I Don’t Want the Obsession of a Twisted Archduke

“Yes, he didn’t tell me.”

“So, you’re saying her Highness just noticed on her own?”

“Yes.”

Lantes’ eyes opened a little bigger than before at the prompt reply of Geppel. He seemed quite surprised.

‘I understand.’

Even as his closest aide, Lantes had no idea what Geppel was. Until Geppel himself informed him.

It happened the day Lantes was looking for Geppel. When he couldn’t find him, he cried so noisily that he revealed it to him.

“But if you are going to town, when are you going to work…”

“I won’t.”

It was followed by the most famous scene between the boss and his employee. The subordinate who pleads for work to be done and the boss who refuses with no possibility of retaliation.

It was nagging to say that Lantes’ face turned pale at Geppel’s refusal without a single second of hesitation.

Lantes mumbled for a while and recited.

“But Mr. Geppel, there’s a lot of documents that need your attention, yet…”

“I said I wouldn’t…”

“Don’t worry, he will do it when we get back from town, Lantes.”

I snuck in on the conversation between the two, which seemed to be dragging.

Geppel looked at me with an absurd face.

“What, did you just cut me off?”

Huh? Was it so surprising?

I quickly realized. Geppel was considered a divine being in the south.

‘It’s impossible to cut off his presence.’

Immediately, I stopped talking and displayed a big bright smile instead of answering.

“Also, why are you deciding if we are to go out or not?” Geppel added pouting.

“That’s because, of course I have the right to decide.”

“What?”

I answered as if I was prepared, while Geppel was making the same big round eyes than Lantes.

I answered in an insignificant way. “So, if you’re not going to work, don’t. I’m not going downtown either.”

“What?”

Geppel opened his mouth again with an unpleasant look.

“Riddel Spencer, weren’t you here to ask me for a favor? What if I don’t do you that favor?”

“Well, that is that and this is this. I’m here to ask you a favor, but why should I trust anyone who doesn’t do his work properly and on time.”

Geppel reverted to his pouting face as if he was speechless.

There was a reason why I went out so confidently. He glared at me as hard as he could. Nevertheless, I kept a firm face.

Geppel kept his mouth shut and pretended to worry. After a long groan and a troubled face, Geppel gave up a moment later.

“Well, well, okay, I promise I’ll go out and come back to work.”

“Really? Promise, you promised!”

Geppel accepted in a flippant manner, but Lantes was visibly elated, and he subtly emphasized the word “promise.” Geppel, who knew the meaning of this overjoyed behavior, narrowed his eyebrows, creasing his forehead.

‘Geppel is a person who can’t break his promise.’

Consequently, he rarely made promises in the first place. A promise that he would keep no matter what happened.

“Darn it.”

While Geppel’s abusive language could be heard by everyone, Lantes turned his head to me. He was looking at me; eyes shining full of respect.

Uh, um, hahaha… I was feeling the pressure.

***

Immediately after leaving the prayer room, thinking of everything that happened; I had mixed feelings of joy and sorrow.

Then, I saw it.

A dragon sitting in front of the door of the prayer room breathing fearful energy, and a poor priest who was not aware of what to do.

‘Um… Shall I pretend not to know?’

At least, it doesn’t seem like he got into any trouble.

“Kyle Romani.” Geppel called him out of the blue.

The priest who was standing there looked at Geppel with surprise at his tone.

‘He’s probably thinking, who’s the crazy kid?’

All around me were expressions of holding back what they wanted to say.

Soon after Kyle turned around, Geppel took another step towards him and waved his hand.

“Long time no see.”

The tired looking priest seemed to welcome Geppel words.

‘Oh, my God. The tender-hearted gentleman over there is on the verge of collapse.’

In the tense atmosphere, Kyle, who stayed silent, slowly opened his mouth.

“Long time no see.”

Kyle replied dryly but didn’t show any signs of discomfort.

Whoo… A sigh of relief came from all over the place.

