The Teddy Bear Sends the Insomniac Villain to Dreamland - Chapter 67

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 67
My ears were itching.
I scratched at them absently, my gaze drifting beyond the distant Mansion as I picked at my ear.
“What’s wrong?”
Blake Leblanc appeared before me—I’m not sure when he’d arrived—his white shirt half-unbuttoned, and asked the question.
I glanced at his alluring form and answered curtly.
“Someone must be talking about me. That’s why my ears are itching.”
“…Does your ear itch when someone’s talking about you?”
“That’s what people usually say. What! Did you talk badly about me?”
“Why would I waste time on something so pointless.”
“Then why did you ask?”
“No reason.”
Blake Leblanc, who had been gazing intently toward the Capital’s Downtown, turned his body to face me.
I observed his back and thought to myself.
He must have come from the Training Ground.
Blake Leblanc had been attending the Training Ground every single day lately. Perhaps, as Nix had mentioned, it was to prepare for the Demon Beasts that might appear in the Eastern Region.
He roughly dried his hair with the towel he’d draped over the sofa.
His silver hair scattered wildly beneath his touch. As I stared blankly at him, he suddenly approached and extended his hand.
“What?”
When I looked at him with guarded eyes, he raised one eyebrow slightly.
“Come here.”
“….”
Why is he acting differently today?
So I asked him honestly.
“You didn’t want to get close to me, did you?”
“Me?”
He tilted his head. His expression of bewilderment only made me more upset.
“Ever since the banquet, you’ve been strangely cold. Like you were drawing a line.”
“That’s… not because I dislike you. I didn’t avoid getting close to you either.”
I had tried not to get worked up, thinking that if you acted that way, I would too, and that I had a place to return to anyway.
But it must have accumulated subtly. I crossed my arms and showed my determination not to budge, yet he waited patiently.
Hand extended, he simply remained there for a long while, waiting for me to come.
What is he doing, really.
Blake Leblanc was an incomprehensible man—even across my three hundred years as a witch, I could never quite figure him out.
Eventually, I shuffled sideways toward him hesitantly, and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
As I settled my hips onto his palm, he naturally lifted me into his arms.
“Last time you wouldn’t even let me follow you to the Training Ground because I smelled of sweat.”
“…I won’t make excuses. My mind was complicated back then.”
“Why? About what?”
Nestled in his embrace, I gazed quietly into his violet eyes.
Blake had changed considerably, yet he still resisted fully revealing his inner thoughts.
“You have to tell me for me to understand. Let me know what’s making you anxious and what you dislike. Yes?”
“….”
Waiting was my specialty.
All I had in abundance was time and money.
As I waited in silence, Blake carefully placed me on the bed with a shallow sigh.
Then he asked.
“Why are you so popular?”
…What?
Had I misheard because I’d been cleaning my ears so much earlier?
When I asked why he was anxious, why was he answering a completely different question?
I scrunched my face and spoke.
“Don’t joke around!”
“Does this sound like a joke? I’m serious.”
“Blake. Have you been influenced by Nix lately? Did you decide to become my ultimate fan?”
“I’d feel better if that were the case.”
He didn’t appear to be joking. With a serious gaze, he perched lightly on the desk across from me.
“Edwin Crown Prince found out your true identity.”
“Yes. It doesn’t seem like a coincidence. My body reacts to the ring Edwin possesses.”
“So whenever you’re near the Crown Prince, you return to your true form?”
I had wanted to investigate further before speaking about it.
Blake remembered everything I had told him on the way back from the Banquet Hall without missing a single detail.
I nodded lightly. Blake’s expression darkened.
‘Demon Beasts might appear in the Eastern Region, so Organization members are gathering…’
Suddenly, I recalled what Nix had said.
Well, Blake was busy lately, and I didn’t want to give him a headache.
I had no intention of being a burden.
“Blake. Don’t worry too much. I’ll investigate further.”
“How do you plan to investigate?”
“Well? That’s….”
Well… I’d have to go see Edwin, wouldn’t I?
Edwin already knew my true identity now anyway.
