I Know Exactly What You're Thinking Right Now, Sophie

Chapter 148

Deep inside the Rohanna estate, in Sophia's room.

Sophia paced around her room, clutching her thin shawl tightly around herself with both hands.

Her blue eyes, filled with worry, roamed restlessly through the empty air.

'Lucy.'

After dealing with the unwelcome visitor that morning.

He had left the estate saying he was going to the Academy, but even now, with midnight fast approaching, he had yet to return.

So she had been waiting for quite some time.

"Miss. He just arrived at the estate……"

"……Yes. I know."

Sophia tightened her shawl, left her room, and walked toward the estate's central staircase.

Before long, a familiar figure slowly emerged from the darkness beneath the stairs.

"……Lucy?"

Sophia called out cautiously.

Lucius, having climbed all the way up the stairs, spotted Sophia and gave her his usual smile.

"Oh. Sophia. You're still awake?"

Despite his gentle voice, Sophia's heart sank.

She immediately sensed it.

Her twin was in a stranger state than ever before.

"……What's wrong?"

Sophia narrowed her eyes and took a step closer.

The servants standing nearby looked puzzled by Sophia's sensitive reaction, but none of them dared to step forward and meddle.

They all knew that Sophia and Lucius were more keenly attuned to each other's moods than anyone else.

Lucius tilted his head slightly and came a little closer.

"Hm? Why?"

At the exact moment he asked so innocently.

Whoosh─.

A distinctive, powerful scent pricked the tip of Sophia's nose.

"……You."

Sophia's eyes went round.

"Were you experimenting?"

A strong, pungent smell of alcohol had suddenly wafted over her.

But something was strange.

It wasn't merely the smell clinging to his clothes from handling reagents in an alchemy workshop; it was thick on his breath, wafting from between his lips.

There was only one possible explanation in this world.

"……Did you drink?"

At Sophia's cautious question, Lucius blinked a couple of times before letting out a small, breathy laugh.

"Yeah. Just a little."

"……That doesn't seem like a little."

Sophia worriedly took hold of his arm.

Lucius's body was much hotter than usual.

"That's right."

Lucius obediently nodded, grinning foolishly.

"Actually, I don't remember how I walked here at all."

"What?"

"I vaguely remember opening the estate door, but I don't remember climbing the stairs. Still, the fact that you're standing in front of me means I must have made it up safely on my own two feet, right? How strange."

Seeing him so disheveled, in a state she had never seen before, made a corner of Sophia's heart ache.

'How upset must he have been…….'

Lucius had spent his entire life rationally controlling himself.

And yet he had drunk until he was this much of a mess.

Though she hadn't heard it from a single servant, Sophia could clearly see how deep the wound Baron Hamel had left that morning must have been.

"Go inside and sleep. Hurry."

Sophia took hold of his arm and tried to lead him away, but.

"No."

Lucius planted his feet where he stood and slowly shook his head.

"Today, I want to stay with you a little longer before I go to sleep."

"……All right, then."

Unable to bring herself to refuse his uncharacteristic show of childish affection, Sophia nodded.

Not every servant in this estate was a loyal confidant who shared a close bond with Lucius.

There was no telling where the eyes and ears Baron Hamel had planted might be lurking.

It might be far safer to take him to her own room and keep him there.

*

Sophia sat Lucius down on the sofa, then knelt before him and looked up at him.

"Lucy. What happened? Why did you drink so much?"

She asked in a voice thick with distress.

But in truth, she already had a firm idea of what had happened.

"What do you mean?"

When Lucius asked back with hazy eyes, Sophia lowered her head and murmured gloomily,

"……Is it because of Hamel?"

But then.

"No, no. Sophia."

Lucius, who had been leaning back against the sofa, bent forward and gently cupped Sophia's cheeks in both hands.

Then he softly pressed his forehead against hers.

"I made you blame yourself. I'm sorry, Sophia. I'm sorry for making you misunderstand."

They were so close that they could feel each other's eyelashes.

When Sophia realized that the alcohol on his breath was evidence of how he had tried to soothe his distress,

the smell no longer bothered her.

"Um……."

Lucius whispered in a languid, relaxed voice.

"It's true that I was terribly upset and angry because of Hamel until this morning. But now…… I really did go out and enjoy some drinks."

"……With whom?"

Sophia asked worriedly.

Did Lucius even have any connections in the capital with whom he could drink privately, let alone enjoy himself?

"With Lord Cassian."

"……Lord Cassian?"

At the completely unexpected name, Sophia blinked several times.

"Yeah. I was a little worried about this weekend's after-date. I was going to visit him and ask, but we ended up having a meal together."

