Ch.112112. Summer in North Sweden

In Norsweden, there were hardly any warm periods.

The cold north.

A place where snow was always piled up.

A city where cold waves and heavy snowfall were everyday occurrences.

That was the image of Norsweden.

But this year’s summer was actually living up to its name, day after day.

The snow that seemed like it would never melt had turned to water and seeped into the ground, and people were walking around outside wearing just long sleeves instead of their thick fur coats.

Of course, the temperature was lower compared to other regions, but compared to last year’s Norsweden, the sunshine felt quite warm.

That’s why Norsweden was holding a summer night market festival hosted by Deia.

Originally, when night fell, the cutting wind was too fierce to comfortably walk around, but now the cold was just right for strolling with a cup of hot cocoa in hand.

Realizing this, Deia organized the night market and smiled contentedly as she watched the citizens of Norsweden laughing and enjoying themselves until this late hour.

It was a good time, and a good place.

She had long forgotten her brief claim in the capital Greyfond that she was a city woman suited to living in the capital.

Deia Verdi was a northerner to the bone, and she loved Norsweden.

The problem was…

“Wow, this is delicious.”

“Sip, this is difficult.”

The two unexpected visitors who suddenly appeared.

The first to arrive was, surprisingly, the princess of the Griffin Kingdom, Elenoa Luden Griffin.

She had been living in Norsweden for about two weeks now, hiding her identity and dressed like a student in a white beret and modest dress, always carrying paper and pen.

She seemed to have a hobby of drawing something, earnestly capturing the scenery of Norsweden like a young artist.

Occasionally, Deia had witnessed her drawing strange winged staff-like objects or a girl in a fancy pink dress.

Anyway, after several conversations, Deia had a vague idea of why Elenoa had come, so she kept her thoughts to herself.

Just when she thought that crazy brother of hers was finally acting like a decent human being, he managed to catch a big fish.

Using the same skills he used to seduce prostitutes to seduce a princess of a nation.

‘Of course, he’s a different person now.’

Though it was Shinwoo Kim inside, she still wanted to say something. Thanks to this, the family head Darius was living a life of constant wariness.

Especially the members of the junkyard crew who were hiding their identities while speaking awkward royal language.

‘They’ve already been found out.’

Though she appeared innocent and girlish on the outside, Elenoa possessed the insight of a ruler and had immediately discerned their identities.

The fact that she didn’t insist on principles or make an issue of it could be seen as the generosity of a ruler.

And the other person.

“Ah, he should be arriving soon.”

A small-framed girl with long hair who openly declared she was waiting for Deus Verdi.

Aria Rius.

After hunting down two Black Mages of Dante and parting ways with Erika, she came straight to Norsweden.

Thinking that Deus would definitely return to Norsweden just before the end of the vacation, she had come early to wait for him.

In fact, Deia had been thinking something similar. Although she didn’t particularly want to get involved with these two people.

She thought that no matter how busy he was, Deus would return to Norsweden at least once.

Since once the Academy’s second semester started, they wouldn’t see him for a while again.

But what was this?

The Academy’s vacation was about to end. The two visitors were disappointed but didn’t mind since they could meet him again at the Academy.

From Deia’s perspective, it was somewhat unpleasant. She didn’t want to see him, but it felt irritating that he wasn’t coming.

Perhaps that’s why.

Under the cold night air of the night market and the shabby lanterns, she was writing a letter.

Originally, she wanted to write it calmly in her office, but that wasn’t possible.

“Hey, let me have just one bite of that.”

“What are you saying? If you’re a princess, buy your own.”

She couldn’t go anywhere because of these two bickering people. Since they were prone to causing trouble when out of sight, Deia was keeping close surveillance under the pretext of guiding them.

In Elenoa’s case, she naturally had to be attended to as a princess.

As for Aria, having already witnessed her abilities in Greyfond, she was a person of interest.

The eerie sight of her facing the Magic Judges alone was still strongly imprinted in Deia’s mind.

Leaving such a monster unattended in Norsweden would be no different from leaving a tiger’s cage door open.

Darius had requested a duel with Aria on the first day but was so thoroughly beaten that he didn’t even look at her afterward.

‘He could have at least given him a chance to improve his skills.’

It was an instant defeat.

Aria had strongly emphasized that she didn’t want to waste unnecessary time as she knocked Darius down with a single blow.

