I Don’t Want To Be An Ojakgyo

SEPTEMBER 3, 2021~MOONLIKETRANSLATIONS

"…….I think it's right."

I nodded and received the heirloom from Swan. I took out a magic item that would copy the exact shape of an item and made a fake. We placed the fake where Swan had found the original chest and hurriedly left the room.

On our way out, we erased any traces of having used the torch. Then, Swan made sure to place a single drop of a memory potion that would confuse them.

We took Hylli, who was facing more and more knights, and made our way out of the palace. We used the lone circle left in the palace and left. Nobody was able to chase us.

When the three of us burst out of the circle, the principal and Cory stopped pouring in magic.

"Whoa. That was really fast."

Cory looked slightly surprised as he straightened up his posture. He walked towards me to check for any injuries. He sighed when I told him that I was fine.

The principal also looked pretty surprised. He had been impatiently waiting for us to come back, and grabbed me into a hug as soon as he saw me, telling me that I had done a good job.

"Where's my heart?"

When Noirelle seeked out the heirloom, I stretched out my arm to return her precious heart.

But for some reason, I hesitated when I was trying to give this back to her. There had been something off about the whole thing since we had brought it back.

I frowned and placed the item in the principal's hand.

The principal's expression brightened before going dark. I expected this reaction.

"I don't feel any magic from the heirloom."

Her expression went sour. Her excited voice dropped instantly.

"Is it not real?"

"Yes. It's just a fake that looks like the real thing."

The principal stepped on the item with his foot to show that it was fake. The broken heirloom didn't let out a single bit of magic before becoming dust.

"Why is it? It was always the real thing that was right there. Why is it suddenly a fake? What kind of weird twist is this?! Why is it so hard to get everything back to normal?!"

The principal gnawed at his teeth as his eyes blazed in anger.

As soon as it was revealed to us that the item we brought back was fake, the air grew cold. I hesitated telling her to calm down and to take some time to look for it. But the principal was letting out a bit too much of murderous intent for me to speak to her. It wasn't aimed towards me, but the aura was intense, as expected of a dragon. Even if they were borrowing a grandpa's body, that is.

"Are you looking for this?"

The air around her was icy cold when a familiar voice spoke out.

Everyone's gaze turned to the voice.

It was Yvnes.

Everyone's gaze focused on Yvnes, who was holding a treasure chest with Noirelle's heart inside of it.

As if he was aware of the entire situation, Yves' silver eyes were gleaming brightly.

"Hello, principal. No, the glorious black dragon, Noirelle."

Yvnes curled the corners of his lips up to smile neatly. He bowed in greeting. When he straightened his back and looked up again, his gaze was observant as he looked her up and down.

Even without anybody's explanations, Yves knew exactly what was going on right now. He knew that Noirelle was controlling the principal, and that Noirelle wanted to get her hands on the royal heirloom.

"Just as I thought, it was you? Are you bothering us again?"

The principal's body shook as a despondent expression crossed his face.

I remembered something that she had told me not too long ago. That whenever everything seemed to be going well, Yves always came in to mess up her plans. She despised him.

The principal glared hatefully at Yves. But Yves just looked down at the angry principal with a calm expression.

"Yves, why do you have the heirloom?"

I didn't ask when he had taken it. I remembered the time when he had come to me with a blackened arm once. He probably took it then. But I was curious why he had taken it.

"I knew right away that there was a dragon behind the principal. I thought that it would be possible barter something beneficial to the both of us."

I became curious at the word 'barter'. Was there something that Yves wanted separately from the dragon? I frowned as I thought about it when the principal ground his teeth and glared at him.

"It's not bartering if it's only beneficial to you, you know? Goodness."

I could read how miserable she was, trapped in the cycle by herself, in her anger.

"Do I need to kill all of you and start over again?"

A chill ran up from my spine. I unconsciously grabbed the principal's shirt at those words. Noirelle turned to look at who was grabbing her clothes. When I shook my head with a desperate look in my eyes, Noirelle bit her lips.

"Yvnes Lunaasha. Just give it back. It was mine to begin with."

The principal walked up to him and stretched out his arm. Even in the face of the incredible amount of murderous intent coming from the principal, Yves didn't move at all.

When the principal continued to glare at him and asked for the heart, the others narrowed their eyes and added their two cents in.

"Just give it back. I know it was hard for you to take it in the first place, but it has an owner."

