Chapter – 18
Miss Dalia’s eyes widened as if she had just reached enlightenment. The other ten ladies also looked deeply moved.
But Aldehyde looked completely unconcerned. He was very used to people being impressed by just a few words from him.
Soon the lesson began. Aldehyde listened carefully to Miss Dalia’s lecture.
“Natural cuteness is the best kind of charm. Forced baby-talk? Only naturally cute people can pull that off.”
The problem was…
Everything she said felt like a direct attack on him.
“Don’t use baby talk! Baby talk is only cute when actual babies use it!”
“Who even uses baby talk these days?”
Stab.
It felt like a dagger had pierced Aldehyde’s chest.
‘No… my noona said my way of speaking was cute though.’
…Maybe the way he spoke didn’t matter.
Trying to deny reality while feeling slightly hurt, he continued listening seriously.
“Now, everyone, look at the mirror in front of you and smile.”
Aldehyde looked at the mirror on his desk. His expression looked cold and somewhat rough.
When he lifted the corners of his mouth, somehow he looked even scarier…
‘Am I… kind of cute?’
Unfortunately, to Aldehyde himself, he looked fairly cute.
“Next, your mindset is important. You need to think ‘It doesn’t have to be you!’ Understand? The foundation of romance is push and pull.”
Dalia’s words no longer reached Aldehyde’s ears.
‘If noona won’t meet me, I’ll stay single forever. Or maybe I’ll just become a servant in her house.’
After making this firm resolution, he thought with a strange expression:
‘Hmm… I didn’t really learn much.’
Then at that moment, Dalia spoke like she was revealing her trump card.
“Is anyone here exchanging letters with someone they like?”
Yes. Right here.
‘Not lovers yet… but I’m an aspiring lover…’
…That’s basically the same thing, right?
He listened closely.
“Then I’ll teach you a guaranteed winning method—how to use emojis in love letters!”
A winning emoji method? What was that?
“Are you still just sending stiff letters?”
He was.
Aldehyde found himself staring at Dalia as if mesmerized.
Seeing his fierce face twisted in concentration, Dalia hurriedly looked away and stuttered.
“S-so… you can spread your love better by putting cute emoticons in your letters! Here, I prepared a booklet with my secret techniques. Please read it at home!”
Dalia handed a booklet to each lady, then looked at Aldehyde.
He was holding out his hand.
“Y-you too, Lord Aldehyde.”
“Alright.”
Aldehyde was extremely happy, but outwardly he looked angry.
Because every single cell in his body was focusing on this class with extreme seriousness.
‘If I have this secret weapon… will noona agree to meet me?’
Just thinking about it made his heart pound wildly, and he clenched his teeth.
‘This lecture is actually pretty helpful.’
After the class ended and he was leaving the classroom, Aldehyde suddenly thought:
It didn’t matter if today’s events became public knowledge.
But…
‘I want noona to see me as naturally cute… not someone trying hard to be cute.’
Of course, she didn’t even know he was Aldehyde, and honestly she probably wouldn’t care whether he took a charm class or not.
‘Depressing.’
But he endured it strongly. Like a real man.
Aldehyde looked around and spoke:
“By the way, I’m thinking of placing a restriction spell on everyone here. Do you agree?”
“A restriction spell? What kind?”
“A spell to keep it secret that you saw me here. This is… very important.”
Because noona must not find out.
The most important thing in the world.
Dalia and the ladies looked confused, then their eyes widened.
“Yes! Of course!”
“Ah… I understand now! I was wondering why you came—it must be official business!”
“It must be palace work ordered by His Majesty!”
“Ah yes, His Majesty must have—!”
“But why would His Majesty assign such work…?”
Among the ladies excitedly misunderstanding the situation, Aldehyde simply nodded.
‘If the old man gets misunderstood, that’s not my problem.’
For his beloved “nyoonya” (his cute way of saying noona), preventing misunderstandings was what mattered most.
* * *
Although Aldehyde didn’t realize it, strange behavior from a superior always reaches subordinates eventually.
‘Apparently Aldehyde suddenly went crazy yesterday.’
Rumor had it he was carrying memo papers and muttering strange things.