“That’s really unfair.”

“No, if you just go and say you’re a princess, they’ll give it to you right away. Why do you want what I bought with my money?”

“You ate mine last time too.”

Looking at them like this, they were just like kids.

No, was it a problem because they were kids?

Deia sighed deeply and continued writing her letter.

– I understand that your duties and responsibilities as a Spiritmaster keep you busy, but the citizens of Norsweden are also citizens of Griffin.

– Just showing your face here once would make the people of Norsweden very happy.

– I don’t want to pressure you, but I’d like you to come visit once. It will be difficult to come once the second semester at Robern Academy starts.

– The people at the junkyard also say they want to see Findenai.

“Hmm, should I not write about Findenai?”

It felt like she was being clingy, giving various reasons for him to come.

No, it’s not that he absolutely has to come.

It’s just that if he comes, the people of Norsweden would be happy to see the successful Deus, and it would strengthen the position of the Verdi family.

Especially since the surrounding nobles, though not saying it openly, were viewing them unfavorably as a family of Black Mages.

If he came directly and set things straight once, it would be cleanly resolved.

‘I should add something about the nobles too.’

If she didn’t make it clear that it was for the greater good, he might just write back without coming.

As she was contemplating the contents of the letter, Elenoa and Aria suddenly joined her from both sides.

“Write that the princess ‘happened to’ come visit.”

“Happened, my foot. If you say that Professor’s top disciple Aria has come looking for him, wouldn’t he come right away? I’ve prepared a gift too.”

“Sigh, I’m sorry, but could you all please go away for a bit?”

She knew such speech was extremely rude to a princess. But after taking care of them for two weeks, she felt she had earned the right to speak this way.

Moreover, perhaps because of her position as Deus’s sister, both of them tended to be somewhat mindful of Deia.

Had he become even more popular than during his playboy days?

Deia momentarily felt a surge of irritation and pressed hard on her pen, but managed to restrain herself.

She almost wrote something harsh.

‘Don’t they realize that the current Deus and the past Deus are different people?’

The truth that the current Deus was actually Shinwoo Kim. Deia felt strange thinking that they didn’t know this and were still so fond of him.

A sense of superiority from having family-privileged information.

That’s why she uncharacteristically probed them.

“By the way, do you know that Deus was a playboy?”

She asked casually, testing them.

Any normal woman would flinch at this point and show disappointment in Deus, but.

“Of course I know.”

“How could I not know that?”

“Huh?”

Deia couldn’t help but be surprised by their unexpectedly calm reactions.

No, what kind of woman could calmly accept that the man she liked used to go around seducing women?

Were they brave, or did they have saintly forgiving hearts?

Or did they love Deus enough to overlook all that?

Deia couldn’t understand it at all. This was Deus we’re talking about.

No matter how much his inner self had changed, on the outside he was still the filthy Deus!

Even now, she occasionally heard gossip from residents who had drunk and fought with Deus, or prostitutes talking about his incredible nighttime skills.

‘At least I can accept it because I know his inner self is a different person.’

Since the real Deus was asleep and had become Shinwoo Kim, Deia could somewhat suppress her aversion and accept it…

‘Wait a minute.’

A thought struck her mind like lightning. With her heart pounding, Deia very carefully opened her mouth.

“Shinwoo Kim.”

As if uttering a secret code, she spoke his name.

Elenoa and Aria’s gazes quickly turned to Deia.

“Ah, ah, you know?”

“The Professor’s real name?”

Then the two girls looked at each other.

“You too?”

“You too?”

No.

What was this situation?

She had thought it was obviously a secret.

Logically, it’s not something you can casually tell others about—that you’ve taken over someone else’s body.

That’s why even the family head Darius didn’t know.

She thought he had told her because she was family, trustworthy, and tight-lipped.

She thought it was a secret to be taken to the grave.

“Ha.”

She couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.

Until now, the three of them had been thinking exactly the same thing.

In the end, she thought she had an advantage over other women because she knew Deus’s truth.

That Shinwoo Kim was his real name and identity.

But that wasn’t the case.

In the end, they were all looking at the same person.

And feeling the same sense of deprivation.

Rip, rip.

Deia blacked out all the contents of the letter she had been writing, and wrote just one big sentence.

– You bastard, come and explain yourself.