BUT WHEN THE DOOR OPENED, the person who entered wasn’t who I was expecting. Amber, who brought the doctor with her, entered while she was still panting.
Everyone stayed here until it was confirmed that I was truly in good shape, and after that, I was finally left alone.
Now that I was alone, I should have felt comfortable, but I felt strangely restless.
While I was rolling around on my bed, Amber came in with a meal.
“You have to eat clear soup for now, Young Master. Even if it doesn’t suit your tastes, please eat it all.”
“…Okay.”
As I sat back against the headboard, I scooped up the thin soup with a spoon.
It’s been three days since I last ate, but I was sure this wouldn’t taste good. Yet I cleared up every single drop of the soup, and after I drank water to rinse my mouth, I realized why I felt this way.
“Amber.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Amber handed me the medicine as she replied, at which I poured it all into my mouth and drank water to gulp it down without complaining.
“Fuwa… Amber?”
I called out to Amber again after wiping away the moisture on my lips with a handkerchief.
“Is my brother out of the mansion?”
If Lucian was at home, he would have come here to see me already.
“Yes, Young Master. He left for the salon meeting this morning.”
I knew it! My bias wouldn’t forget this Hyung just like that. Only then did my twisted up stomach unravel its tension.
“Ah, right. What about Doggy and Damian?”
“By now, they should—”
As the door burst open, Amber was cut off mid-sentence once again when I asked her about Doggy and Damian.
“Master—!”
Even when I’d already trained them, we’re back to square one. I looked at Doggy with pity in my eyes. Regardless of rank, he failed everything there was in the etiquette books.
“Doggy!”
I raised my voice to scold him, but he was faster.
He suddenly rushed to me and hugged my waist while rubbing his head against me.
No, wait, where exactly are you rubbing your head on?
Not knowing what to do, I looked up helplessly at Damian But with a despondent look, Damian spoke remorsefully.
“I couldn’t protect you, Master.”
Well, it wasn’t anyone’s fault that I collapsed. It’s just…
“Ugh…”
Every time I tried to think of the incident, my head throbbed, and as soon as I touched my forehead, the people around me were stirred into a frenzy.
“Master!”
“Master!”
“Young Master!”
These three people called me one after another.
“I’m fine, ahh, I just need to lie down.” As soon as I said that, I lied back down and asked Amber to run an errand.
“I want a cool glass of lemonade.”
“…Young Master isn’t supposed to eat or drink anything else yet.”
“Can’t you ask the doctor? I really want something cold.” At my pleading, Amber relented and left the room. After she went out, I looked at Damian, who spoke right away.
“It was far, Master.” He understood right away without me having to ask.
“Did you follow Noah well?”
“Yes, I followed Master’s orders,” Damian answered politely. “After your meeting finished, he went into the bookstore we visited.”
“If he went in there, did he ask for any information?”
“It seems like it. He came out about half an hour later then met a man after that.”
“A man? What does he look like?”
“That man seemed to be skilled, so I had to watch from a distance. I couldn’t see his face very well and I don’t know how he looks exactly, only that he’s tall… I apologize, Master.”
But as he bowed deeply while apologizing, I spoke quickly.
“You did great. I want you to keep an eye on him from now on.”
“Yes, I remember his scent. You don’t have to worry, Master.” As I was talking to Damian, Doggy was fidgeting beside me.
“Thank you, Damian.” No sooner had I finished talking to him, Doggy butted in.
“Master, what about me? What am I supposed to do?” Doggy stuck out his chest, as if saying he was also very reliable.
“You?”
“Yes!”
His eyes were sparkling with expectations. It reminded me of how he was as Oscar and how he acted around Noah in the original novel.
The seventeen-year-old Noah should be as refreshing as I read about in the novel, but the Noah who I met a few days ago was like a completely different person.
Could a person’s overall atmosphere change after growing up from a child to an adult?
I was feeling a bit doubtful.
When I met Lucian and decided to change his keywords to change the ending, I already expected that the narrative would change.
Still, the romance between the two should have still been the same.
Even if the regretful yandere seme turned into a kind and affectionate seme, there’s no way that the romance would disappear.
Don’t tell me another man swooped in first?!