I looked at him suspiciously. When I tried to peek at the memo he was holding, he quickly shoved it into his pocket.
“Why?”
What are you hiding?
“Let’s go protect world peace.”
That world peace again…
Yet somehow he had accurately located another dimensional rift.
I looked down at the map Paul handed me and draped my brown robe over my shoulders.
“This is a place in the capital where a rift might appear. Even the timing is specific.”
“Y-yes…”
“Lord Aldehyde wrote it down. Check it.”
My eyes widened.
‘How does he know? It matches the future I know exactly.’
Could Aldehyde… be a regressor like me?
Suspicious.
After a moment of thought, I decided to just ask.
“Wow, how does Lord Aldehyde know about all these rifts? That’s amazing.”
“I heard he secured a map from a dragon’s lair while finishing the war. It’s basically a prophecy.”
Paul said it without any doubt.
But…
‘What kind of luck is that? A rift map just appearing like that?’
Still suspicious, I looked at the five marked districts.
At present, the capital was divided into five areas:
The Imperial Palace at the center, the southern noble district, the western harbor, the eastern holy district, and the northern slum known as Shadow Street.
Looking at Shadow Street, where I first met Ppuppu, I smiled.
‘Just seeing the name reminds me of when I first met him. He really was like a puppy.’
While resting my chin on my hand and looking at the map, Paul spoke:
“Oh, Lord Aldehyde is coming. Let’s move. Today it’s not a rift—we’re handling another incident.”
“Understood.”
Watching Aldehyde approach, I calmly folded the map.
His face looked slightly flushed, his ears oddly red.
I had a guess why.
‘Did he start his day by killing monsters again?’
With that fierce face, it was hard to think otherwise.
Thinking that, I quietly followed him.
* * *
Right after attending <Lady Dalia Blair’s Perfect Charm Class>.
Aldehyde was busy practicing cute behaviors to show his noona. But no matter how much he practiced, nothing satisfied him, which made him irritated.
‘When I’m irritated, monster hunting is best.’
But no rifts were expected for a while.
In such cases, Aldehyde usually focused on capturing criminals and solving illegal incidents in the capital.
This too was his way of protecting peace.
All for meeting noona.
Everything was going smoothly.
Except for one problem.
The woman following him around like a squirrel was extremely distracting.
“Why are you wearing a brown cloak today?”
“Huh?”
So you really do look like a squirrel…
Instead of saying that out loud, Aldehyde narrowed his eyes at Lirier.
She answered awkwardly:
“It’s the cloak issued by the palace.”
“Oh really?”
“Everyone else wears the same one.”
Unlike her confused expression, Aldehyde was very serious.
‘Come to think of it, those guys are wearing the same cloak too.’
He hadn’t noticed. Honestly, even if they walked around naked, he probably wouldn’t have noticed.
With a complicated expression, he looked at Lirier.
“And why are you out here? It’s dangerous.”
“Dangerous?”
Lirier looked around.
It was broad daylight, and the streets were full of armed knights.
“…Then why did you follow me?”
“Well… I’m assigned to you.”
That was true.
Yet his heart dropped heavily.
The strange feeling that Lirier might be his noona kept confusing him.
He avoided her gaze.
‘For now, I’ll just treat her like I treat everyone else. Follow logic and reason.’
After an awkward pause, Aldehyde spoke:
“We’re heading to destroy a smuggling ship at the harbor. So you—”
“Oh! Yes! Do you perhaps need stabilization magic?”
Lirier looked completely innocent, unaware of his inner turmoil.
But just imagining their hands touching made his throat move.
Avoiding her eyes, he said:
“No. I’ll send you to the flower garden. Switch places with Rend.”
The garden had lots of flowers. It was beautiful.
Someone like her suited tea parties more than watching monsters from rifts.
So this was, in his own way, kindness toward someone who might be his noona.
But Lirier’s expression darkened slightly.
What?
Is she the hardworking type?
* * *
Meanwhile, Lirier looked up at Aldehyde with complicated emotions.
She thought:
‘That garden Aldehyde mentioned… isn’t that the one with the killer flowers?’
He had been saying strange things all day.
Is he basically telling me to go die quietly somewhere out of his sight?
