Chapter 13: CH 13

“What? You call a person a strawberry. What does that mean?”

Boris asked, puzzled by the bizarre analogy.

“They’re small and cute.”

Nikolai’s idea of a strawberry was a little–or a lot–different than most people’s.

The strawberries imported from across the ocean in Archetia were as big as a child’s palm, but in Nikolai’s hands they were as small as raspberries.

Bite into one, and the white, soft flesh crumbles, releasing a fresh, sweet red juice.

Katya was like that.

Just being around her made him feel refreshed.

“Your Highness……? Your Highness!”

Boris clapped his hands together a couple of times as if to wake Nikolai up from his senses.

“Didn’t you say before that the princess held a knife to Your Highness’s throat?”

“I did. It was a very unconventional experience.”

“Unconventional doesn’t begin to cover it. What if she had left a scar on your neck?”

“A scar of honor, I suppose?”

Nikolai replied with a smile.

A night’s lodging as a payment for chasing off the thugs and getting me here.

What the hell. She was a woman who said she was in debt and would definitely pay it back.

I could see her squirming and apologizing if she’d actually cut his throat by mistake.

It was almost nice to think that I could see that.

“Yes? What is a scar of honor?”

“I’ve never seen a woman so skilled with a sword among the noble families. So it’s a pretty honorable scar if I’ve been struck by such a woman.”

“What’s the point of a woman being skilled with a sword? Are you suggesting you engage in a duel during courtship?”

“What duel! What if she gets hurt.”

Nikolai said, suddenly sobering.

Boris, who had seen countless knights carried off on stretchers because of his inability to control his strength, was stunned at the look on his master’s face.

Could a man change like this?

“No, why are you suddenly so angry, think about it. She pinned you to the wall with your reflexes and stabbed you with hwe sword. Isn’t it already unusual for her to be able to duel with Your Highness?”

“That’s what makes her more attractive.”

It was partly because Nikolai had let his guard down in her presence.

It was the first time in his life that he’d ever let his guard down after receiving assassination threats on a daily basis.

Not because she was a woman.

Some of the assassins sent to him were women.

So it was a curious thing, Nikolai thought to himself.

The presence of this woman who made an exception to all his rules and habits.

“And yet you see her as a chick, a rabbit, and even a strawberry? I always feel that Your Highness’ way of thinking is, how should I put it, not quite conventional? Should I say it’s somewhat unconventional? Anyway, there are times when it’s hard for me to understand.”

The loyal aide, risking their life, made a remark to his master.

“I’m the one who doesn’t understand. I can’t for the life of me figure out why that lovely woman is called a wicked woman.”

“I didn’t hear all of it because I was chasing after Your Highness, but it’s often said that it’s because of her that men in the South walk around with their pants down.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“They say she’s been doing that since she was a kid, stepping on the hems of men’s pants from behind and pulling them off. Like a game.”

Boris shuddered at the thought, his skin crawling with goosebumps.

Men’s underwear is usually made of a material that doesn’t cling to the body for breathability and mobility.

When the pants supporting the baggy men’s underwear came off, it meant that the underwear underneath would also come off, exposing the buttocks.

It was a family disgrace to show your butt in front of others, especially to girls.

“How embarrassing is that? What a blow to a man’s pride. If it were me, I would have left the city altogether.”

“Is there any chance that she did something openly like that? It’s more likely they did something wrong first.

Nikolai, armed with a straitjacket shield, assumed a defensive stance as if he was Katya’s spokesperson.

Boris realized that the answer the Grand Duke wanted was fixed anyway.

“Your Highness—”

“Forget it, I don’t need to hear it. You call her wicked because she doesn’t conform to your idea of womanhood. Logic defies you.”

Boris frowned in disbelief as he waved her hands in the air, asking him to stop.

The most illogical person in the room right now was the Grand Duke.

Nikolai de Vasily had completely identified himself with Katarina Smirnov and considered anyone who attacked her to be an enemy.

In this situation, there was an undisclosed truth that Boris was unaware of.

In the first place, his claims of cuteness are unfounded.

So, if nothing else, once you fell under the spell of cuteness, there were no answers.

Once you’re in it, there’s no way out.

Anyway, for that reason, Nikolai was in a very unpleasant mood right now.

How hard must it have been for her to be called something that men had made up to suit themselves?

“What the hell did she do to deserve wanted posters, anyway? Avoid her because she’s a villainess or something?”

“It’s not that. There is a villa belonging to Count Petrozky nearby. A man named Ivan has been patrolling the area, instructing to apprehend and deliver the woman here if she happens to come this way.”

“If it’s Ivan of the Petrozky family…….”

“Yes, that’s right, ‘that’ Ivan.”

Ivan Petrozky was quite a celebrity in the north.

It was common knowledge in the capital that the second son of Count Petrozky was a dog, so Nikolai knew the name if not the face.

He was said to be a gambler and a lover of women, traveling in and out of brothels and having a promiscuous sex life.

In social circles, if anyone asked about his second son, Count Petrozky would break out in a cold sweat and say he had barely graduated from the academy.

But everyone secretly knew it was a lie.

The Royal Academy of Archetia attracted the brightest minds from all over the world, and the discipline was strict.

If you are the son of a high-ranking nobleman, you could get away with it to a certain extent, but it was said that a fool who lived inside was a fool who lived outside, and there was no way Ivan, who lived as he pleased, would have been able to live up to his word in Archetia.

It was widely assumed that he had contacted the Count’s family and quietly withdrawn from school, perhaps to save face.

“And the man whose head was smashed in by the lute she wielded was Petrozky.”

Now it clicked.

“He told me that the woman in the portrait was his fiancée, and that they were living together until marriage. But the fact that she ran off like that makes me wonder if it was a marriage she didn’t want.”

Boris said with a pitying look on his face.

It didn’t matter if she was a wicked woman or not.

Anyone who knew Ivan Petrozky’s notoriety would pity any woman who took him for a husband.

‘That such a man should seek to marry her.’

An unbearable feeling of displeasure coursed through Nikolai’s body.

The thought of Katya sharing a bath with another man and washing his hair made him feel dirty.

And not just any other man, but the filthy nymphomaniac Ivan?

He was suddenly furious at this man who was trying to make an innocent Katya his wife.

Nikolai’s fists clenched involuntarily.

Glancing at the Grand Duke’s hand, Boris was relieved to see that it was empty.

If he had been holding a cup, it would have shattered under the force of his grip.

“Hmph. Let’s get you into your room and get some sleep. You’ve had enough of assassins this night.”

Boris said, rising from his seat.

“Where are you going?”