< Chapter 67 - The Calm Before the Storm >
Chapter 67 – The Calm Before the Storm
5 o’clock in the morning.
Even though he hadn’t set the clock to ring, Yuder opened his eyes with a start.
To begin with, Yuder was not the type to sleep very long, but after his transformation, he felt full of energy even after sleeping for only about 3 hours a day, so he adjusted his sleeping hours to between 2 and 4 hours.
‘3 hours and 30 minutes.’
Today’s sleep time.
After checking the time, Yuder carefully got up and walked towards the large bath tub placed in a corner of the room.
‘I guess I have to shower in the morning.’
Yuder, who took off his clothes as if he was shedding skin while walking, stood in the middle of the barrel and tore the scroll.
Waterfall.
I came to my senses in the lukewarm water pouring down like a waterfall, and my previously languid body became tense.
“Phew.”
This is the taste that makes the scroll.
The best thing is that you can just use the waterfall directly.
‘Still, I guess I should research things like showers.’
Shower waterfalls pour out less water than combat waterfalls, and their power is also weaker, so it is possible to use a scroll made of cheap paper, but it is not cost-effective to use a scroll every time you shower.
In a word, should we call it luxury?
‘It’s also a bit uncomfortable.’
Because I used it once when I started showering and once when I finished showering and when I left.
In the meantime, we had no choice but to recycle the water that poured down the first waterfall and wash it.
‘Well, for now, it’s just at the level of ‘where is this?’
There is a story that the main reason perfume developed in the West was because people stopped bathing, and although that wasn’t entirely the case, it was somewhat true.
‘Because it’s not an environment where hot water gushes out when you turn on the faucet.’
Even in the Middle Ages – no, until the early modern times – bathing was one of the most luxurious things for people.
It was difficult to find clean water to wash one’s body with, and then it had to be boiled hot.
‘You can’t ignore the cost of fuel either.’
The effort that goes into it.
Boiling water, pouring it into a bathtub, and boiling it again to rinse it out… It was a luxurious task that consumed time, money, and manpower.
In that sense, a morning shower using a waterfall might actually be cost-effective.
‘Anyway······It was hard to persuade Maya.’
As Uther’s wake-up time got earlier, the one who suffered the most was Maia.
Even though she was a dedicated maid, she couldn’t wake up later than her master.
Since she had to take care of various things including washing up in the morning, Maia’s morning had to start almost two hours earlier than usual, and the number of things she had to do had also increased.
‘Just sleep. It’s okay. I’ll take care of it myself.’
‘But, Your Majesty!’
It took about a month to convince him.
‘No, it was more like an order than persuasion.’
Although I felt considerable psychological resistance to forcibly ordering Maia, who was like my older sister, around, I couldn’t help it.
The dark circles on Maia’s face have become noticeably more pronounced.
‘anyway.’
After taking a shower using shampoo and conditioner, Yuder used the waterfall again and quickly left the room holding a large bucket full of water.
‘Put away the water and start exercising.’
Back in his room, Yuder slowly took his time stretching and then began his morning exercise.
Since I’ve been doing it every day since becoming Landius’ disciple, if I skip it even for a day, I feel uneasy all day long.
‘Light 1 hour 30 minutes.’
It was the time that Yuder invested in exercising every morning.
After waking up, shower and clean up for 15 minutes, exercise for 1 hour and 30 minutes, then shower and clean up for another 15 minutes.
‘Okay, I gained some weight.’
Yuder’s current weight is in the late 70s.
Even though he suddenly grew taller due to a complete transformation, there was nothing he could do about the law of conservation of mass.
When he first underwent a complete transformation, he was very skinny, weighing in the 60 kg range, but thanks to his hard work in gaining weight, he is now at a weight that suits his height.
‘Height: 180 cm, weight: late 70s.’
Yuder looked around his body and nodded slowly.
‘Okay, let’s keep it like this for a while.’
