# 9
[Before Hugo appears]
On the day that Hugo and Angelica arrived at the ship, despite him saying that he would visit often, Hugo was very busy.
His personal bedroom on one side of the ship was so filled with papers that there was no place to put his feet. The vast majority of these papers came from the Emperor, Cain.
Hugo took one of the papers and began to read it, 90% of which was personal talk, while the middle lines contained the main points.
“It's no use.”
He said with a slight frown on his face, then pushed the letters piled up on the chair to sit on.
Most of the letters contained unnecessary matters, but he could not ignore them, especially since the topics of the letters were related to Angelica Ratlay, which made him more careful.
He was unable to complete the arrangement of his papers well, and was even forced to answer some of them after he found them fallen under the bed. By the time he finished answering the letters, it was already afternoon the next day.
Although the schedule was grueling, he did not feel tired.
The only thing that occupied him were Angelica's words when she said she would visit him often, and she was smiling brightly.
“…”
Should I check it out?
It was almost sunset, which made him feel that the moment was right.
He swallowed dryly as he grabbed the doorknob.
But at that moment:
"Hey Benjamin, did you just see? Princess Ratlay spoke to me! Wow, I honestly didn't believe in the Sage's Eye? But when I saw it up close, it was amazing."
“Was it just amazing? I would have died of fear. No wonder saying that you would meet a woman from the Principality of Ratlai was not a joke, her face was...”
“That's why it hurt! I thought it was just a joke, but she seems to really like the leader.”
“So what? It seems that the leader didn’t want her to be afraid of him so he didn’t give her his name properly. And certainly, if he hadn’t, she wouldn’t have been able to get here.”
“Really? If I had known that, she would have followed me.”
"Why? Do you think she'll like you?"
“Of course, if the leader can, why can’t I?”
From behind the door, the sound of the knights' conversation passed clearly.
This situation was not good for the sword master.
In moments like these, it was easy for people's voices to creep into his ear unintentionally.
Hugo felt lighter as he removed his hand from the doorknob. He was not angry, as this was not new to him, and he was not young to get angry over private conversations or inappropriate conversations.
“…”
Despite this, his once burning emotions subsided imperceptibly.
It was as if he had suddenly emerged from a happy dream in which he had been drowning without realizing it, to find himself in reality.
Perhaps it was strange that he felt angry at the knights' words.
Maybe Angelica was so afraid of him that she didn't teach him her name, they said.
“If she had heard my name, she would have fainted.”
Especially since she was a princess from the Principality of Ratlai.
Nine years ago, she was the princess that he had brought into the empire.
As he thought about this, he felt his hand involuntarily move to repeatedly squeeze his pinky, and then he took a step into the room.
Even though the knights were long gone, his steps were still hesitant.
❈❈❈
Two days have passed since then.
The days passed very slowly for Hugo.
Had the days he spent with her passed so quickly? Or was this normal but he didn't know?
What was clear was that he was so bored that his head hurt, and yet, he didn't go looking for her.
In fact, he had deliberately avoided it.
"Hahaha! Really? Then what?"
“Wow, the Imperial band was great!”
Sometimes, Angelica's voice, full of laughter, would accidentally enter his ear.
It wasn't a fantasy, it was really her voice.
As he listened to this voice, he began to feel something strange. He felt like his role was over.
It was supposed to be indifferent as it happens with other tasks.
"Yes."
Hugo let out a sudden gasp that he couldn't hold back. He didn't quite know why he was feeling so empty.
Maybe that's why. Because he was trying to avoid this strange feeling, he fell asleep for the first time in the day, which made him have a very strange dream.
A dream that was extraordinarily absurd.
"Have you thought about that, Mr. Bernstein? Do you think we're meant for each other, as they say?"
In the dream, Hugo was seeing Angelica Ratlay.
They were sitting in a garden, enjoying tea time on a beautiful day.
Her eyes were still transparent, but she was staring at him intently.
When he answered her question, Angelica smiled as she held up the teacup in front of her.
She drank a little steaming tea, then turned her gaze to the garden and answered him.
“Whatever, I don't think I could be your destiny.”
"How can we be destined for each other? It's not possible."
“Marriage for love? Who believes this today?”
There was no smile on Angelica's face in the dream.
She was frowning all the time, fretting about love, fate, and marriage.
Then, when she was about to say something else –
“…”
Suddenly, Hugo's consciousness jumped from dream to reality.
“Huh, huh...”
He wiped his sweat-soaked head and frowned.
