Chapter 16

The nightwear that Yuri wore was made of thin, fluttery material. On top of that, it was more revealing than what she wore last night. Her neck and collarbone were exposed, making the are below seem scarcely perceptible. Above all, with every step she took, the thin nightgown wrapped around her, faintly outlining her body even in the dark.

In that moment, Lakis felt like he had done something bad and unconsciously looked away.

'Wait, I'm feeling guilty? Over just this?'

He soon found his reaction pathetic and frowned.

Lakis' conscience was as hard as a diamond. It was to the extent that even though he had done all sorts of cruel things during his reign as the king of Carnot until now, he had never hesitated once.

But now, just because he stole a glance at a woman in her nightwear, he was feeling guilty? Isn't this why he couldn't say anything when that parasitic bug was making fun of him?

Lakis clenched his fists tensely.

Then, he repeated to himself that he only wanted to check what the landlady was doing and creakily turned to face forward again.

Yuri was currently in the kitchen, pouring water into a cup. Then as she retraced her steps, she suddenly stretched her hand towards to living room.

"…?"

—Huh? I think I felt something strange just now?

Lakis saw something sparkly ooze from Yuri's fingertips. Wondering what it was, he narrowed his eyes but right then, his eyes met with Yuri's.

She looked surprised.

But her reaction seemed to be because she had simply forgotten that Lakis was there and the following actions she took were very natural. Because of that, he wasn't very sure whether she was hiding something or not. So for now, Lakis acted like he hadn't seen anything some minutes ago.

After that, a brief conversation ensued.

—Uwaaa, I really can't adapt to you talking like that. Ugh, I have the chills! Look at my goosebumps!!

'Shut up, you ****.

–

After a while, Yuri came out with changes clothes. She went into the kitchen and began to diligently prepare breakfast. Actually, Yuri wasn't the type to normally have breakfast at home.

Although she usually strove to eat thrice a day, she tended to only make easy dishes at home and other meals were solved by buying food outside. Yesterday, she kind of threw Lakis some bread but when she thought about it, she realized it wasn't exactly suitable for a patient. Because of that, today, she was thinking of making soup with minced vegetables.

'Even a patient as injured as Lakis should be able to eat something like this with ease.'

Yuri's thinking was on the right track but if the patient she was nursing was not the abnormally resilient Lakis but an ordinary human, it would be a must to consider the opinion of a professional first. That is, if she didn't want to clear a dead body from her house.

In any case, Yuri began to cook with ordinary common sense completely removed from her mind. She already knew how to cook it because she had made this food many times in the past.

However, there was one minor problem.

'Come to think of it, I've always used my thread when I'm adding salt.'

Strangely enough, her coffee tasted better when she made it by hand, but other dishes were the opposite.

She was conscious of Lakis' presence in the living room, so she was tense the entire time she was cooking, especially because she always used her thread to add salt.

'Was it something like this?'

Yuri picked up the salt shaker, thought hard, then she moved her hand. She gave the object in her hand a light shake over the boiling pot.

Sprinkle!

White salt from the shaker poured into the pot like snow.

'Is that too much? Mmm, I think I should do it one more time.'

Fwoosh!

She tried once more but perhaps she used a little too much strength because a large amount of salt, much more than she expected, dropped into the pot.

'…it's for two people so it should be okay.'

Yuri rationalized it like that.

Now that she thought about it, this was the first time she was making food and even preparing to eat with someone in this lifetime. She suddenly felt a little strange but seeing as a burnt smell began to emerge from the pot while she was absent-minded, she couldn't stay on that thought for long.

* * *

"…"

Sometime later, something unknown was placed in front of Lakis.

—Lakis, you're not going to eat this, are you…? Even though it looks suspicious as f***?

Like the bug in his head said, this food didn't seem like the sort that would go down easily.

"It's chicken cabbage soup."

—Lies!

The bug screamed like it couldn't believe Yuri's words.

Lakis was thinking the same thing but he tried to relax his stiffened mouth and picked up the spoon next to the plate.

—La-Lakis? Wait, wait, re-think this! Don't eat that, it might kill you!

'I thought I told you not to bark for no reason? It makes my ears sore.'

Lakis coldly bellowed at the noisy, agitated voice in his head.

'Don't you know I won't die even if I take poison? Just shut up.'

Then he scooped a spoonful of the thick, viscous liquid in the bowl and boldly put it in his mouth. Immediately after, Lakis froze in place. He instantly broke out in cold sweat.

—Ack! Was this made in a saltfarm?! F***! And it tastes so godd*mn strange! Ptoeey!

The bug let out a string of profanities in his head. It shares senses with Lakis, so it sympathized with him.

With Lakis' personality, if it was someone else who gave this to him, he would have tossed the spoon and bowl right away and kicked the person flying. And if he was uninjured, he would have even burnt the place to the ground altogether.

However, the moment he realized that Yuri was quietly staring at his face, Lakis managed to successfully hold back his mind from almost flying to Carnot.

But seeing the expression that momentarily flashed over Lakis' face, Yuri quickly realized the condition of the breakfast she made.

'Hmm, looks like it doesn't taste good. I guess I'll just go out and buy something to eat.'

Yuri pushed her share of soup to Lakis. No wonder the smell wasn't great; her cooking was a failure this time.

"Please, have as much as you want, Mr. Lakis. You have to eat well so you can get better quickly."

It seemed like she said this because she was concerned about Lakis' health but in actuality, she was trying out a plan to get rid of her ruined dish. Considering the identity of the man in front of her, it was a huge antic to pull but because Lakis' attitude was considerably mild for some reason in reality, she just tried it.

—Flip it! Flip it over, Lakis!

The voice rampaged loudly in Lakis' head.

Well, it made sense for it to kick up a fuss. With the way the food tasted, you were more likely to get sick after eating it rather than getting well. Of course, there was no reason for Lakis to force himself to eat this sort of thing. He was the notorious king of Carnot who would never let anyone that got on his nerves go, no matter who it was.

Lakis gripped the spoon tight, as if he would snap it in half at any moment. His cool blue eyes left the plate put in front of him and lifted to gaze at the woman sitting opposite him.

* * *

—You venomous bastard…

A good while later, the bug who shared senses with Lakis was crying bitterly as it had felt the terrible taste of the soup in its totality.

—You're seriously the worst person I've ever known. Sob…

Lakis was no better, as he was clearly weaker than before and lying down listlessly. He had eventually emptied the bowls of soup, Yuri's included, and was currently gulping down volumes of water to wash out the terrible taste left in his mouth.

Why did he do that?

The moment he came face to face with the red eyes staring at him, he was unable to say 'get this trash out of my sight' like he usually would.

Lakis buried himself in the sofa, his stomach feeling more uneasy than it did before he even ate. His face looked very pale as he leaned on the cushion. Lakis Avalon, the ferocious and cruel king of Carnot, whose name alone made people hide in fear, was nowhere to be found.

Even Yuri stopped on her way out when she saw Lakis like this after getting ready for work.

"Mr. Lakis, somehow you look worse than you did earlier. Would you like some medicine?"

Since it didn't cross her mind that it might be because of her cooking, Yuri merely brought painkillers and fever reducers to him.

Of course, what Lakis needed the most right now was digestive medicine.

"I have plans this evening, so I'll be late but…I'll try to come back as soon as possible. Get some rest."

However, Lakis was unable to say what he really needed, and could only see Yuri off to work from his spot on the sofa.

…But as expected, he really needed some digestive medicine.

After the door closed, Lakis feebly stretched out and began to fumble through the box of medicine on the table.