I Don’t Want To Be An Ojakgyo

Yulinelle raised his hackles as he watched Swanhaden's retreating back, but took a sip of the coffee that he had left behind. It wasn't coffee at all: it was a dark-colored seasoning that tasted akin to soy sauce.

It was already extremely salty, but Swanhaden seemed to have added spices as well–his mouth felt numb. Yulinelle immediately spit out the concoction in his mouth.

Swanhaden had pretended to leave the room, and had watched the entire thing unfold through the gap of the door. He met eyes with Yulinelle, who was choking and cursing Swan.

"Have a good rest, father."

Swanhaden stared at Yulinelle, who was shooting him curses as soon as he met his eyes, and muttered this before he closed the door.

The high-class nobles were busy running back and forth introducing themselves in the party that was sponsored by the royal family. As expected of a party sponsored by the royals, the party location was massive and completely decked out. A fancy chandelier hung on the ceiling, and luxurious crimson carpet covered the floor.

Yulinelle and Swanhaden also attended the party.

"This is the first time I've come to a party, what do I have to do?"

"Just don't create more work for me."

The duke rubbed his face into his hands and haphazardly responded to Swan's question. With slow, sloth-like steps, he walked towards the other nobles. Yulinelle had always stayed alone, just like Swanhaden, so he wasn't used to parties either. Swanhaden looked at Yulinelle with a petty glance as he watched him live life to the fullest.

Yulinelle was searching for the DuBois marquis, Lantiya DuBois, to discuss some work-related business.

Lantiya DuBois was a cold-looking handsome man with short blond hair cleanly pulled back. He was currently eating the snacks offered to guests, one by one. Standing next to the marquis was a boy who was around Swanhaden's age who was holding a thick book.

The boy standing next to the DuBois marquis was Cory DuBois, with long blond hair that fell down to his waist and angry-looking green eyes. As if showing his disinterest in the party, he seemed completely focused on the magic book in front of him. He had been told that it was rude to read books in public so he had tried to hide it at the start of the party, but he soon began to just focus on the book completely.

"Duke, it's been a while. Why is it so hard to see your face?"

Lantiya put down the cookie he was eating and greeted Yulinelle.

"I just had a lot of work."

Lantiya DuBois knew that Yulinelle, as well as the other Blanche family members, were pretty closed in, so he didn't ask anything aside from showing up in public places.

Lantiya got ready to speak business with Yulinelle before directing his attention to Swanhaden. A pretty boy who looked like Yulinelle but with a different edge stared at him.

Lantiya pointed at Swanhaden and asked Yulinelle.

"Oh, so the duke has finally decided to show his son in public. Is the child next to you your son?"

"Son? Oh, right. He's a son. His name is Swanhaden."

Lantiya smiled at Yulinelle's awkward introduction of his son and put a hand on Cory's shoulder. Cory was still completely focused on the book.

"Cory, stop reading a book when you're here right now."

Lantiya snatched Cory's book out of his hand. Cory immediately reached for it, but Lantiya held his arm higher so that Cory couldn't reach it.

"Noooo……"

Cory flailed his arms and continued to stare at the book with yearning. He went on his tippy-toes to get the book back from Lantiya, but failed.

Lantiya looked at Cory before looking back at Swanhaden.

"Swanhaden, this kid here is my son, and he's around your age. Would you be his company while your father and I talk for a while? There's a garden right outside of the palace, so you can go on a walk with him."

Lantiya sent out the two children to talk with Yulinelle. Cory gave up on getting his book back and chased after Swanhaden, who was already exiting the party.

Cory and Swanhaden didn't speak a single word to each other as they walked along the path. They didn't care a single bit about each other, so there was no awkwardness amidst the silence. They were, exactly as they were told to do, on a walk.

Swanhaden and Cory walked along the path until they saw a bench. As if they had promised to do so, they both went to the bench to sit on it.

The bench on the pathway had been under the sun for a long time, so it was warm. Swanhaden and Cory sat on the bench and wordlessly began sunbathing. Swanhaden enjoyed the sunlight after not seeing the sun for a long time, and Cory began to feel sleepy under the warmth of the sun.

As Cory began to lose the battle against sleep, he blinked awake and began to look for something in his dimension pocket. He took out a carrot blanket. Then, just as he was about to sleep with the carrot blanket, he looked at the boy next to him. A pretty, silver-haired kid was about to fall asleep with his eyes closed.

Cory put his hand back into his dimension pocket and took out a cabbage blanket. Then, he threw the blanket onto Swanhaden's face.

"You get colder when you sleep. Cover yourself with this and sleep."

Not long after Cory finished speaking, he went right back to sleep. Swanhaden stared at the cabbage blanket, then at Cory, who was asleep right next to him.

Cory was curled up into a ball as he slept. It looked uncomfortable. Swanhaden wanted to sleep until the party was over, but the bench was so uncomfortable that he couldn't sleep. He shook Cory awake.

"Hey, if we're going to sleep here, let's be smart about it."

Swanhaden tapped Cory a few times and woke him up.

"…….?"

Swanhaden suggested making the bench softer. Swan and Cory put their powers together to make the bench more soft and cushiony. They immediately fell asleep under the sun once they finished.

