He turned his face away. I couldn’t see his face or cheeks as he turned his body around.
I just stare at the back of his ear that I can see through his hair. No, I was just thinking about the last cold face I saw.
“…I thought it would have changed.”
Ricdorian’s cool voice continued slowly.
“I didn’t know it would change like this.”
There was no subject, but I could tell that it was meant for me without asking.
I judged whether the redness of his earlobes, which I could see slightly, was my mistake.
Then I completely gave up. Since when did I calculate and move one by one?
I smiled and opened my mouth.
“How?”
It didn’t take long for Ricdorian’s gaze to return.
“How did you want me to change?”
I slowly released my arm that was holding my chin as if I was falling down. Then I turned around and gave him a smile.
Towards a completely different face.
“I’ll do whatever you want.”
There is something I had to atone for Ricdorian. Well, it was so light that I never thought I would make an ‘atonement’.
Just as I thought it would be a light feather to me. If it gets farther away, it will fly away.
I did not know that I would regret the lightness of that time. Did I think it was too easy?
If I had known you’d be struggling this long. If only I had known that you weren’t just blaming me.
It’s not that I’m disappointed and sad that I’ve seen this change. I changed him so far.
I felt sad and sorry for what I did. Even if it wasn’t for me, he was a person who would go through a lot of pain and trials.
That was then.
He jumped up.
“Whatever?”
“…..uh?”
So I thought I’d listen to whatever he had to say. If it’s something I can do. If he wants the Domulit mansion, I can’t give it to him right now.
Of course he won’t, though.
But it was unexpected that it would come so soon.
We were now close with only one square table in between us. Ricdorian just bowed his head.
“Whatever, will you do it?”
A white hand, a hand with a lot of scars in the past three years, touched the table. The bones are thick and the fingers are long.
It was a hand that was in contrast to the still neat and even pure face that could not be easily imagined just by looking at his face.
“Iana.”
I shuddered when a low voice called me.
“Hey, I asked if you could do whatever for me.”
A sculpturally towering face was staring at me.
It’s a cold face, but there’s a chill going around here… Only the dark blue eyes seemed to flutter like blue flames.
Surprised by the heat, I felt a burning thirst in my throat.
Ricdorian gradually drew closer.
Clink.
There was a sound of plates colliding with plates. It was due to being pushed against his hand.
There was no time to pay attention to the plate, which was pushed out and barely draped over the end of the table.
As I got a little closer, I felt like I could feel his breath. I stared at him, neither pushing nor responding.
I just stared and felt the air vibrate. The fact that my heart is actually beating inside me.
He bent his head.
His head, which was slowly bent, went down even further. It was about to brush against my lips…
When his breath touched my earlobe, my spine straightened out. My fingers gripped the hem of my shirt.
“Eat.”
The voice from the breathing sound dug deep into my ears.
Then Ricdorian fell back, but he had already drawn the ripples.
No, I couldn’t escape from the ripples left by the voice.
…. How am I supposed to eat in this situation?
You seduced me, you twisted me.
Didn’t you?
I didn’t want to eat, let alone breathe in the air.
‘The older I get, the more demanding I get.’
Obviously, I saw him as an adult for a while 4 years ago, but it was a different feeling.
Of course it will. He wasn’t that cold back then. More than that, I don’t know why he’s saying that in my ears.
I leaned back, placed my hands on my chest, and narrowed my eyes.
Come to think of it, Ricdorian was always shy and he would always turn red but very rarely sometimes had an innocent face as if he was wondering what the problem was.
<You held me like this when you gave me cookies.>
After doing something very daring.
<… Did you not like it?>
When I lifted my head, the illusion of seeing the boy’s clear gaze overlapped.
Four years later, Ricdorian stood still. It felt like he was still waiting.
I sighed a little and straightened my posture. And took a spoon. Somehow the spoon was lifted, but the food couldn’t go over.
‘…. It’s embarrassing.’
-Human, aren’t you hungry, Nyan?
‘No, I was hungry… ‘
The navel clock, which had stimulated the stomach a while ago, was broken.
Hunger has long since been washed like a stain on white laundry.
“…why don’t you eat?”
When I put down the stew after a few spoonfuls, Ricdorian said. His eyes narrowed slightly. Like a little perplexed.
“Isn’t it to your taste?”
A smile came out.
It was funny. Obviously, where is a kidnapper who takes care of the taste of the hostage after kidnapping?
I thought it would only apply to the crazy people in my house. Of course, that crazy person is Chaser.
“It’s not that I don’t like it.”
