No Dark Secrets In This Book

Episode 159

I had a dream. I had a dream, but I don’t really remember it. 

The only thing I remember is that as soon as I started dreaming, I saw Ryuseong’s face, and I immediately slapped his hand away. It’s strange. Ryuseong was only worrying about me.

I just couldn’t stand him at all. Only for that moment.

* * *

Fortunately, it seemed that I hadn’t been unconscious for very long.

“I’m sorry. For overexerting you.”

When Ryuseong and I were looking at each other with awkward and unfamiliar faces after a long time, the clan leader of Hanra, who came to visit at the right time, said this to me separately. It was really funny. What Han Idal had asked of me was to come up with a good plan, and I didn’t give him a plan. I stalled for time, twisting my words, waiting for either my great-grandfather or grandfather to die. But he says he overexerted me? Isn’t that an overly arrogant attitude? If you think I was awake because of you, that would be a huge miscalculation. Above all, you said you would handle things instead of me, and you seem to have plenty of time? …When I politely said such things, Han Idal, the clan leader of Hanra, looked at Ryuseong and asked.

“Is your lover always like this?”

“Do you now understand the reason I’m going crazy?”

“Yeah. I see.”

Han Idal answered glumly and glared a bit at Teacher Damyeon. Damyeon, despite being the principal, couldn’t muster up courage or vigor. No, that person isn’t even the great-grandfather, so why is he taking his anger out on him?

To put it bluntly, isn’t Damyeon also a victim of Demillang?

“If we must argue, the blood flowing in this body is the evil one. Don’t worry about this and that.”

“…”

“…”

For a long time, a strange silence flowed.

‘Why are they doing this?’

I shrugged my shoulders, dumbfounded, and then Han Idal glared at Ryuseong this time.

“You’ve been with him for so long, what have you done?”

“…Your disciple was lacking.”

“Useless fellow.”

For a moment, I felt angry.

‘Where are you touching my favorite character, ahjussi!’

But the “ahjussi” who was the cause of my anger was not an extra supporting role, but Ryuseong’s “father” role. Even if they weren’t blood-related, they were together with a bond stronger than that, a real complete father itself.

Watching Han Idal tap Ryuseong’s chest, put his arm around his shoulder, and blabber on about something, I felt my heart sink. Usually, when I see moments like this, I would get jealous. Not the ordinary kids, but the broken ones like me, whenever I saw that they also had a brilliant relationship, I would get jealous. Because I didn’t have anything like that.

But strangely, at this very moment, I wanted to cherish this moment. It’s a pity there’s no camera, but if I endure my blurring vision by focusing my eyes, I think I can remember it for a long time, enough to feel relieved.

Ryuseong with his family was so brilliant.

And I wanted to protect that sight.

‘Hmm, this is a big deal. The villainous goal is gradually disappearing.’

But becoming a “Cassice Demillang” like in the original work seems impossible for someone like me. So let’s not blame ourselves if the goal has been changed to a slightly more romantic direction.

Instead, although I’m not Cassice Demillang, and as long as I exist here, I’m just a thief stealing your sincere love… Still, Ryuseong, I vowed at this moment that the me here likes you, that I, not Cassice Demillang, love you and will protect you…

I wanted to say that, so I didn’t say it.

If I say it, you will be happy. If I say it while hiding that I’m not Cassice Demillang, that is.

Even without actively deceiving you to that extent, I was already extorting your happiness.

I didn’t want to do that anymore.

‘Instead, let’s actively utilize the original work.’

I had been somewhat lazy in my actions as a possessed person until now. But it was a situation where I could do that. Because I thought I was the villain who would destroy the world! But looking at the current situation, Cassice Demillang is not the final boss. There is a separate final boss.

It’s Cassice Demillang’s great-grandfather, Eisen Demillang!

‘From the perspective of someone who has read the book, it’s clear that Cassice is the one who destroyed the world, but at least until then, it seems that Eisen Demillang is the one who drove Cassice Demillang.’

I don’t know yet if Eisen Demillang wishes for the destruction of the world or if he has another purpose. To find that out, I’ll probably have to meet Eisen Demillang at least once.

‘It feels like I’m willingly putting my foot into a snake pit.’

