Guiding the Male Lead out of His Trauma

No matter what I thought of it, despite it being so suffocating I feel like I might choke, the dinner continued on.

The Duke gave me and Hyacine a cursory rundown of the family members. All the while, the Duchess, without uttering a single word, busied herself with cutting and mincing her steak into tiny pieces.

“Your rooms will be prepared gradually, so for now, use the guest rooms that Blair guided you to.”

“Thank you for your consideration. But I think only Hyacine needs to move rooms.”

I put special effort into keeping the proper distance, just as the Duke wanted.

With every word, he was testing me.

This time too, he insisted on preparing a separate room for me, but…

‘It’s not like I’ll be here after half a year anyway, so is it really necessary?’

When I politely declined, the head of the house stroked his chin and nodded, as if my response had passed his test.

“Yes, you said you’d be returning to Estra after half a year.”

“Yes, so please, don’t worry about me. Just looking after Hyacine is more than enough for me.”

It had been a long time since I’d forced a smile just to keep up appearances.

Back in the day, I used to do this often, begging for work just to survive.

The Duke seemed very pleased with my conduct, and wiped his mouth with his napkin before replying.

“If that’s more comfortable for you, I won’t insist. At any rate, I hope you rest well until it’s time for you to return.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Finally, even this suffocating meal came to an end.

The head of the house stood up and, still without putting a single bite of steak in his mouth, reached out his hand to the Duchess, who was still cutting her steak into pieces.

“Let’s go upstairs.”

“……”

A cold silence hung in the air as the Duchess stared at the Duke without a word.

A moment later, she finally took his outstretched hand without resistance.

I was about to watch their backs as they left, but turned my head away.

‘What good does it do to know more about other people’s family matters? We have our own problems to worry about.’

Once the two of them left, the tense atmosphere seemed to finally ease a little.

But this time, a new person spoke up.

“Your hypocrisy is really something.”

It was directed at me.

I calmly speared a roasted mushroom and put it in my mouth, pretending not to hear.

“I’ve never even heard your name before, so I guess you’ve been living your life quietly, just going around sucking up to people. I suppose that’s a talent too, if you can call it that.”

Of course. So my guess was right, he didn’t know my name.

“I’m not fond of standing out.”

“Or is it just that you couldn’t even if you wanted to?”

How childish.

It was exhausting to even respond, so I didn’t bother saying anything more.

But Cassiel didn’t stop picking a fight.

He kept saying things that were hard to listen to, but I let them go in one ear and out the other.

Cassiel is, like me, on a leave of absence from the academy.

But unlike me, he suddenly submitted his leave notice just after the semester began and disappeared, which caused quite a stir for a while.

Of course, I know the reason.

Why he suddenly ran away from school.

I swallowed my food calmly. I figured it was about time to wrap up dinner anyway.

‘It was because of Claire.’

At the time, I didn’t know why Cassiel had suddenly taken a leave of absence, but now it’s not hard to piece together.

The timing of Cassiel’s leave coincides with the death of Claire Brondearn, an S-Class Transcendent of Brondearn and Cassiel’s twin.

Losing the sibling you were born together with… It’s only natural that it would be unbearable.

Moreover, the incident was quietly covered up by the royal family to hide the dangers of S-Class rampages.

Officially, Claire Brondearn was reported as having died on the battlefield.

‘He must be sick of it all. Not only did they send a newly adult kid to the front just for being a high-ranking Transcendent, but they pushed her all the way to death.’

I can’t be certain, but at Cassiel’s core, he may well resent this whole country.

It was only then that I realized a cold silence had fallen over the entire room.

‘Ah.’

Maybe it was because I’d been ignoring him all along, but when I looked up, Cassiel’s face was twisted with rage, looking almost like a demon.