First of all, even without meeting Landius, the original Yuder grew to a height of around 180 cm by the third volume of Heroes.
He already had growth potential, and with his body completely transformed, there was a possibility that he could grow a little taller.
‘The latter half of 180 is just right.’
But since Kira didn’t always do as she wanted, she had to leave it up to the heavens.
‘Okay, anyway, today is about abs.’
I’ll do everything in general, but I’ll work on my abs at the end anyway.
Do one more set than usual.
Because you never know when Cordelia might change her mind.
“Ahem.”
Yuder, who had let out a cough without realizing it, began to focus on his exercise again.
And about an hour and twenty minutes later.
Before I knew it, the sun was rising outside the window, and I could hear birds chirping in the distance.
And one more person.
“Hey, Yuder. Huh?!”
Cordelia burst through the door to Uther’s room with Dahlia, and covered her face with both hands, suppressing a scream.
Because the sweaty, hot, naked body of Yuder – to be exact, only the upper half of his body was naked, but it was right there in front of me.
[Hey, are you crazy? Why are you naked?]
[No, I was exercising?]
As Uther immediately responded to the magic message she had sent in a hurry, Cordelia slightly opened the fingers that had been covering her face and looked forward again.
Sure enough, I saw Yuder wearing his pants properly.
In terms of exposure alone, it was actually much less than when I went to an outdoor hot spring.
Cordelia glanced at Yuder’s abs without realizing it, then raised her head again and sent a message magic.
[Why do you have to take it off when you can just do it?]
[Because you’re sweating?]
It’s uncomfortable to sweat while wearing clothes.
Cordelia had no choice but to nod in agreement with Uther’s argument, which was as rational and logical as ever.
[Anyway, get dressed quickly. You know there’s a tea party this morning, right?]
[Okay. Anyway, I’ll just finish this one set.]
[what?]
[One set only.]
After giving a short answer, Yuder lay back down and started doing abdominal exercises – or more precisely, core exercises.
The body, as beautiful as a sculpture, moved smoothly yet precisely, and Dahlia blushed slightly in admiration.
“Miss, your Majesty is in great shape.”
Cordelia answered with the corners of her lips slightly raised as she spoke in a whisper.
“Right? Are you feeling well?”
“Yes, that’s great.”
“Hehe, since it’s our house, that’s standard.”
Cordelia shrugged and looked back at Uther, and Maia tried to suppress her laughter.
Because Cordelia’s face, boasting and getting excited about her darling, was so cute.
Anyway, and about 30 minutes.
After finishing breakfast, attended to by the servants led by Maia, Uther and Cordelia got dressed diligently and left the inn.
“These days, we have tea parties every day.”
“Because the peak period is right before the National Foundation Day.”
As it was the 300th anniversary of the founding of the nation, even the local nobles who normally did not come had gathered in the capital.
It was only natural that tea parties were held every day, as there was a lot to do, including getting to know each other, exchanging information, and doing various other things.
“Don’t men have hunting competitions or anything?”
“It would be like that in the countryside, but this is the capital. It seems like they hold chess meetings and simple drinking parties instead of pheasants.”
“Drinking party? You going out too?”
“No, that’s up to your father or father-in-law.”
It wasn’t just Uther and Cordelia who were busy lately.
Count Bayer and Count Chase were also busy with several schedules each day.
“To begin with, it’s not normal to have a tea party in the middle of the morning like this.”
“Well, usually I do it in the afternoon.”
It was common to have a light tea party before a meal, but if there were fifteen or so participants, it was almost always a rule that the tea party would be held between lunch and dinner—that is, in the afternoon.
“Anyway, let’s do our best today. It seems like the publicity effect is quite good.”
“You mean shampoo and conditioner? Are there a lot of people who want to buy them?”
“Oh. Yesterday, three merchants from the royal road came to see me.”
“Wow.”
Five days after meeting the royal family, including Princess Daphne.
