CH 13

Livia rubbed her eyes in case she saw something wrong.

However, the curly silver hair, the particularly pale skin, the sharp nose, the tightly closed lips, and the artistic jawline undoubtedly matched the Cardien Mercedes she had met last night.

Why was he here?

He was lying on the sofa with his eyes closed, but she didn’t feel any warmth, so he looked dead.

‘You’re not really dead, are you?’ Livia asked in her heart.

Even though she knew that couldn’t be the case, when she came to her senses she was stealthily approaching him. 

And….

‘Wow, this is real art….’

Cardien, seen up close, was so beautiful that it was more appropriate to say that he was a work of art rather than a person. No, it was more art-like than art.

But his personality wasn’t very beautiful.

Cardien was clearly sleeping, seeing that he didn’t open his eyes even though she approached him.

Putting the book aside for a while, she knelt down and admired his face for a while.

She knew it was best for her to disappear quietly like this, but….

In the story, Cardien said he could hardly sleep due to the side effects of his mana overload.

Was that why he was here?

This was certainly an environment where he could sleep well.

There were no windows, so it was quiet, the subtle smell of books stabilized the mind and body, and there was nothing to disturb him because it was a “no outsiders allowed in” area.

Had it always been like this?

Was it to the extent that he could barely keep his eyes open so he left the room and came to the farthest corner of the Duke of Mercedes residence?

Livia realized that she didn’t know much about Cardien.

She knew the main characters, Saint Celestina and Crown Prince Hysterion better than anyone else. What they liked and what they didn’t like.

However, even though Cardien was a main cast member, there were rarely revealed facts about him.

An existence forgotten even by writers and readers, virtually absent.

But she could tell even without much information. How hard and lonely his life was.

Maybe from the moment he was born until the moment of his death.

While Livia was getting caught up in a sense of kinship–

“Ugh……”

Suddenly, Cardien’s straight forehead narrowed, and a pained moan flowed out of his slightly parted lips.

Surprised, she faltered but soon realized that he had not yet woken up.

Was he sick?

It wasn’t long before he twisted his body and let out a rough breath. His forehead was soaked with cold sweat.

The moment Livia jumped up to call someone because she thought he would be in big trouble if she left him like this, another sound leaked out of his mouth.

“Ha……..” 

A pained groan that was hard to believe belonged to the blackened second male lead Cardien held her foot.

Come to think of it, there was a passage from the story that suddenly came to Livia’s mind.

[The madness erased his night.]

But on days when he was fortunate enough to fall into a dream, terrible nightmares haunted him.

The nightmares were so bad that he’d rather not be able to sleep.

So Cardien began to refuse to sleep at some point.

[His night was worse than his day.]

Livia was sure Cardien suffered from some nightmare.

Even after meeting the female lead and having his symptoms improve, Cardien did not sleep.

Was he having that nightmare right now?

She looked down at Cardien, who was panting as if he were about to die.

What kind of dream was it that made him suffer so much?

Though……

If he was having a nightmare.

Perhaps.

‘Maybe I can help,’ Livia thought determinedly.

Because her ability was the ability to manipulate dreams. She slowly and carefully reached out for him.

And just as her fingertips were finally about to touch his forehead.

Tak-

A large hand grabbed her wrist.

Startled, she froze.

His tightly closed eyelids opened. Soon, purple eyes filled with heat faced her at a close distance.

His lips, which had been opened slightly from exhaling roughly, slowly closed.

Eventually, just as the hot geothermal heat in the middle of the day cooled down at night, his eyes, which were hot, gradually turned into the original dry and cold eyes.

His lips opened again.

“…..now, here–”

Cardien, who had said that, narrowed his brows while looking down at his hand which was holding her.

Then he violently shook his hand away.

The force was so strong that her body staggered for a moment.

She felt dirty, as if she had become a bug.

She was the one who tried to touch him first, but….. It wasn’t with malicious intentions, but good intentions!

