~Chapter 14~
“Uh… are you done reading?”
“Yes, you can turn the page.”
“Okay…”
It was such a bizarre situation.
Here I was, sitting half-embraced on the lap of a man I’d known for less than a month, reading a book together.
“Ruby, you don’t have to wait for me. It seems our reading speeds are similar.”
“Ah, yes.”
Honestly, I was going crazy with awareness.
Damien’s firm thigh under me kept distracting me.
Wouldn’t his leg go numb if I kept sitting like this?
Also, the distance was so close that every time his breath brushed my ear, it tickled unbearably.
Flip—
Other than the sound of pages turning, the grand and silent library was quiet.
I worried my breathing sounded too loud. My heartbeat was pounding even louder for some reason.
‘Come to think of it, couldn’t one of us just read it first and lend it to the other later?’
But it was far too late to suggest that now, after I had already started reading while sitting on his lap.
‘But… why is this manuscript so good even in this situation?’
As expected of Frightening’s new work, the manuscript was so captivating that even while worrying about Damien, I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
So, for a long time, I was simultaneously mindful of my posture, Damien’s face, and the manuscript.
Then—
“Oh.”
“Oh.”
We both let out a gasp at exactly the same part.
Surprised, I turned to see Damien looking at me with an excited expression.
“Did you see that part?”
“I did!”
“As expected of Frightening. Right?”
“Absolutely! Who would have thought the only ally who could help would get eaten by the door!”
“It was such a refreshing shock. I knew he was a master of twists, but the way he revealed it was astonishing.”
“Right? And come to think of it, the scene of the count getting dragged into the door with teeth is similar to when the supporting female character was eaten by the bookshelf in volume 2. It’s like—”
“An homage.”
I looked up at Damien in surprise.
“That’s exactly what I was going to say.”
Damien smiled warmly.
“I was thinking the same thing.”
He gently took my hand and guided it over the manuscript.
“Look at this line: ‘Its sharp teeth gleamed coldly. Not even the reaper’s scythe could inspire greater terror.’ This is almost identical to the line when that female character died in volume 2. And the protagonist’s reaction afterwards…”
“‘Once again, I lost the light.’”
The memorized line flowed out naturally from my lips.
“Exactly, that’s the sentence I meant.”
“You’re right, Damien. It’s the same phrase repeated. He definitely did this on purpose!”
“Right? I love how he reuses patterns with variation.”
“Me too! It adds fresh challenges while maintaining the essence of his work.”
“In that sense, I think volume 3 is his masterpiece.”
“What? I think so too!”
No way—how could our tastes match so perfectly?
I had long forgotten to feel awkward about sitting on Damien’s lap. My heart trembled with excitement at having found someone whose preferences matched mine exactly.
“Do you have a favorite scene…?”
“Hmm, should we say it at the same time?”
“Okay, one, two—”
On three, we both spoke in unison.
“The scene where Lord Chrisman’s long hair floats in the lake after he drowned.”
“The scene where Lord Chrisman’s long hair floats in the lake after he drowned.”
We said it word for word identically.
I slightly parted my lips and met Damien’s eyes.
Our overlapping tastes left me speechless for a moment. Silence fell in the library.
Damien was the first to break it.
“It seems we have so much to talk about.”
He reached out his long arm and rang a small bell on the table.
“How about we have some tea together?”
“Ah, I’d love that.”
“Is there a tea you prefer? I’ll prepare some eyeball marshmallows to go with it.”
Like flowing water, he arranged the tea plans effortlessly.
Damien helped me stand and offered his hand again.
“It would be better to continue our discussion in the tea room. Shall we go?”
Standing up, I felt the height difference between us more clearly.
His pale, long fingers, delicate yet broader than mine, caught my gaze.
‘This… this feels like he’s escorting me…’
I knew well this wasn’t a date. We were just going to have tea inside the house.
Besides, Damien was probably just happy to find someone with similar tastes.
‘Then why… why is my face heating up like when I accidentally sat on his lap earlier?’
“Ruby?”
Damien’s voice snapped me back to reality.
“Ah, s-sorry. Let’s go.”
I took his hand.
‘Ah, I’m such a fool. A complete fool! Damien isn’t thinking anything weird!’
I scolded myself not to misunderstand.
* * *
Late at night, when everyone in the Maledictus Grand Duke’s estate was asleep and spirits awakened, Damien was deep in thought.
‘Did I do well today?’
He had rushed to get Frightening’s unpublished manuscript when he heard Ruby liked horror.
He thought she would enjoy it.
And his guess had been terrifyingly accurate. Learning that Ruby shared his taste made him so happy.
‘Reading and having tea together was so fun.’
How long had it been since he laughed and chatted like that with someone?
For the first time since becoming cursed, Damien felt he could be himself and relax.
But he had one concern.
‘Was I the only one enjoying it?’
Though he hadn’t known Ruby for long, Damien knew she wasn’t the assertive type.
She was kind enough to remove curses even for people she didn’t know.
He worried she might have been forcing herself to match him.
And while he enjoyed their tea time immensely, he worried he might have talked too much.
‘Women don’t like unnecessary chatter, right?’
He glanced at the towering stack of books beside him.
<You Get Rejected Every Day, But You Can Do It! 999 Confession Methods>
<Understanding Women’s True Feelings, Even for Idiots Who’ve Never Held a Girl’s Hand>
<Successful Romance>
<Creating a Happy Marriage That Satisfies Your Wife>
Alice had brought him these books after he kept getting rejected in his desperate search for a bride.
He had never understood any of them, so he’d shoved them into a corner. But since Ruby arrived, he had been trying to read them whenever he could.
‘She’s such a strange girl.’
Until now, he never even thought of trying to stop the women who left.
It seemed natural, and he didn’t want to grow attached knowing that.
But this time, strangely—
‘I don’t want to let Ruby go. I want to be with her as long as I can.’
This was his desperate struggle in its own way.
A way to keep her tied to this mansion just a little longer.
“Haa…”
Sighing softly, he picked up Creating a Happy Marriage That Satisfies Your Wife.
As he flipped it open, a line caught his eye:
[19. Let your wife do what she likes. The more satisfied she is, the less likely she will divorce you.]
Then, suddenly, he reached for You Get Rejected Every Day, But You Can Do It! 999 Confession Methods.
‘There was a similar phrase in here…’
He flipped through to page 77.
[Find an opportunity to do an activity your crush likes. If you’re close enough to contact her, use it as a chance to ask her out on a date.]
“That’s it.”
Damien closed the book and immediately began planning.
* * *
A few mornings later.
“Huh?”
I blinked at Damien’s unexpected words.
“Let’s go on a date.”
He gently grasped my hand and smiled softly.
“A horror date.”
