ICTGMP 14

Chapter 14

 My Male Lead Has Gone Twisted! (1)

Wednesday was a war from the very morning. Since this was my first time attending a social club gathering, Ilina fussed over me endlessly and dressed me up as prettily as she could.

Not that it would matter, since I might end up drenched in sweat anyway…

As luck would have it, this particular gathering was being held at a villa owned by the Marquess’s family.

Surrounded by a lush forest, the villa made me feel as though I had come to a vacation resort. I could see trees covered in red blossoms and white rocks scattered around.

I showed the guard the invitation Adel had given me and entered the villa.

The cool breeze made my loose hair sway gently. It was amusing to watch the men who met my eyes blush or even forget their manners and spill their drinks, but I had other business to attend to, so I left that little pleasure behind.

I approached Ash, who was sitting arrogantly among a group of young noble ladies.

“Hello.”

His initial look of surprise lasted only a moment. The red-haired young man quickly composed himself.

“It’s nice to see you again, Anastasia. Are you feeling well?”

How dare he act as though we were close! If I had known this would happen, I would have told him my surname instead of asking him to call me by my first name that day. But there was no way I could shamelessly take it back now.

“Thanks to your concern, I’m perfectly fine.”

He glanced at the young ladies beside him.

“I’m sorry, Anastasia, but I’d like to speak with you for a moment. Would you mind waiting elsewhere?”

Oh, wow. You sounded like such a flirt just now…

At Ash’s request, the young ladies around him glanced at me before moving to another table.

Soon afterward, he stood up and pulled out a chair for me. I accepted his courtesy and sat down.

He probably seemed even more interested in me because Adel and I were close. He must have already guessed whose invitation I had brought with me.

Sitting across from me, Ash continued with the pleasantries.

“You’re being very generous with your greetings. I heard you coughed up blood at the festival that day.”

I pretended to be surprised.

“Oh my, you heard about that?”

“I was attending the festival too, after all. It was absolute chaos.”

The way he looked at me with a mixture of concern and playful teasing made me admire him despite myself. He really was handsome. And right now, Ash was deliberately acting friendly toward me.

It was obvious he was doing this to keep Adel in check and see if there was any information he could get out of me.

I resisted his charm by thinking of Duke Magnus, who was the complete opposite of Ash—mature, sexy, and, in every way, someone who made me look forward to seeing what Adel would become in the future.

Duke, I’m just going to picture your face for a moment. I don’t need your personality, so please don’t speak.

After waiting for the right moment, I focused on my conversation with Ash again.

“I don’t see Lady Florence here today.”

“Olga isn’t very sociable. If she had known that Young Master Magnus would be coming, she might have forced herself to attend.”

The maids prepared tea. I spoke innocently.

“I suppose she thinks highly of Adel.”

“Why wouldn’t she? Everyone does.”

“What about you?”

At my sudden question, Ash let out a hollow laugh.

“You’re asking what I think of the young master? Well, I don’t really want to talk about you and Young Master Magnus right now. We haven’t seen each other in a while, so let’s talk about something more pleasant.”

Once the maids withdrew, I brought up the real subject.

“How about gifts, then? I prepared something to give you.”

Ash’s eyes widened.

“I’ll admit it. You surprised me this time.”

Of course I did. I held out a framed picture to him.

“Here. Take it.”

Ash accepted the frame with an expectant expression.

Inside the antique rosewood frame was a portrait of Ash that I had drawn myself.

A moment later, as Ash examined the picture, his complexion darkened rapidly.

He looked confused at first, then horrified, and finally muttered in a chilling voice,

“…Are you picking a fight with me?”

What the hell?

Seeing my expression, Ash seemed to realize what he had said.

“Did I just say that out loud?”

“Yes.”

I answered coldly. Ash tried to explain himself.

“I meant that it was so skillful and humorous that it made me want to challenge you to a duel. It’s an extraordinary painting that makes the viewer despair and fall into pessimism. Did you draw this yourself? I hate to admit it, but… this is me?”

“Of course.”

Ash showered the picture with exclamations of admiration.

“Truly… Wow, your talent is remarkable. No tutor would dare attempt to teach someone with such an extraordinary sense of aesthetics. If some brave soul volunteered, I would sincerely respect that person. I would rise at dawn and observe a moment of silence for that poor tutor, applaud for them at noon, and pray to God every night before bed to please end their nightmares.”

Stop being so sarcastic, you bastard!

Pretending not to be hurt, I asked,

“And what will you give me in return?”

“In return?”

Ash stared at me as though I had just said the most ridiculous thing imaginable. His expression practically said I should be grateful that he wasn’t tearing the picture into pieces and setting it on fire right then and there.

I smiled and pointed out the noble custom he had conveniently forgotten.

“Surely you weren’t planning to accept a gift from a lady without giving her anything in return?”

