The Archduke’s Gorgeous Wedding was Fraud - Chapter 3

I lay in bed and just stayed still until late afternoon when the sunset was already setting outside the window.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been stuck in a narrow, dirty place, that’s why I’m feeling so tired right now.

I could even sleep for 48 hours like this if I so choose to, but what I want to do more than sleeping is to take a bath again.

I thought that the bath products here would be bad but, somehow, the natural products found, within this world of a book, smelled surprisingly good.

I was happy to wash myself in the sweet and sour, lemon and strawberry scent; it was to the point that I want to shower again.

Should I wash up or not?

After agonizing fiercely, I walked slowly toward the bathroom only after the darkness fell.

But I was too lazy to lift my hand, so I laid down in the bathtub and left all the work to my ‘helpers’.

“Come out, yap. “

When I shouted lazily, while shaking a piece of paper, the scribbles I made last night popped out.

It was the bubble fairies that I drew last night.

“Can you wash me?”

The fairies with soft bubbles on their heads were wearing small sponges on their hands. Shaking their wings, some started to wash my head while others rubbed my shoulders.

It felt so good that I can’t help myself from making nasal sounds.

“Ohhhh…”

As I curled my toes in comfort, I decided to reflect upon everything that happened today.

‘Making money, this world and reality are not much different.’

Well, it was written by a real person, so it’s natural. There is a unique position whereby a person becomes the leader of the industry, but I don’t want to try that.

‘Launching a luxury clothing brand…’

This was honestly what I wanted to do. But since I can’t make the clothes itself, it’s natural that I will need a designer

The only person I could think of that would fit the bill was an extra from the original.

‘I think it’ll work, but let’s just think some more on it.’

After knocking off those two ideas, the only other way to make money is through the entertainment industry. But the business of selling alcohol or owning a bar was not attractive at all.

Is there anything more ‘wholesome’ to make a profit off of, in the entertainment industry, other than that?

Dictionary definition of entertainment: Having fun.

Ah, no one doesn’t like having fun.

Excited for some reason, I pushed back a few strands of hair that had fallen down onto my breast, helping the fairies wash me well. As I, the caster, was feeling good so did the fairies, who seemed to enjoy washing me.

I closed my eyes and tried to think only of exciting thoughts while enjoying the feel of the warm water.

‘To be honest, isn’t my adaptability in the top 0.1* percent level?’

*(The top 0.1 percent distinction means you are in the top number of people, in this case, people who have a good adaptability. She’s saying she’s better compared to 99.9% of the people.)

Even though everything in my life has changed all of a sudden, I didn’t shed a single teardrop.

“Goodbye germs! Goodbye dirty basement!”

*(‘곰팡이도 안녕! 반지하도 안녕!’- I’m actually not sure about this but I think it’s a cleaning detergent’s tagline in Korea. Since she said she’s top 0.1% level she got reminded of a detergent that says ‘cleans 99.9% of germs’. It’s like she’s saying that she’s that unkillable 0.1% of germs.)

I tried to forget that I might not be able to go back home, or that I might not be able to meet my family forever.

It does help that I am living in such a luxurious place that I couldn’t even dream of in the first place. A five-star hotel, which I’ve never been to, would probably look like this.

I can’t believe I’m enjoying such a place without paying any money.

If I focused only on the luxury I am experiencing, my mind and body will be surely enchanted. I don’t want to go back to a life where I’m still paying back student loans even though it’s already been a while since I graduated.

‘To be honest, if we compare this to real life, wouldn’t 98 out of 100 people will choose this way.’

Besides, I can earn a lot of money too.

‘I want to run my own business.’

Looking at the children of a well-off family, their family’s patriarch was often businessmen.

What business, what business.

They used to joke around about using difficult terms, and so I couldn’t join such a conversation.

It’s because I didn’t know what they were talking about.

My father was a firefighter, which of course I’m very proud of.

But compared to the honor, our life has always been poor.

Maybe that’s why my dream was to become a businesswoman. I didn’t have money for that, but I still dreamt.

It was at this time.

“Shay. Is everything okay inside?”

I heard Lacius’s voice outside the door.

I opened my eyes wide and checked the watch I had brought next to me.

I thought it had only been about 10 minutes, but it’s already been an hour. Lacius may have become worried that’s why he came to visit me.

“Yes, I’m fine. I’ll be out in a minute.”

I raised my body after checking whether I had a fever or not by touching my forehead.

The bubble fairies washed all the foam off my head, so I just needed to rinse my body one more time.

But the problem happened just then.

Click.

The sound of the unlocking of the locked door pierced my ears.

Bubble fairy’s joke.

The door opened wide. In front of it, of course, stood Lacius, who had not left yet.

“Aha… ha-haha. “

At the moment, Lacius and I made eye contact so I just laughed very awkwardly.