The headache that had plagued him for three days, as if it were a leech, was getting more severe.
He shook his head, trying to erase Angelica's expression of contempt.
Honestly, it was ridiculous that he would put in such an extreme effort.
Whether the other party was a man or a woman, there was no one he liked to come into contact with.
This reaction was normal, and he had accepted it all his life, but now he didn't know why he felt this way.
Even if it is not a romantic relationship, but just marriage.
“Really, I'm crazy.”
Yes, no doubt about it.
How could he dream like this about a woman he only cared for a month?
Did he lose his mind after taking a short break from training?
He pushed his feet toward the bathroom, then quickly returned, grabbed the sword violently, and left the room.
He couldn't hold back his emotions unless he held a weapon in his hand.
Maybe he overslept, it was unexpectedly dark outside.
Head to the side of the ship that the knights don't visit often.
However, he was still holding the hilt of his sword tightly, while his head was getting more and more painful.
Then the moment came.
“Haa!”
Suddenly, his body responded to that sound first.
His hands that were heading towards the sword quickly fell to the ground, while his eyes fixed on the source that made the sound.
‘…Ah.’
He suddenly felt a sense of admiration as he stared at the blonde hair blowing in the wind. It was strange.
The headache that had tormented him for three days suddenly disappeared in an instant.
He even felt his heart begin to fill with warm feelings just seeing her back.
His heartbeat was accelerating. What are these feelings that swept through his body like huge waves? He didn't have time to think about it.
"I miss you."
"from?"
He asked her automatically because of her words.
Then he suddenly pulled her towards him, seeing a surprised smile on her face.
At that moment, he unexpectedly smiled because of her bright demeanor that was completely different from his dream.
He even felt upset when he caught a glimpse of her locks, which were even more noticeable than three days ago.
❈❈❈
“That person’s name…?”
Angelica calmly answered his question.
She said that she was thinking about her first love, then she smiled a little shyly and continued her speech.
At that moment, Hugo felt a little confused as he tried to understand his feelings.
He felt like he wanted to hear his name on her lips.
He knew that wouldn't happen, but even so he thought about jumping in and shutting her mouth. But before he could do that, a voice came.
"……Yes?"
Angelica let out a startled cry.
Her eyes suddenly widened, and her transparent eyes were filled with all the colors.
Hugo thought at that moment that he was looking directly at her.
“Hugo, now... I...”
Maybe this wasn't just an illusion.
“I think I see your face a little bit now!”
Her eye color suddenly changed to red. Angelica grabbed his face with both hands, smiling deeply.
“Really, it's so blurry but I can see it!”
Suddenly her face moved closer to him until it was less than a centimeter away.
Her breath was caressing his chin and neck, and her lips were lightly touching his.
“……!”
The touching lips had been something he had experienced before when he was giving her medicine, but now his heart was quickly jumping to his feet.
“Waa!”
While Angelica was completely unaware of what Hugo was feeling, she moved closer and cupped his face.
In fact, the appearance of his face was not clear enough to say that she was “seeing” something.
Even as her face got closer, she couldn't see the exact details of his face.
All she could notice was that his hair was black and his eyes were red.
To feel it more, she moved her hands instinctively.
I noticed the wounds on his chin and around his eyes, his high nose, and his sharp facial features that were not visible but were clear.
“Hugo, your face was like that, wasn't it?”
Indeed, the words of the band members who said her mind would change if she saw his face were wrong.
“How are these wounds?”
“…Is she ugly?”
“Of course not, she looks like Hugo.”
She had been in love with Hugo Bernstein for 13 years.
When she imagined his face, she often thought of the worst possibilities, but nonetheless, she loved him. I understood his personality and traits through the book.
In the same way, she loved the Hugo in front of her now.
“What does that mean?”
“Just...”
Whether she could see his face or not, she knew that his concern and concern for her was sincere. Even when she couldn't see him, she didn't care about his appearance.
“It's really attractive.”
Although he didn't look evil or cruel, but how these wounds stood out.
“How could they leave this beauty?”
It wasn't just a compliment, she meant it.
‘Who said those words to his face? '
As if someone had placed in front of her what she liked best, it looked bright rather than scary.
Angelica smiled broadly and her shoulders slumped.
As for Hugo, he smiled, but his smile was not clear because her face was very close. However, her smile was the one that touched his heart the most so far.
Suddenly, he remembered what Angelica said in his dream.
Fate…as she said, it was a silly word with no meaning, and yet that word affected him as if it were sugar on his cheek.
This affected him for a long time.
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