CH 5

love or deception (4)

Translated by Wook

Edited by Wook

It felt like that blade-like voice was pricking my skin.

“Yes, go ahead.”

I pretended not to be intimidated at all, and smiled more brightly.

There is a saying that one will never spit on a smiling face. But of course this one human being was an exception.

“… Forget it.”

Looking at me like that, Davan laughed like he found it ridiculous.

“If I said more, my mouth would only hurt.”

It was an answer that responded properly to what I said was a waste of time. Still, Davan’s gaze fell at me as I gulped.

‘Huu.’

I secretly sighed. At least it felt like the big storm had passed.

Davan’s eyes flew away from me and turned to the floor.

My heart rattled for no reason as I looked down at the shards of broken glass.

‘Look at his eyelashes. It’s terribly long and thick. This perfection is so annoying.’

In the meantime, I was admiring his sculptural profile.

“Y-Your Excellency. I-I deserve to die!”

The servant who had dropped the bowl fell to his knees.

Davan glanced at him once, and the boy’s face turned bright red.

“You were not careful.”

Davan only muttered like that. His tone was not particularly reproaching or scolding.

Because he truly wasn’t reproaching or scolding the servant. He was just indifferent.

But at the same time Davan withdrew his gaze—

“You’re such a fool.”

The woman standing next to the butler scolded the servant at once.

‘Gasp.’

Her voice was so sharp that it made my heart tremble.

But I was the only one who was surprised by that.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Susan.”

At first glance, the woman called Mrs. Susan seemed to have a high position. From the look of her bow-tie blouse, she felt different from those of the other users.

“Please forgive me, Your Excellency.”

The boy slammed his head to the floor. He looked like he was only thirteen to fourteen.

‘If you think about it, there is not much age difference with Leah.’

One was treated very well like an infant and the other was lying on a floor full of glass debris.

But no one in the crowd paid a single glance to the boy.

The servants continued to attend, and the butler again handed the documents to Davan.

“…”

After receiving the documents, Davan completely turned his attention away from the boy.

“…”

I glanced at the boy and Davan alternately.

Even if a bug passes by, one won’t be able to ignore it to this extent.

Rather than deliberately ignoring it, it seemed like he wasn’t really interested in the first place. However, this appearance was even more terrifying to me.

Was it because I thought the child was pitiful? No, I was not in a position to care about other people’s lives right now.

‘How am I going to deal with that guy in the future?’

As if ridiculing my resolve to get along as best as possible, Davan didn’t seem to have any humanity at all.

Looking at that cool face without emotions, my future seemed bleak.

Saying those things before without recognizing this reality sooner. I felt like sewing my hands and mouth.

“…”

There was only silence that could give anyone indigestion.

I just roughly rummaged through the salad with a fork and put it down.

Luxurious food that I had only heard of was in front of me, but in many ways I did not have an appetite.

‘I want to drink iced Americano on an empty stomach.’

In such an atmosphere, it seemed that anything I ate would not taste good.

“Do you not have any appetite because there is me in front of you?”

At that time, Davan, who had been looking down at the documents for a long time, said.

‘“How did you know that I put down my fork when you didn’t even look this way?’

That man looked like he had eyes on his forehead. Nevertheless, he didn’t see the kid trembling right next to him.

“How long are you going to leave him like that?”

I glanced down at the boy’s skinny back.

Davan, who followed the edge of my gaze, finally noticed the boy with an “ah”. His eyes were surprisingly indifferent.

“Oh, dear.”

Davan’s cold eyes touched me and fell on the servant’s shoulder.

“The young lady has lost her appetite.”

It was a terribly insensitive voice.

And then…

Wait? Why did he bring me up all of a sudden?

Caught with the unexpected attention, my eyes widened.

“M-My lady! Please forgive me.”

The boy trembled and begged me.

It was a situation where both the person begging for forgiveness and the person receiving it were at a loss.

“I forgive you. Get up, servant…” Could I say that?

Of course, Davan merely spit those words out and didn’t even care about what happened next.

‘Has it always been like this?’

I tilted my head and looked at Davan’s face.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Davan’s reaction was a little different from what I was prepared for.

So apparently it was a big deal that I lost my appetite?

I thought he was a person who didn’t care whether Leah lost her appetite or not…?

His attitude toward the boy was also more gentle than expected. Was it just because he was not interested?

“Just get up from the floor.”

I said while wiping my lips with a handkerchief. The boy did not raise his head, and his shoulders were shaking.

“It will be dangerous to stay like that because of the glass shards that fell on the floor.”

“…”

“Go out and change your clothes first. There might be glass shards on your clothes.”

The boy raised his eyes and only glanced at Davan, wondering what to do.

However, Davan was only looking at my face with a strange look.

“What are you waiting for the young lady to say?”

Mrs. Susan scolded the child in a low voice. Then the child jumped up and quickly bowed.

