Heavy Rain Chapter 43

Based on what he had heard, it was a crime for which there was no excuse. The elderly gentleman no longer wished to understand or defend that inferiority complex.

His wrinkled gaze moved back to Haejin’s hands, which were tightly gripping the duvet. And how, he wondered, had Young Master Lyle ended up hurting a person like this?

“…”

Even though he had clearly conveyed Lyle’s orders, wariness quickly flickered in Haejin’s eyes. If he had been merely shrinking back and trembling until a moment ago, this time it was distinct vigilance. It even showed a deep-rooted distrust, as if he believed such freedom could never truly be permitted to him.

Seeing him so utterly wounded, the elderly gentleman felt an inexplicable sense of responsibility. He wanted to help this young man step out into the sunlight.

“I want to be alone.”

“…Yes. Please call for me whenever you need anything.”

However, Haejin did not let down his guard. At this point, the elderly gentleman felt he needed to look more closely into exactly what the previous servants had done.

For the past few days, the repeating pattern had been to withdraw obediently each time so as not to provoke further wariness. Unfortunately, Haejin had never once sought them out first.

Haejin, watching the elderly gentleman quietly withdraw, turned his gaze back out the window.

The heavy security, which made it feel as though he could never leave the mansion on his own, felt oppressive.

“They say he has not taken a single step out of the bedroom today either.”

“…”

Hearing the news about Haejin, Lyle restlessly brushed his hand against his mouth.

He had cowardly run away after throwing out a single sentence saying things would change. Yet, he had no idea where he was supposed to even begin.

Whenever he thought of that pale face, strangely enough, the sound of rain kept ringing in his ears. It was bizarre, considering the past few days had been clear without a drop of rain.

Lyle was a man accustomed to incurring resentment. For a corporation to make money, it inevitably meant coveting another’s share. Sometimes it was justified, but Vermouth had grown largely by eliminating other competitors.

During the period of heavy business expansion, he had even been caught up in terrorist attacks twice. They were acts committed by companies that had gone bankrupt and held a grudge. Protests denouncing the massive corporation Vermouth frequently broke out in front of the headquarters.

Lyle knew all of this well, but it didn’t matter to him—as long as the corporate image didn’t deteriorate enough to cause a drop in sales. That was the path he had to walk.

But Haejin was different. It was even more so because he had never kept someone this close before. To excuse it as a simple contractual relationship, Lyle himself had already stepped forward and broken too many lines.

By the time he realized something was misaligned, it was already too late.

“Did you clearly convey that he is allowed to go outside?”

“Yes. I told him so, but he reportedly said he just wants to be alone.”

“…”

This was troublesome. Why was he so unable to act objectively when it came to Haejin’s affairs?

The more news he heard, the more he felt a strangely immense sense of responsibility. His heart raced when he recalled taking the boy’s body while he was unconscious. It must be because that sensation of being submerged in instinct was uncomfortable and unsettling.

Thanks to that, for the first time, Lyle felt as though he had lost his way.

Haejin was not visible on the few CCTV cameras inside the mansion. Seeing him restrict his movements so extremely that he hadn’t even visited the dining room once, Lyle habitually felt suspicion rise—wondering if the servants were restricting his actions.

Haejin might have refused to come out of his own will, but that wasn’t the important part. He simply didn’t want him to feel trapped in that room anymore.

But it wasn’t easy at all. Even though he had replaced all the servants, the boy’s wariness did not easily subside. It was difficult to even guess how deeply they had persecuted him.

It would have been easier to grasp if there had been more records of his tracks over the past five years.

Lyle sighed and, recalling the reason why there were so few CCTV cameras, cursed inwardly. In an effort to avoid being caught in his pathetic tail-chasing affairs, his father had reduced the mansion’s surveillance system to this extent.

His late father was a hidebound man who thought of the servants as his actual slaves, reflecting the old glory of a family that had once been nobility. That ridiculous way of thinking felt even more irritating today.

“Chairman.”

“Speak.”

“It seems we won’t be able to block all the leaked information this time. Beyond the fact that the mansion is locked down, the fact that you previously took Mr. Bright to the hospital is being tied into it. It seems information is leaking from the side of the witnesses at that time.”

He hadn’t expected to be able to block everything from the start. He had intended to settle it to some extent by using an appropriate amount of power and money.

But of all things, for the incident where he took Haejin to the hospital after he collapsed from trauma to be linked—the timing was bad.

“Exactly how?”

“…That is, there are rumors that an Omega left the Vermouth mansion injured…”

“…”

Since those words weren’t exactly wrong, Lyle couldn’t hide his hollow expression. Of course, the malicious rumors people spread wouldn’t have that kind of nuance.

Brushing his hair back in irritation, he pondered repeatedly. Even while he was lost, the things he had to do were steadily piling up like this.

There was one answer he had found. Since he told Haejin things would change, he had to change first. If the boy wouldn’t believe him even if he told him a hundred times, he would have to show him directly through actions. Lyle decided to express this sense of responsibility, which was pushing him to an absurd degree, in that way.

He didn’t want to hear that the boy hadn’t budged from the bed every time he asked what Haejin was doing. If he just pecked at his food without moving like that, even a healthy person would fall into depression immediately.

“Chairman. In the current situation, Mr. Bright needs to at least leave this mansion in a healthy state.”

“…I must make it so.”

The secretary, who also wore a troubled expression, fumbled with his tablet to see if there was any helpful data. Watching him, Lyle added another heavy task.

“And increase the number of CCTV cameras inside the mansion.”

He could no longer stand the idea of something happening to Haejin in a place where he couldn’t see. There was no rule saying that what happened once wouldn’t happen twice. And Lyle was the type of person who would rather shoot himself in the head with a pistol than be played by the same thing again.

So now, at the very least, every single thing that happened inside the mansion had to reach his ears without exception.

“Are you planning to renovate the interior on a large scale?”

For a moment, he was concerned about Haejin’s uncomfortable leg, but Lyle shook his head. There was no need to do more than install CCTV cameras right now. This worn-out mansion required a great deal of effort just to install cameras anyway.

“No, for now, just make sure there are no blind spots.”

So this was simply for the sake of taking responsibility for past mistakes.

That was all it was.

It was two days later when Lyle went to see Haejin.

He had wanted to rush over immediately and tell him to eat his damn food properly, but it hadn’t been feasible. The affairs at the headquarters that he had neglected were a problem, but more than anything, Haejin hadn’t been ready.

After the heat cycle passed, Haejin’s body temperature fluctuated at all hours. According to the doctor who had finally calmed him and examined him, it was due to being exposed to a large amount of dominant pheromones too suddenly.

Throughout that explanation, Lyle felt a strange tingling sensation moving beneath his skin. He, too, was clearly being influenced by Haejin’s pheromones.

Only after the doctor’s permission was granted did Lyle return to the mansion and head toward the boy. His steps were quite hurried, but Lyle himself didn’t find it strange.

As he entered the main building of the mansion, the bodyguards greeted him with discipline. They were those stationed temporarily until the construction of the CCTV system was finished.

Passing by them, he suddenly examined their faces. Had there always been this many Alphas in the security team?