I Wasn't Trying to Seduce with the Male Lead - Episode 7

Three years ago, the Imperial Knights began a major maintenance project on their aging training facilities. At the time, seventeen-year-old Lian was the commander of the Imperial Youth Knights. Since they couldn’t stop training for the entire construction period, they secured training grounds with the help of wealthy nobles.

The Youth Knights headed to the estate of Marquis Conbrown, a rich man. The available space was large and the hospitality was generous, but the frequent parties were a problem.

“Are you really not going to attend the party?”

The portly Marquis Conbrown asked Lian obsequiously. “It would mean a great deal to my daughter if the Count would grace us with his presence.”

“I apologize, but such events make me uncomfortable.”

Lian cut him off with a tone that left no room for negotiation and returned to his room. It seemed the Marquis was trying to invite the low-ranking knights of the empire to his parties to raise his low-status reputation. Lian was in a position to easily ignore him, but the knights from less prestigious families couldn’t refuse and were dragged to the parties.

One particularly memorable night was the Marchioness’s birthday.

“Count.”

Despite his repeated rejections, the Marquis’s servants bothered him constantly. Assuming it was another one, Lian didn’t even answer, but then he was taken aback to see the Marchioness herself standing outside his door.

“You said you wouldn’t come down, so I came to you.”

Behind her was a cart laden with food. “It’s my birthday, so please, spend some time with me. Even just a meal…”

“I cannot.”

Lian cut her off before she could finish. “Return to the party hall before anyone sees you,” he said coldly, leaving her behind as he exited the room.

To escape another possible interruption, he took refuge in a remote corner of the vast castle. It was a library that seemed to have been used by no one for years—just a room with books. It was the perfect place to spend some quiet, unnoticed time. Lian lit a faint lamp and immersed himself in reading.

After an unknown amount of time passed, a sudden noise arose from outside the quiet window. He looked up just as something ran past the window. Wondering if it was a suspicious person, Lian approached the window.

Almost as soon as he looked out, a heartbreakingly sorrowful cry rang out.

‘Who is that?’

A girl was standing in the shade of a tree, weeping. The sound was so full of anguish that it would make a complete stranger want to ask her story. Up until that point, Lian had never cared about other people’s emotions. Yet, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from this girl. She was well-dressed, so she must have been a noblewoman. Why had she come all the way to this secluded place to shed tears?

As he watched silently, the girl’s sobs gradually subsided. Once she had calmed down a little, she slowly stepped out of the shade.

The moment the moonlight revealed her tear-streaked face, Lian’s heart, which had been unshaken by even the most intense training, began to pound strangely. She was beautiful, but it wasn’t her beauty that captivated him. Her young face held a light in her eyes that seemed to have seen the world. When she was crying, she looked fragile, as if she might disappear at any moment, but once she stopped, she transformed into a different person. The frail girl who had been sobbing in hiding was gone, and in her place was a dignified and elegant young lady.

Just as suddenly as she had appeared, the girl vanished. It had been a very brief moment, but Lian stood there for a long time, unable to move.

It was late when Lian returned to his room from the library. He was greeted by his friend, Blaine.

“Ah, what a boring party it was.”

Blaine babbled on, his face flushed with wine. “Everyone was so materialistic. I feel sick after listening to them brag all evening.”

Fortunately, it seemed the Marchioness had kept the fact that Lian had rejected her a secret. Lian, who would normally have listened half-heartedly, now listened carefully to Blaine’s story. And amid the torrent of words, he found a part that caught his attention.

“They even deliberately called out a young woman and harassed her. Truly low-class.”

“Harassed her?”

“Yes.”

Seeing Lian’s interest, Blaine excitedly explained. “She’s a baroness of commoner origin, and she’s still in her teens and quite pretty. She seems to have inherited a considerable estate from her late husband. They forced her to attend the party and were pressuring her to remarry old men three times her age. It was so disgusting how even married old men were hitting on her.”

“…What happened then?”

“She calmly refused… but when the surrounding noblewomen started scolding her, saying that a criminal’s widow shouldn’t be so choosy, she bit her lip and left.”

Hearing that, it was almost certain that she was the girl he had seen crying in the forest.

“When she came back, her eyes were red. But she stayed until the end and left. She seems like a truly good woman, I wonder why she married such a piece of trash. It’s a shame.”

As Blaine mumbled, Lian casually asked for her name.

Eleanor Mariche, the Baroness.

That young girl’s name was etched into Lian’s mind.

Even after returning to the capital, his memory of Eleanor didn’t fade; it became clearer. He thought about going to see her a few times, but he couldn’t. Her estate was far from the capital, and he worried that approaching a woman who had recently lost her husband might be an intrusion.

As he hesitated, time steadily passed. Eleanor became increasingly famous. She settled in the capital but became an even more difficult person to approach. The girl from that night had become a captivating woman who dominated the social scene.

