Chapter 92
Chapter 92
In the end, my misgivings came true.
“…Yes. I underestimated Young Lord Evant.”
“Everyone says that the first time they meet me. I suppose I’m a very consistent person.”
“…”
Sorry, Kyrillos, but that’s not a compliment.
Don’t look so pleased. It isn’t.
“Ah, this is a gift.”
This time Kyrillos handed me a box with a cake covered in large strawberries.
Adam made no attempt to hide how uncomfortable he was.
The more often Kyrillos came by, the more obvious Adam’s unease became.
I felt bad about Kyrillos’s persistent bribery, but I decided to take Adam’s side.
Stress – 65%
The strange part was, even though Adam showed irritation, his stress never rose at all.
So he only pretended to dislike him, didn’t he?
It almost seemed as though he secretly enjoyed Kyrillos’s visits.
But since Adam acted oblivious, I scolded Kyrillos briefly.
“Kyrillos, please stop bringing things like this.”
“What? Why?”
Because every time you come to the Demon King’s castle, you use treats as an excuse.
But the look on his face—like he was truly hurt—left me speechless.
Why… why did he look at me like that? Just like Meriel did.
There’s a saying that you can’t spit on a smiling face. Kyrillos’s sad expression had a similar effect.
Unable to tell the truth, I squeezed my eyes shut and raised my voice.
“If you keep this up, I’ll get so chubby I’ll roll around the castle like a ball!”
Why aim at me, anyway? Shouldn’t he be focusing on Adam?
Yet Kyrillos always brought food and pressed it on me, never Adam.
In the end, I had to speak in Adam’s place.
He had already told Kyrillos many times to stop coming, but since Kyrillos never listened, Adam had given up.
At last, Kyrillos’s tense expression eased.
“Ah, so that’s the problem?”
His eyes lit up.
The look on his face said he finally understood why he was being turned away.
Did he really understand, though?
A chill ran down my spine.
And it wasn’t just my imagination.
Taking the words literally, Kyrillos continued visiting the castle proudly, just bringing different things.
First it was stuffed bears, then necklaces studded with huge jewels…
At one point, he even brought a ring that fit perfectly on my left ring finger. Before I could react, Adam snatched it and hurled it straight out the window.
But how did he even know my ring size?
Thanks to that, rumors spread that the heir of House Evant had a lover.
“Now it’s an even bigger problem! That wasn’t the problem to begin with!”
“This is difficult. How does one win the maid’s heart…”
Still not realizing his mistake, Kyrillos muttered with a serious face.
Couldn’t he feel Adam’s terrifying glare boring into him from behind?
“Why do you keep giving me gifts anyway? If you wanted to be friends with the hero, shouldn’t you be giving them to him instead?”
“This is a secret, but…”
Kyrillos beckoned conspiratorially.
I found myself leaning close, swallowing hard.
Then he blew sharply into my ear, making me clutch it with a startled cry.
“Kyrillos!”
I finally raised my voice at him.
Holding my ear, I tried to calm my pounding heart.
What was that supposed to be? Please respect personal space!
And then Adam suddenly moved close, startling me twice over.
“Ah, Adam, what is it?”
He frowned at the ear Kyrillos had breathed on, then pulled out a handkerchief and began rubbing at it.
“It should be washed properly with water…”
“There’s no need to go that far!”
It had just surprised me, that was all—I wasn’t actually upset. I was used enough to Adam’s fussing by now.
But Adam still looked dissatisfied.
Meanwhile, Kyrillos, who had dropped the bomb, remained utterly nonchalant.
“Well~ it’s simple. If I can get the maid on my side, it’ll be easier to get close to the hero too.”
“There’s no need. I can give Eve everything she needs myself.”
At that, Kyrillos widened his eyes and looked straight at me.
…Adam said it, so why was he staring at me?
Flustered, I pointed at myself.
Kyrillos clapped his hands as if he had just realized something.
“Ah, so my instincts were right.”
Nodding vigorously, he looked exactly like someone who had completely misunderstood.
“Alright then. If the hero insists, I’ll stop giving gifts to the maid…”
His easy surrender only made me more uneasy. Was it just my imagination?
“But still…”
Kyrillos added one more unsettling word.
“If the maid doesn’t like the hero’s gift, then it’s fine if I keep giving them, right?”
“That won’t happen.”
Adam looked down at Kyrillos as he spoke.
Excuse me, I asked you to be friends, not to start a contest of wills.
“I don’t really mind…”
“The maid should stay quiet.”
So now I was the shrimp caught between fighting whales?
Thanks a lot. Why don’t you two just hug it out and become friends already.
But as the tension between them grew hotter, I sighed.
Well, kids grow by fighting, don’t they?
Even if no one could objectively call Kyrillos and Adam kids, I forced myself to think positively.
The next day, however, I changed my mind…
“Adam, what did you buy?”
I spotted the small box in his hand and asked.
Startled, as if he hadn’t realized I was there, Adam quickly tried to hide it.
“It’s nothing.”
“Really?”
When I pressed again, he seemed to realize denial was pointless. Slowly, he extended the hidden hand.
“Actually…”
Hesitant, Adam handed me the box.
Inside the palm-sized rectangle was a beautifully packaged fountain pen.
Adam avoided my eyes, embarrassed—over something as simple as a pen.
But the embarrassment was contagious, and I felt my own cheeks heating.
“You keep writing something while looking at me, so…”
“Gah!”
I jumped at his words.
How did he know? I thought I’d been careful.
Surely he hadn’t seen the ‘Adam Observation Journal’ in my room.
“It’s… it’s not like I was writing about you, hero!”
“Then were you drawing?”
“…Yes! It was drawing.”
I seized his words in a hurry.
But I wasn’t prepared for his response.
“Then I’d like to see them.”
“What?!”
A little white lie had snowballed out of control.
Sweat pricked at my forehead.
He actually wanted me to draw him now?
But Adam seemed determined to see my sketches, so I scrambled to cover it up, promising I’d make a fresh one properly instead.
So I ended up in a room with a blank sheet of paper, facing Adam across the table.
He sat a little ways off, his expression intrigued—as though he hadn’t really believed I’d do it.
Or maybe… was he enjoying this?
“Don’t look at me!”
“Understood.”
He turned his head to the side, staring off into space.
How could someone look so flawless just sitting still?
It felt like a crime that this world had no cameras.
For a moment, I considered begging Kyrillos for one of the mage tower’s magical devices, before shaking off the thought.
Forget masterpieces.
This scene itself was a masterpiece.
Adam’s eyelashes are really long.
His silver lashes, the same color as his hair, swept down at an angle. His hair, catching the sunlight from the window, almost seemed to glow on its own.
The hardest thing to get used to was, without a doubt, his face.
I had thought living with him would make me used to it by now.
That was a mistake.
