CH 11

I instantly blinked my eyes. I wanted to see if there was any change in Gloria.

“What are you thinking about? My father hit me again last night. I’ve been beaten by my father for a long time, and Claude came and saved me quietly.”

Gloria showed her slightly swollen cheeks. Come to think of it, one side of her lip was slightly torn, too. I can’t believe that man hit the female lead. I gripped the fork in my hand tightly to channel my annoyance.

“Your father, does he still gamble when he doesn’t even have any money?”

“…Yes. He doesn’t have anything else to sell at home.”

I felt sorry for Gloria, who had a bitter smile on her face, therefore I covered my face with my hands.

I felt guilty, these were all my sins in my previous life. If I hadn’t written her that way, the female lead wouldn’t have experienced this.

“Gloria. You can stay in my house as long as you want.”

After all, the female lead’s father would soon suffer another big loss, and Gloria would have to marry someone she didn’t wish to in the first place. I could endure it for a while before that happened.

At that moment. It was the first time after a very long time that the hint of the novel regarding the main lead appeared in my eyes. This has never happened in the past seven years. I looked up into the air with a shocked gaze and stared at Gloria and Claude’s faces alternately. I believed that thing could only be seen by me.

[Gloria went to town to buy something. When she counted the many medicinal plants and turned around, there was a voice ringing in her ears. “Don’t go! Hey, why do you keep sticking to me?!” I looked around and saw a thin, blue-haired man being pushed backwards by a fat man.]

‘Oh! It must be today!’

I’ve actually been waiting for this day.

The day where Gloria meets Philip, one of the sub-male leads. I was delighted to meet him because I needed him right now. I looked up in the air and smiled brightly. Gloria tilted her head when she looked at me.

“Hey. Haley? Are you alright?”

“Huh? Yeah. Yeah. I’m fine.”

Gloria swallowed hard before she asked me.

“Can you tell me the medicine you used yesterday? And can you tell me how to make it?”

“Huh? Which medicine?”

She added when I asked back.

“I hit Brie’s friend yesterday. I needed it for self-defense. Perhaps, my father will use violence against me again another time. I’m a little anxious thinking about it.”

“Right. I’ll tell you about that later. Instead, let’s go to the city center to buy the medicine we need first.”

I could accompany Gloria while she bought the potion. The important thing today was to make the female lead meet the blue-haired Philip. I was willing to go to the city with Gloria to fulfill the hint of the novel that appeared above her head.

“Noona, do you want me to come with you?”

No way. If he was seen beside her, the sub-male lead would probably be surprised. I rejected his offer immediately.

“No. Claude, don’t you have other things to do? It’s been a long time since you came to the capital, so you can drop by to visit your family.”

“Then come with me to the city center. I’ll prepare the train.”

The sunlight was nice today, even the warm spring breeze blew gently in the air.

‘Perfect weather to meet the sub-male lead.’

It seemed that Claude had the servants at home waiting for him. The dark brown carriage, which seemed huge and quite expensive, was brought in front of us. This carriage was probably brought by Claude on his way to the capital from the Lischer Family’s Estate.

“Wow. Claude. What kind of carriage is this? Is your family rich?”

Gloria’s mouth opened wide at the sight of the carriage. Her purple eyes shone more beautifully than anyone else as they scanned the carriage with her hands.

“Thank you, it means that I can go to the town comfortably today.”

She caressed Claude’s forearm with her hand and smiled beautifully. It was a seductive smile that could be sensed even by a woman.

‘Wow, anyone who sees that will definitely think Gloria is seducing a man.’

However, the protagonist couldn’t do that. The protagonist I wrote was a character who acted nice to everyone and had a bit of a silly side. I decided to think of it as an act that would be unintentionally misunderstood. Of course, there was a slight sense of annoyance that brought a bitter taste to my tongue.

Claude trembled as if disgusted by Gloria’s hand, and he brushed it away as if there was dust on his arm, which made me feel bad for Gloria.

The man who wasn’t turned on by the female lead? My little brother’s love cells must have dried up. What kind of crazy arrangement was this in such a fantasy romance-filled world?

Even inside the carriage, Gloria’s eyes continued to stare at Claude with a twinkle in her eyes. She was staring intensely at Claude. My younger brother kept looking away, it was probably because he felt uncomfortable with Gloria’s gaze. Instead, Claude looked at me and engaged me in conversation.

“Noona, isn’t the train a little uncomfortable?”

“What? If it’s uncomfortable, there’s nothing else in this world we can ride to go there, right?”

The cushions of the seats were soft, and the space inside was large enough to carry several people. This was the best one among the carriages I’ve been on in my whole life. Compared to the omnibus, which caused a pain in my hip bones after riding it, the Lischer train was really too much for me.

Gloria interrupted our conversation.

“I like this horse-drawn carriage, Claude.”

Claude ignored Gloria’s remark and his bent-eyes, which looked like a crescent moon, fixated on me.

“Noona. Do you need anything today? Do you want me to help you with anything? What do you want to buy? You can just tell me. I’ll buy everything for you.”

I felt like suffocating for a moment when I heard Claude’s words.

Such beautiful words came out of such a handsome man’s mouth. From the experience in my previous life, having had a strong slave disposition in capitalism, I had no choice but to answer him as if bewitched.

