Chapter 4
‘Let’s softly persuade her while the servants haven’t noticed and go back down together.’
Holding onto such a sense of justice, the moment she headed toward the stairs,
Thump.
A rather loud noise came from the floor above.
‘What in the world is happening?’
Her heart began to beat rapidly. Out of impatience, fearing that the woman might cause some sort of accident, Carolyn practically ran up the stairs. When she came up to the third floor like that, Carolyn stopped in her tracks out of bewilderment.
That place was, how should she put it… like a cabin inside a ship.
‘The space has completely changed.’
Carolyn marveled and slowly took steps one by one. This place consisted of walls and doors made of waterproofed wood. Compared to the first and second floors, there were fewer decorations, the walls weren’t a dark brick color, and there was no carpet laid out.
‘There are only paintings hung here and there. Huge statues and such have disappeared.’
It was definitely a layout she had seen somewhere before. Walking sluggishly, Carolyn reached the side of the first door and realized one fact.
‘I can’t see her.’
The woman definitely ran up here. If she had turned around this space and gone to the opposite side of the third floor, Carolyn would have been able to hear her running footsteps.
‘She must still be here.’
This space, which looked like a cabin, had rooms clustered on one side, and the other side was a hallway with windows. If that was the case, the woman must have entered one of these places.
‘Can I just randomly go in?’
The guests were all assigned to rooms on the second floor.
‘I haven’t heard anything about there being other people staying in this mansion.’
The places where attendants stay are always on the first floor. Because they can’t sleep in a place higher than the master.
‘Then it must be an empty room.’
Convinced, Carolyn threw open the nearest door just like that.
Clatter!
‘It’s not!’
And then she froze. Because inside the room, a man who looked as if he had just finished showering was buttoning up his opened shirt.
Silence flowed for a moment. Facing the man about four steps away, Carolyn couldn’t say a single word. Her mind went completely blank and wouldn’t function, so it took quite a while before she realized that he was Aiden.
‘Oh my god.’
His caramel blonde hair was wet, dripping with moisture, and his freshly washed skin was flushed. And above all… his lilac silk shirt, which seemed to be sleepwear, was wide open, exposing the shape of his muscles exactly as they were.
How much time had passed standing with her mouth open like a person who had been electrocuted?
“Is there something more you want?”
It was Aiden who broke the silence. Only then did Carolyn realize that while she stood stiff with her eyes wide open, Aiden had also similarly been standing still without moving. However, he hadn’t frozen like Carolyn had.
Aiden had stopped exactly in the posture of buttoning up his exposed chest… as if shooting a magazine pictorial, and was looking at Carolyn. Rather than being surprised, he was calm, and with a rather confident expression.
“I guess you do want something more…”
Aiden closed his eyes once with an expression that seemed to say, If you want it, it can’t be helped. And wasn’t he trying to unbutton the ones he had already buttoned up so well?
“No!”
Carolyn let out a lion’s roar.
‘What on earth are you talking about!’
Aiden elegantly nodded his head and began to button the rest of his shirt with sluggish hands. Only then did Carolyn’s senses return.
“I’m sorry!”
Carolyn, who shouted loudly, hurriedly stepped backward and closed the door. And she pressed her back against the door with a thud. Her face was burning so hot.
‘Oh my god.’
Aiden himself seemed to think nothing of it, but Carolyn felt like she was going crazy from embarrassment. Of all things, the lilac silk pajamas that suited him too perfectly and the firm body revealed in between flickered before her eyes.
‘And why didn’t he wipe off the moisture?’
What is he going to do if he catches a cold?
‘He’ll definitely be cold if he sleeps after just roughly wiping himself!’
The transparent water dripping from his unstyled hair was also impressive. Carolyn shook her head and struggled to erase what she had just seen, but it was useless. The dizzier she got from shaking her head too hard, the more strongly his statue-like figure captivated her mind.
“Are you still there?”
A soft voice could be heard from beyond the door touching her back. Carolyn leaped away from the door, horrified like a person burned by fire.
‘Should I run away?’
Thinking it was a reprimanding question asking, Why are you still there? she was stealthily stepping backward when the door opened. Long fingers grabbed the door. And the man who revealed himself through the crack in the door swept his hair back with a relaxed hand.
“Come in.”
Leaving no time to explain, he left the door open and disappeared inside. Carolyn hesitated before slowly entering the room. The moment she stepped in, warm humidity and the good scent of bath products welcomed her. And Aiden, who was giving off the strongest fragrance, was looking into the mirror with a serious expression.
As Carolyn approached, his green eyes reflected in the mirror rolled sideways.
“To seek me out all the way here, it seems you missed me a lot, didn’t you?”
Aiden spoke as if he knew it would be so. Only then did Carolyn realize that she had broken the rules and was even caught by the master of the mansion.
“I’m sorry! I, I mean, I didn’t intend to do this…” “Don’t be so scared, sweetie. It’s something that happens often. I know you all do it because you like me.”
Aiden, turning his body around, reassured Carolyn and nodded his head. He didn’t seem to feel it was a big problem that she had broken the rules. Nor that she had entered his room and seen his half-naked body.
“It seems you missed me a lot. Even though you saw me today.”
Aiden seemed to consider Carolyn as some sort of incredibly passionate fan.
‘Well, that’s true.’
“I also know that there’s a saying going around among the fans that if you don’t see me for even half a day, thorns will grow in your mouth.”
‘Was there?’
It was a story even Carolyn, who led Aiden’s fandom, didn’t know well.
‘If he says so, then it must be so.’
Since my actor says it is. Carolyn unconditionally nodded her head.
‘It’s so good but I’m so nervous.’
Carolyn clenched her fist and pressed hard on her chest over her heart. Her body, which had not yet developed immunity, was expressing excitement with her entire being. More than the open shirt from earlier, the fact that he was right before her eyes now felt incredibly stimulating.
‘I want to scream!’
“So, did you enjoy the show today?”
Show?
‘Is it a phrase stuck in Aiden’s mouth?’
Did he call the events that happened during the day while conducting a performance a show? Confirming Carolyn, who was puzzled for a moment, Aiden approached right in front of her nose and bent his waist. The green eyes positioned before her widened blue eyes curled like a fox’s.
“Oh my, it seems you didn’t watch the performance today? Then how did you find your way here?”
‘His face is right in front of my eyes.’
His words no longer entered her ears. Carolyn realized that she could hear a sound like a large drum beating in her temples and in her heart. Thump, thump, the vibration was so strong that she felt it was painful.
‘He’s too handsome!’
Carolyn could feel her face burning hot like a baked potato.
‘What if I really burst right in front of Aiden?’
To think Aiden’s face was at a distance of less than a single finger’s length. The man’s green eyes sluggishly scanned Carolyn’s thoroughly dumbfounded expression. Aiden, who observed her while raising his eyebrows, chuckled, then straightened his waist and took a step back.
“You shouldn’t faint here. No matter what, I can’t let you sleep in my room.” “I, I didn’t think of such a thing!”
Carolyn spat out like a rapid-fire gun.
“I’ll step back for a moment, so calm down. It’s my first time seeing someone confess their love with their cheeks.”
Only after Aiden backed away a bit could she get a grip on her sanity.
“I, I apologize for barging in so suddenly.”
