled and swallowed the words. I couldn’t waste time with just the chilly morning wind.

Asrazan pondered for a moment and then put the pen he was holding on the table.

Asrazan had warned, the spring morning weather was very chilly. The sun was a little better, but in the shade, her body trembled.

However, Lariette was so proud of herself that she didn’t want to show her trembling after she came out, so she pretended not to be cold.

‘Even if you look at the trembling arm, you can clearly see the condition.’

Asrazan, who was about to point out, swallowed his words, expecting her to appear blatantly. He then gestured to call the servant. If only Lariette hadn’t grabbed his hand.

“Asrazan, no!”

“… I want to call a servant.”

“I know. How can you have a servant on a date!”

Asrazan doesn’t seem to be conscious that this is a date. Lariette grunted and looked at his coat with a soft gaze.

“You don’t know? that… Take off your clothes to your cold lover. You know, huh?”

“I don’t like it.”

I knew I was going to hesitate, but the answer I got back was too firm. She opened her mouth for a moment to express her embarrassment, but soon agreed.

“Okay…. After all, you don’t want to catch a bitter cold.”

Lariette nodded as if in agreement with him. In fact, he frowned in disbelief.

He just didn’t take it off because he smelled it. The Duke of Candell and the cold were words for a passing dog to laugh at.

“We sit near the fountain over there, in the sun! There are a lot of wild flowers blooming, so the scenery is nice.”

“Let go of your hands.”

Asrazan sarcastically pulled out his hand and answered. Naturally, when the plan to hold his hand failed, Lariette’s eyes drooped.

‘Was I going too fast? Or did he not like me?’

She put the mat she brought with her on the grass and pondered. She thought he would be open to dating, but he was more strict than I thought.

In fact, Lariette was not a person that had been in a lot of relationships.

In her childhood, when she was a little less bound by her responsibilities as a princess, it was all that she dated lightly a few times, and since she came of age, it has been impossible to meet anyone  she wanted to.

That’s why Lariette didn’t know how to seduce a man. She often got seduced because of her appearance.

In conclusion, Lariette’s temptation was all about constant pull. It was something he might push her one day, but not now.

Asrazan followed her instructions and sat down. He’s sitting on a mat on a grass surrounded by flowers. There was a great sense of incongruity

“Wow, the chef carefully prepared it. Finger sandwiches, scones, cakes and macarons… What kind of food would you like to eat first?”

“Anything, It doesn’t matter.”

“Do you have any favorite food?”

“Nothing.”

He replied with a glance at the food in the picnic basket.

Never had I prepared breakfast so splendidly, but it was expected that Halstein’s hand would have touched it with a lot of energy.

On the other hand, Lariette was greatly shocked by the fact that he didn’t have a favorite food. How can we live this hard life without the little pleasure of eating delicious food!

“I like finger sandwiches. I especially like salmon with it, and I can eat cucumber, but I hate it, because the fishy smell makes me sick.”

She chattered over a sandwich with salmon.

“When I was at Blanche, I was forced to eat. Because a princess can’t pick the food.”

Asrazan marveled at her constantly moving lips, and soon realized something she had never known before. A clean scent came from her sitting close by.

“The smell….”

“Yes? Cucumber smell?”

Do you hate the smell of cucumbers too? Lariette grinned, saying they found something in common.

He responded by nodding his head. But what he said was not just the smell of cucumbers. It was a clean, sweet scent from her.

It was no surprise that the noble lady’s body smelled good. What surprised him was the fact that as I sat near her, my terrifying rotten smell was covered in its luscious scent and almost disappeared.

It was surprising that I hadn’t noticed it until now. He still had that unpleasant odor, but it was far less than the original amount.

‘Is it because of the power of purification?’

I wondered that she had never mentioned the dreadful odor, but it was considered compassionate care.

However, the face that brightly mentioned the smell of cucumber was an expression that didn’t know anything.

“Wizard.”

“Yes? why?”

“To me…”

Doesn’t it smell like a rotting corpse? Asrazan clapped his lips, but he didn’t want to say it himself. So he hurriedly changed the subject.

“Give it to me, please. That salmon sandwich.”

“Puhaha! Why are you so serious about that? Of course.”

Larriet gave him a salmon sandwich with a burst of laughter. Asrazan took the sandwich and ate it.

The reddish thin lips opened up and a bright red tongue was visible at first glance. Larriet, who was staring at it blankly, turned her head in surprise.

‘Why are you eating wildly?’

It felt like watching a kissing scene with a salmon sandwich. Lariette fanned her hands and calmed her burning face.

Then, sitting next to him, looking at the blue sky, I started eating my portion of food. A leisurely meal followed.

Asrazan was usually quiet, but it was quieter during the meal, so she suddenly became bored and raised one free hand into the air.

Then she stretched out her index finger and moved it like a circle. A breeze blew at her fingertips, and the surrounding bushes shook.

The flowers cut off by the wind were intertwined in front of Lariette and Asrazan to form a corolla.

“… It seems that there is still mana.”

“Really? Ugh, wait a minute. I don’t really have a talent for wind magic.”

The red flower that flew suddenly fell to the floor as I lost my concentration while giving an answer to Asrazan. Lariette groaned and concentrated on making the wreath.

After about five minutes of concentration, the colorful wreath was finally completed. She looked at the wreath she had made with a satisfied expression on her face and placed it on his head.

“Wow! As expected, it really suits you!”

If anyone else had seen it, they would be fall in love.

A tall, dark-looking man with a height of close to 190 centimeters wearing a cute wreath couldn’t be right. Asrazan was glad that he did not have a servant by his side.

“Is this fun?”

“Isn’t it fun? I find it very interesting to see your handsome face.”

Seeing your handsome face is the most fun in the world! Lariette smiled and took the wreath again. In fact, it was because she was a little scared that he might even pull out a sword after stimulating it more.

When she was determined to hit and exit in moderation, a strong wind suddenly blew at them..

Asrazan gently grabbed his coat and blocked the wind from blowing on her, but Lariette lost the wreath in her hand.

“Oh!”

My wreath! Lariette got up and reached for the flying wreath. To be precise, she threw herself into the fountain where the wreath was falling.

‘Ugh, it’s ruined!’

She closed her eyes tightly, imagining her future that would be like a wet mouse. She was so flustered that she didn’t even think to use magic.

But at that moment, a large hand quickly grabbed Lariette’s slender arm and turned it around.

A trap-!

The texture of the damp water ran down her legs. The hem of the dress that fell into the fountain was droopy and the hips were cold.

Contrary to what I thought it would be quite painful, there was no pain. Lariette  wondered and slowly raised her eyelids.

And she found Asrazan’s face in front of her nose, looking at her with a frown on his forehead.

Shaaa-

A stream of water poured from the fountain, wet his head and upper body.

“… Wizard.”

A drop of water dripping down the nape of his neck, and blue eyes that were exposed between long black eyelashes. And facing his moist lips, Lariette swallowed saliva without realizing it.

“I think it’s time to stop panicking.”