Chapter 29: 29

Translator: Yonnee

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────Chapter 29

I went back to the library, almost running, as I gasped for breath. I straightened my disorganized cap and fanned my bright cheeks, but then Lucy rushed in.

“Lily! You’re being reassigned?!”

“…You already heard? I guess I am.”

It must have been announced while I was away. I sighed and nodded.

“Good for you! I heard that the food at the knight’s quarters is really good…!”

“…Ah, sure.”

“It’s true! Don’t starve over there and eat well. Whether it’s Commander Regulus or Commander Lucen, go eat together with them.”

To be honest, I don’t want to go. But as Lucy was saying that she was jealous, I could only nod. I imagined how delicious the meals would be—but that in itself wasn’t really an attractive aspect to me since I didn’t eat much in the first place.

I kept nodding though my expression was crumpled, but Lucy made a fuss and said, ‘Oh, that’s right!’

“Lily, I didn’t know you knew Commander Cygnus?”

“Huh? N-No. It’s my first time meeting him today.”

“Really? Hmm…”

“What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s just that you say you met him for the first time today, but I’m wondering how he recognized you right away. Even your face is swollen like this, so I’m trying to guess how you knew each other.”

The moment I heard this, I stood there blankly and shook my head. Maybe that’s why Lucy was surprised earlier. I could say that I just know his characteristics after hearing about them from Damian. Just that.

“It’s like that.”

“What is?”

“It’s just like that.”

“…I’m asking, just what is?”

“It’s like that, right?”

“No, what on earth are you talking about?!”

The voice that spilled out of my lips almost sounded like a cry, and I really did feel like I was going to cry again because of this frightening shift in mood. Feeling my eyes prickle, I grabbed Lucy’s arm and shook it.

❦ ❦ ❦

“What do you think, Hyung? Don’t they resemble each other?”

“…The eyes.”

“Eyes?”

“Their eyes are similar. Their voices, too, and…”

Watching Lily running away from a distance, Damian chuckled at the stammering Odil. That’s understandable. When Damian first saw her, she had such a different air to her that he didn’t think they were the same person. That’s why he kept observing Lily.

But it was for a different reason from Damian that Odil became flustered. Rather, as soon as he saw Lily, he recognized her from just a single glance. Neither Lily nor Damian knows this, but Odil’s ideal woman did not change. It was still the woman he saw crying at dawn.

That’s why the fact that he hadn’t noticed her until now flustered him so much and, at the same time, it made him uncomfortable. Just how much had she been avoiding him.

“But I guess she cried a lot. You saw her face, right?”

“What happened to her face?”

“Can you say that even though her face was so clearly swollen?”

“Is it swollen? I think it’s the same as usual.”

“……”

Apparently, Damian didn’t know anything about this Hyung either. Even though her eyes had been swollen so much that they were squinted in such an exaggerated way, Damian couldn’t believe that Odil thought she looked the same as usual… He spoke out.

“It seems like she cried because her eyelids were red. But why…”

It didn’t make sense to Odil. She was crying all night long? Why?

“It’s like that, Hyung. It feels like she becomes a different person after switching. But as you can see, she feels very awkward with us during the day and hates talking about what happens at night. It’s obvious just how she’s been avoiding Hyung so much that you met only when you visited her first. It’s not because she wanted to meet you.”

“She didn’t… want to?”

“Ah, don’t make that face again. There must be a reason behind it, a reason. Rather than that, I sold her out to Hyung, so I should look out for myself for a while.”

Anyway, it was all going swimmingly. Damian made Odil and Lily meet, so he wondered what kind of payback Lily would do unto him.

And he remembered what happened yesterday morning when he spoke about the library and watched Odil putting everything aside as he figured it out.

❦ ❦ ❦

“…Sorry, I’m a little late.”

Odil always arrived at the conference room before anyone else, but that day, he was the last one to arrive. He was even later than Regulus, and his face wasn’t just pale—he was almost blue.

With widened eyes, Ares saw him stumble in, so he helped the other man. But just as he did, he blushed suddenly.

Endymion and Damian saw this and looked at them perplexedly, but they soon found the reason. At one glance, they saw the red marks because Odil didn’t clasp all the buttons of his uniform to the end.

“Odil, yesterday—no, um…”

When Ares hesitated as he tried to ask, Odil looked back at him with a gaunt face. Then, he looked inside his unkempt clothes, making his expression crumple. Watching as Odil cursed under his breath, Damian had one thought.

‘It happened, it really did.’

And his lips pouted crookedly. She said she didn’t want to be caught.

At this, Damian thought that Lily definitely got discovered by Odil. Since she had more nightly rendezvous with Odil compared to the other commanders, Damian was feeling a bit disappointed that his plan—to enjoy her for a while more—was already over.

