/
“……”
As soon as she opened the door, Lelia realized why Romeo told her not to meet them.
Both of them had terrible faces.
At the same time, the two who came to Lelia stood staring at each other at the door.
Lelia noticed their faces and wounds.
“Don’t tell me you two fought?”
“No.”
“… No.”
The two answered almost at the same time. Lelia felt skeptical about it.
“Then how did you get scars on your faces?”
“It’s… Romeo, that son of a bitch…”
When Griffith muttered the response as an excuse, Lelia’s forehead crumpled.
Romeo did that? Romeo?
[It can be Kalix, but Romeo can’t do that…]
In any case, Lelia looked at Griffith and urged.
“What’s the point of not healing quickly?”
It broke her heart to see that her friends’ faces were not in good condition.
[Griffith can use his healing powers to his heart’s content, but why did he come with that scar?]
While wondering, the wounds on Griffith’s face slowly began to disappear.
Lelia had, after all, given Griffith a hint she wanted him to heal quickly.
Oscar scoffed at Griffith like that.
“……”
Griffith also healed Oscar’s face with an angry expression.
Then they just stared at each other without saying a word.
They didn’t even know why the other came here.
Lelia was so tired that she kicked the two out.
***
“Hey, you…”
Romeo, who was waiting for Oscar in his room, frowned as soon as Oscar came in.
“You’re supposed to heal naturally! No, did Griffith heal you then?”
“……”
“I’m sure Lelia made you do it. How long has it been since you promised?”
“… Get out.”
Oscar replied irritably, but Romeo clicked his tongue and changed the subject.
“You and I have to go somewhere.”
Oscar, of course, didn’t even pretend to listen. Romeo squinted for a moment and opened his mouth.
“It’s the captain’s request. It’s a special request for you and me. You still want to ignore it?”
“……”
Only then did Oscar turn to Romeo.
What did he mean, Lelia’s request?
Why is Romeo saying that?
Oscar glared coldly at Romeo with a crooked expression.
Anyway, there was yet another thing that was getting in the way.
When he was young, it was not bad for Leo and his other friends to be together.
There were times when he felt confident that he had other friends besides Leo.
But not now.
Their presence was nothing but a burden in his plan.
He had to shake these guys off before the plan was ready.
And more importantly, with Lelia’s permission…
“… What do you want?”
To achieve that, Oscar couldn’t resist Lelia’s words right away.
When Oscar’s response was more gentle than expected, Romeo grinned and opened his mouth.
“Visiting the western part of this estate. I’ve got something to look into. Let’s get going as soon as the day breaks.”
“……”
Oscar nodded as if to say he understood, now get out of here. Romeo hummed out of the room, as if he was satisfied getting his way.
Walking through the wide corridors and hallways, Romeo looked up at the darkened sky.
One corner of his mouth crept up.
It wasn’t Lelia’s choice to take Oscar to the West; it was his choice.
He had to leave Lelia for a while, but he was anxious to leave Oscar behind.
In fact, the most dangerous person is actually Griffith, but he was still basically a rational fellow.
He’s not the one who’s gonna do anything to Lelia in that short period of time.
At best, he will flirt to get closer.
[He’s got a good eye, so he’s gonna stick to the line for a while.]
But that wasn’t applicable to Oscar.
Oscar was a good-for-nothing guy when his eyes were wide open. Especially when it comes to Leo.
***
Late at night, she was lightly asleep.
Lelia pulled up the blanket from a sudden chill in the air.
Then she felt something was wrong and opened her eyes.
“What a surprise!”
When she opened her eyes, she saw Oscar standing by the bed and looking down at her.
Oscar didn’t budge while Lelia sat up in fright.
He had a hard face like a doll made of clay.
However, his eyes looked very angry. It seemed dangerous to see that his focus was blurry.
“What’s going on? In the middle of the night…”
Lelia came down from the bed and looked at him while putting on a thick robe.
She was pretending to be as calm as she could, but in fact, her heart was beating like crazy as if she had seen a ghost.
She knew very well that Oscar with those eyes was extremely dangerous.
He had been well-behaved for a while, so she didn’t know why he suddenly became like that. She was sure he was okay a while ago…
“Are you doing this on purpose?”
