Chapter 248

Chapter 248

“Why? Yanghwa… I mean, Her Highness needs help, and you’re the only one who can.”

“It’s annoying.”

“…”

“She’s noisy too.”

“…”

“I don’t feel the need to take care of her. I can understand her reluctance to meet other people because she can feel their magic, but she can’t keep this up forever. I have no intention of becoming Her Highness’ refuge.”

Kaichen answered indifferently and lightly stroked my hair.

“You are the one who accepted His Highness’ order, Dalia. If you’re that worried, you can go do it.”

“No, she kicks up a fuss once she sees me… How am I supposed to do it?”

“When did you ever stop sticking to someone just because they didn’t like you?”

“…Am I that shameless?”

“Right.”

“…”

I didn’t have anything to say, so I just licked my lips.

Kaichen really seemed like he wouldn’t go to Yanghwa’s room anymore. He told me to cheer up and disappeared with a flick using movement magic.

He must have gone to do his magic research that he had stopped because of Yanghwa.

Maybe he said that he didn’t want to tend to Yanghwa because he wanted to continue his research, trying to find excuses here and there.

I narrowed my eyes and ran my fingers through my hair where Kaichen touched.

I cleaned up the messy place and randomly caught my reflection in the window.

It was the me who looked normal, living in the mansion.

Not the ugly side that came out recently.

After taking a deep breath and brushing off any lingering dust, I carefully approached Yanghwa’s room.

It was a little unfair that I had to be so careful in my own home, but anyway, Yanghwa was a cute little girl, who was like a precious hamster.

‘I’m going to have a headache if she passes out from shock this time.’

I cautiously opened the door and peered through the narrow gap.

I saw a small lump curled up on the bed.

Creak-

I thought I was careful, but the sound of the door was very loud.

I had no choice but to quickly enter the room and shut the door.

I could clearly see the small lump twitching under the blanket on the bed.

Knowing that Kaichen wouldn’t come back, Yanghwa didn’t even check who came in.

“Did I surprise you? I’m Count Alshine. Dalia Alshine.”

“….”

“We spoke a few times at Sharatan, but I don’t know if you remember.”

Yanghwa reacted to my words with a flinch even as she hid under the blanket.

She was like this even when she was hiding in her box in Sharatan when she flinched, but she couldn’t hide from me.

Back then, Yanghwa pretended not to be the princess of the Suran Empire, and I spoke casually to her.

Because of my habit of constantly calling her Yanghwa inside my head, her name kept popping up, but it wasn’t awkward to be informal to her.

“I heard that your treatment is over. Is your body okay now?”

“….”

“Do the meals suit your taste? If there’s anything you like, let me know. Oh, did you know? I made all the food you’ve eaten so far.”

“….”

“So, if there is something you want to eat or something you can’t eat, feel free to tell me. Ah, if you don’t feel comfortable talking to me, you can write it out.”

If there was a competition for talking to oneself, I would’ve proudly won first place.

I didn’t care whether Yanghwa answered or not, I spoke regardless. I put the tea down.

After pouring steaming tea into a cup and taking a sip, I kept talking.

I had a history of talking alone for over a hundred years in a mansion that no one listened to anyway.

Unlike back then, when I could only feel the cool air no matter what I said, there were people who would react quite differently now and remember me tomorrow.

Yanghwa, flinched, lifted the blanket, looked at me, and slipped back into the blanket, and showed cute reactions, that made talking to myself worthwhile.

“Ah, come to think of it, didn’t you say that you felt terrible pain from me at Sharatan? Then, me being here won’t help at all.”

“….”

“Master said it was alright though … What does he feel like?”

The teapot was empty before I knew it.

I guess I was talking that much. I slowly got up from my seat. Yanghwa still hadn’t come out of the blanket, so I opened the door and spoke to the blanket before leaving.

“I can’t feel like you do, but Master’s magic must be warm. Brighter than the sun, reassuring… Is that why Your Highness also wanted Master to stay by her side?”

“….”

“Because being by yourself is too lonely.”

Having a final look at Yanghwa, who didn’t even flinch, I shrugged my shoulders and shut the door.

* * *

Kaichen was truly a man who kept his word.

I thought that he was amazing every single time. However, it was only then when I realized that it wasn’t great all the time.

“Master, are you really not going to see her? I’ve been talking to myself for two days already.”

“You like to talk to yourself.”

“Do you think talking to yourself while doing your thing is the same as talking to yourself while having to see someone’s reaction? Do you know how hard this is?”

“I don’t know. Dalia, parchment.”

I handed him the parchment with a face full of displeasure.

“She didn’t answer me even once, and she never eats the food I bring with me. Of course, she eats when I’m not there.”

“Isn’t it because she doesn’t have an appetite? She’ll start talking soon.”

Kaichen replied while dripping blue liquid into the flask bottle.

Even though he was passionate about research, he always responded. I let out a deep sigh. At the same time, I wondered if there was any use whining.