Chapter 17

After a brief dinner in the room alone, Citrina headed to the reception room.

‘Thinking about some of the stories I arranged makes me feel at ease.’

She thought of stories that have lessons in them to tell Desian and Aron.

Only if she succeeds can her future be perfect. Because the only pain of the transmigrated Citrina felt in this life is her predetermined death.

‘Knowing about the future like the back of my hand. I’m satisfied.’

After a satisfying meal, she soon headed to the parlor.

***

She thought she arrived quite early, but someone already arrived before her.

It was Desian.

Citrina slipped into the parlor and asked him with her head bowed down, “Desian?”

“Yes, Citrina.”

A small laugh came out on his linguid face. And she headed to the empty seat next to him.

Naturally, Desian spoke to her as she took a seat on a nearby chair.

“…Citrina.”

“Yes?”

“There’s a mole under your eye.”

Desian slowly leaned towards her. His body was large, his shadow coved Citrina’s face.

‘What?’

While she couldn’t figure out the situation, Desian’s fingertips were already at a distance that reached under her eyes.

Then, tap.

As light as a bird’s flight, callous and rough fingertips touched her soft skin.

Citrina breathed out unknowingly.

His fingers touched her.

That was it. His hand stopped.

“What…”

“You cried,” Desian said in a cold voice, which she rarely hears.

“……Ah.”

“My eyes must have turned red because I was tired earlier, I didn’t cry.”

“I hear humans shed tears when they are sad.”

“I also cry even if I’m happy or tired.”

His hand slowly moved upon Citrina’s words. His rough fingertips slid slowly to the tiny spot on Citrina’s eye.

It was only after a short while did he take his hand away.

‘How do I change this mood?’

Despite Citrina’s concerns, the atmosphere quickly changed.

“What are you two doing?”

It was due to Aron, who looked at them with a slightly embarrassed face.

As they sat around the table in a circle, the subtle air, fortunately, dissipated like spring snow.

Aron asked Citrina the purpose of the meeting this evening.

With that question, she answered, “I want to tell you an interesting story,” and grinned.

‘To be exact, instilling moral lessons under the guise of an interesting story.’

Citrina Foluin has done countless things, and the most professional thing she ever did was being a tutor. She has been exposed to numerous children. Since the data had accumulated in her memory perfectly, she has quite a few stories.

‘I need examples to show them that they shouldn’t live like a bad person.’

First of all, she talked about the adverse effects of lack of morals.

“The baron’s estate, which I used to live in, was inhabited by many farmers, albeit lived poorly. But the manor was still ruined.”

“Hyuk… ruined? Why?”

‘I’m sorry for suddenly making baron estate collapse.

… Sorry for making you suddenly fail.’

In fact, it wasn’t ruined. Although all of the provinces were sold to other nobles, they can still barely make ends meet.

But a little spice was needed for the dramatic progression of the story.

“Because of someone’s embezzlement, many people suffered from his lack of morals.”

“It’s a very, very sad story.”

The upset Aron lowered his head, but unfortunately, Desian did not react.

He seemed utterly insensitive to the pain of others. He was looking at Citrina with the same eyes as Aron, but his attitude was different.

‘The first story is a failure. Then we’re going to another one.’

Noticing the redness on her lips that was about to bleed, he said, “Citrina.”

“Yes?”

“I think it’s bleeding.”

It was clear where his gaze is at, on her bleeding lip.

She immediately relaxed her lip from her unconscious biting. Desian, who saw that she no longer is biting her lip, slowly smiled.

“Yes. Thank you.”

‘I don’t know if he smiled because of the blood or maybe it’s just that I’m sick. I wish it were the latter, but the chances are slim…’

Recalling the touch of his hand on her skin previously, she got embarrassed.

At that moment, the person who listened to the story all this time, Aron, asked quietly, “Citrina, do you have any other stories?”

“Ah! I have.”

“Tell me about that, too.”

“Of course!”

She started telling the stories she prepared beforehand, and Aron’s eyes shined little by little.

