LNU 74

I forced my head, which wouldn’t move, to turn around. The awkward movement was unnatural, like rusty scrap metal.

“Is there anything else you need?”

His soft tone and kind voice sounded more cheerful and lively than mine, as always.

Unbelievable. My lips, which wanted to scream, opened wide, but no sound came out. It was too shocking. It couldn’t be compared to Andrew’s change of attitude.

It was Allen…

Not just someone with a similar voice, not just someone else with the same name. The one who always made it his specialty to plunge me into the abyss of despair… The beloved ‘original’ of this Hamilton Count’s family, Allen Hamilton.

Beyond the shabby clothes and the stuffy bangs that covered his eyes, there would be a dreamlike, bright, and lovely face. It was definitely similar to mine, but the cursed face, which had an unbelievably different impression, would surely shine innocently and beautifully in this iteration as well.

Is this a dream? Yes, it must be a dream. Originally, the reason Allen returned to this mansion was to supplement the lack of manpower for the preparations for my nineteenth birthday party, wasn’t it? That couldn’t be. At least half a year was left. Why, why?

“Are you cold?”

Andrew casually stroked my shoulder, which wouldn’t stop trembling, with his palm. Allen’s eyes, which had simply been lowered politely after handing Andrew the clothes, clearly glanced at me for a very brief moment. I even had the illusion that his blue eyes were shining eerily beyond his long bangs.

Those blue eyes would be no different from Andrew’s eyes. Unlike my eyes, which had a noticeably dark light, whenever I faced those deep and transparent eyes, like well-cut royal sapphires, I would always realize. Ah, I can’t be a ‘real’ Hamilton after all. That is the real Hamilton’s legacy.

It felt like the blood wasn’t circulating in my hands and feet. It was so cold that it was numb. But I, who had been pierced by that short, sharp gaze, was still screaming silently and terrified.

“Ah.”

It was then. Unlike my lips, which were better suited to wearing a mocking sneer, a light exclamation flowed from the light pink lips that only knew how to chatter lovely words in a cute voice.

“This person is… Young Master Noah?”

The determination that I had gritted my teeth and vowed to take everything that Allen had this time, so that I could escape this tiresome cycle, crumbled like a sandcastle and scattered meaninglessly into the air. Learned fear and habitual lethargy swallowed my neck like an ancient curse. I reflexively shook my head and scratched my still smooth neck with my fingernails. It was the very spot where the slave’s mark had been branded with a red-hot iron in the last iteration.

“Noah!”

“Kehk, Keheuk, Keuk…”

Andrew seemed quite surprised by my sudden abnormal reaction. He strongly embraced my shoulders, which were trembling spasmodically, and forcefully grabbed my hands, which were scratching my bare skin until it bled.

Whether he thought that my inability to breathe properly and my self-harming behavior was the aftermath of his coercive actions, there was a desperate look on his shameless eyes, but Andrew’s feelings were not even worth worrying about for me right now.

“Damn it, Noah. It’s okay, breathe. Noah. Noah!”

While trapped in Andrew’s arms, with my lips gaping in shock, my gaze was fixated on the nightmare that had suddenly appeared. My long-time nightmare, my curse, and, though I hated to admit it, a slight longing, didn’t seem to be greatly shaken as he took in the pathetic appearance of the Young Master he would have to serve.

“Call a doctor right now, quickly!”

“Yes, I understand.”

Andrew’s desperate shouts, as if the sky had fallen, and Allen’s calm answer and slow turn, scattered my vision in a dizzying manner.

Affection: 87%

Affection: 83%

“Is accepting me such a terrible thing for you?”

Affection: 77%

Andrew’s favorability rating fluctuated wildly again. However, I, seized by a strong dizziness that twisted my insides, had no room to resolve his misunderstandings. As if clamoring not to be forgotten, the favorability window continued to flicker, displaying erratic numbers.

Favorability: 100%

‘100…?’

No, even if the range is unstable, this is too sudden… Could I have misread it? I was about to recheck the unfamiliar number that had suddenly appeared in Andrew’s favorability window.

