Evan D. Sherden. Turns Twelve (1)
Snow, which had accumulated up until now, started melting under the warm sun, and new flowers bloomed. Spring, when all things grew, was always special, but this March was even more special.
This was because it was the 12th birthday of the Sherden family's second son, Evan D. Sherden.
"About Second Master, is he going to have his first inspection this year?"
"But, hasn't Master Evan already done too much to still take on the duty of inspection? From the Brotherhood Pharmacy to the Brotherhood Bathhouse, it's been hard for him. He shouldn't be given the responsibility of inspection, but what can we do."
"Shh! Oh, Maybell is so happy these days!"
"Oh, but what are you doing, Maybell?"
"I'm decorating the birthday hall as I'm so excited about Master's birthday."
"It looks like it's quite simple and elegant, and the money that went into decorating the whole building was given by Master Evan himself."
"Ah, there is still one more week left?"
The atmosphere had almost been the same on Eric's 12th birthday, but before Evan's 12th birthday, the servants were especially excited and didn't know what to expect.
In a noble society, 12 was a special age. Of course, the person was still considered inexperienced, but he or she would not be treated as a child anymore.
It was the age at which you were recognized as a member of society.
From this point on, even in the social world, officials were allowed to advance in rank. In earnest, they interacted with other nobles, built friendships, and created connections.
Evan himself was the only one who would hate himself if he ever wanted to increase new connections (that were his death signs)!
"Woohoo! Any nobleman's girl will be forced to fall in love with him."
"Whenever I am free, I think of Master Evan. He receives such popularity as a young child."
"If the dungeon city of Sherden was not such an independent city, if it was a province a little closer to the Royal City, our Master Evan would have completely become the prince of the social world."
As the servants saw Evan's beauty increasing brilliantly at the age of 12, they couldn't help but share their thoughts.
'Ah, this is not the national level of beauty, but it is a ranking that needs to be measured on the level of the grand universe.'
No, even if he was pretty, he should not be 'so' pretty.
Even the servants who were accustomed to Evan's beauty while attending to him choked suddenly when looking at his face.
"Huh, I sometimes mistake his face for a sculpture and try to wipe it with my handkerchief."
"I tried to donate to the temple to lift my curse because I thought I had some evil magic done on me last time. But there were already some people who had come for that reason."
"I see. The last time, Maybell-"
"No, let's not talk about Maybell."
Evan had deep purple eyes that grew prettier day by day, a nose that rose as if the arrogance of a proud nobleman was buried in it, lips that were fascinatingly closed and exuded a strange charm, and his cheeks were getting sharper as his baby fat lessened.
He wore blue cross earrings on both cute ears and how well they suited him with his pure white skin!
"Moreover, the dark hair that was inherited from the madam… Even if he leaves it as is without grooming it, it still looks pretty."
"I like him even more now. He looks more aristocratic and masculine."
Evan's instincts were to never let his hair cross his neck just because he didn't want to grow up to be like Evan in the main game, where he grew up with long hair, but no one knew about this.
As he had already feared, he was becoming dangerously charming to others.
"He is so beautiful and cool, but… That's a bit odd."
"Yes, it is. That's a little…"
The servants who had been excited about Evan for a long time shared the same sentiment for a moment and made a strange expression.
"Why can't he fix the habit of clenching his both hands?"
"Even though I admire his noble figure, whenever I lower my gaze a little… Well…"
"But it's okay because it's more cute! Anyway, he is adorable!"
No one dared to deny Evan's beauty, but they didn't appreciate Evan's habit of constantly jamming both of his hands. However, because Evan appeared so casual while doing it, no one dared to say anything.
"And it's getting faster and faster. Doesn't it seem like he is losing it?"
"If you look blankly, you get sucked in. I sometimes can't even see his hand moving at all."
"Isn't that a kind of training? Yes, it's clear now. It is a training of sorts."
"It is also true that he has tea, with a strange scent, every day. Do I have to be born with something special to be so handsome?"
All the practices of him trying to survive the death signs were making Evan look strange.
He was very attractive, but that was his only drawback.
"It's so odd! If he didn't do that, he would look like a perfect scion, but…"
The servants just sighed.
Evan couldn't even begin to imagine that he was getting that sort of gaze from his servants, but he probably didn't care that much. Maybe he liked it even more.
Because he was now desperate to keep another woman from being attracted to himself!
"Okay, Shine, you can start."
"Blehh…!"
In Evan's room, Shine was sitting across from Evan. He wore a funny facial expression that he had trained for according to Evan's special order for the last ten days.
Evan desperately tried to control his laughter while facing him. Then asked Shine, who was looking at Evan as if he was feeling pathetic.
"Well, how was it, Shine? Did my facial muscles even move a millimetre?"
"Yes, you laughed a lot, Master."
"Damn it!"
"Then I will go right to the next one. It's a story that I heard from Uncle Tom, the gardener, and it is about bread. One day, Uncle Tom was trying a new ornament…"
"Oh, no. That uncle's story is really humorous…"
Evan was now practising the "Poker Face," which was his project number five.
It was a type of training that was somewhat linked to his project number four, "Immortality." It helped him not to reveal a disturbing or unwanted expression to any external stimuli.
'Especially a smile.'
This was a big problem that he had been paying attention to in the past, especially when he had heard, "Master's smile makes me feel good."
He was shocked to hear that.
He thought he was holding back from smiling, but Belois still said that!? Didn't that mean that his self-management skills were a complete mess?!
