Got Engaged to the Man They Call Ugly - Chapter 12
“Oh, sweet Elinne! I won’t even ask for a conversation, just a glimpse of your radiant face!”
“At least reply to the letter I sent yesterday!”
Naturally, the suitors interpreted her avoidance however they pleased, praising her endlessly as ‘protecting her virtue before finding the right husband,’ or declaring her ‘a true ideal bride.’
It was maddening.
“I’ll stand here like I’ve gazed upon Medusa until you come out!”
“…Stop coming here already!”
Finally losing patience after hoping they’d tire themselves out and leave, she flung open the window and screamed down furiously.
“If you come back one more time, I’ll pour water on you from this window!”
“She offers us holy water! I’ll treasure it as a family heirloom!”
“Oh, Elinne! Even your screams sound as sweet as a nightingale…!”
“Aaaaargh! Please stop!”
It had already been half a year since she’d been dragged into this world.
In that time, she’d learned a few crucial facts.
First.
This body named ‘Elinne’ was considered the most beautiful human in the world. Thus, merely breathing attracted countless suitors.
Second.
Here in Metis, there were far too many threats to her peaceful life.
“Elinne!”
As she stormed away from the training grounds, huffing and puffing, she ran straight into a ticking time bomb threatening her peaceful existence.
“Why do you look so upset? Ah, your suitors again?”
Aaagh! She leaped backward as if she’d seen a ghost, and he immediately looked hurt.
“Linne, why do you keep avoiding me?”
“Sorry, but please stop looking for me. And don’t talk to me anymore.”
“Why? We’ve been friends forever! How can you suddenly—!”
“I said, don’t talk to me!”
“Wh-what did I do wrong? Just tell me, please!”
This guy.
This confused-looking, teary-eyed man was exactly the one she needed to watch out for most.
His name was Alexandros, he’d been overly friendly from the very first moment they met. Apparently, he’d been childhood friends with Elinne.
At first, she’d just humored him to avoid revealing that the body’s owner had changed.
He talked so much that he was a valuable source of information, and he was so kind-hearted to the point of seeming naïve that he’d been quite helpful during her adjustment period.
But it wasn’t Vishtar’s curse that made her distance herself from him.
Alexandros was nowhere near being ugly.
With his fine features befitting a sheltered prince, neatly cropped hair, tall frame, and droopy puppy-dog eyes, he was actually quite cute.
Yet there was another, far more urgent reason why she now avoided him so desperately.
‘Over here!’
Before she started avoiding him, she occasionally skipped morning training to take walks with him.
After all, listening to his harmless, poetic chatter was infinitely preferable to running endless laps around that dreadful training ground at dawn.
‘Linne, why do you keep calling me Alexandros?’
But one day, during their usual stroll, he suddenly asked.
Confused, she blinked and casually replied,
‘Because your name is Alexandros?’
‘No. That’s just the name I had as a prince in my country. You’ve always called me by my nickname, ever since we were kids.’
‘Did I? What was it?’
‘…You’ve been acting strange lately, Linne.’
His expression had become strangely serious.
He stopped walking entirely, staring directly into her eyes with unusual intensity.
‘You’re like a different person. How could you…’
Just as she tensed up, fearing he might’ve discovered the truth about the body swap, he suddenly continued:
‘How could you forget my nickname? You’ve always called me 『Paris』!’
‘…Paris?’
‘Yes! Please, call me that again.’
Maybe this was how protagonists felt when they found out that their trusted sidekick was the actual villain all along in thriller movies.
‘You don’t look so good. What are you… wait, Linne! Where are you going? Come back!!’
It was from that day onward that she began avoiding Alexandros—no, Prince Paris.
…Paris.
In the mythology she knew, he was the very prince who’d handed the Golden Apple to the Goddess of Beauty, triggering a catastrophic war involving all the gods.
‘Shouldn’t this guy have been the one making the choice with the Golden Apple? Why did I get dragged into that mess instead?’
So, ever since that day, Elinne had been meticulously avoiding Paris at all costs.
“Linne, please open the door! Just tell me what I did wrong!”
Part of it was inexplicable resentment toward him, and part of it was a desperate wish not to get tangled up in whatever trouble he might bring.
