“Are you cursed?”
“Huh? Uh, well…”
Lance frowned in suspicion. This was a natural reaction, considering that he had seen this happen to Cheung twice in such a short amount of time.
Cheung 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.”
Lance’s eyebrows twitched at the word “fate”. He wouldn’t believe Cheung if he explained that the game’s settings were bugged, and that there was the possibility that Lance, 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, Ken 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 Severus Eyre, but I wasn’t lying about wanting to gain experience either.”
“Is that what the fortune-teller said before?”
Cheung 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.”
Cheung decided to continue with the story he just told Lance.
Tonight, Cheung 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.
Cheung’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.”
Lance’s eyebrows were raised in surprise by the sudden leap in logic.
In other words, Cheung’s future was rather bleak.
“However, if she gets along with Lance, I won’t die. So I went to the Severus Eyre to mediate.”
Cheung ended up talking quickly for some reason. He glanced up at Lance to see if he believed him. Lance’s face was obscured by the pale, milky white light of the meteorite lanterns.
“I see… So.”
Lance seemed to remember the first time he met Cheung.
Looking back, it was probably a good thing that it was Lance who was at the scene and not a different capture target. It would be better for him to know about Cheung’s situation and cooperate with the heroine.
“I see what’s going on, but–”
Cheung stood ready for what would follow the “but”. But no words left Lance’s mouth.
“Do you want to kick me out?”
Feeling scared by the growing silence, Cheung broke it. He suspected that Lance might hate women. There were no women in the Severus Eyre.
It was not uncommon to see swordswomen or female magicians working normally in any other guild.
However, Ken’s regular campaign of “Let’s include girls!” was often instantly declined.
Cheung looked very anxious, and when Lance looked up, he gave a troubled laugh.
“That’s not going to happen.”