The Young Master I Carefully Raised Became Obsessive

“Your Highness, I have prepared another meal.”

Another meal? The food in front of me is already a lot more than usual.

Before I could ask, Ardion said, “Come in.”

The servant had even prepared a tray. The amount of food was considerable, more than enough for Ardion and me to eat.

“Your Highness, you’re not expecting me to eat all of this, are you?”

“You don’t have to force yourself to eat it, but you still need to eat a lot to recover quickly.”

“This is too much.”

There was enough food for ten people. As I looked at the considerable amount of food, the servant put the dishes down one by one, her hands noticeably shaking.

I looked at her face and could see that she was nervous, even though she didn’t show it.

I looked at Ardion. He wasn’t looking at the servant but at me. When our eyes met, he smiled.

At that moment, I heard a loud noise. The servant, whose hands were shaking, dropped a plate. Ardion’s head immediately turned to look at the broken plate that had fallen next to me.

He coldly rebuked, “Put it away quickly.”

Ardion’s brow furrowed even more when the servant trembled.

“What are you doing? If you don’t want your head to fly off, put it away right now.”

I looked at Ardion in confusion. It was completely different from the behavior he had shown me so far.

“Your Highness, it’s not that serious. Why are you saying that?”

“Laila, the glass shards could have splashed all over you.”

“But in the end, I didn’t get hurt.”

I looked down at the servant. Her hands were still shaking. Then blood appeared on her fingertips. She had been cut by the glass. 

I quickly bent down.

“Laila?”

“I’m cleaning up the glass shards. It’s faster if we clean them up together.”

At that moment, Ardion got up. The servant who had been hesitating nearby quickly retreated. He stepped on the broken glass and stood in front of me.

Then he immediately knelt down and looked me in the eye. “You don’t have to do that. A servant should do what a servant does.”

I inexplicably felt unfamiliar with Ardion. Maybe it was because I had been a servant until recently. 

Strange. This situation was strange.

I glanced at the maid behind Ardion. She had her head down, her hands still shaking.

“Just go out. You should treat your hands.”

The maid looked up in surprise. When I looked closely, she was a face I had never seen before. Maybe it was because she wasn’t used to working here. It reminded me of myself at Duke Orchid’s mansion.

At first, I also got lost a lot and made a lot of mistakes.

Whenever that happened, the words I wanted to hear the most were always the same.

“It’s okay, you can go out,” I said with a smile.

The maid finally lowered her head and left the room. Her steps were quick, as if she couldn’t wait to leave the room.

My gaze lingered on her back. When the door closed completely, I looked at Ardion. “I hope you treat servants well. It seems like she made a mistake because she’s new here.”

Ardion stared at me blankly. Then he chuckled. I looked at him in embarrassment. His beautifully folded, crescent-shaped eyes caught my attention.

When our eyes met, Ardion said softly, “It reminds me of the past. You told me to use polite language because I spoke carelessly.”

“You remember well.”

“Then it’s what you said.” Ardion slowly got up. He leaned on the table and looked at me closely. Before I knew it, our breaths were almost touching.

“Laila, you weren’t lying when you told me not to inject mana for six days, were you?”

“A lie? Why would I lie about that?” I said quickly in embarrassment.

Ardion looked at my lips calmly and then raised his gaze, his green eyes filled with deep passion. “How did I endure it for so long?”

Ardion’s lips lifted.

“What are you talking about?”

“Back in Duke Orchid’s mansion.”

“…”

“I had a lot of dreams.” Ardion smiled and looked at me.

The air around me became tense. His eyes left me with no room to escape. The surroundings were quiet, and I could almost hear my heart pounding.

Now that I thought about it, I didn’t tell Ardion about my condition.

In any case, I had to get close to Ardion within a month. To be exact, I had to have sex with him. 

At that thought, my already flushed cheeks turned bright red. I could feel my face getting hot.

“Laila, what are you thinking about?” Ardion’s handsome eyes stared at my cheeks. When our eyes met, he winked. “Are you thinking about me?”

The corners of his slightly raised lips curled up completely.

I moved back and got up. “Your Highness, I think it would be best for you to go now.”

“Why?” Ardion relaxedly straightened his upper body. Then he naturally looked down at me.

“I’m full. And I want to rest a bit.”

Ardion nodded. “Then I’ll call a servant and tell him to clean up here. You absolutely must not clean up.”

