ICTIMP CH 09

Chapter 9. My Male Lead Is Only Allowed to Bully Me. (1)

The next morning, as soon as I woke up, I shouted loudly.

“I’m all better!”

“Don’t lie.”

Ilina scolded me with dark circles under her eyes. I insisted.

“I’m serious!”

“You have absolutely no color in your face. I think it would be best if you stayed in your bedroom today.”

I was horrified.

“Ilina, not you too! You sound just like Adel!”

“Now, now, lie down. I’ll even sing you a lullaby.”

In the end, I was granted only limited freedom whenever I needed to use the bathroom, and I spent the entire day in bed. I was bored to death, but no one came to visit me.

“What? Adel isn’t coming today?”

I stared at the clock every five minutes until I eventually grew tired and took a nap. I slept, and slept some more. I think I slept for at least twelve hours.

And the next day, I insisted again.

“Ilina! I’m definitely completely recovered today!”

“Yes, yes. You do look a little better.”

Ilina, who looked just as haggard as I did with dark circles beneath her eyes, replied in a slightly rebellious tone. I decided to give her some time to rest too.

“Then I’m going outside now.”

Ilina stopped peeling the fruit and stood up.

“I’ll go change clothes. Please wait a moment.”

I tilted my head.

“You’re coming with me?”

“Of course. I can’t let you go out alone. I’ll also have the escort knights prepare.”

“If you’re going to do all that, I could just go with another maid. Ilina, you need to sleep.”

“I’ll only feel at ease if I go with you.”

There was absolutely no room for negotiation. I munched on the fruit Ilina had peeled into pretty shapes.

“Things get complicated when I don’t go out with Adel.”

I put on a cloak and went outside with Ilina. The escort knights followed at an appropriate distance.

We left the estate and headed toward the area where the shops were located.

As I looked around enthusiastically, Ilina gazed up at the sky, which was filled with swollen clouds, and muttered,

“There are so many clouds. It might rain this evening.”

I was looking in a completely different direction from Ilina when I asked,

“Ilina, should I buy you a parfait?”

“……You’re actually the one who wants to eat it, aren’t you?”

“That’s part of it.”

Ilina frowned disapprovingly.

“Miss, I’m only a maid. You don’t have to worry about me.”

I shrugged.

“But I probably won’t live very long, so I want to be as good as I can to the people I like.”

If I had another fifty years ahead of me, perhaps I would have studied noble etiquette and proper formalities in depth. But right now, those things were someone else’s problem anyway. I decided not to worry about them.

Ilina ground her teeth.

“What are you talking about! You’re going to live forever!”

Just then, a small pebble rolled to a stop at my feet.

“Hm?”

“……A pebble?”

Ilina and I turned our heads at the same time. A boy was staring intently at us.

“I’m sorry. I threw it wrong while I was playing.”

Without realizing it, I clenched my fist tightly.

I remembered that face.

It was the boy I had met on the night we went to release the lanterns.

‘I heard you took Grandma Martin home before. My grandfather also has trouble walking. Could you help him too?’

The one who had made unreasonable demands of Adel and even mocked him.

‘What? Are you seriously going to use your authority against helpless commoners?’

I opened my mouth.

“You probably won’t listen to me, but not every noble is like Adel.”

The boy lowered his eyes.

“Please forgive me just this once.”

His attitude was servile, but I knew he was secretly mocking me.

I realized it for certain.

These people didn’t deserve Adel’s kindness.

And Adel shouldn’t be hurt because of people like them.

I’m the only one allowed to bully Adel!

I called out to Ilina.

“Let’s go.”

My appetite had completely disappeared, so I immediately returned to the count’s estate. Then I told Ilina,

“I need to go see Adel.”

This time, I had no intention of asking for Ilina’s permission. Ilina noticed that too.

“I’ll have the carriage prepared.”

“Hurry as much as possible. If Adel finds out I’m coming, he might run away.”

Fortunately, I had recovered some strength compared to yesterday. At least I didn’t feel like I was about to collapse.

As soon as I got into the carriage, I ordered the coachman to drive as fast as possible. The coachman faithfully obeyed.

The Magnus ducal residence was quite close.

When the carriage briefly stopped in front of the enormous main gate, I poked my head out. I was planning to tell the gatekeeper that I was Adel’s friend.

“Hello—”

But the gatekeeper only saw the crest of the count’s family engraved on the carriage and immediately opened the gates.

“It’s a carriage from the Sinclair County! Let them in quickly!”

What was with this warm welcome?

Anastasia had visited the ducal residence with her father several times, but those visits had been a long time ago.

They didn’t even check who was inside the carriage. Well, perhaps it was proof of how close our parents were.

I recalled the Duke of Magnus and Anastasia’s father.

In the novel, the two of them were described as being close enough to speak informally, swear at each other, and even resort to violence.

Still bewildered, I stepped out of the carriage.

I was about to enjoy the dazzling sunlight pouring down from overhead when I heard Adel’s voice, as sweet as the clear sky.

“Anastasia? Why are you here when you should be resting in your bedroom at the count’s estate?”

You’re really fast.

The carriage door hadn’t even closed yet. I stared at Adel, who seemed to have jumped down from a window rather than come down the stairs.

“Obviously, I came to see you.”

The Adel I had seen again after two days dazzled my eyes.

His pure-white face seemed to glow. Beneath his thick, shimmering golden eyelashes were brilliant red eyes.

