Chapter 51

Outing

Somehow, this felt awkward.

It was probably because this was the first time we were meeting ‘personally,’ without any connection to the contract.

“……”

“……”

Noel and I stared at each other in silence.

Compared to my slightly neater-than-usual appearance, Noel was dressed to the nines from head to toe, to the point where it stood out.

…Wasn’t this the same person who just wore a uniform to a banquet hosted by the Imperial Family?

‘Calm down.’

I took a deep breath inwardly and opened my mouth.

At any rate, Noel didn’t look anywhere near normal right now.

She looked either completely dazed, as if she didn’t even realize what she was doing—

…or so tense it was hellish.

Whichever it was, I needed to keep my head on straight.

It was something I’d reflected on before.

The more goodwill someone had toward you, the more careful you had to be.

The closer the relationship, the more catastrophic it’d be if you slipped up.

“Is there anywhere you’d like to go?”

When I finally spoke, Noel snapped out of it and forced herself to respond.

“L-like, a movie theater, or eating something good… Isn’t that what a date is? I’m not really sure.”

“…Then should we at least go eat—”

“P-please wait just a moment! I have a list prepared!”

“……”

I was left speechless as I watched her pull out a notebook and flip through it.

I mean, sure.

I’d looked up a few basic things we could do too.

But compared to Noel’s notebook—handwritten, full of circles and X marks and various notes—I didn’t even come close.

Just how much preparation did this woman do?

And overwhelmed by that level of readiness, I followed her without complaint to the restaurant she’d picked out.

“……Lady Noel.”

“Yes?”

“…Isn’t this place a bit too nice?”

But—

The place she dragged me to and sat me down at was, no matter how you looked at it, clearly way too expensive for someone like me to be eating at.

With trembling hands, I opened the menu, and the prices made me want to bolt from the seat.

From the perspective of someone like me—who used to live in a tiny house with my dad and little sister, struggling day to day to make ends meet—

“……”

Just looking at those prices felt like they might give me an arrhythmia.

“Shall I bring you everything on this page?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“……”

And the one who dropped that bomb without hesitation was, of course, Lady Noel.

‘…Seriously.’

It was something I’d felt more than a few times by now.

Even in small things like this, the difference showed.

Noel and I lived in completely different worlds.

“You don’t look well. Are you uncomfortable here?”

“…No.”

And the fact that someone like her was the one more nervous, checking my mood—that was, if anything, the more bizarre part of all this…

This whole situation already made my stomach churn, but there was something else that made it even worse.

‘…What is she doing over there?’

I could feel Katya’s gaze piercing me from behind.

She was doing her best to conceal her presence, but within my perceptual range—as another holy power user—it was impossible not to sense her clearly.

She’d followed us all the way here and was now lurking at a distance, constantly peeking over.

“……”

Honestly, I was completely on edge.

Whatever the case, the bond Katya had with me right now was ‘Obsession.’ If I let something careless slip, who knew how she might react?

It’d be best to keep the conversation flowing naturally, while carefully avoiding anything that might upset Noel.

Honestly, Katya was the type you never knew what kind of disaster she might cause if something ticked her off.

“You’ve seemed busy lately. Are you alright?”

The safest topic would be official business. Katya wouldn’t react much to something like this.

“Honestly, more than being busy… it’s been harder because of you, Aiden.”

“…Excuse me?”

“There’s so much I want to say to you, but it’s so hard to get a moment alone together. Her Highness Katya is so clueless she won’t even give you a bit of personal time—”

—I could vividly imagine Katya’s eyes shooting sparks from behind. Even without turning around, I could feel that sharp, icy glare stabbing into my back.

So I quickly changed the subject.

“Well, I’m fine with that sort of thing, so you don’t need to worry… Anyway, you’ve been summoned to the palace quite frequently lately, Lady Noel.”

To be honest, this was something I was genuinely curious about too.

The prince and the Minister of Administration were supposed to be lying low for a while. Even if they were moving under the surface, they weren’t in any position to cause another incident so openly.

But recently, I’d seen Noel being called in for direct discussions with the Emperor far too often. Even as someone not directly involved in state affairs, it was obvious that something was going on.

Noel let out a long sigh and answered.

“The Aslan Ducal House is causing trouble.”

At that name, my brow twitched.

‘…The Aslan Ducal House?’

He was already well-acquainted with the name of that house.

The shield that upheld the Empire from the northern Void Zone. One of the Empire’s most prestigious military families.

While the most renowned martial figure in the Empire was the Lionhearted, every rank beneath him was filled almost exclusively with people from the Aslan Ducal House—proof of their overwhelming influence.

And for Aiden, he was also familiar with them for another reason.

