Chapter 64
‘Really… what is this?’
Touching his chest where he kept feeling a strange sensation, Ralph fell into deep thought.
Usually, when he met Ruan, he would feel so elated that he’d want to spin around 10 times on the spot and jump up and down to Ruan’s waist height. But why was he feeling such an odd mood now?
As Ralph stood there for a while with a serious expression, his hand on his chest, unable to understand what was happening, Ruan, who found this strange, addressed him.
“Mr. Steiner? Is something wrong?”
Ralph looked at Ruan, who was examining him with worried eyes.
As he did so, the churning feeling that had been bothering Ralph suddenly swelled up.
Perhaps that’s why words Ralph hadn’t intended to say suddenly burst out of his mouth.
“I heard that you’re in a romantic relationship with His Grace.”
Ralph’s eyes widened as he realized what he had said only after saying it. Surprised by his own unexpected words, Ralph quickly observed Ruan’s reaction.
“Ah… that story…”
Ruan’s face showed a mix of awkwardness and embarrassment. Not understanding what this awkwardness meant, Ralph stared at him intently.
Ruan, who had briefly averted his gaze as if to hide his embarrassment, said,
“I think I know what you’ve heard, but it’s not all true.”
Not true?
Ralph’s head tilted in confusion at this unexpected statement in response to his unexpected question.
Seeing this, Ruan added with an awkward smile,
“The Grand Duke and I are not in a romantic relationship. Due to some peculiar circumstances, misunderstandings arose and rumors spread that way.”
At this explanation, delivered in Ruan’s usual calm voice, Ralph…
For some reason, felt as if a tightly knotted part of his chest was gently loosening.
His heart felt at ease.
‘At ease? Why?’
Hadn’t he just heard that Dietrich and Ruan, two people he liked, weren’t lovers? So why did he feel relieved?
As Ralph was puzzling over this sudden change in his emotions, Ruan spoke up.
“Actually, something related to that misunderstanding and rumor is one of the reasons I asked to see you today.”
At the mention of the reason for calling him, Ralph momentarily forgot what he had been worrying about.
‘There was a separate reason for calling me? Wasn’t it to play together?’
Ralph’s eyes drooped, having been full of excitement about playing with Ruan since receiving the note.
He had been so looking forward to it, unable to spend time alone with Ruan since their first day… To find out he wasn’t called to play.
Ralph became sulky like a dog who had gotten excited seeing a human pick up a leash, only to realize the human was just putting it away.
But his sulkiness lasted only a moment.
“I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but… there are also… rumors about you, Ralph.”
Unexpected words came out of Ruan’s mouth.
Ralph’s drooping eyes widened.
“Rumors about me?”
Had there been anything worth gossiping about since he came to Reinke? Something that would make Ruan call him separately to talk about?
He quickly searched his memory but couldn’t think of anything. Unable to find an answer himself, Ralph stared at Ruan with wide eyes.
From this gaze, Ruan seemed to realize that Ralph knew nothing about it.
“I see you haven’t heard. Well, except in special cases, the subject of a rumor is usually the last to hear about it, so that’s understandable.”
Ralph nodded without hesitation.
“Yes, I had no idea. What kind of rumor is it?”
At Ralph’s innocent question, a subtle expression crossed Ruan’s face. He seemed embarrassed at having to explain it himself.
“Well… you see…”
Ruan trailed off after starting to speak, seeing Ralph’s innocent face looking at him. With a face that seemed to wonder how to say this, Ruan looked into space again before opening his mouth.
“It’s…”
Only after rubbing his face vigorously with his hands did Ruan finally speak about the rumor.
“There’s a rumor… that you… are in unrequited love… with me.”
At this, Ralph’s ears perked up.
He tilted his head, then.
Quickly straightened up and looked at Ruan.
“Me?”
At this transparently bewildered reaction, a look of ‘How should I explain this?’ flashed across Ruan’s face. But Ruan didn’t need to put that embarrassing rumor into words again.
