Chapter 19.1

Kallian glanced briefly at the woman. She was sitting on the ground, seemingly unable to stand, supported by Iann’s aide. Her tear-filled eyes glared at him, which Kallian found amusing. It didn’t matter; after all, Iann was right here, beside him.

Yes, Iann had chosen to end the situation by grabbing him, not shielding or embracing her. The inexplicable satisfaction welling up inside Kallian was undeniable. The whirlwind of emotions he had just experienced—how sudden and nonsensical they were—was a problem for later.

Slowly, Kallian moved his arm behind himself, instinctively trying to position Iann behind him. It seemed far better for his mood to keep Iann arguing with him rather than paying attention to anyone else.

“Hey, hey! That’s enough!”

Iann, who had expertly gauged that Kallian no longer had the intent to escalate, immediately stepped back. Standing between Kallian and Yuhwa, he darted his gaze between the two, as if caught in the middle of an impending explosion.

“Yuhwa. Thanks for stepping up. But my leg is almost healed now, thanks to you. I’m fine.”

“Iann….”

Hearing Iann’s reassuring words, Yuhwa’s tense expression crumbled, relief washing over her. It was as if she had found her savior. The bond between the two, naturally reinforced in that moment, created a warmth that made Kallian grit his teeth. His jaw tightened visibly.

“Derrick, take care of Yuhwa for now. Yuhwa, stay with Derrick.”

“Iann.”

Kallian’s voice called him. Iann, busy wrapping up the situation, flinched at the sound. The earlier intensity of Kallian’s actions had genuinely shaken him.

Ah, so this is why he’s the Duke of the North, Iann thought. Wasn’t it common in K-romance fantasy for the male lead to exude deadly intent toward the female protagonist at first? Maybe he’d even try to kill her before falling for her? Iann rifled through his memories of K-romance tropes.

“Iann.”

“What? What now?”

Kallian called again, and Iann finally locked eyes with him. The stormy fervor in Kallian’s gaze had diminished, leaving him looking more like a drenched, pitiful stray puppy.

‘Seriously, why get so angry with the female lead? Even if you’re jealous about how close we look, that’s overboard.’

Iann thought, piecing things together. He recalled that Kallian, like himself, had never been in a relationship. In hindsight, it made sense that Kallian would act like such an idiot.

‘Ah, he’s just a fellow romance rookie.’^[1]

As one rookie to another, Iann’s irritation ebbed, replaced by a flicker of sympathy. He’d planned to scold Kallian for raising his voice at Yuhwa, but the moment passed.

Iann changed the subject instead.

“Why are you so late anyway? You’re the host of this hunting festival! Is it acceptable to move this slowly? That thing”—Iann gestured far away toward the enormous corpse of the insectoid monster—“was huge! I’m sending an invoice for damages this time.”

“We were dealing with similar monsters on my side. And…”

Kallian hesitated. I felt reassured, knowing you’d be here, he thought quietly to himself. It was the truth.

Whenever incidents like this occurred, Iann often handled them as much as Kallian did. No matter how skilled he was as the Empire’s Sword, protecting the vast empire alone was impossible. Whether he acknowledged it or not, the Archmage Iann, whom he’d never defeated, provided him a silent sense of security.

“What? Is that your excuse? Aren’t you supposed to be the Empire’s Sword? Look at this, my leg!” 

Iann extended his leg theatrically. He purposefully avoided rolling up his blood-streaked trousers; Yuhwa’s magic had already healed his leg, but revealing that would ruin the bluff.

“Well? Explain yourself!”

Kallian remained silent as Iann yelled. Iann, delighted by this rare display of timidity, pressed further until he noticed something was off.

“Kallian?”

“Does it hurt a lot?”

“What?”

“How could you let something like that get to you? What were you even doing?”

“…What?”

“…I’m sorry.”

“…What?!”

T/N:

^[1] ↩

모태 솔로 is the original term, but i couldn’t figure out a catchy way to say it. An accurate translation would be ‘single since birth’ but it’s too lengthy to be catchy

 

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