HYCBV 01

Chapter 1

What is the one thing a boss should never do to their subordinate?

That would be proposing marriage.

“…What did you just say?”

“I said, let’s get married. You and me.”

My sky-like superior—Duke of Kreutz, Kaien—said it in an absurdly casual tone.

The soft clink as he set down his teacup looked like something straight out of a divine painting.

Unfortunately, what came out of those elegant lips was an unbelievable verbal bomb.

“Ehhhhh?”

Bang!

I jumped up so suddenly that I smashed my knee into the table.

At my noisy reaction, Kaien furrowed his brows.

And honestly, the fact that even his frown was devastatingly handsome was just unfair.

“Is my eyesight failing? Why do you look like you’re utterly disgusted?”

Sorry, but you’re seeing just fine.

“That can’t be. You’re my—cough—fan, after all.”

Now my eyesight must be failing.

His usually icy face looked… faintly red?

Sure, every time I looked at Kaien, my eyes sparkled with burning academic enthusiasm.

Because I wanted to learn how someone could creatively lose their damn mind every single day!

I had a long list of trash humans who deserved a full-blown revenge sword dance.

A garbage ex-fiancé.
A childhood friend who cheated with him.
An uncle who swallowed my entire family fortune…

Ugh. Just thinking about it made my stomach hurt.

I raised my voice in indignation.

“It’s true that I respect you, Your Grace, but that doesn’t mean I’ve ever harbored impure feelings!”

“Never?” he asked coolly. “You stare at me all day long.”

That’s because I was studying your disaster-level behavior!

“You observe my every move without ever looking away.”

Because my scholarly passion is unmatched!

“You write down everything I say, without missing a single word.”

I’m your secretary?!

“And you never leave my side until I leave work.”

No—every time I tried to leave first, you glared at me like you were going to kill me!

“That’s—!”

Just then, Kaien stepped closer, his face looming near mine as if interrogating me.

His distinct scent washed over me, and my heart skipped violently. I quickly pulled myself together.

“It was my duty as your secretary.”

“No. None of the secretaries I’ve had before were as passionate as you. Clearly, it’s because you hold special feelings for me.”

His face was filled with absolute certainty. I could only gape at him in disbelief.

Apparently misunderstanding again, Kaien continued generously,

“So I shall grant you the position of my spouse.”

What the hell are you saying, you lunatic?!

I barely managed to suppress those words with the last shred of my patience.

Clenching my teeth, I forced a smile.

“…You’ve misunderstood everything. How could I dare harbor such inappropriate feelings toward you?”

“You may.”

“I will not.”

“Hm. Perhaps you simply haven’t realized your own feelings yet. That happens. We have plenty of time.”

Since when did we become “us”?

This time, I could clearly see it—Kaien’s ears were red.

This is beyond character assassination!

Was this really the same “Mad Dog Duke” who kicked people for fun and spat venom like it was breathing?

The man who stomped people under his boots if they crossed him.

The culprit behind the infamous Magic Tower Grand Explosion that people still talked about decades later.

A verbal executioner who made grown men sob?

The man rumored to suffer not just from misogyny, but full-blown misanthropy?!

Pipi, Pipi! What is wrong with this guy?!

I desperately called out to my pet AI, Pipi, in my mind.

[Unable to analyze! Unable to analyze! Subject’s behavior pattern is too irregular for assessment!]

So he’s such a nutcase that even analysis fails.

Even Pipi’s broken—he really is a wild, unpredictable madman!

Just then, a commotion erupted outside the drawing room.

“Frisia! Where are you?!”

“Lord Felix, you can’t do this! The master currently has a guest—”

“Move aside! Frisia! Where are you, Frisia?!”

“Eek!”

That voice—my damn ex-fiancé.

I sighed and stood up.

“Your Grace, I’ll be right back.”

Not wanting to embarrass myself, I shut the drawing room door behind me and faced Felix.

“Stop harassing my staff and get out.”

“Frisia! Why haven’t you been answering me?”

Felix stomped toward me, panting angrily.

“Hah… I gave in, didn’t I? Fine, I lost. I admit it. I’m sorry. I’ll apologize, okay? I’ve swallowed my pride this much—shouldn’t you stop sulking now? Hm?”

If this were the old me, I would’ve burst into tears and thanked him for apologizing, happily volunteering to be a doormat again.