“…Right. I suppose that, as someone born a nobleman, I am obliged to return the favor whenever I receive something from a lady. I was so overwhelmed by the shock that my brain wasn’t functioning properly. What would you like? Flowers?”

Something… felt strange.

Ash was obsessed with beautiful women, yet he had shown surprisingly little reaction to my face since earlier. Even after I went out of my way to smile at him.

I briefly considered holding up one finger and showing it to him out of concern that something might be wrong with his optic nerves, but decided against it.

Instead, I tossed out a single sentence.

“Let’s have an arm-wrestling match.”

Ash fell silent for a moment.

I stared at him, waiting for an answer. Eventually, Ash tilted his head at an angle.

“…Wait. I think the shock from seeing your painting has damaged my hearing as well as my eyesight.”

This bastard. He was perfectly capable of sweet-talking Olga when he was trying to seduce her, so why was he being this vicious with me? Was my beauty not working on him? That couldn’t be. Could my painting really have been that traumatizing? Seriously?

I recalled the first time I had met Ash. Back then, he had treated me with considerable friendliness. He was completely different from how he was now.

Somehow, that made me twice as annoyed.

“You heard me correctly.”

By this point, I was getting irritated too. Ash might have taken it as an insult, but I had spent twenty whole minutes drawing that thing.

That was practically an expression of sincerity on my part.

At my cold response, Ash’s eyes changed. His green eyes seemed to ripple.

“You really want to test your strength against me?”

“Of course.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re annoying.”

Since I saw no reason to make a good impression on him, I spoke bluntly. Ash laughed incredulously.

“You certainly have some nerve.”

“What else does someone who’s going to die soon have besides nerve?”

Hurt by Ash’s sarcasm, I decided to become petty.

Adel had said he was going to hang the picture I drew in his bedroom, presumably to comfort me!

As our conversation dragged on, the young ladies began sneaking glances at us, curious about what we were discussing.

Among them was a particularly striking beauty with black hair.

Unlike the pure and cheerful Olga, she had a seductive, dreamy air about her.

She looked perhaps a year or two older than me and was showing off her figure in a tight black dress.

Our eyes happened to meet, and she startled before quickly turning her head away.

By the time I had briefly looked elsewhere and came back to my senses, Ash had sneered and begun unleashing his insults in earnest.

“I heard you cough up blood quite often. But if you want flowers instead of spit when you’re put in your coffin, shouldn’t you learn to conduct yourself properly?”

Was he saying he intended to spit on my coffin?

I was speechless.

“Who said you were invited to my funeral?”

Ash, who hated being ignored more than anything, stiffened.

He turned the framed picture facedown and placed it on the chair.

Facedown!

“You’re interesting. Fine. Let’s do it.”

With an unmistakably dismissive expression, Ash stood up.

I stood up beside him as well and looked around.

I addressed the beautiful black-haired lady who was staring at me with flushed cheeks.

“Excuse me, beautiful lady with the black hair? We’re about to have an arm-wrestling match. Would you mind being our referee?”

The beautiful lady blinked.

“M-Me?”

“I’m sorry. This is my first time attending a social gathering, so I don’t know your name.”

The beautiful lady suddenly shot to her feet and frantically shook her head.

“N-No, not at all! I’m the one who should apologize for not introducing myself first! My name is Lynette. Please, just call me Lynette. You beautiful angel of a young lady, please…”

She was strangely kind for such a beautiful lady.

But I didn’t have time to wonder about it, so I made my request gently.

“Then, Lynette, could you be our referee?”

Lynette furrowed her brow.

“You’re going to arm-wrestle Ash? But what if you get hurt? With those white, slender, delicate hands, you look like you’d have trouble even lifting a glass!”

At Lynette’s passionate objection, the other young ladies watching us nodded in agreement.

Did I really look that fragile?

I put on a slightly troubled expression.

Lynette moved her bright red lips as though trying to decide what to say, then suddenly her expression turned cold as she demanded,

“Did Ash bully you?”

“He didn’t bully me. He just picked on my friend.”

At my words, Ash showed interest.

“Oh?”

You must be dying to know how I found out, huh?

The moment he returned to the Marquess’s estate, he would probably turn the servants upside down trying to figure it out. Though I wondered whether he would still have enough energy for that after losing to me.

Once he took hold of my hand, you’d be as weak as a fruit fly.

I rolled up my sleeve.

“Then shall we begin?”

“Ah! Yes!”

Lynette stood between us on the opposite side of the table.

A musk-like fragrance wafted from her.

I took Ash’s hand, and the young ladies crowded around us. The young noblemen began watching from a little farther away.

Ash glared at me with hostility. For a moment, his gaze was so vicious that it sent a cold sweat down my back.

Only then did I feel a little nervous.

Naturally, I had never arm-wrestled a man before. And Ash wasn’t just any man—he was the villain of this novel.

In other words, he was by no means an easy