Uder and Cordelia, who have attended seven tea parties over the past five days, have been promoting their shampoo and conditioner diligently.
“I’ve benefited a lot from walking billboards.”
Uther smiled and lightly stroked Cordelia’s hair, and Cordelia followed him, playing with her own hair.
Soft, smooth, shiny hair.
“Okay, I have to do my best today too.”
“I only trust the princess.”
“Okay, I’ll sell them all for you.”
Shampoo and rinse are made from special products of the city of Baalun.
This develops commerce and increases tax revenue, making the Bayer and Chase families wealthy.
Uther and Cordelia laughed at the same time, and Maia and Dahlia, who were watching them from the side, also smiled brightly.
‘You’re cute.’
‘You’re so cute today too.’
And about ten minutes.
Upon arriving at their destination, Uther and Cordelia got out of the carriage after adjusting their clothes once again.
The one hosting this tea party is the Count Morian, one of the seven southern clans.
Facing the entrance of the ornately decorated mansion, Uther extended his hand to Cordelia and said.
“Okay, let’s do well today too.”
“huh!”
Cordelia answered cheerfully, took Uther’s hand, and the two walked side by side.
&
tea party.
A gathering to enjoy tea and sweets.
That is, it is basically a gathering where people sit together and chat.
After greeting each other and serving some tea and snacks, as is often the case with these large-scale tea parties, the group began to break up into small groups and have their own gatherings.
‘Euuummm… There are some people I’m seeing for the first time.’
Cordelia sipped her black tea and looked around at the ladies sitting at the same table.
Three familiar faces, two unfamiliar faces.
The familiar faces are Sylvia and Viola, both of whom belong to the Northern 12 families. And Rachel, whom I saw at the Sword Banquet.
The unfamiliar faces were those of Lady Titania of the Gerard Count family, both nobles of the royal capital, and Lady Annie of the Faded Viscount family.
‘The host, Ms. Maeve, is on tour.’
Okay, okay.
First of all, I feel at ease since three out of five of them are familiar faces.
‘Besides, my sister Sylvia is a shampoo and conditioner lover.’
Since he was a gentleman who was willing to invest in the name of the Crossbell Counts, he would also help with promotion.
‘Okay, okay. Today is another exciting promotional time.’
And that’s exactly what happened.
Both Titania and Annie showed great interest in shampoo and conditioner.
But even so, we couldn’t just keep talking about shampoo and conditioner, so before we knew it, the conversation had moved on to a new topic.
“So… where did you end up going?”
“yes?”
Cordelia’s eyes widened in response to Titania’s question, and Titania smiled broadly.
“As you know.”
“You’ve even run away from home together several times······.”
Annie also spoke with a big laugh, but to anyone who saw her, her eyes were full of lechery.
“Ahem, I don’t think this is a place to talk about this.”
Sylvia cut in and went in, but perhaps it was the cultural differences between the royal capital and the north that made Titania and Annie not give up easily.
“Don’t be like that.”
“Please tell me just one story.”
The two of them were cutely teasing each other, but Cordelia had nothing to say. Of course, that was because what was there to talk about?
I couldn’t tell you the story of being carried around here and there on Yuder’s back.
But that was just then.
“Ahem… Miss Cordelia. May I tell you the story of what I saw at the Sword Banquet?”
Cordelia blinked at Rachel’s suggestion and bit her lip slightly.
It reminded me of what happened at the sword banquet.
‘Well, I guess that’s okay?’
It’s just a kiss on the cheek.
Yeah, it’s nothing.
We’re engaged, so what’s the big deal?
At the time, Cordelia was so red in the face that she couldn’t think of anything, but frogs tend to quickly forget their tadpole days.
“Yes, it’s okay.”
“Ahem, then······.”
When Rachel told about the confrontation between Uther and Lucian that she had seen at the Feast of Swords and the events that took place between them and Cordelia, Sylvia and Viola also showed great interest.