Was someone other than the booger king Elliot Aiden flirting with Noah?
What about our Lucian?
What’s going to happen to our Lucian?
Confused and lost in thought, I forgot to answer Doggy.
“…Master, you’re thinking of someone else, aren’t you?”
“Huh?”
My blank reaction instantly distorted Doggy’s expression, and soon he began to cry.
Clack, clack.
Instead of tears flowing down, beads were shed from his eyes.
“I’m the only one Master hates.”
He seemed to be very sad.
His white fur that had ruffled up in anticipation was still standing up, and so I patted him and smoothed it down. I often did this because I liked the feeling of his soft fur.
“Oh no, you crybaby.”
“It’s because of you, Master!”
“Doggy.”
Damian berated him faster than I did when Doggy spoke informally. *
“Is it difficult to be respectful to the Master? Why do you keep speaking informally every time?”
But in front of me, Doggy’s tearful eyes were looking up with the saddest expression as if he was the most pitiful child.
“What do you know?!” My thoughts kept straying even though these two were growling and bickering.
My mind was filled with Lucian as I watched Doggy collect his beads that trickled down to the bed and put them all in my pocket. Even when Damian snatched up Doggy by the scruff of his neck, I was still thinking of Lucian.
Finally, I was alone and it was quiet.
So I could concentrate on my thoughts.
If Noah met another man and their relationship went well… What’s going to happen to our Lucian?
I was still very much against the original tragic ending, but at the thought that Lucian and Noah’s romance might fail…
I was spiraling in confusion.
And I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Lucian.
With a brief sigh, I covered myself with a blanket. Then after tossing and turning in guilt, I fell asleep.
I slept for a long time, but I somehow felt a gaze on me. People were usually sensitive to the gazes on them, so it seemed to be my instinct.
I wasn’t even a skillful knight, but I opened my eyes, and sure enough, someone was gazing upon me.
While I was sleeping, the room had turned dark as the sun went down.
And yet, through the darkness, I could easily see a pair of golden irises.
“…Brother.”
“Ray…”
Lucian’s low voice quivered as though he hadn’t spoken in a long while.
I instantly felt better once I saw my bias.
The delight I felt after meeting him washed away the urgency that I felt before going to sleep.
“How was the salon meeting?”
“Why are you worrying about that?”
I just asked out of curiosity… Why was he being snappy?
I suddenly got grumpy.
Actually, I’d been in an unusual mood since earlier. I couldn’t express it before, but I was disappointed that Lucian came to see me last.
I pouted for no reason.
Of course, he didn’t actually do anything wrong. It’s a me problem. I was being silly.
“Do your lips hurt?” Lucian misunderstood my actions.
His calloused fingertip caressed my lower lip gently.
“I don’t think it was split…” He seemed genuinely worried on the surface.
No, just because I pouted didn’t mean that it hurt. I couldn’t even be upset because it threw everyone into hysterics.
But because I liked how my bias was feeling concerned for me, I soon smiled brightly.
“It doesn’t hurt. And I’m all better now, don’t worry.”
Lucian didn’t answer. Instead, he stroked my face gently. However, instead of going from top to bottom, he raised his hand and went higher.
His fingertips touched my eyebrows, then he used his hand to cover my eyes.
“If you do that, I won’t be able to see.”
I could still see him through a slight gap, but because the mood became strange, I grabbed his wrist.
I tried to pull his hand off my face, but he wouldn’t budge.
His arm was firmly in place, steadfast even when it didn’t seem like he’s putting strength into it.
In the dark room, I could only see his clear golden irises. His eyes looked like two full moons, and just like his hand, they weren’t shaking.
As I stared at the golden gaze in the dark, I realized that something was different than usual. Lucian had never looked at me in this straightforward manner ever since we were younger.
I was always beside him, so he would look down, sideways, or from a distance.
After meeting him again in seven years, he was maintaining eye contact with me, yet he wasn’t the type to stare people in the eye.
But now it was different.
He looked like a well-crafted doll because he didn’t blink even as he stared at me for a long time.
Anxiety was suddenly bubbling up inside me. What if Noah and Lucian’s love couldn’t even begin?
Who was Lucian going to end up with?
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