CH 36

The girl climbed the stairs, staring at Nathan. At last, the girl, who reached just below the balcony where he stood, lightly kicked the floor out of place and jumped up. Unlike her light body movements, she had a significant jump. The girl’s hand sits calmly on the railing. Nathan instinctively stepped back in surprise at the distance that was close in an instant.

“Hey.”

The voice with a smile around her mouth is infinitely friendly.

“We’ve met before!”

But the following words froze Nathan.

“I didn’t expect to see you here, Norbert.”

Nathan clapped his lips at him. Nathan already knew who the girl was in front of him. However, I couldn’t open my mouth because I didn’t know what to answer.

“Ramiah Ryanhart.”

The only daughter of the Duke of Ryanhart, Azar’s second companion. It was the girl in front of her, who was a cousin of and spent Hazard’s childhood with Remburton.

However, it was only basic personal information he learned from reading the original work, and today was the first time Nathan met her in person. But as soon as Ramiah saw him, she immediately said, “I’ve met him.” It also seemed to be familiar enough to greet like this first. The blue eyes glanced over at Nathan as if they were observing him.

“Did Hazard hit you?”

“What?”

Nathan frowned slightly at what he didn’t understand at the moment. Whether he knew Nathan’s question, Ramiah reached out to Nathan’s face. As soon as her broken fingernails with callous hands tried to grab Nathan’s face, Nathan stepped back to avoid them. Then the back hit something.

“It’s Ramiah.”

Soon after, in the morning, a voice that was as deep as possible was heard right behind my back. When I turned my head, Hazard was standing right behind me. Maybe he was tired, but his eyes were half closed, and he couldn’t find the laughter he usually hung on.

“How rude of you to come into my room.”

“I haven’t entered the room yet, so isn’t it okay?”

Ramiah was still sitting on the railing as if she had heard nothing of it. She shrugged her shoulders exaggeratedly and Hazard swept his face.

“Go back. I need to sleep more.”

“Then you can go to bed I’ll be playing with Norbert, so get some more sleep, My prince.”

Nathan was embarrassed to be stuck between faces that looked like each other.

“Ramiah Ryanhart.”

Hazard pressed down on his throbbing head and called Ramiah’s full name. It was a kind of warning not to talk too much between them, so Ramiah had to get up.

“Phew, it’s been a while since I’ve seen your face, so I thought I’d talk to you.”

“…You can do that later.”

As if tired, Hazard, with his arms and chin on Nathan’s shoulder, grumbled to Ramiah in that state. 

Soft blonde hairs tickle my cheeks. 

Hazard turned to Ramiah and dropped his head on Nathan’s shoulder. Even though he seemed to lean on Nathan’s whole body, he was not dropping his body’s weight. 

Even still, Azar lightly let go at the sound of Nathan’s muttering, “Heavy.”

“I’m telling you, I get it. I’m coming later, go!”

“Swing by for lunch.”

“How long are you going to sleep?”

“Until noon.”

“Oh, you must be going to sleep for the rest of your life!”

Ramiah stood on the railing in a fit of irritation and pointed her finger at Hazard. In that state, she said to Nathan, who was standing still, moving only his eyes.

“Norbert, why don’t you leave him alone and come to breakfast with me?”

Having breakfast with her made me feel sick just thinking about it. It was not a good choice to be alone with Ramiah while Nathan didn’t know the kind of relationship they had. Nathan had to turn down the offer.

“Thank you for the offer, but I don’t usually eat breakfast.”

Did Nathan speak informally or formally to Ramiah? Due to Ramiah’s position, it would be better to use honorifics without difficulty. But wouldn’t it seem strange in its own way if a man who spoke informally to Azar, the prince, suddenly spoke formally to others? While Nathan was overwhelmed by such anxiety, Ramiah did not care much about Nathan speaking informally. Rather, the fact that she was rejected seemed to be more concerning.

“This guy and that guy are disappointing me! You have rejected the Ramiah Ryanhart twice!”

Nathan’s face, who was looking at the exaggerated image of grabbing near the heart as if her heart were hurting, closing her eyes as if she were grieving, and touching her head with her hands, shuddered. Ramiah, who was acting as if she were the main character of a Broadway play, quietly opened only one eye and looked at Nathan.

“Instead, we’ll have lunch together, right?”

That’s what Hazard said. So Nathan had no choice but to nod. 

I turned down breakfast, but I couldn’t turn down lunch. I wanted to remain as good as possible with them. Not as much as Hazard, but he also liked the main characters.

“Then I look forward to the luncheon!”

She smiled brightly and turned around. Ramiah, who was standing on the railing dangerously, jumped lightly as she did when she came and disappeared leisurely into the mansion.

“Maybe it’s because I hang around swordsmanship majors, but all of you love jumping from a high places.”

Nathan, who was chasing the scarlet hair that disappeared from view, stumbled for a moment due to the added weight on his shoulder.

With his cheek resting on Nathan’s shoulder, Hazard closed his eyes. The words that are uttered as if they are still sleepy are slow.

“I’m sorry. That scared you, right? I’ll tell you to be careful next time.”

“It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

“Isn’t meeting a Lady in your pajamas the real concern though?”

His sly smile attracts the corners of his mouth. Nathan, however, just shrugged. He was wearing his PJs now, I don’t know who put them on. In fact, I felt a little awkward, but I couldn’t afford to worry about it because I was so busy a while ago, but now that I’m thinking about it I’m embarrassed.

“Let’s go in. You must be cold.”

“It’s not that cold.”

“Don’t lie.”

It was a little chilly because I was still in the sea breeze, but it wasn’t cold. Hazard, who is upright, enters the room first, scratching his head. Nathan, who was following him, stopped at the spot because of Hazard, who turned toward me after he was heading to bed.

“Phew, you look terrible.”

With a small murmur of voice, Hazard’s large hand gently tapped Nathan’s right cheek and fell off. Nathan rubbed the part where his fingers touched without realizing it. Nathan was just wondering what was wrong with that face for Ramiah and Hazard to say the same thing. Did my eyes swell because I cried a little last night? I should at least look in the mirror.

While Nathan was heading to the bathroom attached to the room, Hazard crawled and fell on the bed. He did not budge whether he was trying to sleep on his stomach with his face half buried in a soft pillow. Nathan, who had been staring blankly at his back as it went up and down, entered the bathroom

Nathan stood in front of the mirror, looking around the bathroom a little tired of the size of the bathroom attached to his dormitory room.

“..What is this?!”

Hazard lay on the bed and giggled at a short scream from inside the bathroom. He murmured languidly with his eyes closed.

“I know, I told you you’d regret it.”

Did he hear what Nathan was thinking? “Did you mean this yesterday that I would regret it!” Nathan freaked out and stuck closer to the mirror. When I stroked my hair to the side, the wide side from the right cheek to the temple was bruised blue. I really got hit, my mouth wide open as a result of seeing the bruise. It was a moment when I understood why Ramiah suddenly said that.

The problem wasn’t in pajamas now. What am I supposed to do with this face? I shouldn’t have stopped Hazard yesterday when he said he was bringing medicine. No, I thought I was hit hard, but I never imagined it would be this serious!

“Should I be glad that I’m not sick?”

I couldn’t believe that I had a bruise on my face because it felt skin-deep. Nathan came out in a somber mood after just washing his face. 

I was pacing around the room to change my clothes, but now I can’t see the luggage that was brought into the room.

“That’s weird… It was there before I went to sleep.”