CH 9

“Ha. Lwife is twuly unpredictable.” (Ha. Life is truly unpredictable.)

Izeline glanced around the luxurious room surrounding her and shook her head in disbelief. Although she had offered to assist Robert, she never imagined that she would end up living in the Armanty Mansion.

…And not just any room, but right next to Robert’s.

Duke Brioche, for some reason, had gone to great lengths to shower her with extravagant hospitality. The fact that the maids personally attended to her room, ensuring everything was in order, and informed her of a cord she could pull if she needed anything, spoke volumes.

Had it not been for the Duke’s explicit instructions, such treatment would have been unimaginable for a commoner like her.

‘He acts all strict and proper in front of others, but deep down he wants to save his son, doesn’t he?’

Lost in contemplation, Izeline, who had not only experienced a rise in status but also an unexpected elevation in social standing, pondered deeply. The extravagant treatment she received seemed excessive, even if Robert was considered a precious successor.

‘…Or was it nothing to someone like a Duke?’

Well, considering he probably owns multiple mansion across the empire… a single room was nothing.

‘Still, if I can’t save Robert, I’ll definitely pay with my life.’

Yet, the knowledge that her throat wouldn’t be slit four years from now brought a sense of relief.

According to the original work, Robert defied the odds and survived into adulthood. The more she thought about it, the more contrived and forced this novel felt. It seemed as though they had transformed Robert into a villain without considering his chances of survival. It was as if they had deliberately inserted elements to make his childhood miserable.

In a way, the author seemed cruel.

‘Though from the author’s perspective, they aren’t real people after all.’

As Izeline’s thoughts reached that point, she found the fact that she had entered the world of the book even more bizarre.

‘It’s not a dream, but what is this exactly…’

Knock, knock.

At that moment, a knocking sound was heard, pulling Izeline out of her contemplation.

“Who iws it?” (Who is it?)

As she turned her head, the door opened cautiously, revealing Robert.

“Izeline.”

“Lemo, no, ywong master.” (Lemo, no, young master.)

Robert wrinkled his brow at the polite title. He closed the door and responded curtly.

“Dwon’t call me that, jwust call me as uswual…” (Don’t call me that, just call me as usual…)

“Oh…”

“Just like friends.”

“What if pweople heard you?”

“So what? I dwon’t care.”

His cheek was slightly flushed as he spoke.

Izeline chuckled, thinking he wasn’t being honest. In response, Robert briefly bit his lip, then furrowed his brow and approached her across the room.

“What awe you lwaughing at?” (What are you laughing at?)

“Ewvything.” (Everything.)

As he sat down on the chair, he glanced around the room quickly.

In an instant, Izeline’s scent lingered in his nose.

To think that they would be living in adjacent rooms… it was hard for him to distinguish between dream and reality.

In truth, his heart had been racing, and he couldn’t sleep properly for the past few days. Even today, he lost count of how many times he paced the hallway, hesitating before turning back. He anxiously waited for the moment when she finished unpacking.

He had been restless, pacing back and forth. But now, when they faced each other, he didn’t know what to say.

Or perhaps he did…

“What do you want to sway to me?”

In the room, an unusual stillness hung between them, with the table acting as a divide.

Curiously, Izeline inclined her head towards Robert. He cast a quick, fleeting glance her way, his lips moistening nervously as he mustered the courage to utter his words.

“…Do you know about my… Krug disease?”

His head was lowered. Restless, he fidgeted with his fingers and asked in a voice as small as a mosquito.

“Do you remember the last time we met?”

“…Yes.”

At her brief response, Robert fell silent for a moment. It seemed as if he was pondering over their encounters.

Soon, he asked again.

“How?”

“Be… because we met at the mansion…”

Izeline mumbled and glanced at Robert slightly.

His lips trembled with unease.

Robert’s face remained unfamiliar to the mansion’s servants as he secluded himself in his room, rarely seen by others. Given their limited interactions within the estate, it was highly improbable for a commoner like Izeline to confidently recognize him.

