“Here’s your meal.”

Ever since the day I returned from death, the maids have been properly taking care of my meals and the fireplace wood. Among them, Sally especially took good care of me, and living together, I realized she wasn’t a bad person at heart.

“It’s raining a lot today.”

“Indeed.”

It was a very late dinner. The rye bread looked dry, but the food was acceptable with steaming soup and warm tea.

“Today’s meal is quite late.”

“Sorry, I was busy.”

“I wasn’t blaming you.”

Sally smiled broadly, her young age more apparent than ever.

The manor felt unusually cold, perhaps due to the persistent rain bringing nightfall earlier.

“But why were you busy?”

I asked casually, tearing bread to dip in the soup. As I started eating, Sally went to check the fireplace.

“There was a formal dinner today.”

My hand, about to bring the bread to my mouth, froze mid-air.

“Formal… dinner?”

“Yes, it’s been a while since the Earl came back with guests, so all the maids were mobilized.”

I frowned at the unbelievable news.

“The Earl is back? Why so soon?”

Sally shrugged and poked inside the fireplace. The irregular movement scattered the embers.

“I don’t know.”

It had only been ten days since they left. Earl Fennel’s schedule was always unpredictable, but this early return was almost unprecedented.

I forced myself to quickly swallow the hard bread.

“Why are you eating so fast?”

“I was hungry.”

After hurriedly finishing my meal and making an excuse of feeling sleepy, I promptly sent Sally out.

I lay in bed, pulling the blanket over my head, and watched outside. When the remaining lights of the main building were almost gone, I cautiously left my room.

There was no one guarding my usual place. Certain that the surroundings were empty, I started running in the opposite direction of where I lived.

The rain painfully hit my face, soaking me, but I didn’t feel cold.

Arriving at the East Wing, out of breath, it had the same eerie atmosphere as the West Wing. Creeeak, the neglected door made an unpleasant sound just like the West Wing. This building, too, was unattended.

Drip, drip, water dripped from my silver hair, now darkened by rain.

“Ah, it’s cold.”

The East Wing was even colder than outside. I shivered.

I looked around the first floor but only saw a faint light at the end of the corridor. I cautiously moved to the second floor.

‘There!’

I found a room with light leaking out. I walked slowly and pushed the door open. A long shadow fell at my feet. Following the shadow, my eyes first caught the papers scattered carelessly on the floor.

The sky, sea, birds, forest, and a maze in a garden with no exit.

All were worlds drawn by the nameless child of the East Wing. Lifting my head fully, I saw the pitch-black night sky. No, it wasn’t the night sky but the black eyes of Riccardo at my eye level.

He was lying on the desk, pressed down by someone’s hand, looking at me. Following the hand pressing down on Riccardo’s neck, I looked up and saw blond hair shining even in the dark room.

‘Justin Lowy Fennel.’

Our eyes met immediately, and Justin’s brows furrowed completely.

“What are you?”

I reflexively bowed my head and closed my mouth. When he stepped away from the desk, Riccardo slumped to the floor. Justin straightened his disheveled clothes and ran his hands through his hair.

“Can’t you just leave right now!”
Justin’s shouting was intimidating, but I stubbornly stood my ground and shook my head vigorously.

He cursed under his breath and stomped towards the door.

Whether from the cold or fear, my body was shivering. Justin, now close, grabbed my collar.

“Seems like the bugs have gotten friendly with each other?”

He laughed crudely and leaned in like a snake, whispering in my ear.

“If you tell anyone what you saw here today, you’ll die.”

“…….”

“You can’t speak anyway, right?”

Justin let me go abruptly and returned to the room, picking up the fallen drawings. He selected only those with mazes, dropping the rest back on the floor.

With a push, he left the room, laughing as he went.

“Sigh…….”

As Justin’s footsteps faded, I exhaled deeply and looked back at the child of the East Wing.

Riccardo had already gotten up and was picking up the drawings. I slowly approached, examining his complexion. One side of his face was reddened as if he had been hit hard.

“Are you… okay?”

“Slave.”

A chilling voice, cold enough to refreeze a thawed corpse, pierced me as I carefully approached.

“Uh, what?”

“I never permitted you to come close.”

“What?”

Riccardo, having gathered all the drawings, looked straight at me. Our eyes met, and my heart began to pound painfully.

My feelings for him were always clear-cut, but they intensified strangely whenever our eyes met.

“But why are you here?”

His cold voice again made me avert my eyes and reply in a whisper. Once away from his dark pupils, my thoughts slowly returned to normal.

“Why I’m here is…”

“No matter the reason… leave.”

He gave me a moment to speak, then coldly turned and walked back to the desk.

Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me

One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.

Synopsis:

Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.

But this is still far from enough.

He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.

_____

Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.

If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.

[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]