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He was away on such a long mission, so he thought that he could finally unwind… While grumbling to himself, he clicked his tongue and casually looked back. Endymion was smiling as though he knew what Damian was thinking.

“…Let’s talk about this later. Work first.”

Apart from Regulus, who still didn’t know, everyone here in this conference room already knew. Odil hesitated to speak up, but this was all he said. Then, Regulus responded with a gloomy expression.

“I’m jealous of you, Commander Odil. I saw you with Noona this morning.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden, Regulus.”

“I went to go see Noona yesterday, but she wasn’t there, so I went around alone, but… you know. Should I just come back later after the meeting?”

Odil frowned at Regulus’ sudden shift in topic. Ares responded by saying, ‘Huh? Huh?’ as though he was flustered, and Damian had no thoughts going on in his head. Meanwhile, Endymion was thinking, ‘Should I stop it here or not?’

“Damian. You didn’t feed Regulus anything weird, did you?”

“No, Hyung. I didn’t give him anything weird, did you?”

“It already happened before. That’s why it’s important to know people’s usual behavior.”

“I’m fine. It’s not that, it’s just that Commander Odil…”

On the verge of tears, Regulus got up from his seat and approached Odil. And when he hugged the other man, Damian burst into laughter.

“Ah, I knew it. You met with Noona, right?”

“Just what are you…”

Odil just hugged Regulus back, but then as though he realized something at that moment, his expression hardened.

“Noona… What older sister?”

Regulus came to the palace alone without any family or close friends after he became the youngest commander. He didn’t show it that much, but Odil knew that he was lonely.

He thought that Ares and Damian, who were like family to the kid, were enough for him, but he did see Regulus going around without any energy while the two were gone on their long-term missions.

Then one day, he became bright like a puppy running in the snow. Odil suddenly recalled him saying, ‘My Noona!’ while he was telling some story.

And Odil also realized the fact that Ares and Damian had been secretly sneaking off like Regulus since some time ago.

With an expressionless face, Odil raised one arm and sniffed. The moment he did, he smelled the sweet scent from that woman’s body, who was rolling around the sheets together with him until dawn. He looked sideways at Ares next to him.

“…Hiccup!”

Endlessly nervous, Ares hiccupped as he trembled visibly at the fierce gaze that was directed at him. Haha, Damian chuckled, though he was flustered by the sudden chill in the air.

“…Hyung, you didn’t know?”

“Regulus.”

“Yes?”

“Go out for a bit.”

“Huh? R-Really? Right now?”

“Yes. You don’t have to come back later. Take your time and rest.”

So that Odil’s ferociously distorted expression couldn’t be seen by Regulus, Odil quickly sent him out. Smiling awkwardly, Ares alternately looked at Odil and Endymion, who was drinking his tea peacefully.

“Since when did you know.”

“Um…”

“Me and Al Hyung found out last week. Eddy Hyung was the first one to know.”

Damian spoke up from behind Ares while Ares couldn’t talk properly. Odil glared at Ares.

“Ares Fenril.”

“Aaaack! I’m sorry!”

“Don’t blame him too much. His eyes, his nose, even his head had become just decorations. He had a hard time figuring it out because he was just wearing those for show.”

“Eddy… You’re being mean.”

“Endymion. You already found out, but why didn’t you tell me.”

“It couldn’t be helped. She said she never wants you to know, Odil.”

“That’s right. I don’t know about anyone else, but she said that she absolutely doesn’t want to get caught by you, Odil Hyung.”

While Endymion smiled as he spoke, Damian supported his statement with a teasing voice. Odil’s eyebrows became furrowed.

“That’s not enough of a reason. Is this just a personal matter? If I didn’t notice, you’d all have kept pretending not to know…”

“I could have done just that, but I thought that she’d get caught soon anyway after seeing what she did to you.”

“To be exact, I only found out thanks to Regulus. That’s the case with Ares, too. And you, Odil.”

Ares, who wasn’t able to recognize her when she was already right in front of his eyes and even misunderstood, couldn’t respond to Endymion’s pointed words. Endymion and Damian didn’t even hear from anyone else, but they recognized her right away, so it was understandable why Damian was saying this.

Still hesitating, Ares faced Odil and spoke.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Odil.”

He didn’t say any excuses, just that he was sorry. His eyes were drooping, but seeing Odil’s stiff expression reminded him of their childhood when they used to argue a lot but quickly reconciled.

Odil sighed and wordlessly hit Ares on the shoulder. Then, he looked at Endymion and Damian.

“Explain everything from beginning to end.”

The three men glanced at each other for a moment, each recalling Lily’s face as she begged them, ‘Please keep it a secret from Sir Odil.’

But anyway, they could no longer continue hiding it anymore.

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