âBut Archdukeâ¦â
âJust tell me how.â
At Mikaelâs resolute words, Liena pouted her small lips. It was regrettable that she lost the opportunity to wash this cute and mysterious doll.
However, the opponent was the Archduke. Caleb, her brother, made a request that she must listen to the Archdukeâs words. Liena nodded her head, recalling her brotherâs words.
âAlright. This is a detergent that I specially made. You can dissolve this in warm water and wash it with your hands.â
âDetergent⦠?â
âYes. You have to wash it with this to get rid of the dirt well. You canât use something else! The fabric will be damaged.â
At Lienaâs words, one person and one doll murmured in their hearts.
What do you wash with detergent. Of course itâs a doll, but itâs still detergentâ¦
âLetâs go wash up. Iâll even tell you how to dry it!â
Liena, who had no way of knowing the feelings of these two, spoke brightly.
In the end, Mikael received the detergent Liena had offered him and was pushed to the bathroom.
""
âMikael⦠You really donât intend to wash me with detergent, do you?â
â⦠She said the fabric will be damaged.â
âJust let it get damaged, pleaseâ¦â
âI canât.â
âDamn itttt!â
On the way to the bathroom, Yul, who had begged for the last time, heard Mikaelâs words and screamed. Really, nothing in the world was going as planned.
***
After a while, Mikael wrapped the drenched Yul in a towel and brought him out.
Itâs definitely because itâs a dedicated detergent, so the grubby stains were completely gone. He felt uncomfortable throughout the wash, and Yuri also complained incessantly.
âLiena, weâre done washing. How do I dry him now?â
âYou have to remove as much water as possible with a towel.â
âI think Iâve done that to some extent.â
âAh, I see. Then take this.â
Rienna held out a wooden stick to Mikael. Mikael accepted the rod she held out without knowing why.
âYou have to hit and push with this to loosen the cotton that has accumulated while washing.â
âHit and push⦠?â
With Mikaelâs flustered voice, However, Liena nodded her head with her eyes wide open as if she was asking whatâs wrong.
âOf course. Otherwise, the cotton is all clumped together. Then itâll take a long time to dry, and if you do it wrong, it may smell sour. Not to mention getting out of shape.â
âStoppp! Stoooopp! Iâll just smell bad! Iâll just smell bad!â
Yul, who was listening to the conversation between the two, exclaimed urgently. However, as if determined, Mikael straightened his grip on the rolling pin.
âHey, hey, wait. Kael? hail! Listen to me, Kael arghhh!â
Tragically, Yulâs pitiful scream rang for a long time.
***
Park Yul out. Park Yul out.
A comment he had heard once on a show sounded like an auditory hallucination.
Yul opened his eyes, which had been closed the whole time. Before his eyes, he saw Mikaelâs face. It was a familiar handsome face, but strangely, in Yulâs eyes now, it looked like the man in a black hat. As soon as Yul, who was half-dazed, saw his face, he opened his eyes wide with strength that had come from somewhere.
âMikael, you thugggg!!!â
Mikael had already expected this kind of reaction. Because of that, while he was beating Yuri hard with a rolling pin and shaping him, he quietly sent Liena back.
Because he knew that Yuriâs viciousness would begin to reveal as soon as this process was over.
Sure enough, Yuri wailed loudly as soon as he retracted the rod and nervously slammed the floor with his arms. No matter how hard he hit it with a cotton fist, it didnât even make a sound.
âItâs too much, how can you be so ruthless to me, me⦠And you beat me with a bat like that?â
âWhat do you mean, the tone does not sound good.â
Mikael shook his head coldly, pretending not to know Yulâs reaction. At those words, Yul raised his head at once and opened his eyes sharply. Of course, he couldnât have made the round eyes pointy, but that was how he felt.
âYou did beat me, like dust on a rainy day!â
âI donât know what you mean.â
Yul glared at Mikael with a sigh at Mikaelâs brazen attitude. But that was only for a moment. In the end, Yul was exhausted and laid flat on his back.
Liena must have put in cotton to the max, his body felt heavier than usual. Perhaps because of that, his head was heavy and dizzy, and his condition was not very good.
âI am not feeling well.â
âItâs amazing that that body can feel that way too.â
âIâm not kidding!â
Yul cried out while lying down, then raised his heavy body with a groaning sound. It was difficult to keep his balance because his head and stomach seemed to be heavier than usual.
Yul, who struggled to get to the bed with his short, toddling legs, looked at Mikael with a coy look.
âPlease put me on the bed. I donât even have the strength to go up.â
Mikael burst out laughing at his behavior of ordering him around without hesitation that developed. The actions of the little thing was cute and at the same time exhilarating. Mikael smiled but did not refuse, and at his request carefully lifted Yuri and laid him on the pillow on the bed.
âBy the way, why the hell did you order that crib? Now that Iâm a doll again, canât I sleep over there?â
Yul stretched out his short arm and pointed at the small crib next to Mikaelâs bed.
Looking at the size, it seemed to be ordered for him. Since he was no longer a human, he could have used that crib, but Mikael obstinately made him, who had become a doll again, sleep in his bed.
âBecause it would be troublesome if you got bigger again while sleeping in that bed.â
âOh⦠Itâs a situation that I really didnât think of, but I understand it, so itâs okay.â
Yul did not think that he would become a human again so easily, but he accepted it for now. He already had the experience of turning into a human once, but there was no law saying that he would never become a human again.
As he said, if he suddenly turned into a human while sleeping on that small bed, the bed might break.
Mikael was relieved to see Yuri quickly agreeing.
In fact, it was his greed to put Yuri to sleep in his own bed. What he just said to Yuri was nothing more than a hastily made excuse. However, after saying it, it was a reason that he could fully understand himself, so he thought that he should never let Yuri sleep in the crib in the future.
Well, anyway, Yuri sleeping in a different bed was an option already eliminated a long time ago.
Yuri probably wouldnât know it, but Mikael liked sleeping with Yuri. Yuri himself probably didnât know that something soft and cozy was tossing and turning and clinging to him while he was sleeping.
To be honest, he actually had crushed him a couple of times as Yuri feared, but⦠Well, since Yuri was sleeping soundly, he didnât seem to know whether he was pinned under or not, so he decided to let sleeping dogs lie. It would be cute in its own way if Yuri jumped up and rambled about how he could do that.
While Mikael was immersed in memories that were not memories for a while, Yuri closed his eyes tightly, as if he had fallen asleep, and let out a steady, steady breath.
Mikael, who looked at the scene with satisfaction, carefully covered Yuri with a handkerchief. Yuri tossed and turned in his sleep and clutched his handkerchief.
âGood night, Yuri.â
A friendly greeting landed on the duvet covering Yuri. Mikael turned off the light for Yuri who was already fast asleep. It soon became dark, and only his round shape remained faintly. Mikael laid down on the bed and looked at the sleeping Yuri for a long time before closing his eyes.
***
That day, Yuri appeared in Mikaelâs dream. It was not Yuri the doll, but Yuri the person.
Instead of the puffy apricot-colored cloth, Yuri with white soft skin was looking down at Mikael. Even while showing off his white naked body.
â⦠Iâve gone crazy.â
Mikael was sane and cold in his thoughts even in his dreams.
This seemed to be the frustration that Andrei and Caleb had been talking about.
He admitted that he liked Yuri, but he couldnât do anything with Yuri who was a doll, and they were in no relationship to do that, so he was content with just looking at him and petting him. No, he just thought he was content.
But he guessed that was his own misunderstanding now. And to see such a tempting Yuri in his dream.