But I think it’s impossible to meet Eisen Demillang right away.

It’s because the people who came forward claiming to be my guardians were utterly useless.

“Let’s go straight to the academy!”

“Academy my ass! Who’s the chairman there! Let’s go to Hanra!”

Damyeon kept insisting on going back to the academy, while Han Idal kept insisting on going to Hanra. To be honest, I don’t want to acknowledge either Damyeon or my father-in-law as my guardian.

At this rate, I was slightly thinking of choosing the butler as my guardian and going to meet Eisen Demillang, so I secretly asked for his opinion through mental communication, but he got so startled that he knelt in front of me and cried, begging me not to test him, so I ended up feeling like an elder abuser and patted his back.

‘Ah, this is also a character breakdown.’

But if the old man is crying because of me, can I just leave him alone? No matter how afraid I am of old people because of my great-grandfather’s face, that wasn’t right.

I squatted down together and patted the butler’s back for a long time, and the butler slowly asked.

“Young master.”

“What is it?”

“…”

Even after that, the butler was silent for a long time, and only when I was quietly comparing the shape of the butler’s back of the head and my palm, considering one of the useful methods for fixing a broken appliance, did he open his mouth.

“It seems like you’ve returned to your childhood.”

“…”

Did I just get scolded for being immature?

Dumbfounded, I seriously considered fixing the butler’s problem like fixing a broken appliance. If the butler didn’t have an old face, I might have hit him like fixing a broken appliance.

“It feels like I’m seeing the young master from childhood. So, I… I…”

“What do you want to say?”

At that moment, the butler smiled broadly with his wrinkled face. Then he suddenly knelt down and bowed his head.

‘The expression and the action don’t match, so my reaction was delayed…!’

As I frowned, unable to hide my bewilderment, the butler shouted loudly in a voice that sounded like he was about to cry with joy.

“I have dared to do something presumptuous. I will gladly accept even if you sentence me to death.”

No, I’m telling you, your emotions and expressions don’t match…!

“…Instead of that, tell me what you did. Before I cut off your head.”

“I will leave with gratitude even if you cut off my head. Thank you for planting a final hope in this old body.”

“…”

Ah, my blood pressure is rising. What are you saying? Really.

I can feel people around me looking at me as if I’m terrifying. Ah, am I now labeled as an elder abuser? Is there such a crazy butler? Was the presumptuous thing he did exaggerating Cassice Demillang’s evil reputation? Is that really what it is, and that’s why he’s doing this to me? I even saw the professors dispatched from Areah Academy flinching and agonizing over whether to intervene with me or not.

Pungseoja was pretending to be calm, Dohyun was about to jump in, and Eipl was holding a cane. This is crazy. Thank you for elevating the prestige of the lawless Cassice Demillang, who even terrifies the professors. But I just repented, you know?

‘Ah, to hell with repentance and all that…’

I was just about to fall again, but right at that moment…

A voice that Cassice Demillang’s body could never refuse rang out.

“Cassice…! My son…!”

It’s hard for me to understand how I accepted that moment. But one thing is clear. I stood there stupidly, and only after a long time did I creak and turn around…

At that very moment, pink hair resembling cherry blossoms rushed towards me, and a sweet scent followed, stirring my nose.

I was so dazed that I couldn’t even properly hug her, and soon a man resembling Cassice approached me and firmly embraced me and the woman.

The handsome face of the man resembling Cassice was silently shedding tears.

‘Cassice’s parents.’

Was it the butler who called them? I belatedly realized that even my eyes had turned red. To be clear, I definitely did not cry. But the strange body scent emanating from the pink hair was so sweet that I wondered if this was the scent of a warm family, and it was inevitable for me, who had never experienced such a thing, to have an allergic reaction. It was also inevitable that my eyes became hot.

A moment later, I realized that there were words I had to say. But perhaps because I had never properly said them out loud, my throat strangely choked up several times. But I had to convey the words this body wanted to say instead. If I had taken over this body, at least this much… I had to do it.

If not me, who else could do it? Huh? If not me, who would do it?

“Mom, Dad…”

Those words that a newborn child learns first,

Since birth, the moment of pronouncing them most helplessly.