Chapter 10
Was the word special really that embarrassing?
What an innocent young man.
The ability to recharge mana was an extremely rare power, something that was hard to find anywhere.
In fact, calling him special almost felt insufficient. To me, he was an unbelievable stroke of luck.
“You’re like a four-leaf clover. A tall, ridiculously handsome four-leaf clover. Because you’re my good luck.”
As I met his eyes and smiled brightly, the corners of his lips twitched, as if they were about to lift into a smile.
How amusing.
For someone destined to become a villain—someone ruined by a curse and unable to receive even the heroine’s love, eventually twisting into darkness—he was surprisingly innocent.
So this is what Blake was originally like.
I still didn’t know everything about him, but one thing I had already discovered was that he was much more embarrassed by compliments than he appeared.
“Right now, you’re the source of my strength. You’re the only one who fills me up.”
“I get it, so… could you stop moving your mouth for a second?”
He abruptly covered my mouth with his palm.
I wriggled my lips against his large, pale hand, and though he quickly pulled it away, the gesture had felt surprisingly natural.
Judging from his behavior, he seemed a little less guarded than yesterday.
Rolling my eyes mischievously, I asked with a meaningful smile,
“So, Blake. Do you think you can trust me a little now?”
“No.”
The cold answer came immediately.
“Why? Do you still think I’m some sinister object created by a wizard? Or what was it again?”
“A magical beast.”
“Right! Do I still look like some magical beast to you?”
“…Not that. But you could be a spy sent by another family, or by a cartel hostile to me, to kill—”
He abruptly stopped speaking.
Apparently, even he realized how absurd it sounded.
After all, what kind of assassin would end up sprawled across a bed, fast asleep?
And after being hugged in his sleep and spending the entire night there, it was even harder to insist on that theory.
“…Anyway, you’re suspicious.”
“I keep telling you, I’m not suspicious!”
Or was I?
Now that I thought about it, witches probably were suspicious.
Blake had never lived in an era with portals, so naturally the existence of witches would seem strange to him.
To someone like him, I really was an odd, mysterious, bizarre being.
Once I admitted it to myself, I felt much better.
Crossing my arms, I nodded.
“Come to think of it, maybe I am suspicious. A witch sounds like something straight out of a fairy tale. Right? Are you scared of me?”
“Not at all.”
His gaze lingered on my round nose as he answered.
“So you don’t feel like killing me right this second?”
“If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it already. Whether you kept babbling about being able to put me to sleep or not.”
“Then why haven’t you killed me?”
“That’s…”
At that moment, a light knock interrupted our conversation.
Knock, knock.
“Young Master. It’s Ronald. I apologize for coming so early, but I wanted to check if you were all right. While walking through the garden, I noticed that the window of your room was open…”
At those words, Blake’s gaze shifted toward the wide-open window.
He silently watched the curtains fluttering in the breeze before slowly rising to his feet.
When he personally opened the door, an older man with graying hair—apparently a butler—looked him over anxiously.
“I rushed over because I thought something might be wrong. Since that window has never been opened before, it seemed rather unusual…”
“There’s no problem.”
“Then that is truly a relief.”
Letting out a sigh of relief, Ronald moved on to his next matter.
“Oh, and today is the day Crown Prince Edwin said he would visit personally. Word has come that he will arrive shortly, and the preparations in the reception room have all been completed.”
“…I see.”
By the time the door closed again and I looked back at Blake, he was already straightening his clothes.
Just moments ago he had seemed shocked and overwhelmed, but his recovery speed was impressive.
After finishing his preparations in an instant, he glanced at me and gave what sounded like a warning—or perhaps advice.
“Stay in the room. I have to go greet a disgusting human. After that, we’ll talk more. I need to know what you are and where you came from.”
“Okay, okay.”
Wait.
Before Blake left, there had definitely been something I wanted to tell him.
What was it?
I rolled my eyes desperately.
Ah, what was it? I definitely had something important to say!
“…I told you to stay still.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“…It would be nice if you at least pretended to listen.”
Still looking unconvinced after our short conversation, Blake finally disappeared.
Thud.
The door closed behind him.
The moment I was alone, I jumped up and smacked my forehead.
I remembered!