"I don't know what you're thinking, but please, Yvnes."

Hylli and Cory began to try and stop Yvnes from the other side.

"You're trash, absolute trash."

Swanhaden rested his chin on his hand and mocked him. He began to break the tree branch in his hands into small pieces and began chucking it towards him.

And while everyone was dragging Yves down to be the villain of the story, Yves turned his head to look at me. It felt like everyone was dragging Yves, so I decided to join. Dragging was fun.

I frowned at his actions too. Stop it, you asshole.

Yvnes looked like he was a bit taken aback by my reactions. His eyes narrowed.

"…..I feel a bit victimized now that you're like this too, Shushu."

He muttered by himself. He turned his gaze back to the principal. As soon as Yves' eyes met the principal, the principal glared at him, as if trying to figure out his plan.

Yves smiled politely even under that stare.

"I was planning on returning it to you after hearing that you gave up on your plans for destruction from your own mouth."

Yves narrowed his eyes at me as he said that.

We had all reacted too quickly after Noirelle's reaction. His deal was something that everyone wanted, and it was without a bit of malice. His words could be a lie, but seeing Yves' recent personality change and preferences, he had no reason to lie in the first place.

On the other hand, if that was true, then Yves had worked as hard as he could for our sake. We had vilified a blameless Yves, but nobody was really feeling any guilt about that. Me included. He could've just handed it over if he had it without making us go through all this.

At Yves' words, Noirelle reacted even more carefully as she carefully looked at him. Me and the other had interacted with the more generous Yves before and weren't very nervous, but Noirelle was different. Maybe it was because she had suffered a lot because of him.

"There's no way you're just going to let that happen so easily, right? You went through all of that trouble just to listen to me say those words?"

The principal raised his hand in front of his mouth and snickered.

"You, who's so busy plotting plans that I can literally hear the cogs in your brain roll at all times? You, who enjoys ruining lives? You, Yvnes, the one who's on par with Swan in how disgusting he is? He stole the heirloom all on his own to make sure everyone lives! I mean, the situation may have changed a lot, but that's a bit much, isn't it?"

The principal mockingly threw curse after curse to Yves, who was just standing there with the item in his hands. Yves' face grew stonier by the second as he listened to these insults. He seemed confused.

Yvnes raised a corner of his lips and looked at me. "Why am I getting insulted like this?" he asked me as he pointed at himself. I just gestured to him to return the item.

Yves had no idea how he was like in the other dimension, so he was confused at the vitriol being thrown his way.

"What do you mean, stole it on my own to make sure everyone lives? That's gross."

Yves took a step towards the principal in an attempt to explain.

"There's no way you'd act with good intentions. What's your nasty little plan?"

At the principal's question, Yves tilted his head slightly and frowned. His silver eyes narrowed in the silence. Yves stroked his chin and thought about his response.

"A nasty plan……" Yves said, looking up at the night sky. He muttered quietly before tracing the outside of the chest. He soon said one word.

"I guess…… Shuraina?"

His eyes turned to look at me. My brows instinctively furrowed. What was he going to say now? When I gave him a weird look, he laughed quietly.

"It looks like he did it to protect you."

Yves turned his head to look at the principal. He raised his eyebrows and gave the principal a small smile.

"I wanted to barter with you regarding my peaceful life."

The principal looked flabbergasted at Yves' words and honest-looking expression. Noirelle's face was filled with surprise when it was always happy or murderous. She scratched her neck with her age-spotted hands. Then, she brushed through her white moustache.

Everyone just became completely different people in this turn? The principal muttered seriously before faking a cough. They looked at Yves with a considerably brighter look. The murderous intent dissipated as well.

"It looks like we'll have a meaningful conversation seeing that our goals are similar."

Yves hesitated before nodding slowly at the principal's words.

"I put away my plans a few hundred years ago, so don't worry! Just hand it over!"

The principal walked closer towards Yves. They stretched out their wrinkled hands towards the chest and swiped at it.

Yves, who seemed eager to hand over the chest immediately, suddenly pulled the chest back. Thanks to that, the principal's hands swung in thin air.

"What kind of joke is this?"

The principal said, gritting his teeth and glaring daggers at Yves. I would've been angry too if someone pulled a prank like that. Yves smiled as the murderous aura around him multiplied.

T/N: see, i think swan is best boi and then cory is best boi and then suddenly YVES APPEARS