In a hot bathroom full of steam, a completely naked woman was standing without a robe while a man was outside the door.

It’s a perfect scene for someone to misunderstand. I may have taken my clothes off on my own, but it doesn’t mean anything else.

How should I fix this?

Should I stride out and close the door? At this time, saying, ‘Ah, this is a fairy’s doing…’ would only sound like a lame excuse.

Usually, when faced with such a situation, the man was the one who says sorry, but here, I think I was the one who should be kneeling*.

*( Original word was 석고대죄를/ It means that a sinner who has committed a crime condemns the sin and lays down on his face and waits for punishment.)

“Oh, I’m sorry for showing you such a scene!”

I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m sorry…

My apology echoed and came back.

“I didn’t see anything.”

After a thousand years of silence, I decided to open my mouth again, but Lacius beat me to it.

“Keep washing. I’m sorry I came.”

“Huh?”

He’s being generous. If I were him, I would surely beat myself to death once the time came for me to come out of the bathroom, labelling myself for a pervert and a stalker.

However, in this situation, I am the person who would be beaten, so I decided to just close my mouth cleverly.

Lacius’s neck and ears had already turned red as if he had been heated all the way to the tip of his head.

“You guys…”

After Lacius disappeared in such big strides, I jerked my head and stared into the bathroom.

But amazingly, there was already no one there. The effects of the magic have almost timed out, and since it was almost over everyone had become blurred lines.

‘Wow… I’m dying to beat them up right now.’

I didn’t know that playing pranks, while drawing the fairies, would bring such an embarrassing result.

After swearing to draw seriously and respectfully like a scholar in the future, I then quickly rinsed the remaining bubbles on my body.

‘Ahhhh, how would I be able to look at Lacius’ face now!!!’

The red alarm is ringing in my head. This is a situation that everyone would misunderstand!

‘Oh, no.  My splendid future…’

I thought I’d finally found a way to live a good life and eat well!

* * *

Lacius wasn’t interested in people by nature. And when he gets interested, it’ll only mean that they disgust or tire him.

He already knew his influence and presence from his childhood, but he only had one wish at the end of each year.

It was to become like a small piece of dust existing in the world, not attracting any attention.

He doesn’t care about others, and it would be nice if others would not care about him too.

However, even if he lived like that, he had no choice but to pay attention to those who he spends time with on a daily basis.

Besides, if it goes as planned, she will be his wife, not anyone else. So he can’t help but be worried about her.

‘I’ve been thinking about it since the beginning, but she’s too skinny.’

She didn’t seem to know, but in his eyes, she looked like she was barely breathing.

Even if she does look better than before, she still has to gain 20 more pounds to look like a human.

Lacius didn’t know much about beauty weight, but he thought women should weigh around 160 pounds to be the standard, as most of the female knights around him did.

‘And those wounds…’

She must have gotten it when the human traffickers caught her.

Lacius frowned.

There were no maids in his mansion, so Shay had to wash and take care of herself all by herself.

It was obviously his fault that he hadn’t asked whether she needed to be served, especially when he can see it now that she does need it.

‘I’m insensitive, too. ‘

Lacius clicked his tongue

Of course, he couldn’t think of it because he wasn’t familiar with women, but he should have taken care of it as a courtesy to a lady.

Lacius called his servant, feeling a little guilty in his heart

“Maynard. “

“Yes, my lord. “

“Give the guest a wound ointment that I usually take with me to the battlefield, and add a lot of bread on the meals with lots of syrup and jam.”

“Oh … I understand. “

Maynard blinked hard. It’s because he knows that he doesn’t enjoy bread very much.

“Oh, add some meat as well. Make sure to serve more cheese and ham than usual. It should all be of good quality.”

“Okay. “

Lacius sent Maynard without saying anything else.

‘She’s a valuable witness who can testify to the slave auction, and if she collapses, it’ll be a trouble.’

Entering a small tea room connected to the dining room, Lacius moved his eyes to the newspaper on the table.

However, somehow, he cannot move on from the first line.

The scene that just happened was slowly spinning in his head.

Lacius, coughing alone while no one was looking, stood by the window with his hands clasped behind him, staring out into the distance.

‘If you want to gain weight healthily…’

Even if he didn’t know much about gaining weight, he at least knew that she had to eat a lot of meat, bread, and sweets to gain weight

It’s okay because she doesn’t go around much now, but she’ll need stamina as she may have to go to the court several times later. That’s why he’s taking care of making sure she eats well.

“… Sigh. “

Lacius finally released his hands and slowly washed his face.

*(마른 세수를|]/Dry face wash- is one of the gestures using hands, rubbing or touching the hand to one’s face. Use it for disappointment, anger, despair, surprise, fear, frustration, shock, and embarrassment. I dunno how to better describe this so let’s just use ‘wash’ lol.)

