I Don’t Want to Be a Lady

Fortunately, only one man stepped in to deal with Bein and me. I let out a sigh of relief and signaled Bein with my eyes. Hurry up and do it.

Ben was so resentful to Arianne. Seduce a man by using a man… It was such a disgrace for him, who has a normal sexual orientation. Even more, the onlookers openly looked at him with her eyes shining. Really. What’s wrong with her eyes?

The sparkle, as if expecting something fun to see. Seriously, she was the worst boss ever.

Then, a masked man gnashed his teeth.

“Lass, I will teach you in a little while. It would be really painful. Because of the debt I owed to your father, my life has been destroyed.”

I couldn’t help admiring my father once again. How can that human being have enemies everywhere I go? Maybe it wasn’t only in the capital; half of the empire was his enemy.

The ledger I found was only part of Count Bornes’s many corruptions. He had committed more than 20 sheets of corruption against the nobles of the capital. It occurred to me that perhaps there was something about that man among the rest of the mountain ledgers.

The knife is so small that it’s too hard to cut well. I worked diligently with my hands, but it wasn’t easy as I cut the string because the knife was small in the first place, and my wrists were tied.

Bein, hang on a minute! I gave a signal, widening my eyes. The quick-witted Bein immediately understood my signal.

“Sigh.” Bein sighed and raised his head, which was leaning, and stared at the man.

Pause. The footsteps of the man who was walking to deal with Bein stopped abruptly.

What? Was it real? I diligently moved my hands as my eyes shone. Could there be any more exciting spectacle like this in the world?

The man said, sweeping his chest with his hand. “What? Why is my heart fluttering and pounding faster?”

Was this what it felt like to fall in love at first sight? Suddenly recalling the woman he had met the other day, the man shook his head. No, it wasn’t love. It was just an imitation of young love. But now, what is this feeling? That guy is definitely a man, so why am I excited to see him?  The man stood for a long time in confusion and only looked at Bein.

Why is he standing still? Did it work or not? I wondered what the man was thinking.

As expected, Bein’s seductive eyes might have worked. The man suddenly strode toward Bein, knelt on one knee, and lifted Bein’s chin. Bein’s forehead was wrinkled at that moment, but he didn’t take his eyes off the man. The man tore Bein’s shirt with a rough touch. At the same time, the man who checked Bein’s chest, which was clearly revealed, became depressed.

“Really… you’re a man.”

My eyes and mouth became rounded. The way to determine whether he’s a man or a woman is rough and intuitive, right? I began to look forward to the man’s next move.

Bein was biting his lower lip and holding back his shame. However, his appearance seemed to come as another stimulus to the man.

“Urgh. What’s wrong with me? This is ridiculous.”

The man shook his head violently and began to deny his feelings. Then he jumped up from his seat as if he had made up his mind. “Anyway, I have something to check, so I should deal with him later. I’ll have to take care of that unlucky daughter of Bornes first.”

My hand movements became fast. Why does it become like this? Aw! Why is this string so tough?

Bain noticed things were going strangely and tried to turn the man’s eyes away.

“Excuse me. Look into my eyes for a second… Damn. Hey! You’re not done with me yet!”

At Bein’s words, the man turned his head and said to him, “Wait a little bit. Let’s take care of this lass first and have some intimate time.”

Bein’s face crumpled. He gave Arianne a signal. Have you cut it out yet? You’re going to be in big trouble!

I lowered my eyebrows and just shook my head. Sorry. Not yet. I crept to the back to avoid the approaching man but didn’t stop cutting the string. But it was still there.

“Hey. You. Did you say you were doing this because of my father?”

At my words, the man stood still.

“That’s right. Your father made me this way. Even though I live, I feel like I’m not alive, but I can’t die. Do you even know that pain?”

Why should I know that? I swallowed the words that almost popped out of my mouth as I tried to think of words to stop him.

“What do you mean to live like that? Do you mean betraying the empire and joining hands with the enemy?”

The man stared at me in silence for a moment. “I just do what my master tells me to do. I became a slave because of your father! Understand?!” He was ready to rush at me at any moment

What the hell? I guess Father wrote a memorandum of slavery because of his gambling debts, but this guy didn’t admit his fault. I had seen many times how gamblers borrowed loans. If it didn’t work, they ended up giving up their freedom as collateral.

Rather than that, he said it was what his master commanded him, right?

“Who is your master?” My eyes shone sharply.

“You think I’m a fool? No matter how I couldn’t die, I will suffer more than death if I reveal a secret recklessly.” After saying that, the man started approaching me again.