Cordelia also felt very curious to hear the story of herself and Uther through a third party’s eyes.
‘I did that?’
Cordelia looks at Uther with longing eyes, and Uther hugs Cordelia’s waist and looks at her with a hot gaze.
“I will definitely win for you.”
“Don’t get hurt, my love.”
Rachel, who acted as two people, even changing her voice, placed her lips on the back of her hand, and the young ladies, who understood what it meant, clapped their hands and let out a small squeal.
“It’s so cool.”
“It’s like a love story.”
Titania and Annie spoke, and Viola looked at Cordelia with longing eyes.
And Sylvia.
“Our Cordelia has grown up.”
A look of incomparable joy.
‘Oh, that’s not it. That’s not it.’
I feel like something is very distorted.
I just got a slap on the cheek, nothing more than that.
But it wasn’t an atmosphere where I could say anything. I felt like if I did something wrong, the misunderstanding would only get worse.
“Come to think of it, Prince Yuder always goes around with Miss Cordelia, right?”
“Do you think that’s all? You always escort me?”
“Oh, that’s right. You always escorted me to the sword banquet, so everyone was jealous. You stood out.”
Titania, Annie, and Rachel, in that order.
Viola looked at Cordelia with sparkling eyes, and Sylvia smiled slightly before her eyes turned into a look that said, “Enough!”
‘Why, why. Is it weird?’
A fiancé escorting his fiancee?
Wasn’t that just a given?
When Cordelia asked Sylvia a small question, Sylvia laughed in disbelief and said,
“Of course not. Don’t you know where you stand? Do you think it’s common for kids like you to always hold hands wherever you go?”
“It’s not even in the royal capital.”
“Observe other couples later. You’ll immediately see the difference.”
This time, in order, Sylvia, Titania, and Rachel.
“Is that so?”
“That’s it.”
Titania, Annie, and Rachel answered Cordelia’s question with stern faces.
“Come to think of it, do you always hold hands like that?”
“yes?”
“No, it’s the way you hold hands. Lovers should do it more like this······.”
Titania, with her words slightly trailing off, intertwined her right and left hands.
“Doesn’t it look a little different from holding hands normally?”
Because it felt like it was completely interlocked.
As Cordelia nodded without realizing it, Titania laughed heartily and continued speaking.
“Try it sometime later. It’ll feel different. Okay?”
Handcuffs.
Cordelia, who had been quietly staring at Titania’s interlocked hands, slowly nodded.
&
‘Handclap.’
Handcuffs.
It’s nothing special.
Just hands holding each other.
‘still······.’
Handcuffs.
No, it’s not that I really want to shake hands with Yuder.
Just… because other people might think it’s weird.
You’re engaged, but you’ve never even held hands?
Are you really engaged?
‘Oh, that’s right. Your stomach might break!’
So this is something that needs to be done.
Yeah, yeah, because the charade of a fantasy couple who love each other so much that they can’t live without each other has to continue.
‘Clap your hands, clap your hands.’
Because there are many opportunities.
When you leave later, Yuder will escort you.
Just then, quietly.
Yeah, I should give it a try.
‘Clap your hands, clap your hands.’
Cordelia, who had made up her mind, waited for the moment to exit while gently pressing her pounding heart, and it was finally time to face Uther again.
“Was it fun?”
“Oh, the new ladies I met were nice people too.”
Cordelia answered appropriately and glanced at Uther’s hand, and Uther reached out his hand to Cordelia as he always did.
And at that moment Cordelia realized.
Hand holding for escort.
When the woman raises her hand lightly, the man lifts his hand lightly as if supporting it.
In other words, in one word.
‘You can’t get a haircut like an escort!’
What is this? What is this?
How I looked forward to it!
No, I wasn’t expecting much, but I was just thinking, let’s give it a try. Anyway!
[Cordelia? Is there a problem?]
At that very moment, Uther’s message magic flew in, and Cordelia groaned for a moment before quickly turning her head away.