“Was I that pitiful person in unrequited love with you?”
Ralph, who had belatedly realized the truth of the conversation he had overheard, immediately asked back in shock.
Ralph licked his lips in confusion, recalling the conversation he had overheard while hiding in a corner of the corridor.
‘No, really, it hurts my heart every time I see…’
‘Seriously, even if you do a somersault and look, affection is dripping from every part of the body. To like someone that much… sigh.’
That person whose heart hurt every time they saw… Someone who was dripping with affection all over their body…
‘Was that me?’
It was quite shocking to realize that he himself was the protagonist of the rumor he had been listening to with perked ears. To think that the person who had been viewed so pitifully was none other than himself.
This unexpected realization led to another realization.
‘Ah! So that’s why recently, everyone I met seemed to pity me and tried to give me something extra!’
As Ralph was blinking his eyes at this shocking realization, Ruan, who had been watching Ralph’s reaction, said with an apologetic face,
“I’m sorry. You were just being comfortable with me because you knew about my identity… But because of the rumors about me and His Grace, it seems to have been seen that way. You must be displeased about being caught up in such baseless rumors, right?”
Only then did Ralph understand what Ruan had meant earlier about it being related to the rumors with Dietrich.
But…
‘Isn’t this much more my fault?’
Ralph recalled the description of ‘dripping with affection,’ which turned out to be about him.
Come to think of it, it was quite accurate.
Recently, Ralph had liked Ruan very much. He liked him so much that just seeing his face made him feel extremely excited.
And this Ruan already knew about Ralph’s carefully hidden secret identity, and beyond accepting him, he was even someone who made efforts to be considerate of Ralph as a dog-person.
Ralph, who was already in a good mood from meeting such a good person… honestly felt like his leash had come off.
It was only natural that Ralph, in an excessively good mood, showered Ruan with overflowing affection without discretion.
And as Edeline had seriously advised—if you act like that with your face and your eyes, some people might mistake your goodwill for romantic feelings. If you don’t want to follow in the footsteps of your father, who caused several scandals in high society by being rumored to be a playboy despite not intending to be—Ralph should have been more careful about his actions causing misunderstandings about romantic feelings.
So this rumor was, to some extent, Ralph’s own doing.
Ralph looked at Ruan standing in front of him.
Ruan was a smart person, so he must have known all the things Ralph had thought about. Yet he was looking at Ralph with a face full of sincere apology and concern.
‘What a kind person.’
Indeed, he’s such a kind person.
Ralph felt his heart flutter again. It was a slightly different flutter from when he first saw Ruan earlier.
So instead of blurting out something unexpected, Ralph rested his chin on Ruan’s shoulder. And to ease his worry, he said in a deliberately joking tone,
“Rather than being displeased… I honestly feel like I’ve done well, you know?”
“Pardon?”
Feeling Ruan’s emotion through the movement of the thin shoulder under his chin, Ralph felt inexplicably cheerful. Wagging his tail that had popped out at some point, Ralph continued,
“As I’ve mentioned before, my father was known for rumors of being a playboy. But here I am, his son, in such a pure and devoted unrequited love that people pity me. That’s quite an improvement, isn’t it? I guess this is the power of early education.”
Ruan was silent for a moment at Ralph’s glib words. Only after Ruan’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down did Ralph hear a response.
“I see. That’s admirable.”
To this, Ralph tilted his head so that it bumped against Ruan’s as he said,
“Yes, since it’s admirable, please pet me as a form of praise.”
As he lightly rubbed his head against Ruan’s, Ralph felt Ruan take a small breath. It was like a quiet laugh.
“Rather than petting, I’d like to give something else first to such an admirable person.”
Ruan said in a voice that seemed to have just a hint of laughter.
“It’s not really as a form of praise since it’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you for a while.”
At these words, Ralph realized what Ruan was talking about.
As Ralph quickly straightened up, Ruan picked up a package he had placed on the desk and said,
“It’s the treatment method for the wasting disease.”
