SVWK | Ch 13

Episode 13

His face didn’t show any obvious anger at first, but Rania could feel, instinctively, that he was really annoyed. Cold sweat prickled down her back.

“U-um…” she stammered, eyes darting around.

By coincidence, she caught Yurion’s eye outside the window. The glass was wet from rain and everything looked hazy, but she wasn’t imagining it. She mouthed a desperate little plea: Help me!

Yurion folded his hands over his chest and bowed his head faintly. Hang in there, his expression seemed to say. Rania felt totally stunned — he’d sworn to help her?

A sharp voice cut the silence. “Hey, what are you doing? The pot’s boiling.” Rania snapped her head down and hurried to lower the heat. The quiet was unbearably awkward.

Should she pretend to be crazy and drink again? As she fretted, a memory of their earlier conversation popped into her head.

“So I just lend my name, right? But if I mess up and have to take responsibility, will I be held accountable?”
“Don’t worry — that hardly ever happens. And if it ever does, the guild’s policy is to plead ‘please forgive me just this once’ with a cute voice. Use the cutest voice you can.”

She’d intended “messing up” to mean work mistakes — Yurion had said it playfully. But now Rania felt embarrassed and panicky. She tried to speak, voice thin:

“Um… if you’d just forgive me once, maybe… please?”

It was clumsy and desperate, but she really meant it.

Silence stretched. Enoch’s expression stayed flat and distant.

Is this the wrong approach? She thought. Then Enoch fixed his stare on her and asked, calmly:

“Pretty. Are you trying to flirt with me right now?”

“…Huh?”

“You’re being kinda forward.”

“F-forward…?”

Rania flushed to the ears. The way Enoch said it made her realize something was seriously wrong. She frowned and blurted out, half panicked:

“I’m not flirting! Yurion told me that if you make a mistake you’re supposed to say ‘please forgive me just once’ with a cute voice — that’s the guild policy!”

Enoch’s smile vanished in an instant. When did I ever agree to that disgusting policy? He frowned, tilting his head. Punishment for mistakes was one thing; making people beg cutely was another. Any guild member who heard that would be sickened — well, except for glad idiots like Kanel.

Rania suddenly realized she’d been tricked. Yurion, you awful— She was so angry at Yurion for feeding her that lie that she decided to snitch before things got worse.

“Yurion told me that! He said the guild policy is to beg the Master to forgive you with a cute ‘please,’” she spat.

Hearing Yurion’s name, Enoch immediately put things together. Yurion looked sweet and harmless on the outside, but he was the kind of talkative, smooth operator who could charm people with words. He did little favors, told neat lies, and avoided dangerous tasks — basically the kind of guy who buttered up the powerful while he positioned himself safely.

Rania added quietly, nervous: “It’s really true.”

Enoch’s usually blank face softened into a clear smile. When he smiled on purpose, Rania smiled back automatically, like a reflex. She didn’t know that while Yurion was a great liar, Enoch was the kind of man who could turn lies into reality.

“Yurion taught you well. I forgot about it too, until now. From now on, if our pretty makes a mistake, you have to beg me like that. Got it?”

“No — that’s ridiculous!”

“Why? You don’t dislike it, do you?” Enoch asked, raising an eyebrow with a slightly embarrassed look.

That tiny expression — more than his neutral face — made Rania uneasy. It felt scarier than his blank stare. She pictured what might happen if she tried to refuse him when he was in that mood, and didn’t like the thought.

“No. I don’t hate it,” she said, because she didn’t want to push her luck. Inside, she was boiling with anger: Yurion, you nasty jerk. Why would you teach me something like that?

Her hands tightened around the ladle. It snapped cleanly — crack — right in two.

Both of them looked. Enoch blinked, surprised. Could a normal woman really break a wooden ladle so neatly? Rania, almost bored at the break, muttered, “It broke again,” and fetched a new ladle like it happened all the time.

Suddenly Enoch remembered something from the night before — when she’d ripped his shirt off. He propped his chin on his hand and spoke quietly.

“Pretty. Since I know you’re strong, don’t go picking up random men and swinging them around. Last night you fell, hit your head, and passed out.”

“…?”

Rania’s head went blank. What was he talking about? The more he talked, the less she could recall. Enoch, noticing she couldn’t remember, smiled kindly and explained like it was nothing:

“You don’t remember? We drank and stayed up late, and then we were cleaning crates for the next day. One of the guildmen, Sasser, is super nice to women — he said he couldn’t make a lady carry a heavy crate. So he tried to put you back in the chair next to me.”

“…”

“And then you said, ‘I’m strong,’ and picked Sasser up like he was a scarecrow. He’s a big guy, but you hoisted him right up. Jerel and I spat our wine laughing.”

Rania couldn’t remember any of it, but some part of her body suddenly made sense — why she ached everywhere. Oh. That must have been what Yurion meant by “you did a lot.”

“Sasser told me he’s met hundreds of women but never been picked up like that — he was embarrassed. He said he’d come back to say hi later.”

Hearing that, Jerel had gotten curious and started investigating Rania’s background, convinced she was hiding something. Enoch watched Rania’s pale face and gave a small, crooked smile.

“You should only use your strength in bed. Right? So — back to business. Where do you want to go?”

I want to go home.

Even while her head was muddled, Rania turned the stove down and tried to feel reassured that Enoch’s mood had calmed. But she couldn’t relax. His casual comment — From now on, when you make mistakes, beg me cutely — sat like a stone in her gut, and she could do nothing but swallow tears.

⚠️ Note:
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Due to an upload issue, the chapters are out of sequence. Please continue with Chapter 14 after Chapter 28. Thank you for your understanding and support.