TCS - Chapter 11
The men in my family, despite their different personalities, aligned perfectly on just two things: doting on me, and being absolutely serious about hunting.
Setting aside the youngest, Theodore, who was still too young to have hunted, even my eldest brother Sinclair, normally the calmest and most dignified in our family, turned into a passionate young man when it came to hunting.
It seemed the instinct for hunting ran in the Estarotte bloodline. Thanks to this, everyone was captivated this time and rushed off with the Viscount to hunt a white deer.
“Honestly, they’re hopeless.”
My mother clicked her tongue softly as she watched the men leave, leaving the youngest behind. She didn’t want to interfere with their hobbies, but she was clearly annoyed that the Saxen family’s schemes easily swayed them into hunting.
With all the men who usually protected me gone, there was no one left to stop the marquis’s wife.
“Hohoho, so last year…”
The youngest was asleep beside my mother, still too young, while the marquis’s wife dazzled my mother with her slick talk, distracting her completely.
Naturally, Pedro and I ended up sitting together. Listening to the marquis’s wife’s conversation gave me a headache, so I stepped away briefly—but he followed me. Despite not hiding his dislike for me, I couldn’t understand why he was so persistently annoying.
“Hey.”
I thought he was a reckless brat who couldn’t hide his feelings, but maybe he did try to conceal his true thoughts in front of his parents.
Suddenly, Pedro picked a fight.
“I hate you.”
“Yeah, me too.”
I replied casually, and his smug smile quickly twisted into a grimace.
If this had been any other young lady, she might have been hurt by his harsh words and teared up—but unfortunately for him, I wasn’t one of them. In fact, I hated him more fiercely than he hated me… Although that resentment was because of things that hadn’t happened yet, so Pedro might have felt it was unfair. But judging by how he acted now, there was no chance he’d change in this lifetime.
Anyway, I stayed calm, not caring how he felt about me, and that seemed to upset him even more.
Glowering fiercely, he reached out and grabbed a handful of my hair.
“Hey!”
“Ah!”
Is he really crazy? He’d only thrown tantrums before, never gotten physical, but maybe because he was still just a kid, he had no restraint. Well, no one had ever disciplined him for behaving like this on his own estate, so it made sense.
If I had been this young, I’d have cried and not known what to do, but inside, I was already an adult who had gone through two cycles of reincarnation.
“Hey, let go.”
I warned him in a low voice, but he just scoffed and gripped my hair even tighter. The pull on my scalp was sharp and painful.
I didn't resist, consciously relaxing my body. Not because I was scared, but to seize an opportunity when he lowered his guard.
"You insolent— Ack!"
Just as he sneered at my lack of resistance, I kicked his shin.
Though I was wearing children’s shoes, the pointed, firm toes made him grimace and curl up in pain. The hand holding my hair loosened as a bonus.
Straightening up after being dragged around, I was now looking down at him. I clenched my fist tightly.
<We shouldn't teach our little sweetheart such rough things, but you never know what might happen in the world...>
<Alright. Clench your fist like this. Don't tuck your thumb inside; place it like this to make a solid fist.>
<And thrust it straight out! Pow! Right here. It's even better if you hit with the edge of the back of your hand or slightly protruding knuckles.>
<Yes. Like that. Well done! But you shouldn't do this normally, okay? It'll roughen up these lovely hands.>
Recalling the voice of my second brother from memory, I delivered a righteous punch of fury straight to Pedro's face.
It landed so cleanly. With a distinct smack! sound, I saw his head snap back.
"Ugh! That hurts! ...Blood? A nosebleed!"
Something red peeked through the fingers clutching his nose. He had a nosebleed. He stared at me in shock.
Was he expecting me to soothe him or something? Why would I?
"You're nothing special," I sneered, twisting my lips contemptuously. At that, he burst into tears. Seeing him break down, I mocked him for crying like a baby, which only made him wail louder, "Stop it!". Although I didn't harbor good feelings towards him due to events in my past life, bullying a clueless child still felt unpleasant.
'Aish.'
I wanted to avoid the Viscountess inevitably rushing over and making a fuss, and besides, this strange feeling made me not want to linger here. I knew what terrifying things I had experienced during this family trip, but frankly, I had let my guard down. My memories were fuzzy, and I was exhausted from the war of nerves with the Saxon family, so it had slipped my mind.
***
<Best> SirenThatRingsWhenHappy
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee~!
