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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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“…You clearly don’t understand dwarven stubbornness. Just you wait. I will make you smile someday.”
Dagran said that and left Reina’s room.
He pondered why he had fallen in love with her.
It was pity.
His obsession with making her smile and his sympathy for her had blossomed into love.
But this love was unlikely to be reciprocated.
Imperial women were notoriously proud and didn’t see dwarves as men.
Beauty and the Beast was just a fairy tale; it never happened in real life.
Moreover, his beauty couldn’t even feel emotions.
‘It’s fine. I just need to make her smile.’
But he wasn’t going to give up just because his love was unrequited.
Fueled by spite, Dagran devoted himself to his craft.
Seven months passed since Reina had begun staying at his mansion.
Finally, Dagran created a special potion and a device.
It was a potion that combined emotions and mana, with a device to analyze the haze produced when the emotion-infused mana was manipulated.
“Reina! Come sit down! I want to test─!”
Dagran excitedly entered Reina’s room.
Reina was doing rehabilitation exercises in her undergarments.
She glanced at him.
Dagran, startled, was about to leave when he stopped.
He approached Reina, who was looking at him with her usual blank expression, and said,
“I have something to test. Please sit down for a moment.”
Reina nodded and gathered her clothes from the floor.
At that moment, Dagran grabbed Reina’s hand and said,
“Let’s just do it like this. You don’t feel shame anyway, right?”
“……”
Reina nodded again and sat down, awaiting his instructions.
Dagran told her to drink the potion and then circulate her mana.
Reina followed his instructions.
-Hiss…
A purple haze began to emanate from her.
Dagran jumped up from his seat and shouted,
“There! You have emotions! You have emotions!”
“……?”
Reina tilted her head, still with a blank expression.
Dagran quickly activated the emotion analyzer and absorbed the purple haze.
Then, he showed her the results.
“See? Shame, embarrassment, slight anger, humiliation, doubt.”
“……?”
“Reina, these are the emotions you’re feeling! You just can’t express them, but this shows that you do, indeed, feel emotions!”
Reina’s expression changed.
With her mouth slightly agape, she looked at the purple haze swirling around her with curiosity.
“But… I don’t feel anything.”
“…You just can’t express it. The emotions are there; they just aren’t being transmitted.”
Dagran took her hand. The haze around her intensified.
“I’ll find the cause. For now, you seem embarrassed, so let’s get you dressed. Ahem.”
Reina, her face still blank, put on her clothes.
They talked for a long time, observing how her emotions changed during their conversation.
“Reina. You once said… that you would give me your body for a suitable price. Were you serious?”
Reina remained silent.
A black haze, the emotion of self-denial, began to emanate from her.
So, she hadn’t been serious. Dagran sighed in relief.
“I’m glad. That you weren’t serious.”
“……”
“I think… you were just afraid of getting hurt. You’re intentionally pushing people away.”
Reina lowered her head, deep in thought. She then looked up and said,
“Even so, what’s the point? I still don’t feel anything.”
She paused, looking at the black haze surrounding her.
“And… even if I could feel emotions, they would be faint. Like this black smoke, scattering and disappearing… a meaningless byproduct…”
Reina looked at Dagran. Dagran looked back. He saw the black haze around her turning yellow.
“…If you can’t feel the reality of your emotions, I will make you feel them. I will make you feel how intense your emotions are, in a way that you, as a knight, can understand. Until then, please stay here.”
Reina’s rehabilitation was almost complete; she could leave anytime.
But the haze around her was turning a stronger shade of yellow.
Eventually, Reina answered with a blank expression on her face.
“Yes. I’ll wait a little longer.”
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Three months later, Dagran finally completed the prototype of the holy sword.
He had succeeded in converting emotions into energy.
He rushed to Reina’s room and handed her the prototype, asking her to test it.
-Swoosh…
The holy sword began to absorb the deep yellow haze emanating from Reina, converting it into blue magic power.
He had successfully converted the byproduct of emotions and mana into energy.
“Let’s go outside! I want to see you wield your emotions!”
Dagran took Reina’s hand and led her out into the snow-covered courtyard.
Strangely, Reina’s heart was pounding.
“Now! Wield it! Feel the intensity of your emotions!”
“……”
Reina took her stance, closed her eyes, and felt the holy sword absorbing her magic power.
-Whoosh!
She swung the sword.
A wave of blue magic power surged towards a large boulder.
-KABOOM!!!
The ground trembled.
The boulder cracked.
The snow parted like the Red Sea where the wave of energy had passed.
The destructive power was overwhelming, unlike anything she had experienced before.
“……”
Reina took in the scene.
These were her emotions.
This was how intense they were.
Emotions that had been bottled up for 27 years, never released.
“Reina.”
Dagran stood beside her.
Reina looked at him.
A yellow haze shimmered around her.
