Jeong Taeui tried to call out the man’s name, but his tongue felt heavy, and he couldn’t say anything. At that moment, he realized that when one faces an unexpected situation with no warning, their words and thoughts freeze.

While conversing with Richard, he appeared as calm as ever with his usual serene smile. However, there was a slightly ambiguous expression on his face. Yet, as he glanced forward and passed by him, all the expressions on his face vanished, and he looked at Jeong Taeui with a blank expression, as if he had just seen something that shouldn’t be there.

“Umm…”

Still in a daze, Jeong Taeui tried to say something, but no words came out; only his lips quivered slightly.

At that moment, Richard, standing between the man and Jeong Taeui, spoke up.

“Oh, he’s a guest of Christoph’s. Or should I say Christina’s?”

Richard’s words brought Jeong Taeui back to reality, and he looked at Richard, who was smiling gently at him, with a puzzled look. Then, a deep, warm voice spoke again.

“Has he been treating you well?”

Only then did Jeong Taeui begin to regain his senses.

Indeed, this man had a noble character. While everyone believed Jeong Taeui was on Christoph’s side – and surely this man thought so too – he remained polite and respectful towards him.

However, that was not the issue at the moment.

“………”

What is this?

What’s going on here?

Why is this man here?

It felt as though he was possessed; Jeong Taeui felt his life was plummeting into an abyss. His spine shivered momentarily.

Noticing his odd silence, Richard raised an eyebrow and smiled curiously. Seeing this, Jeong Taeui quickly responded.

“Oh, yes, thanks to you…”

Am I just seeing things? Maybe because I’ve overworked myself today, I’m hallucinating. There’s no way that man could be here. And dressed so elegantly like a wealthy businessman too.

Jeong Taeui rubbed his temples and pressed a few times on his tired eyelids, hoping his vision would return to normal.

“When I came back, he was apparently riding a horse.”

“Oh, right… it seems he wanted to take a walk in the forest.”

Jeong Taeui replied absentmindedly and glanced at Richard. That masculine, handsome face was smiling kindly. Should he call this luck? It seems his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him due to fatigue after all.

Jeong Taeui slowly looked away and then naturally directed his gaze over Richard’s shoulder.

The man was still looking at him.

Their eyes met once more.

His gaze was cold. The vague, slightly surprised look from earlier had vanished. All that remained was an indifferent, icy stare, like he was looking at a stone by the roadside. Jeong Taeui’s spine felt cold, but not in the same way as before.

Even if Jeong Taeui didn’t know him, the icy chill spread through his entire body.

It was an unfeeling gaze that didn’t regard anyone as human.

Jeong Taeui’s eyelids trembled slightly, but he couldn’t help but stare back. It was as if he was drawn to those eyes and couldn’t look away.

Seeing Jeong Taeui’s unwavering gaze over his shoulder, Richard also turned around. He soon noticed that the man was also looking at Jeong Taeui, so he stepped aside and smiled, introducing him.

“This guest is here to see Christoph. We met a few times after coincidentally bumping into each other at the front door, but we’ve never had a proper conversation… Well… So, what is your name?”

Only at that moment did Richard ask for Jeong Taeui’s name. He stood there, looking at Richard, and then opened his mouth to speak.

“Oh, my name is Jeong…”

“A guest of Christoph, huh. Isn’t that a bit too ordinary for such a title? Because it’s so ordinary, it seems even more strange.”

At that moment, just as Jeong Taeui was about to say his name, the man standing behind Richard slowly stepped closer and interrupted.

He took one step, then another. Close enough that he could easily reach out and grab him.

The man slowly raised his hand. The thin, dark navy blue leather glove inched closer to Jeong Taeui’s chin. It had been a long time since he had seen those hands in gloves.

Just before that hand touched Jeong Taeui’s chin, Richard’s voice came from behind.

“Rick. Stop. He is Christoph’s guest.”

“Stop? What a strange thing to say. It’s as if I was going to do something harmful to this person.”

The man sneered and spoke.

‘No, that wasn’t strange at all. If I knew a little less about you, I’d probably have to check when those hands would twist my neck.’ – Jeong Taeui thought to himself.

Immediately after, the hand grasped his chin. The cold touch of the gloves made Jeong Taeui shiver.

“I didn’t know Christoph had such acquaintances.”

The man said, chuckling softly.

Jeong Taeui easily understood the deeper meaning behind his words, exactly: ‘How do you know Christoph?’

“Because Chris borrowed some books that someone I know values greatly, I just came to retrieve them… I don’t think it’s worth being stared at like this.”

Jeong Taeui responded to him in a vague tone, not too rude but not overly friendly either. He just prayed that his face wouldn’t turn pale and betray him.

‘Ya…… are you trying to kill someone with your eyes?’ – Jeong Taeui wanted to scream in his mind.

‘No, anyway, while he was not at home, I happily went out and got caught.’

Jeong Taeui now just wanted to collapse and bury his face in the ground. But he stood there, facing him. Even if he wanted to hide it with an awkward smile, it was hard to conceal his true feelings in front of this man.

Suddenly, the hand that held his chin gently caressed Jeong Taeui’s lips. His thumb slowly traced his lower lip as if trying to poke inside but quickly pulled away.

“Is that so…….. After finishing this task, I was thinking about whether to return to Korea or start looking for you.”

He whispered. Very softly. Those words were like a gentle breeze.

If it weren’t for all of Jeong Taeui’s senses being on high alert, he wouldn’t have heard the faint voice brushing past his ears.

