Don’t Tame It [Novel]

15.

“Usually, sweet potatoes thrive in warm regions. It’s potatoes that grow well in cold climates. And unfortunately, I dislike potatoes.”

“*Ahem.*”

Diego hid his laughter behind another cough, composing his features into a mask of feigned seriousness. His conversation with Irene was refreshing and delightful. What other young lady in the world would debate the merits of subsistence crops?

I would wager that the young ladies of the capital wouldn’t even know the difference between a potato and a sweet potato.

“That is a perspective that sees only one side of the coin, not both.”

“Are you suggesting I am ignorant of the other side?”

Irene looked flustered for the first time. Diego found the situation unbearably amusing—more so than he could even explain to himself.

“Norte is located at the northernmost point of The Kingdom of Divoa.”

“I am aware of that.”

“It is only the northernmost point of The Kingdom of Divoa, not the northernmost point of the continent.”

Irene clamped her mouth shut, as if caught off guard. Diego stared at her, his eyes sparkling.

“Furthermore, it is a place where war rages through all four seasons. It is hardly an advantageous environment for wheat farming. So, what do you think they plant instead?”

“Subsistence crops…”

“Exactly. Norte is known for its potatoes, but it is also a hub for sweet potatoes. The bulbs are smaller than those grown in the southern regions, but they are far richer and sweeter.”

“Ah.”

“And, of course, there are various dishes made from sweet potatoes.”

“Such as?”

Irene’s ears perked up. Her eyes shone even brighter.

“Such as? Hmm, would you believe me if I said that every dish made with wheat can also be made with sweet potatoes?”

“Wow.”

Irene’s mouth hung slightly agape in disbelief. To think that every dish could be made with sweet potatoes—was that place a paradise on earth?

Squinting his eyes, Diego asked in a subtle, teasing voice.

“Well? Do you feel an urge to come to Norte now?”

Irene looked at the brown envelope, lost in thought, before suddenly speaking.

“I just received an offer from Professor Figueras to be his anatomy assistant.”

Diego, recalling the face of the partially bald Professor Figueras, narrowed his eyes. That man was never any help.

She was halfway convinced, too. *Tsk.*

He clicked his tongue softly, and just as he was about to speak—

“Hey, Broom!”

A sharp call pierced the space between the two.

Irene turned her head first, and Diego’s gaze followed a beat later, as if he had only just realized that this was one of her many nicknames.

Maxy, who had strode over, looked back and forth between her and Diego with fierce eyes. They were together again. Was Irene truly going to become the personal physician to Grand Duke Cassis?

Maxy bowed his head toward Diego.

“Greetings, Grand Duke Cassis.”

Irene’s eyes twitched faintly. She seemed to have finally realized that she hadn’t offered him the proper courtesies.

Even she knew that failing to show respect to royalty was an act of extreme rudeness. After a moment’s hesitation, Irene gripped her skirt and bent her knees.

“Greetings, Grand Duke Cassis.”

“Hmm.”

Diego pulled his lips tight at the long-overdue greeting. Yet, he could not hide the crinkle at the corners of his eyes.

He had thought she might be as arrogant as the rumors suggested since she hadn’t greeted him, but that clearly wasn’t the case.

Come to think of it, the students who talked about her didn’t seem to harbor any genuine malice. Their stories always ended with a “however.”

—However, if you just keep your distance properly, you can get along without trouble. At first, there were issues because she didn’t know how to keep an appropriate distance, but she’s not such a bad person. Honestly, she’s much better than bastards like Daniel or Jose. Those guys are truly malicious.

—However, she doesn’t seem to be a born genius like the rumors say. The lights in the witch’s room stay on until dawn. A natural genius wouldn’t need to study until that hour, right? Ah, don’t get me wrong, Your Grace. I didn’t watch her on purpose; it’s just that my room looks out toward the window of the witch’s room.

—However, she is secretly easy to handle. If you just give her your share of sweet potato dishes, she’ll slice open corpses for me. She thinks she’s being subtle, but her eyes sparkle whenever she sees sweet potatoes. She always looks around before taking two scoops of sweet potato salad. She mutters something with her lips, but then she eats them with an indifferent face. It’s hilarious to watch.

—However, she might not be a grim reaper. Last year, we did a group internship in gynecology. It was a practicum assisting in the childbirth of pregnant women. The reaper—no, the witch, no, the blade-wielder… *sigh*. Anyway, her expression was terrible from the first day. Naturally, since grim reapers hate people so much. But do you know who walked out first while most of the mothers were dying of puerperal fever? It was the mother handled by the reaper. So, she might not be a grim reaper after all.