“That’s lame. If you’re not going to tell me, that’s fine. Instead, you will be beaten to death by me.”

The man snorted. “You’re so arrogant as the captive subject. I never knew that Count Bornes would be a jerk to his dog.”

I said with a smile, “Our mansion didn’t have a dog. Because the owner of the mansion is already a dog.”

At this, the man murmured as if he was momentarily taken aback. “That’s! That’s right, but… You bitch have been talking too much! I can’t take it anymore! Just die!”

At the same time as the man rushed, my body bounced back. As I grabbed the man’s bewildered leg and pulled with all I might, the man’s body tilted, lost balance, and plummeted to the floor. In response, I turned over to the man as I wouldn’t give him a moment to rest, then bent his arms behind him and pressed my knees against him.

“Aargh!”

As the man screamed in the pain of his shoulder, I grabbed many pebbles nearby and shoved them into the man’s mouth.

“Ugh! Keugh!”

I grabbed the man’s wiggly hair and whispered into his ear. “From now on, if you make a loud noise, you can only eat soup for the rest of your life. Understand?”

The man nodded wildly at my sudden threats.

“Bein, come here. I will untie the string.”

As Bein approached on his knees and reached out his hand, I released the string and said, “Good job. Thanks to you, I’m still alive.”

“Now, stop calling them rotten fish eyes.”

I frowned, then said, “The whole thing is weird. Doesn’t everyone have eyes on their feet? Hey, You. Do you think that guy has pretty eyes? Are those seductive? Don’t they look like rotten fish eyes? Huh?”

When I threatened him, not questioning, the man just nodded his head.

“Look at that. This guy said the same thing.”

Looking at Arianne’s proud face, Bein gave up his mind. His boss was someone who would never bend to anyone, even for such a trivial thing.

Step, step. Then I felt a presence coming.

“Gosh. Someone must be coming. Bein! Hold down this guy. Hurry!”

When Bein took over the man, I quickly searched the man’s body for a weapon. There was a gun and a sword.

I hadn’t learned how to use a sword, but I regret that I haven’t learned that weapon now. There were about eight of the masked people I encountered earlier. It was too much to deal with all of them with one gun. If possible, we should try to get out of here without confrontation as much as possible.

I sighed automatically. I have no choice but to save bullets by targeting one person as accurately as possible.

I clung to the corner of the wall and listened to the sound of footsteps getting closer. Sensing that their voice was close by, I quickly prepared myself and aimed the gun at them. As soon as someone appeared in sight and I was about to pull the trigger, something caught my eye.

Ariane clung to the corner of the wall and listened to the sound of her step getting closer. Sensing that the sound was almost there, Ariane quickly took a position and aimed at the gun.

“Black hair?”

Bang. I pulled the trigger in surprise. But the already-pulled trigger fired a bullet, and I looked panicking at him.

“Charter!”

The bullet passed through Charter’s black hair. Fortunately, Charter didn’t get hit by the bullet as I quickly drew the gun, but my heart seemed to fall on the floor with a thud. A familiar face approached her.

“Arianne!”

Charter strode up with his brows crumpled up. Then he wrapped his arms around me.

“Ugh. Charter…”

I felt suffocated under Charter’s force. But I couldn’t shake him off. Because his body was trembling. I could see how much he cared about me. Could it be that now we have reached a level where we could understand each other without speaking? I raised my hand and rubbed his back.

Charter held me silently for a while. With a low sigh as if he had calmed down, he talked with me still in his arms. “You… I thought I would lose you.”

Breathing heavily under pressure in his arms, I said, “It’s alright now. You can let me go now.”

Charter belatedly realized that he was holding me too hard and hurriedly released the arms wrapped around me. “I’m sorry. I got emotional…”

I smiled. What on earth is this man being called cold and heartless about? He’s a man who expresses his feelings so honestly.

Arianne had no idea that Charter’s attitude was limited to Arianne. That he had no feelings for anyone except her.

“Let’s get out of here. There will be about seven more people outside.”

Charter replied to my words. “Yes. I missed one. He was no ordinary fellow.”

“So there are six people left. Uh?” A bewildered voice escaped from my mouth as I looked outside to escape.

“Are they all lying down?” They didn’t seem to be breathing though?

Charter said with a sad expression. “I couldn’t keep them alive because I was so emotional. We are supposed to find evidence of Duke Krow’s secret plan… but I made a mistake like this.”

I slowly raised the corners of my mouth toward him. “One is still alive.”