“Now, what are you doing here?”

However, at the cold voice that followed, she quickly turned into a dog who withdrew its tail and gaze.

But if you think about it, wasn’t this an opportunity?

She was looking for a chance to be alone with him. There were only the two of them in the room right now.

But…..

‘Now is not the time.’

Cardien’s gaze at Livia was very sharp.

At first glance, it seemed calm, but there was a warning that he would not let her go if she fed him nonsense.

Anyone who saw this would think she failed in an attempt to assassinate the duke.

It was unfair!

Looking at this situation, they wouldn’t just nicely let her go.

It was true that her situation was urgent, but she was not as stupid as a flying moth that flies in even knowing it’s a flame.

Eventually, Livia decided to retreat.

However, it was unfair to step down, leaving things as they were.

At least she should explain.

“I was just trying to wake you up because you seemed to suffer from a nightmare.”

“………”

Cardien gave a look as if he were asking what it meant.

Therefore-!

“My actions were never mixed with selfishness. Let me tell you, in case you misunderstand. Well then!”

Livia turned around and left the room.

And left the library straight away.

Raymon, who found her, called from behind, “Miss Livia!”, but she didn’t look back.

What if Cardien said belatedly, “How dare you talk back to me?”

It felt like he was going to come after her with a sword because of that. At least the man she saw in the original work, Cardien, could have done that.

After returning to her room without hesitation, she gasped for breath.

She tried to calm down her beating heart and reassured herself.

“I was just trying to wake you up because I thought you were having a nightmare.”

Yeah, she didn’t do anything wrong.

In the first place, she didn’t know Cardien was in that room.

But……

Those eyes.

As if looking down at an insignificant creature or an object, his eyes, devoid of any emotion, were still vivid in front of her own.

“Ha.”

Would she ever be able to convince such a human being to let her use the heirloom?

Her heart was shaken.

But, no.

She soon came to her senses.

After all, there was only one way.

So, let’s not waver.

Either she was going to give up or die anyway.

Having made up her mind, she looked back at the desk. First of all, she needed to focus on Vincent’s class tomorrow.

Livia dutifully finished organizing the rest of the class materials.

***

After Livia ran away, Cardien stood up and looked down at his hand.

Then he remembered Livia’s face looking down at him with a surprised expression.

Dark brown hair that flowed softly, amber eyes that were wide like rabbits, flushed cheeks, and slightly parted cherry-colored lips which didn’t match her calm eyes.

It was a face that Cardien knew.

‘Was it Vincent’s new tutor?’ Cardien thought indifferently.

At that moment a small sound came from the doorway.

“Are you having fun?”

As if he already knew who the owner of the sound was, Cardien asked the question coldly, without looking back.

Raymon walked out from behind the door.

“I’m sorry. I should have informed her of your existence, but she was distracted from sorting out her books……was she very surprised?”

Cardien looked at him with a frozen gaze.

Raymon, who received that gaze with his whole body, bowed his head and said, a mischievous laugh still in his voice, “You must be very angry. Did she do anything rude?”

Cardien pulled his pipe out as if it wasn’t worth responding to. Despite the apparent disregard, Raymon continued without regard to it.

“But His Excellency has gone too far. How can you hold her so coldly? Do you know what her expression looked like?”

At that moment Cardien’s movement stopped.

Before long, Cardien looked back at Raymon.

Their eyes met, and Raymon trembled once. If his eyes were a sword, Raymon’s neck would have been cut off in an instant.

‘Really, he’s a monster.’

“The noise is long. Isn’t what you want ‘information’? If you do something stupid like this again, I’ll make sure you never gather information again.”

Raymon knew better than anyone else that this was not just a warning.

No one knew more about the character Cardien Mercedes than Raymon.

‘……..You’re very angry.’

If Raymon poked at him more than this, it would be difficult for him to get out of here safely.

‘Well,’ he thought not-so-regretfully, ‘I had quite a bit of fun too.’