I Don’t Want To Be An Ojakgyo

After receiving a confession and a kiss from Shuraina, Swanhaden felt like he could break the entire galaxy. As soon as he came back to his senses, Swanhaden resisted the urge to wreak havoc as much as he could. Only after he left the West estate did he express his excited mood. Many facilities were destroyed.

Swanhaden wasn't the only one in shock, though. Shuraina was also in a state of shock.

Shuraina thought about what had just happened as she touched her own lips. She looked around, curious at the state of her face at the moment. Thankfully, there was a mirror right where she turned to look. Her lips were puffy like a carp's.

Aaaaaagh!

Shuraina buried her face into her pillow and screamed as loud as she could.

Whenever she closed her eyes, she imagined what had happened earlier. She had rushed Swanhaden for a response, and had just kissed him outright when he looked sharper. They must have spent half an hour, no, half the day with their lips pressed together.

There were almost no people in the remote areas of the estate, and nobody to distract them either. So they must've kept kissing until Emily found them. She could still see Emily's stunned expression still.

Swanhaden's lips were fine, but Shuraina's lips, for some reason, were puffy. Shuraina tried to figure out why this was the case. It must've been because she had been too taken aback to do anything except receive his kisses. After roughly kissing her, he saw how swollen Shuraina's lips were and tried to use healing spells. Shuraina had sternly told him not to do that.

And after their long kiss, it was time for them to depart. At about that time, Swanhaden attempted to kidnap Shuraina after placing her on the Unhorse. The Blanche duke was aghast as he witnessed the disgusting sight of his successor being disgustingly sweet and barely prevented the mess by stepping in himself.

If Shuraina didn't claim that she'd be right back after packing up her things, she almost might've gone missing again without any warning to her family. Swanhaden told her that she didn't need to worry about anything and only had to come with him, but Shuraina liked caring for herself and who she deemed as hers, so she used the excuse of the request to stay at the duke's estate until she joined the knighthood. The main objective of it all was to research white magic and learn how to end this vicious cycle.

The secondary reason was to stay with Swanhaden, who had become her lover.

She pushed away all of the maids who volunteered to pack her belongings and packed her own bags before a chill ran down her spine at a sudden thought. Hold up.

'Swan…..didn't reply?'

She couldn't just say that they were lovers. Swanhaden hadn't given her a proper response.

Wait. Hold up. Did he kiss her to avoid giving her an answer? He wasn't going to toy with her feelings and then tell her, 'I never accepted it, though?' once he was done, right?

She felt like she had gone into a supermarket to buy a toothbrush and then ended up buying everything on sale except for the toothbrush she had gone in for.

'No, no. But he was receptive.'

Did that mean that the toothbrush was a promotional item?

Shuraina became anxious as she packed her belongings. She began to rush.

Shuraina never tried to conclusively say, 'This was it.' at any given situation. It was because she was terrible at reading the air. She was quick at reading the air when it came to situations, but she was pretty bad at reading the air when it came to emotions or relationships. She had gotten hurt at others' opinions of her, so she had tried to ignore it and had ended up dulling her senses at it completely. If she had to figure something out, then she tried her best to find substantial evidence to prove it.

"Miss! Have you become…that…with the little lord? You can't! No way!"

So when Emily clung onto Shuraina and asked if the two of them had started dating, she shook her head.

"Nuna, no way. It's not true, right? Please tell me it's not true. Just live with me forever. I like Swan hyung, but I like you more!"

She shook her head when Karim came and asked, and,

"I can't accept anyone who's worse than Yves. Just, no matter who you bring, I can't accept them."

And she shook her head when Harun asked, too. Her parents soon came over and shook Shuraina by her shoulders, demanding answers, but Shuraina just said that it wasn't it and just shook her head.

When everyone who refused to let Shuraina go heard what she said, they all sighed in relief. Shuraina then spoke to them all with a calm expression on her face.

"So I'm going to figure it out for sure once I head over to the duke's estate."

Shuraina left her home before it devolved into chaos.

The Blanche Dukedom.

They were such a secretive family that they were extremely restrictive of any visitors. Because of that, most people who entered the estate, excluding their employees, were all those who came to marry into the family. There were exceptions, but that was how it usually was. Shuraina was one of those excpetions.

The main reason behind the restrictive visitor rule was because of the dukedom's secret, but there was another reason behind it all as well. It had been a few years since Yulinelle became the duke. The reason why he refused visitors was simple.

It took an immense amount of care and effort to bring in visitors. They needed to get food, provide entertainment to ensure that they stayed entertained, and they also had to care for other needs as well. Yulinelle, the current head, was a perfectionist, but he was also the type to give up easily–if he couldn't do it perfectly, he refused to do it at all. The Blanche family was already quiet and secretive to begin with, so it wouldn't be too strange to refuse visitors anyway.

'That kid is coming?'

So when Shuraina was slated to visit the dukedom, Yulinelle welcomed her but also felt uncomfortable.

He whined and complained about it but did everything he needed to do to ensure her comfort. Moreover, he did a great job of it. Then, he ran out of energy and regretted his life choices.

And Yulinelle continued to do things that he regretted. He ignored the mountains of paperwork on his desk and tried to welcome the guest as much as he could, then whined in annoyance on his desk in confusion.

"What are you doing?"

Swanhaden watched the suffering duke with a pitiful stare before handing him a glass of cold water.

"The West baron's child is coming, right? There's so much to care about. No matter how relaxed she is, she's still a noble's child. She has her own eating habits, her comforts, and her employees…. I can't have her uncomfortable."

When the duke muttered all of this in misery, Swanhaden tilted his head in confusion.

"…..we're done with the preparations, though?"

