Episode 16. Spirit of Fair Play
"Then."
The sound of the door closing again echoed. The sound of Ivor walking toward the desk followed.
Adel tensed her body to keep it from shaking and focused on the presence in the room. Everything was so quiet that it was easy to hear.
Ivor, please don't open the desk drawer. Please don't notice that the letter drawer was unlocked.
Adel tried her best to ignore Gray's presence and concentrate solely on that. Somehow, she had a gut feeling that getting caught by someone else would be more dangerous than by Gray.
She didn't know why. It just was.
With Gray, for some reason... there was this strange expectation that he would pretend not to know about such irreverent behavior. He was a bit lenient in odd ways.
Soon, the sound of a few drawers sliding open came, followed by a long silence.
She could almost hear her heartbeat. It was definitely coming from inside her own ribcage.
It was beating too fast. At this point, Gray became a distraction.
Her chest was pressed against his, so he could probably hear it all too well...
At that moment, the large hand that had been on Gray's lips earlier and was now atop Adel's head began to move.
The soft palm gently rolled over the top of her head. Long fingers gradually burrowed into her hair. The sensation was so vivid that Adel got goosebumps.
His hand slid down further, covering her ear.
He moved very slowly and delicately to avoid touching the curtain right beside them.
The hand covering her ear tangled into the hair at the back of her head and fell heavily. Her hidden earlobe was exposed. The warm pressure of his hand rose and fell softly, like plucking harp strings.
Ah. At some point, Adel had forgotten about Ivor's presence.
Gray's head slowly lowered. Against her tensed body—especially the crown of her head—a flat cheek pressed.
A damp vibration flowed into her ear.
"Adel, breathe."
Adel quietly closed her eyes.
You try breathing like this?
Ivor might discover someone sneaked a peek at the duke's letters, and you even saw me pick the drawer with needles.
Today too, she silently swallowed her unspoken grievance.
In any case, Adel found this position uncomfortable. She hated that Gray could feel her heart pounding wildly when she could barely breathe.
As she tried to carefully pull away from Gray, the arm around her waist tightened further. Her nose, embedded in his broad shoulder, pulled away slightly before slamming back in. Ah, it hurts!
Gray warned lowly.
"Curtain."
This is driving me insane.
Adel looked up at him, wanting to express her intent even with her eyes. She definitely intended to. But she failed.
Because Gray had leaned down to whisper not to touch the curtain, and when she lifted her head, her cheek nearly brushed his lips.
Her cheek's fine hairs stood on end from the breath spreading so close. Adel hurriedly pressed her face back into the hard white shirt on his shoulder.
It was just like that pose. A father bear enveloping his daughter bear with his whole body to protect her.
The father bear's body heat was too high. And his arms and chest were uncomfortably hard. Hard enough to crush her embedded nose bridge and glasses painfully.
Are all men like this? Is this normal?
She knew Gray had served as an officer in Hallock as proof of the military alliance between Hallock and Karl. So was this muscle built then?
But shouldn't it all melt away from chugging alcohol every day?
Useless thoughts she would never have normally scattered everywhere without form. Because this situation was frightening and unfamiliar.
Yes. It was so unfamiliar that it was disconcerting. Her heart pounded thud thud.
Calm down, please.
The fortunate thing was, no matter how chaotic inside, her face would remain calm.
Soon, the sound of Ivor leaving the office came. He and his guest exchanged words about documents right in front of the door. Once confirmed, they headed toward the stairs together.
Listening to the receding footsteps and voices, Adel and Gray stayed still for a long while. And finally, when not even a mouse stirred anywhere, Adel pushed Gray's body away.
Of course, since the back of Gray, who had entered first, was against the wall, he didn't budge an inch, and Adel was pushed back by the rebound.
"……."
"……."
The two stared only into each other's eyes, a slight distance apart.
Adel quickly calculated what she should say in this situation to gain even a little advantage. But Gray reacted unexpectedly first. He brought his hand to his lips and slowly licked it.
"You have a unique hobby."
Adel's eyes widened watching him. More than half his hand was covered in blood. Precisely, blood flowed from the thin flesh between his thumb and index finger, and as he pressed his tongue firmly to wipe it, bruised red spots fully revealed themselves.
They were needle puncture wounds. Only then did Adel realize the two large needles she had gripped to pry his hand away were still in her hands. The crushed needles between their hands had pierced his multiple times.
Oh my god. To only realize now.
"A-Are you okay, young master?"
"As you can see?"
Even as he said that, he didn't fully detach the wound from his mouth to show it. Adel felt sorry.
"Why didn't you say something?"
"Should I have cried out in pain in that situation?"
"Instead of 'breathe' or 'curtain,' you should have said 'needle.'"
"But at that moment, those were more urgent? You didn't want to die of respiratory distress or get caught rattling the curtain, right, Adel?"
She had nothing to say.
If it had been discovered she was hiding here at that moment, she probably would have faced severe punishment. Getting fired from her aide position would be secondary; the materials on the Valoneck family she had painstakingly gathered and hidden in her forest house could all be ransacked.
Gray roughly sucked the leaking blood from Adel's puncture and grinned.
"It's fine. I got a good show out of it."
"What show?"
"Your legs. They were killer."
It was as casual an appraisal as when he had commented on Rayan Count's second lady's chest and waist.
Adel was dumbfounded. She narrowed her eyes unpleasantly, then subtly avoided Gray's gaze.
"You saw everything?"
"Yeah. I just said I saw it all."
"No, not that. From when I entered this room, everything."
Gray detached his lips from his hand. Her gaze oddly lingered on the pink trace his red lips left on the white hand back.
"Of course I saw everything. What else would I be doing alone back there."
Say that again.
But Adel wasn't without words either. Him hiding his body when she entered meant he too had been secretly doing something here. Ivor had just coincidentally revealed his presence.
As Adel opened her mouth to ask what the young master had been doing here, Gray bit the side of his hand again and brushed lightly past her.
"Mind if I go first? I came first, so it's only fair I leave first too, right?"
Fair? Fair? Fair how?
Gray's leisurely tone always gave Adel a subtle sense of incongruity. But never as incomprehensible as now.
"You're just going out like this?"
"Or should we keep rolling around here?"
"Rolling around? What do you mean."
Is that the only other option?
Adel lightly pressed her forehead. Perhaps deciding to stop teasing Adel, Gray chuckled.
"Anyway, for evidence disposal, it's best to leave here first? Better if we each go separately like when we came in, rather than together?"
As he said that, Gray tried to go back the way he had been heading. Adel hurriedly grabbed him.
"What were you doing here before I came, young master?!"
The moment he stepped out, back into everyday space where they could both play dumb, she didn't know what he might say or where. She couldn't let it slide ambiguously like this. She wanted to clearly mark him as suspicious too.
But Adel missed Gray's arm. Because he didn't stop walking. He turned his body toward her while walking backward. Frowning slightly as he backpedaled.
"Didn't peg you for it, Adel. Lacking spirit of fair play."
"Fair play?"
"Yeah. What did I ask you?"
Adel shut her mouth, and Gray had already precisely reached the door with his backward steps.
"So you shouldn't ask me either."
"……."
"But you'll treat my hand, right?"
"……."
"I'll wait in my room. Come carefully."
He waved his bruised fingers like waves, then opened the door and left. Adel blankly stared at the closed door.
What just happened? Who was I just talking to?
Does the brain freeze from overload when too much happens at once?
In the midst of it all, strangely, her crown, ear, and cheek burned hot.
