Translated by: Miss Ruby

–

“Uh…I see.”

“Don’t stop me from flying to that person!”[1]

Flap!

After telling Yuri everything he wanted to say, Odin turned into a crow and flew away, as if saying he had nothing more to do with her. Yuri gazed after him with a complicated and odd look in her eyes.

Then she suddenly realized something.

‘Wait, what about my request?’

Odin left without even completing the request Yuri made. She didn’t know what he was so infatuated by, but it looked like he had fallen quite heavily.

‘Well, I don’t really need it.’

Yuri frowned and decided not to call Odin for the time being. The man who was tailing her but died at Leo’s hand seemed to be someone looking for mutants. And the situation in Carnot wasn’t exactly something she needed to know.

And considering she saw Lakis moving around obviously doing something, she figured he could handle it, whether it was revenge or something else.

‘I guess I wasted my time today then.’

Yuri glanced at where Odin disappeared into the sky, then she soon turned to go to the monastery. She had to get home before it was too late.

* * *

The next day, an unexpected customer visited the coffeehouse.

“Child, do you remember me?”

He was the old man who collapsed a few days ago while yelling at ‘Selena’ after seeing me.

“Yes, I do. Hello.”

For now, I greeted the old man then I asked.

“Are you alright now?”

“Of course! I’m great. I surprised you last time, didn’t I? I’m sorry, child.”

When I first saw him, I thought he had a scary impression but after talking to him directly like this, I felt he was a very kind and friendly grandpa. As expected, you can’t fully judge someone by their first impression.

“Do you have a cup of tea? I’m fine with anything, so give me whatever you like, child.”

That said, the title he was calling me by was a little…

Then again, in the eyes of this grandfather, I was practically a young child.

“Yes, please wait a moment. I’ll get something for you right away.”

I guided him to the most comfortable seat in the store then I went to the inside of the store.

“Do you know him, Ms. Yuri?”

Mr. Gilbert approached me with quivering eyes and asked. He seemed nervous because the grandfather looked like he was also a noble.

“I recently met him in front of the store once.”

It didn’t feel right to talk about someone’s sensitive family matters, like saying he saw his late daughter in me, so I stopped my explanation at that. Either ways, when Gilbert saw that I knew the old man, he looked relieved.After saying I would bring the old man tea, I had to think about it for a bit. What kind of tea should I bring out?

Oh, right. We have ginger tea, let’s go with that.

A while later, I left the kitchen with a tray.

“This is ginger tea. If you like it sweeter, you can add some of this honey here.”

“Hoh, I see.”

The old man listened intently, like he didn’t want to miss a single word. Finally, he lifted the teacup and tasted its contents.

“Did you make it yourself, child?”

“Yes, do you not like it?”

“How could I not! Maybe it’s because it’s something you made, child but it’s very delicious!”

His following compliment were somewhat excessive, so I felt oddly pricked. The old man quickly took another sip of the ginger tea then he put the cup down and cleared his throat. Afterwards, he asked me:

“By the way, what is your name, child?”

For some reason, he had a covert tone like he was asking about a secret. There wasn’t really any reason not to answer so I replied.

“It’s Yuri.”

“Yuri! It’s a pretty name.”

The old man nodded with a warm smile.

“How old are you?”

Instantly, I felt like the people in the coffeehouse were pricking up their ears in our direction.

“22.”

“22, that’s a good age.”

In that manner, the old man asked me a few more simple questions till he finished ginger tea. Fortunately, there weren’t many customers around at this time so I didn’t mind briefly becoming his chatting companion.

“I enjoyed the tea, child. I’ll come again.”

And then, the old man left after giving me gold coins to pay for the tea, just like Kalian Crawford did when he first came here. On top of that, even though I said I would bring him change, he said he would be coming more often so I should keep it as payment in advance, which was exactly what Kalian did as well.

Are all nobles so similar in nature?

I thought with a tilt of my head. I recalled how the old man had collapsed on the road last time, so I looked out the door. The old man was being helped the middle-aged butler from last time and was climbing into the dazzling carriage.