On the contrary, the taste was very good. It was comparable to the skill of a chef who Chaser said that he had searched the continent to bring.
“I was supposed to eat less.”
It wasn’t a lie. I just omitted the words ‘very, very, very rarely, about once every three years?’
My creed is that eating well and sleeping well is the best, but I can’t resist eating.
Even when Chaser stared at me or smiled sweetly but cruelly, I ate comfortably even in front of that terrifying gaze, but not in front of the Ricdorian.
Ricdorian did not hide his displeasure anymore.
He didn’t have to speak with his lips, but that was the way he looked at the food.
What are you going to do without me eating more?
‘Looking that way, he resembles Pudding.”
– Nyang! I’m not like that!
‘Why, it’s the same color as you. It’s like a sullen face.”
– Sullen?
‘Well. It’s just that when you’re pouting, it’s sullen.”
– What is it, Nyang? This great body never gets upset, Nyang!
The 3-year-old guardian deity was a mess in my head. Waaong waaongg.
I let out a voice that was half a cry and half a talk and lifted my gaze.
Pudding refuses to show up to Ricdorian. It seemed that it was grunting about whether I would send it to Ricdorian if it came out.
I felt it because my mind was connected. Ricdorian was still staring at me. I spoke to him slowly.
“I don’t want to eat.”
No, I strongly expressed my intentions, but there was no change in Ricdorian’s face.
“I said it. I wouldn’t starve you.”
Rather, he just answered this way. He’s stubborn in strange places.
I laughed mischievously.
It was because I thought that the composition of him looking down and me looking up was the opposite of that in the prison.
“If you want me to eat properly.”
I chose the words he would hate at any moment. Then he tilted his head.
“Will you feed me?”
Now, his appearance was like a hedgehog screaming, don’t touch me. After all, there’s no point in being mature and soothing here anyway.
Rather, it would have been better for him to be disgusted and left.
“…feed you?”
Unsurprisingly, Ricdorian’s expression was not serious. It must have been as intended, it was time to think.
He hurriedly approached and sat down. Then he carefully moved the spoon.
I glanced alternately at the bread in his hand and meat floating in the spoon.
….why are you doing this?
This cold version of Ricdorian, who I thought he would refuse, listened to me. I was flustered.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…can the Grand Duke do something like this?”
“I don’t know what you’re misunderstanding, but when the battle continued fiercely, I even served the wounded soldiers myself.”
After thinking for a moment, he added.
“…because there wasn’t enough manpower.”
So, it sounds like I should just shut up and eat, but it’s not that you’re short of hands now, right?
“More than that, I don’t know why you see me that way. Isn’t that something you’ve always done too?”
“That’s…”
You were bound by chains and restraints. Hands and feet and neck.
The moment I met Ricdorian without saying that, I realized.
… I raised him wrong.
He had a cold face, but on his frosty face, there was a vivid light that I couldn’t see if I just brushed through.
If you knew him 4 years ago, you would recognize it, his eyes are vivid with innocence that doesn’t suit him now.
“What is the problem?”
I was confused. What is he talking about without knowing this now? He’s an adult, and he’s the Grand Duke.
I was embarrassed even when I took the spoon.
Ricdorian’s face is calm, but why do I feel like I’m being deceived?
I worked with a villain who acted up for 3 years. I was confident that I could recognize any pretense.
“This makes me feel like I’m in prison…”
The spoon stopped at the words that came out without knowing.
Ricdorian’s eyes, who had listened to each other, turned to me.
Like a water-drenched lily, it is as neat and clean as a lily. Like I said, a lily or forget-me-not would look better than a rose.
“You remember that time?”
“Why can’t I remember?”
It’s not that old. On the contrary, even now, when I close my eyes, I sometimes think of it.
Sally was a con artist but a sweet friend, and a pleasant uncle baron. They were kind, but counting the guards….
I was obviously locked up, but I had some free time. I used to think like this.
“It was the first time I met you.”
And I can’t forget meeting Ricdorian. Impressive first meeting.
Come to think of it, is it okay now that Ricdorian had turned into a beast?
“By the way… are you okay with being a beast before?”
Ricdorian paused.
“…why are you asking that?”
“Yes. Because I’m worried…?”
I rolled my eyes. Ricdorian, who has become the Grand Duke, can’t bark woof woof now, can he?
Of course, when he met the female protagonist in the original story, he was only talking to her in beast mode, that is, a wild appearance.
I don’t know how the original will change. I was going to ask more.
“You’re always like that.”
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