Hunter and Mad Scien Chapter 121

Esperanza, who was going up the stairs, encountered Dylan Shersby grumbling as he ca down. Dylan lifted his hat and greeted her.

"Mr. Shersby, you're leaving now."

"How much work must Count Avondale have piled up?"

"It seems like it's all finished now."

"Sothing like that. Ugh, if I had known it would be this damn annoying, it would have been better to just get dragged around by the landowners..."

Dylan, whose floodgates had opened, poured out his complaints before quietly shutting his mouth. He had finally rembered who he was talking to. Esperanza pretended not to hear, but she was a bit offended.

'Even so, what's with calling it damn annoying?'

"Well, I'm just saying. Miss..."

Dylan rolled his eyes around.

"Hunter."

"Miss Hunter isn't entirely without fault either. Why did you go out without even saying goodbye?"

"What do you an by that?"

"From the mont we heard that Miss Hunter had left without a word, Count Avondale's irritation shot up from here to here. And apparently you even had dinner without sending word? My goodness, I thought Count Avondale was going to devour that attendant."

Shersby's words contained habitual exaggeration. If you deflated it a bit... at least it seed certain that Cider was dissatisfied with Esperanza going out without greeting him and with that outing being prolonged.

It seed Millen had suffered difficulties because of this, but since Millen knew Cider better than Esperanza did, he would have managed the situation reasonably well.

Esperanza unknowingly chuckled. She didn't know why she felt good when she heard he had been irritated.

"I see. Got it, I'll see you next ti if there's an opportunity."

Passing by the blinking Dylan Shersby and going up, Esperanza reached in front of Cider's study. Unlike before leaving, the large and heavy door didn't feel like a wall.

She transferred the tray to one hand and carefully opened the door without even knocking. It was intended to surprise him, but as it turned out, it was the right thing to do.

Cider was asleep.

The sunset light that had settled over the entire study was red. The curtains swelled over the half-open window. The sll of wood, books, ink. A pale fragrance. Even in this classical study with no chanical devices, it seed to sll of brass and magic stones. Just like in his laboratory.

The leather sll of the hunting cabin was his father's scent. And the fragrance of this study belonged to Cider Claiborne. What perated his cheeks, nape, and wrists like body scent. Elegant but sohow slightly twisted.

His gaze slowly turned.

Cider had moved seats after finishing work and was sitting in an armchair with a teacup as company. Under the fountain pen he held at an angle, complex formulas with traces of multiple corrections were written, which were definitely not ledgers. On the side table was a precise structural diagram drawn with fine lines. It was a structural diagram Esperanza knew well from seeing it for days.

He must have worked all day, but as soon as work ended, he had grabbed research material again. Wasn't he tired?

'He must have fallen asleep because he was tired.'

Esperanza placed the tray on the table and approached quietly, holding her breath. She sat leaning by his knees and looked up at Cider's sleeping face. It felt like secretly taking out soone else's hidden treasure.

Sparkling eyelashes cast long shadows like drawings. Tightly closed lips and smooth cheeks. Golden hair decorating angular shoulders with the red light of sunset lingering. It was beautiful like a painting.

This was the first ti seeing his sleeping face. She gently removed the fountain pen from his hand and set it down. Whether he was deeply asleep, he only slightly furrowed his brow and showed no signs of waking.

Sleeping Cider was peaceful and quiet. It was that face she had glimpsed in Mabelwood forest. A rippleless water surface. And the red sunset light resembling a layer of tenderness cast over it.

'How many people would know this face?'

Millen or Butler Howard? Mrs. Lux?

They might know what she saw at Mabelwood to that extent. But the face when a layer of affection was added on top? Would they know that too? She thought there was no way. Just as Cider was the only one in this world who knew Esperanza, she was the only one who knew such a face of his.

Esperanza quietly gazed at the shadows beneath his closed eyes and his lips pressed together in parallel. Half wanting not to disturb, half wanting to break that quietude and shake it. Hesitating, Esperanza raised her hand.

Disheveled hair was covering his forehead. She carefully swept away the hair, being careful not to let her fingertips graze his forehead. It was just moving hair, but strangely her lips beca parched.

She was so focused on not waking him that she didn't realize she had gotten close enough for their noses to almost touch. Hair slipped between her fingers like sand on a beach. The eyelids that had been covered by a few strands of hair trembled.

Oops.

The mont Esperanza tried to pull back, Cider opened his eyes. His drowsy, unfocused eyes stared at Esperanza. With a face devoid of any trace of laughter. Her wrist resting on the armrest was caught.

Too close.