After checking that, I went inside the coffeehouse again.

* * *

Clomp, Clomp!

Not long after the old man left, another gorgeous carriage stopped in front of the coffeehouse.

Click!

And a handsome man stepped down from the carriage under the gaze of everyone in the coffeeshop.

“Oh my god, what day is this?”

Mr. Gilbert lamented as he used his handkerchief to wipe the sweat on his forehead.

“So you’re here today.”When the man who entered the coffeehouse saw me, his eyes took on a shine. He was dressed more vibrantly than the last time I saw him, and his appearance made it seem like he was glowing.

He was none other than Damon Salvatore.

Just like before, I looked at the man who stood before me and frowned slightly. I heard from Gilbert that Damon Salvatore came yesterday but I didn’t really think he would come back today.

“A present for you.”

He took the bouquet in his hand and held it out in front of me. It looked like this was an extension of his ‘be my woman’ thing from before. The bouquet was huge and fancy, like it was made quite elaborately. But of course, I refused Damon Salvatore’s gift.

“I don’t accept personal gifts, customer-nim.”

At that, Damon’s eyes widened slightly.

“Why? I heard women like things like this.”

The expression on his face showed that he couldn’t understand why. Then as if he realized something, he spoke again.

“Ah, do you prefer jewelry? Just tell me whatever you want.”

What in the blazes is he doing right now…? Is he really doing this because he thinks women like it? Here was another beast who didn’t know what love was. Of course, that was only true if he was really trying to woo me.

I didn’t think Damon Salvatore’s actions were sincere. I wasn’t sure of the reason, but I knew he was doing this to draw me in at the very least…although he was quite wrong about how to get a woman’s interest.

“I can give you anything you want. I am the successor to the Salvatore family, and I have everything, whether it be money, power or fame.”

Damon said confidently.

Naturally, the attention of the people in the coffeehouse had been focused on Damon and me and they were all listening to everything he said. So the moment the name of the Salvatore family-the high nobles of the east-came from Damon’s mouth, gasps came from all over the room. Mr. Gilbert was also surprised, and his jaw went slack.

“I’m sorry but I’m not interested in that.”

But when I sharply refused again, the people around were even more shocked. I could tell they were afraid that I might get into huge trouble for upsetting a high noble. Even more so because Damon’s face hardened when he heard what I said.

“You’re not…interested?”

His eyes trembled slightly, almost like he couldn’t accept the current situation. But Damon’s trembling eyes soon settled down and he spoke again.

“That doesn’t make sense. This is something people cannot get no matter how hard they struggle and strive for it! And I’m saying I have all of that.”

He looked like he was ready to convince me somehow. His spirit burned with useless willpower as he continued to speak.

“Becoming mine can make you the best in the east. The Salvatore family is the pillar that supports the East and even if you remove the family, I am Damon Salvatore!”

He seemed to regain his confidence the more he spoke, and ease came back to Damon’s face.

“I’m sure you know that most of the commercially available amenities and even the ones used in this coffeehouse are invented in the Alchemist Tower, right? The acronym on them is my name.”

The people in the coffeehouse knew the initials ‘DS’ on their freezers and heaters so they were surprised a second time and sucked in a breath.

“What I can do isn’t just limited to material things. The Salvatore family men are famous for being loyal to their spouse. We are different from some noble family that has illegitimate children even after marriage.”

Hearing this, I couldn’t help but think something was strange.

“So you understand now, right? You should know who is the smarter choice.”

Only

Why do I feel like he’s talking as if he’s making a comparison to someone else? The nuance I was getting from this was that he thought there was someone else I was currently seeing.

I might just be my imagination, but when he said ‘some noble family that has illegitimate children’ it didn’t seem like he was talking about the general behavior of noble families but about a certain family.

Damon Salvatore was staring at me with an intense look in his eyes, as if asking if I still won’t admit it despite all this.

“I see. Your future spouse must be very happy.”

Translator’s Corner:

[1]If you haven’t noticed, Odin never says the gender of the person directly, so I had to translate it to ‘that person’.