I Became the Villain of a Romance Fantasy

25 – Eight Buddhas (5)

This is not the first time that Yoheim and I have met. As I said in a previous meeting with Elena, I had met him once before.

However, since I was not in a normal state at the time of the first meeting, if my memory is not wrong, I remember that we broke up immediately after having a very short conversation.

So this is actually the first time I’ve faced him sober.

Unlike two years ago, the relationship between me and Yohaim has undergone a big change even though we haven’t met in person because of Elena, and it was like an unexpected surprise for me, who had been aiming to break up the engagement before.

Being friends with my father and what happened today made it clear that he wasn’t such a tight-fisted personality, but it was too much for me to act like I usually do to my father when dealing with him.

It’s a different feeling than being nervous when standing in front of your friends’ parents.

If before, I had thought of Yochaim as just a friend of my father, Elena, and someone I would never meet again after the breakup, now I think things have changed so much.

Although the engagement ceremony has not been formally announced yet, I have continued my engagement to Elena, so strictly speaking, this man in front of me has become my fiancé’s father.

In other words, as a person who will become my father-in-law, it was a place where I could not help but feel nervous when I was alone with Yohaim, who had no idea or preparation for him.

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Most of all, he wouldn’t be worried about what his father had done to Yoheim just a few hours ago.

From a broader perspective, Elena and I could be said to be accomplices in my father’s mischievous pranks, but since he was an out-of-arms father, he wouldn’t reprimand Elena, so now was the time to worry only about me.

But fortunately, unlike his late father, Joachim never talked about his father’s pranks, perhaps because he had a personality that didn’t cling to the past. Instead, Joachim looked at the scenery outside the window I opened and quietly spoke to me.

“The snowy scenery of Merohim has a different charm from the flowers of the south. Even though the land looks barren, there are many superb views that are as good as Sarham, so it would be nice to look around at least once while you are here.”

I agreed with Yoheim’s advice with a small nod. It seems that he is strangely conscious of Sarham, but that must be my mistake.

Even after that, our conversation continued, but the atmosphere was not as heavy as I thought.

I was able to answer Joachim’s words without difficulty because they were very simple questions, such as how you’ve been for the past two years, whether you’ve behaved badly like back then, and whether you’ll be enrolled in the academy next year.

Rather, ‘Can I make my daughter happy?’ For me, who was expecting the same question to come, his questions felt like a father asking how he is doing with his son whom he hadn’t seen in a long time.

Thinking about it, I didn’t feel comfortable talking to him anymore.

“Actually, I had a brief conversation with my daughter yesterday.”

No, but if you suddenly bring up such a topic there.

When Joachim suddenly told me that he had been talking to Elena, I felt like I had gone back to when I first talked to him. I know very well that she couldn’t have said bad things about me to Joachim, but I felt afraid for some reason at the words that would come out of his mouth.

I was well aware that it was a pointless worry, but even so, anyone would be nervous when this topic was brought up in the presence of the fiance’s father.

Of course, there are people who don’t, but at least I didn’t become a great person.

Above all, Yoheim’s face, which is about to speak now, looks somewhat lonely, and his appearance was enough to heighten the sense of tension that was imminent to the maximum level.

“I’ve never seen Elena smile so brightly in my life.”

“Yes?”

“That child likes flowers a lot. So, at first, I thought it might be because there are many different flowers blooming in the south. You, who live there, would know better than anyone, but the flower garden at Lord Krause Castle is one of the most famous sights in the empire. It’s also a prayer. But it wasn’t like that.”

He immediately gave me an envious look and said.

“Damian. The reason Elena was able to talk to me with a smile was none other than you. What on earth happened in those short ten days to make that child fall for you? I’m really curious about that.”

That’s what I’m curious about too.

At Yoheim’s words, I couldn’t move my mouth that had answered well this time.

She had been fond of me since the first time I met her. The answer to Joachim’s question was something I could never find, and it was an answer only Elena and she knew in this world.

However, Yohaim also stood up with a thin smile as if he hadn’t intended to listen to me in the first place.

“If you ever want to live here after looking around Merohim, just tell me. There are many empty rooms in the winter castle.”

“You’re kidding, right? I’m Krause’s Sogaju.”

“Don’t you have a younger brother? Arthur, he seems likely to live for the next 100 years, but how about just handing over the title of head of the household to your younger brother? “

Afterwards, Yoheim said it was a joke as he opened the door and left, but his face when he said it was so serious that it was hard to think it was just a joke.

