You! Don’t Press that Button! - Chap 54

After the social gathering, new employees joined the duke’s household. Karhan carefully examined the documents detailing their personal information. This time, about twenty knights and servants were recruited. Perhaps due to the end of a major event, there were notably many recommendation letters from other noble houses.

As he flipped through the papers containing both officially submitted and unofficially obtained information, he paused. On a white sheet was Doel’s portrait and detailed information.

Doel, who had briefly left after settling matters in the Sabon region, recently returned to the Barthes duchy in secret after finishing his personal business. Karhan extended the offer he had been holding in his heart since Doel’s departure.

‘How about working officially under me?’

At Karhan’s proposal, Doel’s eyes widened as if he hadn’t expected it. After pondering for a moment, he raised one hand and scratched his cheek.

‘Would someone like me be suitable?’

To become a private soldier for a noble family, especially a knight for a duke’s household, required rigorous screening. The criteria for selection were based on the person’s qualities and accumulated experience. In other words, it was a position difficult to aspire to with Doel’s ordinary background.

Sensing what he meant by the question, Karhan nodded slightly. Though their time together had been brief, Doel’s character and abilities that he had observed were sufficient. Doel stood quietly for a moment, making a thoughtful sound, before gently raising the corners of his mouth.

‘I’m not sure if I’ll be of help, but I’ll do my best to serve you.’

Karhan closed his eyes after reading through Doel’s personal information and evaluation sheet, recalling past events. He took a deep breath, leaned his head back in the chair, and listened attentively to the happenings in the mansion.

When he wanted to rest for a moment, focusing on sounds like this often helped him find peace of mind. Lately, observing Seol’s activities had become especially enjoyable. Whether it was the sound of peaceful breathing while deeply asleep or the pitter-patter of jumping feet, it brought comfort to his mind.

Imagining Seol playing enthusiastically alone brought an involuntary smile to his face. It seemed that out of boredom, Seol tried various things but often ended up rolling around on the bed, quickly tiring out.

At this hour, would Seol be taking a nap? Or perhaps reading a book? As he imagined various scenarios and listened carefully, the sound his keen senses picked up was different from usual.

Seol was tiptoeing in a completely different direction from the usual places. Furrowing his brow with some concern, he wondered if the wings were well-hidden. Judging by the direction and distance, it seemed Seol was heading towards the training ground.

The one who rarely moved about must have been very bored. He curled his lips into a deflated smile. As he closed his eyes and concentrated on the situation, suddenly another set of footsteps overlapped, and he heard Seol’s scream. Just as he was about to jump up and rush over, he heard the sound of conversation with someone.

“Ah.”

It was Doel’s voice. Though Seol was speaking in a whining tone, it didn’t seem like any danger. Karhan looked down at the desk that had been disturbed by his sudden movement.

He hadn’t separately told Seol about Doel’s arrival. There hadn’t been much opportunity to bring it up, and he didn’t think it particularly necessary. He had planned to mention it when he had time later, but they had met first. He wondered if Seol would feel a bit disappointed for not being told.

As the distance increased, making it difficult to hear the detailed conversation, he stopped concentrating. He checked Doel’s resume once more, which was still in his hand, before setting it down. Since it was still daytime and he had some time, he thought he should go take a look. He picked up the jacket draped over the chair and left the office.

With somewhat hurried steps, he passed through the corridor towards the training ground. As he took one step, then another with long strides, he could hear the sound of people moving about actively. He quickly shifted his gaze towards where Seol might be.

Seol was standing on tiptoes, opening and closing his mouth to receive cookies that Doel was feeding him. As Doel’s hand gradually rose to tease him, Seol stretched his neck and even started jumping. The sight of him opening his small mouth wide to catch the cookies and then playfully punching with his cotton-soft fists was truly adorable.

After munching a few more times like this, Seol looked at Doel with wide eyes and smiled. Doel, looking back at Seol, smiled gently with his eyes curving slightly.

Doel reached out his hand and stroked Seol’s hair. The silver-white hair flowed between Doel’s fingers. The hand that was stroking his hair slowly moved down, brushing Seol’s eyes and touching his cheek. The sight of him lightly pinching in a playful manner looked incredibly affectionate.

After watching quietly for a while, he took a step forward. As he approached, deliberately making his footsteps audible, Doel, who had been looking at Seol, turned his head.

“Your Grace, Duke.”

For some reason, he didn’t like the face that was looking at him with a light smile.

🐤

While chatting with Doel, Karhan had come close behind us. Doel, who noticed first, greeted him, but Karhan just stood there quietly with his eyebrows slightly furrowed.

What’s this? Why isn’t he returning the greeting? It’s making things awkward. Wondering if something had upset him, I cautiously called out to Karhan while observing his mood.

“Karhan?”

His gaze, which had been focused on Doel’s face, finally turned to me. What’s wrong? I gently nudged him, and Karhan’s tightly pressed lips, which had been creating an awkward atmosphere, parted.

“What brings you outside today?”

“Huh? Oh, just… Thought I’d do a bit of exercise.”

Karhan seemed surprised that this homebody, or rather room-body, had come out of the room. While laziness was the main reason, in my defense, I had often been unwell, and I was told to be careful about my wings getting caught, so I was being cautious in my own way. Feeling a bit awkward, I scratched my head.

