* * *
At Zeroth’s request, the emperor had granted Martius succession of the viscount title, despite the previous viscount still being alive.
“Getting a title doesn’t make you older overnight.”
“…You’re really using your age against me.”
“Thanks for seeing me as that young.”
Zeroth chuckled at Martius’s reluctant expression and met Sylvian’s eyes.
He had no idea how to respond to Zeroth’s offer to help the estate.
“Sylvian?”
“Uh, really… You don’t have to help.”
“How could I ignore the viscount house that raised my lady?”
At Zeroth’s affectionate gaze, Sylvian’s cheeks flushed red.
‘Ugh.’
Watching all this unfold in real time, Martius and Yuri silently scratched their arms and focused on their food.
Dinner ended pleasantly.
Returning to the bedroom with Zeroth, Sylvian fled to the bathroom, saying he would wash up first.
“He’s become even more bashful.”
He’d always been shy and timid, but after being kidnapped, it had worsened.
Zeroth thought back to when Sylvian first met Julian.
[Nice to meet you. I’m Julian Einsphener. A branch member of the duke’s family and commander of the duke’s knights.]
As Julian bowed his large frame in greeting, Sylvian crept up beside Zeroth and carefully observed him.
He was intrigued by Julian, who resembled him, but couldn’t fully lower his guard.
“What should I do…”
Though he now slept next to Sylvian, every night felt like a monk’s training.
Once Sylvian fell completely asleep, Zeroth would sneak off to the bathroom to cool his burning body.
Ever since returning to the estate, any attempt to get closer was met with startled resistance.
He hadn’t even been able to confess or kiss him.
‘We can’t go on like this forever…’
Even now, he wanted to snatch Sylvian away and make him his—fully, completely.
But thinking of how shaken he must be, both physically and emotionally, Zeroth suppressed the greed burning inside him.
Just thinking of Sylvian, who was still in the bathroom, had made Zeroth painfully aroused.
He clicked his tongue at himself.
‘Do I have to start all over again?’
This time, he planned to do it right—from a confession to completely winning over Sylvian’s body and heart.
Watching Sylvian, who avoided him yet couldn’t take his eyes off him, only deepened his thirst.
Click.
Sylvian stepped out of the bathroom in a robe, his face still damp.
Penny was sitting him at the vanity, drying his hair.
“I’ll take over,” Zeroth said.
Without entering the bathroom, he took the towel from Penny.
She handed over Sylvian’s nightclothes and, with a hopeful look, quietly left the room.
“I-I can do it myself…”
Sylvian tensed as a large hand carefully patted his hair with the towel.
‘And he says he’s avoiding me?’
Despite trying to keep his distance, Sylvian leaned into Zeroth’s touch.
The contrast made him chuckle softly.
“My lady.”
“Y-yes?!”
Zeroth’s call, paired with the calloused fingertips brushing against Sylvian’s ear, made him jolt in surprise.
His eyes widened, startled by the sound of his own voice, before he quickly lowered his head.
The tips of his ears peeked out from his hair, flushed red.
Zeroth silently resumed drying Sylvian’s hair.
Vrrrrr.
He turned on a magic dryer, sending warm air through Sylvian’s golden hair.
Gently, Zeroth ran his fingers through the strands, meticulously drying them.
Slide.
Flinch!
As his fingers brushed from the scalp down to the nape of Sylvian’s neck, a clear reaction followed.
‘Is it today?’
Zeroth, who had kept his hands to himself for so long, was finally making a move.
Sylvian, feeling the heat rush through him at the unfamiliar touch, tried to suppress it.
He knew Zeroth had noticed his flinch—but he pretended not to and calmly continued drying his hair.
“It’s all dry.”
“I-I can walk on my own!”
Startled by Zeroth’s hand slipping beneath his arms, Sylvian protested—but the man moved faster.
Before he could resist, he was gently lifted and placed onto the bed.
“Please undress. I’ll help you change into your nightclothes.”
Rustle.
“Eek!”
