While Others Became Female Leads In Romantic Fantasy Novels, I Became A Closet Monster
Chapter 29
His fluffy grey hair felt soft and pleasant beneath my touch. I quietly and carefully stroked his head.
“……Still, you must be in more pain, I’m sorry for crying.”
I didn’t know exactly what he’d misunderstood, but he seemed to think I was the one crying.
Dedrick didn’t bother to correct that misconception.
“I’m okay now, Didi.”
Dedrick pulled back from my embrace and looked at me.
With her eyes and nose flushed red, still sniffling, the girl told a lie, saying she was fine.
Dedrick wiped the girl’s damp cheeks.
Though there was no sign of the girl’s tears stopping, he comforted her tenderly.
He thought this wasn’t so bad.
……No, he liked it very much.
I grunted as I dragged the full-length mirror over and placed it in front of us.
Lately, the frequency of uninvited guests barging in had increased, making me anxious.
If I set it up like this, they’d just think Didi was treating himself while looking in the mirror.
I hid the medicines under the sofa too, deciding to take out only what was necessary.
Someone might find it suspicious if they saw a pile of medicine on the table.
Having gone into the bathroom, Dedrick finished washing and came out.
I’d hoped he’d look better than the shocking state he was in earlier, but no such luck.
In fact, the wounds were even more visible now, making my nose sting again.
Seeing me sniffle, Dedrick approached and started scrubbing my face with a wet towel.
“What are you doing?”
“Wiping your face.”
I know that.
But he looked happy, so I decided to stay still.
My face, which had felt hot and stinging, seemed to calm down thanks to the wet towel.
“Won’t your eyes be swollen tomorrow?”
Dedrick asked cautiously, then quickly added.
“I think you’d still be cute, like a goldfish.”
“I don’t swell. Monsters don’t have things like that.”
Dedrick’s eyes drooped slightly as if he were a little disappointed.
But that wasn’t what was important right now.
An important fact flashed through my mind!
“That’s right, I’m a monster!”
Dedrick looked at me dubiously as I suddenly introduced myself, but I didn’t give him an answer.
‘I’m a closet monster who torments humans.’
Looking at Dedrick, who didn’t have a single uninjured spot, I secretly clenched my fists.
‘I can’t let this slide.’
I’m a monster, after all; I can’t just sit still.
Even if I couldn’t beat them up as much as Dedrick had been hurt, I felt like I had to do something to feel better.
‘First, I have to treat Didi.’
After making him sit on the sofa, I examined his face and asked.
“What are you supposed to do if it hurts?”
“I should tell you.”
“Right, it’s going to sting.”
I dabbed disinfectant onto a cotton ball and pressed it against his face. His brow furrowed slightly.
“You can scowl all you want.”
He nodded quietly.
The wounds on his head were particularly severe, which eventually made me tear up again.
“Just in case, let’s go see a doctor after we treat everything. It’s dangerous to get hit in the head. You have to get an examination. Okay?”
“It’s fine. I stopped by with my tutor before coming here. He said there’s nothing wrong. I just have to watch it for another day, and go back if anything feels strange.”
“Well, that’s a relief then…….”
I worked hard applying the ointment. Watching me, Dedrick murmured, sounding a bit apologetic.
“……I haven’t done anything for you. I’m sorry. I’m always just receiving help.”
My hand stopped mid-air at the unexpected apology.
To think he’d been feeling that way…….
I slowly reached out and cupped Dedrick’s cheeks.
I met his eyes and spoke clearly so he could understand.
“Don’t say that. Didi, you’ve given me the thing I wanted most.”
“I did?”
“You saw me.”
The only one who saw me when no one else could.
That alone was enough.
“Just don’t ever leave my side.”
Don’t go to the Academy.
Those bastards will burn me.
At my sincere words, he stared at me as if trying to pierce through me.
His blue eyes, holding the sea, wavered like shifting waves.
Eventually, Dedrick gripped my hand tightly.
“……I promise I will.”
Dedrick’s fingers intertwined with mine, joint by joint.
He buried his lips in my palm and slowly closed his eyes.
Dedrick’s long eyelashes brushed against my fingertips.
For some reason, my heart felt ticklish.
Was it because my hand was itchy?
I stayed still for a moment as he wished. He pulled away with a soft smile, and I resumed the treatment.
