I’m Not Doing This With A Friend Chapter 141

Blink—

 

I opened my eyes to a familiar scene. My room, in the Duke of Lysianthus’ mansion in the capital.

 

The layout of the room, the furniture, and even the quilt I was covered in were all familiar.

 

There was a slight question as to why I wasn’t in the Duke’s Castle of Lysianthus, but that wasn’t the point now.

 

‘What the hell is going on…’

 

I began to shiver, even though I wasn’t cold.

 

Then, a voice pierced my eardrums.

 

“You’re finally awake, Leen.”

 

A familiar pink head appeared in the doorway. It was Carson.

 

“Caon. What happened?”

 

“You passed out calling my name, don’t you remember?”

 

Ah. Yes. I had instinctively called out Carson’s name with my mana. I didn’t think I finished, but I must have.

 

“Something didn’t feel right, Leen, and you’re lucky I followed you.”

 

“…You didn’t come because you heard my voice?”

 

“Huh? Alas, I did hear you call my name as you fell.”

 

Huh? This conversation seems strangely off…

 

Carson looked at me with a smile, and I could sense the incongruity in it.

 

Trying to shake off the weird feeling, I quickly changed the subject.

 

“More than that, I was wondering why I suddenly felt sick.”

 

Carson curled the corners of his mouth as if it were nothing.

 

“Maybe you were tired from all the stuff you’ve been doing these days or something?”

 

This, that, and the other…

 

I don’t know, I just remember us doing separate things during the day and holding hands at night.

 

Since I was the only one who slept well with him at night, if I was tired, he must have been more tired.

 

“You must have been the one who was tired.”

 

“Mmm…”

 

Carson glanced away from me. He seemed reluctant to broach the subject.

 

Watching him, I thought to myself. It troubled me that I’d fallen unconscious after smelling something too strange to be simply tired.

 

I wasn’t the only one who had fallen, Dobby had fallen from the sky, too.

 

That’s right. Dobby…!

 

“Caon, what happened to Dobby?”

 

“Dobby?”

 

He raised an eyebrow as if he didn’t know what I was talking about. I asked, my brow furrowed.

 

“No way, you didn’t just abandon Dobby, I swear I saw him falling out of the sky when I collapsed!”

 

“Ahh….”

 

For a moment, the expression on Carson’s face vanished.

 

“Leen, you think that little demon is more important than me?”

 

“…What?”

 

It was the usual jealousy. But never before had he spoken to me with such direct displeasure.

 

Seeing my reaction, Carson quickly softens his expression.

 

“No, it’s just that I got a little jealous and got carried away.”

 

He smiles again and explains, “Dobby kept barking, so I separated him for fear of waking you up. Do you want me to bring him in now?”

 

I stared at Carson for a moment, then nodded. He said he would get Dobby, opened the door, and left the room.

 

Once he was out of the room, I carefully examined myself.

 

I was missing the poison dart case I’d been carrying just in case, and the defensive artifact in the form of a necklace Carson had made for me out of concern.

 

Even the ring of House Lysianthus, which I had worn every day since the day I received it from the Duke.

 

My breath began to come in ragged gasps as my suspicion turned to certainty.

 

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. I wondered how much time had passed.

 

The door burst open and Dobby burst into the room.

 

“Dobby!”

 

“Grrr!”

 

I hugged Dobby hard, barely holding back the tears that threatened to spill out.

 

“I’m so glad you’re okay, I really, really am…”

 

Carson gave a bored look and jerked his chin.

 

“Now, how about we get him out of the room?”

 

Dobby slipped out of my arms and began barking enthusiastically at Carson.

 

“Grrr, arf, arf!!”

 

Carson glanced at Dobby, who was barking feverishly in front of him, with a relaxed expression.

 

“You, you’ve been barking since earlier.”

 

He leaned down and whispered to the growling Dobby.

 

“How many demons do you think I’ve caught in my life?”

 

“Grrr, grr, grrr!”

 

“Stop it, Dobby!”

 

At the sound of my voice, Dobby stopped barking and came to me.

 

Dobby bites down on my clothes with his teeth and pulls hard. I stroked his fur to calm him down.

 

Dobby was having none of it. He shook his head desperately, pulling at my clothes.

 

“Good boy, Dobby.”

 

I pulled my clothes out of his teeth. Then, this time, he bit my sock and tugged at it.

 

With a little more force, it came off too easily. I threw the sock away and grabbed Dobby’s face as he tried to bite my clothes again.

 

I locked eyes with him and smiled.

 

“It’s okay, listen to me.”

 

Dobby’s tail, which had been standing fiercely, twitched down, as if he understood what I meant.

 

This clever thing.

 

“Now that I’ve made sure you’re okay, it’s okay. Get out of the room like Carson said.”

 

“Hing…”

 

“Dobby, come on.”

 

Dobby looked back and forth between Carson and me, and finally, he bit my sock and slowly walked out of the room.

 

The door closed behind him.

 

I stared at the door, worried about Dobby, and then I heard his voice.

 

“You haven’t stopped shaking since you woke up, Leen.”

 

He was right. My body was still shaking violently. Carson moved closer to my bed. 

 

The bed creaked and dented as he put one knee across it.

 

Carson stroked my cheek with a straight, outstretched finger.

 

“…Do you want me to hold you?”

 

Slowly, I shifted my gaze to stare into his eyes.

 

Within the blue depths, they were filled with a burning desire. I could see so clearly who they were directed at.

 

Without a word, I slipped my hand behind Carson’s neck and pulled him close.