“Want me to help you exercise?”

Doel asked, his eyes wide. Help me? Certainly, having someone to exercise with would probably make it easier to keep at it consistently than doing it alone.

I narrowed my eyes and examined Doel’s body. He was wearing something like light armor, so I couldn’t see in detail, but his broad shoulders and finely toned arm muscles caught my eye.

I raised my hand and stroked my chin. It was a body type popular with people. If I learned to exercise from Doel, could I get such a nice physique? Like getting personal training…

“Alright! Then Doel—”

“Sir Doel has become an official knight.”

“Huh?”

Just as I had made up my mind, Karhan interrupted me. As I met his silver-gray eyes, he paused briefly before speaking again.

“A knight of the Barthes duchy doesn’t have much time to leisurely help others with their exercise. Isn’t that right, Sir Doel.”

Somehow, Karhan’s words seemed to have a sharp edge to them. Wondering if I was misreading the situation, I slyly glanced at Doel, only to find that he seemed no different from me, the corners of his mouth trembling slightly.

Why has Karhan been like this since earlier? What could have upset him? I furrowed my brows slightly and thought deeply.

Doel and I were together, chatting, when Karhan suddenly arrived. After that, when Doel offered to help me exercise, Karhan’s mood seemed to hit rock bottom. This is… Ah! The answer flashed brightly in my mind. Right. Why didn’t I think of this before?

Sometimes I forget because it’s so three-dimensional, but this is inside a novel. There, the main love interest is Doel, and the protagonist is Karhan. They must be getting along well, and I’ve clearly gotten in between them. How could I be so oblivious? I quietly clicked my tongue inwardly.

While I felt a bit sad that my presence between these two was an interference, at the same time, a sense of pride welled up. When did they secretly become knight and master, huh? Doing such things without me knowing.

If they had told me, I would have made room for them earlier. I smacked my lips in regret. I can’t get between their lovey-dovey relationship. They need to get together for me to safely leave this world too. Even when I leave, if they exclude me like this and don’t give me a wedding invitation, I’ll be hurt. I nodded my head with a faint smile.

“I’ll exercise on my own! You two do well together!”

I clenched my fist and my eyes sparkled. As I looked back and forth between them, meeting their eyes in a show of support, both of them curved their eyebrows in the same way.

My, my, are their hearts already in sync? Are they surprised because I’ve seen through their relationship? I chuckled wickedly inside.

Pretending to be nonchalant, I was about to turn around coolly when Karhan reached out his hand.

“I’ll make time to help you exercise.”

Come on, you don’t have to go that far. His face looked like he would coldly cut through everything in the world, but he was surprisingly soft-hearted. Though I was grateful for his kind words considering me, I felt I should decline, so I shook my head gently.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. You’re busy with work, and you need to be with Doel, right!”

“No. I don’t have much to do these days.”

“Then you should use your time elsewhere even more. I can exercise on my own, so you two have fun together!”

Seemingly moved by my enthusiastic encouragement, Karhan’s lips pressed together. For some reason, I waved at his glistening silver-gray eyes. My brightly smiling face was reflected in those ashen eyes.

🐤

Karhan quickly stopped his teasing hand. Screech. The sharp pen nib scratched the thin paper surface. Looking at the ink spreading in a circle, Karhan sighed. He couldn’t concentrate on his official duties lately. A scene from his memory kept repeating in his mind. It wasn’t anything special. Just Doel feeding cookies to Seol.

Why? Why on earth? A slight furrow appeared between his brows. He unconsciously moved the hand holding the pen. Tap. Tap. A dull sound echoed through the office as the pen nib hit the table.

After doing this for a while, he blinked at the sound of someone knocking on the door. A bright gleam lit up his silver-gray eyes.

“Come in.”

Answering indifferently, he looked down at the document he had been writing and discovered numerous dots gathered together. Without hesitation, he reached out and crumpled the paper. Claude, who had entered the office, saw this and approached closer.

“Your Grace. Where shall we prepare the meal?”

“The dining room. And Seol?”

“As always, he went to the dining room today too.”

Whatever he was thinking, he had been bustling about on those small legs since before. Karhan smiled slightly, furrowing his brows, amused by the sight of the slender body diligently going to get food. He threw the crumpled paper in his hand into the trash bin as he stood up.

Until a few days ago, he had been taking his meals in the office, but with the idle thoughts floating around in his head, it became difficult to stay in one place. To clear his mind and spend time with Seol, he started showing up in the dining room at mealtimes. Since the time spent together had drastically decreased after the little chick took human form, this was quite nice in its own way.

He walked down the corridor with somewhat quick and large strides, arriving at the dining room. As the large doors opened, he saw Seol already holding a fork and knife in both hands, waiting for the meal. Seol turned his head at the sound of the door and waved his fork in greeting with a bright smile.

“Karhan!”

He called out the name, opening his small mouth wide. The gently curved eyes were pleasant to see. Karhan approached with big steps and sat down at the head of the table.

“It’s more delicious eating here after all, right?”

“Yes. It is more delicious.”

“Originally, eating at the restaurant is always tastier than delivery food.”

Though he didn’t know what delivery food was, he nodded as if he understood. It must have been the right answer, as Seol grinned broadly.