“Hey, Rin. Stop messing around and put this on.”
I’m starting to get tired of tackling her.
I pull out the raincoat I packed and throw it to Rin.
Her hands shake as she catches the transparent plastic raincoat.
“Is this for me?”
I can hear Rin’s voice as I slip on the raincoat.
“Yeah. So wear it. Don’t get sick and annoy people for no reason.”
“Sick…”
Rin’s hands tremble as she holds the raincoat.
Her eyes waver.
“Just wear it already. When a person tells you something, listen.”
“Okay, I got it.”
She puts on the raincoat.
The see-through plastic shows everything inside, and her drenched gym clothes are almost revealing her competitive underwear—it’s a bit distracting.
I look away and say, “If you’ve put it on, follow me. We’re not doing anything weird, so don’t get any crazy ideas.”
“I-I’ll follow…”
She sticks close to me.
I turn on the holographic map on my hunter watch.
The coordinates of the cave I marked earlier are visible.
“Kim Deok-Sung…”
A small voice comes from beside me.
“What?”
“Um…”
Rin fidgets with her hands.
She stops walking.
“Uh, could you… hold my hand?”
Rin stretches out her hand.
What is she doing right now?
We need to get to the cave and warm up to avoid catching a cold.
Every little thing she does is like a lump in my throat.
“If I don’t hold your hand, you won’t move, will you?”
“W-Well…”
Rin’s face turns red.
Seems like that’s what she was hoping for.
Looks like she can’t give up on that charm even in this situation.
I sigh.
Holding hands is no big deal.
“Ugh.”
Sighing, I take her hand.
It’s cold from the rainwater.
“Ugh, huh?”
Rin makes a strange noise when our hands touch.
Are you Hoshino Kasumi or something?
“Can we go now? Please shut up and let’s just go.”
“Uh… okay.”
I lead her by the hand as we walk through the flood area.
Whether it’s misfortune or good fortune, we didn’t encounter any otherworldly creatures.
Except for the torrential rain, lightning, and thunder continuously battering us, that is.
‘Is there a hole in the sky or something…?’
It looked like a short, lucky episode when I saw it in the anime, but experiencing it firsthand is a whole different level of hell.
Feels just like that awful sensation of being caught in a torrential downpour during a 40km march.
It’s a terrible feeling.
Well, wearing a raincoat and carrying a burden named Rin, it feels somewhat like a march.
Slowly, we’re getting closer to the coordinates marked on the map.
In the distance, the cave entrance comes into view.
We’ve arrived at a place to escape the rain.
*
Near the cave entrance.
Swoosh.
The sound of rain from outside echoes inside the cave.
In there, Rin was alone with Kim Deok-Sung.
Of course, the situation she wanted did not occur.
“Here, take this. You can take off the raincoat now.”
Thud.
Kim Deok-Sung throws a fresh shirt and shorts from his bag.
“Even if it doesn’t fit, just wear it. I packed it without knowing I’d be paired with you. Don’t get sick from wearing wet clothes for no reason.”
“Y-you want me to change into this, right here?”
Rin’s face turns bright red.
Her heart races.
‘Wow, a shirt. Is this the legendary naked shirt…’
The outfit she saw in women’s magazines, which she diligently checked out to enhance her femininity, ranked third on the list of men’s favorite fashions.
‘I-if I wear this, maybe he will…’
Rin’s mind runs wild with fantasies.
Her lips tremble.
“Y-you’re really…?”
“If you keep talking nonsense, I’ll kick you out.”
“Got it.”
Kim Deok-Sung cuts her off coldly.
Rin lowers her head.
‘Does he really have no interest in me?’
She feels a wave of frustration.
Ever since receiving the Lord’s orders, she has been circling around Kim Deok-Sung, doing her best to seduce him.
But he always pushed her away harshly.
‘Yet he’s so nice to Bonaparte…’
Rin bites her lips.
She senses it.
Recently, Kim Deok-Sung’s attitude toward Olivia has softened significantly.
When he unexpectedly tolerated Olivia’s antics during the cooking competition last night, which he would normally despise, Rin felt quite upset.
Jealousy.
‘Why am I feeling jealous…?’
Rin’s eyes widen.
She gets up from her seat.
“Th-then I’ll change clothes. I-I’m okay with you watching as much as you want. You’re, you’re going to be my future husband, after all.”
“If you say that one more time, I’ll kick you out.”
Rin shuts her mouth.
Her heart sinks heavily.
‘Maybe I really have no charm as a woman, just like the Lord said…’
The Lord’s recent criticism lingers in her mind.
Rustle, rustle.
Rin takes off her wet clothes and underwear, changing into the clothes handed to her.
The sensation of the dry, fresh clothes feels nice.
For some reason, it feels even better because it seems to carry his scent.
‘What am I thinking!’
Rin’s face turns red.
“I’m all changed.”
“Then sit over there.”
Whoosh.
Warmth can almost be felt now.
In the middle of the cave, Kim Deok-Sung lights the solid fuel he had prepared in advance.
Opposite him is a fishing cushion.
Supplies he had prepared since before coming to Imgan School for heavy rain.
Rin sits down.
A silence falls between the two.
Swoosh.
The sound of the downpour fills the cave, showing no signs of stopping.
Rin glances furtively at Kim Deok-Sung.
“Head over there.”
“Catch this.”
Kim Deok-Sung throws a green hot pack and blanket to Rin.
