Saving My Childhood Friend Through... Questionable Means... - Chapter 49
“…….”
“Ahem.”
The silence in the carriage was deafening. Though Lucas and Seria sat facing each other, the atmosphere felt so frigid it might as well have been icy winds blowing between them.
Seria had her eyes closed, but it didn’t seem like she was sleeping—she looked more like she was lost in thought. Occasionally, she bit her lip tightly, as if holding back some surge of emotion.
Lucas, utterly at a loss, squirmed in his seat.
He had tried striking up a conversation several times, but Seria’s resolute silence made it impossible. He couldn’t figure out how to break through the tension that hung between them. It felt like walking on thin ice, and nothing seemed to come to mind to thaw the frozen mood.
He told himself optimistically that perhaps she was just upset today and that by tomorrow, things would return to normal.
*
To his dismay, even after a day passed, and then another, Seria continued speaking to him in a formal tone and maintaining her distance. Lucas grew increasingly anxious about how to navigate the strained situation.
This was the first time Seria, who had always yielded to him and prioritized his well-being, acted so coldly. He began to fear that this wasn’t just a temporary phase but that, as Cain had suggested, she might have completely closed her heart to him.
‘What do I do now?’
Caught in this tense atmosphere, Lucas inadvertently forgot about the curse entirely. He wasn’t shameless enough to suggest having s*x with Seria while she was so distant and unapproachable. On top of that, he was so preoccupied with figuring out how to make amends that the curse slipped his mind altogether.
For her part, Seria had come to terms with the harsh reality of her position after Cain’s pointed remarks.
The gap between her status as a woman dependent on Lucas and his status as a duke was as vast as heaven and earth. Hearing it from someone else’s mouth made her past worries about their undefined relationship seem utterly futile. She resolved to truly distance herself from Lucas.
Lucas tried repeatedly to initiate conversations, but what could she possibly say? Could she demand that he take responsibility because, even though she had nothing, she had saved his life?
She couldn’t bring herself to say such things, especially since she was the one who had suggested their ‘casual relationship’ in the first place. It wasn’t just that she couldn’t say it—she didn’t want to.
Days passed, and then Seria belatedly realized something strange: despite being cursed, Lucas hadn’t made any advances toward her for more than three days. She also remembered that she had completely forgotten to send a letter to the sorcerer.
But seeing Lucas so perfectly fine made her think there might not be a need to confirm anything anymore.
‘What’s going on? Why is Lucas fine despite not having s*x? I thought he said it was something he had to do constantly.’
Even in the cold, awkward atmosphere, their work forced her to interact with Lucas often, and he appeared perfectly healthy. Admittedly, his expression was growing darker by the day, but he no longer looked like someone at death’s door as he had in the beginning.
‘Should I call the sorcerer back to check on him?’
While Seria wrestled with her doubts, a letter arrived for her via carrier pigeon one day.
‘A letter? There’s no one who’d send me one… Who could it be from?’
Seria untied the paper from the carrier pigeon’s leg and began reading the letter. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she read on.
The letter was from the sorcerer she had met in the capital, and it was filled with a belated apology for lying to her. At the end of the letter, the sorcerer confessed, in what seemed like genuine regret, that they had been temporarily blinded by money.
Seria’s face turned a furious shade of red as she read those words.
‘It was all a lie?! This is ridiculous!’
She had suspected something was off. Lucas had seemed perfectly fine even though they hadn’t done anything for several days. Now it all made sense—this had all been part of Lucas’s deception.
When she thought about why he might have lied, the answer came to her quickly.
What other reason could there be? He just wanted to keep having s*x. There couldn’t be any other explanation.
What had started as an effort to save her friend had turned into Lucas’s ploy to manipulate her like this.
Her face burning with both anger and embarrassment, Seria stormed toward Lucas’s office. Her heavy, thunderous footsteps echoed through the halls of the manor, her fierce glare making it clear to everyone that she was enraged.
The staff of the estate murmured amongst themselves and hurriedly stepped aside to let her pass. No one dared to speak to her as she stomped through the hall.
Bang!
“Lucas!”
“What the—?! Can you knock before you—Wait, Seria, what’s with that look…?”
Lucas’s eyes darted nervously as Seria suddenly burst into his office, her expression stormy. The ominous energy radiating from her immediately put him on edge. Before he could fully grasp the situation, Seria flung a crumpled letter straight at his face.
“Ugh, what’s this? You—you avoided me every time I wanted to talk, and now you’re barging in here throwing things—”
“Read it! You’ll understand exactly why I’m so furious!”
Seria cut him off, her face rigid with fury as she slammed her hands on his desk. Startled by her ferocious demeanor, Lucas picked up the letter from where it had landed and quickly read through it.
As the contents sank in, his face drained of color.
“…Uh, this… This is…”
“Do you have anything to say for yourself?”
Seria slammed her hands on the desk again. Who on earth barges into a duke’s office and bangs on his desk like this?
Lucas couldn’t believe this was happening. The atmosphere was one of interrogation, and he nervously bit his lip.
He thought he’d bribed the sorcerer well enough to keep their secret—he hadn’t expected to be backstabbed like this. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to grab the sorcerer by the collar and shake him senseless.
‘What excuse can I come up with? Think, Lucas, think!’
His mind raced, desperate for a way to spin the situation. But no excuses came to him. The sudden exposure of his lie had left him utterly speechless.
In truth, Lucas hadn’t even been thinking about the lie or the curse for days. He had been too preoccupied with trying to mend his relationship with Seria.
What kind of idiot forgets their own scheme? Lucas thought bitterly to himself. If I’m going to scheme, I should have at least done it properly.
Seria’s expression, as she observed Lucas’s constantly shifting expression, became the clearest answer she could have asked for. The contents of the letter were true. Lucas had bribed the sorcerer and lied—to have s*x with her as much as he wanted!