In another part of the garden, the kingdom's prince barely escaped the party, away from the people who were in it.

With long, black hair pulled into a ponytail and a sword on his waist, the prince, Hylli Orde Ianess, walked down the path and saw two children sleeping unattended on a palace bench.

"Why are these children sleeping here?"

Hylli had been too focused on the two homeless noble boys and had accidentally missed a stair. He immediately toppled down the stairs. And in that moment, Hylli made a horrible, fatal mistake. When he tripped, the sword on his waist had flown towards Swanhaden.

Swanhaden had been dreaming of Shuraina when he was forced awake. And it wasn't just any meeting, either: he had been dreaming of finally meeting Shuraina at the academy when he was forced back into reality.

Swanhaden checked to see what had woken him up with a murderous gaze, then looked up to see the owner of the item. And right there, just a little bit away, was Hylli on the floor.

Then, the demon awoke.

When Swanhaden finally achieved the highest level of natural healing magic available, he left for his pilgrimage for the dukedom.

Now, his natural healing skills were high enough to heal fatal injuries, and he didn't feel any pain if they were less serious. He healed himself before he even felt pain.

Before Swanhaden left for his pilgrimage, he made a trade with a orange-haired boy. Swanhaden had worried that something might happen to Shuraina while he was gone, and he had requested information about the kingdom and the academy from the orange haired boy, Yvnes, every once in a while.

He would look suspicious if he asked for Shuraina's information, so Swanhaden also asked him to give him additional information about the first year yellow class.

Shuraina was quite famous on campus, so there were often bits and pieces about Shuraina in the documents that Yvnes gave him. Top of her classes in every single subject excluding swordsmanship, and an outstanding project from her club.

Swanhaden thought of Shuraina, who always stood back up and fought back harder for every attack that he threw her way. He thought that there was nothing she couldn't achieve with that kind of tenacity, so he wasn't shocked.

Throughout Swanhaden's pilgrimage, he went across the battlefield and healed others' injuries with his powers, getting their injuries in return. Healing others' fatal injuries hurt much more than healing his own injuries with his powers.

Swanhaden's body fell apart, literally and figuratively, time and time again. He screamed in pain every time, but he bore through the pain thinking of Shuraina.

Swanhaden had a single item that held the memories of himself and Shuraina. It was a photograph of himself and Shuraina together.

There had been one instance that Swanhaden had purposefully lost a game for Shuraina, who had gotten dejected by her continuous losses. Shuraina had asked to take a picture to celebrate her win, and they had taken a photo of that moment. Shuraina had given him the magic device.

Even in his empty room, covered in blood, Swanhaden looked at the photo again, and again, and again.

He wanted to see the girl in the photo, the girl with orange hair and a stiff demeanor, but an equally warm heart underneath. It had already been a few years since they last met so it would've made sense for him to have forgotten her face, but he looked at the photo every day and memorized her face.

When he went to the academy, he was going to greet her with a smile. He was going to become her friend again, and he was going to have fun playing chess with her just like before. He didn't know for sure, but she said she was a girl so he could marry her too.

When he received the title of duke, he was going to build the place anew so that Shuraina had a large, comfortable home. And if his title became a nuisance for her, he could burn the whole dukedom to the ground.

Swanhaden wanted to stay together with Shuraina, no matter what he had to do.

But one day, a soldier had asked him a question. He, along with a few other soldiers, found it strange that he kept looking at the same photo every day.

"What are you looking at every single day?"

He had been a mercenary before he became a soldier, so his tone had been rough, even to him.

"Shuraina."

Swan was currently trying to fix his personality to prepare to meet Shuraina in the future.

In the last party he had gone to, Hestia had told him that his personality was absolute trash and that he needed to stay away from Shuraina. Swanhaden had been so infuriated that he had read books about morals and read manuals on how to improve his personality, and used formal speech to anybody who was older than him.

He was currently practicing how to respect elders. Duke Yulinelle and Yvnes were part of the list of elders.

The soldier looked at Shuraina in the picture.

"Huh? The name sounded like a girl's, but it's a boy?"

"I thought so too, but she said that she was girl herself."

Swan thought of Shuraina in his mind. She had short hair and was wearing pants, so she definitely looked like a boy. Thinking about it, her sambaekan also played a huge part.

"O………Oh? Well, why were you looking at it so affectionately? Is she your family?"

"Not yet, but I hope so one day."

Swanhaden's goal was staying together with Shuraina. If he could stay with her, then he wanted to marry her too. Swanhaden was just waiting for this godforsaken pilgrimage and the accompanying pain to end as he stared at the same photo, over and over and over again.

"One daaaaay? What? Then you're not family. Damn, you're just a little brat but you already have a marriage partner? What's so pretty about this rude looking, boy-like girl………….. Sorry, but she's a total pass. My standards………"

Swanhaden unknowingly gripped his fist a bit too tightly as he listened to the soldier speak. The apple in his hand completely fell apart. The soldier continued blabbing his mouth before stiffening at the murderous aura surrounding him.

Swanhaden smiled slightly as he spoke. His jewel-like eyes held only contempt.

"Shut up before I rip out your tongue."

The soldier ended up chanting, "Hurray, Shuraina!" and had to roll across the ground until he accepted Swan's brainwashing as absolute truth.