Eeyo-eeyo-eeyo-yong~!＼(☆o◎)／
While fleeing from Pedro, the Gods' dialogue window popped up before my eyes. Unlike before, however, it was filled only with meaningless sounds, making me tilt my head.
"‘Siren That Rings When Happy?’"
I didn't know what a 'siren' was, but judging by its behavior, perhaps it meant it was happy? So Gods felt happiness too. That was somewhat fascinating.
It wasn't just this 'Siren' god who was happy; the number of comments below was staggering. Conversations that usually topped out around 80 lines had reached nearly 150. I couldn't help but be surprised by almost double the usual volume of messages.
Curious, I unfolded the closed chat and was immediately bombarded with curses.
I shivered. If the gods were reacting so violently, it meant something they couldn’t handle had happened.
└ [I’m Getting Off At This Stop]
Oh my
└ [DumpThatCrapCar]
This is crazy, seriously
The curses gradually lessened as I scrolled down, and it seemed the gods were regaining composure, which relieved me a bit. But there were still some strange comments.
└[Please Help the Evil Beggar ㅠ]
So damn sexy, really…
└ [I’m Getting Off At This Stop]
Agreed
What on earth does “sexy” mean here? The tone was so strong it couldn’t be anything ordinary… As I nervously scrolled further down, the reason for their intense reactions became clear.
└ [Huffy's House Is the Most Perfect House]
Yeehaw, the male lead's lost it and is rampaging ㅋㅋ Even though it's covered with an eye patch, how can the sexiness overflow like that? Seeing this chapter's illustration, I think my ovaries exploded.
└[Please Help the Evil Beggar ㅠ]
LMAO, but it’s true he can’t see anything lol
Even if he’s blind, how come not a single eye is shown on the cover or in the illustration lol
The problem is, there’s no mention of eye color at all in the narration, so what color are the male lead’s eyes?
└ [I’m Getting Off At This Stop]
One vote for black. After all, the male lead is supposed to have black eyes and black hair… The hair color’s unfortunately different, but I’ll believe the eyes are black.
└ [DumpThatCrapCar]
The female lead’s eyes are close to deep sky blue, so maybe his are red?
└ [Nam Namsoo, Academy Director Nam Namsoo]
LOL, are they a yin-yang couple??
“Male lead!”
I grasped at the empty air at that word. Actually, I had reflexively tried to grab the chat window in front of me, but since it wasn’t something I could hold, my hand closed on nothing.
I thought I might finally get some clues about the male and female leads, so I stared at the chat without blinking—but there was little useful information.
Except that from the excited gods’ chatter, I learned a bit more about the male lead’s appearance than before.
He wears a thick black lace blindfold.
He has blonde hair.
He’s handsome.
He’s tall and has big hands.
And…
“…a large chest.”
For some reason, my face flushed with embarrassment. I couldn’t understand why a man having a big chest was noteworthy.
In my own family, my second brother was obsessed with developing his chest muscles, so much so that in the future, his pecs became as large as my head, but...
But it just looked gross, not impressive.
The defined muscles beneath the skin sometimes reminded me of meat on the dining table, and whenever that image popped into my head, my appetite just disappeared.
"Sigh."
Being reminded of my sibling's chest because of the Gods made me feel nauseous. Whenever I reacted like this, my second brother would give me a pitying look, as if I were a child ignorant of masculinity, which only made him more infuriating.
But I couldn't refute his words, because the only men I really knew were my family members and Pedro. I didn't have any friends with whom I could openly discuss men, and besides, in my past life, my entire existence had revolved around Pedro.
So, my preferences naturally aligned with him, but Pedro, being the piece of trash who never put in any effort…….
‘To put it kindly, he was slender; to put it bluntly, he was simply frail.’
Naturally, his limbs were thicker than mine, but compared to other knights, his body was like a wooden stick.
‘Is it really okay for a knight to be like that?’
Of course, in this life, he'll probably just end up guarding his own territory, so I suppose it doesn't matter.
Anyway, as I shook my head, unable to comprehend why the Gods were so enthusiastic about such lumps of flesh, an image flashed through my mind.
‘Come to think of it, that man…….’
The man who had handed me a handkerchief in my very first life. His forearms were also thicker than Pedro's.
I seemed to recall that when the forearm muscles, glimpsed beneath his robe sleeve, had tensed slightly, a vein had subtly bulged.
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