WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
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◈ Copy Skills with Affinity! ◈
Chapter 50: Request
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Noel Astria Seamus's reputation at work could, at best, be described as someone devoted to her duties.
A strict separation of work and private life. No small talk during working hours. Everything done efficiently, with a tight schedule.
She did not throw her weight around or make trouble, so she could hardly be called a bad superior. But whether she was the sort of superior people found easy to grow attached to was another question entirely.
When someone was too rigid, it was difficult to feel close to them.
Everyone had bad days and days when they did not want to work, yet Noel worked exactly the same way every day, like a machine. It was admirable, but it hardly made her feel approachable.
Which was why...
“Lady Noel, are you all right?”
“Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
“If something happened, perhaps you should go in and rest...”
It was almost unheard of for everyone to say such things to her in turn.
Whenever she tried to speak, she responded with a strained groan, as though suppressing a great deal. Her face had been strangely red all day, and cold sweat streamed down her whole body. Anyone would be worried to see her like that.
“...I think I'll say something terribly embarrassing if I let my guard down even a little.”
“...”
“So, Mr. Aiden, would you please avoid speaking to me if possible?”
When he asked what on earth was wrong with her, that was the answer he received at once.
‘...Come to think of it.’
The first time something like this had happened had also been because of Aiden, had it not?
Noel shot Aiden a look filled with a strange sense of grievance, but Aiden himself was hardly in good shape.
‘What do I do?’
Cold sweat poured down Aiden's entire body nearly as badly as it did Noel's as he had that thought.
She sometimes seemed beyond merely unusual, completely off in her own world, but she had never shown any inconsistency where work was concerned.
Was Noel not the one who had ultimately crossed swords even with the Lord Protector when she thought it was something she had to do?
...At this point, the potency of a potion that could trouble her to this extent was frightening.
At least the potion Noel had just swallowed after he bought it from the Point Shop had been described from the start as having a short duration, so she would not be like this for very long.
-System Message
▶ The “Lowest-Grade Random Potion” currently affecting target “Noel Astria Seamus” has 14 hours remaining!
“...”
So it was not that short.
The potions available from the Point Shop were proving more useful in a variety of ways than expected, aside from their random effects.
...The problem was that this was hardly welcome right now.
‘Could this turn into a serious problem?’
If it were anyone else, he could simply think they would spend the day acting drunk and let it go. But the person who drank this happened to meet all manner of distinguished guests as naturally as breathing.
If this state continued and she committed some grave breach of etiquette, it could develop into an enormous diplomatic issue.
“...”
Then there was no choice but to take drastic measures.
Aiden took a deep breath and approached Noel, bringing his face close enough that she flinched and instinctively stepped back.
“Lady Noel.”
“-”
The moment their eyes met, Noel clearly lost her breath. Then she squeezed her eyes shut and continued.
“-Mr. Aiden. If you come any closer, I'll hit you with my fist.”
“...Pardon?”
“Compared to the actions that are impulsively coming to mind, that would be the best option.”
“...”
“Please don't make me do anything strange to you.”
...He was almost afraid to ask what that meant.
And he did feel a little sorry after hearing that.
But he could not simply stand by.
“Lady Noel, let's go.”
“-Pardon?”
Even if he got punched.
He could not leave her in this state.
▣
Katia Heinkel Craven had been in quite a bad mood lately.
...More precisely, since her emotional ups and downs were almost entirely determined by Aiden Kellermain, it could also be said that she had not had much contact with him recently.
‘They kept saying something about winning his favor.’
She recalled the Pontiff's irritating face, the one who had suddenly left for the Holy Empire not long ago.
Had Katia not done all the important work during that battle?
She installed the Suppression Pillar, saved Aiden when he nearly died, and even supported him while trying to get him out of the area at the end.
She did not care about the outcome of the battle, but she had taken far better care of his safety than Lionheart had.
And yet.
Lately, rather than paying attention to her, Aiden had been much more engrossed in other things.
He wandered around the library devouring strange books such as The Ecology of Magical Beasts and Magical Beast Studies. He ran around all day claiming to do basic fitness training that did not suit him. He studied how to care for swords and guns...
“...”
Come to think of it, they did seem like productive activities.
Still, Katia was dissatisfied with that itself.
‘Why's he doing such pointless things?!’
Katia would solve everything herself if anything dangerous happened. Were they not friends?
Instead of spending time on that, he could at least give Katia a word of praise.
‘...Ah, he did praise me.’
Still, he could say a few more things. Or at least spend less time with that irritating Lionheart, who was just as annoying as the Pontiff, and more time with Katia. What harm would that do?
Unfortunately, Katia was not good at hiding her emotions. As a result, everyone who encountered her in the Imperial Capital government building recoiled in terror and turned back the way they came.
Before long, rumors spread through the building that Katia looked ready to kill someone. But that was clearly none of her concern.
...The sight right before her was something she needed to care about, however.
Aiden was gripping Noel's arm and dragging her somewhere. At a glance, it was obvious he was taking her away.
Katia's face crumpled at once.
‘What is this?’
He left her alone, yet there he was, looking awfully content.
Dissatisfaction boiled inside her. She wanted to barge between them at once, scream at them, and force them apart.
