Chapter 8

“Miss Lia?”

“Sir Dillian, can you come here?”

The place I brought Dillian was the greenhouse.

Dillian who is stepping his foot outside the house for the first time, looking around the greenhouse wondering that it was cool.

“Where is this?”

“This is a greenhouse that grows herbs.”

“It’s my first time seeing a greenhouse.”

“It’s nothing compared to the greenhouse of the noble family, but it’s pretty good, right?”

“Yes, this is great.”

I held out a pot near me to Dillian.

“Sir Dillian, I will give this to you as a gift?”

“Gift, you mean?”

Sudden gift in the middle of a serious conversation made Dillian flustered.

Dillian, who lost his memory, doesn’t know how to control the curse.

Doesn’t know how to control the curse means, he doesn’t know when it will explode.

So, Dillian absolutely will need this flower.

“This flower name is white blossom flower**.”

“White blossom flower…”

“But not so many people call its name properly. The nickname is more famous than its name.”

Tap, I touch the flower blooming petals.

“The curse detector.”

White blossom flower is one of the plants that are sensitive to curses.

Originally it’s a white flower, but if it senses curse, its color will become black, just like its name, the curse detector.

‘I had quite a hard time growing it.’

I’m going to sell it at a high price, but I couldn’t help it. Because my life comes first.

In addition to white blossom flowers, I generously gave him plants that could neutralize the curse a little.

I want to shed tears because those was expensive products.

“You say you are a herbalist, but I think there are more flowers.”

“I am a herbalist and at the same time a horticulturist.”

Unexpectedly it was started by chance, luckily, I was good enough at digging herbs and growing plants.

Even the plants that are known to be picky will blossom in my hand.

“I, an amazing person more than I look.”

“I think so too.”

I blushed at his admirable sound.

I’m just joking, how can he respond to it seriously.

***

I put up the flowerpot by the window then asked him a favor.

“If the color changes even a little bit, you have to let me know immediately.”

“Yes, I will.”

Just in case, should I put one over his head? I think it’d be nice to put one on the table over there.

It was then, when I was planning to plaster Dillian’s room with flowers.

“By the way, Miss Lia.”

The breath that came up suddenly tickled my earlobe.

“Are you wearing perfume?”

“What, what?”

When I turned my head in surprise, his drowsy eyes fluttered right in front of me.

When does he comes close, Dillian who is staying close behind my back suddenly asks a random question.

‘When did he get this close…’

My heart beat so fast as it would explode when Dillian stayed close to my back.

“Do you use it?”

“N, no.”

Caught between Dillian and the drawer, I can only blink without doing anything.

“Then I guess this is Miss Lia’s scent.”

“Scent…?”

What scent is he talking about? I don’t smell anything tho.

At the moment when I was slightly sniffing, Dillian gently touched the tip of my hair.

It was a non-impolite, playful, yet cautious touch.

“If I come near Miss Lia, I can smell a good scent.”

“… Isn’t it the scent of flowers?”

I’ve been in the greenhouse, and there are still full of flower pots nearby.

“It’s different from that.”

It was an embarrassingly firm voice.

“It’s especially strong today.”

After that, Dillian touched the tip of my hair without saying anything.

I held my breath. Then Dillian, who had been touching my hair for a while, bowed his head.

“Sir Dillian?”

“Wait a minute.”

Dillian took a deep breath. The hot breath that touched the back of my neck gave me goosebumps.

“Do you know?”

“Wh, what?”

Every time Dillian spat out a syllable, my face got heated up.

My back was chilling, my throat was itchy, and my toes were tense.

“When I’m with you, I feel at ease. Especially when I smell this scent.”

Tickle, tickle. When I couldn’t no longer hold the weird feeling on my stomach, at the time I tried to resist him, Dillian moved his body first.

Taking advantage of that, I quickly escaped from his arms.

“I will prepare dinner.”

I ran away from the room with an excuse.

Fortunately, Dillian didn’t follow.

Just the burning hot, persistent gaze that follows me.

I clenched my fist at my scary beating heart.

***

At night when darkness fell without a single moonlight.

Nathan, who was sleeping next to Lia, opened its eyes at the sight in front of the door.

‘How dare he.’

In the dark, the golden eyes of the bird shone sharply.

Nathan, who came down from Lia’s bedside, inflated its wings fiercely.

At the same time as the unfamiliar language came out from its mouth, the translucent screen unfolded in Lia’s room.

The black shadow, which was breaking into the room at will, stopped.

“You brat. You know where this is yet you still come?”

“I just came because I had something to think about.”

The uninvited guest. Dillian, replied calmly. When he said that, Nathan spread its wings and flew up.

So it can attack Dillian at any time.

“What are you thinking?”

“Just thinking. I won’t do anything weird, I’m just going to see her face, so remove this.”

Dillian tapped the screen.

“Or, can I remove it with force?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the cracking sound of something tearing can be heard scarily.

‘That ignorant brat!’

In this case, Nathan might have received that counterblow. But the bigger problem is the fact that Lia is the one who summoned Nathan.

In other words, Lia is sleeping without knowing anything about her suffering.

Nathan, who opened its eyes in triangular shape, reluctantly removed the screen.

Dillian, who stormed into the room as if it were his bedroom, glanced at Nathan then fixed his eyes on Lia.

‘Exactly what is he up to.’