No matter what, I couldn’t say that I wanted to hold his hand.
‘Even if you look into my eyes, I’ll be able to read it all.’
So let’s just turn our heads away.
[It’s nothing. Let’s go quickly.]
[Cordelia?]
But Cordelia didn’t answer any more, and Uther fell into a disturbed mood.
‘What did I do wrong?’
Did you make a mistake?
I just did it like I usually do. There was nothing particularly strange.
[Not going?]
[Oh, I’ll go. I have to go.]
After receiving a message that felt a little rude, Yuder quickly replied and then took a step forward.
And about 30 minutes.
As soon as he arrived at his lodgings, Uder, who was still worried about Cordelia who was giving off a slightly sour feeling, faced a new development.
“You came.”
Gail and Adelia.
While Gail looked as usual, Adelia looked very tired with dark circles under her eyes.
‘I see, you’ve gotten busy.’
Thanks to Cordelia’s efforts, the Black Moon’s plan became known throughout the capital.
The royal guards, who were already on high alert due to the National Foundation Day celebration, began to clearly identify the black moon, and thanks to new evidence discovered in the meantime, the situation was getting worse day by day.
‘After all, the Royal Magic Guard exists to protect the security of the capital.’
The Royal Guard was busy along with the Royal Guards, and Adelia was one of the commanders of the Royal Guards, so she couldn’t help but be forced to work too hard.
“It’s hard, it’s hard… I’ve been up all night for several days already.”
Adelia muttered softly and rested her head on Gale’s shoulder, while Cordelia focused her gaze on their hands instead of their heads and shoulders.
Because they were holding each other’s hands together as if they were holding each other.
‘Handclap.’
Two hands clasped tightly together.
[Cordelia.]
Handcuffs.
[Cordelia.]
It’s not that I particularly want to try it.
Just, just for camouflage.
[Cordelia?]
“uh?!”
Cordelia, who had barely come to her senses after the third call, asked in surprise, so Uther quickly sent the message magic again.
[Are you okay? Did something really happen at the tea party?]
[No, nothing. More importantly, why?]
[I have something I want to talk about. Or more accurately, I have a favor to ask.]
[huh?]
ask?
What favor?
After taking Cordelia to the room, Uther sat down across from her and sent the message magic again.
[I think you’ve felt it over the past five days, but things have changed a lot from the original.]
Thanks to the early prevention of the northern invasion by the barbarians, many nobles who would not have originally participated in the founding anniversary came to the capital.
Count Bayer and Count Chase.
The strong men belonging to the Northern Four Rivers.
[There are many things that have changed thanks to the efforts of the Log Master.]
The position of the Duke of the Patriots has been slightly reduced, and many of the nobles who were his hands and feet had to withdraw from this national foundation celebration.
Added to this is the difficulty of the Black Moon.
This one incident alone would not have caused the Black Moon to fall or be destroyed, but at least it made it impossible for them to continue with the terror they had originally planned.
[You’ve distorted history a lot. So you have to take that risk too.]
Things have changed.
The story has become so different from the original that even Uther and Cordelia know.
So the enemies’ response will also be different.
[I have some expectations. But… there are times when calculations alone aren’t enough.]
What you need in times like this is intuition.
Something that cannot be explained by logic alone.
[Cordelia, what would you do?]
No, where and how do you think the enemies will attack?
Cordelia’s genius fighting sense was activated during battle.
The ability to gather clues from all variables such as atmosphere, breathing, and eye contact without being conscious of them and to discern the flow of the battlefield.
Because the battle had not yet begun, it was highly likely that its abilities would not be fully demonstrated.
But even if that were the case.
If it’s Cordelia’s beast-like intuition.
“I am······.”
Cordelia slowly opened her mouth to speak, and Uther nodded.
By combining his own calculations with Cordelia’s intuition, he created a more definite plan.
&
< Chapter 67 - The Eve of the Storm > End