Sophia bit her lips tightly.

Once she realized that he had drunk because of her in the end, her chest felt heavy.

"I didn't want you, Lucius…… to worry so much that you'd end up this miserable."

"No."

Still touching his forehead to hers, Lucius gently shook his head.

"I'm really glad I went. Thanks to that, I even had a drink alone with Cassian. It definitely helped me take my mind off things."

"Even so……"

"He really is a peculiar man. He's an expert at breaking down other people's defenses."

"……"

Lucius wasn't lying now, nor was he putting on some forced show of bravado.

He was genuinely saying that he had enjoyed the time they spent drinking together.

For some reason, seeing him like that made an unwarranted jealousy bloom in a corner of Sophia's heart.

"……I'm jealous."

I wanted to have a deeper conversation with him, too.

At that honest, slightly petulant complaint.

"Hm? No, no."

Lucius slowly pulled his forehead away from Sophia's and gently brushed back her brown hair as though he were touching the most precious thing in the world.

"There's nothing for you to envy. You're going to spend an impressive time with him this weekend."

'Will I, really?'

Sophia carefully studied Lucius's expression.

The complicated emotions lingering across his face were gradually beginning to make sense to her.

The distress had been swept away, replaced by clear, transparent relief. That was the expression he wore.

'What on earth did they talk about?'

What kind of conversation had they had for Lucius, who was always so meticulous and thorough, to let his guard down and feel such clear emotions?

He probably wouldn't open up to me like that.

At that moment.

"I know exactly what you're thinking right now, Sophia."

Lucius's hand came to rest gently on Sophia's cheek.

"But listen."

"……Yes."

"Even though I had already told you that our side would prepare the date course, Lord Cassian had already decided exactly how he would spend this weekend with you."

"……Really?"

"Yes. He said that, no matter how he thought about it, he wanted to do it because he believed it would be considerate of you and best for you."

Sophia's heart began to pound fiercely.

For me.

To spare me the trouble and make me happy.

"Where is it……?"

Sophia unconsciously moistened her dry lips before asking.

"How about hearing it directly on the day? It sounds like a rather romantic and memorable place."

"……Okay."

Lucius could no longer hold himself back and stretched out both arms to pull Sophia's small shoulders tightly into an embrace.

"Yeah."

Lucius rested his chin on her shoulder and exhaled a breath filled with emotion.

"On a day when you smile so beautifully, I'm glad I can smile peacefully, too…… I'm really glad."

At Lucius's sincere words, Sophia raised both arms and hugged the broad back of her one and only twin in return.

"Me too."

She rested her cheek against Lucius's embrace and whispered,

"I like it when you smile, too."

Once again, Sophia felt an uncontrollably deep gratitude toward the man she would meet this coming weekend.

* * *

"Mmm……"

I slowly opened my eyes as the sensation of the dazzling morning sunlight pricked my eyelids.

The moment I stretched and raised my upper body.

"……Huh?"

I checked my physical condition, then let out an incredulous, hollow laugh.

I had definitely gone to that samgyeopsal restaurant with that slick bastard Lucius last night and knocked back quite a bit of whiskey before coming home.

Normally, my stomach should have been burning, my temples throbbing, and my mouth feeling dry and stale.

"Ah. Am I unable to get drunk now?"

It felt as though the alcohol had merely skimmed through my stomach and liver before being instantly eliminated.

I felt like some clean-living fanatic who had strictly abstained from alcohol, cigarettes, fried food, and flour for three hundred days.

It was like peppermint candy was flowing through my veins instead of blood.

"Oh, right. The Fixer."

I suddenly remembered the use-count deduction that had wrecked my mental state yesterday and waved my hand through the air.

Ding.

[Ability Activated: Fixer]

[Uses Remaining Today : 3/3]

"Oh."

This time, it had returned properly, filled back up to 3 uses.

So the penalty had only locked it at 0 uses for yesterday.

The tutoring was on hold, so I probably wouldn't have any use for it right away, but it was still a relief.

"Well then, let's go make our Pingdaeng some breakfast……"

Knock knock knock.

"Hm?"

"Young master. Are you awake?"

The voice that came from beyond the door along with the knocking belonged to Old Man Alfred.

"Oh. Come in."

Click.

When the door opened, Alfred entered the room, looking as though his back had become even more bent today than it had been yesterday.

"The master is looking for you, young master."

Huh.

"Father? At this hour?"

"Yes, young master."

"But I have to go to the Academy. Did he summon me right now?"

"Yes. Before you leave for the Academy, he wishes to see you briefly in the study on the first floor."

No matter how many times I asked, Alfred's answer never changed.

Tsk……

What could it be this time?