"Are you cursed?"
"Huh? Uh, well..."
Craig frowned in suspicion. This was a natural reaction, considering that he had seen this happen to Shun twice in such a short amount of time.
Shun searched for words to answer him with, rubbing his hands over his flaming cheeks.
"That's, uh... fate's prank, or well, a curse is close."
Craig's eyebrows twitched at the word "fate". He wouldn't believe Shun if he explained that the game's settings were bugged, and that there was the possibility that Craig, his employer would continue to be troubled by this in the future until it was resolved.
He should explain it as best as he could though.
"For some reason, whenever I come across a handsome man or have any kind of contact with him, he tries to flirt with me, saying something about my eyes usually. However, Gin and Evan were normal, so I thought the curse was broken, since they never tried anything no matter how many times we were alone together. That's why I tried going out to the market today, but it still didn't work out... This is part of why I wanted to join the Dawn Fog, but I wasn't lying about wanting to gain experience either."
"Is that what the fortune-teller said before?"
Shun nodded.
"There's supposed to be a woman coming here from another world. She's destined to be with a capture... an attractive man in this world. In order to do so, she needs to be wooed by even men she doesn't like, and since she's not here, it's all coming down on me."
Shun decided to continue with the story he just told Craig.
Tonight, Shun was convinced that not only was he playing the roll of the heroine being kabedoned by handsome men, but also the roll of being entangled with bad guys and being rescued by a capture target.
Shun's hat was off to all of the heroines in the world.
"When she shows up, I shouldn't be approached anymore. Although that may kill me."
Craig's eyebrows were raised in surprise by the sudden leap in logic.
In other words, Shun's future was rather bleak.
"However, if she gets along with Craig, I won't die. So I went to the Dawn Fog to mediate."
Shun ended up talking quickly for some reason. He glanced up at Craig to see if he believed him. Craig's face was obscured by the pale, milky white light of the meteorite lanterns.
"I see... So."
Craig seemed to remember the first time he met Shun.
Looking back, it was probably a good thing that it was Craig who was at the scene and not a different capture target. It would be better for him to know about Shun's situation and cooperate with the heroine.
"I see what's going on, but–"
Shun stood ready for what would follow the "but". But no words left Craig's mouth.
"Do you want to kick me out?"
Feeling scared by the growing silence, Shun broke it. He suspected that Craig might hate women. There were no women in the Dawn Fog.
It was not uncommon to see swordswomen or female magicians working normally in any other guild.
However, Gin's regular campaign of "Let's include girls!" was often instantly declined.
Shun looked very anxious, and when Craig looked up, he gave a troubled laugh.
"That's not going to happen."
The heavy atmosphere eased. Shun was relieved that he was able to keep his job despite the trouble he was likely to bring with him. It seemed that his plan to live his life happily ever after hadn't failed yet.
Shun walked alongside Craig towards a brighter road. It was frustrating how quickly he had to walk to keep up with Craig. As he looked begrudgingly at Craig's long legs, Craig looked back at him.
"Do you want me to take you home? I don't want them to find out where you live."
Shun really wanted to ask for him to, but he couldn't invite him back to the royal palace. As they started to see more people on the street again, Shun decided to let him see him to the First Avenue's gate.
There was a secret route back to the royal palace as soon as he entered the First Avenue. If they got that far, there would definitely be a guard that would recognize him.
He doesn't know about any others, but Shun has never been kabedoned by them, and they were good-natured and attractive but not extremely handsome. Since there wasn't any men beyond that who was going to incriminate themselves, but it would be a relief if he could get to the gate safely.
Well, either way, the capture target prince would probably come to his rescue, but it was nothing more than a precaution. Although necessary to protect public safety, it took a lot of effort to go from Second Avenue to First Avenue, such as showing a pass.
There was a procession of aristocratic carriages in front of the gate, perhaps because of an event. Shun received a numbered ticket and walked around the gate with Craig while he waited.
He hadn't expected Craig to accompany him this far, so he was feeling a bit surprised.
The First Avenue's gate was the entrance to the part of the city where the King lived, and it was so majestic, showing off its wealth and power in contrast to Second Avenue. Though there were wanted posters placed in narrow spaces on the surrounding walls, their appearance had been significantly damaged.
Come to think of it, the trio that attacked him were nothing but small offenders, but from their attitude, it clearly hadn't been the first time they'd done that.
Maybe they had a bounty.
If they were to fund the Dawn Fog, Shun's resentment would be lifted a bit, and as he was looking at the lined up posters, Craig was standing beside him.
"I wonder if that butterfly anglerfish is here."
"A lantern?" Craig asked because it seemed his words hadn't translated well.
"It's a grotesque fish with a light growing out of its head, and it uses the light to lure in food–"
Shun explained the ecology of the deep-sea fish. It seemed that there were similar creatures.
"Isn't it similar to the three men we saw earlier? The lantern would be the handsome man."
Shun wasn't lured as much as he was caught off guard. He was going to mention that for my honor when Craig burst into laughter.
"The lantern is the handsome man and the grotesque part is the other men. That's perfect."
Perhaps because there were people around them, he kept his voice down, but he seemed to be having fun. His face was as attractive as ever, but the atmosphere he had that was like a sharpened knife had disappeared.
It was the first time that he smiled properly in front of Shun.
"You're a strange guy."
His gold eyes scrutinized Shun.
Although he was a little embarrassed, Shun laughed with joy.
* * *
Shun fell down onto his soft, practically brand new bed. A lot of things had happened today.
He knew that if he didn't change into his nightclothes, he would probably be scolded again by his governor, but his eyes and body were heavy.
Craig had watched from the other side of the gate in Second Avenue until Shun had handed the pass over to the guards.
After they had laughed together, Shun had seemed a little uncomfortable and had gone quiet. However when Shun waved to him, he waved back lightly.
As a matter of fact, Craig stayed there until Shun was out of sight. Although Shun was told to stay away, it didn't seem like he was disliked. Then why?
"Anyway, I should learn self-defense... if I ask the governor to help me..."
Shun slowly got up and began to take off his common clothes.
He thought about talking to Evan and considered asking him to go out with him for a while because the heroine hadn't appeared yet.
His thoughts returned to Craig.
"–This guy is mine."
Shun knew it was just to get rid of the other man, but the very low, sharp voice stayed in his ears.
"The heroine wouldn't be able to calm down if Craig said something like that."
Shun forced himself to think of something else. He was supposed to be tired, but he was unable to sleep well that night.
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TL Note: Love is in the air~ I love that Shun is starting to become a little more aware of Craig! uwu