‘It’s over...’
At this moment, a similar thought surfaced in the minds of everyone in the room.
Aunt Mima never expected her boasting from moments ago to be slapped back so quickly.
Maqi’s astonishment stemmed from Macar’s sudden appearance. Her gaze followed Ogre’s to land on Macar—she knew her cousin was finished for good this time.
‘If I ever trust a woman again, I’m a dumb rabbit...’
Ogre felt mortified by his own prior judgment and misplaced trust.
“L-Lady Gelin?!”
With Macar’s cry of disbelief, everyone finally snapped back to reality.
Maqi was the first to step in front of him. “No, Brother, you’re seeing things...”
“She clearly turned around...”
Macar didn’t think he was that stupid.
Besides, Lady Gelin’s facial features overlapped almost perfectly with this ethereal, unearthly girl before him...
“Car, close the window and get your ass in here right now!”
Aunt Mima’s booming voice, combined with Maqi blocking his view, finally helped Macar regain some shred of sanity.
Only then did he realize his foolishness and loss of composure—it had been a completely flustered, knee-jerk reaction.
Yet the girl’s face still lingered vividly in his mind. “I-I’m sorry!”
Though Macar moved briskly, his gaze still couldn’t resist trying to peek at the girl behind Maqi. Even the goddess of his wildest dreams wasn’t as captivating as this fleeting glimpse of the girl.
How could anyone be born looking so holy and pure...
“Hurry up!”
“R-Right...”
As the window closed, the praise Mima had spoken about Macar stuck in her throat, impossible to utter again.
“I’m so sorry, Lady Gelin,” Mima apologized from the bottom of her heart.
She had promised to help the poor girl conceal her looks.
Sigh, it was all that damned boy’s fault!
Being so impatient, he had ruined his own chances...
Mima knew very well that once a young man fell hopelessly for a face, it was easy for him to deify the other party.
Such a mindset drastically reduced the odds of successfully wooing her.
“No...” Ogre shook his head. “Problem...”
Now that it had happened, he just had to find a way to remedy the situation. If he played his part well later, it shouldn’t be too big of an issue.
“Sigh... It’s all that reckless kid’s fault. Maqi, go open the door.” Looking at the innocent, blank-faced girl, Mima felt a sudden wave of guilt well up inside her, producing an inexplicable sense of wrongdoing.
“Okay, Mom...” Maqi, on the other hand, felt there was nothing wrong with displaying beauty.
She merely sensed that her cousin probably wouldn’t be able to move on from this for the rest of his life.
‘Uncle’s bloodline won’t end with him because of this, will it...’ Maqi couldn’t help but worry about her cousin’s future.
In her eyes, the probability of successfully courting Ogre was infinitesimally close to zero—a girl of such beauty was someone only a hero or a prince deserved.
...
“I didn’t mean to...”
At the dining table, Macar kept his head lowered the entire time. He simply couldn’t stop himself from staring at the girl, so to cover up his embarrassment, he had no choice but to keep his head down.
“How are you going to protect Lady Gelin like this?” Mima seethed with frustration at his lack of backbone.
He didn’t even dare lift his head when meeting her face-to-face—cowardly to the extreme! What kind of Paladin was this? He was practically a turtle knight.
Seeing this, Ogre let out a soft sigh, stood up, and reached out to gently pat Macar’s lowered head.
“No...”
“Worries...”
Ogre couldn’t quite comprehend this kind of human behavior. He muttered to himself internally: ‘Is it really that serious...’
A powerful warrior willingly bowing his head just for a pretty face was something Ogre found exceedingly hard to understand.
Even if the person being bowed to was himself.
‘Do not let desire, fame, and fortune bind your free soul; true glory requires no proof, and true bravery does not necessarily require facing death. Just be yourself, my child...’
—《The Divine Words of Dawn》 / On God and His Eldest Son.
“L-Lady Gelin, I-I really didn’t expect it to be like this.”
Ogre’s gesture made Macar stutter even worse. His face flushed bright red, yet he still didn’t dare look directly at the girl’s face.
“Lift your head, Cousin. Keeping your head down like that is also a form of disrespect, you know,” Maqi said sharply, and her words had an immediate effect.
“No, I-I just didn’t expect it to be like this.” Macar looked toward the girl’s face once more. In that single instant, so many thoughts raced through his mind...
