After the invitation to Loengram Castle, which came like a lightning bolt from the blue sky, Min-ha’s time flew by.
In the meantime, she was excluded from cleaning the East Annex. Instead, she spent the rest of her time packing things with the help of Ella and Pompa, learning sewing and handicrafts, and visiting the library in her spare time to read books about this world and the Loengram region which she will be going to in the future.
As she continued, the first thing she learned was that the first language in this world was ‘English’ and that the cursive was ‘the handwriting used by nobles.’ So, Min-ha had to suffer from reading English, which she could not find anywhere else in order to read the books in the library.
Well, when she was in high school, she worked hard and let go of some of the knowledge to some extent when she entered college.
…Had she had known this would happen, she would have worked hard.
Fumbled with regret, Min-ha continued reading her book.
However, not only did she study English extensively, she has now improved her sewing skills enough to make simple tops and bottoms as well. Her embroidery skills were also better so that the blue birds were not mistaken as blue balls.
In her spare time, she spent time with Noah, and in the evenings, she always had dinner with Noah and Seth.
As a result, Min-ha became accustomed to sitting down at a long table, waiting for Seth if he was ever late from work, and eating together with just the three of them in the East Annex.
After all, humans were adaptable beings. At first, just imagining sitting at the same table with Seth eating rice made her feel uncomfortable to the point of death, though it was a major development.
…No, to be honest, it was still uncomfortable for Min-ha.
Seth Persen, just making eye contact with him, her heart would pound like crazy and her face heated up.
Ella was a liar. She told her that if they see each other often, she would get used to it. Rather, when Min-ha became conscious of her heart, which she had struggled to admit, her heart’s agitation only intensified.
Nevertheless, she thought that it was strange that she did not hate it.
Is this how it feels to like someone? She thought she knew her feelings well. Still, even though she said this, her heart would fluctuate so many times a day that she lost confidence in such beliefs.
Min-ha, who had never been particularly fond of anyone, nor had her heart troubled because of her extremely easy-going personality, was a little confused by this sudden upheaval of her heart.
As time went by, it was the morning that they had to leave Persen Castle and go to Loengram Castle.
From dawn, the mansion was busy with servants carrying gifts and luggage to take to Loengram Castle, and armed knights preparing horses. The scenery was similar to the day Seth departed before, though there were some differences.
One of them was that, unlike then, the atmosphere was relatively light and the other was that it was the carriage, not Seth’s horse, that stood at the forefront of the party. And, finally, the most different thing was that this time, Noah’s expression was very bright.
In front of the gate of the mansion, servants were busy preparing for the journey, which would never normally have happened. Noah chatted with an excited face next to Min-ha, who was looking at him.
“Sister-in-law, sister-in-law! Are we going in that carriage?”
“Yes. That’s right, Noah.”
“Am I and sister-in-law going to ride in that carriage together?”
“Yes. that’s right.”
“Exciting! My brother and I have been to other estates by carriage occasionally, though this is the first time sister-in-law and I are going together!”
“Really? Our Noah, are you happy to all go together?”
“Yes! Ah… By any chance, does sister-in-law not like it?”
“No. If you like it, I like it, too, Noah… Ugh—”
Min-ha, who had been trying to respond to Noah’s words with a smile on her face, made a groaning sound and touched her side. Her hands were itching to untie the corset, the reason for the familiar and unfamiliar pain that made it difficult for her to breathe comfortably.
‘…I think my ribs are going to break.’
She did not want to go through this pain again. So, Min-ha tried to talk to Mrs. Pompa, who was in charge of dressing her up, ‘Can’t I just go in comfortable clothes until we reach Loengram Castle?’
However, she was scolded for asking such a question.
After receiving an official invitation, her request was rejected at once as Mrs. Pompa questioned back whether comfortable clothes would make sense for a rare gathering of the former imperial family and other nobles.
In addition, as it was her position to go as the ‘Duchess’ representing Persen Castle, the attention of other nobles would be focused on them from the moment they got off the carriage upon arriving at Loengram Castle.
As Min-ha listened, there were no wrong words, so she eventually reached a compromise to the extent of ‘Noah might cry, so let’s do it at dawn.’ She had to endure her pain by screaming silently.
‘I think it is tighter today than it was that day…’
She could feel the tightness that made her unable to breathe properly. With her two hands, Min-ha swept down her waistline and back, which had visibly slipped into her body. Then, she made an expression of pain as her intestines twisted with a slight movement from her torso.
“Sister-in-law? Why do you look like that?”
“…Huh? It’s nothing.”
“But, you look sick…”
“It’s really okay. Look! I’m fine, right?”
At Noah’s words of concern for her, Min-ha struggled to move her body, and made a bold expression. Contrary to how she bluffed to Noah, the truth was that she was not fine at all. However, if she ever showed that, the little boy in front of her would burst into tears again.
Min-ha, who was clenching her teeth as she moved her body, was startled by the large hand that suddenly touched her shoulder as if to stop her movement and turned her head in surprise.
