The Blackened Second Male Lead’s Wife - Chapter 11

“Lady Pernia, are you all right?”

The moment I heard Lucian’s voice over the door, my heart skipped a little.

Do I want to do that for someone who you don’t know when they’ll kill you?

Without noticing, my body reacted resentfully.

Once again, Lucian’s voice came in.

“Lady Pernia, if you don’t mind, may I come in for a moment?”

I answered quickly.

“No.”

“……..”

I quickly added, thinking I’d look too arrogant.

“I’m a mess right now.”

I wasn’t lying.

Of course, it wasn’t as shabby as when Anne was away from the mansion. But my appearance didn’t look great after being stuck in my room for a few days.

“I gave you a good reason, so please go back.”

I desperately hoped. But he said something unexpected.

“Then I’ll go in with my eyes covered.”

“What?”

He continued in a small voice as I widened my eyes in shock.

“Can’t I?”

No. You can’t.

So please leave.

Don’t mess with this poor villainous extra.

But the words didn’t come out of my mouth.

The voice I just heard was so pitiful. He’ll look like a dog abandoned by his owner.

I was forced to nod my head.

“….All right. Come on in.”

“Thank you, Lady Pernia.”

This man, now’s not the time to say thank you.

It’s so nice to see him.

No, you should not let your guard down.

He goes insane when Estelle is involved.

*creak*

Slowly, the door opened, and I could hear the sound of his shoes.

Listening to the sound, I had all sorts of thoughts.

Let’s just say I have amnesia right now. I don’t know anything about Estelle and Lucian.

What are you going to do if he persists?

As soon as he comes here, if I yell, “Oh! All of a sudden, my head is throbbing!” And if I roll, it might work a little bit.

But the moment I saw him approaching the bedside, I had erased all the silly thoughts that came to my mind.

Because he was holding a big bouquet.

There were hundreds of vivid purple pansy flowers.

“Lady Pernia, long time no see.”

Unable to take my eyes off the bouquet, I slowly looked up at him.

He was covering his eyes with a white handkerchief.

I blinked at the sight.

“Did you really come in with your eyes covered?”

“I promised,” he said and extended his bouquet to me.

There was a sweet smell of flowers from the bouquet in front of my face.

“It’s a get well soon gift.”

I looked at hundreds of pansy flowers and took the bouquet from him. As soon as I grabbed the flowers, I stumbled. It was really heavy.

“It’s too much to give a fake illness patient.”

“Fake illness is also an illness. I was very worried.”

Those words made my face feverish.

I said, burying my red-hot face in the bouquet of flowers.

“You really can’t see me now?”

“Yes.”

“You seemed used to being blindfolded.”

“This is the sensibility of a knight who was honed for the battlefield.”

Lucian’s mouth, seen under a white handkerchief, moved beautifully.

Ugh. Half of his face is covered, but why is he still so handsome? 

Then, I realized that handsome men are famous only for their nose and mouth.

There was a pause between us for a while.

Just like the day we first met.

I gulped.

Anyways, you can’t meet Lucian at any time you want. So let’s just say what you want to say with this opportunity.

I got into your business without knowing much. I’ll never do that again from now on.

If I say that, he may be relieved of his vigilance against me.

When I clenched my fist and opened my mouth-

“You avoided me because of what I said that day, right?”

Lucian, with his eyes covered with a white handkerchief, was looking at me.

I couldn’t deny that I was not. Because that was the answer.

His eyes lowered as if he knew my answer.

“I think I shouldn’t have said that. I should have thought it over from the lady’s perspective…..”

“……..”

He was smiling. But that wasn’t a proper smile.

It was awkward to see him force his lips up.

I knew what he was going to say next.

No. Don’t.

“I’m sorry, Lady Pernia. If anyone hears that from me, of course they would hate it-“

“I don’t hate it. It’s totally awesome!”

Haha. I had no choice but to side with Lucian.

“I told you before. There’s no woman who hates handsome men. Lord Kardien is a handsome man, so there is no woman who will hate Lord Kardien. You said you wanted to know me better. You have no idea how nervous I was because it seemed like you wanted to be close to me.”

Are you crazy, Pernia?

I couldn’t stop his second personality which I didn’t know when it would pop out.

So I still fear him. His intentions are also suspicious.

But more than that, I’m more concerned about him becoming like that.

He was someone who thought, “I’m just a person who people fear.”

I didn’t want to make him think like that.

Lucian spoke.

“Really?”

I’m telling you the truth. My heart’s pounding with fear.

I nodded vigorously, omitting those words.

“Yes.”

“Then why did you avoid me?”

“It’s, uh- Lord Kardien is now engaged to me. I was a little surprised to hear that. Do you have a reason why you wanted to know more about me?”

“I do.”

He said that with a firm voice as if there was a great reason. My eyes widened.

“What’s the reason?”

“Because this engagement wasn’t made with the will of Lady Pernia and me.”

“………”

That’s true. This is nothing but a relationship forced by the emperor and my father.

“Since we have such a formal relationship, I’d like to have a more honest relationship with you. That’s why I want to know the lady properly.”

What? Is that what it was?

My mind was a little slackened by the unexpected remark. I also felt my nervous heart go ba-dump.

But I shook my head.

Wake up, Pernia.

Say it as politely as possible. He was a yandere second male lead.

There’s nothing good about getting tangled up with that.

I said, hoping that my voice came out gently.

“I understand your thoughts. But, I think it’s better to keep the distance we’ve had.”

“Why?”

“As you said, we are just politically engaged. There’s nothing good about getting to know each other well. If you see anything that you don’t like, you’ll hate getting married. If……”

I glanced at Lucian.

It was covered in a white handkerchief, but I can feel his eyes glaring at me.

I gulped.

“If that happens, are you willing to risk breaking up the engagement?”

Lucian shut his mouth as if he had heard something unexpected.

A long time later he said.

“Of course.”

I shut my mouth.

That meant he or I could break up the engagement if he or I wanted to.

“What are you doing?”

Unexpectedly, Lucian rose from his chair as he danced a joyous dance.

He came up to me before I figured out what was happening.

Maybe it’s because he can’t see. He took his seat at an unusually close distance.

I was dazed by a mixture of the scent of fresh mints from him and the scent of flowers in my arms.

“I said I would risk breaking up. So I’ll ask you again.”

“……..”

“Will the lady allow me to know more about her?”

I swallowed.

Now that we’ve come all the way here, we can’t go back to the same formality as before.

Then, there’s one direction I have to go in.

I’ll hang out with him in moderation, and then by the time he loses interest in me, I’ll break up the engagement.

I nodded.

“Okay.”

At that moment, he smiled. Like he just heard the happiest words in the world.

The corners of his mouth caught my eye.

This man is dangerous.

I unwittingly bit my lips with a pounding heart. His voice echoed in my ears as if to make a fool of me.

“Then I will do my best in the future, Lady Pernia.”

I’m scared to ask what you’re going to do best at.

It was a good thing his eyes are covered.

Otherwise he would have seen my red face, so red it looked like it would burst.

 * * *

“What does Lady Pernia like?”

“Anything that’s pretty and shiny.”

“What do you hate?”

“A male lead and a second male lead that’s tough on the supporting villain.”

“Huh?”

Lucian stopped his hard-working hand and looked at me.

I hurriedly answered, when his eyes asked me what the hell I meant.

“I often enjoy talking nonsense. Nevermind what I said.”

“I see.”

Lucian nodded as if he had realized something else he didn’t know and started taking notes.

I groaned in my head at the sight.

I didn’t think getting to know me meant you’d be doing that.