RHFTY chapter 51

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“Why don’t you two have a chat? I’ll… Ah, I need to use the restroom. Don’t worry about me if I’m late.”

With that vague excuse, Chaeyi quickly left the room.

To anyone unaware of his true intentions, it would have seemed like he urgently needed to go.

“Chaeyi! The restroom is that way…”

Bennex reached out too late, as Chaeyi had already disappeared.

“……”

An icy silence fell between Leonard and Bennex, who were now left alone.

Meanwhile, Chaeyi, satisfied with his successful exit, walked down the hallway feeling lighter.

He had been feeling guilty for unintentionally disrupting the two, but this action seemed to ease some of that burden.

‘Just take it one step at a time.’

The two people at the center of this world were bound by fate. Eventually, everything would fall into place, and Leonard’s happy ending wasn’t far off.

‘But now…’

Although he had mentioned the restroom, Chaeyi had no intention of going there, leaving his wondering what to do.

After a while, he decided to step outside for some fresh air.

He didn’t want to stray too far, so he loitered near the entrance, killing time as he waited for the right moment to return.

Lost in thought while staring at the blue sky, he realized that over an hour had passed.

Standing up and glancing around, he muttered to himself:

‘Maybe it’s time to head back.’

Staying away for two or three hours with just the excuse of going to the restroom would be too obvious.

As Chaeyi quietly returned to the lobby, he noticed the lack of guards at the entrance and the absence of servants in the hallways.

The mansion was eerily quiet.

Silently, he made his way back to the room.

It didn’t take long to reach it, but once there, he hesitated.

He could hear voices from inside.

‘What do I do?’

He couldn’t make out the words, which only made things worse.

What if they were having a private conversation and he interrupted at the worst possible moment?

Just as he was about to step back, the murmuring stopped.

Footsteps approached, and the door swung open, startling him. Standing there was Leonard.

“Oh. Uh… were you having fun?”

Leonard, upon seeing his at the door, showed no reaction.

He looked as if he had already known he was standing there.

His unsettling silence made Chaeyi awkwardly smile.

Finally, after a pause, Leonard spoke in a firm tone:

“Chaeyi. It’s time to leave.”

“What? Already?”

Without responding to his protest, Leonard moved forward as if his mind was made up.

Chaeyi glanced inside the room.

For reasons he couldn’t understand, Bennex sat there, his face hardened and shadowed by gloom.

‘What… is going on?’

She couldn’t grasp the situation.

He never imagined that, in the short time he was gone, the mood between the two would shift so drastically.

Though he was curious about the reason, Leonard’s firm stance left his with no choice but to bid farewell to Bennex.

“Ben, we’ll be going now.”

“Yes, Chaeyi. See you next time.”

Bennex smiled weakly, clearly not his usual self, which left Chaeyi feeling uneasy.

With that, he followed Leonard outside.

Even after they climbed into the waiting carriage, neither spoke.

Eventually, after a long stretch of silence, Chaeyi broke the ice.

“Leo. Did you and Ben have a fight?”

For the first time, Leonard looked his in the eye.

His deep blue eyes were difficult to read.

“It wasn’t like that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“But the atmosphere seemed off…”

“There was no reason for it to be good.”

Leonard’s cold reply was so detached it made Chaeyi sigh.

‘What exactly went wrong?’

Chaeyi had already experienced several instances where key events in this world didn’t change easily, even with outside interference.

For example, Leonard had still sneaked out of his house and was almost hurt by a monster, and he eventually returned to his family after his awakening.

So, the relationship between Leonard and Bennex, which was critical to the story’s ending, shouldn’t have changed easily either.

Chaeyi couldn’t figure out why the two were so unwilling to accept each other.

Of course, Leonard had spared his brother Aelan, so perhaps some inner change had occurred.

‘If that’s the case…’

Would it be better to let things be?

‘What would be best for Leonard?’

Chaeyi’s mind was clouded with confusion. Being personally entangled in this twisted situation only made it worse.

But Leonard was just as confused by Chaeyi’s intentions.

While he fretted over having ruined their moment, in truth, Leonard’s mind had been focused solely on Chaeyi long before that.

He couldn’t understand his strange behavior whenever Bennex was involved.

Thus, the two of them ran parallel, their thoughts never aligning, due to a lack of meaningful communication.

“…Do you want me to become close with Konera’s young master?”

Out of nowhere, Leonard, who had remained silent until then, asked the question.

Chaeyi, unable to read the hidden meaning behind it, answered honestly, half in resignation.

“It’d be nice if you two got along.”

“Why?”

“Because I want things to work out between you two.”

Leonard’s expression darkened even more at his response.

Feeling like he had said something wrong, Chaeyi bit his lip.

After a moment of silence, Leonard spoke again, his voice low and chilling:

“Chaeyi.”

“Yeah?”

“You didn’t really go to the restroom, did you?”

“…No.”

“What were you thinking?”

The accusatory tone made his feel uneasy.

Sensing that staying silent would only worsen things between them, Chaeyi confessed.

“Sorry, I just wanted to give you two a chance to talk properly.”

At that moment, the carriage slowed to a stop, and the coachman asked if they would be staying at the inn.

Their conversation paused as they stepped out and booked a room.

Like before, it was one room with two beds.

The only difference was the heavy atmosphere as they walked upstairs.

Leonard’s silence weighed on Chaeyi.

He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Leonard, standing in front of the door, muttered:

“That was unnecessary.”

His cold words felt like a punch to the chest, and Chaeyi took a deep breath.

Leonard rarely scolded his so harshly—perhaps for the first time ever.

It was disorienting and somehow frightening.

At the same time, he felt wronged but also guilty.

He could have easily run away from this stressful situation, but he didn’t.

“I’m sorry, Leo. I just wanted you to be happy, but I didn’t consider that it might upset you. I should’ve thought things through more carefully… I won’t do it again.”

Chaeyi wanted to clarify the situation and express his feelings and apology.

He didn’t want to drift further apart from him.

“…….”

Leonard, who had been standing silently, suddenly turned to face Chaeyi.

He didn’t avoid his gaze, prepared to listen to whatever he had to say.

“Chaeyi.”

“Yes?”

“Do you want me to be happy?”

The shift in the conversation’s direction was unexpected, but Chaeyi, feeling guilty, quietly nodded.

“Of course.”

“Then there’s only one way.”

Leonard lowered his gaze and spoke with a finality that felt almost cold.