Young Master, Please Put Some Pants On! - Chapter 97

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 97

“What do you mean by that….”

“May I come in first?”

At his attitude of acting as if nothing had happened, Mellis nodded with a dazed expression. He naturally took a seat on the sofa and spoke in a flat voice.

“I’ve been thinking all day. About what reason you had for rejecting me.”

“….”

“But no matter how much I pondered alone, I couldn’t figure it out. So I had no choice but to come here to hear the reason directly.”

Mellis pressed her lips tightly together. Throughout her life, she had rejected many confessions, but none of them had ever come back to ask for the reason.

After hesitating for a moment, Mellis gripped the hem of her clothing tightly. Not wanting to show her face in case her hesitation showed, Mellis lowered her head deeply and hesitated for a long while.

“…As you know, Grand Duke, I am a commoner. But you are nobility, and moreover, you’re part of the Imperial Family.”

“Yes. And what else?”

“Also… I’ve heard about imprinting among pureblooded beastmen. His Imperial Majesty’s illness is also because of imprinting, isn’t it? I don’t want your lifespan to be shortened because of me.”

Kermanomon slightly raised his eyebrows as if he hadn’t expected her to know about imprinting. However, he soon exhaled softly and nodded.

“I understand that as well. Are there any other reasons?”

“Other reasons are….”

Mellis hesitated at his question. The biggest obstacle was naturally the fact that she was human. However, she couldn’t bring herself to say that out loud right now.

“I can’t tell you right away, but there’s actually a secret I haven’t told you, Grand Duke. If you found out about it, you would surely resent me.”

She bit her trembling lips along with those words. In the current situation, this was the best confession she could make.

“Is that all?”

However, at her confession, Kermanomon frowned as if genuinely surprised.

“What do you mean ‘all’? It’s a very important matter to me.”

“That’s not what I meant. What I’m saying is….”

Kermanomon slowly lowered his eyes and took her hand as he spoke.

“If you didn’t love me, that would be different. Then I would try to earn your love. If you loved someone else, though I don’t even want to imagine it, I would eventually let you go.”

“….”

“But if that’s not the case, I wonder if there’s any need for me to hesitate for such reasons. When you love me.”

At his usual brazen attitude, Mellis’s tension eased and she unconsciously let out a small laugh.

“Why have you been so confident since yesterday? I’ve never told you that I love you, Grand Duke.”

“After doing all those things with me, are you going to brazenly deny it now?”

At his statement that could easily be misunderstood, Mellis’s eyes widened.

“Th-those things! Don’t say things that would cause trouble if someone heard!”

“I naturally thought you’d take responsibility, but did you just play with me?”

“Yesterday, you started it first, Grand Duke!”

“I gave you a chance to avoid it. And while I started it, if we’re being precise, you were more….”

Startled, Mellis hurriedly covered his mouth, but Kermanomon still had a sullen expression. After pondering something deeply for a moment, he asked in a forlorn voice.

“Or… was I too clumsy because it was my first time? Were you not satisfied?”

What kind of nonsense was that? She had practically been to the gates of heaven.

At his dejected appearance, Mellis swallowed dryly. What was with that forlorn expression like a puppy caught in the rain? Whether she was truly blinded by love, at this moment Kermanomon looked incredibly adorable to her.

However, Mellis couldn’t bring herself to voice such shameless inner thoughts, so she covered her mouth with her clenched fist and quietly denied it.

“…That can’t be true.”

“Then that’s a relief.”

His enchanting smile as he pulled up the corners of his mouth made Mellis’s face burn hot once again. Though she didn’t want to admit it, she was being swayed by him again.

Of course, she did love his cunning and shameless side very much…. But on the other hand, she was curious.

“By the way, how did you think to come ask me directly? It was just last night that I hurt Your Grace….”

To come back and pursue someone who had cruelly rejected him after just one night—it was something she could hardly even imagine doing herself.

But he was different. Every time she took one step, two steps back in fear, he strode forward without hesitation and caught hold of her.

“I know it’s pathetic. But what can I do—it’s natural for the one who loves more to be desperate. I could see clearly that you were wavering, so I couldn’t just pretend not to notice because of some petty pride.”

“….”

“And originally I wasn’t planning to come rushing over like this, but I was worried you might dismiss what happened yesterday as just the effects of alcohol.”

Noticing that Mellis’s gaze was fixed intently on him, Kermanomon blushed as if embarrassed.

“…Do you think I didn’t agonize over this? I thought about it really hard all day before coming here.”

“Your Grace….”

“I understand your position completely. Just… try dating me casually until you sort out your thoughts. If you get tired of playing with me, you can leave anytime. I’m the one who’ll get hurt anyway, so what does it matter.”

Mellis frowned at his mischievous words and lightly struck his shoulder.

“Why do you say such things? I don’t want to hurt you, Your Grace.”

“That’s how desperate I am. And even if you really do leave, it doesn’t matter. Because then you’ll dream of me every night. Eventually you’ll miss me so much you’ll come back, won’t you?”

“….”

“So, won’t you give me just one chance?”

Murmuring in an enchanting voice, he briefly kissed her palm. At that tender touch, Mellis’s heart wavered again and again.

She couldn’t gauge for herself what would be the right decision. She was simply swept up in the temptation to let everything go and fall in love with this man alone. And that temptation was like the devil’s whisper—something impossible to resist with human strength.

“If we’re together, everyone will point fingers at us.”

“I don’t care about that. But if it makes you uncomfortable, I’ll cut off all those fingers and offer them to you.”

“Your Grace’s lifespan might be shortened because of me.”

“Ten years without you is worth less than one year with you.”

At his unhesitating answer, Mellis felt her heart ache. Finally, she carefully voiced the words she had repeated countless times in her mind.

“…Someday you’ll be hurt because of me.”

“If you want, you can stab a sword through my heart and leave.”

At his voice without a trace of wavering, Mellis bit her lip, not knowing what to do. She knew that all his words were sincere truth without a hint of falsehood. He was an honest and upright man, and she loved that side of him.

‘Maybe….’

Could she really not have to give up this happy life? Could someone like her, surrounded by lies, be greedy for the happiness she had learned for the first time in her life? Closing her eyes, she revealed the feelings she had kept hidden all this time.

“Honestly, I’m so scared and worried. Am I allowed to be this greedy?”

“What is there to fear? I’m by your side. Be greedy for whatever you want. I’ll love even your greed.”

Kermanomon’s hand swept her disheveled hair behind her ear. He caressed her snow-white cheek and cupped her face with careful hands as if handling something precious.

At a distance close enough for their breaths to touch, the two met each other’s gaze. Only silence filled the space between them, but that silence contained more than ever before.

Finally, Mellis, who had let everything go, smiled with a pure crescent-moon-like expression. At that lovely sight, he too couldn’t help but break into a small smile.

His deeply lowered, languid gaze fixed on her lips. The distance between them grew closer and closer until their noses touched. His fingers gently brushed through her hair.

“So, starting tomorrow, let’s just love each other.”

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