Unedited
“Have you been drinking?”
“I guess so… .”
“‘I guess so’?”
“It tastes like potatoes…”
Keran paused for a moment as if to think, ‘What the hell is she talking about?’ but he quickly regained his composure. He muttered Brianna Mosley’s name.
Perhaps Illestia’s information network extends all the way to the women’s dormitory. I swallowed my admiration and a bit of sarcasm and straightened my sagging body. It was to prove that I was okay.
However, with my limbs pathetically flailing, I failed to prove anything. This is a secret, but in reality, I definitely was not okay. I could see two and a half of Keran’s handsome faces.
“We’re in trouble. It is impossible to cure that with divine power. Should we bring Professor Stafford or Professor Humphreys?”
“I’ll be fine after a little rest.”
Keran didn’t seem to believe me at all, but he also didn’t seem to want to convince a drunkard. He stood up hesitantly and then sat back down. Then he picked up the document he had been reading just now.
It seemed like it was a fairly important document. Even after I had burst into his cabin to escape an ogre, Keran had continued going through it. He was wearing glasses, which is something you don’t normally see.
The slender, gold-rimmed glasses with a neat design were truly a godsend for Keran’s neat appearance. They suited him so well that I thought Keran was trying to seduce me the moment he put them on.
“Really… I’ll be fine in just 5 minutes.”
After babbling in a tone that, by my own judgment, was not at all credible, I began counting down the seconds with the second hand of the clock. It was funny that Keran, who was acting like he couldn’t hear me, would point out ‘you skipped 56,’ when I counted 55 and then 57.
When I counted to 372, I realized that well over 5 minutes had passed, and I became very quiet. Then I suddenly had a strong urge to say something—things that I would never mention unless I was in dire straits.
“…About Pannington. Why did he drop out?”
Anais said that when she was taking a leave of absence, she heard unexpected news related to James ‘Jimmy’ Pannington in Professor Humphreys’ office. Keran glanced at me through his glasses and then responded.
“Because he submitted a withdrawal form?”
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
“Alright. I couldn’t find an assassin that looked the same anymore.”
Keran was kind enough to answer me twice. Nevertheless, I became so frustrated that I pounded my fist into the air.
“I was planning to beat him.”
“Sorry. Would you like to hit me instead?”
“No.”
Punching him was at the very bottom of the list of things I wanted to do with him. It would be the same even if the opportunity arose.
“Keran.”
I don’t know why I said something like this out of nowhere.
“I can only taste potatoes right now.”
“I know.”
“Even if I kiss you, it will only taste like potatoes.”
Funny, Ariel. What are you saying now? Ariel Dalton’s fifty shades were in an uproar after a long time. Do you want to drop out too? The rational shade that was jeering was stabbed to death by the romantic shade. It instantly ripped through my heart, climbed up to my throat, and ran wild.
“It would taste like potatoes.”
“What do you mean?”
As I repeated what I had said, Keran looked at me intently. I did the same. Although it wasn’t very well focused.
What does it mean? How would I know? It was my mouth, not my head, that was rambling. Because the Dwarven liquor had completely melted my organs, and my head had completely lost the ability to control other parts of my body.
Suddenly, I was startled by something hard at the corner of my mouth. But it turned out to be my fingertips. Though I was drunk and had lost control of my limbs, my mind was perfectly clear. So I was able to calmly analyze the situation I was in.
I was fumbling my lips. Looking at Keran. It might have been slightly seductive. I wasn’t naive enough to not know how it would be viewed. I didn’t know why I did it. As I said before, I didn’t think about it. My finger’s intention was not transmitted to my brain.
Anyway, the important thing was that Keran was blonde, strikingly handsome, and was approaching me. His fancy glasses were set down on the armrest. The refreshing scent of eucalyptus cut through the smell of alcohol wafting through the muggy air.
Overwhelmingly.
“… Is this what you mean?”
Keran’s movements were very slow as he placed his hands on the backrest and lowered his head. It suddenly felt like he was giving me a chance to escape. At the same time, it felt like he was whispering that there was no use in trying.
In any case, I couldn’t escape. His arms were long, and the satin cloth that brushed my cheek was smooth and cool. I felt like a mouse about to be eaten by a snake.
I was the one who pressed our lips together first, but it was Keran who pressed down. We were like that for quite some time.
When I opened my mouth to catch my breath, Keran… It seemed like he took it as a sign of permission. He bit my lower lip gently and tilted his head to kiss me deeply.
While we were kissing, Keran gradually climbed on top of me. My mouth was completely filled with his breath. I was dizzy from alcohol. No, it wasn’t due to alcohol. When our lips parted and rejoined urgently as we shifted positions, my toes curled. My five senses became extremely sensitive. It seemed like sparks were flying inside my eyelids. Really, this was the first time in my life that I felt this kind of stimulation.