Contrary to Nathan’s doubts and worries, Dillian only looked at Lia’s face quietly.

There was no sign of attacking. Neither impure purpose.

Nathan, who saw through Dillian’s intention, sat next to Lia and threatened him.

“Just touch her. I’ll make a hole in your head.”

Whether or not, Dillian only looked at Lia tossing and turning.

“What are you curious about, until make you enter the sleeping woman’s room?”

“If you tell me something that Miss Lia is hiding, should I tell you?”

“Hmph!”

Nathan snorted. It was an obvious rejection.

‘I knew it.’

There is no disappointment because there was no expectation.

Dillian looked down at Lia’s face with an emotionless eye.

‘What the hell is this woman hiding?’

For sure Lia. Said her and himself would be in danger if the truth was revealed.

What could it be? His past? Status? Or our relationship?

I don’t know what it could be.

Dillian, who was looking at Lia, opened up his mouth for what he had always been curious about.

“Have my runaway appeared in front of Miss Lia?”

“… There is.”

“Did I almost hurt her?”

“It is. But Lia responded resolutely.”

Nathan, who had never dreamed that Lia would have lied to Dillian, throws up all the truth.

“Yes, it’s like that.”

‘As expected, it was a lie.’

She said she knew because she was interested in curses. The truth is she knew it better because she experienced it herself.

‘Why did she hide that fact?’

Is this also related to the secret she had hidden?

Or is it related to my memory loss?

“If it was a strong runaway that made me couldn’t recognize anyone, it is highly likely that I would have lost my memory due to the side effects.”

What does that brat say? Nathan’s expression changed strangely.

Unfortunately, it’s not a side effect of the runaway, it was because the back of his head smashed.

“… I guess so.”

Nathan just decided to pretend not to know.

Just let him be delusional, how grateful it is.

‘Such a perfect catch pushover.’

Tsk, tsk, Dillian who did not see Nathan clicking its tongue, fell into his own world.

‘But why do I feel a bad feeling?’

Dillian frowned, annoyed by his headaches.

“Nathan.”

“Hmph. Why are you calling me?”

“Just by looking, my heart beats violently, sometimes the back of my head is dizzy. And when I try to think about Miss Lia, my head hurts like it’s going to break, why is it like this?”

If you don’t know about something, ask for help from people around you. It was a good way.

However, the opponent was wrong.

“What is this feeling, do you know?”

Nathan, who is not familiar with human emotions, was deeply lost in thought with Dillian’s words.

Considering the knowledge of romance novels it has read so far, this is it!

“Hmph, Isn’t that love?”

“Love?”

“If your heart was beating, your head was dizzy, and hard to breathe. It’s a typical symptom of falling in love.”

“Is there a dog barking?”

Dillian rubbed his ears while saying he heard something he must not have heard.

“You really talk such nonsense with sincerity.”

“What do you mean nonsense!”

Nathan was furious when its perfect reasoning was ignored.

“You should stop reading romance novels.”

You should have said something that makes sense. I was a fool for asking that non-human, temperamental owl.

Dillian looked at Lia, lying in the bed with a rather uncomfortable look.

‘It’s really annoying.’

Lia tossed and turned. When the blanket kicked by her foot fell to the floor, the scent that was being locked up, came out.

As if it was released, the scent was scattered in all directions and wrapped around Dillian.

Then the prickly irritation subsided like a lie.

Dillian burst into a drowsy breath without realizing it.

‘What exactly is this scent?’

It makes me feel complicated.

‘It’s love.’

At that moment, the nonsense sound from that damned owl, whispered in his head.

His red eyes were distorted.

“What do you mean love?”

“Then do you call it anger?”

“Is there no more reasonable answer?”

What Nathan said randomly might be the answer, but unfortunately Dillian didn’t even assume it.

No, it couldn’t be.

For that, Lia is Dillian’s benefactor. From the moment he opened his eyes until now, she just showed kindness and good will.

Taking advantage or threatening him, neither.

‘I’m not a jerk who accepts to distort my benefactor’s sincerity.’

Dillian, who was mumbling inside, picked up the blanket that fell on the floor, carefully put it on Lia, and covered her.

“Hey, fattie owl.”

“Fattie?!”

Nathan shouted with eyes opened in triangular shape, then hurriedly lowered its voice looking at Lia sleeping.

“Who do you call fattie!”

“Then piggy owl?”

“This damn jerk…”

“You must not monopolize the blanket alone, you must cover Miss Lia too.”

Can you take responsibility if she catches a cold, at Dillian mumbling sound, Nathan clicked its tongue, tsk, tsk.

“That is the so called reality denial**.”

What is Lia called it?

“Ah, fan denial**.”

Looking at the distance back, hmph, Nathan snorted.

Just you look, Dillian. Who’s words are right!

** Originally in the novel the flower name is 백소화 (BaekSoHwa) but I can’t find English name for the flower (probably because the flower itself is not exist/fiction), so I try to find translation that would be fit for the flower’s name from 백 / baek (white), 소 / so from Chinese character 咲 (blossom), and 화 / hwa (flower).

** 현실부정 (hyonsilbujong) means reality denial, from the word 현실 (reality) and 부정 (deny).

** 입덕부정기 (ibteokbujonggi) is fan denial, from the word 입덕 (becoming a fan) and 부정 (deny), it means not admitting the feeling of starting to like somebody famous, this is made up word use online in South Korea.