“In that case, please subscribe to the newspaper I publish later. In all your hotels.”

What I have is what I would get, and I get what I would get. What I was saying must have sounded like a joke to my little brother. He laughed so hard that his adam apple was visible.

“Pfft. You’re really still the same as before. Hahaha.”

I’m not joking. Can’t you feel my desperation as an entrepreneur?

Gloria listened intently to our conversation and pricked up her ears.

“That hotel…”

“Huh? Gloria. What did you just say?”

“Oh, nothing.”

Gloria looked back at me and smiled. She suddenly changed the topic. She said that today was nice, the blooming flowers on the roadside looked very pretty, and she even said to want to go on a spring picnic in this weather. 

After a long journey, I could see the street vendors concentrated outside through the carriage window. It seemed that they had unknowingly entered the town square.

“Claude! You can drop us off here.”

“Noona. Are you sure I don’t have to come with you?”

“It’s fine. You must have a lot of work to do after you arrive at the capital. Just go.”

“When will you finish? I’ll be waiting for you to take you home.”

“There’s no need to worry. You just have to do your work.”

“Then, I’ll come back to your house later.”

“Hush.”

I signaled Claude to go safely before I got off the carriage with Gloria. I refused Claude’s offer when he wanted to help me get off the carriage, and I quickly jumped up and got off by myself. Then, I held out my hand for my friend to get off, Gloria smiled a little awkwardly before she took my hand.

‘What? Do you want Claude’s help?’

At that moment I squinted my eyes and wondered if I had gone too far. Gloria looked at the disappearing carriage for a long time, and whispered to me quietly as if she was talking about a secret.

“Haley, Claude is a nobleman, isn’t he?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Can you tell me what family he’s coming from?”

“He’s the Duke of Lischer’s only son.”

“Oh my goodness! How could such a noble person come to such a shabby house?!”

I frowned when I saw Gloria’s shocked face.

My house was small, but at least it was decorated quite nicely.

“Why? Are you interested in my little brother?”

She clasped my hands together shyly when she heard my sudden question.

“He’s neat and such a gentleman.”

Gentleman? How much did she know about Claude for her to say he’s a gentleman?

I thought for a moment about why those words came out of the female lead’s mouth. Then, another sub-male lead suddenly appeared in my mind. I couldn’t remember clearly what his name was, but I remembered that he was the son of a nobleman in the capital city. Come to think of it, the sub-male lead also had black hair and blue eyes.

‘What? Is my younger brother one of the male leads? In that case, you’ve been together with the female lead since you were young?’

It was such a hidden setting in my novel. At the time when I was in such a basic dilemma about my knowledge as a writer. On one of the stalls, a dark purple tangled plant that looked like a worm stood out.

“Gloria. We have to buy this. This is the main ingredient of the medicine. The rest of the ingredients are already at my house, so we just need to buy this. Let’s make it together at home.”

“Is it really this one? It looks a bit dirty.”

“Yes, it is.”

I looked around while urging her to pay the bill quickly.

‘It’s about time he showed up.’

I set up the main lead at the center where she was thoroughly surrounded by security. The moment I let my guard down, my connection with Philip would be broken. I had to find him with hawkish eyes before the main character found him first.

‘I just need to find a handsome man with blue hair.’

In a fantasy romance world, have you ever seen an ugly man among the heroine’s fish? Of course not. He’s either prettier than the woman, or he was completely charming. Readers would settle for a decadent beauty. Or even a savage man with an extremely well-sculpted body.

‘I wish he was a kid with an angry-looking back and thick arms.’

Hmmm, hmmm. Wild men were just my thing, so let’s put these trivial issues aside for the time being.

Philip, who was just 19 or 20 years old, couldn’t be someone with a manly body. I looked around to focus on the crowded and noisy place. Then, I heard the line I’ve been dying to hear since earlier.

“Don’t leave! Hey, why do you keep sticking to me?!”

I found it! That was like a sign to me. I quickly turned Gloria’s body the other way before she could look in that direction.

“Gloria. Aren’t you hungry? I’ll buy you lunch in the place over there. Do you want to come in and wait for a while there? I’ll catch up with you in a minute.”

“Huh? We can go in together.”

“Uh, you can order first and wait there. Please order menu A for me. Please?”

“Where are you going, Haley? You have to return to me soon.”

I pushed Gloria’s back, who was confused and managed to get her to one of the shiny restaurants in the town square. I wasn’t sure if there was actually Menu A in that restaurant. There had to be at least one course with a similar name.

I turned around quickly and ran towards the person who was shouting earlier.

‘Where is he?’

As I wandered around and searched carefully, I heard a man’s grumbling voice between the buildings.

“Ha, that’s a tough task. What should I do now?”

In the narrow and dark alley, a boy in a dark gray hooded sweatshirt held his head with both hands and contemplated.

“I have to get bread to feed my little brother for the day. Oh, I guess it’s the only way now.”

His blue hair peeked out from between his hood.

I Found him. I was certain it was Philip, one of the sub-male leads. Why? Because he had a handsome face. Philip, the boy with slightly raised eyebrows, which made him look like a cat.

He looked more handsome when I saw him directly. though his physique was quite on the slender and fragile side.