Keran obediently pulled away when I pushed his body, which had unknowingly been pressing me tightly. His amber eyes sparkled with unquenchable desire. ‘How is it?’ He laughed lowly. ‘What did it taste like?’ Only then did I realize that I had not tasted any potatoes while kissing him.
I answered honestly that I didn’t know, and Keran kissed me again. This time, it was a much more intense kiss, though not as prolonged as before. There was a wet sound each time our lips would meet at different angles.
I never dreamed that the feeling of locking lips with someone could be so addictive. At one point, I was clinging to Keran’s chest, out of breath. My heart pounded wildly, and my stomach churned.
Wait, my stomach churned?
The rational shade, which I thought had been killed by the romantic one, somehow managed to push Keran away. A loud bout of nausea followed immediately. Clear liquid spilled onto his glossy navy blue satin shirt. This was because I barely ate due to the curse of a root crop. Thank God. I was thinking that even as I lost consciousness. I hoped he wouldn’t be disgusted with me.
***
At the South Milua Immigration Office, where we arrived via a teleportation magic circle, I could have stood in the domestic entry line with Kyle, but I chose to stand in the mixed-national/foreign entry line with Brianna. We placed our luggage and entry permits on the inspection table and continued chatting as we moved forward little by little.
“Bree, can you make a potion that erases memories?”
“It’s a banned substance, so you can’t make it without permission from the Magic Tower. Should I ask Professor Humphreys when school starts? But why?”
I shook my head helplessly. How can I explain that this can’t wait until the second semester? I got really drunk yesterday and kissed your imperial prince… The mere thought made my face burn.
The last thing I remember was the pitiful appearance of his satin shirt, which at first glance must have been expensive. The moment I opened my eyes again, I was in bed. I heard from Brianna that by the time she got to our room, I was already swearing at Professor Houston in my sleep.
‘You smelled so bad I thought you had fallen into a barrel of liquor.’ I couldn’t laugh at Bree’s mocking joke. I was too curious about what had happened between the time I was in the cabin and the dormitory. At the same time, I didn’t really want to know even if I died. Gripped with fear, I had left the academy stealthily like a mouse.
Keran said that divine power cannot detoxify, but I thought a little differently. The curse of the root crop that had clung tenaciously to my tongue completely disappeared with Keran’s kiss. That is why I wasn’t able to solve the potato-flavored kiss mystery until the end. Instead, I shivered with embarrassment whenever I remembered it.
‘Even if I kiss you, it will only taste like potatoes’? Have I gone insane, seriously?
As I was in a trance pulling at the loose thread on my sleeve, my name was finally called. I smiled kindly at the weary immigration officer who looked like he was living his last moments.
“I’m a domestic citizen.”
Then he halfheartedly recited a spell. It was to verify the nature of my mana. After an unfamiliar energy circulated throughout my body, the emblem of the Milua Immigration Office appeared on the back of my hand.
“You may pass, Miss Dalton.”
I quietly stood aside and waited for Brianna and our luggage to come through. Bree, who faced the examiner after me, looked overly excited. She moved like a busy little rodent, grinning from ear to ear.
The examiner kept looking back and forth between Brianna and her entry permit. He gestured for her to come closer. A staring contest ensued through the glass window, which had a hole the size of my palm.
So I became a little anxious. Since Brianna had her vacation scheduled, she read every book about Milua in the library. It was difficult to imagine the frustration she would feel if, for some reason, she was denied entry into Milua.
Just as I had thought of about thirty different comforting words, Brianna came running to me, pressing her chest with her folded hands.
“What was the problem?”
“Well, my portraits… were all drawn by Oriana Huntz….”
Oriana Hantz was the most expensive and popular painter on Finnigan Street. Her portraits, drawn with magic ink, were known to be impossible to distort from real life, but she had an uncanny ability that made the impossible possible.
I had commissioned a portrait of Walsh from Huntz only once (because my cousin Jodie had enclosed a portrait of her boyfriend in a letter), and I had been awed by the result. If the man in the portrait had really been Adam Walsh, I wouldn’t have broken up with him.
“Why would you submit something like that for an entry permit?”
“I didn’t know… .”
Brianna-smart-fool-Mosley twisted her body as if embarrassed. Then, Kyle, who was in the domestic line and had completed screening much faster than us, suddenly joined in with several bags under his arms.
“What took you so long?”
“You scared me! When did you get here?”
T/N: Decided to post the unedited chapters on a whim lol. I hope they are at the very least comprehensible. I’ll post the edited ones after my editor finishes em, so bear with this for the time being. Bye—Oh, wait! ARIEL AND KERAN KISSED!!!! OMG AHHHHHHHH!!
You can now sponsor an extra chapter by buying me a Ko-fi! 2 Ko-fi= 1extra chapter.
