012. A Bit More Often (5)
Owen was sincere.
He remembered every line that Lucia spoke in the original work.
Even lines that seemed unimportant and passed by as if skimming over, or words scattered in places like side stories or behind-the-scenes stories.
If it was related to Lucia, he knew it second only to himself.
Given Owen’s excellent memory, it was only natural.
“….”
However, Lucia didn’t feel it was natural.
It couldn’t be.
The Owen she knew was someone who found her annoying.
It was difficult to meet him, even if she found out all the schedules and participated in all the events he could attend. Even when they did meet, he rarely gave a proper response.
For such a person to remember and not forget all my words.
He said that.
Emotions welled up inside Lucia, and she bit her lower lip.
Seeing her unable to answer and only nibbling at her lips, Owen reached out.
“It will hurts. Stop biting like that.”
He pressed Lucia’s lips firmly with his long fingers.
Startled, Lucia opened her mouth, and a small amount of blood trickled from the spot she had been biting.
“It’s a bad habit.”
After mumbling with worried eyes, Owen took out a handkerchief from his pocket.
Instead of handing her the handkerchief, he wiped the blood himself and spoke.
“It’s better not to bite your lips in the future.”
Upon his concerned advice, Lucia managed to speak in a nearly calm voice.
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
Her voice seemed even more composed, and Owen seemed unaware of her true feelings.
He smiled gently and extended his hand to Lucia.
“Shall we go to that exhibition hall over there?”
“Sure.”
Then, Lucia concealed her true feelings again, looking at Owen’s demeanor.
* * *
After visiting the art gallery, the two of them met five more times.
Cafés, restaurants, lakesides, and even the streets.
Having frequented crowded places, rumors began to spread about Lucia and Owen.
The rumor was that Lucia and Owen had become a couple.
Unfortunately, most of the nobles who heard the rumor did not believe it.
It was because Owen’s usual behavior led them to think the rumor was baseless.
He usually acted cold and indifferent, almost as if he had no emotions.
For someone like that to be in a romantic relationship? Especially with Lucia, whom he found so troublesome.
Most considered it an unbelievable story.
They thought Owen was merely acting on a whim or giving Lucia attention out of curiosity.
Lucia, who heard about the story, cultivated expectations.
‘Will they be able to say those words even after the hunting competition is over?’
A glamorous and cruel smile, befitting a villainess, appeared on her lips.
Thinking that those who made confident promises would fall into my words, Lucia hummed a tune while arranging the flowers in the vase.
“Do you really like it that much?”
Although it had been quite some time since receiving the gift, Lucia still treated the vase and flowers Owen gave her with great care.
She cleaned the vase every day, and the flowers were preserved by a summoned magician.
Thanks to this, the vase sparkled like new, and the flowers remained vivid and fresh, as if picked today.
“Yeah.”
In response to Marie’s question, Lucia nodded her head.
Marie then made a curious comment.
“Even the things you wanted so much before, you would quickly get tired of them once you had them.”
“That’s true…”
Lucia, in agreement with Marie’s words, admitted that she often grew weary of things she had wanted, including flowers and vases.
Flowers sometimes became dull in just a day, and vases or personal belongings had a limit of about a week.
But oddly, this time, she was not growing tired of the vase and flowers even after an extended period.
“Maybe it’s because it’s a gift.”
Lucia muttered cautiously while gently stroking the pink rose petals.
Marie made a face that questioned if Lucia was really sincere.
“I doubt it. You quickly grew tired of gifts from other maids or butlers, didn’t you?”
“Hmm, did I?”
“Yes.”
Marie replied firmly, nodding her head, and Lucia made a puzzled expression.
Then, Marie sighed briefly and added,
“Maybe it’s just because it’s a gift from Duke Verdun.”
“…Could be.”
In response to Marie’s direct question, Lucia slowly spoke, as if unsure.
Her ambiguous answer neither affirmed nor denied the question, but Lucia’s expression seemed to reveal the truth.
Her ears and cheeks, tinged with a rosy hue, were impossible to conceal.
Marie sighed inwardly, thinking about how everyone else except Lucia knew this fact.
‘Is she confusing the desire to have with the emotion of liking?’
At a glance, they might seem similar.
Moreover, considering that she had never properly experienced anything akin to love from someone else, Marie thought Lucia wouldn’t understand.
After reaching a somewhat plausible conclusion, Marie fell into contemplation.
She pondered deeply on how to make her mistress realize this fact but couldn’t find a satisfactory answer.
Marie sighed inwardly and decided that she would help whenever needed.
—
Clang!
The sound of metal colliding resonated loudly in the training ground.
Owen slightly furrowed his brows at the piercing sound of metal, which had been heard since earlier.
Although he had been hearing the clashing sound, the noise of blades colliding wasn’t exactly pleasant.
This was probably because Owen’s sense of hearing was exceptionally keen. His body reacted sensitively to even the slightest noise due to his excellent auditory perception.
