For Sale: Male Lead, Obsession Included - Chapter 129

Suddenly, my back felt warm. I grabbed Feyden’s strong forearm and looked up behind me.

Feyden was staring at Jin with a fiercely possessive air, like he absolutely wouldn’t let his toy be taken away. The sharp, raised line of his eyes showed his hostility without any filter.

Jin didn’t avoid his gaze. At that, Feyden’s arm around me only tightened, pulling me closer into his embrace. I could feel the tense muscles of his chest pressed firmly against my back, as if he was ready to spring at any moment.

I tried to gently push Feyden’s strong arm away. But with my strength, there was no way I could move his arm.

“Hey, this one’s mine.”

“…?”

As I was wrestling pointlessly with his arm, Feyden came out with a completely bewildering line.

‘Mine? Who…?’

I was so dumbfounded, my mouth dropped open.

“What are you talking about? Why am I yours, Feyden?”

Even as I smacked at his arm, Feyden didn’t take his eyes off Jin. He just set his chin on top of my head and, in a triumphant voice, continued,

“Forget about it. Not a chance.”

What is he even saying!

In the end, I only managed to escape from Feyden’s hold after leaving a clear bite mark on his forearm.

Feyden stroked the mark on his arm with a mischievous grin. That lazy smile might look handsome under other circumstances, but since I was in the middle of it, all I felt was chills.

“See? She even left a mark to show everyone she’s mine.”

“What, did you eat something weird today? Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”

“I’ve always been like this.”

“You’re insane.”

I didn’t see any need to keep talking to him, so I quickly grabbed Jin’s arm and dragged him out the front gate. Staying around a lunatic like that was just asking for trouble.

“The snow’s really piling up. Looks like by tomorrow morning it’ll have built up nicely.”

Since we were out anyway, I suggested we take a walk before going back in. Jin simply nodded, as usual. I’d ask questions, and Jin would answer. Although, admittedly, sometimes half of them went unanswered.

His silence didn’t bother me. I’d grown used to it by now. Whenever Jin didn’t speak, I could just chatter more to fill the gap, so I never disliked talking with him.

“…I heard that once you become an adult, you’re going to return to the Empire.”

As I chatted about the snow, hoping it would pile up enough to make a snowman and so on, Jin, for the first time, broached a different topic.

Surprised, I immediately closed my mouth and thought about how to answer his question-like remark.

“To be exact, it’s before I become an adult. According to imperial law, you have to be baptized at the central temple when you come of age.”

“Then… after that, will you be staying in the Empire for good?”

“If it were up to me, I’d like to stay in Dongguk forever.”

At my answer, I thought I saw a brief smile at the edge of Jin’s lips. It disappeared too quickly for me to be sure if he really smiled or not.

“To live in another country for several months after coming of age, you need a residency permit, you know? And I’ve heard getting that permit is really difficult.”

“Ah…”

“So until I get that permit, I’ll have to stay in the Empire whether I like it or not.”

“…It’ll take a long time, won’t it?”

“Yeah.”

That much, even I didn’t know for sure.

To be honest, I’d come down to Dongguk while researching various ways to get a permit, but I was still debating which method I should try.

There were several ways to obtain residency, but not many I could actually attempt.

For example, ‘receiving a medal of honor from the Emperor as a war hero’, or ‘being unanimously recommended by the Council of Nobles for extraordinary contributions to society’—those were impossible for an ordinary citizen like me.

The only method I might be able to try was the first: ‘Donating 100,000 gold’. Given that the reward I received from Duke Dezereth was exactly 100,000 gold, it was basically like telling me not to immigrate at all. If I’d taken the entire payment straight to the authorities the moment I received it, I could have bought the permit. But after spending it here and there, I only had about 50,000 gold left.

That’s nowhere near enough. And it’s not as if I could just earn the remaining 50,000 gold, either. That amount of money is so enormous you’d have to own a gold mine and work it flat out for a year to make it.

So the next possible method is to ‘get letters of recommendation from two Counts or higher nobles.’

Honestly, that was out of my reach too, but just in case, because you never know what might happen in life, I kept Declan in mind for that one. Of course, it completely contradicted my resolve to cut ties with him, but…

‘Still, what can I do? I want that permit so badly.’

How could I possibly leave Dongguk, where I could experience the feel of Korea?