I Don’t Want to be an Ojakgyo (128)

After Eric finished his sword training, he came over to where I was. When Eric approached, Swanhaden turned his body around to avoid seeing him. He claimed he was coming to see me, but his eyes kept chasing Hylli and Swanhaden the entire time.

Eric had a smile pasted on his face as wide as he could make it and hugged me, but as soon as he saw my state up close, he frowned.

“…..sweaty.”

Then, he shoved me slightly.

Eric’s expression crumpled as he raised his voice. He had come over to greet me warmly, but his attitude switched in an instant.

Eric inhaled deeply before rolling his eyes. Then, he assumed a quite threatening stance as he spoke, voice low.

“Shushu, I said this before, but can’t you stop practicing swordsmanship? Is this so important? Your face is red and you smell. Honestly, it’s kind of gross to see. You’re basically the same as you used to be, except that your hair is longer now.”
“……what?”
“You said, right after we began dating, that we would match each other. I wasn’t going to say this, but I’m embarrassed looking at you. Can’t you look prettier for me? I was thinking about it, but I’m trying my hardest to match you when you look like a boy all the time.”

There’s a certain kind of tone that your voice takes on when you think you’re being logical. I pondered if I had to be considerate for this, too.

I admitted it. The tone and voice sounded logical, but it was all literal dogshit. Hylli, who had briefly left to collect his clothes, heard the commotion and came close. Eric grew even louder. Moreover, he even emphasized the fact that he was being ‘considerate’.

I scowled as I began getting angry. I didn’t want to yell in front of my friends, but I couldn’t help it. If I didn’t say it now, I felt like I was going to feel physically sick.

“You really don’t know what being considerate means, huh. If you were really thinking of me, you wouldn’t try to negate my entire existence.”
“You, you’re talking back again…..”

As soon as I tried to say something again, Eric cut me off immediately.

But sometime during all of this, Swanhaden had gotten some of his energy back and had an expression intent on murdering someone. He held a sharp weapon near his neck and threatened Eric. He really looked like a gangster right there.

“Shut up. Shushu’s talking.”

Usually, I would’ve stopped Swan, but I took the opportunity that Swan gave me.

“…..I don’t have any idea what you awnt from me. I don’t know if you just think I’m easy to toy around with, or if your personality just makes you look down on others. Why won’t you let me speak?”
“…..”

Eric grew incredibly quiet, thanks to Swan.

“I admit that I like you, but that doesn’t mean that I have to throw everything away about myself and match what you want from me. But that seems to be what you want.”

The person who seemed to be reacting more to this was Swanhaden. Whenever I finished a sentence, his expression grew more and more murderous. Swanhaden’s current murderous aura and expression seemed to match the original novel Swanhaden.

“So, my conclusion is.”

I cut myself off, because I felt like I was going to rant otherwise. I had a lot of things to say–like how my life and your life are different, dating doesn’t meant that I have to give myself up, that you have to mature. But I didn’t want to list it all, so I stopped myself. I just explained how I felt in this situation at the moment.

I looked at Eric’s expression. He looked hurt, and that didn’t make me feel too comfortable.

I was annoyed at myself, too. I felt like I couldn’t be my true self.

I wondered if this was what dating was like. It was disappointing. I felt like every single bit of affection I had for Eric had fallen off of me, but he was the first boyfriend I’d ever had. I tried to grasp at every bit of affection I could. I didn’t need to, but I didn’t understand why i did so. Why was I dragging this along for such a long time?

Peck.

“No. I’m going to do what I want.”

I gave him a peck on his cheek and turned around to leave the training hall. Hylli and Swanhaden both stared at me and my actions. Hylli rubbed his eyes and muttered, “No way……..”

Swanhaden stared at Eric’s cheeks with wide eyes.

Swanhaden’s aura was still too murderous, so I decided to add a comments. Swanhaden was a pretty mean kid who liked to hurt others, so I had a strange feeling that he would be especially brutal to Eric. It was just a hunch, though.

I didn’t really know the details, but Swanhaden thought that we were close because of something that happened in the past, and he was always enthusiastically supportive of anything that had to do with me. I wasn’t completely sure if Swanhaden was on my side or not, but I knew that he had positive intentions towards me.

“Hey, Swan, don’t hurt Eric.”

I asked of Swanhaden as I left. Swanhaden blankly stared, smiling, before he nodded.

“I didn’t do anything to him.”

Until today. Swanhaden said quietly.

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Swanhaden had a busy life these days. Graduation was coming up, and he was going back and forth between the academy and the Blanche residence as he helped Yulinelle Blanche around.

At first, Swanhaden said that he was too busy looking at Shuraina and being overwhelmed to go back and forth, but the duke said that he’d become cooler if he received the duke title and persuaded Swan.

When Swan didn’t seem to fall for it, Yulinelle explained that if he became the duke, then Shuraina’s life would become more comfortable once she became the wife of a duke. Swan accepted it immediately.

Yulinelle was ecstatic to have found a way to tame the hellion that was Swan, and Swan shot an attack towards the duke.

So when Swan heard the rumors about Shuraina, he couldn’t help but be shocked.

Swan knew Eric. Shushu had mentioned his name a few times when she came over, but that was it.