To evade the opponent’s sword that clashed with his own, Owen twisted his sword obliquely.
Screech-
Then came the grating sound that tormented him.
‘…It might be better to drop the sword altogether.’
Unwilling to keep hearing that sound, Owen moved backward and swiftly struck the opponent knight’s sword with his own.
“Ugh!”
Whether due to a difference in strength or a momentary lapse, the knight dropped the sword he was holding.
“I concede.”
The knight who had let go of his sword raised his hands in surrender.
His face clearly expressed that it was entirely expected for him to lose.
Owen lowered his sword and nodded. “Well done.”
He was currently in the training ground for the inspection and sparring requested by the knight commander.
“Better than I expected.”
Since he had been practicing alone, he wasn’t sure about his current level.
Using Owen’s body meant he naturally excelled in agility and strength.
Even when practicing alone, he could feel that. ‘And the swordsmanship or generating aura, it’s just a matter of concentration.’
Strangely enough, he found it easy to produce aura or use sword techniques just by concentrating.
It felt as if everything was effortlessly resolved with a mere imagination of Owen and the sword.
“’A bit strange, but wielding a sword or generating aura seemed easy just by concentrating.’
Owen suddenly thought about other female protagonists in fantasy novels he had read.
They either struggled to learn or gave up, but for him, it seemed too natural.
‘Reading those fantasy novels, they either struggled or relearned everything from the beginning.’
Owen recalled other heroines and their experiences. ‘But I could do everything without much effort.’
In his case, everything related to noble etiquette, behavior, or language was effortlessly resolved by using Owen’s body.
It felt entirely natural and familiar.
The same was true for combat skills, horseback riding, swordsmanship, and handling various weapons.
Even though he had never done those things himself.
‘Today was a bit of an exception.’
When practicing alone, the opponent could be a scarecrow or a target, and it didn’t matter much.
There was no problem even if the opponent got hurt, and immovable objects wouldn’t harm him.
But today’s training was different.
His opponents were all living people.
The saying that you couldn’t swing a sword without thinking was very true.
So, for the first time, he consciously swung the sword.
Thanks to that, he made many mistakes initially, uncharacteristic of Owen, but he quickly compensated for those gaps.
Even if he couldn’t match Owen, he had Owen’s body and swordsmanship.
With Owen’s innate talent, he only needed the will to act on his thoughts.
The incoming sword seemed slow, and his dodging speed was excessively fast.
As a result, Owen could conclude the sparring with the knights without significant suspicion.
“Your Excellency.”
When Owen finished sparring with the knights and was lost in thought, Jade, the commander of the knights, approached him from behind. As the opponent was a Sword Expertise, an inspector directly under the Sword Master, Owen responded with a slight tension.
“Commander Jade.”
“Thank you for your hard work. The hunting competition is right around the corner, so I asked for sparring to sharpen these guys’ skills.”
Jade had no suspicion at all, to the point that Owen’s tension seemed odd. Perhaps it was because Jade was the first to spar with him, and he didn’t even consider doubting Owen’s aura and swordsmanship that he had displayed against him and the training dummy. Maybe he didn’t even think that Owen had noticed him.
In fact, Owen, or rather, “Owen,” had been looking out for him until now.
“Of course, it was something that needed to be done. But more importantly, how are the preparations for the hunting competition going?”
Thinking that he had successfully overcome Jade’s suspicions, Owen turned the conversation to the preparations for the hunting competition.
In response, Jade bowed his head and replied, “The horses, carriages, and weapons are all prepared. We’ve selected the participants for the hunting competition and those who will stay at the mansion. Relevant documents will be organized and submitted by today.”
“Good, well done.”
Acknowledging Jade’s report, Owen nodded his head.
Jade had been in charge of everything related to the hunting competition throughout his tenure as the commander of the knights, so there was no need to worry about that.
However…
“The hunting competition will be a real battle.”
The worrisome part was that the hunting competition was genuinely a battlefield.
Today was the first time Owen had sparred with a person and a sword.
And in the hunting competition, he would have to face creatures with the ability to kill.
Of course, he wouldn’t die. Even if he suffered a fatal injury, signaling with the communication device would bring in personnel to save him.
There was no way they would let Owen, who had become as important as Duke Verdant, die like that.
But the worrying part was whether he could perform as well as the original Owen, who had achieved great results in the hunting competition.
He was one of the most prominent figures in the hunting competition, facing creatures with the ability to kill.
‘I wonder if I can do as well as him.’
To be honest, he had no confidence.
The sizes of the creatures varied so much that he might be able to handle small ones, and with luck, even medium-sized ones.
But large creatures…
He had no confidence.
‘I need more practice.’
In Owen’s complicated thoughts and concerns, he sighed briefly and came to a conclusion.
Even if it seemed impossible, there were things that had to be done.
The hunting competition was one of those things.
Unavoidable and simultaneously something he had to do well.
So, until just before the hunting competition, it seemed that he would have to focus solely on swordsmanship.
