It Seems Like The Infamous Trash Can is Right Here! - Chapter 2
“Who’s there?”
Dantère’s shout rang out, and the sound of the maid coughing followed as he must have released her neck.
For a moment, startled, I froze, unable to breathe. My arm throbbed from the sharp pain where I had held it awkwardly.
The farthest corner of the library.
No place to hide, nowhere to escape. All I could do was sit there, curled up, waiting for Dantère Ortatum to discover me.
Yet, strangely, I didn’t hear anyone approaching.
Instead, after a brief pause, I heard the door open and close,
“Dantère Ortatum.”
A voice, much lower and colder than Dantère’s, resonated.
“Oh, what’s this? When I wanted to see you, you wouldn’t even show up, but here you are now?”
“And what is this disgrace in my mansion?”
Lionel Luanax.
He was the head of House Luanax and the master of this grand estate. My heart began to pound with a different sort of intensity.
Dantère didn’t seem particularly fazed by Lionel’s reproach.
“Disgrace? It’s a sacred act between a man and a woman.”
Lionel’s voice turned icier in response to Dantère’s shameless reaction.
“I’ve warned you not to defile anything within my mansion without permission. Have you already forgotten?”
“What did I defile? Both of us enjoyed it. She even said she wanted to try something like this.”
Though he spoke confidently, there was a hint of hesitation in Dantère’s voice, as if he knew he had crossed a line.
“I didn’t go too hard on her. There’s a mark on her neck, but it should disappear in a few days.”
I could picture exactly what expression and gaze Lionel would cast upon Dantère—a look that could regard him like a bug to be crushed or tossed out.
“Fine, I’ll pay for the treatment. How much do you want?”
“One hundred gold.”
“…What?”
Even though I was an eavesdropper, I was as shocked as Dantère at Lionel’s response.
For an average maid, saving five gold could take a decade of hard work.
Even for noble bloodlines with an annual budget exceeding ten thousand gold, it was undeniably an exorbitant amount for a maid’s treatment.
Dantère’s shock was just as evident.
“What kind of treatment costs…?”
But soon after, he fumbled to pull out his money and handed it to Lionel, clearly unwilling to risk getting expelled from the mansion.
“I’ll give you the rest later.”
I was deeply curious about Dantère’s expression, but I had to restrain myself. Sticking my neck out for a peek at this point would be pure madness.
‘Let’s hope everyone leaves now.’
Exhausted, I let my forehead rest against my knees, my shoulders slumping.
‘Just let me be alone.’
But whether by misfortune or luck, my wish was only half fulfilled.
I barely had a moment to feel relieved as I heard the door open and close, only for the steady sound of footsteps to approach me without hesitation.
Without missing a beat, they stopped directly in front of me, as if he’d known I was hiding here all along.
When I lifted my head at the soft rustle of fabric, I saw the face of the man crouched before me.
“Priestess.”
A man who held the commanding air of someone at the pinnacle of the ruling class, an aura sharp enough to unnerve even the calmest of souls.
And yet, despite that, his face was so strikingly beautiful that I forgot to breathe, simply staring at him.
Lionel Luanax gazed silently into my eyes.
In the slanting light of late afternoon, his red eyes seemed to hold a warmth I’d never seen before, almost hypnotic. While I was lost in this daze, he gently took my hand and placed a pouch in it.
“Consider this a compensation and consolation for what you’ve had to witness.”
My arms almost buckled under the weight of it, and as I hurried to lift it with both hands, I thought I heard Lionel chuckle faintly.
Instinctively, my gaze slipped to his lips, seeking any trace of a smile, only to catch sight of those curved, alluring red lips.
“If there’s anything else you need, feel free to ask.”
Why, at that moment, did I have to swallow hard?
“Whatever you desire, I shall grant it.”
The moment I averted my gaze from his lips, I saw something flash in his eyes—a relentless hunger, or perhaps it was only my imagination.
The warmth lingering on my wrist felt like a freshly branded mark, pulsing hotly.
This marked the third week of my confinement in the dangerously alluring Luanax Mansion.