She would have done exactly that if something had not suddenly stopped her.
It was Aiden's expression as he pulled Lionheart along. His face was stiff, and he looked unusually serious.
And Lionheart, being dragged along by him, was so red that she was nearly turning blue.
It was clearly not a romantic atmosphere...
“...”
Her instincts told her.
Those two were about to have a serious conversation.
At that thought, Katia unconsciously curled up the corners of her lips and concealed her presence.
‘A serious conversation with Lionheart...’
She did not know what it was about, but if she listened in, it felt as though it would be very useful later when she wanted to get on that woman's nerves.
...They did not openly fight as they once had, but it was still obvious that Katia and Noel were uncomfortable around each other.
Katia secretly followed them. The moment they reached a deserted place, Lionheart violently shook Aiden's hand away.
As though having him hold her hand for so long had been an unbearable ordeal.
The drama was beginning. Katia rubbed her hands together in excitement.
“I told you, didn't I? Right now, my tongue is incredibly loose...!”
“If you have something to say, say it. Even if it's embarrassing, I'll listen.”
Aiden said that without showing the slightest sign of discomfort.
He gave off the impression that whatever the other person said, he would not care much.
“We're husband and wife, after all.”
“...”
“I don't think anyone would find it strange if you said such things.”
Noel blinked blankly at those words.
She looked so shocked that even the restraint she had maintained while carefully sorting through what she could and could not say vanished in an instant.
Noel closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath.
It was to trace back the source of that shock.
The answer came sooner than expected.
‘Deja vu.’
...Come to think of it.
Noel had once acted exactly like this.
Before she developed any particular feelings for him, they were husband and wife anyway. They had agreed to become that way.
This was simply part of that “contract.”
He and she were bound together through a Fake Marriage.
“...”
The moment she realized that, Noel's eyes sank deeply.
The instant she was reminded that he defined their relationship that way, her mood plummeted.
More precisely.
She felt bad.
Very bad.
Then Pure White Ki burst from Noel's entire body.
“Uh, Lady Noel?!”
The force of it was strong enough to make Aiden blurt that out in alarm. She looked ready to enter battle at once.
No.
Aiden himself had had quite a few opportunities to handle Ki. He had also seen plenty of Meyer's methods of controlling it, Meyer having been the greatest of his age at mastering martial arts.
Yet the presence Noel released now did not fall behind his in the slightest. Even the resolve in her eyes was enough to call it the readiness of a commander entering an actual battlefield.
“...Hngh!”
What she did next, befitting that momentum, was even more absurd.
Rather than use it to create some combat-oriented Forming, Noel pushed all of that Ki inward, into her body.
Then, as she regulated her breathing and circulated that Ki through her entire body,
the transparent liquid she had consumed soon dripped from her fingertips.
She had gathered every trace of the liquid's ingredients circulating through her body and forced them outside.
‘Good heavens.’
The thought came to him naturally.
She had precisely detected the medicine already circulating through her body and expelled it?
To do something like this, she would need, with a little exaggeration, concentration and calculating ability enough to control every single pulse of every cell in her body.
It was a remarkable feat worthy of a knight who could manifest Ki in a single color, but the question was...
‘...Why go that far?’
...Was this not medicine that would naturally leave her body with time?
At most, she would say a few embarrassing things before it ended. He had not expected that she would do something so terrifying that she exhausted herself just because she did not want that.
It must have been very difficult even for Noel, because she panted with obvious exhaustion.
She was drenched in sweat. Her face was bright red. Her breathing was wildly ragged.
...In some ways, she looked worse than when the potion was affecting her. But it was clear that this was not simply the aftermath of exhausting herself while forcing it from her body.
“You told me to say whatever I wanted?”
But unlike Aiden's thoughts,
this was something she had to do.
What she was about to say had to be spoken entirely from her heart.
Soberly, by her own will, in a way that would let them clearly confirm each other's feelings.
“Yes. I will.”
But the sentence that had seemed ready to fly out whenever she opened her mouth until just moments ago would not form into sound.
Her returning emotions.
Her self-control, embarrassment, shame, worries, and concerns all weighed down on her.
Her mouth opened and closed several times. Her heart pounded, and her mind turned blank.
Every organ in her body was likely screaming for her not to do it.
Stop saying nonsense and quietly go back. You are choosing something that might destroy a relationship that could otherwise remain intact.
But still.
“Mr. Aiden!”
“...Yes?”
Uh.
Uh?
Why was she acting like this?
The look in her eyes was no joke. It would not have been strange if she declared she was going to take the Prince's head at once.
As Aiden broke into a cold sweat at that thought, Noel gathered every bit of energy in her body and forced the words from her throat.
“-With me!”
Her eyes seemed ready to pour out red flames. She was huffing and grinding her teeth so fiercely that it would not have been strange for them to break.
“Tomorrow!”
And Noel could not help acting this way.
“Would you have dinner with me tomorrow evening?!”
Taking the first step toward something “real,” rather than a “contract,”
undoubtedly required that much courage for her.
“...”
Aiden's mouth fell open as he grasped the meaning behind those words.
“...”
...Katia's face also twisted as she secretly listened from nearby.
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