Male Lead, Please Dump Me Three Times - Chapter 6

The afternoon streets of the capital were relatively quiet.

“So, you’re saying that you and Delian are not at all! There’s nothing between you two?”

“Yes.”

“Then perhaps the person Delian is meeting… Ah, never mind.”

I should keep quiet about this, just in case.

“I already know that. That there is someone Lady Ruina is meeting.”

“WHAT???”

“Is it that surprising?”

“No, it’s not that… It doesn’t bother you?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because. It’s none of my business.”

Ray’s response couldn’t have been drier.

It’s like, what can I say.

It felt like watching an indifferent Romeo after seeing Juliet dating a passing peddler.

“Then do you know who Delian is seeing?”

“I don’t know that.”

“Why not?”

“Because I didn’t ask.”

“I see.”

Right…

Whether Delian is seeing someone or not… He’s not curious at all.

Not even the slightest bit of curiosity about the other person.

If they meet, it’s a win-win situation¹It actually said 누이 좋고 매부 좋다 (good for the sister and the brother-in-law). This Korean idiom implies that a situation or decision is beneficial for all parties involved..

It would be nice for me too, to be at ease.

“By the way, where have you been hiding all this time?”

“Hi–hiding!”

“It seemed like you’ve been running away for quite some time.”

“Run–running away? Am I a criminal?”

I continued to stutter, my own words tripping me up.

Even if I wasn’t a criminal, it was clear I had inadvertently caused Ray trouble.

Regardless of the reason…

Because I played with someone’s feelings with a confession.

“Is that so? You disappeared without a trace.”

“……”

“How have you been?”

Ray’s low voice reached me, cutting through the brief silence.

His deep eyelashes seemed almost too heavy, like they were about to fall.

I was momentarily enchanted by his appearance.

“Yes…?”

“I’m curious about how you’ve been for the last three years.”

“I just went abroad to study. Quite far away.”

“Hmm… I see.”

“Yes.”

“You left for study abroad… on the day of the graduation ceremony…”

“……”

“That timing is a bit strange.”

Ray probed very sharply. Feeling uneasy, I brought up another topic again.

“We should probably clarify how we address each other. Should I call you ‘Duke’?”

“Just call me by my name.”

“But you’re a whole year older than me. It wouldn’t be polite.”

“Ah. That’s right. I forgot for a moment that you are much younger than me.”

Are you teasing me now?

“Ray. Like this?”

I called his name in a rebellious tone.

“Yes, Daisy. Just like that.”

He didn’t back down.

He looked down at me with his eyes slightly narrowed, calling my name.

“Ray. By any chance, are you strong?”

Ray was momentarily flustered by my sudden question.

“I don’t think I’m weak. Why are you suddenly curious about my strength?”

I stopped walking and looked up at him.

My neck would get stiff when I looked up at Ray like this.

Is this man always growing?

My head barely reached his chest now.

“It’s about my wrist.”

Ray’s gaze shifted to my slender wrist.

“Can you grip it tightly?”

“Why the wrist all of a sudden…?”

Ray asked me, seeming bewildered.

“I’m curious how tight you have to grip for it to bruise.”

At that moment, a deep wrinkle formed between his brows.

Soon, Ray gently enveloped my wrist with his large, thick, yet long, and elegant hand.

“Ah! But if you grip it so suddenly…!”

A moan escaped through my teeth at the unexpected touch.

Ray inspected the wrist he held, looking at it carefully from all angles.

There was even a hint of killing intent in his gaze.

“Are you hurt?”

His eyes met mine when he asked. His brows were furrowed even more than before, and the ends of his eyebrows were twitching.

“It’s not like that.”

Suddenly, Ray stared at the nail marks indented on the back of my hand.

It was a scar inflicted by Ray himself, during that time years ago.

His jaw muscles tensed up menacingly.

Soon, he was gently rubbing the deeply indented scar with his nails.

‘I hope he doesn’t misunderstand that I’ve been beaten somewhere…’

That would be because Ray wouldn’t remember that incident.

It’s natural to lose reason during a magical outburst.

Ray’s hand continued to gently rub my wound.

His eyes were strangely haunting.

“That’s… a scar from fighting with my brother!”

“The scar is deep.”

I quickly pulled my wrist from his grasp and made an excuse.

“Yeah, we had quite a big fight! But in the end, I won.”

Sorry, little brother.

“Uh, and about what I mentioned earlier, it was about my friend. She was grabbed by the wrist by the guy she’s dating, and that damned guy left a bruise mark from gripping her so hard, you know?”

