The Safety Guidelines of The Duke’s Haunted Castle Chapter 58

“Hold the reins like this.”

Edwin carefully placed his hand over mine. As his heavy hand gently guided the reins, I slowly began to relax.

“You can lean a little more toward me.”

“Pardon…?”

“You still seem quite nervous.”

As I leaned my back against him as he suggested, I felt something brush against my forehead, and I instinctively looked up.

Then I saw a pair of strangely reddish eyes looking down at me from an extremely close distance.

‘Gasp!’

Edwin was much closer than I had ever imagined.

“I, uh….”

Perhaps because I was so startled, the strength suddenly left my hands, and I let go of the reins.

Maybe it was because Edwin was holding me securely in his arms on top of the horse, or perhaps because he had trusted me and let his guard down.

Before I knew it, I had the strange feeling that both our bodies were slowly tilting to the side.

‘Huh…?’

Just as we were about to lose our balance, I finally came to my senses and instinctively reached out to grab the reins again.

But I was in such a hurry that my hand missed its target and, instead of the reins, grabbed a handful of the horse’s mane.

“Whoa!”

Perhaps startled by the unexpected hair-pulling(?) attack, Geumjok lifted its front legs and suddenly raised its upper body.

“Eeeeeek!”

Getting kicked by its back legs wasn’t enough… and now I was falling off a horse!?

We completely lost our balance from the horse’s movement and were thrown off, tumbling together toward the grass.

Roll, roll.

Fortunately, Edwin wrapped his arms around me and shielded my body before we hit the ground.

The world spun around several times with a dull impact before finally coming to a stop amid a cloud of dusty dirt.

“Huff, huff….”

I thought I was going to die. If Edwin hadn’t protected me, wouldn’t I have broken something by now—or even gotten a game-over screen?

Just as I raised my head while thinking that—

“……!”

Our eyes met at a distance so close that even the slightest wrong movement could have made our lips touch.

The slightly damp smell of grass and dirt, along with the faint warmth I could feel through our riding clothes, made this moment feel incredibly vivid.

‘Is this some kind of event, too?’

No message appeared, but usually, situations like this were probably designed to create some romantic moment between the male lead and the player.

So what was I supposed to do in a situation like this? I had already learned that I shouldn’t hit the gas pedal just because the other person was coming closer, so all I could do was—

‘I don’t know.’

His face was so close that I kept losing my train of thought.

“Edwin.”

His name slipped out unconsciously, and a spark suddenly appeared in his eyes.

As his dreamy eyes became clear again, the words that had been lingering in my mouth suddenly slipped out.

“…You’re… really handsome.”

“Pardon?”

Normally, shouldn’t I have said something like “Thank you” or “Are you okay?” first? Why did I blurt out something like that instead of something normal?

Of course, Edwin seemed just as flustered as I was by the sudden compliment(?), and even his perfect poker face seemed to crack a little.

“Were you speaking to me?”

“I, well, um….”

Realizing belatedly that I had said something stupid, I quickly corrected myself.

“I’m sorry—no, are you, uh, okay?”

[Affection +2 (8/50)]

Instead of an answer, what I got was another random increase in affection.

‘Could it be…?’

If the way to win over Bad Edwin was, “A woman like you is the first I’ve ever met,” then was Good Edwin more like, “I like people who like me”?

Every time he heard something positive, he reacted as if it were the first time anyone had ever said such a thing to him. Maybe this route wasn’t actually that difficult?

‘Ah. No.’

Now that I thought about it, it was difficult. Not many people could keep their composure while looking at a face this handsome. Hahaha….

Anyway, after silently looking down at me for a while, Edwin slowly opened his mouth.

“I’m fine.”

Only then did it feel as though time, which had stopped, began moving again.

Edwin looked at me with an unreadable expression, then slowly got up and held out his hand.

Luckily, we had fallen onto a soft bush, so neither of us was seriously injured.

Trying to break the awkward atmosphere that was rapidly cooling down, I once again took a reckless approach.

“H-haha! Seeing you up close, you’re even more handsome, so for a moment I completely forgot that we’d just fallen off the horse!”

But he didn’t answer. He simply stared at me.

…Did I take it too far?

As the atmosphere froze like ice, I quickly grabbed his hand and awkwardly pulled myself up.

“I, uh, didn’t I keep you waiting too long? The leaves were so soft… I thought they were a bed.”

At that moment, Edwin’s red eyes flashed. At the same time, the corners of his mouth slowly lifted in a way that was strangely relaxed for someone normally so stiff.

“So you prefer the bed after all?”

His smooth, teasing tone made me wonder if I had imagined it. I rubbed my eyes and looked at him again.

“Excuse me?”

“Pardon?”

When I looked again, Edwin was still staring at me with the same unreadable expression.

…Had I imagined that?

“No, it’s nothing. Ah, hahaha… Geumjok! How could you knock someone off just because I accidentally grabbed your mane!?”

I approached Geumjok, who was nervously pacing nearby, and blamed it for no reason.

“Hmph!”

As expected, all I got in return was a cold snort. Still, it was better than having to endure both the awkwardness and the embarrassment.

…But seriously, wasn’t this a little too much after I had even gone and gotten those Golden Carrots for it?

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

When he opened his eyes, the first thing he checked was whether he was free to move.

There were no uncomfortable chains tightening around his body. Perhaps that bastard had finally realized that he no longer intended to hurt that woman. Or had he simply given up because there was no point?

“No. That’s not it.”

That bastard was extremely stubborn. If he thought Nadia was a threat, he would have set up all kinds of restraints, even if they were ultimately useless.

“Hm….”

He let out a short sigh. Considering how things had been going lately, it was quite interesting. After such a long time of feeling nothing, an unfamiliar sense of anticipation had finally come to him.

It was amusing. That innocent fool, who was boring to everyone, was completely smitten with a single woman.

When he had even volunteered to teach her how to ride a horse, it was almost enough to make him laugh. So, when the main body was hit by the impact, he had taken advantage of the moment to break various restrictions and briefly take control of the body.

But the Nadia Windsor he had seen during the day wasn’t much different from the Nadia Windsor he saw at night.

Remembering Nadia’s blank expression from earlier that day, he unknowingly let out a strange smile.

She was a funny woman. She wasn’t particularly annoying, either. No, it wasn’t just that she wasn’t annoying…

She was actually quite nice.

Compared to the countless fiancées he had killed before, Nadia Windsor brought him a sense of energy.

And…

‘If she can stimulate that bastard.’

Nighttime Edwin actually hated that “good guy” who shared the same body with him.

Admitting that the stubborn, stiff fool was another version of himself was one thing. Liking him was another.

To put it more bluntly, that guy was nothing but a bundle of hypocrisy.

Disgustingly so.

Yes.

Discomfort.

That was the name of the emotion he felt toward the Edwin who occupied the body during the daytime.

Tap. Tap.

After leaving the room, he slowly began walking down the castle hallway.

The old, torn curtains that had once covered the windows had been replaced with new ones.

And that wasn’t the only thing that had changed.

The servants he occasionally passed while they were working the night shift would bow to him, and some even smiled at him—with perfectly normal faces.

Even while he was not in control of the body, he had seen everything Nadia had done.

But this was truly something even he had never expected.

‘What a strange woman.’

From the moment he woke up until now—

Without realizing it, Edwin had been constantly thinking about Nadia.

He stopped in front of a door he had somehow reached without noticing.

‘The woman that bastard likes.’

…Why?

Why had this sudden feeling of discomfort risen inside him?