Lian was unaccustomed to women, so much so that he was blunt and couldn’t even say a word to a crying woman. The gap between them was too great for him to casually approach her without a reason. He began to resign himself to just watching from afar.

But then, she was there.

In his study.

Holding his favorite book.

‘I won’t lose her this time.’

Now that she had walked into his arms, he couldn’t give up even if he tried. He had already experienced the supreme pleasure of holding her. His body was still not over the afterglow of the night.

The living Eleanor was far more lovely than he had imagined. And she excited him to a terrifying degree. To think that behind that cute face was a boldness that would tie a man down and run her hands all over his body! Far from hating her lewdness, he loved it to the point of madness. Just the touch of her fingertips made him feel like he was going to lose it. He was touching her, yet he yearned to touch her more.

Moreover, despite her being so seductive, she was a virgin, just like him. He was overjoyed that he didn’t have to be jealous of another man holding her. He felt an endless desire to be one with her, to enter her and not just hold her. Lian wanted Eleanor to feel the same way about him.

‘After all that, has she developed some feelings for me?’

He had worked hard to leave his mark on her. He had wanted to treat her more carefully. But his excitement the first time had been so intense that it was over a little faster than he had wanted. Because of that regret, he had tormented her several more times. She had looked so exhausted at the end, but he couldn’t stop.

Perhaps he had been too rough. As he thought about the night before, a sense of regret for his inexperience and a feeling of urgency came over him.

‘I have to see Eleanor again.’

Maybe she was disappointed. He wished he had studied more beforehand.

‘If I just had one more chance, I could do better.’

He would meet her again and somehow convince her to stay with him. No matter what she said, he wouldn’t let her leave his side. Thinking about it, a familiar sensation began to stir in the part of him that was still reeling from the night’s afterglow. He had never known such lust was hidden within him.

While he was feeling flustered, there was a presence outside the door.

“Count. The tailor has arrived.”

The butler’s voice was unusually timid. The Duke had forced the tailor to come to measure Lian for a ceremonial suit for his birthday. Lian, who had no interest in his appearance, usually found such interference very annoying. But today, he got up willingly. He could bear it, thinking that it was thanks to his father’s meddling that he had held Eleanor. Besides, he thought it might be a good idea to make a good impression on Eleanor by looking well-dressed in a nice suit.

“I’ll be out soon.”

Lian internally recited the Empire’s Chivalry Charter a few times, and once his excitement subsided, he got out of bed. As he walked into the hallway in just a gown, the face of a maid standing at the door flushed. But when she met his eyes, she cowered in fear. It was a strange attitude, following the butler’s. It was probably because he had threatened to cut anyone who lingered outside his door the day before.

“Good morning.”

Lian spoke, and the maid blinked in surprise. It was likely because he had never greeted her so pleasantly before. Lian left her, looking completely red and about to explode, and headed to the tailoring room.

“You look bright?”

Blaine said to Lian, who was sitting in the knight’s lounge. Lian, whose handsome face was usually expressionless and cold, looked a little softer than usual today.

“What’s wrong? You’re smiling, and it’s scaring everyone around you.”

“Is it scary?”

Lian tilted his head in genuine confusion.

“Hmm. Actually, I’m more worried about the man over there blushing at you than the people who are scared of you.”

Lian shrugged, as if he took Blaine’s words as a joke. There was indeed a man blushing and staring at him, but he decided it was better not to know.

“Blaine.”

Lian spoke as he sat across from him. “Do you still attend parties often?”

“Well, as usual.”

Blaine Canterbury was Lian’s friend and the commander of the 2nd Knight Order. Unlike Lian, who only knew about swords, he was sociable and showed up at most parties.

“I want to ask you something about parties.”

Blaine thought he had misheard for a moment.

“What did you say?”

“I said I want to ask you something about parties.”

Lian repeated the words stiffly.

“You’re talking about parties. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were two moons in the sky tonight.”

Lian ignored Blaine’s nonsense and got to the point. Blaine’s face looked as bewildered as if he had seen a monster when he heard his question.

“Huh? Why are you asking that?”

“I need to. I’d appreciate it if you could find out for me.”

Blaine was very curious about the reason, but Lian remained silent.

“Well, alright. I’ll find out and contact you.”

Once Blaine agreed, Lian immediately got up and left. He ran into Zeppelin in the palace hallway. Lian said to him, who bowed respectfully, “Thank you.”

Zeppelin had a look on his face that demanded an explanation for the sudden gratitude, but Lian just walked past him.

“What are you thanking me for?”

Lian didn’t answer this time either.

Blaine was shocked to realize that Lian was smiling. It was a dazzling smile, even for a face he saw every day, but it was also incredibly unnerving. Had someone cast a strange spell on Lian? He was doing so many things out of character. Blaine followed Lian as if he were possessed by a ghost.

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