YDPTB Chapter 72

My uncle, who had been waiting at the door, grabbed my shoulder and hastily pushed me out of the apartment. Living on the first floor, I didn’t even need to take the elevator before finding myself left alone on the hard asphalt. Feeling dazed, I stood there blankly for a moment before opening my bag. The round bird was rolling around inside.

“Sorry, you must have been startled.”

Peep!

I reached in and took the bird out. The small bird glared at me before suddenly turning its back. Then, as if taunting me, it wiggled its plump bottom from side to side and relieved itself with warm liquid. And that wasn’t all. Before I could even process what had happened, it flapped its wings vigorously and soared high into the sky.

“Wait!”

Peek!

Crying out loudly as if saying goodbye, the bird flew away in an instant, leaving no trace behind.

“Huh…”

I watched its departure with a sense of emptiness before lowering my head. On my hand was the poop the bird had left as a parting gift. It seemed like revenge for putting it in the bag when it had been behaving so well. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that there would come a day when I’d politely receive bird droppings with both hands.

“Haha…”

I burst into laughter at the absurd situation. Since I couldn’t go back home, I had to go to the park in this state to wash up. I walked down the street with my hands carefully raised, taking small steps.

I thought I would never see the bird again after it left me with that big poop. However, as soon as I opened my bedroom door after school, I had to retract that thought. The bird was lying on my soft blanket, trying to sleep as if it belonged there.

Pee-yuk.

“…You’re crazy.”

The tiny bird was smart enough to squeeze through the gap in my room’s window. I cautiously approached and poked its fluffy-looking belly. Seemingly annoyed, it flapped its wings, swatting my hand away sharply before peacefully going back to sleep. What a peculiar bird.

“Did you come because you’re hungry?”

I asked softly, though the sleeping bird probably couldn’t hear me. As expected, there was no response. Remembering that I had read somewhere that animals often return for food, I got up from my seat. I should bring the leftover boiled eggs from yesterday.

As I turned around and opened the door, taking one step out, my surroundings suddenly changed to pitch-black darkness.

Feeling a chill run down my spine, I hunched my shoulders and looked around. It was complete darkness, nothing visible. Swallowing hard, I slowly moved forward. Somehow, this feeling seemed familiar, so I wasn’t too afraid to keep going.

After walking for a while, a large, ornate double door appeared. That’s when I remembered – I was staying at the Barthes Duchy.

I stared blankly at the door in front of me before cautiously reaching out. As the heavy door opened, bright white light poured in, enveloping my entire body.

For some reason, my body felt heavy and I wanted to rest a bit more, but the gaze I felt at my bedside forced me to open my eyes. My eyelids, slowly opening, blinked several times at the bright light before closing again.

“Mmm.”

I turned my stiff body, which had been lying straight, to the side. Judging by the light flickering over my closed eyelids, it seemed to be midday. Sigh… I let out a deep internal sigh and fully opened my lazy eyelids. What I saw was neither a large door nor a wide wall, but Karhan.

“Uh…”

What’s this? Did I see wrong? I slowly raised my hand from under the blanket and rubbed my eyes. The vision didn’t disappear. I must not be fully awake yet. Yawn, I let out a slow yawn and lowered my hand. …Karhan was still there.

I froze with my mouth wide open, still in the middle of yawning. As I stood there stupidly, Karhan reached out and touched my cheek.

“Did you sleep well? The three days of Atlena have passed safely.”

“Ah.”

Right. That’s good. But… why is Karhan lying on my bed? As I just stared with wide eyes, Karhan’s lips curved into a cool smile.

“Lunch will be ready soon, so stay in bed a bit longer.”

He gently pinched my cheek before getting up. As Karhan got off the bed, it shook significantly.

I tilted to the side for a moment, but since I was neither as small nor as round as a bird, I quickly regained my position. As I was feeling proud of myself, Karhan, who had turned to leave, stopped and leaned down to press his lips firmly on top of my head. I felt the soft sensation distinctly on my hard forehead.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

Saying that, he leisurely left the room. With the click of the door closing, a whirlwind of confusion swept through my head and chest.

“No… no? What’s going on?”

Why did he kiss my forehead? No, before that, why was he lying next to me while I was sleeping?

With my mind in turmoil, I turned my gaze to look out the window. The dark sky had disappeared, and a large sun was high in the sky. As I stared blankly at the warm sunlight streaming through the curtains, I remembered what had happened just before I fell asleep.

As if someone had pressed the play button, an embarrassing video began to play in my head against my will.

“Aack!”

I screamed in agony and covered my face with a pillow. Then I frantically shook my legs under the blanket. Roll once to the right, roll once to the left. I twisted and shook my body frantically.

When I was finally out of breath, I stopped moving, like a dead person.

“Between close friends… this must be normal, right?”

Karhan had clearly said so. Because we’re friends, he would help. How could we call ourselves close if we couldn’t help each other with something like this? In other words, in this world, it’s natural for close friends to help each other in this way.