As Rin tears open the packaging and receives the hot pack, which is already warm and radiating heat, her face turns red.
‘It’s warm.’
She feels the warmth.
Her body, which had been cold due to the moisture, starts to regain vitality.
She wraps the green blanket around herself like a cloak.
She feels her previously cold body temperature gradually rising.
In her sight, she sees Kim Deok-Sung.
His face looks like a delinquent, and the wet, clinging gym clothes show off his muscular upper body without filters.
Rin’s face flushes.
“Mmm….”
A strange sound escapes her lips.
“…Kim Deok-Sung.”
“What?”
“I guess I’m… not attractive as a woman… can’t cook… and physical prowess…”
Rin’s vision becomes blurry.
Tears stream down her face.
“I am…”
Rin’s lips tremble.
Self-doubt fills her heart.
She’s done everything she could.
She tried her hardest.
Yet, nothing seemed to reach him.
Instead, she just faced a lot of scorn.
At home and from him.
Rin buries her face between her knees and sobs.
Kim Deok-Sung’s voice reaches her ears.
“What the hell are you talking about? Cooking and physical prowess have nothing to do with attractiveness.”
“But… I can’t cook… I don’t have physical appeal… So why do you…”
“Hey, did you really listen to me? You think I dislike you because of that stuff?”
“Really… it doesn’t matter…?”
“Yeah, it doesn’t matter. Not in the least.”
At his words, Rin’s eyes widen.
“I told you before. The reason I don’t like you is that you don’t truly like me back, and you haven’t reflected at all on how you troubled me before.”
“That’s…”
Rin is at a loss for words.
Only then does a forgotten memory resurface.
He’s right.
“To be honest, you don’t really like me; you’re just doing this because the Association President asked you to.”
“That’s…”
Rin bites her lip.
At first, that was indeed the case.
But now…
“You’re the same.”
“What nonsense is that?”
“You pretend to care about me, like solving ‘Lord’s’ issues… worry about my cold… hold my hand… and even prepare clothes for me? Without even really liking me! So why…?!”
Rin shuts her eyes tightly.
Tears flow down her cheeks.
Ever since she was born an orphan and adopted into the Shinozaki family, Rin had never truly received kindness.
What she received was jealousy and scorn from the family.
Ishiro’s biological children, her step-brothers, envied her as the successor and bullied her.
Lord Ishiro was no different.
Rin was adopted as a mere tool.
He never showed her any affection.
“Is it okay if I call you ‘Lord,’ or ‘Dad’?”
“I’m not your father. You are not my daughter. You’re just the sword of the family. A tool cannot be my child. If you say such foolish things again, I will disown you.”
“Don’t you dare say such pointless things again. If you do, I’ll disown you.”
Rin couldn’t call Ichiro father.
“Lord. I’ve already mastered this much of the Shinozaki Ittoryu. Please praise me.”
“Praise… Do you still have the sense to make such useless chatter? A sword filled with emotions for the clan is unnecessary. A childish tool is to be discarded. So work hard. Unless you don’t want to be thrown away.”
Rin could not receive any praise, goodwill, or affection.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t hear a single warm word.
What returned to her was only cold indifference and abuse.
Outside, they called her the lady of the Shinozaki family, Japan’s best talent.
But for Rin, the Shinozaki family was a prison without bars.
Even if she wanted to escape, now it was a cold hell from which she could not flee.
Rin spent her entire life as an outsider who didn’t fit in anywhere—neither with her family nor with the world.
Her best memories were the brief moments spent with her childhood friend Yuji during an exchange meeting with the Kurosawa family.
“I’ll help resolve the Lord’s matters…”
But that was no longer the case.
Association President Shinozaki Ichiro.
No one in Japan could stand against him head-on.
That’s why Rin couldn’t ask anyone for help, even while being abused in her family.
A monster that even active heroes fear.
A big shot that makes the Prime Minister of Japan bow their head.
A power player who practically rules Japan from behind the scenes.
But Kim Deok-Sung used the word “resolve” against the Association President.
He said he would help her.
Those were words that a student from the minor country, Korea, could not say as a joke.
The weight of the name Shinozaki Ichiro was that heavy.
But he declared he would stand against him.
“To liberate me…”
That was the first time Rin had ever received such violent goodwill in her life.
And not only that.
Though he had a rough way of speaking, in hindsight, he had been considerate of her all day.
He worried she might catch a cold from being wet in the rain, paying close attention to her.
He even obliged her request to hold her hand.
He worried that she wouldn’t catch a cold.
He even said he didn’t care about her crying about her femininity.
“If you say that… anyone would fall for you…”
Rin bit her lip.
No, perhaps ever since she began to feel jealous of Nishizawa and Bonaparte.
Her feelings might have been slowly growing.
Only now did Rin finally become aware of her own heart.
She bit her lip.
“Ugh.”
Thump, thump.
Her heart raced.
Now she understood why the proud French knight princess was acting as his exclusive maid.
“This is such nonsensical delusion; no, I shouldn’t say that.”
Kim Deok-Sung shut his mouth.
After all, Shinozaki Rin was the childhood friend heroine.
With a childhood filled with ill will, indifference, and abuse, she secretly held affection for Yuji, the only person who had shown her kindness.
So if Kurosawa Yuji rescued Ichiro and ultimately liberated Rin from her family, it was only natural that she would end up with him, Kim Deok-Sung thought.
