Chapter 11
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A man who only knew how to walk in a straight line looked at me and smiled gracefully.
Thus, as soon as the sun rises tomorrow, we will enter into a ‘matrimonial bond’ that will be colored with lies in a sacred place. I hurriedly waved my hand to get this situation under control.
His words sounded like a prank, but I didn’t know for sure if they were jokes or sincerity.
“No, I will one day, but not tomorrow.” (Diana)
Noah squinted at my determined tone. My back felt cold as I watched his expression gradually change to blankness.
“If you marry me, I’d give you meat every day and different clothes and shoes every day. I’m a man of ability.” (Noah)
“It’s too early to tell.” (Diana)
A harsh suggestion, but this was really too soon. The line that matched this ridiculous situational drama was love.
Moreover, I don’t know when he’s going to change his mind and pull a gun on me, saying it was a lie that I said I loved him.
After seeing the mercenary captain who ran away thinking he was saved but got shot in the head, this man was unpredictable.
In the second half of the original, a short episode of him pretending to have fallen for Celine, seducing her into despair, came to mind.
In spite of the fact that this was a classic novel, the content of the story had a great impact on the enthusiastic readers who were expecting Noah to become a “regretful male lead” and Celine who was always described as beautiful.
In fact, I invested my heart in pushing Noah, who exuded subtle flirtatious charm, as a male lead in the second half of the original story, but, it plummeted to the level of Black Monday and Noah stock was delisted.
[You’re the ugliest woman I’ve ever seen. My secretary, Vincent, is much prettier.]
This part of the story was a bit strange, but after that Celine was devastated. He destroyed Celine’s self-confidence and trampled on her self-esteem.
Celine gave up her thoughts of running away from Noah, whom she had never met many times, but she knew that she had been deceived, and through Noah she learned the importance of Lieutenant Colonel Grenendall and his true love.
The original Celine was a bit of a strange woman, and she’s still strange. In a word, it’s unseemly. Anyway,it was concluded that Noah was a bad man with a beautiful face, a legendary nine-tailed fox of a man who has built up his skills.
I felt like I was participating in this man’s mischievous game, and it made my head hurt. I was being dragged along, forced to fit in like this. I was afraid of what kind of venom he would use if he found out I lied or if lost interest.
He has always been vague about why he brought me here, why he took such good care of me and treated me so well, none of it was concrete or certain.
He didn’t threaten me outright, and he didn’t convince me to take him seriously, so I was just confused. I was in a situation where I couldn’t do either.
I was watching daffodils float down the river, relieving my sorrow. While immersed in thought, Noah, who seemed to have been somewhere, tapped my shoulder and held out something. There were yellow daffodil flowers on his hands.
“It’s my heart.” (Noah)
I looked up at him with a puzzled expression, and Noah took my hand, opened my palm, and placed the daffodils on top of it. He laughed like an innocent boy giving flowers to a girl.
“Originally I planned to pick wild flowers on the road, but no matter how hard I looked I couldn’t find it, so I got this for you.” (Noah)
I don’t know what he meant by saying something that only he could understand, even though it sounded like he had some ambitious plan of his own.
“Did you know that the language of the yellow daffodils is ‘in response to love’? (Noah)
“I don’t. ……….” (Diana)
I stopped talking, feeling embarrassed for some reason. Noah swept my hair behind my ears with a delicate touch and my shoulders shrank slightly at the warmth of his touch on my ear. He chuckled and stuck a flower on my hair.
Contrary to my thoughts, he offered me flowers instead of holding a gun to my head when he asked to marry later. The place in charge of common sense in my head began to suggest giving up understanding.
The crazy manipulative behavior in contrast to the original story and the beginning of the book was increasingly clouding my sense of reality and judgment. My thoughts scattered on their own. There he was giving me flowers by extortion and taught me the language of the flowers.
Cute.
I was surprised and doubted my thoughts that came to my mind. I repeated countless resolutions not to go overboard. It was strange but a little sad because my heart went crazy. It would be a little sad if all of these actions were tests or fakes.