Without hesitation, Zeroth undid the robe’s sash, baring Sylvian’s naked body.
Sylvian frantically covered his chest and lower half.
“Hands up.”
“Ah…”
“Sylvian.”
Sniff.
Seeing Sylvian’s shocked and tear-filled face, Zeroth froze.
Why…?
The question flickered through his mind, but calming Sylvian took priority.
“I’m only helping you dress. You’re still weak from the bath.”
To prove his point, Zeroth shook the nightshirt he held.
Only then did Sylvian, cheeks soaked with tears, reluctantly raise his arms and let Zeroth dress him.
Once the pants were on, Sylvian quickly crawled under the covers and hid.
Only his eyes peeked out.
Zeroth gently pulled the blanket down and kissed his forehead.
“I’ll take a bath. If you’re sleepy, go ahead and rest.”
As Zeroth disappeared into the bathroom, Sylvian’s lips curled up beneath the covers.
‘He’s definitely changed.’
Lying comfortably in bed, Sylvian recalled Zeroth’s behavior since he’d woken up.
All the old forcefulness was gone.
Not that he’d been entirely coercive before the kidnapping, but that odd, pressuring tone and the subtle dominance in his gestures were no longer there.
‘Should I play a little harder to get?’
‘If I run away again, there’ll be no going back.’
Sometimes, when Zeroth looked at him with eyes so deep they threatened to swallow him, Sylvian’s heart would tremble.
Countless times, he’d wanted to shatter his own ankles.
If the personality from the original novel wasn’t a complete lie, then it wasn’t that Zeroth had changed—it was just that his target had shifted from Yuri to Sylvian.
‘Karl really screwed everything up.’
He had only wanted to stage a light disappearance—not a full-blown kidnapping.
Zeroth hadn’t said much, but from the way Martius and the others acted, Sylvian could tell how frightening Zeroth must’ve been.
“This won’t do.”
Sylvian licked his dry lips, disappointed that he hadn’t received the heartfelt confession he’d expected after waking up. Zeroth hadn’t said anything.
Not a single word.
I’ll make sure he can’t resist saying he loves me.
It was time to take extreme measures.
The Next Morning
“Ah!”
“Sylvian?!”
Sylvian’s plan began early the next day.
As he was climbing out of bed, he misjudged the position of the blanket, tripped over it, and almost hit the floor—only for Zeroth to catch him just in time.
“Th-thank you…”
Sylvian mumbled with a startled face, and Zeroth immediately scooped him into his arms.
“Careful. It seems your strength hasn’t fully returned yet.”
“No, it’s fine! Please, put me down.”
As Sylvian squirmed, Zeroth kissed his hair and eventually sat him down on a chair at the dining table.
“I can do this myself.”
His flustered face didn’t exactly inspire confidence, but Zeroth simply nodded.
“Starting today, I’ll sleep in my own room.”
After breakfast, Sylvian squeezed his eyes shut and blurted the words like a war cry. All the servants froze.
He sneaked a glance at Zeroth—whose brow had furrowed.
“Why… would you want that?”
“B-because… couples aren’t supposed to sleep together all the time.”
“Who… told you that?”
Zeroth’s teeth ground together, an ominous sound.
“Other people don’t do this!”
Clenching his fists with a dead-serious look, Sylvian declared it.
The servants trembled and quickly cleared the table before fleeing.
“Sylvian, have you… come to dislike me?”
The question came in a voice so cold it could cut.
Sylvian quickly shook his head.
“Then… very well.”
Zeroth answered with feigned resignation, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice. Ironically, it was Sylvian whose face went pale.
‘With that expression… how am I supposed to run away?’
Zeroth barely managed to contain his irritation as he looked at Sylvian’s soft, almost tearful face.
Did someone say that to him before the kidnapping? He didn’t recall anything about that in the reports.
“If that’s what my wife wishes, I’ll honor it.”
Zeroth’s blood-red eyes dropped to the floor, shimmering like tears.
Sylvian stood abruptly, saying he would check out his room, and hurried off—Zeroth silently watched him go.
* * *
