Chapter 356: Uncomfortable Lunch (2)

Clack, clack.

The sound of silverware hitting echoed in the silent room. Han Seol-Ah, Oh Kang-Woo and Iris sat side by side at a long table that could fit twenty people. Yes, not across from each other, but side by side. Very close together, on top of that.

Three people sitting extremely close together at such a large table certainly was an awkward sight to behold.

"Eat as much as you want, Kang-Woo. If you're still hungry, I've made more," said Seol-Ah while holding out kimchi stew that she had made by borrowing the palace kitchen.

"Our head chef made this grilled elroy, Sir Kang-Woo," said Iris while holding out a grilled fish as if not to lose to Seol-Ah.

Seol-Ah slightly pushed away the dish that Iris was holding and remarked, "I'm sorry, but Kang-Woo isn't a fan of fish."

'No, I'd say I'm a pretty big fan. You make me kimchi stew with saury in it all the time, darling.'

Kang-Woo kept his mouth shut to prevent the words from leaving his mouth because he was certain that he was better off staying quiet in this situation.

"He was enjoying it quite a lot at the party though," replied Iris while narrowing her eyes.

Although she had overcome her fear of Fidelio, her twisted personality would not be unwound so easily just because of that. Iris was still domineering toward everyone except Kim Si-Hun and Kang-Woo, but Seol-Ah paid no concern to her attitude.

"My, is that so? He must have forced it down, then."

"Maybe you just don't know Sir Kang-Woo that well."

"Nonsense."

Hohoho. Seol-Ah laughed, and Iris glared at her. Kang-Woo simply lowered his head lifelessly from the war of nerves that was occurring with him in between.

'Is this Hell? Did something go wrong while I was crossing to Aernor and end up in the Nine Hells?'

Kang-Woo felt like he was in the middle of a blizzard. He carefully had a spoonful of the kimchi stew that Seol-Ah had made for him.

'Fuck.'

He could barely taste the delicious kimchi stew. It felt as if he was eating right next to two ticking time bombs.

'Why are you two doing this to me?'

Kang-Woo stared at Iris bitterly. He also held bitter feelings for Seol-Ah for going out of her way to eat with Iris when she could have just refused, but Iris had been the trigger for this misfortune.

'I thought you fell in love with Si-Hun at first sight. Why do you keep sticking to me?'

Kang-Woo bit his lip. He wondered if Iris had turned out this way because of the extreme measure he had used to help Iris erase her fear of Fidelio.

'But still, Si-Hun is far better than me in all aspects.'

The difference in their looks aside, their attitudes could not be any more different. Kang-Woo had never treated Iris kindly; even in the process to help her overcome her fear, he had pushed her as far down as possible to make her reach rock bottom. He had not consoled her nor empathized with her pain. Rather, Si-Hun had been the one to console her; Kang-Woo had made Si-Hun ask how Iris was doing every single day to have him score some points with her.

'Si-Hun was doing pretty well.'

Kang-Woo had once eavesdropped on their call on the communication crystal, and Si-Hun had consoled her with words that would even make a fellow man fall for him. On the other hand, Kang-Woo had criticized Iris about why she had just let herself be beaten up, made her beg him for his help, and all sorts of other shit.

'So why...'

"Sir Kang-Woo, please have some of this grilled elroy before it gets cold. I had the head chef procure elroy of the finest quality just for you."

'Why are you doing this to me?'

Kang-Woo had some of the grilled fish that Iris persistently held out to him. As expected, he could barely taste it.

"See? Look how unwell Kang-Woo's complexion looks," Seol-Ah remarked.

"I'm pretty sure that's because of the red soup that he ate earlier."

"Hmph. It's laughable how you talk about Kang-Woo when you don't know a thing about kimchi stew."

'What?'

Were people not allowed to talk about Kang-Woo if they didn't know what kimchi stew was?

'Mm, is that how it works?'

It kind of made sense. Kang-Woo tilted his head and thought about the most useless things possible to get as far away from the war of nerves between the two women as possible.

'Kimchi stew. Kimchi stew. Kimchi stew is delicious. I can never get sick of it. Why is kimchi stew so good when it's just a mixture of kimchi and meat?'

While Kang-Woo was off in kimchi stew land, the conversation between the two women continued.

"Come to think of it, you must be awfully lonely, Princess Iris."

"Lonely? Me?"

Seol-Ah nodded with a smile. "Since your beloved Si-Hun isn't here."

"My heart ached for you when I saw you bawling your eyes out when Si-Hun left..." Seol-Ah sighed with her hand on her chest.

Iris raised an eyebrow. "Really? I had no idea."

"You seemed to care deeply for Si-Hun."

"Yeah, since Sir Si-Hun is like a brother to me."

"My, that's the first time I'm hearing of it." Seol-Ah's eyes shone, and she continued, "Then I guess you were quite the brocon."

"Brocon?"

"It's a term for a person who holds excessive love for their biological brother."

"Mm, I don't know about that. I did love my brother, but only as a brother."

Iris and Seol-Ah locked eyes with each other. Kang-Woo thought he saw sparks crackling in thin air.

'I wonder what the secret to the taste of kimchi stew is?'

He wondered if there was some sort of hidden truth contained deep within. Kang-Woo continued to stare into nothingness.

Seol-Ah clapped her hands together and smiled radiantly. "My, that's truly a relief, then. Since Si-Hun isn't your actual brother, you don't have to stop yourself from loving him beyond the level of a brother." Seol-Ah nodded in succession. She energetically clenched her fists and continued with good intentions, "Don't you worry, Princess Iris. I will do my best to help so that you two can get closer."