For instance, names for their children.
Looking directly was far more stunning than that fleeting glimpse earlier.
Even at such close range, Ogre’s skin didn’t show a single flaw.
It was as perfect as a creation of the gods...
“Cousin / Car!”
“Huh?”
Only when Ogre put on his mask did Macar snap out of his near-entranced state.
No, even when facing the charm of a succubus, he had never fared this poorly.
As his heart pounded faster, Macar finally realized the truth... His heart had been stirred.
The upright Paladin, who had dedicated his youth to the Church, felt such a powerful desire to be with someone for the very first time.
Before meeting Ogre, Macar had always firmly believed that he only cared about inner beauty. He treated all women with respect, daydreaming of one day finding a girl whose soul resonated with his.
Until now.
“Car, staring at Lady Gelin so bluntly like that will scare her away.” Mima truly felt despair over her nephew’s performance.
He hadn’t even touched her hand, yet he was already daydreaming so foolishly...
How could this possibly work out?
Women were attracted, not won over by demeaning oneself. Mima had been beautiful in her youth, so she understood this deeply, and the reverse was equally true.
However, if two people truly wanted to get along well, the most important thing was equality—equality in every sense.
“Exactly. You were even drooling...” Maqi looked at the table with slight disgust.
“I was not...” Macar reflexively tried to deny it, but when he wiped his face, he realized he really had drooled a bit.
Damn it, how could he lose his composure like this?
It had to be an inner devil affecting him!
Ogre had now put on the mask Maqi had brought earlier. He realized that the effect of his face was a bit overly dramatic.
‘It might work nicely as a combat tool, but too bad it only works on humans.’
Ogre didn’t believe for a second that trolls or goblins would have any tender feelings for the fair sex.
The reason a beautiful face could have such an effect on a Paladin like Macar was entirely due to the restraints of civilization and morality.
They knew restraint.
Unlike goblins, who would immediately swarm to plunder and seize.
‘It’s nothing more than an asset whose value depends on civilization...’ Ogre thought of the slaves he had seen in the black markets.
If... if he hadn’t appeared as a Sister, but as a slave...
Would Macar still feel shy and hopeful?
Hard to say.
Yet Ogre always believed that what truly allowed beauty to have power was, at its core, strength.
Only when a civilization and a race grew powerful could beauty truly belong to oneself. Before becoming strong and independent, no matter how beautiful a face was, it would ultimately never belong to its owner.
At most, it would only elicit a sigh of pity.
Personality and willpower played an almost negligible role in that context.
‘A path detached from strength is ultimately a crooked path.’ After some reflection, Ogre gave up on thinking about how to exploit his face.
He couldn’t yet bear the weight of the value brought by such beauty.
“Alright, alright, let’s eat something first. Maqi, come give me a hand.” Mima sighed inwardly and ultimately decided to let nature take its course.
What if... what if the girl happened to like this sort of guy?
Even if the probability was low...
“Okay, Mom.” Maqi looked at the two of them, then turned to Macar, clenched her fist, and warned him fiercely, “Don’t you dare bully her.”
“Uh...”
Macar never could have imagined that someone would doubt the character of a dignified Paladin of Dawn like him.
He had passed the trials fair and square, all right?
“Hmph...”
“Alright, Maqi, let’s go.”
With the departure of Mima and her daughter, the guest room hall quickly quieted down.
“Um, Gelin... Uh, I’ll go get you some paper and a pen.”
Even facing the masked Ogre, Macar was still rather restless. He simply couldn’t forget the face beneath that mask.
It turned out someone really could be so beautiful that it overshadowed any flaws.
“Mm...”
Ogre responded with some helplessness.
This had already deviated from the disguised life he had envisioned.
“If there’s anything you need later, just let me know.” Macar composed himself and rose from his seat.
Earlier, when he brought the nun habits, he had also brought a graphite pen specially purchased from the Church of Truth to make writing easier.
It was just that Mima had taken the things too quickly, leaving him no time to explain.
‘I wonder if Lady Gelin has someone she likes...’
Having left the room, Macar immediately began daydreaming again.
His current state was complicated—he wanted to stay by the girl’s side, yet worried his behavior would offend her.
“I will definitely protect you... Gelin.”
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