Heavy Rain Chapter 24

The butler must have intended to serve him well, even if those actions felt somewhat excessive. Despite reaching this conclusion, Lyle almost lashed out at the butler with a sharp rebuke, wanting to ask if he had never considered how incredibly insulting that would be to Haejin.

But before those harsh words could leap from the tip of his tongue, Lyle barely regained his composure. To speak of insults… he, who had ordered the boy’s hands to be tied in the first place, was in no position to say such things.

This, too, was a strange sentiment. They had made such a contract from the start, and Lyle had paid a sufficient price.

Was there any reason to act so concerned now?

“…From now on, do not interfere in that matter. Simply relay my words and do not enter that room yourself.”

Barely managing a rational judgment, Lyle simply issued a cold command. Haejin was already acting as if he would leave without even completing the three months. If he had spoken up personally at the time of drafting the contract, it meant this process had been profoundly bothersome to him. Thus, there was no reason not to grant the request.

“Under…stood.”

The butler answered in a bizarre voice, as if he were being strangled. Lyle looked down at him in wonder, but soon realized the situation and clicked his tongue. Without realizing it, he had been radiating pheromones thick with anger into the vicinity.

“And there is no need to call him today.”

As per the doctor’s advice, his pheromone congestion was so severe that he was struggling to control it. Nevertheless, Lyle returned to his room without calling for Haejin. There was no particular reason. He simply judged that since he had no headache, he still had a bit of leeway.

However, contrary to Lyle’s belief that this was a rational decision, the faint pheromones of rage remained like a lingering scent, continuing to pressure the butler.

A holiday arrived. It was an uncommon day for Lyle, who usually spent most of the year working. Of course, even if it was a holiday, it meant he was handling work at home.

At any rate, today was a day when the sun rose brilliantly for once. So, Lyle had his breakfast table set in the courtyard inside the main building for the first time in a while.

The people here in Heavy Rain tended to try to do something outside whenever the sun came out. It was a city where warm sunlight was that precious. Lyle, who was born and raised here, was no different.

The main building surrounded this inner courtyard in a square shape. Unless one was looking down from above, the structure made it impossible for outsiders to spy on the intimate territory of the inner courtyard.

Thanks to this, Lyle could indulge in the file placed before him without worry. Surprisingly, the concept of a holiday where he did nothing and just rested did not exist for him.

While he was reading the text and drinking coffee for a long while, he heard the sound of a window opening from above. He raised his head without hiding his displeasure. At this time, not even the servants were moving about, so as not to disturb his rest.

However, looking up, he saw Haejin unexpectedly peeking his face out.

“…”

“…”

This mansion was an old place, so its height was not very great. Because it was a distance where they could even see each other’s expressions, the two had no choice but to face one another.

Haejin was showing a rare expression of surprise that he couldn’t hide. For some reason, Lyle became unable to take his eyes off that face and had to look up like that for a long time, unable to find the right words.

However, that life that had briefly surfaced vanished as if slowly being stifled. Lyle, who had been watching as if possessed while Haejin gradually killed the emotions within himself, had to snap out of it. A calm call had awakened him.

“Mr. Vermouth.”

‘Lyle.’

“…”

Why did the name he had been called only once come to mind at this moment?

“Do you have something to say?”

After signing the contract, Haejin acted as if he intended to maintain a polite attitude again. That shouldn’t be a bad thing, but Lyle could not stop a very strange sentiment from enveloping him. This change in emotion had become something unstoppable, like sunlight pouring from the sky, from a certain point onward.

Instead, he moistened his throat with the coffee in front of him. As the warm liquid caressed his insides, his frozen spirit awakened.

Thinking his action was preparation before speaking, Haejin was still looking down at him blankly. Consequently, Lyle, who was now in a situation where he actually had to say something, grimaced with a troubled look. Looking up from below, it seemed the kid’s face was even more haggard than before.

“Have you eaten?”

Suddenly feeling regret for needlessly placing Haejin’s room in this main building, Lyle spoke. Since breakfast was set before him as well, it was a thought that flowed naturally.

“I have no appetite.”

But the moment he heard Haejin’s subsequent words, Lyle naturally forgot his various ruminations.

It wasn’t even that he hadn’t eaten yet, but that he had no appetite.

The question that popped up immediately fanned his displeasure. Haejin’s body, which he had seen one day so thin that the bones were visible, suddenly came to mind. Even though he had refrained from contact, that hard sensation seemed to cling to his palm as if it had been waiting.

Lyle set down the coffee cup he was holding with a thud and raised his head sharply toward Haejin.

“It seems you still have no intention of taking proper care of your body.”

Suddenly, he felt annoyed, wondering how many more times he had to point it out before he wouldn’t be bothered by that issue. Around Lyle, there were no people who ignored his words. Because he did not tolerate more than two mistakes, all such people had disappeared.

However, he couldn’t do anything about Haejin right now. The moment he realized that, Lyle swept back his hair with a subtle sense of acceptance. Because the moment he brought Haejin back this time, it was as good as proving Haejin’s importance to some extent.

Is he acting like that because he believes in that?

“How much longer do you intend to complain about the food. Stop it and make sure to eat properly.”

“Complain about the food?”

The face asking back calmly fanned his irritation even more. Even when holding the contract and being asked for his wishes, Haejin was someone who wouldn’t say a single thing he wanted. Lyle presumed that he must have acted similarly toward the butler.

“Yes. Don’t be difficult like you were during the last contract; if there’s food you want, tell the butler. Whether it’s food from your hometown or whatever.”

Haejin realized for the first time that his failure to receive the tray on time because he was tired could be perceived as complaining about the food. The sensation of bitter water rising when one starves for a long time surged through his insides. He originally intended to skip breakfast because he had no appetite, but this makes his desire to eat vanish even further.

Unlike back then, he knows well that this time, he cannot soothe his hollow insides by just eating a meal. Therefore, there was no need to force himself to swallow food that didn’t even sit well.

It was a bit absurd, but he didn’t get angry. Because the emotion that had tried to rise up indignantly soon lost its strength and scattered away like dust.

He simply agonized while staring blankly down at Lyle’s shining face. So the butler was doing things he didn’t use to do because he ordered it.

Haejin, not knowing that the butler’s actions and Lyle’s words were a coincidence that happened to overlap, grew a small seed of misunderstanding. He thought Lyle had been entirely indifferent to him all this time, but he wondered if he might have known a little about how he was being neglected.

When people see his black hair for the first time, they often mistakenly assume Haejin is a foreigner. He knew it couldn’t be helped since it was an uncommon appearance. However, the feeling was a bit different when Lyle, who must have received a report on his personal profile more detailed than Haejin himself, said such things.

Like this clumsy indifference.

He remembered the food tray from which a repulsive smell had risen. And the butler’s pheromones that had been unpleasantly smeared all over it. That was a violence made of mere indifference rather than goodwill toward Haejin. Yet, was he supposed to have taken that and forced himself to swallow it? Just to receive an evaluation that he wasn’t difficult.

“What is it.”

Receiving that hollow gaze, Lyle muttered irritably. It was because the kid was just staring at Lyle quietly. Since he had spat out sharp words, some kind of reaction should have come back normally.

Looking at Haejin’s eerily expressionless face, a sudden, strange anxiety welled up. His heart beat rapidly as if what he had drunk earlier was not coffee, but a stimulant.