SIWALL Ch 54

“The first maid, I hear your eldest niece is going through some turbulence lately?”

There was nothing the Emperor did not know. He was a man obsessed with the title of a “sage king,” and as a means to achieve that goal, he had planted hundreds of Red-White Dan members and thousands of spies under them all over the empire. There was no one who could escape the Emperor’s eyes and ears.

Since the head maid also knew this fact, she bowed her head humbly.

“O Sun that looks over Lantar, I am regretful to say it is so. The weight of the Marquisate of Tulion still seems to be too heavy for my nephew.”

From about a week ago, the Tulion household had been like walking on thin ice. This was because the merchant ships—the core business of the Tulion family—had encountered a sudden typhoon and been completely shattered, causing a full year’s worth of the family’s income to vanish into thin air.

Furthermore, just the day before yesterday, the words of a servant boy—who had been severely beaten and driven out by Teseus Tulion, resulting in permanent disability—were printed across all the newspapers, drawing the public outrage of commoners. The incident had happened four years ago, and at the time, the boy had been barely five years old.

“With the household noisy inside and out, you must have many worries yourself.”

The Emperor said with a benevolent smile.

“How would it be if I helped you out a bit?”

It was a suggestion akin to the whisper of a devil.

∞ ∞ ∞

“How about moving your bedroom?”

Arzen and Elliot were eating a meal together in the dining room. This, too, was Arzen’s proposal.

Ordinarily, Elliot ate lunch in the garden with Benny or Rachel, and dinner alone in the kitchen or with the other chefs. There was a separate servants’ dining hall, but he preferred dining in a more comfortable and quiet place than there.

However, the dining room where he was currently eating was Arzen’s exclusive dining room, which only nobles were allowed to enter. Elliot had never actually seen such a long and wide dining table before, even though he had past experience working part-time at a few restaurants, including family restaurants.

The lavish dining table was decorated with beautiful flowers, ribbons, lace, candelabras, and the like, which took up almost the entire surface area of the table. The food seemed to come out course by course, as only one dish was served at a time.

‘Is this what they call a fine-what-do-you-call-it restaurant? So that’s what it is….’

Fine dining restaurant was the correct term, but anyway, Elliot Lim Seongsik Brown was deeply moved. As long as he stuck close to Arzen, wouldn’t he be able to quietly enjoy luxury course meals in such a high-end dining room like this all the time? The food was so delicious that his whole body shuddered with every single bite.

However, that sentiment only applied to the meals. Moving into the same bedroom felt a bit excessive to Elliot.

“As for the bedroom….”

Elliot made figure-eight eyebrows and smiled as if apologetically. He even deployed his ultimate “trailing-off-with-a-smile” tactic to clearly refuse without hurting the other person’s feelings.

“As for the bedroom, what about it?”

Of course, Arzen was not the kind of person whom such tricks would work on.

“The bedroom is a bit… wouldn’t that be a bit much, sir?”

“What does ‘a bit much’ mean?”

What is this question-mark serial killer?

Elliot launched a covert middle finger beneath the table and explained kindly.

“Well, you see, if two grown men who aren’t even married share a single bedroom, wouldn’t it be the perfect setup for people to start whispering? Especially since we’ve already had those… those rumors circulating about us.”

“As for rumors, you just have to say they aren’t true, so why worry about that? Don’t worry about it and move your room to my bedroom starting today.”

Right, must be nice to have strong mental fortitude and be the empire’s top dog who doesn’t get swayed by rumors, you jerk.

“You are welcome to bring that fat cat along as well. I will provide quality meals twice a day.”

“Pardon me, would you mind saying that one more time? A fat cat? Our Camembert is not fat.”

“…Ah, right, that chubby cat.”

“Not even chubby, it’s just that he has a lot of fur.”

“Does fur get heavy in the summer?”

“…Our Camembert is a special kind of boy.”

Elliot, a butler blinded by affection, heatedly argued his point. At that, Arzen let out a small “haha” laugh. Elliot thought fireworks were going off right in front of his eyes for a split second. It was fantastic. And Arzen properly capitalized on that exact moment.

“I’ll make up an excuse to the servants that my insomnia has gotten worse. If you prefer, you can use another bedroom connected right next to my bedroom. I will make sure it never causes you any inconvenience.”

Arzen made his pitch with earnest gravity, as if bringing up something he had considered for a very long time. Since he was actually sincere about it, Elliot felt the genuineness in Arzen’s words.

“…Then I’ll move to the next room. If I’m allowed to do that, sir.”

Elliot said, mumbling slightly.

“Thank you for accepting the proposal.”

