Chapter 10
Even though I hadn’t done anything wrong, I felt like I had.
That young master could make someone feel guilty with nothing more than a single look.
I tried to pull my eyes away from his slow, steady, red gaze, but it wasn’t easy.
Now that we had already made eye contact, looking away felt awkward.
The longer I held his gaze, the more my chest ached.
It felt like someone was poking near my heart with something sharp.
I felt like a student who got caught whispering in class, or an employee who got caught slacking off.
Cassian still had that slight smirk on his lips, like he was laughing at me.
He looked just like he did the day he said, without hesitation, that he’d have the author brought back to rewrite the book. Arrogant. Unbelievable.
A long sigh slipped out of me.
For some reason, I had a feeling Cassian wouldn’t let this go tomorrow.
Something about me talking to Hael must have bothered him.
But why?
The more I thought about it, the more ridiculous and unfair it seemed.
Even the fact that I had to worry about this made me frustrated.
To be honest, the relationship between Cassian and me—as servant and employer—ended the moment I walked out of his room.
Of course, when tomorrow came, we’d go right back into those roles.
But at least for now, that connection didn’t exist.
It was as if Cassian could read my thoughts. His red eyes stared into me like they could see everything inside.
His gaze felt heavy and unrelenting, like it wouldn’t let go.
I could only bite my lip in frustration. Then, without a word, Cassian turned away and closed the window.
The sound of the window shutting echoed sharply in my ears.
Once he was finally out of sight, I saw Hael’s hand appear in front of me.
“Why do you look so dazed?”
A large hand waved gently in front of my face.
A moment later, Hael came into focus. I had to look up to meet his eyes.
He was smiling, bright and open as always.
He had grown a lot taller since we were kids.
I could see it now.
Still looking at me, Hael pointed his chin toward the window where Cassian had been.
“Do you know him?”
He lifted a hand to block the sunlight from my face. The gesture felt warm and familiar.
“Yeah,” I said.
“How?”
I hadn’t wanted to talk about Cassian in front of Hael, but the conversation was already heading in that direction.
Maybe this was what Cassian wanted from the start.
“He’s the one who hired me.”
Hael blinked in surprise. His eyes widened slowly.
“He hired you? That young master?”
Young master. Right. Hael must already know who Cassian is.
He spent a long time in the capital, and since the Blanchet family was the one who sponsored him as a scholarship student, he probably saw the young duke at least once.
It wasn’t strange that Hael was shocked.
A member of the Blanchet family keeping a commoner like me nearby? That was unheard of.
Hael might be a commoner too, but he and I were in completely different situations.
He had value. He was chosen for a scholarship because he was useful.
Even here in this mansion, all he did was take care of the horses.
In a place like this, where horses are treated with the highest care, calling it “just” horse work might be unfair.
But to me, that’s what it looked like.
Still, the part that surprised Hael wasn’t what I expected.
“That young master, of all people? I’m shocked. He never lets anyone near him.”
“Was he like that in the capital too?” I asked.
“Yeah. I wasn’t even allowed to feed his horse. He didn’t like other people touching it.”
Of course. That sounded exactly like Cassian.
I could easily picture him standing tall, looking down at the world with that cold, prideful expression.
“Always so full of himself.”
Hael gave a soft laugh and kept talking about the young master.
He spoke in an almost admiring tone, like he’d forgotten that he used to be the most talked-about boy in our village.
“But still, everyone always praised him. In Alphonse, all people talk about these days is the young master.”
Cassian summoning me earlier flashed through my mind.
Even that alley I walked through, following the Blanchet butler while drawing attention, had likely become a village-wide rumor by now.
By this time, the story of how much he paid for me must have spread across Alphonse.
Hael looked a little disappointed when he realized the villagers, who used to talk only about him, had shifted their attention elsewhere.
“You too,” he said, half-joking. “After all these years, I finally see you again, and you’re talking about another man right in front of me?”
“No, it’s not like that…” I said quickly.
My face grew hot at his unexpected words.
It really did feel like I had been thinking too much about the young master.
Maybe Hael found my reaction amusing, because he burst into laughter.
“Why are you so flustered?”
I didn’t answer.
“Everyone hates their boss. That’s just common across the whole Empire,” he said with a grin.
His serious expression softened, and he looked at me kindly.
That finally made me laugh too, quietly and a little nervously.
Right. There’s no way I was actually thinking about the young master.
I was just venting about a frustrating employer, that’s all.
It didn’t make sense that someone admired by everyone treated me the way he did.
After that, Hael started telling me about his time in the capital.
The things he described felt like they belonged to another world—developed, vibrant, and so far removed from this isolated village. It was like listening to stories from a book.
Here and there, he mentioned the young master as well.