I disinfected the wounds, applied ointment, and meticulously placed bandages.
“There are bruises on your neck too.”
I cursed Somerset under my breath.
I slathered on the medicine and moved to his wrist, only to find it swollen thick, as I’d feared.
And his right hand, at that.
“……Is it broken?”
“My tutor said it’s not broken.”
“Are you sure nothing is broken?”
“I’m sure.”
In that case…….
I took out some medicine to reduce swelling and handed it to him.
“Drink this.”
It was lucky the effects were written on each bottle.
While I carefully spread the anti-swelling medicine over his wrist and worked hard to wrap it with a compression bandage, he gulped down the medicine.
Throughout the treatment, his gaze lingered on my horns.
Unable to ignore the look, I lifted my head to face him.
“Why? If it hurts and you want to hold onto something, you can grab my horns.”
“It’s not that…… I thought I saw them sparkle for a second.”
“What? My horns have a function like that?”
What was it?
I fumbled with my horns.
But I didn’t feel anything different from usual.
Maybe they felt a tiny bit warmer than usual? But that could just be because I was focusing on them.
‘Or maybe it’s because it’s the first time I’ve cried this much, and the horns reacted.’
Dedrick watched my reaction before asking cautiously.
“Can I touch them once?”
“Um…… sure!”
It didn’t feel dangerous.
I lowered my head slightly so he could reach them easily, then suddenly grabbed his leg.
Dedrick flinched in surprise.
“I have to do this to put medicine on your leg too. It’s okay.”
I hoisted Dedrick’s leg onto my lap.
He tried to cover his face with both hands out of embarrassment, but I stopped him.
“I just put medicine on your face. Don’t touch it. Touch my horns instead. Are they still doing it?”
I felt his hand touch my horns.
I asked as I wound bandages around his ankle.
The swelling on his ankle was worse than anywhere else; I almost let out a string of profanities.
“Not much, other than them being a little hot…….”
“You’ll be warm in the winter thanks to me. Your hands won’t get cold if you hold my horns!”
I bounced my body in excitement.
“I have a…… heater on my head.”
Dedrick laughed happily at my joke. Then, he looked at his own hand in wonder.
“……The wounds on my hand seem to have vanished a bit.”
“Huh? Let me see.”
I’d applied the ointment myself, so I would know. Sure enough, the wounds were gone from the spots where I’d applied it.
“……This isn’t the ointment made from ground healing mana stones, though?”
I couldn’t find where I’d put that one, so I’d brought a different ointment.
“Could it be…… because I touched your horns?”
“My horns have a power like that? Try touching them again.”
But when he reached out and touched them again, nothing happened.
“……I guess it’s not my horns’ power.”
“That’s strange……. Should I try looking for information about closet monsters in the library?”
“About me?”
“Yes, aren’t you curious about yourself too?”
I thought about it for a moment, then shook my head.
“No, don’t.”
“If you go looking for things like that, Somerset or the Grand Duchess might get suspicious. Let’s look when we’re nineteen.”
“It’ll be okay then?”
“Yes. It’ll be okay then.”
“You’ll be an adult! No matter what the Grand Duchess does, you’ll be an adult, so you’ll be able to handle it!”
I finished applying the rest of the ointment meticulously.
“There, all done. Get some rest.”
“Where are you going?”
“To do something bad.”
At my blunt words, Dedrick asked back with a blank expression.
“Something bad?”
“Yes, something bad. Didi, you just do good things. I’ll do all the wicked things.”
He looked at me as if asking for an explanation for my ominous words, but I didn’t give him one.
Instead, I stroked his head, telling him not to worry, and hurried into the wardrobe before he could catch me.
There was no one in Somerset’s room.
He hadn’t returned yet.
Just then, I heard a commotion. As I hurried out of the room, Somerset’s voice rang loudly through the hallway.
“Joanna! Where do you think you’re going now!”
“The Grand Duchess has given her permission. Let me go!”
“Do you think your family will be safe if you leave like this?! Our mother won’t deal with you! Then the Marquis won’t leave you alone!”
“I will take care of my own affairs, so do not concern yourself!”
I heard the sound of a door closing along with the sound of rapid footsteps running away. Following that was Somerset’s scream of rage.
“Why is she being so sensitive just because I hit that brat a little!”
Following the voice shouting that he couldn’t understand at all, I found him huffing at the bottom of the stairs.