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My eight-year-old father was a great man who would make a room that didn’t exist in Winter Castle if I even joked about wanting to live here.

“Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. Now that you’ve come to Merohim, I’m thinking of holding a banquet two days later to introduce you to my vassals.”

“I am…”

“I know. I heard from Arthur that you have never been to a social scene before. A banquet is inevitable if you want to go there.”

“I’ll say it again, but I’m Krause’s Sogaju. The banquet… Yes, as you said, let’s try it once on this occasion.”

“Anyway, Krause or Edelweiss, you made a good choice. The owner of a famous boutique in the Archipelago is now in Merrohim, so you’d better ask her for a new dress for Elena. You’re in luck.”

I said that, but the dress must have already been completed. Common sense meant that a dress could not be made in two days.

It wasn’t too hard for me to notice that Joachim had been planning this in advance. Perhaps the purpose of this banquet is not simply to see him in Elena’s new dress, but to inform others of my engagement to Elena.

Knowing that fact, I accepted his offer without saying anything else. If I had turned down Joachim’s offer here, I’m sure my father would have contacted me right away.

I sat back down and thought over the conversation I had with him. And it wasn’t long before I was able to pinpoint the source of the ominous feeling.

“Speaking of banquets, do we have to dance?”

If you think about it, I was a guy who could dance a sword dance, but had never danced a normal dance in his past or present life.

It would be better to put aside the idea of asking Elena to guide Merrohim.

***

After possessing Damian’s body, I diligently studied and trained with the determination to survive.

And that study also included basic knowledge and etiquette as a nobleman, but nevertheless, dancing was still one of the unfamiliar things to me.

Because the dance wasn’t essential!

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My life plan didn’t include that I danced with other people at banquets. It wasn’t something I had to do, so I didn’t even want to learn it, and if I had to attend a banquet, I would go to a corner or balcony and have a drink.

But this time the case is different.

Although dancing was not required, I was the host of a banquet two days later, and in romance fantasies, banquets always danced.

Even though I had lived as Damian for 5 years and wondered if the genre of this world was really a romance fantasy, it was also because I was involved with the main character, Elena. I was sure that I would dance with her at this banquet.

Joachim knows that I’m new to the social scene.

In words, he told me to go out just for practice, but I don’t think I need to think about what effect it will have on me if I, my fiancée, show a lacking side at a gathering of vassals under the Duke of Edelweiss.

At least the minimum standards must be met.

But no matter how much I think about it, dancing is the only thing I don’t know what to do.

If I say I don’t dance, there will definitely be guys who ask Elena to dance even though they know that their fiancé is by their side. How can a fiancé who can’t dance catch his eye when a beautiful woman is in front of him?

It would have been quite amusing to see her turn down those men who approached her, but I didn’t like being dependent on her either.

Depending on her is enough to get rid of the anxiety about the future.

“Ken must be experienced enough.”

Right now, there are only two people I can help with in this castle. Elena and Ken were everything.

Even so, it would be too embarrassing for me to directly ask her for help. I decided to solve it myself, so getting help from Elena is a holdover for now.

In that respect, Ken has been Krause’s butler for a long time, and when I listen to the stories he has told me so far, he remembers that he had many experiences attending banquets with his father when he was young.

An experienced Ken would surely be able to give me some useful advice.

“Where is the bell? Oh, here was the Merohim.”

He looked for Eunjong to call Ken, but realized later that this was not the Lord Krause castle he always lived in. I tried to go out and look for him, helping myself out of the habit I had been accustomed to for five years, but before I had time to do so, another new guest came to my room.

The guest who came this time was someone who could solve my problems at once, but at the same time, someone I didn’t want to meet right now. It was Elena. I was able to guess what she was thinking when she came to my room from the story I had yesterday.

“I’m sorry Elena, but can I ask you to guide me to the winter castle later? I have something to go to Ken right now.”

So I couldn’t get over the door to find Ken after talking to Elena. Elena, who was blocking the door for some reason, was looking at my face with a smile, and I could feel the confidence and playfulness that I couldn’t find in her.

Does this winter castle have a device that gives the Edelweiss family a buff?

“Your face looks troubled. Damian.”

I was taken aback by Elena’s words and took a step back. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise now that she could see the emotion on my face, but now Elena seemed to know what I was thinking about.

She said to me with the same smile that Joachim had just left me.

“Can I help?”

At her words, I unconsciously nodded my head without even thinking about rejecting it.