“Whewe awe you! Ah, no, where awe you gwoing─! (Where are you! Ah, no, where are you going─!)”

“D-don’t fwollow me!”

Izeline’s distressed cry resonated in his ears as he passed through the hole, causing his cheeks to flush with embarrassment. Without exchanging a single word, he grasped the situation.

Izeline must have come to the mansion and witnessed the scolding he received from his father that day.

A wave of shame washed over him, threatening to bring tears to his eyes. However, he refused to reveal any more of his pitiful state to her, struggling to restrain his emotions. Despite his efforts, his body trembled involuntarily, mirroring the turmoil in his heart.

A heavy silence filled the air.

Through that silence, Izeline felt his pain and sorrow reaching her. It squeezed her heart. She wanted to say words of comfort, but… she didn’t know what to say.

In the end, she cautiously reached out her hand and placed it on top of his trembling fingers.

…Would that be enough?

Surprised, he turned his head and weakly smiled. Then, the two of them went to bed and lay side by side.

“Did you hear the servants gossiping?”

After the two lay next to each other, they stared at the ceiling and exchanged words. Startled by her question, Robert hunched his shoulders and replied in a small voice.

“Yes…”

For the past few days, Armanty mansion had been buzzing with rumors of a mithril wall being pierced. The maids and servants were excitedly chattering, unable to determine how it came to be.

“Could it be a thief?”

“But there are no missing items.”

“It’s just a small hole, something only a puppy could squeeze through.”

“When did it start to have a hole?”

“How did the young master discover it?”

The murmurs echoed inside the walls, spreading throughout the entire mansion. Robert added a somewhat anxious voice to the conversation.

“Wh, who could have made the strange hole?”

“Right?”

The notion of this being a mere prank crossed her mind. Still, Izeline couldn’t easily dismiss the possibility that this realm was a figment of the author’s imagination nor could she brush off the hole in the mithril wall as a mere plot device.

“There’s no point in worrying about it.”

Izeline murmured absentmindedly, causing Robert to turn his head with wide-eyes.

He then asked.

“Aren’t you surprised?”

“Why?”

“Because the mithril wall was piewced?”

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“It can be piewced if someone wants to.”

“….”

Robert’s expression grew intricate as he fell into silence, his eyes shifting to the ceiling. In that moment, Izeline couldn’t help but become aware of how her own reaction might appear peculiar. Perhaps she seemed too indifferent, considering that most individuals would be taken aback in such circumstances.

As if trying to justify herself, she added.

“If someone managed to pierce it, they must be incwedibly strong.”

“….?”

“Just forget about it. It’s not swomething we need to worry about.”

“If you say so…”

Robert nodded, seemingly agreeing in a moment of decision.

Once her hasty explanation was accepted, Izeline let out a sigh of relief. It was fortunate that he was still young and naive, she thought.

“Now, lwet’s change the subject. Swhould we go to bed here?”

Turning her attention to the dark window, she asked, changing the topic. Then, she turned to face Robert while lying next to her, waiting for his response.

Sensing her gaze, he glanced at her briefly and blushed slightly, retorting in a gruff manner.

“You have a strange habit of swleeping.”

“What?”

“You slweep a lot*.”

[ T/N: The author wrote it as beggar which doesn’t make sense in English, the original literal meaning of this sentence is probably something like it sucks because you sleep a lot. ]

“What dwo you know about me?”

Izeline poked him lightly.

She had been sleeping normally before the possession, but it seemed that her current age was causing some trouble that she slept more.

Robert stubbornly persisted, not giving in.

“You swleep a lot.”

“You slweep more!”

“You sleep more and more!”

The wrestling match with their words seemed endless, and Izeline was getting fed up, unable to keep up with their nonsensical banter.

“Enough! Jwust go to your room!”

However, instead of accepting her request, Robert started arguing with illogical reasoning and a perplexed expression on his face.

“No, I won’t go.”