Isn’t it truly fascinating? How the evaluations of a single person could be so starkly divided.

“Did you meet with Professor Figueras?”

To Maxy’s impatient question, Irene only nodded in response.

“Are you going to accept the anatomy assistant position?”

Irene wondered how Maxy knew that fact. Even she had only just heard it.

“He told me to think it over carefully, so I am thinking it over.”

“What is there to think about? It’s a golden opportunity to do all the corpse dissections you like.”

“I don’t like dissecting corpses.”

“…….”

Maxy looked at Irene with a suspicious expression. Irene averted her eyes and whispered softly.

“Not as much as you think.”

“If that counts as not liking it, then I have nothing in this world that I like.”

Maxy muttered mean-spiritedly, then urged her, “So, hurry up and go tell the Professor you accept the offer.”

“Aha.”

Diego let out a languid smile, as if he understood exactly how things were unfolding. He shifted his weight onto one leg, standing in a tilted, relaxed pose.

“It seems our runner-up is hoping to take the top spot.”

His tone, slower than usual, sounded at once relaxed and chilling.

Maxy turned his head slowly at those words. He met eyes with the smiling, tilted Diego. Maxy’s expression stiffened.

The tone Diego used, which had been polite even toward a mere medical student, had changed. Simultaneously, the atmosphere surrounding him shifted entirely.

Diego was clearly smiling as before, but for some reason, a chilling coldness crept in.

In that moment, Maxy sensed that the man before him was an entirely different species from his peers. An overwhelming presence—an adult male, or rather, the alpha of a pack of predators.

Diego had been born to stand above others, accustomed to issuing commands. Unlike those settling for a peaceful life, he was a soldier who constantly stood on the front lines of death.

It was natural, then, that he could not be compared to the hothouse flowers around him.

Maxy swallowed a dry lump in his throat and shook his head.

“That is not it.”

“You’re not nervous that Irene might turn down Professor Figueras’s offer?”

Diego fell silent there, but whether it was his imagination or not, he seemed to hear the implied cynicism: *It seems you find me amusing.* The slower his tone became, the colder the air grew.

“Irene…”

Maxy eyed Irene while echoing the address Diego had just used. The protagonist of the conversation simply stood there with an indifferent face, as if listening to someone else’s affairs.

Maxy shook his head once more.

“Your Grace, I think you have misunderstood. I had no such intention. Broom… no, Irene is better suited for anatomy assistant than a personal physician.”

“Suitability, is it.”

Diego cast his gaze toward the distant sky. To him, someone like Maxy was far more familiar than Irene. The type who had great ambition and could not hide their greed.

Irene, in contrast, was a mystery; he couldn’t tell what she wanted. That made her all the harder to handle. Isn’t the basic rule of a transaction to give the other party what they want and use them in return?

*Glance.*

Maxy stole another look at Irene and muttered as if making an excuse.

“No. I was just thinking of you…”

Maxy stopped mid-sentence and pressed his lips together. He didn’t know why he was making excuses. Irene wouldn’t care in the slightest about his intentions.

Suddenly, Maxy’s eyes flared with anger.

Why was he nervous? If he just stayed still, the position of personal physician to Grand Duke Cassis would surely fall to him, wouldn’t it?

Diego, watching Maxy’s face cycle through shades of red, said in a calm tone.

“You would do well not to expect that if Irene turns down my offer, the opportunity will go to you, Rosano. I am only interested in the top student.”

For a moment, Maxy’s mouth twisted. It looked like a mix of humiliation and shame.

One thing was certain: this was not the image he wanted to project in front of Irene Rios.

“Excuse me.”

Maxy bowed his head and turned around in a hurry, as if fleeing.

“Oh, and one more thing.”

However, Diego’s languid voice halted his steps. Maxy paused in his tracks and turned his head slowly.

Diego met his eyes and offered a bright smile.

“‘Broom,’ you say. I have never seen such a beautiful broom in my life. You had best be careful with your words from now on. Don’t they say the tongue is the gate to misfortune? The runner-up of the Royal Medical College shouldn’t invite such misfortune upon himself.”

“…….”

“Answer me.”

“……Yes.”

Maxy, teeth clenched, squeezed out the reply and immediately turned away.