Moreover, there had been no rumors of Edwin revealing my identity.
As I had predicted, Edwin had chosen to keep quiet.
Whether he desperately wanted to become my friend or was plotting some other opportunity, I couldn’t say.
But for now, he was moving as I wished.
I waved my hand lightly as I spoke.
“I’ll meet with Edwin and find out the truth about the ring. Once I investigate a bit, I’ll discover it.”
Blake’s lips pressed into a thin line. Soon, the lips he had been stubbornly holding shut slowly parted.
“That’s the source of my anxiety.”
Pitter-patter.
Rain suddenly began to fall outside. The sound of it striking the partially open window echoed through my bedroom.
Outside, I heard the clamorous voices of the Female Servants calling out that they needed to bring in the laundry.
A low voice that tickled my ears pierced through the sound of the rain and reached me.
“I wish you had never met that damned Crown Prince.”
“…Why?”
“Because you’re mine.”
Staring into those violet eyes that radiated an odd warmth, I experienced that strange sensation once more.
“Vivian. You’re my teddy bear. So you have to take responsibility for me.”
The overcast sky cast the bedroom in shadow. Was the subtle obsession seeping from his words my imagination, or was it Blake’s mistake?
I couldn’t find the words to respond. I wanted to ask what kind of attachment he felt toward me.
At the same time, I thought of him—left alone when I eventually had to leave.
When the curse was lifted and I regained my power.
Would he still feel this way when we no longer needed each other?
That was when a chill began to creep in.
‘Lady Vivian… our little Squirrel crossed the rainbow bridge.’
An old memory surfaced.
Max and I had a hamster we cherished dearly—Squirrel.
A hamster we brought back after a brief visit to the Human World long ago.
A hamster’s lifespan is at most three to four years.
For someone like me, living eternally, it was but the blink of an eye—impossibly brief.
That day, Max and I wept bitterly.
My softhearted dragon pretended otherwise, but he couldn’t let go of the cold, lifeless Squirrel in his arms.
‘Lady Vivian. I will never love another being with such a short lifespan.’
As I was about to agree, turning over those words he’d uttered through tears like a vow, I felt it.
A profound sense of loss and regret washed over me.
If I had known it would be this sorrowful, I would have treated him better.
I would have loved him more earnestly, with all my might.
I understood.
Just as Max said, if I hadn’t loved in the first place, there would be nothing to grieve.
But for me, there was no such premise as not loving.
I was an emotional witch whose heart swayed easily at the slightest breeze, and I loved myself for it.
‘Max. Next time, I want to love without regret.’
‘Pardon? You mean you won’t refrain from loving?’
‘If I refuse to love to avoid being hurt, that seems equally tragic in its own way. To live eternally without even the memory of having loved—that would be a curse for me.’
Rumble! Crack!
The rain grew fiercer.
Thunder roared and wind shook the window frame violently.
I pulled myself from my reverie.
Then, seeing Blake watching me in silence, I smiled brightly.
Squinting my eyes with all my might.
“Blake.”
“Yeah.”
Beneath his calm reply, I sensed a tremor of uncertainty.
All the resentment I’d harbored seemed to wash away like rain.
Blake had been lost too.
Because I was becoming increasingly precious to him.
Only now did I understand that he’d been struggling, searching for his own answers amid such confusion.
“I’ll do my best.”
“….”
“I’ll do my best to cherish you and treasure every moment we share. I’m your teddy bear and your witch alone.”
Adorably, Blake’s violet eyes trembled. I sprang from the bed.
Then I spread my arms wide beneath his legs.
“Come on, hold me!”
As if enchanted by my words, he embraced me.
Now so accustomed to it, I nuzzled my face against his comforting chest.
The steady rhythm of his heartbeat was such a comfort to hear.
“I’ll always come back. As long as we need each other, I’ll always return.”
Even if I were hurt again, even if I wept again, there was nothing to be done.
How could I deny affection that had already taken root so deeply?
The nature of my feelings for him no longer mattered.
I could no longer deny that Blake had become a bookmark in my long life.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————