He must have thought Kyle would break the cheeky little boy in two at once.

The two of them were really two sides of the same coin.

In the original book, their partnership lasted for many years during the war.

‘That’s why Kyle knows what Geppel’s little boy looks like.’

Kyle quickly turned to me after exchanging expressionless greetings. And then he opens his mouth to say something…

“Kyle, I’m going to borrow some of the Great Duchy’s money.” Geppel’s words that followed continued to distort Kyle’s expression.

Oh, I could feel the whole temple sighing!

***

A central city in the south; Jakarta was the region where the largest local market was located on the continent. Therefore, it was the busiest city in the empire with people coming from all over the world.

And now, Kyle, Geppel, Sejan and I were walking on the streets of this local Market, receiving the explicit attention of many people walking around us.

‘Phew, it’s inevitable.’

Kyle and Sejan were intimidating, wearing long black hooded capes that cover their entire bodies. This also included Geppel, who was still in the form of a child.

They could also be known as The Three Hooded Musketeers.

‘They are going to stand out no matter what.’

The reason behind them wearing the black capes was my suggestion.

“ – We better disguise ourselves to a certain extent so as to avoid unnecessary attention.”

All three of them were either uselessly handsome or externally overflowing with individuality.

‘In particular, Sejan’s eyes are advertising him as a blue-eyed clan member.’

They accepted the suggestion more easily than I thought for some reason.

Anyway, the three wore black hooded capes and wore brown lenses prepared by Geppel. The color of their hair was also changed to brown, but I didn’t press down on their hoods.

‘It might seem even more suspicious.’

I couldn’t hide their beauty. Nevertheless, there was a reason why I was wearing a hood.

Jakarta was a place where various incidents and accidents occur every day as the crowds were overflowing. Ordinary commoner disguises were at risk of being embroiled in a dispute.

‘It’s dangerous to be caught in those kinds of fights.’

The opponent’s neck could be blown away, without even knowing the reason why the fight even started.

Subsequently, it was a problem to openly dress up like a rich noble. If a noble dressed in colorful dresses and various jewels passes by in a market dominated by commoners…

‘People on the street would be very burdened.’

It was clear that rumors would also spread quickly.

As a result, relatively unknown to others, I dressed up as a modest noble, trying not to attract too much attention. I also made my hair a light brown color.

Shortly after leaving the temple, I had the three musketeers walk behind me as escorts. They covered their clothes with hooded capes so that they could not recognize which noble family was escorted.

‘Then.’

Nobles were nobles, but the small number of escorts that accompanied me couldn’t be seen as an overly rich noblewoman.

It’s like killing two birds with one stone.

Actually, the plan went a little wrong.

‘I tried to coax Kyle into staying in the prayer room, and then quickly get out of the room, to come back as swiftly from our short trip into town.’

The atmosphere got ugly when Geppel told him he was taking me into town.

‘So, I had no choice but to admit that I was going downtown.’

Going there was not directly related to the curse, but there was no real impact. It was such a relief.

After such a disturbance passed, we escaped to the back of the temple, where only Geppel knew the way out.

‘By the way, Jakarta has a very different atmosphere from the north.’

It was the conclusion that come to me as I had been looking around the scenery of Jakarta for a while. I hadn’t been into deep inspection of the North yet, but at first glance, the north was much quieter.

‘Is it natural that Jakarta is so lively and warm?’

Jakarta was the so-called “town of the beginning” where the original heroine, Marina, and the male protagonist meet for the first time.

As I continued walking, I could hear all different voices shouting around.

“Delicious lamb skewers!”

“Baked potatoes!”

“Steamed corn!”

It was the voice of street vendors who hailed their food to be necessary to buy if you wanted to sleep at night. It was interesting that the name of the food could be heard accurately even with the mixed shouts of all the vendors.

And a little while of walking around with them, my noble operation failed beautifully.

It was Geppel’s fault.