Swanhaden decided to threaten the other person, no matter who it was.

Until he saw Shuraina scratching her head with a blush on her cheeks as she wrote a letter, that is. Moreover, Shuraina, who had just entered her first romantic experience, didn’t show too much of her emotions up front, but it looked like she was having a lot of fun.

So Swanhaden shut his mouth and decided not to touch or bother them while she dated Eric or whatever the hell his name was. Shuraina’s emotions were just as important as his own, after all. If Shuraina was happy, then he wouldn’t do anything.

Of course, things didn’t progress the way he promised it would. Swanhaden tried to focus on something else and played card games, but all of the cards ended up getting torn to shreds. He tried fishing, but his magic, mixed with murderous intent, killed all the fish in the lake and ended up floating up to the surface of the lake.

In the dorm, he was making such a fuss that Yves tried to calm him down. But Yves was also having a hard time calming down, so it was hard for him as well.

Shuraina had talked to Yves separately and asked for distance. He knew that Shuraina had just started dating out of curiosity, but he couldn’t help the deep, welling hatred towards Eric that was taking place in his heart.

He wasn’t a dragon, he wasn’t particularly skilled. His looks were average at best, and his personality didn’t seem too great either. Yet he had stolen Shuraina.

The reason why Yves wasn’t approaching Shuraina was because she was too precious. If everything happened the way Yves wanted, then he would have thrusted his emotions unto Shuraina, pushed away all the men around her, and would have tied her to himself.

But Yves worried about the circumstances of his past. He worried that his past, full of stepping upon the bodies of others, betrayal, and his dirty past would dirty Shuraina. He worried that he would hurt her without knowing it. So he worried that their relationship would completely break apart.

He couldn’t bear the thought of becoming estranged to Shuraina if he let his selfishness peek through. He decided to take a step back, just in case.

He had taken a step back because she was too precious. But some snotty little brat had snatched her away from him.

Yves couldn’t believe the sight that had unfolded in front of him. Shuraina, who had pushed him away with such fervor, had ran to Eric and had given him a hug.

The shock he had felt that day was unspeakable. It felt like he had gotten so soft that someone had slapped him on the back of the head. Yves quietly wondered if Shushu would run to him and give him a hug if he became her boyfriend, but immediately grew angry when he remembered that he wasn’t her boyfriend.

Yves knew that he was jealous, but it wasn’t like he could suppress his emotions completely.

He wondered if he should do something to make them break up, seeing Swanhaden go insane as he tried to hold his feelings in made him think that he should do the same. Yves knew that Swanhaden obsessed over Shuraina, and knew how much he thought about her all the time.

If that Swanhaden was trying so hard not to cause a scene, he could do the same. All he could do was try and prevent weird rumors from spreading.

Swanhaden, who had even been muttering religious hymns to try and control his anger, watched Shuraina and Eric fight in class. His rage erupted.

Swanhaden could feel that Shuraina was sick of Eric and could feel her anger.

He had always been sensitive to Shuraina’s feelings–he could instantly tell that she was trying to quell her anger. He didn’t really get why she was trying to calm down so much, but he wanted to respect her feelings and did the same.

It was decidedly obvious that they wouldn’t marry, at the very least.

He wanted them to break up instantly, but he could read the absolute disgust on Shushu’s face. He could tell this was going to end soon.

The thing that pissed off Swanhaden, now, wasn’t their relationship.

It was Eric himself.

He didn’t like that they were breathing the same air. If he didn’t like Eric before because he was Shushu’s boyfriend, now it was because of how he was treating Shuraina.

Moreover, that peck!

Shuraina, who had looked incredibly annoyed as she spoke, still acted sweet towards him. Shuraina definitely disliked Eric, but she was still denying her feelings for some reason.

But that wasn’t the problem right now. He would’ve still gone mad if Shushu’s boyfriend was nice, but he seemed to treat Shuraina as if she was lower than him. Moreover, he even got a peck on his cheek when Swanhaden would’ve died and gone to heaven if he got the same thing.

Grind. His teeth grinded against each other. He had been holding back because he was in front of Shuraina, but now he didn’t need to.

“Hey! Swanhaden’s going mad again!”
“He’d been calm recently. Aaaaagh! Run!”
“Your highness, you stop him!”

Swanhaden, who had stuffed his hands in his pockets with a demonic smile on his face, began shaking boys who seemed to be Eric’s friends from the red class by their feet, one by one.

The others, afraid that Swanhaden would make them his next victim, ran to find Hylli to stop him.

Hylli seemed to be collecting his thoughts with his hand on his chin as he stared at Swanhaden before a smile broke out on his face.

The smile seemed incredibly angry.

“Swanhaden, if you exclude me from the bullying, I’ll participate.”

Swanhaden looked bored as he held one of the red class students by their collar before turning to face Hylli, looking him up and down.

Swanhaden, who could tell that Eric was incredibly weak when it came to wealth and titles, thought about using the royal prince’s influence for this.

Swan tilted his head slightly and pretended to look shocked.

“Have I ever bullied you before?”

Hylli grabbed the back of his neck at Swan’s upbeat question.

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T/N: you go, boys. ngl it’s so hard to translate these chapters bc i hate eric so much oh my god

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