Honestly, I couldn’t quite grasp it. I hadn’t had many genuinely close friends, so I wasn’t sure if this was normal for friendships in this world…

I felt that what happened in the middle of the night was only possible because I wasn’t in my right mind due to the sudden fever of Atlena’s three days. If I were asked to do it again right now, I would run out of this room crying. Recalling the sensations I felt in the intimate darkness of night made my face burn hot.

“But why did he kiss me?”

Let’s say it’s okay for friends to sleep in the same bed. That could happen. Even when Asmil visited the mansion before, he slept in the same bed with Karhan a few times. The bed was so large that two men could lie comfortably. But what’s the meaning of kissing my forehead?

I lifted my head from the pillow. I raised my hand and lightly rubbed my forehead.

“Is it because I suffered through the three days of Atlena, so he’s saying I did well?”

This was the first time I had received such active affection, so I felt a bit shy. It was like treating a baby, but I didn’t particularly dislike it. At least it wasn’t like treating an animal.

I smiled lightly and got up. I carefully walked to the window and opened it, taking a deep breath. As the fresh air filled my lungs, it felt real that I had safely passed through the three days of Atlena.

Whether it was because Karhan’s blood was truly effective, I didn’t experience the extreme pain like last time. And the fishy taste of blood was less noticeable than I expected.

“I’m really not a vampire… or a blood-sucking bird, right?”

It wasn’t delicious, but there was a somewhat sweet taste at the end. I kind of wanted to try drinking it while in my right mind. But I couldn’t bite, tear, and taste Karhan for my own selfish desires. I shouldn’t hurt his beautiful body.

As I was lost in thought, there was a knock on the door. A servant peeked through the carefully opened door and said,

“Sir Doel has come to visit.”

Doel? What’s the matter? I nodded, and the door opened as Doel slowly entered, carrying a silver tray. It seemed he had taken it from the meal servant.

It felt like I hadn’t seen him in a while, probably because the three days of Atlena had ended. He looked brighter than when we used to meet frequently, perhaps having adapted to the training.

“Doel, what brings you here?”

A smile bloomed on my face from the joy of seeing him. As I got off the bed and sat in a chair at the table, Doel skillfully set down the dishes and spoke.

“I came quickly because it’s just the busy time.”

“Busy time?”

“I mean a certain superior who interferes with me is busy.”

I’m not quite sure, but since it’s someone who interferes with Doel, it must mean a bad person is busy? That’s good. No matter where you work, superiors are always the problem. I thought such bad people didn’t exist in the duchy, but it seems Karhan made a mistake in hiring. I made a mental note to prod him about it later when I had the chance, nodding my head slightly.

Doel sat in the chair opposite me and gazed intently at my face. His night-colored eyes took in my quietly seated form. Perhaps because of the deep color of his eyes, my white-haired reflection was quite clearly visible.

As I looked into his eyes, a strange thought suddenly occurred to me. I haven’t met many people, but in this world, it seems that looking directly into someone’s eyes is considered polite. Everyone maintained unwavering eye contact.

At that moment, his night-colored eyes curved gently, showing a hint of a smile. Feeling as if I’d been caught in my wandering thoughts, I quickly reached for my cup. My mouth felt dry, having just woken up. As I tilted my chin to drink the water, Doel’s lips parted slightly.

“During the three days of Atlena, did you─”

“Cough, cough!”

The sudden question caused the water I was gulping down to flow back, spilling onto my chin. Even though it was clearly an innocent question, the events on the bed kept flashing through my mind. Calm down. Calm down. It’s just friends helping each other, right? Doel probably thinks it’s no big deal. That’s how it must be here.

Doel, looking as surprised as I was, picked up a napkin from beside him and wiped my moist lips.

“S-sorry. I just suddenly choked.”

“No, it’s okay. I shouldn’t have spoken while you were drinking.”

Kindly, Doel took the blame for what just happened to spare me from embarrassment. I cleared my throat and managed to pull up the corners of my mouth as I spoke.

“I was a bit sick that day, so I lay down for a while.”

“You were sick?”

“Yeah. My constitution isn’t very good…”

Although I tried my best to clear my throat before speaking, once choked, my voice didn’t return to normal. It kept trembling slightly. Doel’s eyebrows furrowed into a frown, clearly imagining something. He didn’t say anything, but it was obvious he felt sorry for me, so I shook my head lightly and opened my mouth.

“Doel. Do you have someone you like?”

Of course, I had promised myself not to view the people around me as mere characters in a book, but I asked out of concern since it was a matter of life and death. So, my heart should be full of hope for their happiness, but strangely, I felt something catching in my throat. Maybe it’s because I choked earlier… I rubbed my solar plexus area, and it seemed to go down.

Anyway, it was okay if they weren’t in any kind of relationship yet. After experiencing these three days of Atlena, I felt like I could endure for quite a while longer.