Chapter 131
But no matter how hard I racked my brain, no perfect solution came to mind. If responding to the invitation took too long, its authenticity might be questioned, so I grew anxious about needing to hurry.
“If we say you returned to the Duke’s residence…”
Luwen looked intently at the letter and then stopped speaking. He seemed to realize that for this excuse to work, he would need to have received a reply letter from Fei Vinter. Especially since a messenger had already brought a response. We couldn’t use the excuse of returning to the Duke’s residence.
‘If there’s no way to refuse, I need to find a way to attend.’
In the modern world, there are makeup products that can miraculously cover skin troubles, but such things don’t exist here. Of course, cosmetics do exist, but their performance is far inferior. I couldn’t apply them thickly, and there was no way to obtain them immediately.
‘No, bumpy rashes can’t be covered with makeup anyway. Get a grip.’
As I nervously chewed my lower lip, frustration welled up inside me.
‘Why should I suffer because of that princely bastard?’
I felt like committing terrorism against the Prince.
“Young master, you’ll hurt yourself doing that.”
That’s when Luwen rubbed my lower lip with his thumb. Surprised by the unexpected contact, I inhaled sharply and pulled my face back.
“Don’t bite your lip.”
“Ah…”
The sensation of his touch seemed to linger on my lips, and I unconsciously licked them. Yet it still wouldn’t disappear. I strongly resisted the urge to scrape it away with my teeth.
‘What if he touches me again if I do that?’
Luwen’s touch was awkward in many ways, but I didn’t want to stop him either. Rather… no, no, no. Stop thinking about it!
“What if we say the Young Master came to the academy to check on me? We could say you can’t be seen because you’ve been in contact with a contagious patient.”
While I had gone off on a tangent, Luwen was diligently thinking about excuses. However, my first thought was that this explanation wouldn’t work without a backup plan.
“That won’t work. I can’t move around quietly without the academy students knowing, and we’d need to create evidence that I made contact before receiving the invitation…”
I stopped speaking mid-sentence.
Officially, Luwen and Fei haven’t met recently. But country Norman and Fei have. Contagious rash. Norman spending a long time at the mansion. With this…
“What if Fei Vinter was the initial patient?”
“Isn’t Norman’s visits to the mansion a secret?”
“I was originally planning to return to the mansion every weekend. When rumors spread, I also covered it up by saying I was working for tuition. If someone dug deeper, I was going to reveal the mansion’s location, but I never had the opportunity to disclose it.”
“Then that should work.”
“Yes. I’ve already coordinated with the head servant, so there won’t be any problems. And I took a carriage that day.”
If there were signs of an investigation into whether Norman’s visit was real, we could present the coachman from that time as a witness. This could be entrusted to Linder.
“I need to revise the letter.”
I reopened the paper and quickly wrote the content. It stated that Norman’s illness seemed to have spread to me, so he should be cared for wholeheartedly.
Incidentally, I also included prescriptions that suited our needs. I wrote that I was searching for a cure, so Norman should be allowed to rest comfortably. I also mentioned the risk of infection for professors and stated that all nursing care would be entrusted to Luwen.
Then I wrote another letter. This one was addressed to the First Prince.
How could someone suffering from a potentially contagious disease dare to meet royalty? The same applies to the Prince’s messengers. According to our setup, there was already a patient in the mansion who had been infected and then cured, so Fei Vinter was already preparing to leave the mansion. It was time to go to a secluded place and focus on researching a cure.
‘If Luwen hadn’t escalated the situation, we would have been in big trouble.’
After writing instructions to send to Linder, I sealed the letters.
In total, three letters were prepared. Two were sent to the mansion, and Luwen showed the remaining one to the professors who visited in the evening.
The professors gave us the freedom we wanted. I suspect they readily agreed because they could avoid responsibility even if things escalated by following my wishes. Still, they departed with the kindness of instructing us to call them if symptoms suddenly worsened.
Now we just had to wait for the First Prince’s reaction.
* * *
The next morning, I woke up rubbing my eyes due to a commotion. It seemed that today’s ingredients had been delivered, so I left my room, roughly combing my disheveled hair with my fingers.
As I was going downstairs to help Luwen move the delivered ingredients inside, I heard a knock-knock on the front door. Since I couldn’t be seen looking healthy, I had no choice but to return to my room.
“What brings you here? This should be off-limits for visitors.”
Who could it be to provoke such a sharp response?
“I didn’t come because I wanted to. His Highness the Prince told me to come.”
It was Alteo. He still seemed afraid of Luwen, but there was strength in his voice as he mentioned the Prince. He was acting as if he had gained powerful backing, so things must have gone his way.
“Norman is sick, so you can report that. Tell him there’s no improvement.”
“I heard Norman was looking for me. Are you sure you can send me away like this?”
Ah, I had asked Nadian to do that favor. But thanks to Luwen, things had worked out as I wanted, so I didn’t particularly need Alteo’s help anymore. At most, it would just be adding a bit more seasoning, which wasn’t necessary.
However, I needed to confirm why the First Prince had sent Alteo to me.
“Chairman.”
“Oh, No-Norman. I came.”
Alteo, who had been stiff in front of Luwen, awkwardly waved at me. …Why was he being so obvious? I thought he’d act well in front of others, but apparently not. Or perhaps he thought it was okay to be caught in front of Luwen.
“Come up.”
“See?”
Luwen turned around. When I nodded at his gaze fixed on me, only then did he open the entrance. Alteo entered cautiously, warily eyeing Luwen, and hurriedly ran up to the second floor.
I shook my head at Luwen, who was following behind. His forehead wrinkled in displeasure. After telling Alteo to wait in the room, I approached Luwen, who was standing in the middle of the stairs, and lowered my voice.
“Alteo is afraid of you. I need to talk to him alone to gauge the Prince’s thoughts.”
The truth was that I didn’t want to reveal that he knew my identity yet.
“What would that person know?”
“Still, he was chosen as a messenger, so he might have useful information.”
Luwen tapped the railing with his finger.
“Call me if anything happens.”
“Of course.”
I soothed Luwen with a gentle smile and turned around. But before I could climb even one step, my waist was suddenly grabbed firmly. A fragrant scent and solid warmth touched my back.
“Lu-Luwen?”
Surprised by the sudden embrace, I even stumbled over my words. As I froze, not knowing where to put my hands, I heard a voice mixed with breath near my ear. It sent shivers down my spine.
“Young master, you’re too defenseless. Look at you now. You were caught immediately.”
“Th-that’s because the person behind me is Luwen.”
The arms around my waist tightened. My body was firmly held, but instead of feeling constricted, I felt a thrilling comfort.
“That’s because you trust me.”
“That’s right.”
“It’s the same with Alteo. I’m worried because you seem to trust him. Be cautious.”
There were clear reasons why Alteo wouldn’t harm me. But Luwen didn’t know that. I revealed my identity to Alteo because of the contract, and that was a contract for the future…
‘No, I could actually make excuses if I wanted to.’
I could explain according to the current situation. But I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to show Luwen my persona that uses people. I wanted to preserve the image of me in Luwen’s fantasy.
‘But this makes me even more reluctant to speak.’
Right now, Luwen’s mind was probably filled only with thoughts of me. It was satisfying to see that there was no room for anyone else in him, who was completely focused on me.
‘I know it’s a wicked thought, but I also want to keep making him worry. So he won’t take his eyes off me.’
While I had resolved to let him go, I was constantly thinking about holding onto him at every opportunity. I felt alarmed as I seemed to be moving in an increasingly distorted direction.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
