Episode 14
02. The Reason I Hate You
Correction.
It wasn’t acting.
“It hurts so much…”
I groaned, twisting my body. The blanket that someone had carefully covered me with got crumpled, but I didn’t have the energy to care.
Was it because it had been so long since I’d last had an injury like this?
Or was it because exhaustion had piled up?
I wasn’t sure exactly why, but my whole body ached.
It felt as if someone had beaten me for hours—muscle pain flared up all over, and my fever was so high that I was on the verge of losing consciousness.
“Ugh…”
I’m thirsty.
I barely managed to lift my heavy eyelids and reached out, assuming there would be water on the bedside table.
“Here.”
At that moment, someone placed a cool glass of water in my hand.
I drank it down greedily without even opening my eyes properly.
“Ah… I feel alive.”
“You don’t look it yet. You still look like you’re dying.”
Hearing that response, I blinked several times.
There was only one person who would say something so unlucky.
Lu.
Still lying down, I turned only my eyes to look at him.
Perched on a chair beside the bed, he looked as neat and composed as ever.
“How long have you been here?”
“For quite some time.”
“So, you just got here.”
“Why don’t you ever believe what I say?”
Lu pouted and grumbled, but I ignored him. Instead, I glanced out the window. The sky was pitch black.
“At least it’s still night. I must have slept for about half a day?”
I had returned home in the afternoon, and now it was night, so it seemed a reasonable amount of time had passed.
“Charles.”
But Lolu’s voice sounded a little off. I looked at him again.
“It’s been three days.”
“…Huh?”
“You’ve been sleeping for three whole days. Groaning in pain the entire time.”
“…Me?”
“Yes. You, Charles.”
No wonder my body felt so stiff!
Of course, I’d be sore after lying in bed for three days straight!
Finally realizing the dull ache in my back, I shook my head.
“No way. Was I really that sick?”
“Yes.”
Lu continued.
“The physician said it’s probably from overwork. Your body wasn’t in a normal state, and then you got injured on top of that. It couldn’t handle it.”
Tilting his head, he looked down at me.
“But did you even work enough to overexert yourself?”
This bastard…
“Just being around you is exhausting for me.”
“Oh dear. Such a hurtful thing to say.”
Lu chuckled and shrugged.
“Would you like something to eat?”
“No. I want to sleep a little more.”
“All right. Rest is important.”
Now that he mentioned overwork, my body somehow felt even heavier.
Might as well take this chance to rest properly.
With that thought, I turned onto my side, hugging a pillow between my legs.
…But something felt off.
Lu wasn’t leaving.
“Why aren’t you going?”
“Me?”
“Yeah. I just said I was going to sleep. Shouldn’t you leave?”
Lu stared at me intently.
As if he had heard something unbelievable—or as if he didn’t understand my words at all.
“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“If you were just sleeping peacefully, I would’ve left already.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Charles, do you know that you scream in your sleep?”
“…Me?!”
Startled, I jerked up into a sitting position. But Lu remained as calm as ever.
“Yes. You don’t just scream—you thrash around, too.”
That can’t be!
“You’re lying!”
“Believe it or not, that’s up to you. But I have a duty to stay by your side until you fall into a deep sleep.”
Lu crossed his long legs as he spoke.
“That way, the servants won’t get suspicious.”
“…”
This was incredibly embarrassing.
Screaming in my sleep?
He’s lying… right?
But what would Lu even gain from lying about something like this?
“Then…”
I hesitated before asking carefully.
“What do you do when I scream?”
A slow, knowing smile curled at Lu’s lips.
As if he was hiding something. Or teasing me.
“That’s…”
Leaning toward me slightly, Lu smirked.
“A secret.”
This bastard.
“You…! You’re just messing with me—!”
Right at that moment—
The door burst open.
Mardi entered the room, holding a bowl of water and a towel in her hands.
“Oh my goodness…!”
As soon as she saw me, she gasped and trembled.
Quickly setting down the items she was carrying, she rushed over to us.
“My lady! Master, if she had woken up, you should have told me! Why didn’t you call anyone and just sit there?!”
Mardi raised a hand as if she were about to smack Lu’s back, then grabbed my hand instead.
“My lady… Oh, how much pain you must have been in…”
Huh?
“You must have suffered so much. You must have been so scared. My lady… You’re not someone who should have to endure such pain.”
Huhhh??
“This is no time for chit-chat. I’ll go fetch the physician. Please, just stay awake for a moment—just a moment, all right?”
Mardi rambled on, saying everything she wanted to say, then immediately left the room.
I stared blankly at the empty space she had occupied before turning my head toward Lou.
“Is it just me, or is Mardi acting even more dramatic than usual today?”
“It’s not just you.”
“No, but why?”
Lu crossed his legs the other way and blinked slowly.
“Well, someone had to wash you while you were unconscious.”
“Right?”
“It seems Mardi saw your scars while washing you.”
Unconsciously, I wrapped my arms around myself.
My arms, back, chest, stomach, and legs were covered in countless scars. Most were knife wounds, though some were from gunshots.
“So, she must have made her own assumptions about your past. That you must have gone through a lot of rough situations to end up with scars like that.”
I couldn’t say I didn’t understand.
Anyone normal would be shocked to see my scars.
But was it really something to make such a fuss over? I didn’t quite get it.
“And?”
I tilted my head as I asked.
“I understand that she made some guesses about my past, but what’s the big deal?”
“It means she’s worried about you.”
“…”
I frowned instinctively. It didn’t make sense to me.
“Why?”
“What do you mean, why?”
Lu looked at me with a face that said he found my reaction even more incomprehensible than I found Mardi’s.
“Are you saying you don’t understand why Mardi is worried about you?”
“Yeah.”
I continued.
“They’re just scars. It means the wounds are already healed. I’m not in pain right now. So why worry about it?”
“She’s worried about the past that left those scars. She feels sorry for what you must have gone through.”
That was a first.
Feeling sorry for my past?
Had I really lived such a difficult life that I was worthy of someone’s pity?
…No.
Compared to others, my life wasn’t hard.
Even if I spent my entire childhood undergoing brutal training, constantly hovering between life and death…
Even if I nearly died more times than I could count during missions…
Even if I had to spend my entire life deceiving people…
That still didn’t mean my life was hard.
In fact, thanks to Baylor, I had lived in abundance.
Hadn’t Baylor himself said so?
— You were nothing, and I took you in. Consider it a stroke of luck.
That was right.
Being chosen by Baylor was the greatest fortune of my life.
So, I had no right to complain about hardship—nor any reason to.
• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •By Esraa• ❁ • ❁ • ❁ •
If you want to support the translation and the translator, you can buy a coffee~
