Chapter 4
“…….”
When he clenched his hand, I took a step back, smiling awkwardly.
“Sorry…….”
“…….”
He kept his head down, gripping the fork tightly with his reddened hand, and began twirling the pasta.
The noodles looked springy and perfect on the outside.
It looked delicious.
I could feel Dedrick sneaking glances at me.
“Is it awkward? Should I just crawl into the closet?”
Instead of answering, he hesitated with the fork full of noodles mid-air, looking unsure.
He seemed worried as if it might be poisoned.
“Are you hesitant because you’re worried it’s poisoned, but you feel bad about making me test it? Don’t feel bad! If I go into the closet, I recover quickly.”
As I babbled on, he blinked slowly, then cautiously extended the fork toward me.
“For me to eat?”
He gave a small nod.
Before he could change his mind, I took a bite.
After chewing thoroughly, I declared, “No poison. It’s safe to eat now.”
Even after my assurance, Dedrick hesitated with the fork, unsure of what to do.
“Why? It’s really not poisoned.”
“…….”
He kept glancing between me and the fork before reluctantly twirling another bite and putting it in his mouth.
Watching him chew with puffed cheeks was adorable.
If I poked him, he’d probably glare at me.
So I quietly sat across from him.
Suddenly, a tomato was pushed toward me.
“Ah, to test if it’s poisoned again?”
That’s easy enough.
Chomp!
I grabbed the tomato with my mouth. Its squishy texture melted unpleasantly. Unable to hold back, I spit it out.
“Don’t eat this. It’s rotten.”
I knew it. It was suspicious that we had decent pasta today.
“If you’re hungry, let me know. I’ll borrow something from the kitchen.”
If I said I’d steal it, the righteous Dedrick would definitely disapprove.
“Okay?”
“…….”
Even after I showed up, Dedrick’s daily life didn’t change much.
He woke up early to study, and often endured verbal abuse from Somerset and Axel.
Sometimes, they even hit him. Whenever that happened, I’d slam the wardrobe door or throw things around, pretending to be a ghost to scare them off.
But…
“I can’t keep pretending to be a ghost forever.”
Seeing the fresh blue bruises bloom on Dedrick’s pale skin made my heart ache.
“At least, thanks to stopping his brothers, he doesn’t seem as wary of me anymore.”
Still, despite my attempts to chat with him, he never responded, just like when we first met.
He acted as though he was alone.
Occasionally, our eyes would meet, but he always quickly looked away.
“But I won’t give up!”
It’s been over two weeks since I revealed myself and started living with him. By now, he should be used to my presence. It’s time to get him to open up!
“How should I approach him this time?”
What did romance novel heroines usually do to get closer to the male lead?
Usually, they’d save him from danger or stick by his side…
“I’ve already been doing that!”
Maybe he hasn’t fully opened up because no major danger has occurred yet.
“What else could work?”
While pondering deeply, an idea suddenly struck me.
‘A keepsake!’
Male leads in stories often cherished keepsakes from their mothers, who usually passed away early. Dedrick was no different.
There was a necklace left behind by his mother, who had passed away in solitude at the tower.
Before Dedrick could retrieve it, the Duchess Delani had taken it and used it to torment him relentlessly.
If I could bring that necklace to him, it might win me at least a little favor.
“Let’s do it!”
Without hesitation, I decided to act and moved to Delani’s room via her closet.
After confirming no one was around, I carefully stepped out.
Usually, accessories were kept in the dressing room, but Delani had stored the necklace in her bedroom, fearing Dedrick might secretly take it.
“Though there’s really no need for that.”
Dedrick was so overwhelmed and timid that he couldn’t even claim ownership of his own belongings.
“Aside from trying to make him open up, I just feel so sorry for him.”
I felt a strong urge to bring it to him, no matter what.
“She should’ve kept it in the vanity drawer, right?”
When I opened the last drawer, I found a beautiful necklace adorned with a small pink diamond.
It perfectly matched the description of Dedrick’s mother’s necklace from the novel.
“This is it. His mother’s keepsake!”
I found it!
I needed to bring it to him right away.
As I reached out to grab the necklace…
Zap!
A tingling electric shock jolted through my body, not enough to kill me but enough to leave me paralyzed.
Sizzle…
With a faint burning smell, I collapsed. Somehow, I managed to close the drawer in my last conscious effort to hide the evidence.
Before losing consciousness, I cursed the novel.
“It didn’t say anything about an anti-theft spell….”
Whoosh!
The sensation of being forcibly summoned back to the closet was the last thing I felt before blacking out.
The girl, who usually sat in the wardrobe chattering away, had gone silent.
Though he tried not to be curious, but after more than four days of eerie silence, he couldn’t resist anymore.
He carefully opened the closet door.
Screeeech.
The faint smell of burning lingered as the wardrobe door opened, revealing singed clothes and charred hair.
When he noticed the unconscious girl inside, Deadrick’s face twisted in confusion.
‘…Could she be hurt?’
“Ugh…”
A soft groan escaped from her lips, making him flinch. Hastily, he shut the wardrobe door.
He didn’t know what was going on, but it was clear she had been up to something.
Today marked the tenth day of my efforts to get the necklace.
I stretched my stiff body with a groan.
No matter how many times I got zapped, I would never get used to it.
Luckily, I could recover quickly in the wardrobe. Every time I passed out and got dragged back inside, my singed clothes and hair would somehow restore themselves to their original state.
“Thank goodness I’m a wardrobe monster.”
Over the past ten days, I had made repeated attempts to grab the necklace, relying on the wardrobe’s miraculous recovery powers.
Zap!
“Aah!”
“It’s a ghost!”
At first, the people who saw the necklace acting out were terrified.
Zap!
“…There it goes again.”
“It must be broken.”
But as it kept happening, they grew indifferent.
“Perfect. Just as I planned.”
To make it seem like the anti-theft spell was broken, I intentionally triggered it over and over.
Sooner or later, they’d get annoyed and deactivate the spell. That would be my chance to steal the necklace and give it to Dedrick.
“Just wait a little longer, Didi!”
I flung open the wardrobe door. Deadrick flinched, his shoulders jumping in surprise.
“Did I scare you?”
“…….”
Still silent, as always.
I casually moved closer, hovering near him as he focused on his studies.
“I’m going to give you an amazing gift soon,” I hinted slyly.
“…….”
“Yes, I want something in return.”
“…….”
“Please, stop pretending I don’t exist…”
Pouring my sincerity into the words, I returned back to the wardrobe and shut the door.
In the now-quiet room, Dedrick hesitated for a moment before stepping toward the wardrobe and opening the door.
There was no one inside.
Lately, that had become a familiar sight.
Lately, it had been like this—she’d disappear for hours or even days, only to reappear completely unharmed, despite how badly injured she might’ve seemed before.
And today, she’d left him with a cryptic remark about some kind of gift before vanishing again.
“What is she up to now?”
A gift? What kind of gift?
Rather than feeling happy, suspicion crept into his mind.
Sighing, Dedrick closed the wardrobe door.