“A friend…”

“That’s why I was curious.”

“It really is about your friend?”

Ray looked at me with quite a skeptical gaze.

“I’m not the kind of person who pretends to talk about a friend’s story when it’s obviously about my own problems.”

“That’s good to hear.”

The corners of Ray’s mouth quirked up awkwardly at my words.

Looks like… I’m being suspected right now.

“Um, just to clarify in case there’s any misunderstanding. I’m not some fool who gets bruised by some damned guy gripping my wrist, okay?”

I rambled on in explanation, holding onto him, who had already responded, ‘that’s good to hear.’

“Well, yeah. But it would be better for that friend to break up with that guy.”

“You think so too? If only he dies far from his hometown.”

Right.

A perfectly normal man would react like that.

“Excuse me?”

“Oh. I mean that other guy.”

I let out a deep sigh out of frustration. It feels like I sighed about thirty times today alone.

But at least the outside air filled my chest with clean air.

For a while, we walked in silence through the streets of the city.

There wasn’t much else to say, and my mind was already cluttered enough with Delian’s matter.

Another relief was that Ray wasn’t bringing up ‘that day.’

I wasn’t sure if he was respecting my request not to ask anything…

For a while, there was silence between us.

But thanks to the natural noise of the streets and the sounds of people around us, the silence didn’t feel uncomfortable.

That’s when it happened.

I started to feel a sharp headache, as if my head were being squeezed.

My vision suddenly blurred, and a short bout of tinnitus rang in my ears.

I had no choice but to stop walking.

‘Here we go again…’

“Are you feeling unwell?”

“Huh? Oh, no… My legs just gave out for a moment.”

I had a bad feeling.

It had been quiet recently…

It was the precursor to an unpleasant migraine.

“Ray. I think I should be going now. We’ve filled our two hours, haven’t we?”

Ray nodded in response to my words.

“Then I’ll take you home.”

* * *

On the way back to Count Carnelian’s mansion.

The ride in the duke’s carriage was far superior to that of the count’s. It was less shaky, and the soundproofing was excellent.

The interior was quite spacious as well, and the sophisticated decor of black and red was immaculate.

Inside the moving carriage, it was silent.

The silence felt more profound because we were alone.

“……”

“……”

I hadn’t noticed it while walking outside because of the surrounding noise…

But in the silence, only the sound of the carriage rushing forward resonated clearly.

As if a headache wasn’t enough, I started feeling symptoms of motion sickness, so I shifted my gaze outside the window.

The sun had already half-set.

A full orange twilight filled the window.

I carefully pressed my throbbing temples with my fingertips.

“You don’t look so good.”

“No. It’s not that, just feeling tired from walking so long.”

It was a lie.

Now I started to feel nauseous inside.

“Do you want to take a nap? I’ll wake you up when we arrive.”

I nodded eagerly in response to Ray’s suggestion.

“Then please, I’m feeling a bit drowsy.”

I slowly closed my eyes.

But maybe because of the headache, I couldn’t fall asleep.

Shortly after, in the quiet space, I heard the rustling of clothes.

Something warm and heavy covered my body.

It felt like being tucked into a warm blanket.

That’s when it happened.

‘Swish.’

A stranger’s hand touched my forehead. The hand was quite large and thick, completely covering my forehead.

The woody scent brushed against the tip of my nose.

It was a refreshing yet mentally clarifying, familiar scent.

The hand covering my forehead began to gradually descend further down.

The soft back of his hand brushed against my temples, then gently pressed against my cheek.

I instinctively flinched at the unfamiliar touch.

“There’s no fever…”

A low voice resonated in my ear, tinged with a hint of worry.

His thick, large hand covered my forehead once again.

At that moment, the nausea worsened. At the same time, my breathing became more rapid.

“Ha…”

It felt as though there was a hole in my windpipe. No matter how much I inhaled, it didn’t seem enough.

“Huh…”

An involuntary moan slipped through my parted lips.

Despite the grogginess, I forced my heavy eyelids open.

Ray’s face was so close it could almost touch my nose.

He was leaning over, looking down at me.

“Ray…, I…”

His red pupils captured me gasping for breath.

“Daisy, are you alr…”

His voice was drowned out by the loud pounding of a pulse in my ears.

At the same time, as my vision turned hazy, Ray’s face grew increasingly blurry.

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  It actually said 누이 좋고 매부 좋다 (good for the sister and the brother-in-law). This Korean idiom implies that a situation or decision is beneficial for all parties involved.