“This is just the beginning. Someday, I will make you feel these emotions directly, not just through the sword.”
Dagran, his eyes shining, vowed to help her find her emotions.
Reina felt a strange pang in her chest. Being with him seemed to be changing her.
Could she, too, change if he were by her side?
That day, Dagran and Reina talked for a long time, drinking and celebrating their success.
Dagran finally learned why Reina was so obsessed with money.
She was from a fallen noble family, burdened with enormous debt.
Her parents had tried to marry her off to a wealthy noble or merchant, hoping to restore their family’s fortunes.
But no one wanted a wife who was as emotionless as a stone statue.
A few men, captivated by her beauty, had pursued her, but they all gave up within a month.
From then on, Reina had done anything and everything to earn money.
Fortunately, she was exceptionally talented in swordsmanship, which allowed her to make a living.
That’s how she ended up on the well-paying expedition to the Dwarven Allied Kingdom.
“…You’ve fulfilled your duty.”
Dagran smiled sadly after hearing Reina’s story. He placed his hand on hers, which rested on the table.
“I will keep my promise. I will make you smile. I promise.”
“……”
Reina looked at Dagran, her face expressionless. But despite her outward appearance, her heart was pounding.
*Thump. Thump. Thump.*
The yellow haze was turning gold.
She had fallen in love with Dagran.
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Two more months passed.
Dagran and Reina tried various methods to unlock her emotions, spending more and more time together.
Reina was no longer passive but actively involved in the process, studying, discussing with Dagran, and trying different approaches.
“…I have to go search for a mining vein today. My father summoned me.”
Dagran’s father expressed strong disapproval for his actions, believing he was obsessed with a human woman and was neglecting his dwarven duties.
No one knew about the holy sword yet, so his father was understandably displeased.
“Then I’ll go too.”
So, Dagran and Reina joined the mining expedition. Reina’s former colleagues mocked her, calling her “the dwarf’s woman.”
But Dagran didn’t intervene, because Reina had taken his hand and shaken her head.
“L-Look out!”
Suddenly, a giant shadow loomed over them.
It was a “Bayater,” which meant “Ancient Snow Ogre” in the dwarven language.
A long-dormant calamity of the snowy mountains had awakened.
“Aaaaagh!!!”
Chaos erupted.
The Bayater leaped down, swiping its claws, tearing apart dwarves and humans alike.
Even the escorting knights were slaughtered before they could react.
“Shit!!! Retreat!”
“What about the dwarves?!”
“Who cares?! We’re all going to die! Run!”
The surviving knights fled.
The Bayater was a monster beyond their capabilities.
It was an ancient beast from dwarven legends, far too powerful for knights who were only at the Intermediate Sword Expert level.
“……”
Reina hesitated.
Logically, she should have fled too.
It was impossible to defeat the monster.
She should abandon the dwarves and run.
“…Uh… Ugh…”
But she couldn’t move.
Dagran had rushed to save his companions.
“Graaagh!!”
“Aaaagh!!!”
It was a foolish act.
There was nothing Dagran could do.
A pointless, self-destructive impulse.
Why were humans so driven by emotions?
“…Uh… …Ugh…?!”
The Bayater turned its gaze towards Dagran, baring its fangs and growling.
Then…
-Whoosh!
It raised its paw and swiped at Dagran.
Blood sprayed into the air as Dagran collapsed.
A golden haze erupted from Reina.
“Noooo!!!”
Her body moved on its own.
Screaming Dagran’s name, she charged towards the Bayater.
The monster turned its attention to her.
-Whoosh!
For the first time in her life, Reina’s emotions exploded.
The energy was immense.
The Bayater leaped at her, but her sword strike landed first.
The monster’s hide, impenetrable to any steel, was torn open, spilling blood and guts.
“Die!!!”
Reina roared, swinging her golden haze-infused sword again.
Before the Bayater could recover, her blade severed its head.
The legendary beast, without even putting up a fight, was decapitated.
It was an incredible feat for a knight.
“Dagran!! Dagran!!”
But none of that mattered.
Reina rushed to Dagran’s side and checked his condition.
The wound wasn’t deep.
“Wait! I’ll heal you!”
Reina placed her hand on Dagran’s chest and cast a healing spell.
His wounds began to close.
Dagran smiled, caressing her cheek.
“I promised to make you smile, but I made you cry instead.”
“……?”
Reina, startled, touched her cheek.
Tears were streaming down her face.
“I…”
Come to think of it, her eyes felt strangely irritated.
Her nose was getting stuffy.
She found herself frowning repeatedly.
“How… What…”
She was confused.
This was a first.
She had never experienced anything like this before in her life.
How could she define this strange sensation? Sadness? Anger? Relief?
It was none of those.
It was something more complex, more profound.
“……”
Then, Reina realized.
She had known it all along, but only now was she acknowledging it.
She defined this confusing sensation.
“…It seems… I love you.”
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