‘Key figures of Chapter 2.’

They were the central players in Act I, Chapter 2—Night of the Hunt.

“…What’s going on over there?”

“Well… there’ve long been rumors about the Duke of Aslan’s declining health. The problem is, all of his successors are ambitious types. It’s widely known that the duke’s son and daughter don’t get along. It’s your typical succession crisis.”

“……”

And again, this was different from the original storyline.

‘…The Duke of Aslan is sick?’

Originally, Chapter 2 involved eliminating the root of a beast rampage incident that broke out in the duke’s territory with the duke himself. But now, even the foundation had been twisted.

‘This doesn’t bode well.’

If a succession conflict was also underway, that made it the perfect setup for the prince and the Minister of Administration—who couldn’t act openly—to sneak in behind the scenes.

In the narrative transition from Chapter 2 to Chapter 3, the Duke of Aslan and his domain played a pivotal role in the scenario.

What Noel just mentioned wasn’t something to be taken lightly.

“—More importantly, Aiden.”

“…Yes?”

“That’s not what matters right now.”

And just like that—

As if cutting off the thoughts forming in Aiden’s head, Noel cleared her throat and spoke up.

“Right now, here, I mean—that is to say—”

Noel fidgeted, her eyes darting around as she stammered out her words.

The way she squirmed made it clear that saying this was taking all the courage she could muster.

“—I’d like for us to just talk about things between us.”

“……”

“There’s still… a lot we don’t know about each other. After all, we’re going to be husband and wife.”

“…That’s true. Is there something you’d like to ask me?”

To be honest, Noel’s request wasn’t strange at all.

In fact, Aiden and Noel were tied together in a contract marriage, but they knew almost nothing about one another. Asking to talk more wasn’t exactly unreasonable—

“I think I prefer having a son over a daughter. What about you, Aiden?”

—Aiden’s body stiffened completely.

He had no doubt Katya, watching from behind, was probably frozen in the same way.

“…Was that a strange question?”

“…Quite.”

It was definitely not the kind of question one should ask on a first date.

Especially not in a situation where an uninvited guest—someone who already felt uneasy just seeing the two of them together—was eavesdropping nearby.

Noel’s face turned slightly pale. She looked like she was trying hard to come up with a better question…

“Then should I change the question to how many children you’d like to raise?”

“……”

Please.

No.

It hit him again—this woman had an absolutely catastrophic sense of moderation when it came to this kind of topic…

“…Shall we talk about something else, Lady Noel?”

“…Like what kind of baby supplies would be best to use?”

…He wished her train of thought would just move away from kids. He was begging.

As Aiden twisted in his seat trying to escape the barrage of terribly inappropriate first-date questions, Katya’s gaze grew sharper by the second.

It felt like his blood was drying out in real-time.

“……”

Please.

Save me.

Someone, please get me out of this hell—

Just as Aiden clenched his eyes shut with that desperate thought—

A savior burst into the restaurant.

“Get down!”

“Put the money in the bag! Now!”

…In the form of men wearing masks and aiming guns at people.

“……”

It was sudden, yes, but considering they were about to be pulled out of this situation, calling them saviors wasn’t entirely inaccurate.

Armed robbery had become a rare sight in recent times. Especially the old-fashioned kind, where masked men waved guns around.

In a world filled with people who could shatter boulders with their bare hands thanks to supernatural powers, there simply weren’t many fools left bold enough to try something like that.

And in this very restaurant, there were two of the most dangerous among them sitting at the same table.

“On the ground! Move even a toe and I’ll blow your head off!”

“Empty your wallets! Dump them all in the bag!”

So it wasn’t fear that Aiden felt as he looked at the yelling, gun-wielding men. It was clearly something else.

While the other customers were screaming and dropping to the floor, his eyes flicked back and forth between Noel and Katya.

“-Haa.”

With a thick vein pulsing on her forehead, Noel let out a sigh.

Her breath shimmered with an exquisitely refined flow of qi, looking almost like it had sublimated into white mist.

“I went through so much trouble, mustered up all my courage to set this up—”

“……”

Aiden watched her with cold sweat running down his back, as her eyes glinted with killing intent. The knife and fork in her hands were being bent out of shape.

“—And these damn, inconsiderate criminals had to ruin it—”

…Her anger being more about the date being interrupted than the public disturbance was, admittedly, a bit funny but still.

Behind them, Katya scraped her fork slowly across her plate, a smile on her face. She didn’t look the slightest bit tense—there wasn’t even a hint of anxiety in her expression.

Instead, it was Aiden who began to feel a creeping sense of tension.

‘…What are these two planning to do?’

Primarily in that direction.