Chapter 8
“But I was singing with all my heart!”
“That much I can tell… but… what on earth is this song?”
Ah, so that was the problem.
Theodore had probably never heard a song like this in his entire life.
I puffed out my chest proudly, like a peacock showing off its plumage.
“It’s the Patriotic Song, Young Master.”
At the words “Patriotic Song,” the young master’s expression turned peculiar.
“You mean it’s the national anthem of the fairy kingdom?”
To help him understand, I answered briefly that yes, it was.
Theodore muttered under his breath that it had felt like a song he’d never heard before.
“Don’t you like it?”
“I like the lyrics. And the basic melody, too… There’s nothing wrong with the song itself that you sang.”
If he liked the lyrics and the melody wasn’t bad, then why had he told me to stop?
Puzzled, I rolled my eyes around with a little flick.
“Then what’s the problem, Young Master?”
“The problem is the person singing it! The person! What, do you think all you have to do is make the veins bulge in your neck? Do you think anything counts as a song as long as you strain your throat like a brute—ha, never mind. It’s nothing. Forget it.”
“Then may I stop singing? Honestly, getting through the first verse was exhausting.”
My throat had been scratchy anyway, so this was perfect timing.
When I stood up from the chair, delighted, the young master replied coldly.
“No. Keep singing.”
“Weren’t you just saying the singer was the problem?”
“Sing it quietly. That solves it, doesn’t it?”
“You’re really determined to hear my song to the end?”
“Yeah. I’m determined to hear every last bit of it.”
This little bastard.
When I recoiled, Theodore twitched the corner of his lips upward.
A sneer spilled across his lips, curved like an arc.
If he weren’t the young master, I’d have punched him.
He closed his eyes again and settled comfortably onto the bed.
Should I just knock him out cold?
‘Honestly, that would probably be faster.’
I clenched my fist firmly.
Since he was a frail young master, a blow to the back of the neck might knock him out right away.
But when I looked at his nape, so white and translucent that I could see the arteries beneath it, I couldn’t bring myself to hit him hard.
They say you have to strike right up to the edge of bruising to knock someone out, but how could I do that to a neck like that?
‘If only his neck weren’t as slender as a deer’s. I swear I’d just—’
As I silently clenched and unclenched my fist, Theodore subtly threatened me.
“If you don’t sing, I’ll call the Head Maid.”
“Yes, yes. I’m singing, okay? Don’t blame me if you regret it!”
“I’ll listen even if I regret it. Just sing.”
“I’m really going to sing, you know? I mean it! This is your last chance to stop listening to my singing. You won’t regret it?”
“Sing.”
Half resigned, I was about to start the second verse when the young master suddenly raised his palm.
Surely he wasn’t telling me to stop? Well, I supposed he might finally want to stop listening.
“Yes! Shall I stop now?”
“From the first verse again.”
“…”
“Head Mai—!”
“Oh my, Young Master, you’re so impatient. I was just about to sing.”
He wasn’t the one singing, yet he had a damn lot of demands.
“Idiot. You should have done that from the start.”
From today on, I would believe that humans were born evil, not good.
With that firm resolution, I began singing the Patriotic Song from the beginning.
“Until the East Sea’s waters and Mount Baekdu are dry and worn away…”
By the time I was finishing the third verse, the young master’s breathing had grown even.
“Rose of Sharon, three thousand ri of splendid rivers and mountains. People of Daehan. May Daehan people preserve it forever.”
I sang the last line of the anthem aloud, then held my breath.
I needed to tell whether this foxy young master was truly asleep or only pretending.
“Young Master, are you asleep? Shall I sing it again?”
“…”
Theodore lay on his back with his eyes meekly closed.
He seemed to be sleeping for sure, but I couldn’t trust it at all.
I’d been fooled just moments ago, so I was suspicious.
Back then, too, he’d had his eyes closed demurely, just like a sleeping princess in the forest, exactly as he did now. Holding my breath, I waved my palm over his face a few times.
“…”
“…”
At last! He had fallen asleep!
Delighted, I hurried toward the door, but Theodore, eyes still shut, said a single word to me.
“I’m not asleep yet.”
Theodore, with only one eye open, gave me an order.
“Sing again. From the first verse.”
“I already sang up to the third verse, so I think I can just start from the fourth.”
“True. But you tried to run away, didn’t you?”
Was I sleep-deprived? Why could I see two devil horns on the young master’s head?