“What?”
When she answered without knowing what was going on, Oscar’s eyes burned even more.
He took a step closer. Lelia instinctively flinched.
Oscar’s forehead wrinkled from her frightened appearance.
Unlike his eyes, he raised his hand carefully and slowly, and grabbed one of her shoulders.
But her shoulders stiffened, rather than relaxed.
“Why should I hear your request through Romeo?”
“… What do you mean?”
“Do you want me to go to the West?”
“……”
Lelia closed her eyes tightly.
[Oh, Romeo…!]
Earlier, Romeo’s story passed through her mind.
“Don’t worry, I’m going to take at least one person with me as my escort.”
That was Oscar?
[No, why of all…]
What the hell did he say that Oscar came over like this?
If he had told her beforehand, Lelia would have told Oscar herself…
“Do you want to send me that far? Really?”
As he watched Lelia’s expression change, Oscar asked in a cold tone.
It was a voice that seemed to be in pain and hurt.
“Well, it’s not like that.”
“……”
His hand on her shoulder slowly approached Lelia’s cheek.
The back of his hand was cool and gently swept past Lelia’s cheek. The icy touch gave her goosebumps.
“You don’t know…”
“……”
“How much I’m holding back.”
When she looked up at Oscar, she saw his face hardened. She didn’t feel good.
Oscar’s red pupils often looked dangerous like a man who lost his reason. It felt like they were going to explode right away.
But Lelia knew. The truth is that there’s anxiety, nervousness, and a terrible emptiness in those eyes.
She couldn’t turn a blind eye to Oscar. But she didn’t have the confidence to fully accept that.
Although Lelia knew she was cowardly, she bowed her head to avoid his eyes.
She thought for a while trying to think of how to say it.
Your ‘likeability’ is reduced by the ‘unknown’ person. Σ੧(❛□❛✿)!!!
The gap between Lelia’s eyebrows narrowed at the sudden screen.
[I don’t know how to be likable?]
Are you sure you want to force the likeability of the ‘Unknown Person’? (•ᴗ••))و  (Some game screens may be exposed to the opponent)
In that message that followed, Lelia hurriedly shouted ‘No!’ inside.
Some game screens could be exposed? That was never going to happen.
Then another message appeared.
Identify the ‘unlikeable person’. This measurement may be inaccurate.
Soon after, a red gauge was displayed like a scan, and a familiar message window was displayed.
Beep beep!
Mission! *•̀ᴗ•́*Hug the other person right now to calm the “unknown person” down.Hug the other person right now to calm the “unknown person” down.System timeout: 1 minute 58 seconds
Lelia looked up at Oscar as soon as she read the message.
He was still staring at Lelia with empty eyes.
[The time limit is…]
Unlike the last mission with Kalix, this was very short.
[Is this a mission to clear the recipe? ]
[But how can I get a recipe when I can’t check the likeability?]
In fact, the last time she saw them in the capital city, she couldn’t measure the favorability of all three of them except for Kalix.
Perhaps their own powers were blocking the intervention of the game system.
Many thoughts got mixed up in her head.
In the meantime, time had been steadily reduced.
Lelia stretched her clenched hand.
It’s embarrassing to hug him all of a sudden, but when she was young, she hugged Oscar all the time, so she decided to try with her eyes closed.
This is all because Oscar was now so different from when he was a child.
“……”
As Lelia hesitated and flinched, Oscar looked down at her with a frown.
Oscar was angry at Lelia for treating him like nothing. All sorts of negative emotions surged through him.
Regardless of Lelia’s desire, he wanted to drag her back home.
And keep her in a safe place where only he can see her for the rest of her life. Then he will never fall again.
–  Yeah, just do it. Who cares?
A damp, dark voice persuaded him in his head. Lelia felt dizzy because she felt like he was going to eat her up.
It was at that moment.
Pale and slender arms wrapped around Oscar’s waist.
The stronger you hug, the higher the other person’s sedation and satisfaction level. (⊃｡•́‿•̀｡)⊃
*(Hug harder! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ✧)*
Lelia closed her eyes tightly, thinking, ‘I don’t know.’
Then she tightened her arms and hugged Oscar’s waist even harder. She could feel his heartbeat all over his body.