Once, a gardener nearly got fired for mishandling the Blanchet family’s prized wisteria. But instead of punishing the gardener, Cassian had the whole plant cut down himself. Even after being scolded harshly by the duke, he never revealed the real reason why.
When the daughter of his nanny passed away, Cassian quietly arranged for her to be sent far away for rest and gave her extended leave.
Just three years ago, before being diagnosed with a terminal illness, he had been sweeping victories in every fencing tournament, as expected from someone born to a prestigious noble house. Other young lords envied him, and the young ladies adored him.
They say there was even a time when, despite not being of marriageable age, he received countless proposals. Everyone dreamed of having him as their escort for the debutante ball.
Whenever that happened, he would simply give a small, indifferent smile, as if women didn’t interest him at all.
In Hael’s stories, the cold, unpredictable version of the young master that I knew didn’t exist.
The only version of Cassian he described was elegant, noble, and admired—the perfect heir of the Blanchet family.
Was he only cruel and terrifying to me?
He made me read books written in Rubrian, like he was testing me. He stared at me with sharp eyes like I was nothing, and then slammed the window shut, as if even my presence annoyed him.
None of that version of him appeared in Hael’s stories.
It started to feel like I was the strange one, like I was the only person who saw him that way.
I didn’t know any more if I was just looking at him the wrong way or if he really treated only me like that.
Then I remembered those empty eyes of his, the ones that looked so quietly lonely.
Was it after he was diagnosed that he became this cold?
Thinking that made me feel like I was the bad one.
He was still far too young to die. Maybe I had misunderstood. Maybe all of that was just his way of expressing frustration, and I was the one twisting it into something else.
Besides, I was the one living under a fake identity and lying. I didn’t have the right to say anything.
Hael stopped his stories and looked at me directly.
“So, how did you end up working here anyway?”
I hesitated.
“I just… kind of ended up here.”
I tried to give a vague answer, but under Hael’s steady gaze, I finally gave in and told him the truth.
“Aunt Mary recommended me. I guess I was the only one she thought could actually last working next to that young master.”
“You probably are the best person for it.”
Well, truthfully, it was more like no one else wanted to deal with him. But I didn’t feel the need to point that out.
“Thanks. For saying that.”
“Is the work manageable? What’s he like?”
The young master.
Just hearing that title made my chest tighten again, which made it feel silly that I had just started to think I might’ve judged him too harshly.
It was like I could still feel his red eyes glaring at me from somewhere in the air.
Only after glancing at the closed window did I finally release a long breath from deep inside.
“He’s exactly what you’d expect. Arrogant. Cold. Just like every noble-born heir you hear about.”
Hael didn’t say anything for a second, maybe because he heard my sigh.
When I turned to look at him, his clear blue eyes, bright like a sky without clouds, seemed to drift over me as if he were quietly observing something.
“You’ve changed.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Hael looked away, frowning a little.
“You used to say that about me. That I was the most irritating person you’d ever met. That being born into a high family didn’t mean someone could act that way.”
Right. I had said that to him once.
Back when Hael was the biggest, brightest part of my world. It felt like a lifetime ago.
“Wasn’t I the only ‘arrogant young master’ in your life?”
I didn’t respond.
Watching Hael act jealous over being called annoying… he really hadn’t changed in some ways.
“If I’m not anymore, that’s kind of disappointing, don’t you think… miss?”
The way he said “miss” made old memories flicker across my mind like the pages of a forgotten book.
If an older woman from Alphonse had overheard, she probably would’ve scolded us for calling it “long ago” when we were both still so young. But to me, that time really did feel distant now.
Back when Hael and I used to talk and laugh together, without worry.
Since then, I had gone through so much. I’d been pulled into situations that left me no time to rest or look back. I couldn’t afford to live in the past.
So maybe, for Hael, those years had only made me clearer in his memory.
But for me, those same years had slowly blurred him out.
Time means different things to different people.
Even so, I knew that telling him that would hurt. And I didn’t want to hurt him.
“People change. That’s just how it is.”
“I didn’t change.”
“You did. Your voice is deeper. You’re taller. And…”
As I looked at him, searching for more changes, Hael leaned in a little closer.
“I got more handsome too.”
His bright grin was so open and full of warmth, a total contrast to the crooked, unreadable smirk I was used to seeing on Cassian.
After spending so much time with someone like the young master, Hael’s smile felt almost healing.
If there were clear lines between good and evil, Hael would be good.
And that frail young master… would be the opposite.
Though thinking of Cassian while looking at Hael felt a bit rude.
It made me quietly thankful that no such thing as a mind-reading artifact existed.
Then, just for a second, Hael leaned in a little more.
“But my feelings haven’t changed. That’s the part that really matters, right?”
The sudden closeness carried a warmth that gently spread through my heart, like a breeze I hadn’t felt in a long time.
Just like before.
It was a dangerous kind of warmth.
One I had promised myself I would never want again.
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