Currently, favorability cannot be checked for this character.

The dizzying vision became completely blurred, and my eyelids slowly closed. I couldn’t keep myself conscious any longer. Meanwhile, Allen, who had utterly broken me with just one appearance, was leisurely walking towards the main building, disappearing from view.

Favorability: 82%

“…But I can’t let you go. I’ve already decided.”

In my ear, Andrew’s obsessive, troubled voice still seeped in like a secret mist.

“So accept it. You, give up.”

Favorability: 89%

The pitch-black vision swallowed me whole as if it had been waiting. It was an unpleasant silence, not very peaceful.

Everything in this world was especially kind only to him. Even the sunlight, which was only glaringly harsh to me, seemed gentle and soft to him.

‘I’m, I’m sorry, Noah Hamilton… Someone like me dares to…’

When standing next to him in broad daylight, that fact was especially prominent. If it were simply my victim complex, it would have been better, but the dark light that was clearly visible even in the sunlight, and the deep blue eyes that played a big part in his venomous impression….

‘I’ll do better, I’m sorry, please don’t hate me… I really didn’t do it on purpose.’

Compared to the lovely, curly golden hair with a yellowish glow like a newborn chick, and the clear, transparent eyes with a subtle green tint when viewed in bright light, I became particularly shabby. It often drove me to the shabbiest corner of this world.

He stood in what was clearly my garden until a few years ago, but now had become his own, and offered me a very sincere apology. My vision was already spinning because I hadn’t slept for several days, and seeing the strongly colored yellow tulips made me even more dizzy. At that time, I could barely manage to swallow my nausea, but what he wanted was even greater than that.

‘You’ll forgive me, won’t you? Huh?’

His sincere, teary eyes shone innocently. Facing his frail voice and mournfully wet eyes, it seemed that anyone who didn’t forgive him would be the most shameless person in the world. He was always like that.

‘It was a mistake. Really. You know how lacking I am…’

At the word “mistake,” even the corners of my lips stretched wide. My parched lips couldn’t withstand the sudden laughter and tore, revealing blood. My Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. Hahaha, I wanted to laugh out loud, but I had been detained in the Imperial Palace for several days without eating or sleeping properly, so I didn’t even have the energy to make a sound.

I had been arrested and detained in the Imperial Palace on suspicion of stealing the precious engagement ring that the Crown Prince had personally bestowed upon the Crown Princess. I was fortunate that Torture was not carried out because there was no direct evidence.

Even though I couldn’t become the Crown Princess, I had a certain standing as a Dominant Omega… He had easily brought me to my knees with the help of the Crown Prince and Grand Duke Graham, as well as his high-ranking followers. Even the Hamilton Family, who should have protected me, were absolutely on his side.

It would have been better if I had really stolen it. It would have been less miserable if I had stolen his ring and died in the Crown Prince’s palace as a result.

‘Please forgive me just once, Noah Hamilton. This will never happen again. Really.’

He claimed that he had gone to show off the ring to his best friend, Princess Grachio, and had belatedly remembered that he had forgotten it there, and requested the Crown Prince to release me.

The Crown Prince immediately released me from detention, and the Hamilton Family sent a carriage to the Imperial Palace to pick me up…

Only he was waiting for me at the mansion.

And in front of me, who didn’t even have enough moisture left to shed tears, he hung tears on his beautiful eyes, as if to do what I should have done. In the middle of this defiled garden, where all the abundant Stock I loved had been dug up and bright yellow tulips were in full bloom, he sobbed and offered his apology.

At that time, my only option was to accept his apology.

Frederick, who dragged me by the wrist, crying and shouting that it wasn’t true, and handed me over to the Imperial Knights himself. Andrew, who had stated that the Hamilton Family would not interfere with how Noah Hamilton was treated. Even the Count and Countess, who hadn’t even been interested in what I was doing since their biological son had returned.

Because no one but him had offered me an apology.

‘…Okay. I have to forgive him.’

‘Noah Hamilton!’

‘How dare I, how dare I not forgive you.’

It was an excessive apology, and at the same time, a truly shabby forgiveness.