Got Engaged to the Man They Call Ugly - Chapter 30

He tore off his helmet with a furious cry.

The red hair, which was once considered his signature, enough for him to be called Menelaon the Red, had turned into gleaming gold.

His once plain brown eyes had shifted, and were now glowing a violet hue, like wild violets in bloom.

But the arrogant, sneering gaze that looked down on others remained the same.

“Listen closely and remember this, Elinne.”

Sweeping back his disheveled blond hair, he lifted his chin and declared boldly.

“My name is Kashayn.”

“…Kashayn?”

Her eyes widened.

Because that name was strikingly familiar.

“You mean the son of Vishtar, that—?”

“Yes! I am the rightful heir of Venus, and the very Kashayn born of the Goddess of Beauty and Love, Vishtar herself!”

Elinne stared up at him in a daze, then muttered in disbelief.

“…You’re lying.”

“Elinne. Do I look like the kind of man who would deceive the woman destined to be his bride?”

Absolutely.

She thought sourly as her face twisted in suspicion.

But Nerva’s archives never lied.

【Menelaon → Kashayn: God of Pride. Born of Vishtar, Goddess of Beauty and Love, and Kanix, God of the Night.】

Kashayn? He’s really Kashayn?

Menelaon… was Kashayn?

As she went over the record in her mind once, twice, three times, she suddenly narrowed her eyes and asked.

“…So what?”

That seemed to catch him off guard, because his reply came uncertainly.

“What?”

“Why are you suddenly revealing your identity? If you’re Vishtar’s son, that makes you one of the Venusian line. So why go around pretending to be Metis’s hero…?”

A sudden, ominous thought struck her.

Her eyes flew wide.

“Wait… don’t tell me—you’re a spy? A covert agent?”

“You’ve grown sharper, Elinne. Must be the influence of being adopted by the Goddess of Wisdom.”

He raised an eyebrow, murmuring with a hint of admiration.

“Yes. It was my mother’s command.”

Vishtar’s command?

…But wouldn’t Nerva know about that? Or did she knowingly let it be?

“Of course, Nerva wouldn’t have known. Until now, none of the divine family’s powers worked on me.”

Kashayn, no longer Menelaon, smirked as he read the doubt all over her face.

“My armor is reforged from shattered Titan relics, after all.”

Thud. Thud.

Heavy footsteps echoed from the woods below the hill.

The slope she stood on was surrounded by dense trees, no ordinary forest, but towering giants that could easily block out the sun once fully grown.

Just as Paris had said, it was impossible for any Frost Giant to pass through.

But what began to surround them weren’t giants, but knights, similar in build to mortals.

What set them apart was the razor-sharp, full-body white armor they wore, pristine and gleaming.

“Even a Goddess of Wisdom cannot pierce the secrets of Titan relics. They may be an inferior race, but it’s fortunate they left behind such useful tools.”

Kashayn sneered as he gave a lazy kick to one of the white-armored knights standing like a statue beside him.

“Speak of the devils, and they arrive. Just like the lowborn they are. Oh, that’s right, they did fall from grace, didn’t they? Hah.”

…Could these be Fire Giants? The ones said to serve only Vishtar?

As he ridiculed them, the thought struck her and her eyes widened.

Elinne studied the knights lined up like statues.

Their size didn’t differ much from humans, but their armor…

Though repainted in white and seemingly polished, the horned, rough-scaled surface reminded her starkly of what she’d seen on the Frost Giants.

Unlike the battered, cracked suits the Frost Giants wore, these were whole and well-maintained, but unmistakably of the same make.

“So. I’m finally done with this tedious little spy act. It was getting tiresome.”

Grumbling with irritation, Kashayn pulled off his helmet and arm guards and flung them at the knights’ feet with careless disdain.

Then, with total nonchalance, he commanded.

“Pick them up.”

That… that! That attitude!!

Elinne barely restrained the vulgar words rising in her throat.

Just like how lightweight puffer jackets and bulky long padding were worlds apart in weight,

so too were light armor and full plate.

A good suit of light armor could feel no heavier than a leather jacket.

But plate armor, even with divine enchantments, was still steel plating wrapped around your entire body.

So, of course, bending down while wearing it was an ordeal.

Elline had worn full armor only once.

And in that instant, she had understood exactly why medieval knights only knelt before their lords during sacred vows.

To bow in full plate required sheer force of will and strength.

“What are you standing around for? Hurry up and pick them up!”

Of course Kashayn knew that.

He’d tossed his equipment on the ground and ordered them to collect it precisely because he knew how painful it would be.

“….”

And yet, the knights didn’t even flinch. As if long accustomed to it, they silently dropped to one knee and began picking up the scattered gear one piece at a time.