For some reason, my dreams tonight were exceptionally good.
The bed was unusually soft, and the house was filled with a subtle, pleasant scent.
Plus, the sunlight filtering in just right made it warm.
I unconsciously let out a pleased chuckle and rubbed my face against the pillow.
My eyes drifted shut at the cozy sensation.
……See, yesterday really must have been just a nightmare.
Just as I was trying to drift back to sleep, a soft laugh echoed from right above my head.
“You’re quite the sleepyhead.”
Fucking hell. My heart dropped right into my stomach.
Is my hearing loss getting worse, or am I hearing auditory hallucinations now?
Or maybe I heard some weird sound while half-awake?
It must just be my imagination. I pulled the blanket back up and closed my eyes.
‘Just ignore it and go back to sleep, it’ll go away.’
The exact moment I was slipping back into the swamp of sleep—
Something damp touched my cheek.
Instantly, my mind went blank.
Humid air. A soft texture. A faint, warm body heat.
……Wait, isn’t this a pair of lips?!
“Fucking hell!!”
Reflexively, I jolted up like a spring.
I rubbed my face roughly to try and drag myself back to reality, but my heart was already pounding like crazy.
Breath climbed all the way up to my throat, and the sound of my heartbeat thudded loudly in my ears.
And right in front of me, looking entirely too calm, was Lucian Bellos, looking down at me.
His red eyes curved lazily, and a familiar smile hung on his lips.
As if this wasn’t his first time doing something like this at all.
“Whenever you used to wake me up, Master, you’d always wake me up like this.”
……What is this bastard talking about?
When did I ever?!
Right as I was about to shout that, a memory flashed across my mind.
Back when I was playing the game, there was a recurring choice every time I had to wake Lucian up:
[Lucian has fallen into a light sleep. Wake him up so he can carry out his schedule.]
[Shake his body] → 80% chance of player disobedience
[Give a morning kiss] → +5 intimacy with the player
[Pour water on him] → 50% chance of player d?e?ath
And yes, I had chosen ‘kiss’.
Quite a few times, actually.
Since similar choices kept popping up over and over, I had just clicked it mindlessly out of sheer annoyance—and now it had become reality.
Along with a wave of intense regret, I screamed internally.
……Ha.
I should’ve just poured water on him.
No, wait, out of those choices, wasn’t kissing the only viable one?
Shaking him had an 80% disobedience rate.
Pouring water had a 50% death rate.
This was a forced-kiss route from the start, you fucking asshole!
I looked up at Lucian in front of me with a despairing expression.
However, he kept the same soft smile and spoke leisurely.
“Shall we try it once more, just like old times—”
“Don’t you dare!!”
Reflexively, I threw myself across the bed.
Even after scrambling up and fleeing to the opposite side of the bed, Lucian remained utterly unbothered.
Instead, he approached leisurely, staring intently down at me.
“Do you still have a slight fever?”
“No, no, I don’t—what on earth is that outfit?”
Seeing his hand reach toward my forehead, I hurriedly shook my head and dodged.
Only then did I have the spare capacity to properly look at his appearance.
Clothes that didn’t fit his body at all.
A shirt and pants that looked like his massive physique had been forcibly crammed into them.
The shoulder seams looked too narrow, and the sleeves ended awkwardly above his wrists.
Because it was stretched so tight, the fabric was pulled taut, and the chest area looked like it was about to split apart between the buttons.
……No, seriously.
Wasn’t that thing in a state where it could pop at any second?
Was this what they called a moment where the clothes couldn’t handle the body?
Feeling like I had just witnessed something deeply serious, I asked,
“……Doesn’t that hurt?”
Just looking at it made me feel suffocated, yet the fact that he was wearing such a calm face made it even stranger.
At that, Lucian smiled and answered smoothly.
“It’s fine. Your scent still lingers on it, after all.”
……Don’t talk bullshit.
Before I could even continue, my cheek throbbed with a stinging ache.
It was the exact spot the button had hit yesterday.
Feeling as though the prickly pain was coming back to life, I rubbed my cheek cautiously.
Haah, seriously.
What on earth did I do wrong to deserve this kind of treatment?
Eventually, letting out a sigh of pure resignation, I said,
“Ha…… Let’s go to the department store.”
Since things had already turned out like this, buying brand new clothes right away was priority number one.
But before going to the department store, I needed to pull myself together first.
I walked into the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face to cool down my heated skin.
As the chilling water trickled down my skin, my head finally felt a little clearer.
However, when I caught a reflection of myself in the mirror, the flushed redness on my cheeks had subsided just a bit.
I didn’t even need to ask who caused it, which made a dry laugh slip past my lips.
“……Ha.”
How gracious of me. Being nursed by the main villain, no less.
I walked out of the bathroom and wandered mindlessly into the living room.
But then, the food set out on the dining table caught my eye.
……Jeyuk bokkeum? (Stir-fried spicy pork)
I stopped dead in my tracks, stared at the dining table for a long moment, and then turned back to look at Lucian standing behind me.
“What is this?”
He answered with a natural smile.
“Don’t they say Koreans love spicy food?”
Stunned, I looked down at the rice bowl.
On top of freshly cooked white rice, beautifully stir-fried spicy pork sat in an appetizing mound.
It even had a glossy sheen over the meat, garnished with chopped green onions and a subtle sprinkle of sesame seeds—absolute perfection.
……Is this safe to eat?
Half-doubtful, I scooped up a bite with a trembling hand.
The moment the spicy pork entered my mouth, I froze completely, the spoon still stuck in my mouth.
……It was fucking delicious.
What the hell, this bastard. What on earth is your identity?
I thought he only knew how to make Western food?
Amidst a mix of awe and utter confusion, I quietly kept moving my spoon.
The tender pork, infused with a piping-hot, savory-and-salty seasoning, chewed smoothly together with the freshly cooked rice inside my mouth.
Once again—it was fucking delicious.
It wasn’t just good because I was hungry; it was genuinely well-made food.
I had just taken a bite to fill my stomach, but a flavor far exceeding expectations flooded my palate.
The ratio of the seasoning was flawless, and the texture of the meat was just right.
……Did this guy’s skill stats include master-level cooking, too?