I nodded. Ardion pulled the rope near the side table. I watched him for a moment and then sat on the bed.

Ardion followed me and sat in front of me. He took my hair, kissed the tip of it, and stroked my hair for a moment.

“Your Highness?”

“Your hair is enough.”

“Still…”

“I think I can survive like this.”

I looked at Ardion closely. His eyes looked a little sadder than usual.

What in the world is he hiding?

He had clearly said that Rowell had cleared the crimes he accused Ardion of.

At that moment, there was a knock on the door. Ardion immediately got up and opened the door. The servants bowed their heads.

They cleared the food on the table and picked up the broken glass on the floor.

The servants were familiar with him, so they were quick to handle the work. When all the servants left, Ardion looked back at me. “Laila, I have something to do. I’ll be back shortly. If you need anything, ask the butler. If you have time, think about me too.“

I was taken aback by the last words, but I nodded anyway. Ardion looked at me for a moment and then left the room. The room suddenly became quiet.

In the end, I couldn’t tell Ardion about my condition. Now that I think about it, Ardion doesn’t seem to be saying anything to me…

At that moment, there was a poke-like sound from the door. I smiled and got up. “Derol!”

I opened the door, and Derol jumped up. “Master, did you enjoy your meal?”

I nodded. 

The food wasn’t that delicious, but it was still good.

“Derol, did you enjoy yours?”

“Yes, but can I have some more mealworms?”

“Mealworms?”

Derol nodded vigorously. Then he looked at me with his dark eyes. “If you’re sick, I’ll go down and eat them myself. Anyway, I…”

“No, Derol. I’ll get them for you. You don’t have to do that. I’m supposed to take care of you anyway.”

“But you’re sick…”

“I’m fine now.” I raised my hand. Unlike before, my hands were definitely shaking less. Derol seemed convinced and didn’t say anything.

There was a palm-sized bell and rope by the table, but I didn’t want to use it. I was tired of just sitting still, and I wanted to move around a little to build up my stamina.

“Derol, I’ll go down and come back. Wait here.”

As I walked towards the door, Derol came running. “Master, is it really okay if I don’t come with you?”

I laughed at his needless worry. “Derol, this is Ardion’s mansion. There won’t be any danger.”

Derol seemed to be convinced and didn’t come out any farther. I closed the door. As soon as I closed the door, I sighed. I wanted to recover my weak body as soon as possible.

I took a big step and went down the stairs. A servant coming out of the living room saw me and hurriedly covered something.

I saw it at first glance. It looked like a newspaper.

“What newspaper…”

Before I could finish speaking, the servant quickly disappeared somewhere. She seemed to have gone down the nearby stairs.

I turned around and headed to the kitchen. It was something Derol ate, but sometimes the butler said he had it prepared in the kitchen.

When I reached the kitchen, several cooks happened to be talking.

“I didn’t know Ardion would defend someone this much.”

“I mean, I thought he wouldn’t be interested in women.”

“By the way, who is she?”

“Her name was Laila, I think. Anyway, I heard the butler call her that. She used to be Ardion’s caretaker.”

“Then she’s not a noble?”

“Probably not. But who knows? Maybe he did that because she was from a ruined noble family. But one thing for sure is that she’s a looker.”

“Yes, I was really surprised when I first saw her. She has the same hair color as me, but she’s just different.”

I stood there awkwardly. How should I act when people talked about me? I hesitated even more because the things they said about me weren’t all that bad.

But if this continued, it seemed like it would take forever.

I stepped inside, intentionally making a noise. The chatter soon died down. They got up from their seats in embarrassment as soon as they saw me.

For a moment, the atmosphere strangely calmed down. I forced a smile. It was actually hard to bear the awkward atmosphere.

“Do you have any mealworms for mice to eat?”

“Oh, we do. Are you feeding the mouse you’re raising?”

“Yes,” I answered with a smile.

The chefs moved quickly. They seemed embarrassed, but they were doing their best to respond to my request.

Soon, a glass bowl filled with wriggling mealworms was brought out.

“Thank you. By the way, the chocolate chip cookies you made earlier were delicious.”

“Really? That’s good. We made them with new ingredients this time.”

“Thanks to you, we were able to enjoy our meals.”

“Then we’ll make them often.”

I smiled and nodded. After exchanging a few words with them, I turned around calmly. Then I quickly walked away, trying not to look at the mealworms.