“Thank you. Thank you very much, my lady.”

The boy, who was in a hurry to get out of the room, glanced back at me.

“…”

When our eyes met, the boy stood silently for a moment.

Was he a commoner? Or a slave from a fallen aristocracy or something?

Perhaps because he was an employee of the imperial palace, the boy looked very neat. It was rather a noticeable impression.

It could be said that one would look forward to his appearance in the future.

‘T-Thank you.’

The boy bowed his head and muttered with his mouth. Then he turned around and ran again.

‘His ears are red. It must have been embarrassing.’

I stared at the boy’s back without realizing it.

It was then.

Tak— Davan put the documents down on the table like throwing them.

‘What’s with that, why, what again!’

My eyes rolled by themselves.

It was because the atmosphere was strangely heavier than before.

“…”

Davan, who casually threw the paperwork, leaned against the back of his chair with his arms crossed.

He looked intently at my face. Seeing that his eyes narrowed and narrowed, it seemed like he was puzzled about my appearance.

“Hum.”

I was doing everything I could to avoid that gaze.

When I picked up the teacup for no reason, I heard a rattling sound. When I tried to pretend to eat something, I heard a sound of friction because of the ring on my finger.

Because it was so quiet, imagine how embarrassing the sound was.

In the end, I calmly put my hands together and put them down on the skirt.

“…”

Birds chirping and singing could be heard from the glass ceiling where sunlight was reflected. A stream of water rippled from the indoor fountain decorated with flower vines.

The glossy food on the white tablecloth was steaming white.

It was a beautiful and peaceful landscape.

Except for those bitter eyes staring at me and this suffocating silence.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

I chewed my lips well.

“I didn’t know you were so kind to servants.”

It was Davan who broke the silence.

‘Kind? Me?’

He seemed to be talking about my extra words regarding the shards of glass so the servant avoided getting hurt.

It was a tone of wonder whether he noticed it was not Leah’s usual behavior.

“Everyone makes mistakes.”

“…”

“It’s fine as long as no one gets hurt.”

I smiled kindly and came up with a model answer that could only be found in a textbook.

In fact, I wasn’t a good person. Even if my humanity was not as low as Davan, I was not very interested in others.

In particular, in this world, I was not in a position to show warmth to someone.

My life is at the crossroads, you see? Nevertheless, I did treat the boy kindly…

‘It’s just for my comfort.’

There was a selfish intention behind it. Davan was Davan, but it was very important to me to get along well with the courtiers here.

I had to get their help whether I liked it or not, because our lives here overlapped.

‘I have to manage my reputation from now on.’

To reverse the ending, I had to reverse the character setup like this.

Reckless, immature, lack of anger management, unreasonable, foolish, etc.

That’s why I showed tolerance and mercy in front of everyone.

‘The more on my side, the better.’

Even if it’s just one servant, no one knows when their mouths would become a sword or a shield for me.

“…”

Davan’s eyes were vague as to whether my answer was not good or hard to believe.

Well, it was pretty sudden, so he might think I was lying.

Or it might feel like I was pretending to be nice because I was up to something.

‘That’s true though…’

“He still looks young, but mature. It’s only…”

“How old is he?”

Before I could finish my words, Davan asked Mrs. Susan.

At that point, it was clear that he learned conversational manners through his nostrils.

[T/N: Probably something like in the left ear and out the right one]

“After his birthday in September of this year, he will be 14 years old.”

Mrs. Susan answered with her hands clasped politely.

‘The age of 14. Still a baby age.’

Certainly, the child was quite mature for his age. Even though he was scolded in front of everyone, he didn’t shed a drop of tears.

‘What did I do when I was 14?’

Ummm, come to think of it, I forgot what happened when I was 14. It’s already been nearly 10 years, so it’s natural.

“Well, he’s more mature than you.”

Davan mumbled without expression.

He was looking at me with his chin on his hand.

I knew he was being sarcastic, but because of his serious face, the atmosphere felt a little ambiguous.

“I know. Even though he was scolded, he looked very determined.”

I pressed down the soaring anger by pressing and giving strength to my hand holding the teacup.

Even if the first mistake was unavoidable, the second mistake should not be made. Never.

“Is it because he’s still young? Even though he’s a boy, his skin and hands are so white.”

Instead, I pretended to smile brightly and twisted the topic of conversation. Moving on to such a topic, Davan would have nothing to say.

He must not have even remembered the boy’s face, but I wasn’t sure whether he had anything to say to the boy’s pale skin and smooth hands.

“It’s not okay to have a scar on such pretty skin.”

At that moment, the sun changed its position.

The sunlight from the glass ceiling poured straight toward me.

My eyes were cold, and I had an exaggerated smile on my face. Because of the backlight, I couldn’t see Davan’s face in detail, but…

‘Why is his expression…’

Maybe it was just my mood, or the expression on his face had truly stiffened.