When the Female Lead Went Off-Script, the Main Male Lead Became the Tyrant's Empress

“……Give me a little more time. I’m reflecting on how much of a piece of trash I was just now.”

“……Alright.”

Feeling bewildered, Haster drank the ice water.

It wasn’t important to argue over who that insignificant glass of water belonged to.

What mattered was what he had just heard.

‘He plotted all of that because I wouldn’t spend time with him?’

Haster stared at Arden, who had folded his large body into a tight ball.

He admitted that he had treated Arden coldly.

He hated dealing with bothersome things.

Furthermore, even after knowing Arden for twenty years, Haster still had no idea how he was supposed to treat him.

Arden and Haster were just fundamentally different.

Even when faced with the same problem, they proposed different solutions and couldn’t understand the other person for suggesting such a solution.

One couldn’t understand something because one didn’t know it.

And what one didn’t know was difficult to trust.

They simply weren’t compatible.

Arden approached while wagging his tail like a puppy that loved playing with people.

Even if Haster reached out and petted his head, Arden wouldn’t let him go until he was satisfied.

The problem was that satisfying him wasn’t easy.

Whenever Haster tried to withdraw his hand, Arden suddenly changed and bit down without letting go.

That was why, when they were young, Haster had tried getting angry, avoiding him, and putting distance between them.

Whenever he did, Arden’s competitive spirit flared as though they were playing a game, and he tormented Haster even more.

‘He acted so cold when we first met.’

Haster almost found himself longing for that day.

After they grew a little older, their relationship changed into what it was now, but Haster still tried to keep his distance from him.

Haster tapped the armrest with his fingertips.

It wasn’t as though this was the first or second time he had dealt with something that persistently clung to him and charged at him.

Conflicts at the border, battles with monsters.

And various other minor threats.

Haster had never avoided any of them, nor did he intend to.

But Arden?

What was he so afraid of that he used the interviews and the salon as excuses to distance himself?

‘Afraid? Me?’

It was an absurd thought.

Haster shook his head.

He probably avoided Arden because the behavior he had repeated since childhood had become a habit.

He concluded that the cause was a defense mechanism.

‘I can’t ignore him forever.’

Thinking of the future, accepting Arden would be more beneficial.

Perhaps he might be able to accept Arden more easily than expected.

Just as he had grown accustomed within a week to Arden chattering beside him.

Haster stopped tapping his fingers.

‘That still doesn’t make what he did to Clary right.’

Arden was now rocking his tightly curled body back and forth.

He looked exactly like a pill bug.

‘He’s going to roll out of the chair at this rate.’

Haster spoke coldly.

“How long do you intend to remain like that?”

“Uuuugh…….”

Like dried flower petals unfurling in warm water, Arden slowly straightened his body.

His face was still buried in both hands.

“Do you still have more reflecting to do? Or do you have another crime to blame on me?”

“Neither!”

Arden immediately retorted.

His face was flushed with humiliation and embarrassment.

“Fine. I’m done reflecting. I admit that I was harsh with Clary. I only wanted her out of my sight for a little while. That doesn’t mean I ever wanted anything bad to happen to her. I did make the study plan somewhat…… excessive… but every subject on it is necessary for Clary. The same goes for the reading list. But she suffered because of it. I’m sorry about that.”

“You may not have used a switch, but you still treated her coercively. Just like Arthur Lurie.”

“……Did I really do something that terrible? At least I didn’t hit her or make her cry.”

“…….”

“No, I misspoke. I am a terrible bastard. Yes.”

Arden quickly answered beneath Haster’s piercing glare.

“Then do you also admit that I wasn’t the cause of all this?”

Arden flinched slightly.

Haster’s eyes narrowed.

This punk hasn’t reflected on that part.