But before he could understand those words, he stepped back. Jeong Taeui just looked up at him with a blank stare. His cold eyes seemed to flash a smile as he tilted his head to look down at him.

It was clearly the smile of a cat that had caught a mouse in its paws.

“All right….. Good. Let’s introduce ourselves slowly later.”

The man said, turning to Richard, and continued walking in the direction they were heading.

“What’s the matter, are you concerned about others now?”

Richard joked, as if seeing through everything. He seemed to have something else to say, but Richard just gave Jeong Taeui a look that said they could talk next time and followed the man.

Before going up the stairs again, he left Jeong Taeui a knowing smile just before turning away.

Jeong Taeui stood there, dumbfounded, watching their backs until they disappeared around the landing.

**************

Even after returning to his room, changing clothes, and stepping out again, Jeong Taeui could only move like a lifeless doll, his head foggy, unable to think.

If dreaming while awake was possible, it would probably feel like this.

His mind was in turmoil, unexpectedly facing someone he never imagined and with no warning. Though he could hear sounds and feel his body’s temperature, after a moment of thought, it still felt like a surreal dream.

“…… Could it be that I’ll wake up and find I’m really dreaming? Today, both my body and brain were exhausted, so I dozed off while standing…”

Jeong Taeui kept running his fingers through his still damp hair, muttering to himself.

Then suddenly, he stood silent and dumbfounded in the large room, burying his fingers in his hair.

Jeong Taeui quietly proposed a hypothesis.

He had really had a dream.

In other words, that man wasn’t Ilay.

“….So where is he now?”

Before his brain could process the exact answer, his mouth blurted out another question. Hearing his own voice, his mind went blank.

At that moment, it was as if he heard a hallucination. A comforting and reliable voice whispered past his ear.

“Don’t worry too much, Taei. Ilay wouldn’t be foolish enough to think you’ve run away from him.”

“……., ……..”

He thought those were comforting words. He thought Kyle felt sorry and was trying to comfort him. But upon reflection, were those words really comforting?

“He will never think you would run away from him…”

“….… He won’t think that way… “

As those words echoed again, Jeong Taeui realized. Those words weren’t said out of guilt or for comfort. They were merely a forewarning, a sign of his current reality.

“Ha……. Indeed, in this real world, no one is on my side.”

Jeong Taeui buried his face in the table, a sense of betrayal and bitterness rising. His resentment towards Kyle surged.

Of course, perhaps he didn’t intend to deceive him. Nor did he mean to trick him.

He didn’t know why Ilay was here, but if it wasn’t a secret that couldn’t be revealed to the outside world, he would have told him the truth.

Anyway, he would find out soon enough. Perhaps Kyle truly thought lightly of it.

He had subtly hinted to avoid Jeong Taeui’s shock when unexpectedly meeting him here, but Jeong Taeui didn’t realize the deeper meaning of Kyle’s words.

“No….. even so, this is very infuriating.”

This time, he really wanted to cry out loud. Jeong Taeui buried his face in his arms on the table. Tears seemed to well up.

*Sniffle, Sniffle*

Jeong Taeui silently sniffled and whimpered, then suddenly fell silent.

“……. So… I shouldn’t act familiar?”

Jeong Taeui raised his head as an idea suddenly struck him. He stared blankly out the window for a moment, then stood up. His mind was a tangled mess and aching as if hit hard on the back of his head. But he was very hungry. After all, he had worked hard all afternoon. The work was still there.

“You need food to uphold your principles. First eat and then think about it while working…”

Jeong Taeui left the room, rubbing his temples.

Just taking a step made him feel drained of all energy. Suddenly, he felt even more exhausted. “Haizz” – Jeong Taeui sighed and massaged his neck and shoulders.

He slowly descended the stairs, planning to go down another floor to the dining room, but when he saw the library door still open, he automatically walked towards it. Through the slightly open door, he saw a familiar but unpleasant face.

Christoph was standing in the middle of the room.

He was standing with his arms crossed, looking at the bookshelves.

“What, still not done yet. Why….”

“Why didn’t you tell me he was here?”

Jeong Taeui ignored Christoph’s words and glared at him. Christoph responded to his glare with a face that seemed to ask if he had eaten something wrong.

“Who is he?”

At that moment, Jeong Taeui’s brain suddenly woke up. The harsh reality of the situation hit him hard, and he couldn’t hold back his loud outburst.

“Ilay! Ilay Riegrow! I saw him earlier! In this very house! On those stairs!”

Jeong Taeui shouted as if he had seen a ghost, his face pale as if he really had. Every time he recalled that moment, his face turned white.

Christoph’s eyes widened seeing Jeong Taeui suddenly jump up. He didn’t know what he had eaten, but it seemed there were times when he would explode like this. That was the face.

“……You didn’t know?”

After a moment of silence, Christoph asked back. Jeong Taeui felt like collapsing on the spot.

Though he felt he had returned to reality, he still hoped it hadn’t really happened. Even though his mind arranged a logical cause and effect due to this situation.

He had hoped he was just dreaming of him. He had hoped Christoph would tell him that occasionally Rick’s ghost would appear and haunt this house. He had a faint hope like that.

Jeong Taeui plopped down on the floor, resting his chin and zoning out. Christoph looked down at him indifferently, as usual, then pulled a chair over and sat down.

“He’s been here for two months now.”

“…..…..”

“I thought you followed him to retrieve the books. Didn’t you really know?”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t have come!”

‘I wouldn’t have come even if I were beaten to death!’