I DID PLAN TO CHANGE THE STORY, but I guess it got too lopsided. I never thought that the romance between Lucian and Noah would change.
Who would comfort his heart and love him?
I stared at Lucian and let go of his wrist.
Alright, go ahead. Touch all you want.
Touching wouldn’t wear out my cheeks, but I was feeling sensitive for some reason.
I kept smiling, but all he did was stare at me.
That golden gaze curved up, and that alone made me feel comforted.
There, right there. That’s my bias.
He knew how to touch other people now. And he knew how to maintain eye contact.
He grew up a lot, I’m telling you.
There was a tremendous improvement compared to the beginning. As he stroked my cheek, I spoke to him with a gentle tone.
“I’ll find your love for you, Brother.”
So what if it wasn’t Noah? The vast Empire was filled with people who would definitely love him.
Wasn’t my bias just so handsome?
And he had good skills and a good family. He’s the full package. As he listened to me, his eyes were still curved upwards.
“Alright.”
I also smiled broadly as I listened to his voice, which seemed to be very pleased by what I had just said.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───
LUCIAN STAYED WITH RAPHAEL until he fell asleep again, then returned to his room.
After bathing and changing his clothes without asking for assistance from any servant, he found a box on his desk.
It was a relatively large box with several envelopes inside, and beside it was a separate envelope.
“Raphael de Leon,” he murmured as he rubbed his thumb over the carefully written letters.
He opened the envelope next to the box with the name ‘Camilla de Leon’ on it and read the contents.
「 It is only right to return these to the owner, even if it’s late. ã€
His mother’s letter was brief, however, given how shaky the handwriting was, it was clear that the words were written with great care.
Starting from a certain point in time, his mother began to be more like a mother to him. There were many times when he felt unpleasant rather than happy.
It felt dreadful.
His father abused him, and his mother neglected him.
When he was younger, he visited his mother a few times. Vaguely, he might have wanted to be loved by his mother.
But throughout it all, his mother was consistently cold.
Why was she doing this all of a sudden?
Lucian suspended his mother’s letter in the air. With some power from Enzo, simple spells like this were doable for him now.
The letter that was hovering in the air quickly lit up in flames and disappeared.
Then, Lucian took out Raphael’s letters one by one and read them.
He rushed through them, eager to read each one. The sun rose in the sky as he read, but rather than his face becoming tired, it only shone brightly.
He got up from his seat with a satisfied look and placed the letters back into the box.
Then, he headed to his walk-in closet.
At the end of the closet, there was a subspace that Enzo made. He went in there, inside that room within a room.
The subspace that Enzo created had an ominous feel to it due to the influence of black magic. Usually, even a mage would fear stepping inside it. In fact, any ordinary person would be reluctant to even get close to it.
Lucian opened the cabinet inside the subspace, his face expressionless, then placed the letter box inside gently before closing the cabinet door.
The door was made with glass, so he could still see the contents.
The letter opener gave him some mixed nut cookies preserved with magic, and the blue utensils he once used—the cabinet was filled with things related to Raphael.
Admiring his growing collection, Lucian gently caressed the cabinet door as though he was touching Raphael himself.
When he heard someone knocking from outside, he exited the walk-in closet.
He didn’t sleep a wink, but he had to fulfill today’s schedule nonetheless. That way, he could take over the Duchy as soon as possible.
But Lucian had now changed his mind.
He remembered what Raphael said when they were younger.
“You were right about making two plans, Ray.” He told him to prepare two plans just to be safe, and this was wise.
Lucian changed his clothes once more without letting any servant inside. He heard someone pacing outside his door, but he didn’t even pay attention to that. His thoughts were all occupied with Raphael.
After he dressed the usual way, the attendant hurried to him when he came out of the room.
“Is my father at his office?”
“Yes, Young Master. I saw the Duke enter his office earlier.”
“I see. Then, prepare some tea and come to the office separately.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
After having to wait a long time, the attendant was finally given a job, and responded vigorously and disappeared.