In fact, there were a lot of ladies who fought a grueling battle with him on every road he went.

They would intentionally loosen their waistbands and ask him to tie it, or invite him to participate in the bizarre act of making him wait in the same room while they’re changing their clothes.

And it’s not that there weren’t any ladies who came in dresses that emphasized their breasts.

However, Lacius has never seen a woman’s body properly until now.  And he had never encountered such a thing this suddenly.

‘There needs to be in-depth research on why it is not unpleasant.’

Lacius has been the most serious since he was born.

From the first appearance, everything that made Shay up, was not so bad that it was strange. He then thought to himself, maybe it’s because Shay had no ‘intention’ to him.

I don’t know what happened a moment ago, but after looking at her expression, it seems that Shay didn’t open the door herself.

Lacius coughed a couple more times for no reason.

‘Wouldn’t it be okay if it were such a woman?’

Still, what happened just now seems to be his fault, thinking that Shay must not have been the one who opened the door.

However, Shay apologized to him instead. She was being considerate in case he got surprised.

He felt puzzled and warm at the same time because he had received “consideration” for the first time in a long time.

‘It’s such a light reaction after running into me in such a place while she’s naked.’

Is it true that the blood of the sun god doesn’t work for foreign women? Or is something special with Shay.

Honestly, Lacius expected her to run into him or try to hit on him at that moment in time.

There’s nothing to expect other than that anyway; it had always been like that.

And if what he had expected happened, he was planning to turn 45 degrees to the side and leave right away.

He would also have asked her to leave this house right away. He wouldn’t ask her for the money to be paid back, the cost of buying her from the slave market, but instead, he would give her some money for travel expenses then send her on her way.

Her reaction was so unfamiliar and amazing.

So amazing that it keeps on running through his mind.

‘To neutralize the sun’s overflowing heat in the body, a woman with strong moon power must be by his side.’

That was what his ancestors, who had also suffered such symptoms, found out.

The best thing for them to do is to get married and have sexual intercourse.

But it’s okay even if they don’t. It was said that the situation will improve sufficiently if the Yang energy is neutralized once they have lived together in one house for a long time.

Because this was all due to the amount of energy overflowing from him.

However, the problem was finding a woman who would not  fall in love with him until the end. He wanted to have a rational partner who would sign an agreement to have a purely contractual marriage.

Even if emotions start to grow toward each other, in the end, as time goes by, the emotions on the female side are bound to be much greater.

He learned from his parents how miserable it could be once the end was near for that situation.

In this regard, Princess Crisiona, who has been mentioned several times as his marriage partner, is not a bad choice, but even so, he was still reluctant.

The princess did not seem to fit in well with him. Although she fits the role of an aristocratic and elegant woman, there’s ‘something’ in the princess that stimulated his survival instinct.

Stay away from her.

He was pretty confident in his instincts.

“Sigh.”

Soon Lacius leaned by the window and looked out at the sunset.

It’s beautiful.

Today, however, he was reminded of something else, after looking at the beautiful sunset…

‘It’s as if it was born out of a flame…’

Red hair.

That glimmer in her eyes.

The moment when the unique silver-blue eyes widened in surprise and her sincere voice saying sorry.

The scene left a deep impression on him, to the point of seeing it over again and again in his mind.

“Sigh.”

Lacius washed his face once again.

It’s the first time he’s ever thought of a woman on his own accord.

Maybe, really.

That hope deepened.

* * *

I must say, I felt like a student who texted the word f*ck to my homeroom teacher.

Well, in fact, this is a real story, and I accidentally did it in the first semester of my third year of high school.

I wasn’t really trying to swear at my homeroom teacher like that. I was just thinking about my homeroom teacher while sending it to my friend, then I made a mistake, Ugh!

Anyway, the next day I felt like I was being dragged to a slaughterhouse. Just like right now, standing at the entrance of the dining room.

“Huh.”

After clasping my hands together and taking a deep breath sharply, I rushed to the dining room but still failed to hide my anxious eyes.

But it was Maynard’s butt, not Lacius’s stern eyes, that almost hit me who ran like a rhino.

“…!”

I stopped with only 1cm left before a catastrophe could take place, then I swiftly moved out of range with a forceful step.

“Uh, miss? “

“Hi, Maynard. “

After a while, Maynard, who put down the mountain of huge bread he was holding, turned around.

I sat where I was assigned, pretending to be in a somber mood.

“Wait a minute. I’ll get you something else.”

“Yes, thank you. “

Lacius hasn’t appeared yet.

I calmed down my heart and scanned the table. Is there anything delicious to…day?

“Mountains of bread …”

No wonder the whole house smelled sweet and savory. This was the reason.

I looked down at all kinds of baked goods with a little surprise.

What’s all this?

“This is a place full of dreams and hope, since it was filled to the brim with bread…”