The mont she recognized that fact, Cider tilted his head and cupped Esperanza's cheek with his remaining hand. Their noses brushed. Esperanza remained frozen stiff, unable to move. She couldn't think about whether this was okay or how she would handle the aftermath.

Their noses brushed as if soothing a young animal, then breath mingled through half-parted lips.

At that mont, light returned to his previously cloudy eyes.

"Ah."

Cider, who let out an exclamation as if realizing, gently pushed Esperanza away. Esperanza, who had been holding her breath, blinked.

"...I thought it was a dream."

At the words whispered in a half-drowsy voice, the reality that had just been vividly touching her skin beca dreamlike and hazy. Esperanza belatedly nodded. It was still close enough to see her reflection in his eyes. The hand on her cheek remained as well.

Suddenly Cider's eyes narrowed searchingly.

An angular hand supported her small chin. He tilted his head at an angle and lowered it. Esperanza gripped Cider's clothes tightly.

Should she push him away? Her mind was confused as if soone had stirred through it. anwhile, whose heartbeat was that pounding?

...Did she really need to push him away?

Lips without a trace of laughter approached. Her mouth went dry and her toes curled. Rose-colored lips flickered reflected in his lowered grayish-blue eyes. The voice that used to sweetly call Esperanza's na whispered enchantingly.

"May I kiss you? As courtship."

Strength entered the hand gripping Cider's arm. Whether accepting or refusing, she could tell it would be a decision that would shake the relationship itself. Esperanza's fingertips gripped Cider's shirt sleeve, lost strength, then gripped again repeatedly. With her eyes lowered, trying to avoid his gaze as much as possible.

When she avoided Cider's eyes, other things beca visible.

Slightly reddened earlobes and his Adam's apple bobbing with tension. Esperanza impulsively nodded.

Cider, who had gently held her chin and leaned down, smiled softly. Then he twisted his head near her lips and kissed her cheek. Her heart sank. Even though it was just her cheek.

Or was it because it was just her cheek?

The strength left her hands. Her breath was slightly short because her heart was beating frantically.

Cider pressed his lips against her cheek and pulled away. Then he slid them to her nape where fine hairs stood on end. Blunt nails dug into the forearm wrapped in a silk shirt.

The left thumb that had held her chin lightly pressed against Esperanza's lips. Here, Cider said as he pulled away, whispering in a low voice.

"I won't do it until you ask

to kiss you."

His voice mixed with the sound of both their heartbeats. Her mind, which had been hazily soaked, finally beca a bit clearer. Esperanza, who had been holding her breath, glanced at him.

"...Who would say such a thing."

The rebuttal lacked strength. Cider replaced his answer with a short laugh. She looked up at him, but realized that in this situation it would only be ridiculous and stopped.

It was just a kiss on the cheek. The kind of kiss given to children several tis a day. Being shaken by sothing like this was more ridiculous. Esperanza tried to calm her rattling insides.

"Co here. Don't sit on the floor."

When she seated herself on the sofa piled with cushions as Cider directed, reality suddenly rushed in. She squeezed her eyes shut. Everything was ruined. This wasn't what she had intended. She really had no plan to be caught at all. Especially not like this.

A hollow laugh burst out.

"...How long have you known?"

Cider lightly tapped Esperanza's hand covering the sofa armrest with his fingertips, then drew a long horizontal line. It was a code she hadn't needed to use since coming down to Avondale, but she understood it imdiately like writing learned long ago.

"You didn't say anything."

So this was consideration. Which was no good for him.

"I didn't hear anything either."

"But."

"Esperanza. I don't need anything half-hearted."

The following words were resolute. How wonderful it would be if that were possible? If the situation were clear enough to give a definite answer either way.

She wanted to ask if he was really okay with it. Whether he was fine with a relationship ford with a ti limit, whether he was confident he could handle the sense of loss afterward. However, she ended up swallowing all the words she had thought and just nodded.

The reason Esperanza, who had dropped into this world 13 years ago without any connections, had been able to act boldly was literally because she had no connections. She had no place to retreat to or anything to lose. But now, with 'sothing to lose' right before her eyes, her lips wouldn't part as if glued with adhesive.

Though he must know what Esperanza was worried about, Cider sat propping his chin and looking down as if he hadn't heard anything. Occasionally sending aningless smiles.

He intended to pretend not to hear anything until she spoke directly. It was wicked consideration.

When she let out a deep sigh, Cider got up from his seat and brought an envelope from the desk where ledgers were piled.

"Are you done thinking? There's a letter addressed to you."

This too was consideration. The mischief on his fingertips casually brushed across the palm receiving the letter. When she shrank her hand and looked up, Cider smiled broadly and said.

"Pretend you don't know."