“This is your punishment for shamelessly trying to leave me when I hadn’t even fallen asleep yet.”
Once again, Theodore crooked his finger arrogantly. My protests didn’t get through to him at all. In the end, it was that damned young master who held the sword by its hilt. I had no choice but to sit back down.
When I had sung the Patriotic Song all the way through the fourth verse, Theodore’s flat chest began to rise and fall in a steady rhythm.
As I was about to leave, an unaccountable unease nagged at me. Somehow it felt as though he might wake up again. You can’t tell a person by their looks alone.
I approached the softly breathing Theodore. The scent I’d noticed ever since he had held me tickled my nose.
Theodore smelled of fruit, dried grass, and sunlight. Each time he breathed out cold breaths, heavy with sleep, with a soft wheeze, his sweet scent grew stronger.
“Young Master.”
“…”
“Are you asleep?”
“…”
I whispered softly into Theodore’s ear.
“You’re petty and pigheaded, Young Master.”
No matter how skilled an actor Theodore was, he didn’t have the patience to stay unfazed after hearing himself cursed.
I was absolutely not using his sleep as a chance to say what I wanted to say.
At the word “petty,” Theodore let out a heavy groan, “Ngh.”
Is he really asleep?
I whispered once more.
“What good is a pretty face when your character’s half-baked?”
“Mmm…”
This time, I whispered my curses into his ear in a much softer, gentler tone.
“Looking at you, Young Master, reminds me of my nephew, who barged into my room during Chuseok and smashed my 180,000-won game console. In other words, an insufferable little brat.”
“Nngh…”
Theodore suddenly turned over onto his left side, writhing in distress.
A vertical crease formed between his fine brows. Even so, he didn’t overcome his anger and leap up.
Hmm, he was definitely asleep.
If he’d been awake, he should have been fuming from the moment I babbled “petty.”
I had to leave before he woke. If he caught me again, there was no telling how many more times I’d have to sing the Patriotic Song. I looked around, searching for the exit.
Belatedly, Theodore’s room caught my eye.
Unlike my room, the brazier here was out. It seemed to have been out for quite some time, because the room was chilly.
What’s more, I only now realized that this room was a semi-basement, the kind you’d hesitate over even if it were offered cheap.
Moonlight did slant in.
But that was all thanks to a small window high up near the ceiling. At best, generously speaking, a single window the size of a palm. I couldn’t even see outside properly.
It was cold, damp, and the light didn’t fully reach it.
‘Does nobody clean this room?’
I went over to the satinwood cabinet beside the door and slowly ran my finger across its top. The table and the chair were no different.
Everything had a layer of dust, as if it had weathered the hardships of the years just as they were.
“And they call him a young master.”
He was supposedly the child of a noble house, yet his treatment and care were a complete mess. It was embarrassing even to call this room the home of the Grand Duke’s precious young master.
“This is practically neglect.”
I took my hand off the cabinet and looked over Theodore.
Under the blue light, his skin looked even more ashen. Deep shadows fell along the line of his high nose bridge and his long lashes.
Was it because of the pale light? Or because of his bloodless skin?
Theodore looked terribly ill. Like someone who wouldn’t be strange to die at any moment.
I gazed quietly at the sleeping Theodore, and before I knew it, my hand reached out. Even though I knew Theodore couldn’t possibly be dead, I felt uneasy for no reason.
‘Is he even breathing?’
I held two fingers beneath Theodore’s nose. Thankfully, I could feel the air going in and out against my fingers.
I’d done my duty. This was enough. I looked at Theodore in silence for a while, then walked toward the door.
It was a pointless meddling. I knew. I had troubles of my own. True. I had to hurry back to my room before dawn broke. I knew. I knew it all, but…
It felt as though an invisible hand kept grabbing my ankle.
“Ah, seriously…”
I scratched the back of my head over and over.
I found a neglected box of matches nearby. After several attempts, I struck a flame and lit the brazier. When I stirred the brazier a few times with an iron rod, the room quickly warmed up.
The brazier was done. Using the remaining matches, I lit the candlestick and the lantern beside it as well. With a few motions of my hand, a soft glow filled the dark room.
Only after I’d vanquished all the darkness did my heart settle.
“Sleep well, Young Master. And this time, don’t even dream.”
Maybe it was my imagination. Before I left the room, it seemed to me that the space between the sleeping Theodore’s brows had faintly smoothed.