“…The virtuous prince, who was cursed and was stuck in a beautiful tower, was saved by the princess and they lived happily ever after..”

“Wow.”

After Aron’s remark, silence fell. Citrina glanced at Desian, and his face expressed drowsiness.

“Cursed, the princess who came to see the prince…”

Aron still hasn’t recovered from the terror he discovered from the rumours of being cursed. Also, the fact that the ‘curse’ was a focus.

Is that why Aron was deeply impressed, unlike Desian?

“I think it’s very romantic,” Aron’s dreamy eyes turned to her.

“Then, Citrina.”

“Yes?”

“Are you the princess who came to save us?”

“…No. There is a different princess.”

The princess of Aron is Elena Foluin. Aron, who has no clue about the future, looked at her and asked, “Can’t you be the princess?”

“No. I’m going to be a boss.”

She has ambition.

“Aron isn’t cursed, so this story has nothing to do with us,” Citrina laughed, and Aron just looked at her and blushed.

Surely, Aron was like a male protagonist in a romance novel. However, the purpose of her story was not aimed for him.

“Anyway, there is a lesson in this story, and that is to live nicely.”

“If one lived as a good person, will the princess come? ”

“Of course.”

“But does Citrina like good people, too?”

“Yes. No one in this world hates good people.” (t/n ramble: Fallacy!)

Citrina gave an exaggerated smile. Acting… is harder than she thought.

“Wow!” Aron exclaimed in admiration and continued, “Then, what kind of person does Citrina like? Is he a nice and kind man?”

“Yes. A nice and kind man. But my ideal type is….”

Her ideal type, she can’t say for sure because she doesn’t have one.

Citrina opened her mouth but couldn’t continue to say, ‘I have none.’

“Hm? What’s your ideal type?”

With sparkling and dreamy eyes, Aron asked her. If she doesn’t answer, it might break his romanticism.

…Those eyes resembled Sprong, the dog she used to have. She always felt weak in front of those cute and lovely eyes.

“A man who can protect me like a dark knight. A person who can save and help a person in danger.”

To be more precise, a man who will protect her from death and support her so that she can achieve her dreams and earn money. In fact, there are only a few of such people.

‘Your body, your own.’

In short, Citrina was trying to issue an S-class airline ticket to flee the romantic antics of the male lead

“Oh, that’s cool! I’m sure you’ll definitely meet him.”

But Aron, who didn’t even detect Citrina’s S-class ticket to flee, even clapped a little.

“A man who is kind and will be able to protect you?”

Desian muttered under his breath. It was the kind of voice that contained a little bit of life. It was Aron who heard his whisper, who was listening to his movements. He turned to his brother and grinned.

“I hope my brother also has a wonderful ideal type.”

“I agree.”

‘In that way, Desian can be rehabilitated even better.’

After that, Citrina told the stories she had prepared several, no, countless times. The story ended roughly like this.

“…So the righteous warrior, who was strong and handsome, succeeded.”

“Is it enough that the warrior has a good upstanding even if he isn’t strong? Just being a nice person? Is that possible?”

Aron was continually being amazed by her stories.

‘Actually, according to the story, he is a strong warrior…’

Citrina, who glanced at Desian’s expressionless face, nodded her head vigorously and replied, “Yes. Just be nice, and you can have the world.” (t/n rambling: hahahahaha!)

“Then, I’ll just have to be a good person,” Aron answered earnestly.

‘I think there’s something wrong with the picture. I must be mistaken, right?’

Why is it that the male lead, who was already amiable, the one who still decided to become ‘nicer’?

“…”

Desian, on the other hand, seemed to be thinking of something else and didn’t seem to be impressed.

Citrina had to admit defeat. The story plan did no good in rehabilitating the villain!

‘Do I really need to show how people should live?’

Desian hadn’t met many people yet. If he were to meet a lot of nice people, he might think differently.

Today, she failed, but she decided to find another way.

At least now, she knows that this method doesn’t work. It wasn’t such a bad harvest.

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