The problem was that, flustered by this new Seth, I forgot that I had come out through the window and entered through the door.

“Oh no, His Highness told me not to leave the building.”

“Don’t worry, those people work for me.”

The senior had confidently said, ‘These maids are tight-lipped, so don’t worry about your presence being exposed’ when he brought them, but…

They were Seth’s people?

“His Highness the Crown Prince probably firmly believes they’re his people.”

A smile spread across his thin lips.

I’m not surprised by this level anymore.

Only after entering the room did I remember the book on the table.

It would be troublesome if Seth saw that book.

“By the way, why aren’t you leaving? Are you free?”

“I’m a capable Chancellor, so I can finish work quickly.”

That’s true, I have nothing to say to that.

“Master, do you want me to leave soon?”

Yes, right now I’d like that.

But saying that would definitely seem strange, so I sat on the bed.

“Come here.”

As I patted the spot next to me, Seth, as expected, came and sat down with round eyes. Then, pretending to dust off my messy dress, he lifted it.

“Seth, don’t.”

“Why?”

His tone was quite fierce, making my earlier thought about his irritable demeanor softening seem ridiculous.

“Because of His Highness the Crown Prince?”

The senior and I aren’t like that.

“Or is it because of that woman you mentioned before, my destined partner?”

Oh, this guy with his unnecessarily good memory.

I take back what I said about being glad he remembers things about me.

“But Master, we did it not too long ago, didn’t we?”

“First of all, Seth, the Crown Prince, and I are not the kind of relationship you’re imagining.”

“What kind of relationship do you think I’m imagining?”

Seeing his slightly twisted lips, I suddenly felt a surge of crisis awareness.

I’ve been forgetting about reality!

My opponent is the villainous Chancellor, right? Haven’t I been too relaxed?

“A dating relationship?”

I threw out what seemed like a safe answer, but he didn’t react at all.

“A serious relationship?”

“……”

“A s*xual relationship?”

Even though I blurted out something that seemed harsh, he still remained silent.

What’s this, have I lost my touch? Surely he won’t just chop off my head, right?

As I was sneakily observing him, his red lips finally opened.

“All of them.”

“……”

“I imagined all possible relationships beyond what you mentioned, Master. And if even one of them is true, I’ll kill him.”

“None of them are true!”

I shook my head desperately. Look into my eyes, my truthful eyes!

“Then why won’t you come with me?”

Seth’s eyes crumpled.

Wee-ee-eng wee-ee-eng.

The alarm starts making a strange sound.

“Do you dislike me?”

As I was about to answer ‘no’, Seth hurriedly covered my mouth.

“No, don’t say it.”

As I tried to speak, his eyes crumpled again.

“Don’t say it!”

Seth, who shouted loudly, stood up abruptly and approached the door. He was about to leave the room as I wanted, and I should have let him, but I couldn’t.

“Seth, come here.”

It’s not that I’m afraid he might kill the senior because of a misunderstanding. I didn’t like that he misunderstood my relationship with the senior and that he might think I disliked him.

“Come here.”

I lightly patted the spot where Seth had been sitting just moments ago. Seth half-turned his body to see what I was doing.

“Come here and sit down.”

Seth, with his face all scrunched up, exhaled roughly and finally came to sit beside me.

“Good job.”

As I stroked his silky hair, Seth’s eyelashes began to tremble. His earlobes are turning red too, doesn’t that look like he’s enjoying it to anyone?

Seth wrapped his arms around my waist and applied force, and we fell backwards. I continued to stroke his red hair.

Seth, burying his face in my embrace, spoke as if whining.

“Why won’t you grant my wish to stay by your side when you’re being so affectionate like this?”

That’s because you’re dangerous.

“Come with me. Okay?”

Seth lifted his face slightly and pleaded with teary eyes.

“Let’s go together, Master.”

As I froze, unable to breathe, Seth put on a pitiful expression.

“Without you, I can’t sleep, I can’t eat…”

His soft lips touch my skin and move upwards.

Very slowly, as if to make me feel every bit of this sensation.

Passing over my chest, brushing my collarbone, trailing up my neck, past my jawline, to my ear.

“It’s too painful. So come with me.”

The face of the villainous Chancellor looking down at me was more sorrowful and beautiful than ever before.

Good heavens.

Is my heart beating properly right now?

***

Whether it was true that the senior had thrown away his work, Seth didn’t come for a while. In the meantime, I finished reading the book the senior had given me and put it in the drawer.

“To think there was someone else from the outside world in this world besides me.”

I vaguely thought it might be possible, but it’s shocking to confirm it directly.

The senior said he would disappear if he couldn’t win my heart. He said he had already started to change like a person from outside the book before that.

The evidence was that his unrealistic good looks had diminished and that he couldn’t pass through doors.

The senior is too exceptional. Both in appearance and intellectual ability, he’s beyond the realm of the ordinary.

So the hypothesis I came up with was ‘The world outside the book erases such individuals.’

Those beings from other worlds who excessively influence their surroundings due to their exceptional abilities.

It seemed that to survive, they needed to be acknowledged by people from the outside, but their original abilities would decline. Like how the senior’s appearance had faded.

“And it seems this person didn’t have a good ending.”

The author of the book wrote this on the last page:

• Never hold someone from another world in your heart.

The end, it said, cannot be happy.

“Well, even the Little Mermaid turned into sea foam.”

The bitter ending left a sour taste in my mouth. After staring at the floor for a moment, I clenched both fists.

“When you’re feeling down, a walk is the best remedy!”