chapter 33
It wasn’t just that Merce had turned into a little snot-nosed brat—what made it even more unbearable was that, looking at him like this, he somehow resembled that damned prince from that fairy tale… and it was driving me insane.
“I told you, I was just trying to be her playmate…”
“Hey, you airheaded idiot. Didn’t you say Smoky was already looking into a babysitter her age? Why are you so desperate to play house yourself? Miss the days when you were a little pup? Want me to send you back there?”
Judging from how much he was ranting, he must’ve been seriously pissed.
Well, to be fair, the fact that he’d put up with it until now was already a miracle.
Merce dropped his smirking attitude and raised both hands in surrender.
“Sorry, calm down. Last night wasn’t part of my plan either. I was just going to play with her at the playground for a bit and then bring her back here. But—”
“But then, by chance, Katya Doja showed up there?”
“Yeah. And then—”
“And then this time Nina suddenly insisted on going to see me, so you all toddled over together like good little friends? Are you kidding me right now?”
Hearing it phrased like that made it sound completely nonsensical—but facts were facts.
He’d just… skipped over a few details.
“What’s so strange about it? Anyone could tell the little princess is unusually fond of the boss. I don’t know why, but still.”
“Probably because even a kid can see he’s handsome.”
Ravian snorted arrogantly.
Merce gave him a doubtful look.
“Then how come she barely reacts to me or the captain of the guard? Especially me—she seemed to like me more in my current form.”
“Kids have preferences too. You’re just the first peer she’s met here, so she’s being friendly.”
“…”
Silence fell for a moment.
Ravian glanced sidelong at the sulky Merce, then spoke in a slightly softer tone.
“Don’t let it get to you. You’ve got your own charms. And really, what’s the point of taking a kid’s words seriously?”
“…Don’t you usually think everyone’s words are meaningless?”
“They’re meaningless because meaningless people are the ones spouting nonsense.”
It was a very fitting attitude for the dethroned prince who’d been disowned by the ‘Magnanimous Emperor,’ but Merce didn’t bother pointing that out.
“The little princess isn’t exactly meaningless to us right now, is she? And yet you think she doesn’t matter? I think she’s pretty interesting.”
“The most interesting thing to me right now is your mental state, you idiot. Kids are like that—what’s so significant about it? You have any idea how perceptive they can be, even if they don’t look it? She’s just sticking to me because I look like the most powerful person here. Or she’s copying something she saw somewhere—”
“You really think that’s the only reason she likes you?”
At Merce’s unusually serious question, Ravian ground out his cigarette.
A cold sneer flashed in his absinthe-colored eyes.
“What else could it be? You think it’s because I’m her uncle or something?”
“You’ve lost your confidence. That’s not like you.”
“…”
Should I just kill this guy?
Sensing Ravian was seriously considering it, Merce quickly changed the subject.
“By the way, where’s Mira?”
“No idea. I told her to deal with the Gold bastards’ remains—she’s probably buried in that work, maybe even asleep in it.”
“Our Mira’s got too much of a fondness for corpses for her own good.”
“Give her a body to play with and a jar of caviar, and she’d be happy even in prison. Anyway, are you planning to stay looking like that from now on?”
“Think about it from a business perspective. If I’m her playmate, it’s easier to keep an eye on the little princess, isn’t it?”
It was a fairly reasonable argument, but Ravian still looked like he’d bitten into something sour.
It wasn’t just that Merce’s bratty appearance annoyed him.
He’d long since noticed that Nina wasn’t just a cheeky, clever child—she was hiding some complicated scheme.
If Merce approached her as a peer, it would be easier to figure out what that tiny creature was keeping secret.
Logically speaking, it was a pretty effective tactic.
And yet, Ravian didn’t like the situation.
Didn’t like it at all. It irritated him, riled him up.
And the fact that he couldn’t figure out why he felt this way only made him more irritated.
“Business, my ass… Is she still asleep?”
“Yeah. She seemed really tired. Want to check on her?”
“Why would I? …Hey, did you try to dig anything out of her about Sally?”
At the sudden question, Merce almost laughed.
“No.”
“What the hell? Then why the hell are you blabbering about business?”
The Sally matter had nothing to do with business, but Merce didn’t point that out.
“We’ve barely met—when would I bring that up? If it’s bothering you so much, why don’t you find out?”
“I don’t have time to fuss over crap like that!”
Ravian’s sudden outburst was the definition of cognitive dissonance.
Crash!
Just then, a loud thud echoed from the hallway.
Followed by Smoky’s groggy, bewildered voice.
“Whoa—scared me. Boss…? Where are you?”
“…”
While Merce gave a wry smile, Ravian lit a fresh cigarette with a headache-ridden expression.
“That’s weird, I could’ve sworn I heard his voice… Boss? Boss? Bo—ss?”
Smoky kept calling anxiously for a while—then suddenly went quiet.
And in the next moment—
“…Is it here?!”
The smoking room door burst open, and in stumbled Smoky, looking like a walking corpse.
Both men inside flinched in unison.
His already-unpleasant face was now swollen a deep purplish-black—it was pure horror.
A normal person would probably lose a few nights’ sleep after seeing him.
“Holy shit, you lunatic, are you trying to kill someone first thing in the morning?”
“B-Boss? You were here the whole time—why didn’t you—”
“Why? Because just looking at your rude mug gives me the creeps, that’s why.”
“Why are you attacking me personally first thing in the morning?!”
In response to Smoky’s protest, Ravian silently pointed toward the mirror on the wall.
Realizing his own appearance, Smoky let out a scream.
“Gyaaah! What the hell?!”
“My words exactly. So? What the hell were you and Kiss doing instead of the jobs you were given?”
“I-I… don’t really remember…”
“Want me to jog your memory?”
As Ravian cracked his knuckles, Smoky hurried to recall the events of last night.
“Th-the babysitter search you told me to do! It’s all because of that bastard Kiss!”
“What?”
“I worked my ass off going around looking, but that jerk kept butting in! ‘This one won’t work,’ ‘That one’s no good,’ ‘This guy’ll be a bad influence on the baby’—blah blah blah! I mean, seriously—unbelievable!”
“…”
“He acts like he’s some authority on anything related to the baby! I can’t believe—anyway, Boss, if you couldn’t wait and called someone over already, what was the point of moving here?”
Ravian stared at Smoky like he was speaking utter nonsense.
“What the hell are you talking about? I didn’t call anyone…”
“I just got word from the lobby—Lady Harrington’s here to see you. She’s waiting, asked for confirmation.”
“…Who?”
“Lady Jenny.”
“Oh.”
Ravian’s expression twisted with clear annoyance.
Smoky swallowed down a surge of frustration.
He could not, for the life of him, understand what women saw in this man.
“I never contacted her. How the hell did she even find out we’re here…? Dammit, whose big mouth is it this time?!”
“Does it matter whose mouth?”