But that girl was already dead.

You killed her.

You bastard.

I smiled sweetly.

“You cheated with my childhood friend and even knocked her up, yet you think a simple apology will earn forgiveness? Your brain must be a flower garden—I’m honestly jealous. Now leave.”

Felix beat his chest angrily.

“That’s it! Lorena, that fox—she wasn’t pregnant with my child! She was carrying someone else’s baby and lied to me!”

“Oh my. Is that so?”

“Yes! So now you can finally calm down and—”

“So what?”

“…What?”

“Whether Lorena’s belly grew because she was pregnant with your child or because she was constipated, I don’t care. Either way, the fact that you rolled around with my friend like a used rag doesn’t change, does it?”

“Hey! How dare you talk like that!”

“Then step back a little. Is it the summer heat? You reek of rotten rags.”

After serving directly under the ‘Mad Dog Duke’ and ‘Calamity Mouth’ for years, my venom flowed smoothly.

“Are you going to keep calling me a rag?! I was nice to you, and now you’ve gone completely insane?!”

“If you don’t like ‘rag,’ how about parasite? Mana thief? Bedbug? Which one should I use?”

Felix’s face went ghost-white.

“You… you… What’s wrong with you, Frisia? You were never this cruel. Why have you changed? Don’t tell me—are the rumors true? That you’re having an affair with that man—”

“That man… would that be me?”

“……!”

I turned around to see Kaien striding toward us.

Tilting his head, Kaien slowly swept his gaze over Felix from head to toe.

Felix wasn’t short, but standing before Kaien, he looked like a fragile girl.

“Tsk, Frisia,” Kaien said with open disdain.

“How could someone with the discernment to admire me end up with a squid-like creature like this?”

Truly.

I looked down at Felix, trembling and unable to retort, with pity.

Shockingly, there was a time when that squid had looked like a handsome, dashing prince to me.

And it wasn’t even that long ago.

* * *

That day, it felt like I owned the whole world.

“The top graduate of the Imperial Academy is… Felix Loheim! Congratulations!”

Wooooo!

Clap clap clap clap!

Felix walked proudly through the roaring applause and up to the podium.

I wanted to scream—

That he was mine.

My beloved, my proud fiancé.

“Felix Loheim has set an example for all magic swordsmen with his vast mana reserves…”

The headmaster read the commendation with a satisfied smile.

I smiled just as brightly.

The truth was, Felix’s innate mana reserves were pitiful.

I was the one who had succeeded—after countless hardships—in amplifying them.

“…His thesis on the correlation between magical beasts and mana has had a profound impact on academia…”

Ah. I wrote that paper too.

“…And he maintained an A+ in every subject throughout his enrollment…”

I spent hundreds of sleepless nights compiling summaries and error notes for him during exam periods.

Because of that, there were many times I couldn’t even take my own exams—but no one cared about a lady’s academic record anyway.

Besides, Felix was my savior. He once saved me from a carriage accident when we were children.

“As expected of Felix. Amazing.”

“His future’s guaranteed now—nothing but success ahead. I’m jealous.”

Hearing the graduates whisper, my chest puffed up with pride.

Felix and I had been engaged since the womb—nineteen long years.

His joy was my joy. His sorrow, my sorrow.

That’s what it meant to be a couple.

“…And with that, the graduation ceremony concludes. Male graduates, please present flowers to your beloved!”

Clap clap clap!

Another round of applause erupted as the male graduates busily picked up carnations.

By tradition, academy graduates offered carnations to their lovers—or to family, if they had none.

Felix descended from the podium, carnation in hand.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

My heart went wild.

This is my first time receiving flowers.

Felix always scoffed at flower gifts, calling them a waste of money, so I never let it show—but I loved flowers.

Just imagining it made my chest tremble.

“Felix! Felix!”

“Woohoo!”

The graduates cheered and parted to make way for him.

Nervous, I pushed my thick glasses up my nose.

I’d tied my usually messy hair neatly for today, and maybe because of the unfamiliarity, cold sweat kept forming.

Felix looked especially handsome today.

Smiling, he held out the flowers.

“Oh my, Felix!”

But not to me…

“Wow! They’re so beautiful!”

He handed them to Lorena—
my childhood friend, who was standing arm-in-arm with me.