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Chapter 3: The Power of a Blonde Haired and Golden Eyed Handsome Man is Amazing
Shun had called out “Craig Thurwolf” without thinking, and the amber eyes that had been glaring at the lowlife were now turned onto Shun, glinting like a sword.
Shun hurriedly shut his mouth, but it was already too late.
“How do you know my name?”
“Uh…”
Shun stepped back, slamming his back against the wall again with an audible thump. When Craig instinctively raised his hands, he forcibly pressed Shun into the wall harder, moving in close to Shun.
Although Shun couldn’t see what was happening and was empty handed when Craig’s right hand held up a dagger and pointed its sharp point at Shun’s throat. The western-style, double-edged blade glistened under the orange lamplight.
Behind Craig’s beautiful, blonde head, Shun could see the man, who had played his part in this charade well, lying unconscious on his back.
“Answer me.”
His eyes that were so pretty they almost seemed fake were vigilant and burned with warning towards Shun. With his left hand firmly holding onto the middle of Shun’s chest and the sword in his right hand in position to slit Shun’s throat at the slightest suspicion, he had ensured that Shun couldn’t escape him.
This kabedon was a bit unexpected.
No, wait. Wasn’t it taboo to raise a hand against the heroine, even if she’s the target? There couldn’t be many girls who would buy a game to fall for a man who raises his hands against a woman!
Shun was neither a legitimate heroine nor a woman, though he was about to meet a bad end. While he was confused, the tip of the sword drew closer to Shun’s throat.
If he doesn’t say anything, he’ll die!
Shun opened his mouth and said this in an act of desperation.
“I’m here to attach you to Hyo, Loin, and others, who are going to fly you out of modern Japan!” Shun stumbled over his words a bit halfway through, but he managed to force it all out in one breath.
Then Shun saw Craig’s expression twisted with suspicion and despaired at the words he had managed to speak out of fear.
“I don’t understand.”
Of course not.
Why couldn’t Shun come up with a better excuse? He was practically in a tizzy and couldn’t be considered resourceful at all. It was impossible to tell a plain, high school teacher to calm down and talk to Craig while he was on the border between life and death, but there was a reason why Shun had to get close to him.
Shun, the twenty-first prince, was going to be killed in the battle for the throne, unless the heroine follows his route or Craig’s happy ending one.
A tragedy occurs in order to bring the heroine and the capture targets, who had been separated, closer again and strengthen their bond, and this tragedy was the death of the twenty-first prince. The youngest son, who was pushed to the front lines, died in the middle of the war of succession even though he can’t use magic or weapons at all.
Due to his poor health, he did not perform much of his role as a capture target, and he just fostered a friendship with the heroine and heals her before his death. Afterwards a capture target would comfort the wounded heroine, foster a feeling of “I only have you!” This was all certain to unfold.
This feeling of abandonment was amazing.
However, the Craig route without the heroine, perhaps because there is no war of succession in the Butterfly Kingdom as mentioned above, it seemed that he lives a happy old age growing flowers and vegetables in the countryside.
While Shun is certain he would be happy with the heroine if she chose his route, he couldn’t imagine that there was a heroine out there who would chose to be with an iron tier choice like Shun, who couldn’t even be considered bronze, with an amazing line up of silver and gold tiered princes to chose from.
So the answer was simple.
He would prefer to be the alive and well Tachibana Shun. However, there was no way Craig would understand if he simply appealed to him.
With each passing moment, the wrinkles between Craig’s beautiful eyebrows seemed to be increasing.
Craig quickly pressed his right arm against Shun’s chest, keeping the tip of his sword pointed at Shun and relieving his left hand of its hold on Shun. He then pulled up Shun’s overcoat with his empty, left hand and began to check his belongings for possible weapons.
When Shun realized he was being treated as a suspicious person, he began to panic. There was a dagger that he had brought for self-defense in the purse on the waist. Although he did not know how to use it or care if it was confiscated, the problem was that it depicted a butterfly on the handle.
Butterflies were the symbol of the country and therefore could only be depicted on things belonging to the royal family. In addition, it is carefully numbered twenty-one. If Craig found it, his identity would be revealed.
“Well, there’s no time like the present! Please, hire me!”
“What?”
Craig’s hand stopped just inches away from his waist.
Although there was no sign that his guard would be lifted, this still seemed like it was a good development.
“Oh, hey. This looks like fun even if it’s only one person.”
Peering out from behind Craig was a handsome young man with brown hair and green eyes.
“Gin, I told you to return first.”
“Well, I had a hunch that something interesting would happen because you pushed your bag on me and ran off out of the blue.”
The handsome man ostentatiously swung the hemp bag in his hand. Craig let out a sigh, breaking the tense atmosphere.
The young man called Gin looked familiar. If Shen was remembering correctly, Gin was a side character who helped take care of the heroine and foster her relationship with him in Craig’s route.
“Can you hire some unknown guy just because he looks fun?”.
Ah, he was right.
Even though Gin agreed with the statement, his tone remained light, and he replied with a flimsy answer that playfulness was important, wasn’t it?
When Craig responded with another line of common sense, Shun noticed his opening. His attention had deviated away from Shun.
With his hands raised, Shun touched his waist with his elbow and knocked the bag containing the dagger under his feet to prevent any noise.
“What did you just do?”
“Hee!”
Craig, who noticed something unusual, turned his sword toward Shun again and struck the wall, forcing Shun into another kabedon that was devoid of any excitement.