Iris giggled and answered, "Hohoho, there's no need for you to poke your nose into something that's none of your business."

Sparks crackled in the air again.

Kang-Woo grabbed his hair. However much he wanted to think about useless things, this was not the time.

'I have to put an end to this.'

This was the first time that he was able to relax ever since arriving in Aernor. Starting tomorrow, his schedule was once again full with cleaning up the evil in the empire, reviving the nation, and all sorts of complicated tasks.

'I would've just been on my laptop by myself all day if I knew this was gonna happen.'

Noah's Ark was still left unused in his breast pocket.

"I'll just have them both," Kang-Woo remarked.

He brought the grilled elroy and kimchi stew in front of him. Although it was a ton of food, he was confident that no one could beat him in terms of eating.

Slurp! Munch, munch!

Kang-Woo ate the food as if he were inhaling it. The food was disappearing at an extremely fast pace, and the food that could have easily fed ten people had vanished in a flash.

Clatter.

"Fuuu. Thanks for the food. They were both delicious," said Kang-Woo after putting down the empty dishes on the table.

'Though I could barely taste anything.'

"You must've been starving, Kang-Woo. Would you like some more?"

Seol-Ah raised a napkin in a flash and wiped the sauce off of Kang-Woo's mouth.

"No, I'm fine, darling."

"Is that so? Then let's go back to our room. We should continue... where we left off."

Seol-Ah leaned on Kang-Woo while smiling seductively. An extremely warm and soft sensation traveled up his arm.

'Huh? What were we doing earlier?'

Kang-Woo searched through his memories. He recalled Seol-Ah whispering that she loved him while caressing his neck, as well as the inexplicable sense of fear that he had felt.

'You want to continue that? No thanks. I'm scared.'

"Unfortunately for you, Sir Kang-Woo has business with me today, so that won't be possible," Iris interjected.

'And what's with you? I told you that we should start tomorrow. I wanna take a break today. No, I'm gonna. I haven't taken a single break ever since getting to Aernor. The Noah's Ark in my heart hasn't even seen the light of day yet. Khadgar... I'm sorry, man. So this is how you felt.'

Silence fell on them once again. Seol-Ah and Iris, who had been glaring at each other with chilly eyes, turned to face Kang-Woo at the same time.

"Let's go back to our room now, Kang-Woo."

"How can we postpone such crucial work for tomorrow? The citizens of the empire are suffering even at this very moment, Sir Kang-Woo."

Kang-Woo remained silent. He needed to follow one of them, but it was thankfully not a difficult choice to make.

'Darling or Iris...'

One was his beloved darling, who was seemingly implying that they were going to be doing something erotic back in their room, and the other was a princess with a screw loose who was trying to get him to do work that he was planning on doing tomorrow. It was a given who he would choose.

"I promised darling that I would stay with her today, so let's leave work for tomorrow," said Kang-Woo as he took Seol-Ah's hand and stood up.

Iris aggressively bit his lip as she trembled in rage.

'For fuck's sake, since when did you care for the citizens so deeply? Si-Hun will be back soon, so just endure it until then and stop bothering me, lady.'

Kang-Woo thought that Iris was sticking so closely to him because Si-Hun was absent.

'Si-Hun... I need you. Please take this girl away from me. Having two wives isn't bad, is it? You're a protagonist, for God's sake. You shouldn't stick with just one heroine. I'll put in a good word with Layla.'

Kang-Woo's eyes shone with desperation as he thought about his brother, who was traveling around the empire.

"Hoho, in that case, we'll be on our way. See you next time, Your Highness." Seol-Ah waved leisurely while smiling like the victor.

Iris glared at Seol-Ah and then asked Kang-Woo, "Come to think of it, you two are lovers, correct?"

"Oh, yeah. We are." Kang-Woo nodded.

"Hmm." Iris looked back and forth at Kang-Woo and Seol-Ah with narrow eyes. "Well, such a relationship doesn't last forever."

Iris snorted. Seol-Ah's face slightly crumpled. She repeatedly opened and closed her fists, and then belt down.

"Oh no."

"What's wrong, darling?"

"I dropped my ring by accident."

"What?"

'How could you have possibly dropped a ring that you were wearing by accident?'

"Hohoho. I'm sorry, Kang-Woo. I ended up dropping the precious engagement ring that you gave me."

Seol-Ah smiled brightly and held out the ring that Kang-Woo had given her as if showing it off.

Iris grimaced aggressively as she trembled.

"Well then, Princess Iris." Seol-Ah approached Iris. "We'll be on our way. I'll do my best to help you so that your relationship with Si-Hun works out well, so you don't have to worry at all."

Seol-Ah then brought her mouth close to Iris's ear and whispered something. She seemed to have used some sort of divine magic because Kang-Woo wasn't able to hear a word of it.

"Good day, then." Seol-Ah smiled as she waved her hand.

She dragged Kang-Woo along by the arm and headed out the door. Slam. The door closed.

Iris, having been left alone, blankly stared at the closed door.

"Uuu..." She fiercely bared her teeth and grimaced. "Urghhh!"

Wham! Iris violently kicked the table. The words that Seol-Ah had whispered into her ear echoed in her mind.

- How dare you have your sights on my Kang-Woo?

"Haaa! Haaa!"

- Know your place, bitch.

"Han... Seol-Ah...!"

Iris aggressively clenched her fists. Wham! She kicked the innocent table once again.