'I can never afford to smile! A smile is the biggest sign that leads to Evan's death!'
Whenever Evan smiled, a woman got closer to him. When a woman came to him, death also arrived with her. It was almost like a rule!
"Well, you can't blame yourself for being born handsome. You can easily pick up any girl, Master."
"Shine, love is more dangerous than anything else. Don't you know that most of the love stories that are famous in the world end in death? It's a tragedy!"
"But, Master, it's too late for you."
"Don't say it's too late. I'm still fine. I can still make it better."
"Whoo, so Uncle Tom said…"
"Boom!"
Anyway, the poker face training was one of the projects with little to no progress. In particular, Shine was starting to feel like a stupid person with all those weird expressions.
"Young Master… It seems to be useless, shall we quit this soon?"
"No, I mean, the nobility's 12-year-old birthday party is not a joke. From there it is the beginning of the social world for me. All kinds of nobles will be present."
Evan clearly remembered the 12-year-old birthday party of his brother, Eric.
Eric, who was the successor of the Sherdens, was born with outstanding magical talent. He was a child who had been attracting many people's attention since childhood. But even more, people were arriving for Evan's birthday than they did for Eric's.
Not only the nobles of other countries but also the influential guild masters of the dungeon city were coming. Of course, half of the world's population were women, so a huge number of women would also be present!
"My face is uselessly attractive. In such a situation, what if I smile once and get involved with a scary woman? So, before that, I have to master the poker face somehow!"
"He's really lucky, but the way he says all of that makes it actually seem like a dire problem."
Shine sighed as he watched Evan seemingly appear expressionless, trying to make a poker face somehow.
What was even more annoying was that, as Evan said, his smile really had tremendous power. Even Shine was sometimes stunned by it. Although he definitely liked women!
"Why am I still worried about the Master? Belois and Sis Maybell seem to be trying really hard to win him over already." Shine muttered to himself.
Shine recalled Belois, who had turned ten this year, and Maybell, who was almost at the age of 16 and was also the representative of the Brotherhood Pharmacy and Brotherhood Bathhouse.
In the end, Belois was just Belois. From her routine of going to the Brotherhood Bathhouse, rumours that the Marquis had a ridiculously beautiful girl as a maid had already circulated in the dungeon city even though she had not yet gone to the city that much.
'Some of the vassals were about to kidnap her from the moment they saw her. If the Marquis hadn't acted in time, they might have succeeded. He was really angry at that time.'
Her eyes shimmered brightly like a ruby. Her dark hair seemed to match Evan's, and her charming beauty that bloomed day by day gave her an indescribably fascinating feeling that was in harmony with her cold temperament.
And it was also well known that she was dedicated only to Evan.
Although she was just a maid, she was already receiving special treatment from the Marquis. It was said that everyone already recognized Belois's high position in the household.
'When Belois and Evan were together, a person couldn't even stand next to them unless they were extremely confident in their own beauty. In fact, even becoming Evan's gatekeeper might be something like a dream for some people.'
Evan, alongside Belois, was a spectacular sight to behold. If anyone really understood the beauty and could judge themselves, they would always appreciate them together.
Nobody could compete with them.
And Shine was well aware that Belois wasn't going to leave Evan's side anytime soon. He was a guy who could see such things very clearly.
'And Sis Maybell…'
Meanwhile, Maybell, who had turned 16 and had become a fully mature adult woman, would definitely help refer one or two of Evan's future wives. She was already well equipped to serve as? Evan's representative and exude an aura comparable to that of the nobility.
She had always kept short hair in the past, but now she had begun to let her hair grow long. No one knew if she wanted to change her mind or wanted to follow Belois. It was a big contributing factor that made her seem flirtatious while also making her seem calm and collected.
She also possessed particularly outstanding beauty among the Marquis' family maids, who had a neat appearance of the first grade.
It seemed she had a bond with Evan. Maybell herself claimed that it was the power of love, and he was afraid that it really seemed to be the case.
'Because she will be officially given the title of a Rookie soon, this meant that she was not really going to be just a maid anymore… Women are really scary.'
Nowadays, Sis Hannah of the Brotherhood Pharmacy and Serpina of the Earth Church sometimes met each other.
They seemed to clash with each other whenever they met, and Shine used to get a lot of entertainment from seeing these.
'I think it makes a little sense that Evan was doing this.'
"Well, you have a hard time ahead of you."
"You talk like you won't go through this in the future? Trust me you will."
However, the fact that Shine was also the owner of extraordinary beauty meant that he would also become quite exasperated by all this in the future, just like Evan. At this point, he couldn't even guess what he would do then.
"But still, it's a strange thing for Master to be scared as if he would die after being tied up with a woman."
"Hah, because you don't know…."
Someone carefully knocked on the door. Evan guessed that it was Belois from the sound of knocking and asked her to come in. The door opened, and Belois walked in gently with a letter in one hand. Even though she looked captivating as always.
However, the seal on the letter held in her hand made with beeswax was quite familiar. Specifically, it looked similar to the national seal of this country's nobility.
"Young Master…."
Evan's body stiffened. A foreboding of a fierce death sign ran over his body.
"… No, Lua? Please say no."
"I'm sorry for disappointing you, Young Master."
Belois apologized as if she was indeed sorry. She looked enchanting as the red cross earrings hung on her ears shook with her head's movement.
"Your Majesty the King himself is going to attend your birthday party, Master."