Unfortunately, when Shun was pressed back up against the wall, he knocked up the bag he had just hidden beneath his feet.
“Well, I can’t stand how itchy my lower back is right now.”
Shun put on his best, business smile and tried to say this lightly like Gin, but Craig’s sharp, amber gaze didn’t relax.
Of course.
“What’s this?”
Seeing Gin pick up a silk bag, Shun’s face drained of blood. He was finished.
Shun clasped his hands together in his heart.
May he at least get to Paradise. Since he was going to die at the hands of a very, handsome man, that might be the case this time. It would surely be better than the traffic accident he was in in his past life.
Shun tried to convince himself of this thought and then closed his eyes, but nothing came of it.
On the contrary, Shun heard a clear, semi-muffled sound.
“Why do you have so many?”
When he opened his eyes, Shun saw Gin covering his mouth with one hand to hold back his laughter. The bag in his hands was filled with colorful candies and caramel sweets that were wrapped in clear, beautiful film.
“Well, for when I’m hungry I thought it would be embarrassing if my stomach rumbled.”
Shun had forgotten all about it. However, when he was going to hide a dagger in his bag in his room before, his eyes were caught by a tray of western-style confectioneries that was on the table. The bright red and yellow candies that looked like they would just melt in your mouth had seemed so delicious that Shun turned the tray over to fill his bag with them to eat along the way.
Fortunately, when Shun had removed the bag from his waist, the only thing that fell out of it was the dagger he was trying to hide while the candy remained securely inside.
The singular, flickering orange lamp could barely illuminate the area. So Shun couldn’t see where his dagger was.
While Shun was feeling relieved, the ever-helpful, side character said a line that was truly worthy of his role, “There aren’t assassins who waltz around unarmed with only candy on their person. You should at least listen to what he has to say.”
Shun was tempted to start worshiping Gin, who was still laughing a little at him.
“I was scared, so I was upset and I said some weird things.”
At the sound of Gin’s voice, Craig was startled into action and finally pulled his hand back off of the wall and sheathed his sword. A heavy sound echoed.
“‘I’m … sorry. I was just upset when you called my name.”
When Craig apologized, his well-shaped eyebrows fell with discomfort. It surprised Shun.
“No, no, no! Don’t apologize! That was the most suspicious thing I’ve ever done.”
When Shun hurriedly said this, Gin burst out into laughter from behind, “I’m sure.”
“Are you all right?”
Ignoring Gin, Craig looked awkwardly at Shun. His piercing killing intent had completely dissipated with only a few kind words.
Despite his confusion, Shun nodded his head in response.
“Thank you for your help. Uh, so, could you hire me?”
Now that the tense atmosphere had subsided, Shun dared to bring up the subject.
Craig’s face turned grim again.
“For now, it’s already dark, so let’s wait until we get back to Nejo Castle!”
Gin threw his arm around Craig and Shun’s shoulders from behind and appeared between them while casting a wink at Shun.
Shun looked over at him and thanked him with a look of gratitude for the offer Shun had hoped for. Unfortunately, he couldn’t return the wink.
Both of his eyes closed.
“…after checking him for weapons again,” Craig, who had been about to say something, grudgingly agreed with Gin.
Craig lifted up Shun’s overcoat again and began to pat him down with both hands. He started at his feet, then moved to his waist, then arms, and finally his chest. Each part was carefully examined. Craig may not trust him completely yet, but he definitely didn’t seem as murderous or angry as he had been just a little bit ago.
Perhaps thanks to the previous situation, the feeling of Craig’s touch was strangely sharpened. However, it couldn’t be helped because he could hide something on him anywhere, but Shun had never been touched so thoroughly like this before so he was feeling extremely embarrassed.
To makes matters worse, Craig really was such an attractive man. His thin, sharp eyes, his high-bridged nose, and his muscular, well-proportioned body were even more attractive when up close like this. Even though he was dressed similarly to Shun and several other people, his attractive form drew Shun’s attention so much that it was like he was a celebrity.
In this situation, a woman would want to be hugged at least once by Craig. Although Shun was not a woman, his heart was beating louder in his chest because of Craig.
Craig looked up with his hand resting on Shun’s lapel. Shun, who had been staring at him, inevitably met his eyes. He was much closer than Shun had realized.
Shun was unable to move. Craig’s eyes, illuminated in the low lamplight, were a clear, perfect amber. Shun was shaken, and his black eyes reflected the shimmering light of the amber eyes before them.
Finally, Craig broke the moment and turned away from Shun.
“…don’t make strange faces.”
“Oh, huh?” Shun realized that he had been staring too long at Craig and hurriedly turned away. He pressed his cool palms against his cheeks. In other words, his cheeks were really warm.
“…I am Craig Schiller. Don’t say that other name again,” Craig stooped and whispered in Shun’s ear. Shun stiffened at their proximity, but Craig pulled away as quickly.
“Let’s go.”
Without waiting for Shun’s reply, Craig turned to Gin and told him something. Gin nodded.
Apparently, he got a ticket to the interview hall. Shun thought that the corner of Craig’s eyes looked a little flushed when he glanced back behind him, but Shun might have misjudged it since it was so dark.
Schiller, Shun reminded himself in an attempt to commit the name to memory. It certainly seemed inconvenient to be someone who was hiding their identity, especially when someone suddenly called them by it.
However… was that in the game?
“Well then, I’m sorry,” Gin spoke, and with that, a white cloth appeared in front of Shun, blindfolding him.
***********
TL Note: RIP Shun’s dagger.
Word Count: 2,205
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