“Unless you really want to break a rib, it’s best not to move too much.”
The owner of the hand that covered her shoulder was, of course, Seth.
As he gently patted her on the shoulder, she gazed at him. Then, she soon felt her face heat up at Seth, who gave her a friendly expression.
Seeing her slightly red face, Seth smiled slightly. Then, he turned his body and hugged Noah, who was holding the hem of Min-ha’s dress.
“You look very happy, Noah.”
“Yes! I’m happy that I can go on a trip with my brother and my sister-in-law!”
“Is that so? Then, I’ll have to create opportunities like this more often.”
“Really?!”
“Yes. As much as you want.”
Seth answered Noah’s question with a friendly voice and held his brother in his arms.
Seeing the happy smiles of the two, Min-ha smiled unconsciously. It was so nice to see the brothers who looked just like each other hugging each other and talking warmly like the spring breeze, so she could not help but laugh.
“Then, next time, and in the future, me and sister-in-law can go on a trip together, right? Right, brother?”
At the sound of Noah’s voice that I heard in her ears, Min-ha suddenly widened her eyes without realizing it. She faced the little boy’s smiling face and Seth’s serious gaze, who turned to him before she realized it.
He deliberately looked straight into her eyes and answered Noah.
“Of course.”
“….”
“…But, in a few years, Noah, you might not want to hang out with us anymore. You may not want to be with us.”
“No, brother! I will always be with you!”
“Well, is that so?”
Seth’s reply was obviously directed to Noah, although it seemed as though he was directing it to her.
Min-ha could not take her eyes off Seth, who stared at her passionately as if she had forgotten to blink. Her face was getting hotter than before, her heart was getting louder, and her body was trembling strangely.
So, as if she had revealed everything about her in front of him, Min-ha became embarrassed and tried to avoid his eyes, but to no avail.
In this case, if Seth had avoided the gaze first, she might have been able to calm her violently fluctuating heart. Unfortunately, his eyes did not fall from her at all.
“Lancelot, put Noah into the carriage first.”
“Yes, sir.”
Instead, he left Noah, whom he was holding, to Lancelot as he was approaching them and began to close his steps towards Min-ha.
As he narrowed the distance between the two of them, which was only a few steps, he smiled slightly at Min-ha looking up at him with her blushing face before lowering his head slightly and whispering in her ear.
“Your face is as red as a ripe apple. Is it the corset? Or… Is it because of my answer?”
His voice that was whispering softly like a spring breeze was full of laughter. Min-ha, aware of her turbulent heart, shouted back, blushing at the words that seemed to be teasing her on purpose.
“Of course, it’s because of the corset! You saw that I was dying from suffocation earlier, right?”
“Well, if you say so, then it must be like that.”
“What is that answer now? You don’t believe me, do you?”
“No, I trust you.”
“…I don’t think that’s true.”
‘I am sure he is definitely teasing me…’
Seth, who had a mischievous face as though teasing a child, gazed at Min-ha grumbling and gave an expression of knowing everything. At the next moment, he opened his mouth again as he stroked her shoulder tenderly once more.
“Then, get in the carriage quickly. I’ll untie it just like last time in the secret garden.”
“Yo-You must be crazy! What are you untying…?!”
“What are you so shy about? It’s not the first time.”
“Oh, no! What’s not the first time! Say it with a subject! Others will misunderstand it!”
“I don’t care about being misunderstood.”
She was embarrassed by Seth’s words, which could be misunderstood by anyone who heard him speak as if holding back. Different from when he was continuing his words as if teasing her a moment ago, he suddenly gave a serious reply.
She was so speechless that she did not even know what to say to Seth.
‘…Again. Saying something like that again.’
As if crossing the line between the two of them, Min-ha’s heart raced more and more at the sight of Seth, who spoke more honestly about how he felt these days as though trying to draw out her inner feelings.
In the end, he smiled and spoke to Min-ha, who was still looking at him with a blushed face.
“Really, it’s a reaction that would have been unimaginable if it was the old you.”
“…So, don’t you want to see it?”
“No way.”
“….”
“We’ll talk about this next time when it’s just the two of us. Let’s get on the carriage first. This took longer than I thought.”
“Yes. All right.”
Seeing Min-ha’s overly bewildered figure, he gently returned the topic as if he was being considerate.
Thanks to Seth, she barely took a deep breath and regained her composure as she walked in front of him to get on the carriage. Watching Seth walking at her side, Min-ha carefully swept her hand across her chest.
It is said that the thing that cannot be hidden no matter how hard you try is the feeling of liking someone, and the feeling of liking is something you feel before you realize it.
She could not deny it any longer.
…Right now, she likes Seth Persen.
No matter how much she tried to deny and turn away from her ‘situation,’ there was no other way to explain this feeling.
Min-ha smiled bitterly, realizing that she was trembling even when Seth’s hand slightly collided with hers as they walked side by side.
———
T/N: Ahh~ ♡ This uwuness is killing me! Seth’s being sooo smooth, I swear. 人(´∇｀)人❀