"…..you're lazy as hell though. You, you who makes it a point to give me your work a day late, are done with preparations?"

"It's for Shuraina."

Yulinelle felt like his entire being was being flipped upside down as he stared at Swanhaden, staring back at him with sparkly eyes.

"Focus on your own duties! Hurry up and take the title so you can take all of my work, too! You can destroy our family or make it prosper–it's all your choice!"

Creak, tmp.

Yulinelle spoke as he bent the metal nib of his pen, but Swanhaden was already gone.

Meanwhile, Shuraina was riding her personal Unhorse–the one that had taken her months to make–and was heading to the Blanche estate.

She had snuck out of her home, so she was just as more careful. Many refused to allow her to work on the duke family's request. She was trying to leave in front of everyone through the main gate when everyone just grabbed at her clothes and refused to let her leave, which had delayed her by a day. And when the same thing happened again the next day, she wrote everyone a letter and snuck out.

It was just a few months, was it that much of a big deal? She didn't really get it. They never said anything when she was at the academy.

The Unhorse glided on the rough roads. She thought it would be a bit of a nuisance for her to demand entry at such an early hour, so she planned on staying outside until around noon and then heading in at the time. When she arrived at the front of the estate after enjoying her drive, there was a person standing in front of the main gate, early in the morning.

Shuraina was surprised to see someone and wondered who it was. She parked her personal Unhorse anywhere she could before storing it in her dimension pocket and walked towards the main gate. It was going to be a bit boring for her to wait until lunch, and she was hoping to have someone to chat with.

IT seemed like the person in question was an employee. They seemed to look left and right, looking for someone, and bowed towards Shuraina as soon as they found her.

"Lady Shuraina! Welcome! Just as I've heard, you're brawny and beautiful and strong!"

"…….."

Shuraina frowned as she looked at the person who had been waiting for her at such an early hour. I mean, she liked being told that she was brawny and strong, but had they been waiting for her until this ungodly hour?

Shuraina was taken aback, but the employee took her belongings and opened the door to the estate. No, the door had been wide open before. Shuraina hadn't known this, but Swanhaden had told everyone to keep the doors open for Shuraina, just in case. There could have been a few people who would have tried to enter for unscrupulous reasons, but the owner of the estate was Swanhaden, after all. They learned their lesson after a few failed attempts.

The employee was extremely caring to Shuraina's needs.

"First, please place your belongings in your room. I'll show you the desserts that have been prepared for you. But you must be tired from traveling during such early hours, so I recommend that you get some rest first."

"…….."

Swanhaden had trained the employee in how to act towards Shuraina. Shuraina was amazed at how this person knew everything that she wanted. Shuraina, still stunned, followed the employee with penguin-like steps.

"Excuse me….. How did you know that I would arrive at this time?"

"We were ordered to stand outside because we didn't know when you would arrive."

The employee searched Shuraina's expression before speaking again.

"Oh, don't worry. We were doing rotations, waiting for you. Our young lord was waiting with us, too, but he stepped out to go to the city for a moment."

Swanhaden had remembered her sleeping habits and had gone out to the city to buy some more pillows for Shuraina's room.

"This early?"

"Yes. Don't worry. He'll be back once you've got your rest."

The employee kept their smile as they answered all of her questions. They soon reached her room as they walked. The employee took her belongings and placed them in her room, then handed her a light device that they had been holding to Shuraina.

"I hope you enjoy your stay with us. If you're ever uncomfortable, please press the button on the device. Myself or another employee will come running to you. If there's someone you don't like or makes you uncomfortable, please tell us. They'll be fired immediately."

"……"

"If there's anything you want, please feel free to tell us. If it's something difficult to obtain, we'll make sure it gets to you, even if it gets us fired."

When Shuraina seemed uncomfortable, the employee frowned and bit down on their tongue slightly. Damn it, did they already mess up? How much did they have to care for her?

They raised their head to look at the orange haired girl in front of them. They still looked young, having just graduated from the academy.

Anyone who had ever worked in the estate all knew. That the young master was completely, head over heels, crazy for this child. They had no idea when it happened. Maybe it had been before he had entered the academy, or maybe it was after. They were so crazily obsessed with this child that there wasn't a single soul in the estate that didn't know of her.

It was obvious. They had been trained again and again on how to talk to her and to be careful of her. If any of them made a single mistake and made her angry, they would pay with more than just their lives.

She was supposedly here to help with things related to the dukedom, but they didn't believe it at all. What could a young noble like her do? She was just here to have dates with the little lord.

Anyway, the employee was kind of taken aback. Why was the little lord so obsessed with her? Honestly, she wasn't as pretty as they had hoped she would be. They thought she would be some kind of incredible beauty, seeing how obsessed they were.

The little lord seemed like the type to bring home an incredibly beautiful woman that he could manipulate as much as he wanted, but for him to bring such a fierce looking, child-like girl. That was some acquired taste. Maybe he liked fierce women? No, that didn't seem to be it. He looked like he was getting played instead.

Or maybe she had an incredibly abusive personality that was leaps and bounds worse than the little lord. And maybe she was manipulating him instead? Was that why the little lord couldn't win against her? Then how horrible could she be?

The employee tried not to leer at Shuraina and tried to soften their gaze towards her. They didn't want to get bullied by the little lord again.

"Thank you for bringing me."

Shuraina, after arriving at her room, bowed slightly and handed them the candies that she had been eating on the way here.

"…..Ah. Yes. Please rest well."

When Shuraina behaved politely to them, just another servant, they seemed taken aback as they touched the hem of their shirt. They seemed like they were incredibly mean when they had been following them without a word, but seeing how she was smiling at them made them think otherwise.

'I guess her personality isn't as fierce as her face.'

Hopefully she wouldn't be too difficult.