episode_0021

“Then, how about a bet?”

“A bet?”

Christia looked down at me with an intrigued gaze.

“Yes, if Astia-gyeong confesses to that man and makes him her personal servant within a week, then I win; otherwise, I lose.”

“A cute bet, I see. So, what’s the stake?”

Christia spoke with a sly smile.

“If I win, for just one day, you’ll act as you did before. Of course, it won’t be pleasant if others find out, so you’ll have to stay in your room all day.”

Christia furrowed her eyebrows.

“Not a bad condition… And if I win?”

“Then, for a day, you can handle me however you like.”

“Agreed.”

Confidence filled Christia’s eyes, certain of her victory.

“But what if Astia doesn’t confess? What then?”

“Oh, come on, as if that would happen? I even told her not to think about seeing Christia’s face if she doesn’t confess.”

Even if it takes some time, she’ll probably confess eventually.

“And if it seems there’s no proper way, we could intervene, right?”

I tried to look as sardonic as possible, and Christia responded with a similar smirk.

They were acting just like a pair of lovers. Both equally cunning.

“Still, I’d like to give it a bit more time. While having someone intervene in a love affair is sweet, love itself is about conquering on one’s own.”

“So, that’s why you confessed to me first?”

She replied to my words with an audacious tone.

“Confessed to you first? I never confessed to you in the first place, did I? Aren’t you my personal servant?”

I lowered my head with a sad expression at her words.

“Don’t play dumb. Do you think I’m like everyone else?”

“Tsk,”

She was indeed a tough opponent.

We had spent so much time together, and I didn’t think I could deceive her with such a shoddy act. It was quite disappointing that my wholehearted performance didn’t resonate at all.

“Anyway, it seems more time is needed.”

Christia smiled contentedly as she looked at Astia.

***

“Sigh…”

Astia let out a deep sigh.

It was to the extent that her usually contained chill momentarily burst out, demonstrating just how troubled she felt. Though it would quickly dissipate into the surroundings, this momentary chill was potent enough to instantly freeze the moisture in the air, affirming her as one of Kristia’s mightiest knights.

“I’m… such a coward.”

What’s the point of having such formidable power?

Despite possessing such strength, she couldn’t even muster the courage to confess to the man she admired, revealing the delicate nature of her heart.

In truth, she had never attempted anything requiring courage. Dueling an adversary? She always held the upper hand, so there was no reason to fear or need bravery.

In this world, the only woman stronger than her, Kristia, was always her staunch ally, leaving her with even less reason to be afraid.

“Can I… do this?”

Normally, it was the man who confessed his love to the woman, but the situation was different now. Astia held a much higher position and overwhelmingly powerful might, so it was only natural for her to confess first.

“Besides, it’s hard to imagine that he likes me…”

Instinctively, Astia suspected that at least in terms of favor, Lume, the man in question, harbored some level of affection for her.

While Lume typically maintained a businesslike demeanor with others, he had been remarkably gentle with her, despite her holding the status of the kingdom’s second-in-command.

However, her concerns outweighed her instincts. She had convinced herself that he could never possibly like her.

When would this budding romance between these two inexperienced individuals begin?

For onlookers, it was quite an intriguing subject.

“Sigh…”

Astia let out another sigh.

What should she do?

When she continued to be lost in her thoughts, worrying that giving a gift might make the recipient feel burdened and distance herself, those who had never seen her like this approached her.

Living always in the shadow of Crestia, she had nowhere to go outside of Crestia’s mansion, so the attendants couldn’t just leave her alone, sitting in the study, sighing.

“Is something troubling you?”

It was a well-established fact among the attendants that Astia harbored feelings for Lumen, a man who ran a flower shop in the north, something the townspeople were completely unaware of. The knights, preoccupied with daily battles, were oblivious to the topic of conversation being skewed in that direction, but the attendants were quite interested in love stories.

What started as a baseless rumor had almost solidified into established fact, but in reality, Astia did indeed have affection for Lumen, so the gossip circulating among the attendants could very well be accepted as truth.

Amidst this, why was Astia leaving everyone else in the Armenian Kingdom and coming here to pine away like this?

This was a clear-cut love problem.

“No, it’s nothing.”

Her expression said otherwise.

As a knight, and not having to engage in political maneuvering due to her lord, Crestia, being the ruler, Astia had never bothered to learn how to conceal her emotions.

Crestia, being a ruler, had learned to feign emotions that could deceive everyone except Sacher, the court jester, but since there was no political disadvantage for Astia in maintaining a stoic demeanor, she had never been taught the art of emotional deception.

“Oh, come on, that’s clearly not the case.”

The attendant who addressed Astia held the second-highest position among the attendants, right after Laila.

Laila followed Cristia to the Kingdom of Armenia, and as she held the next highest position, she remained at the mansion. Unlike the composed impression Laila gave off, she was quite sociable, so she got along with most of the people in the mansion. She had enough closeness to worry about Astia when she made a bitter expression.

“What kind of face do I have?”

“It looks like a face full of worries and concerns about love.”

“…Is it that obvious?”

Whether it was obvious or not.

Two onlookers who were secretly watching her nodded their heads vigorously.

Their timing coincided so perfectly that while the two were momentarily surprised, Lena continued speaking.

“Yes, it’s quite obvious.”

“…I see. Then there’s no need to hide it more.”

If it had only been Cristia, her master, who knew, she would have continued to hide it. However, realizing that even Lena, who was sociable, knew, Astia began to complain to her. Perhaps it was also because she could get advice from Lena, who was living well with her boyfriend.

The two onlookers focused on the conversation, tearing open their popcorn.

“So that’s what happened.”

As Astia explained everything that had happened so far, Lena nodded as if understanding.

“I can tell it’s a sweet, innocent love story… In my opinion, it’s better to go straight and confess while giving flowers.”

“What’s your basis for that?”

“Well, if a man like Rumi loves Astia and hears the story of a wonderful woman like Astia buying a flower shop’s worth of flowers for him, wouldn’t he fall in love right away, even if he hadn’t loved her before? He’d just surrender to that charisma.”

“But what if he rejects my confession?”

In response to Astia’s serious question, Lena smiled and replied.

“Then… I guess I’ll just go and bring him to the mansion. It seems like many of the knights have acquired personal spirit beasts after Lady Christia summoned hers, so there’s no reason why I, Astia, couldn’t do the same, right?”

Upon Lena’s words, Astia looked at Lena with a puzzled expression.

“Still, that feels like dominating him with my power and authority, and I don’t like that.”

“Don’t worry. From my intuition, the chance of this man, Lumen, becoming your personal spirit beast is less than 1%. There’s a 99% probability that you and Mr. Lumen could become lovely and adorable lovers, Astia.”

With great confidence, Lena spoke, and Astia’s expression brightened a bit more.

“Alright… I’ll give it a try and see how it goes.”

Astia confidently made his way to Lumen’s flower shop.

And once again, he returned with just one single blue flower.