For Sale: Male Lead, Obsession Included - Chapter 76
The spell was lifted. The ordinary-looking young man vanished, replaced by a strikingly beautiful man now seated across from me.
Declan had changed significantly since I last saw him.
He was taller, and his previously thin frame had gained healthy flesh and muscle. His once dull hair and skin now looked well-cared-for, smooth and healthy, and his formerly pale complexion had taken on a sun-kissed tan.
The young, unimpressive Declan had transformed into a full-fledged nobleman in such a short time.
Putting aside all other thoughts, I felt a sense of relief.
It seemed that he had been well cared for and living healthily there, receiving all the things I hadn’t been able to provide him at the margraviate.
Declan stared intently at me. His ruby-colored eyes were still beautiful, but there was something different about them now.
‘Something… more intense, perhaps?’
It was hard to describe exactly, but his gaze felt chilling in a way I couldn’t quite explain.
Had that ‘obsessive tendency’ lying dormant in his genes been brought to life at the duchy?
I forced a smile and swallowed dryly.
An awkward silence settled between us.
Click.
The tea had already cooled. The time spent sitting across from Declan had left it lukewarm, even cold.
It seemed Declan, like me, was struggling with what to say first.
“…Master.”
“Declan.”
Ah, we’d called each other’s names at the same time.
“You go first.”
I let him take the lead. Declan, who hadn’t touched his teacup, fiddled with his fingers before he finally opened his mouth.
Though he looked every bit the nobleman on the outside, his mannerisms still reminded me of the slave from the margraviate.
Even his trembling voice sounded much the same.
“I missed you, Master.”
“I don’t reciprocate the sentiment.”
“I thought about you a lot.”
Despite my cold dismissal, Declan continued speaking, undeterred.
“I have so many things to ask…”
“Please keep it brief. This is an uncomfortable meeting for me.”
Declan gave a faint smile, looking a bit hurt. I gazed at him intently.
“Did you abandon me?”
“In a larger sense, yes. I approached you because of the reward offered for you. And once I received the money, I abandoned you. Though, to say I abandoned you wouldn’t be accurate, as I never truly had you in the first place.”
“But I’m your slave…”
“The slave certificate has been destroyed. You’re not a slave, and I don’t need one. Especially not a slave who keeps following me around.”
The words flowed out as if I had a script, each one delivered without giving him any room to respond.
Though Declan might have known this, hearing it must have shocked him, as he couldn’t continue and just stared at me.
“Our relationship ended back at the margraviate. The master and slave relationship, I mean.”
“……”
“So, please don’t seek me out anymore. Stop following me and stop trying to find out about me.”
“…Estira.”
“No. It makes my skin crawl.”
Before I retreat to a place even deeper, please stop tormenting me, Your Lordship.
***
“Torment…?”
Declan repeated Estira’s words quietly.
Mumbling, he repeated the word on his lips.
Torment… Who was tormenting whom? Was I… tormenting my master?
Impossible. I would never torment my beloved master.
Then, Clovin’s words resurfaced in his mind.
“With how obsessively you’re clinging, how could she not run? Any normal girl would be scared out of her wits.”
Ah.
So I had been troubling my master.
In an attempt to alleviate my own pain, I had only caused her more.
I was foolish and short-sighted.
The more I tried to reach my master, the more I had caused her suffering.
Declan clenched his hands tightly on his lap.
“I never intended to make things difficult for you, Estira. I just… wanted to see you, to be with you… I’m sorry.”
He apologized sincerely. If his selfishness had made Estira so cold, it was only right to apologize and step back.
Yet, while the apology came easily, the words ‘I’ll forget you’ wouldn’t come out.
Because she was the very reason he lived.
Declan lifted his red eyes to look at Estira. They were moist, glistening in crimson.
“You’re a smart person, so I’m sure you understand. Well then…”
Estira averted her gaze and began to rise, but Declan’s next words stopped her.
“Then, how about… a different relationship?”
“……”
“If not master and slave, could it be something else?”
Something like protector and protected, friend, companion. Or, perhaps… lover.
Declan reached out, covering the back of Estira’s hand on the table.
His rough, calloused palm met her soft skin.
“I won’t make it difficult for you.”
“…I don’t need anything like that…”
“Please. Otherwise, I think I’ll go mad.”
***
As I stepped out, I saw Clovin leaning against the doorframe, watching me.
His ambiguous expression was hard to interpret.
Though the soundproof spell hadn’t been lifted, he whispered to me.
Low and cold.
“This doesn’t align with the contract, does it? Weren’t you supposed to live as if you didn’t exist in his life?”