Lucian stood in front of the office and knocked on the door. He thought of Raphael while doing so.
Knock knock, knock, knock knock knock.
The mere thought of his and his secret code-like knocking made him smile softly.
“Come on in.”
When he heard the permission granted from inside, Lucian opened the door.
“You’re here.”
Pedro greeted Lucian with a look of disapproval as usual, but Lucian was no longer heartbroken at the sight of such an expression.
Rather, he wasn’t interested at all.
“I’ve asked for tea from my attendant already.”
“Tea?”
Pedro furrowed his brows when Lucian said this, thinking that he should already be working in the morning.
“I have a lot of work to do, but you want to have a cup of tea with me?”
“It won’t be a relaxing talk, so shouldn’t we at least have some refreshments?”
Now, Pedro was startled by Lucian’s retort.
“What the hell are you trying to say?”
Lucian was anxious to start his new plan. Today was the day he’d finally triumph.
The jewel-like golden eyes looked directly at Pedro.
Seeing those unfeeling eyes, Pedro was sent back to the past once more.
He couldn’t predict what his son was about to say, with those eyes looking exactly like his deceased father’s.
Lucian spoke in an extremely cold voice.
“Just as you promised, I will be taking over the Duchy. As soon as possible.”
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.───
EVEN AFTER I GOT BETTER, I wasn’t allowed to take even a step out of the mansion, and I heard about being punished for sneaking out only after I had fully recovered.
Not from the Duke, but from the Duchess.
The Duchess’ sermon was especially harsh because she pointed out clear facts in such a calm tone.
But after that, it wasn’t to say that I was set free.
“Young Master, have you looked at the clothes designs?”
“…I don’t need to look at them. Don’t I just need to get a fitting and be done with it?”
“When I explained to Young master, you weren’t listening, were you? Anyway, I’ll say it again—Her Grace said that Young Master’s dresses shall be tailored to fit and to be matched with the occasion. We’ll have to pick for Young Master’s debutante, and we’ll also need to pick casual clothes because you’ll start socializing after the debut.”
“I just want to stay home… Do I really have to socialize?”
“Really… I think I’ve coddled you too much, Young Master. Please reflect on your words and actions.”
“Tsk.”
I was already looking at the third sketch for the clothes. My back was hurting, so I just laid back on the sofa for a while. Amber was being mean.
“My back hurts so much. I already chose a suit for my debut, so can’t I just take my time picking out the others?”
“Did Young Master forget that the boutique designers will visit today? There’s no time to dawdle.”
It’s cold.
Ah, that’s so cold.
But I wasn’t giving up.
“Well, at least let me have some tea. It’s been a long time since I saw Doggy and Damien. I’m not being a good master to them, so I should pay more attention to them.”
I rose from the sofa using Doggy and Damien as excuses.
I quickly opened the door and, before Amber started nagging again, I shouted, “Amber, set the table in the garden of red roses!”
Then, I rushed out before Amber caught me.
I heard her sigh as I went out, but I just couldn’t stay in that room any longer.
It was so frustrating.
I couldn’t leave the mansion. Sure, I couldn’t say anything about it because I brought it upon myself, but that didn’t stop me from feeling frustrated.
I walked out the main door with a spring to my step, then I brought my lips together and whistled, at which Doggy and Damian immediately rushed to my side.
I leisurely strolled towards the garden of red roses. This place, which was full of the color red, was Doggy’s favorite garden.
Sure enough, Doggy and Damian appeared right away in their fox and hawk form.
“Doggy, Damian, let’s have tea together.”
It was a familiar habit because we were always together in the South. Doggy clung to me as soon as he shifted to his human form.
“Master! I missed you!”
He was a very charming fox.
He looked a bit different from the original, and it was quite awkward, but he was still cute.
And while he was cute, he was definitely set apart from other people.
Doggy was giddy beside me, and he plucked a red rose to place on his ear. Then, he turned around and approached me.
“What do you think, Master? Do I look good?”
He was so cute that he looked perfect.
Yep, he was very, very cute. But I shouldn’t tell him.
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