Adel spoke firmly.

“Please go back immediately. You need complete rest.”

“No.”

I shamelessly refused. Adel’s gaze wavered.

“Please, Anastasia. I have no face to show you.”

“I wanted to see you.”

My words effectively silenced Adel.

I asked with a smile,

“You thought about me a lot too, didn’t you?”

“I……”

He seemed about to say something, but in the end, Adel chose silence. A shadow fell over his handsome face.

I lightly poked his arm with my finger.

“I’m thirsty.”

Adel surrendered.

“I’ll show you to the drawing room.”

As befitted the Magnus ducal family, one of the powers supporting the Empire, the mansion was practically a castle.

The Sinclair County was also famous for its considerable wealth. Yet even to someone like me, who had been living in such a place, this residence seemed almost desperate to cover every wall in gold.

It looked as though the entire place would remain bright even in the middle of the night without a single light burning.

A ceiling painting depicting scenes from mythology created a magnificent atmosphere, while the patterns carved into the pillars used elegant curves that seemed to represent the height of artistic achievement.

At the door to the drawing room, we encountered several maids. They greeted me with an almost excessively polite attitude, which I found rather fascinating.

The looks they gave me were full of goodwill.

The gatekeeper had been the same.

The people of the ducal residence were kind.

Adel seated me first and brought me some water.

“Here, water.”

I barely accepted the glass before pushing my loose hair behind my ear.

I was preparing a new prank to help loosen Adel up.

“What about black tea?”

Instead of merely bringing me a teacup, Adel began setting up an entire tea set in front of me.

He carefully placed the teapot, teacups, spoon, containers of sugar and jam, and other things one by one.

I could tell he had put considerable thought into arranging everything so that I could eat comfortably.

Huh.

I didn’t know he could do this himself.

I was slightly surprised, but deliberately put on an arrogant expression.

“Put some strawberry jam in it.”

Adel gave a faint smile and did as I asked.

Once I began drinking my tea, Adel became busy again.

This time, he brought chocolate, arranged in a silver dish decorated with roses. There were several different varieties, each placed in small portions.

“I brought the ganache chocolates Anastasia likes. I also prepared milk chocolate, white chocolate, dark chocolate, and almond chocolate.”

……What is with him?

He seemed so surprised when I suddenly showed up, so why was he this thoroughly prepared?

“I don’t really like almonds.”

The moment I replied in a deliberately indifferent voice, Adel removed one of the dishes.

“I’ll have it taken away immediately.”

For some reason, I had a feeling I would never see almonds in the ducal residence again.

Was that just my imagination?

I sampled the chocolates one by one while looking at Adel.

“What were you doing?”

“I was in the middle of some light training.”

“Did I interrupt you?”

“Of course not.”

Adel shook his head before I had even finished speaking. He examined me with complicated emotions in his eyes.

“Anastasia, this may be rude of me to say, but you’ve become far too thin. Wouldn’t it be better for you to return even now?”

I put down my teacup and made a dejected face.

“Do you not want to be with me?”

Adel gently tried to reassure me.

“How could I dislike it? However, if you get into trouble again while you’re with me, I don’t know how I could ever face you.”

It seemed that what happened yesterday had affected Adel deeply.

I stubbornly came up with an excuse.

“Then I’ll rest here for a little while since I’m tired. You can go do whatever you need to do.”

Even if I went home, Adel would obviously just continue blaming himself.

I deliberately ate my chocolate while pretending not to pay attention to him.

Adel watched me quietly for a moment before turning his gaze away, as though he couldn’t shake off his guilt.

For a while, neither of us said anything.

We simply let time pass in silence.

Yet it wasn’t uncomfortable or awkward.

I leaned comfortably against the sofa, while Adel did his best not to look at me.

After a while, Adel began reading a book altogether.

It was a peaceful afternoon.

I yawned and lowered my head slightly.

And I don’t know how many minutes passed.

“Mmm…”

After sleepily mumbling to myself, I suddenly realized that this wasn’t my home and jolted upright.

“Gasp! Did I fall asleep?!”

I hurriedly rubbed around my mouth.

Th-Thank goodness I hadn’t drooled.

Adel, who had been sitting across from me, smiled.

“I was going to move you to a bed, but I thought you might wake up, so I left you there.”

“You should have woken me.”

“You were sleeping so peacefully.”

I unnecessarily wiped my mouth once more.

Even while talking to me, Adel was writing something on a sheet of paper.

No.

It looked more like he was drawing.

Curious, I moved over to sit beside Adel.

Then I saw what he had been working on and gasped in admiration.

“You can draw too?”

“Well, that…”

Adel looked down at the paper with a bitter smile.

I blinked.

Adel had been sketching the face of a woman with long, flowing hair.

It was obvious he had put a great deal of effort into it, which made me feel slightly embarrassed.

“Is this me?”

“I’m sorry. I drew it without thinking.”

I stopped Adel when he tried to put the paper away.

Then, with an unusually firm, commanding tone, I said,

“Raise the bridge of the nose.”

“What?”

“My nose isn’t that flat.”

I said it so fiercely that I looked ready to hit him, and Adel obediently corrected the sketch.

“……How about this?”

Only then did I smile.

“Perfect. As expected, my beauty shines even in a mere sketch.”

Whatever he thought of my sincerity, Adel suddenly burst into laughter.

“Yes. Anastasia is beautiful.”

For the first time, he smiled brightly.

My eyes!