“Thank you.” (Diana)
I touched the daffodil petals on my hand. Noah, who was quietly watching my expression, began pulling flowers out of his coat pocket and piling them up on my hands like a mountain. How much did he take! I had two hands full of daffodils, more than I could handle.
“Why doesn’t the princess smile?” (Noah)
“Me? I just laughed earlier.” ( Diana)
“Not that kind of laugh. I saw you cry. I’m curious how you look when you smile.” (Noah)
What’s the real smile? I rubbed my back hair with an awkward face.
Noah watched my reactions and expressions, as if out of habit. He wanted to see the different expressions, but I didn’t really know what I looked like either.
“I’m happy but I don’t have a wide variety of facial expressions.” (Diana)
“I’m glad you’re happy. Shall we go home now, we have to take marriage vows tomorrow, so I have to go to bed early.” (Noah)
This man…. rejection didn’t work.
He went too far for trying to play me, checking to see if I lied when I said I loved him. I panicked and came up with a plan to be resourceful.
“We have to have time to get to know each other. There may be parts of us that don’t fit, you know?” (Diana)
“We’ve had enough time.” (Noah)
“It’s not enough for me.” (Diana)
“I don’t see anything that doesn’t fit. Princess doesn’t like me?” (Noah)
“No….. hostage to me is excessive. How well did you know me? I might have a fatal flaw.” (Diana)
I had no reason to dislike him for providing me with excellent food, clothing, shelter, personal safety, and eye candy. However, he was an insane man and his whims were quite a minefield. Noah, seeing my sullen face with worry, gently touched my cheek.
“I’ll make you a citizen.” (Noah)
He seemed to think that I was depressed because I was a hostage of the enemy country.Does this make me a perfect candidate for return to the enemy country? It didn’t matter because there was no way I was patriotic.
Even if Noah would kick me out without mercy, I’d rather stayed here in Progen than Belford, where the Admiral wanted to kill me. Citizenship might come in handy later. I nodded graciously.
“Yes. Thank you. But let’s get married later.” (Diana)
Noah didn’t even pretend to listen to my stubbornness. He straightened his coat and stuck his arm out at me. When I stood still and looked at him blankly, he shook his arm lightly.
“You’ve been standing for a long time, your feet must be hurt. Hold my arm.” (Noah)
I shoved my hands full of daffodils into my pockets and crossed his arm for the first time. He has a fine side. His legs were long and his stride was large, yet he matched my slowness with consideration.
“Where is your mansion?” (Diana)
“It’s about 5 minutes by car.” (Noah)
Noah answered, then opened the passenger door for me. He sat in the driver’s seat, and started the engine. Perhaps it was because it was an expensive car that people didn’t see very often, everyone stood far away and looked at us with curious eyes.
They whispered amongst themselves and stared at me. I didn’t pay much attention to him, thinking he was just a new, light-hearted lover. The mansion, located a little outside of the city, was also quite large.
The butler and his servants, who were in charge of the mansion, lined up in a row and bowed their heads. The soldiers who followed us also got out of the car and reported that everything was fine after searching everywhere.
“This is the person I’m going to marry.” (Noah)
Noah’s words startled the butler, who put his glasses on and looked at me. He was a gray-haired man in his sixties or so, with an upright posture and a well-developed sense of propriety.
“Well, then, we’ll set her up in the same room.” (Butler)
“We’re not sleeping together!” (Diana)
I shouted urgently, my face turned red. Noah’s eyes were half downcast and he stared down at me. His dimples were dimpled and his mouth was curved in a happy way.
“Don’t be shy. Let’s get some sleep, princess.” (Noah)
The butler, perhaps feeling embarrassed of my infidelity, told the servant to prepare a room for us to stay together.
I gave Noah a look that said, ‘why are you doing this?’ I felt like I was stuck in his trap. The more I struggled, the more entangled I became in his trap.
“I don’t think we have a very deep relationship.” (Diana)
“You kissed me, you told me you loved me, you proposed to me, you even attacked me at first……….” (Noah)
I stood on my tiptoes and covered Noah’s mouth. The servants opened their mouths slightly and looked at Noah alternately. He was not an innocent man to fall for something like that. He deliberately pretended to be innocent to embarrass me and enjoy my reaction.
