By Zephyria 
“Cas— Count, sir.”
“Right, right.”
Cassian nodded absently as Bliss, who had nearly made a mistake, hurriedly changed his words. He probably didn’t hear it, right? Bliss watched him anxiously, but the Count simply entered the room and closed the door behind him.
“Are you alright? Goodness, your face is pale.”
With a short click of his tongue, Cassian placed the medicine directly into Bliss’s palm and handed him a glass of water.
“Here, take this.”
“Th-thank you.”
He watched in silence as Bliss hurriedly swallowed the medicine and gulped down the water. Only after Bliss let out a long sigh of relief, his face still ghostly pale, did Cassian finally speak.
“You’ll feel better in a moment.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Bliss repeated the same words as before, still frowning and thumping his chest. Cassian sat beside him on the edge of the bed and rubbed his back. Thanks to that, Bliss felt his digestion slowly returning. After taking a deep breath, Bliss let out a loud burp.
“Burp.”
His eyes widened as he turned to look at Cassian.
“I think it went down!”
“Is that so? That’s a relief.”
At Cassian’s smiling words, Bliss felt a poignant tug in a corner of his heart. The savior who saved my life…! Clasping his hands together as if in prayer, he asked with glowing, flushed cheeks.
“How did you know? How did you know I had indigestion and come here?”
Now that the crisis had passed, curiosity flooded him. How did he happen to know and visit at just the right time? I didn’t say a word! How? How?
Seeing Bliss’s eyes full of expectation and questioning, a faint smile appeared on Cassian’s face.
“You looked uncomfortable throughout the meal, so I wondered.”
“I see!”
Bliss looked up at him, once again overcome with emotion. My goodness, how could he love me this much? To the point where he couldn’t take his eyes off me during the entire meal? I didn’t notice at all…!
Now is the time.
Suddenly, something flashed through his mind. Now was the moment. The perfect timing to reveal his identity and dump him. Then this guy would kneel and cling to him, crying…
But, do I really need to do it right now?
Another thought occurred to Bliss. He had just escaped a near-death experience. And hadn’t Cassian brought the medicine before he even had a chance to ask for help? Since his stomach felt so much better now, dumping the guy right now felt like a breach of ethics.
He felt a prick of conscience…
After hesitating for a moment, Bliss steadied his heart. Right, there are plenty of opportunities. This guy is already head-over-heels for me. It doesn’t have to be right now. I can do it tomorrow. Yes, there’s plenty of time.
Having made up his mind, Bliss looked up again. Just as his eyes met Cassian’s, he tilted his head with a beaming smile, as if asking if he had something to say. Bliss looked up at him, took a deep breath, and spoke.
“Thank you, Count. I feel much better now.”
He spoke in a much more modest tone, but his wide, goofy grin was full of openings. Seeing him smile with steak sauce still smeared on his cheek, Cassian almost burst into laughter.
“Cough, cough.”
He barely managed to avoid the crisis by pretending to cough, but he couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from curling upward. Covering his mouth with one hand, he managed to maintain a composed voice.
“You have sauce on your cheek.”
“I do?”
Bliss sat there blinking, showing no sign of embarrassment, as if such things happened all the time. Easily imagining Ashley Miller licking the sauce off his son’s cheek, Cassian rubbed Bliss’s cheek with his thumb.
Ah.
He paused for a moment at the sensation of the soft, supple skin. He had lived surrounded by all sorts of luxury goods since birth, but this was the first time he had experienced such a sweet sensation. Even though the sauce was gone, his hand remained on Bliss’s cheek, stroking it slowly, as if savoring it.
“Cas— Count?”
Bliss tilted his head in confusion. His slightly parted pink lips caught Cassian’s gaze. Cassian simply stared at him, frozen in place.
‘He’ll be incredibly beautiful once he grows a bit more.’
Edward’s words suddenly came to mind. Idiot, Bliss is already fully grown. How could he get any more beautiful than this? That moron, talking nonsense. He knows nothing about this guy.
This guy. This guy—
…is a peanut.
He suddenly snapped back to his senses. Bliss was still looking at him with a tilted head. The moment he realized what he had been thinking, Cassian immediately pulled his hand away. An awkward atmosphere flowed, but he ignored it and asked with a smile.
“By the way, why did you suddenly get indigestion? Was your stomach feeling unwell?”
At the sudden change of subject, Bliss blinked, coming back to his senses. What should I do? Should I be honest? I probably should, right? I can’t just keep waiting. Right, let’s tell him to postpone introducing me for a bit. If I go that far, I might disappoint the Duke and Duchess later.
Having made up his mind, Bliss cleared his throat and spoke with difficulty.
“Uh, well, I mean…”
Unable to find the words easily, he hesitated and glanced at Cassian before speaking.
“Actually, I was wondering when I would be introduced to the two of them. I got so nervous that I just…”
It was just as he was about to suggest, So, how about we do the introductions laaaaaater?
“What? Introduced?”
Cassian looked down at Bliss with a surprised expression. In that moment, Bliss realized something was wrong.
28.
The two simply looked at each other in silence. Unlike before, a strange tension filled the air, and Bliss swallowed hard.
“Introduce you? …Why?”
Cassian still looked unconvinced. The way he frowned while brushing back hair that hadn’t even fallen showed that he hadn’t considered such a situation at all.
Bliss was also flustered, blinking his eyes. You said you liked me! Then why did you bring me here? Why were you paying attention to me throughout the meal? Look, as proof, you even brought medicine when you knew I had indigestion…!
Ah, it’s that.
Bliss suddenly realized. Cassian’s reaction was the typical attitude of men who say, ‘I like you, but that’s all.’ In short, he had no intention of going any further with Bliss. Despite confessing his love and even kissing the back of his hand!
“Cowardly bastard.”
“Huh? What?”
Bliss muttered while gritting his teeth, but Cassian didn’t catch it. To the man looking down at him in confusion, Bliss replied as if nothing had happened.
“That’s for the best. I wasn’t mentally prepared yet, so I was worried you might introduce me.”
Despite speaking quite arrogantly with his chest puffed out, Cassian instead burst into laughter.
“Don’t worry, that won’t happen.”
He let out a cheerful laugh and even shook his head, as if the idea were absurd. But Bliss did not laugh. With a lingering smile on his face, Cassian picked up the tray, stood up from the bed, and asked.
“You’re all better now, right? Then get some rest, I’ll be going.”
Bliss didn’t answer. He simply watched the man’s back as he left the room, and once he was alone, he flopped back onto the bed.
Right, I was planning to dump him anyway.
In the end, things turned out as he wanted, but he didn’t know why his heart felt so empty. Clearly, the one who likes me is that guy, and I have no interest in a jerk like him.
“It’s probably because my stomach is empty,” Bliss muttered aloud. It was only because the indigestion had cleared and his stomach was empty. Tomorrow, I’ll ask them to prepare some snacks for times like this.
With that resolve, he closed his eyes. However, the emptiness in his heart wouldn’t easily fill, and Bliss spent a long time tossing and turning in bed.