Chapter 64 : The Non-Living Being
“It’s already 7 o’clock.”
At the sound of the second hand striking the hour, Michael nodded to where the clock was hanging.
‘That’s right. When did three hours pass…? I didn’t even realize how much time had passed.’
Before I knew it, a reddish sunset had set outside the window. It seemed like it hadn’t been long since I’d been here, but a day had already passed.
‘I’ve been here too long. I was just going to take a quick look around and leave.’
It was time to go back.
‘I was busy. Liliana and Lazvette came to visit in the morning, and I was with Michael all afternoon.’
I was exhausted and lethargic. I didn’t want Michael to see me looking disheveled.
I thought I’d end up being a spoiled brat if I stayed longer, and there was nothing more annoying than that.
“I should go now. Michael.”
“Do you have a separate schedule? I was going to ask you to have dinner together.”
Michael expressed regret. Then he suggested that they stay together a little longer while eating dinner.
“No, that’s not it… I’m just a little tired. Let’s eat next time we meet.”
“Were you tired? I didn’t know. I should have noticed it sooner.”
The long corners of his eyes drooped down.
‘This is exactly how….’
He felt a little weak and almost wavered, but he quickly pulled himself together.
“Then I’ll go. Can you lend me a carriage?”
“I can just take you back right away like I did when I came. It takes about an hour to get to the Duke of Winchester if you take the carriage.”
Michael held out his hand. He meant that he was going to go straight to the Duke of Winchester, so grab it.
“I want to see where the road to the castle is, and if I go back right now, I think I’ll run into an unpleasant face. It’d be better if I go back later.”
I didn’t have the confidence to let out my emotions that I hadn’t properly resolved on the person who had caused them.
Even though my condition had improved because Michael was with me, the shock I felt toward Melody had not yet subsided.
I wanted to be alone and sort out my complicated thoughts.
“Estelle. Do you… hate being with me?”
Her intention was really to avoid seeing Melody, but Michael misunderstood.
“No, I don’t hate it. How could that be?”
She was embarrassed.
“Even if you told me to eat dinner and go, I promised to meet you next time, so should I have just held your hand?”
Since she had already refused once, she should have been a little more considerate and spoken to him.
“…Okay. I’ll have the carriage prepared. Please forget what I just said. It was a slip of the tongue.”
Michael, perhaps offended, stopped making further suggestions and left the living room.
“Really, that wasn’t the case….”
As she watched his back without looking back, she felt a sense of emptiness.
“Why am I like this?”
The loneliness that suddenly came was probably just a natural emotion that came when she was left alone.
“Let’s not rely on it. We’ll be left alone someday anyway.”
Even if they didn’t get a divorce, they might end up living apart.
‘It’s okay. It’s okay. If you keep doing this, what are you going to do later?’
Considering it as practice for that day, Estelle sorted out the residue in her mind.
* * *
Estelle even refused to see him off.
Michael sat by the window and watched the carriage she was riding leave.
‘Did I do something wrong?’
He recalled the conversation he had with her just a moment ago.
There was some light joking, and he just told her it was 7 o’clock.
He then suddenly became quiet, so he suggested that she eat with him. However, Estelle got up, saying that they would meet again next time. He also said that he was uncomfortable with the idea of taking her there, and said it was okay.
She said she didn’t hate it. However, Estelle was the type of person who couldn’t honestly give a negative answer.
It was clear that she had pretended not to know for him.
‘What did I do wrong?’
She said she was tired, but I held on to her?
‘Or are you embarrassed to be with me?’
Estelle was happy. It was hard to figure out where on earth she had made her mood worse.
Feeling frustrated, he took out a cigarette from inside his jacket and put it in his mouth. He lit the cigarette with a match and soon white smoke rose.
Estelle hated the smell of cigarettes, so he had stopped smoking for a few days before going to see her.
‘Was it wrong to go to see her without contacting her in the first place? Did I force her to come when she didn’t want to?’
He took the smoke in his mouth, pushed it deep into his lungs, and slowly exhaled. He repeated this several times.
Soon, the room was filled with smoke. Usually, his thirst would be quenched by this point, but his throat was still dry.
It was the worst. He roughly brushed the ash away and lit a new cigarette.
“I asked you not to smoke indoors.”
It was Sebas’s voice. When he appeared to Estelle, he had looked like an old man, but now he had changed into a young man. It was already annoying, but when he found that face that was annoying just by looking at it, his nerves were doubled.
“Get out.”
Sebas. On the surface, he was the butler who managed this castle, but he wasn’t human.
He couldn’t even be considered a living being. He was a monster that simply existed, created by Michael’s divine power.
Sebas had tried several times to intercept Michael’s body. In the end, when he realized that it wouldn’t work, he simply laid down flat and submitted.
“You haven’t smoked in the past few days, so I thought you would finally quit. I’m worried that you’ll die young.”
The way he used formal language that he didn’t normally use and kept nagging was disgusting. The butler’s appearance of being loyal was nothing more than a pretense.
“You’re probably worried that if I die young, you won’t be able to take my body.”
“You still have a lot of doubts. Didn’t I tell you that I wouldn’t try that anymore?”
“What do I trust you with? Get out of here quickly. I don’t want to breathe the same air as you.”
“Don’t you know that I’m not a being that breathes air?”
If you want to get out, just get out. You must have added something unnecessary.
Michael threw the ashtray. Sebas knew it, and skillfully dodged it, grumbling.
“You’re being violent.”
“Get out.”
“Oh, are you angry? Next time, I will not avoid you and will face you. But, Your Majesty, do you know? I can’t feel pain, so it’s no use.”
Michael gave up on dealing with Sebas. He couldn’t kill him even if he wanted to, and he wouldn’t go away even if he told him to.
He felt like the only one who kept reacting and getting angry was the one who was getting stupid. Michael turned his head and put his cigarette in his mouth again.
“What are you looking at? The lady has been gone for a long time.”
“….”
“Oh my, are you already deaf? Hmm. I’m bored, so I want to go see the lady and tell her that Your Majesty is persecuting me.”
Michael still kept his gaze out the window, and slowly opened his lips.
“If anything happens to Estelle, I will seal you with my divine power. I will bind you forever so that you won’t disappear even if I die.”
“You’re kidding. You don’t have much divine power left. You’re going to use it to seal me?”
“I wonder if I can do it or not?”
The only thing Sebas feared was being tied up. Sebas, who was not alive and could not die, hated being tied up more than anything.
It was only a moment to Michael, but Sebas, who was tied up in the time he died, confessed that it was a shock he never wanted to experience again.
“What a personality.”
“What?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
From then on, he became obedient whenever this topic was brought up.
“Does that mean I’m deaf?”
“I guess my tongue has grown longer as I’ve gotten older, Your Majesty.”
“Funny. You’ve gotten older? You’re bound by time, so even if I die, you can’t die.”
Sebas pushed the teacup off the table without saying anything.
“It was worth reading your memories. I didn’t know you’d almost finish it.”
Looking at Estelle’s cup, he mumbled in a satisfied tone.
“You read Estelle’s memories? Didn’t I warn you not to do that?”
Sebas had a bad habit of reading other people’s memories. It was no different from controlling their minds and entering their heads.
“I had no bad intentions. I was originally going to serve you the tea you like, but after that incident, I just felt bad because she doesn’t like hot things.”
“That?”
“Didn’t your wife die while drinking hot tea in her second life?”
