At Johann’s words, I nodded.
“ThThat’s true.”
“Didn’t you promise to do your best for me?”
Johann wore a somewhat hurt expression, his brows slightly furrowed. His soft voice even felt a bit wounded.
“It’s a bit disappointing when you push me away like this.”
Anyone listening would think I’d done something wrong.
‘When did I push you away!’
I could feel something unfair rising within me. But strangely, I couldn’t think of anything to refute Johann’s words.
Because it was true that I’d said that.
‘But I didn’t mean it like that.’
Johann’s handsome face came closer. It was within an arm’s reach.
“Do you raise hopes only to back out?”
“….”
“That’s terrible.”
I felt like I’d become a femme fatale who casually toyed with people’s hearts. Yet, the person who seduced me and then tried to discard me was him!
“What are you talking about? I never backed out.”
“So, you can’t admit to what I said?”
“I feel a bit wronged.”
“So, will you do as I wish?”
At that moment, Johann gently tugged the corner of his lips into a smile and used his strong fingers to tidy up my hair.
The sound of my heart pounding got louder.
“That’s….”
At my awkward response, Johann crept closer with a slow smile. His beautiful, slightly red lips came closer too.
Without even realizing it, I closed my eyes.
And then he laughed brightly and bumped his forehead against mine.
“Feeling a bit relaxed now?”
“….Yes?”
“I was just teasing you.”
Johann slightly squinted one eye and started to stroke my ear with his big hand.
“There’s no need to be tense because of unnecessary pressure.”
But I shouldn’t be at ease. I was taken aback, each of his words striking a chord, loosening my tension. I managed to regain my composure.
‘This is all part of his scheme.’
But my vigilance was slowly fading.
Looking at Johann’s laughing face, which now seemed more like a playful boy than the skilled adult who had just been dealing with me, I couldn’t help but let down my guard.
“What’s that?”
“It seems like you’ve already gotten comfortable with our conversations.”
“Talking was never that hard from the beginning.”
“Then let’s say I was just teasing you for no reason.”
Hearing Johann’s clever words made my head spin.
‘I thought I was getting a fever from being conscious of him.’
It seemed like the side effect of the Eleon fruit I had just eaten was starting to kick in. I might pass out in front of Johann at this rate.
‘That would be a disaster.’
He’s a smart villain. He might infer from even the smallest clue that I’m the unloved daughter of Libertan.
‘I could die right then.’
The only reason I can stay here is because of my value as a target of revenge.
Johann wants to give Libertan’s beloved daughter a cruel death to inflict more pain. So, on the contrary, there’s no reason to keep me, who is unloved, alive.
‘More than anything, I can’t afford to be more hated before I escape.’
It’s crucial not to reduce my ability to act to the point of being helpless. And all the people who saw me in pain despised me even more.
‘Even if I am a substitute for his real daughter, why would Duke Libertan keep someone like me in his mansion? Honestly, I am just a burden and a harm to the Ducal House.’
‘She must be pretending to be sicker to gain Duke Libertan’s pity.’
If it were the original villain who hated me, he might have imprisoned me more thoroughly, saying I couldn’t do anything because I was sick.
“Yes, I, the terrible wife, should go to bed now.”
Even if it was a bit awkward, I tried hard to send Johann out of the room. Thankfully, Johann moved at my behest.
“Do you usually go to bed this early?”
“I’m sleeping later than usual, actually?”
“Is it because you’re upset about my joke?”
To Johann’s question at the door, I gave a clear answer.
“Not at all.”
“Then it’s fine.”
The dizziness was getting worse. I was afraid I would stumble soon.
As I was about to turn around, Johann caught my face. For a moment, I was afraid he’d notice the fever rising in my head.
“Good night, my lady.”
But he just smiled leisurely, brushed my forehead, and left.
Johan did not leave, but stood with his back against the door.
He had come to shake Estelle, but instead, his questions grew larger.
‘There was a fever.’
When he purposely stroked her bangs to feel her forehead, he certainly felt the heat.
‘Perhaps it’s a reaction to the Eleon fruit.’
That must have been why she abruptly sent him out of the room. Johan calmly remembered Estelle, who had looked at him impassively as she sent him away.
Her acting was so natural that if he hadn’t deliberately checked for a fever, he would have never known she was feverish.
‘Why hide the symptoms of an allergy?’
If she wanted to elicit Johan’s sympathy, she should have feigned being caught by mistake.
At Estelle’s incomprehensible behavior, Johan narrowed his eyes.
As he waited for a moment, he heard the faint sound of the sleeping woman’s breath. Given the intermittent moaning, it seemed she was trying to endure the pain blindly.
Quietly, Johan opened the door.
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.
_____
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