Blake had a bird’s nest on his head.
I needed to tell him that, but he had already left.
“Well, it can’t be helped.”
Had he said he was meeting someone important?
The older man at the door had mentioned a name, but his voice had been so quiet that I hadn’t caught it.
Whatever.
Someone would surely tell him.
There was no way everyone would just leave it alone.
More importantly, now that Blake had gone to take care of his business, maybe it was time for me to prepare to go out.
His instruction not to leave the room had long since vanished from my mind.
Blake had told me to stay put, but—
“Of course not. How could I possibly stay still?”
The weather outside was beautiful.
The human world I had returned to after two hundred years was astonishingly vibrant with spring.
Blake might not know it, but after already having a conversation with Eren, I wasn’t afraid anymore.
I couldn’t waste an opportunity like this.
Setting out on an adventure was a privilege reserved for the brave.
Even if I had arrived in the human world by accident, I intended to enjoy it thoroughly before going back.
“Ugh… heave-ho. So heavy.”
I gathered up the books sitting on the small table beside the bed and stacked about five of them in front of the door, grunting all the while.
Finally, I could reach the doorknob.
Click.
The door slid open.
Cheering internally, I quickly slipped out of the room.
***
“You said His Highness Crown Prince Edwin would arrive by nine. There are only about ten minutes left now. I naturally assumed you would already be in the reception room, Young Master, but when I saw your bedroom window open, I was quite startled.”
“…”
There was no reply.
But Ronald, as always, continued faithfully following behind Blake.
The servants they passed in the hallway bowed politely as they greeted them.
Ronald was Blake’s personal butler, the one who served him most closely.
He had remained by Blake’s side from his cheerful, kind childhood to his current position as the taciturn heir of the LeBlanc family.
As a result, there was very little he didn’t know about Blake.
And right now, he sensed an unusual liveliness in the young man’s back.
Blake’s gait, usually slow and elegant, was noticeably faster today.
He even kept glancing back toward the doors they passed.
What’s going on?
Watching his unexpectedly energetic figure, Ronald tilted his head.
Mornings were usually difficult for Blake.
Whenever the chatter of servants echoed through the halls, making it obvious he had spent another sleepless night, Blake would let out a deep sigh and begin his day as he always did.
The concepts of a beginning and end to the day hardly applied to him.
Whenever exhaustion overwhelmed him, he would sometimes place a book over his face and try to sleep.
Yet he always woke up looking utterly worn out.
Blake had never been particularly talkative.
And when he did speak, most of his words were blunt remarks that slipped out unfiltered.
Which is why people misunderstand him so often.
His cold and quiet personality, combined with the unstable environment in which he grew up, had created a terribly unfortunate image.
Ronald couldn’t help feeling pity.
If not for the curse, his young master might have lived a truly happy life.
Today won’t be easy for him either.
He hadn’t slept, and now he had to deal with Crown Prince Edwin.
Poor Young Master.
To make matters worse, neither the head of the LeBlanc family nor the adorable young master Eren was currently at the estate.
The atmosphere felt especially gloomy.
…Though, to be fair, the family head’s personality wasn’t much different from Blake’s.
And Eren—the mischievous younger master who could occasionally coax a smile from Blake—had left for a monastery yesterday to pray for the blessing of peaceful sleep.
He must be exhausted after returning from the war and immediately dealing with all this.
As Ronald watched Blake with sympathy filling his heart, something caught his eye.
A strange tuft of hair stuck up on the back of Blake’s head, as though it had been flattened by something.
What was that?
…A bird’s nest?
It looked as though a magpie might swoop down at any moment and proudly announce,
“Welcome home! This is our nest!”
A messy cluster of hair stood proudly atop Blake’s head.
Startled, Ronald rubbed his eyes repeatedly, forgetting all dignity.
But even after rubbing them, it was still there.
It was unmistakably a bird’s nest.
Why on earth does the Young Master have that on his head?
Had he somehow fallen asleep on a sofa and not noticed his hair sticking up?
But Blake rarely lay down long enough for his hair to become flattened like that.
It was an exceedingly suspicious sight.
That bird’s nest looked like the glorious proof of someone who had enjoyed a wonderfully deep and satisfying sleep.