 

His relaxed body stiffened slightly. But only for a moment, before he spoke, his voice sounding amused.

 

“Do you think holding me so carefully will calm me down?”

 

His hand tightens around my waist. But my trembling only intensifies.

 

He breathed out low, as if he felt some kind of satisfaction.

 

“I love you, Leen.”

 

Slowly, deliberately. I felt a soft movement in his hand. I jerked his hand away and asked.

 

“Carson, do you know something?”

 

He answered a beat late, concentrating on something.

 

“…What is it?”

 

Burying my face in the nape of his neck, I pawed around him instead of answering.

 

As if searching for prey. His breathing became increasingly ragged at my behavior.

 

“…Ha, Leen.”

 

And in a flash, I sank my teeth into the nape of his neck.

 

Quack—

 

I bit down so hard that red blood trickled out.

 

“This, what…”

 

His words trailed off. His grip on me loosened and his body slipped.

 

Quickly pulling away from him, I spit the last of the blood in my mouth onto the floor.

 

Then I gave him the answer he hadn’t given me earlier.

 

“My Dobby barks at all men, except the men of Lysianthus.”

 

The taste of blood and the bitterness of poison tasted in my mouth at the same time.

 

“Carson always blushes when he kisses me, and he can’t make love to me as naturally as you can.”

 

Crucially, my man has a distinctive scent.

 

Now I smell the same. I crouch down in front of him on the floor.

 

“There’s a lot I want to say to you.”

 

He’s already passed out from the poison. I hope he’ll still listen.

 

“There is a substance I alchemized a few months ago. It’s a solid, harder than stone, that melts when human blood comes in contact with it. Isn’t that amazing?”

 

I smirked.

 

“So I mixed it with my favorite poison and stuck it in my teeth, because I’m completely immune to it.”

 

It was exhilarating, but somehow hollow.

 

Here we are, so humble, not even named Begonia.

 

What was so scary about this?

 

“I knew that one day, when I met you, you would want to take me, one way or another.”

 

In whatever way.

 

“Rex Begonia, or should I call you Rex now?”

 

Just then, as if a spell had been broken, his face returned to Rex’s.

 

“Thank you. For showing up with your disgusting face covered.”

 

If you hadn’t appeared in Caon’s face, I wouldn’t have been able to keep my composure.

 

As I rose to my feet, the surrounding landscape shifted. This was definitely not the duke’s manor I knew.

 

“You must have hired a good wizard somewhere.”

 

This kind of illusionary trick should be a one-time thing. Maybe he wanted me to accept him, for once, instead of rejecting him.

 

Whatever it was, it was disgusting to me.

 

“Come to think of it, there’s something Carson has been telling me all along.”

 

That if anyone tried to pull a fast one on me, I’d give them a high-X kick.

 

I took a deep breath and lifted my leg.

 

“You’re a Xed from today, you little bastard.”

 

🍃

 

Having finished my little revenge, I called out to Carson.

 

“Caon.”

 

As if on cue, a magic circle formed, and Carson appeared before me.

 

“Leen!”

 

His face was a mess. I ran to him, slightly startled, and he pulled me into a hug.

 

“I was scared… yesterday when you left the duchy and didn’t come back… I wondered what happened to you.”

 

I could feel his body trembling slightly as he held me close.

 

It had been a day since I’d fallen.

 

“I’m fine, Caon.”

 

Pulling away from me, he glanced at the fallen Rex and asked.

 

“Why didn’t you call for me sooner, did that asshole put a gag over your mouth?”

 

“No. I could have, but I didn’t.”

 

“Why…!”

 

“Because I wanted to take revenge with my own hands.”

 

He said to me, sounding a little angry.

 

“It was dangerous, Leen.”

 

My mouth formed an excuse that I couldn’t bring myself to utter. I knew I was reckless.

 

“I’m sorry I worried you.”

 

I hugged him in close, and his voice was resentful.

 

“…You know I can’t say anything if you do that.”

 

“I know, that’s why I said it on purpose.”

 

“Clever.”

 

“Is it good?”

 

“…Yeah.”

 

After enjoying his embrace for a while, I slowly pulled away from him.

 

“Caon, you have the antidote I told you to keep in the subspace at all times, please take it out.”

 

“…You’re not going to forgive this asshole, are you?”

 

Even as he said that, he summoned a subspace and handed me the antidote. I took the antidote and poured it into Rex’s open mouth.

 

“Let’s keep him alive, he’s got too much of a pileup to kill now.”

 

Once the medicine was gone, I suddenly realized something.

 

I realized I wasn’t trembling, even though I was looking at Rex’s face.

 

Aha, I felt like I was ready to bring up everything that had happened in the past.

 

A thrill ran through my body.

 

I’ve been waiting for this day. The day when I could finally tell him everything. I could cry and whine about the pain and the struggle.

 

And the day I could cover up the horrible memories with the memories of my loved ones.

 

“Caon, there’s something I want to show you.”

 

We returned to the Duchy with Rex and Dobby in tow.

 

While Carson put Rex in the dungeon attached to the castle, I found an object.

 

A box tucked deep in a drawer in my room. It contained countless green beads.

 

Beads that contained the pain of my past. I handed the box to Carson, who was now standing in front of me, and smiled faintly.

 

No, I don’t even know if I was crying.

 

“Do me a favor. Please kill him as painfully as possible.”

 

How would you react after hearing all of this?

 

One thing I do know, whatever the reaction, it’s going to be comforting to my past self.