“Why? It’s cwommon courtesy to sleep in separate rooms.”

“I have to watch ovew you.”

“What?”

“I have to protect you if something hwappens.”

“What on earth?”

Izeline couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It was both amusing and childish, so she couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

However, as she burst into laughter, Robert turned his head in confusion.

Something was off… despite averting her gaze to the ceiling, her face was vividly etched in his mind, as if her face was drawn on the white ceiling.

‘…She’s pretty.’

A fiery heat flushed across his cheeks, leaving Robert with a sense of discomfort that he couldn’t quite comprehend.

In response to this unfamiliar sensation, he tightly clenched his fist. His heart thumped with an accelerated rhythm, as if his blood surged through his veins at twice the speed. Breathing became arduous, and the notion of retreating to his room crossed his mind.

…Yet, the idea of parting ways with Izeline was something he wished to avoid.

It was an inexplicable feeling.

“Your fwace is turning red. How cute.”

Izeline, resting her chin on one hand, looked at Robert intently while he was lost in his thoughts.

Even if she thought about it herself, her actions seemed childish, wasn’t it? While watching Robert’s face turning redder by the second, she almost burst into laughter, but then she thought that he might get even more embarrassed…

‘I guess I should stop teasing him.’

She smiled warmly.

She had to prevent this adorable child from turning into a villain in the future. She made that decision, despite the fact that it meant the disappearance of a character who had provided tension and thrill as a reader. Besides, she wasn’t a reader anymore.

There was no reason to see Robert as a villain.

‘Arsen and Livny will surely have a smoother love story, right?’

Of course, there was still the love triangle with Michael, the sub male lead, but that was their own story. Now, Robert had nothing to do with their lives.

It was for the sake of everyone’s happiness.

‘…I have to guide him well.’

A warm feeling blossomed within her.

“Is twat your habit?”

Robert’s voice woke her from her reverie. Looking at his tomato-like red face and furrowed brows, Izeline widened her eyes in surprise.

“Huh? What?”

“You’ve been stwaring at me, your gaze might piewce a hole in my face!”

“Oh…”

Did she really stare at him like that?

Izeline’s eyes moved, and then she playfully curled the corners of her mouth.

“Hehe. Twat’s bwecause you’re quite handsome.”

“…What?”

“You’we eyes, nose, lips… they’we nice.”

Robert’s eyes shook in disbelief at the unexpected response. He quickly gulped and turned away with a dismissive snort.

“….”

Strange guy. He sulked when she called him handsome…

Izeline blinked her eyes a few times and then, fueled by mischief, chuckled softly. It seemed that the child was feeling embarrassed.

“Lemo!”

“C-cwall me Ro-Robert!”

“Okay, Robert…”

After saying that, she turned to him and straddled him who was lying down, positioning her face close to his. Robert blushed intensely down to his neck.

“W-What… w-what, w-what?”

“You dwon’t want me to say that you’re handsome? You’re pwetty then!”

“I-I-I don’t need it! Just go away!”

“You’re pwetty!”

“Get off me! Stop it!”

“Why? It’s nice to be this close.”

As she said that, Izeline grabbed Robert’s squishy cheeks and stretched them sideways.

“What awe you doing?!”

He shouted in protest.

Being treated with kindness and humor was a new experience for him, having been accustomed to being ignored or looked down upon. Izeline, on the other hand, was delighted and continued to playfully tease him, filling the room with her hearty laughter.

The passing maids briefly paused upon hearing the laughter seep through the door’s crack before continuing on their way. It was a sound that had never resonated within the walls of the Armanty Mansion before.

A subtle shift was taking place, whether they welcomed it or not.

The two children indulged in playfulness and banter for hours, lost in their own little world. As the moon and stars unveiled themselves, and the night deepened, the laughter and conversation gave way to a peaceful slumber.

Eventually, both children succumbed to the embrace of sleep.

The following morning, Robert begrudgingly woke up to the sound of Izeline’s snoring, accompanied by an exasperated groan.