For Sale: Male Lead, Obsession Included - Chapter 56
“Oh, you startled me….”
“Are you telling the truth?! Why did she leave? Where did she go!”
“Now, calm down.”
“Why did you tie me up here?!”
The bed shook violently, as if the bedposts were about to break off. Clovin, who was sitting on top of the bed, bounced along with it.
Thunk! Thunk!
At this rate, he thought he might get motion sickness before the bedposts actually came loose, so Clovin quickly stood up and looked down at Declan.
“If you don’t calm down, I won’t tell you where she went.”
“…”
Just like that, Declan’s thrashing stopped, as if it had been a lie. Clovin, realizing that he could use Estira as leverage to control this wild colt, filled the bedside cup with water.
“I heard she’s going on a journey.”
“A journey…?”
“Yes. For now, the only information I’ve gathered is that she’s headed to the Holy Nation.”
The Holy Nation… Declan rolled the word around in his mouth. Even he, a slave with little knowledge of the world, had heard of it. A notorious place, filled with corrupt priests who supposedly served the gods.
Why would Estira go to such a place?
Declan’s calm, lake-like eyes landed on Clovin, demanding an explanation.
“As for why she’s going there, I don’t know yet. We haven’t gathered that information.”
“…Let me go with her.”
“You can’t.”
“I don’t want to be a noble. I just want to be by her side. Please.”
His face, still flushed with fever, and his rosy cheeks and ears gave him a pitiful look as he gazed up at Clovin. If Clovin wasn’t used to dealing with emotional appeals on a daily basis, he might have let Declan go right then and there, seeing such a pitiful expression.
“You were born a noble. It’s not something you can discard just because you want to. That’s why you can’t go to her, because she’s a commoner.”
“…Why…?”
“Isn’t it simple? Nobles and commoners. Especially a high-ranking noble and a commoner with no title. It’s obvious.”
Ignoring the glass of water Clovin held out, Declan clenched his jaw and stared out the window, toward the spot where Estira had disappeared.
He could be with her when he was a slave, but now that he had become a noble, he couldn’t stay by her side anymore because she was a commoner?
What kind of cruel joke is this?
He had never wished to become a noble. All he had wanted was to stay by Estira’s side forever. That’s what he had wished for, not this.
…He had never wished for this.
Tears threatened to well up in his already red-rimmed eyes.
“Hey, Young Master.”
“…”
“Doesn’t this all feel unfair? Hmm? Don’t you feel betrayed? She approached you because of the reward, you know? You saw it yesterday, didn’t you? How she hugged that money pouch and kissed it? She’s a woman who’s obsessed with money.”
“…”
“Do you even know how much money she spent in the capital in just one day? She was obviously out to spend as much as possible. What do you see in a woman like that?”
Clovin chattered on as he studied Declan’s hollow expression. Was he not angry because he hadn’t fully grasped the situation yet? Should he give him more time to look at things objectively?
Just as Clovin’s mind was spinning with various thoughts, a small voice escaped from Declan’s dry lips.
“…I don’t.”
“What?”
“I don’t feel unfair at all. And I don’t feel betrayed…”
“That’s a lie. Come on, Young Master, be honest with yourself. You’re mad, aren’t you? You must be upset that she left you behind, right?”
Upset?
Could Declan even be mad at Estira?
He searched his heart carefully. For someone like Declan, who had lived his life obeying his master without question, harboring emotions that contradicted his master’s will was a luxury he couldn’t afford.
She left him behind because she wanted to. He couldn’t argue with that decision.
It was because he was no longer useful, because he wasn’t good enough, that she had abandoned him.
“I’m not upset. It’s my fault.”
“Tsk.”
Where do I even begin to re-educate this guy… Clovin groaned, grabbing the back of his neck in frustration. How was he supposed to uproot this deeply ingrained slave mentality?
“Listen carefully, Young Master. Normal people would be angry in a situation like this. They wouldn’t blame themselves. She approached you with the intention of using you from the start. Isn’t it obvious? You should hate her and curse her out.”
“I don’t want to curse her.”
“Why not? She left you and went off on a happy little trip, didn’t she?”
At that moment, Declan, who had been staring out the window the whole time, turned to face Clovin. His emotionless expression sent a chill down Clovin’s spine.
“If there’s anyone I want to hate and curse, it’s you people. Not Estira.”
Clovin, who had been rambling on, suddenly fell silent.