“……. Is it fun to tease me?” (Diana)
“Because your cheeks are pretty when they turn red.” (Noah)
Noah smiled with his eyes, and the puffiness under his eyes rose. I don’t know who was pretty to whom.
I decided to understand that it was a profitable business, as long as he provided proper food, clothing and shelter, and enjoyed the reactions while teasing me selfishly. As I wondered if I should entertain him by studying larger reactions, Noah cautiously held my hand.
His hand, which was interlocked between my smaller fingers, tightened its grip on mine completely, and his long fingers lightly brushed the back of my hand. It felt like a secret signal, and it made my stomach tingle, not my hand. Even though he was just holding my hand, I felt like my whole body was being stroked. My lips twitched for no reason.
“Let’s go, pretty Princess.”
“…… Yes.”
Like a person who was possessed, I followed him to the room. No, I was really possessed by this fox-like man. Noah gave me a gentle look as he opened the door to my room.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He let me in, waved lightly, closed the door, and left. As I stared blankly at the tightly closed door, I suddenly came to my senses and shook my head.
“It was a close call. That man is really dangerous!”
If I was a little careless, I could have walked myself into his bed. I refused to be tended to by the maidservant and sat down in the wooden rocking chair, leaning back sluggishly. The chair was a little worn and creaked with each rocking motion.
I pulled a blanket over my knees and lighted the coal-burning fireplace. On top of the stove were brass ornaments and wine bottles. Unlike the main mansion in the outskirts, this whole place was warm, with ivory, single-patterned wallpaper and furniture, white curtains, and fluffy white rugs on the marble floor.
After I had warmed myself up sufficiently, I stood up, filled a glass bowl with water, and dropped the yellow daffodil flowers in from my pocket.
“It’s my heart.”
Noah’s drowsy voice was vivid. My mind floated and tickled like a bunch of daffodil flowers in the glass bowl. I don’t know what kind of heart he was talking about.
“Ah. I need to wash up and go to sleep.”
Fortunately, water and sewage were developed in this world, so there was a drainage facility, and water came out when you turned the faucet.
Because of the water purification technology, the tap water smelled of disinfectant chemicals, just as modern times. According to the books I read during my imprisonment, this world, especially here in Progen, has developed dramatically in science and technology.
If I had gone back to the previous era, I would have been frightened by odors and insanitation and suffered from cholera and typhoid. Nothing is more devastated than being reincarnated in a world full of dirty streets and unwashed people.
Knock. Knock.
I had just gotten out of the bath and was drying my hair in front of the fireplace in my thick gown when I heard a knock at the door. As I approached and opened the door, I saw Noah with a slick face, perhaps freshly showered. His silvery hair was slightly wet. The tip of his handsome nose was red. His eyes had always been red, but now they were even redder, as if he had been crying.
I realized where the strangeness and sensuality I felt from him was coming from. It was the sexiness of some attractive men. A contradictory attraction that seemed dangerous but had a protective instinct.
I’ve described them as beautiful, but I’m not talking about beautiful girls, I’m talking about beautiful men. It is also a carnivore with a gorgeous appearance that does not need protective colors. The broad shoulders and firm contours of his body, hidden under a neat shirt buttoned up to the neck, were as seductive as a forbidden secret.
“You said you’ll see me tomorrow…………” (Diana)
I finally moved my tongue, which had hardened as I swallowed my saliva. My body was stiff and tense, and it felt unnatural to blink.
“Yes. It’s twelve o’clock.” (Noah)
He said he’d meet me tomorrow, and then he showed up right at midnight? Noah gently touched my wet, pitch-black hair. His fingers grazed past my earlobe, and I winced and arched my back. I got chills and even my soft hair stood on edge.
“You’re going to catch a cold.” (Noah)
He looked down at me and spoke in a worried voice. The puffiness under his eyes raised, and the shadow of his eyelashes hung long.
“Didn’t you see me this morning…?” (Diana)
“Yes. I saw you in the morning.” (Noah)
Noah, who had brought me a towel and rubbed and wiped my wet hair, brought his face close to mine.
In his strange blue eyes, I could see the flickering flames from the fireplace.
“Here.”