No Dark Secrets In This Book

Episode 165

“Are you awake?”

The next moment, Ryuseong’s sleepy voice touched my ears. 

I reflexively woke up from sleep.

And I forgot all the dull pieces of the dream.

A more shocking reality was rushing in front of my eyes.

“Ryuseong. What is this?”

“Handcuffs.”

Clank.

It is reality that silver handcuffs are shining between my wrist and Ryuseong’s wrist.

But that’s not what I’m asking!

“Those are shackles and chains.”

“…I didn’t even ask the question yet?”

“You had a curious look on your face.”

Ryuseong said this blatantly without even licking his lips.

So I trembled my fingers in brazenness and pointed to my own neck.

“I’m asking… what this is.”

“That’s a collar.”

“…”

Whoosh…

For some reason, it seems like a cold wind is blowing between us, but it must be my imagination?

“Yes. You’re not wrong. It is indeed a kind collar with an anti-lost tag attached… But do I look like I asked because I didn’t know that?”

“I think it’s something you really need.”

“But you didn’t get my consent to wear it.”

So I was about to argue why he put this on me, but Ryuseong took the lead.

“That’s right. But don’t you like it?”

“…What do I like?”

“Handcuffs, shackles, chains, collar.”

“…”

Huh? Now that you list them out like this, it does seem right?

‘Ah, no! This is not it!’

I shouldn’t give in. I shouldn’t hand over my liver and gall bladder to this extremely brazen person!

“I also put them on together, hoping you would like it.”

“…”

“Praise me.”

If you look up while saying that, do you think I’ll pat your head, Ryuseong?

‘He’s so confident…’

So I ended up forgetting to protest about the handcuffs, shackles, chains, and collar for half a day because I was too busy adoring Ryuseong.

***

‘Oh, an unfamiliar ceiling…’

I was so captivated by the handsome man that I couldn’t even pay attention to where I was tied up. I, who barely came to my senses after half a day, completely erased the smile I had been making until just now. And I said, untie this. I have a duty to see how the situation is unfolding.

Then Ryuseong, who listened to my words with a serious face, nodded and rang the bell.

But as soon as the bell rang, the people who opened the door and appeared were not servants.

“Cassice! You’re awake!”

“…”

As soon as the door opened, the voice of the only person in this world I couldn’t resist rang out. At the same time, my vision was filled with a disheveled pink color. Cassice Demillang’s mother was hurriedly walking over, supported by his father.

‘This bastard…!’

I glared at Ryuseong, engulfed in a sense of betrayal. This bastard used the IOU? Regardless, Ryuseong only turned his head and ignored me.

At that moment, Cassice Demillang’s mother, Yurian, knelt down on the floor by the bedside and held my hand.

The handcuffs, collar, and chains were uncomfortable, but I sat up like that and grabbed her shoulders with my other hand. Even if she wasn’t my biological mother, Yurian was the light, miracle, and blessing that the owner of this body tried to protect even by walking the world. I never wanted to see someone like that kneeling. But the next moment, instead of lifting her up, I half-stopped breathing. I felt through the trembling of her shoulders that she was sobbing.

“I was worried…”

“…”

“Cassice slept for so long, I was afraid I might not see you again…”

My heart sank with a thud.

Did I sleep that long? Yurian didn’t even make a crying sound. Instead, she clenched her clothes as if tearing at her chest and wailed silently. Why? Why? Why is she crying like this?

I couldn’t understand. I didn’t think Demillang trying to kill me was something to cry about to this extent. Don’t similar things happen often when fighting for power? Even on the Earth I lived on, chaebol families fought fiercely to gain power, so how much more would it be in this fantasy novel world? Knowing that feuds between family members are quite common among nobles, I couldn’t think this was something to cry about to this extent. Just like how Capone experienced several assassination attempts in the Jones family. Well, both Capone and Cassice Demillang had eventful lives. If there’s one fortunate thing for Capone, it would be that she managed to protect the “eye” of the family’s vision that she received through a deal with Demillang.

The fact that Capone Jones almost couldn’t claim the value she traded me for hurt my pride too. It’s the information exchanged for my safety, you know. Then you have to properly receive the value. You can’t let it be taken away. In that sense, I liked Capone Jones.

Especially her tenacious side.

‘…Anyway, this is not something to cry about to this extent.’

No matter how hard I try to escape from reality, the tears falling on the back of my hand are taking away my chance to turn away.

I let out a groan that sounded like I was sick without realizing it.

Everyone seems to misunderstand, but I’m the one who raised the stakes for this assassination party. I recognized it and raised the stakes to this level, making the situation this intense.

‘Because I’m the one who put in a request to the Demon Realm?’

Through Kirill, my spy and subordinate planted in the Demon Realm, I put in a self-murder request. It was to deal with the lowly bastards who dared to try to kill me for money at once. Of course, I had a real goal separately. To make the situation uncontrollably big and humiliate Demillang in front of everyone, and at the same time, to identify who is the evil villain who experimented on Cassice Demillang between the clan leader and the great-grandfather.

So I fell myself. Off the cliff.

It was a move to see multiple effects with one move. And my judgment was successful.

So I should be praised for doing well.

‘I don’t know why I can’t say that in front of these two…’

“Why are you getting thinner and thinner…?”

You said your eyesight was getting lower and lower, but you can still tell your son has become haggard without looking?

Mother, Yurian, stroked my cheek with a very careful touch, then bit her lip and swallowed her tears. Tears streaming down her pale face made my heart ache, and my mouth opened involuntarily. But I had nothing to say. I didn’t know what to say. After moving my lips silently for a long time, I finally whispered slowly like a fool.

“…Don’t cry.”

Then I added belatedly.

“Because I’m fine.”

“…”

Of course, these words had no effect. Damn it. Rather, it only made Isaac Demillang, who had been trying to maintain his composure, also have red eyes.

Why am I so stupid? Why hasn’t humanity created some kind of magic sentence that can comfort a crying mother? Does it make sense that a book like “101 Ways to Comfort a Mother” hasn’t been published yet? And this is the 21st century? I tried hard to blame others for my stupidity. And I kept talking. I tried to comfort my parents, even with clumsy words.

“I’m fine. I’m not hurting anywhere. I didn’t overdo it.”

“…”

“So please don’t cry…”

Damn it. Am I saying something wrong? No matter how many times I told her not to cry, my mother’s tears didn’t stop. If it were me, I would be more pissed off and cry more if someone told me not to cry when I’m already crying. My mother didn’t seem to be crying in that sense, but still, I was seized by the thought that somehow this was all my fault, and I was afraid to even reach out a hand.

Would it have been different if the real Cassice had been here? I was trying to stop thinking about this now, but bad thoughts were creeping up again as I faced my parents. But the next thought came to me, and I regained my composure surprisingly quickly. So I succeeded in patting Yurian’s shoulder as if comforting her.

‘…It would have been different if the real Cassice was here.’

First of all, the butler wouldn’t have been able to inform the parents without Cassice’s permission.

If it had been the real Cassice Demillang.

‘So of course, the parents would have had no idea that Cassice was in this state…!’

Sometimes I wonder.

Between parents who spent a painful time not knowing their child was suffering and parents who had to watch knowing…

Which one would be more unfortunate?