Arzen smiled again.

Arzen’s smiles were becoming easier by the day, but since his beauty was breaking records for its peak every single day, Elliot had no choice but to secretly cover his eyes once more.

Aren’t there any sunglasses in this world, anywhere….

∞ ∞ ∞

Moving bedrooms did not require a great deal of effort. The two tasks that took the most work were pulling out the letters hidden away in the drawers separately and helping Camembert adapt safely.

Fortunately, thanks to having pulled them out early, the letters weren’t discovered by anyone, and though Camembert was briefly tense at the unfamiliar scents, he quickly settled down at ease due to the similar room structure.

And Elliot… his heart was pounding fiercely.

Arzen was right through a single door connected inside the room.

Just thinking about that caused a tumultuous earthquake in his chest, as if a bear were dancing inside. At first, he had said he hated it out of concern for surrounding gazes, but in truth, being with Arzen wasn’t hateful at all.

Despite experiencing all those numerous events, Elliot was still trying to convince himself that he didn’t like Arzen “in that way.”

Right then, someone knocked on the door.

“Writer.”

It was Generwin, who had become a resident guest at the Grand Duke Teron’s estate. He opened the door and walked in before Elliot could even answer, glancing around the room.

“Well, this is more presentable than the last room. The Grand Duke must really cherish you, Writer.”

Elliot’s face flushed slightly. Realizing that he himself was blushing, he deliberately fluttered his shirt collar as if acting like it was hot.

“By the way, Writer, are you and the Grand Duke really dating?”

“Cough, cough, no? Absolutely not, who, what, why are those kinds of absurd rumors going around again….”

“Calm down.”

Generwin picked up the water pitcher resting on the tea table and poured water into a glass. He pulled Elliot over, made him sit on the sofa, and handed him the glass of water. It was a skillful and fluid movement.

‘Is this something you can only do when you’ve dated a lot?’

A thought suddenly occurred to Elliot. Might Generwin be able to give an objective answer regarding his relationship with Arzen? So Elliot threw a question at Generwin. Naturally, he didn’t forget to lay the groundwork beforehand by calling it a “friend’s” story.

“Oh ho, a sudden relationship consultation? That’s my specialty. Lay it on me.”

Generwin happily accepted the “romance” consultation.

“It’s not a relationship consultation, though. My friend likes the other person, but not in that kind of way, man. Would you please listen to me properly, mate~?”

“Your tone just keeps getting friendlier while the content gets scarier, Writer.”

Elliot glared at Generwin. At that, Generwin chuckled and put up a posture of surrender.

“Alright, alright. So what the Writer is saying is, he’s definitely not the kind of person he likes in that way, but his heart races like crazy whenever he sees that guy, empathy capabilities are activated like crazy, he wants to comfort him like crazy, and like crazy—”

“It’s not that crazy, though. Just… my heart races a little bit, he just looks a little pitiful, so I just want to comfort him a little bit more….”

At Elliot’s protest, Generwin held back a laugh and nodded with feigned seriousness.

“Ah, right, just a little bit, huh.”

“Yes. But the other person doesn’t think of my friend in that way. Of course, my friend doesn’t either!”

“Writer, do you know how extremely contradictory what you’re saying right now is?”

Generwin said, draping an arm over Elliot’s shoulder.

“From my perspective, because the Writer has never dated, you’re currently confused about what that feeling is and even in self-denial.”

“Not me, my friend.”

“Right, your friend.”

Generwin carried out the consultation quite faithfully.

“That feeling your friend is feeling—it might not be romantic feelings. You could feel the exact same thing looking at a cat. But do you know what the condition is for this romance consultation to hold up?”

“Let’s see. What would it be, sir?”

Before he knew it, Elliot had gotten swept up in it and ended up calling Generwin “sir.” That was how persuasive and engaging Generwin’s words were.

“Whether you’ve imagined kissing, holding hands, and tangling your bodies together or not.”

“I—!”

Elliot was left speechless. Even if it didn’t go as far as kissing or tangling bodies… in truth, Elliot had touched Arzen’s chest or stealthily gazed with greedy eyes at the veins standing out on the back of his hands on multiple occasions.

“There are many different kinds of love. Of course, the Writer’s friend might not love the other person in that way. Isn’t that something only that friend would know?”

Watching Elliot’s dazed face, Generwin gave his shoulder a pat and stood up.

“Stop sitting around like this and let’s go out. Once we go out and come back, the moving will all be done with. Don’t go stealing the servants’ chores.”

Elliot quietly got up and followed Generwin. His head was spinning fiercely.