For Sale: Male Lead, Obsession Included - Chapter 149

“Wow. Why are there so many people.”

Even taking a single step meant bumping into someone here, crashing into someone there. It was nothing but a sea of people. Were there really this many people in the Empire turning twenty. Did a baby boom happen twenty years ago or something.

I clicked my tongue at the sight of the teeming crowd even though we had not yet reached the entrance of the central temple.

I wasn’t sure if the baptism ceremony could even end properly like this.

“Feyden, this really is going to finish today, right?”

I looked up at Feyden, who was walking beside me with an indifferent expression. Since he’d received his baptism before me, I asked in hopes of getting some advice, but Feyden just jerked his chin and told me to watch where I was going. He kept scolding me about what we’d do if I wandered off and got lost while we were weaving back and forth like this.

Strangely, Feyden was more irritable than usual today. Did he not get any sleep or what?

It’s not like I don’t want to walk properly. There are just too many people, what am I supposed to do?

“That way!”

“Let’s go together!”

That was when it happened. People suddenly surged toward one spot, and I clutched my shoulder where I’d been hit hard.

“Ugh.”

In that brief instant, Feyden had already drawn his sword halfway from where it was strapped to his back. Seeing the flashing blade, I panicked and shouted.

“Feyden. T-This isn’t the place for that. You know, right?”

A swordfight in a temple was unthinkable. Did he want to see tomorrow’s sun or not.

Feyden glared murderously at the back of the person who’d shoved me, then slowly lowered the hand gripping his sword at my protest.

“I memorized that bastard’s face.”

I deliberately ignored his murderous muttering and turned to look at him.

“Why are you so sensitive today? Is something wrong?”

“How could I not be?”

“Why would you anyway, Feyden. I’m the one getting baptized.”

At my lightly grumbling tone, Feyden grabbed my shoulders and turned me to face him. Then he bent down to meet my gaze.

“I told you, didn’t I? Protecting you is my job. Do you have any idea how hard it is to stay on guard in a place this open, packed with people whose identities haven’t even been confirmed?”

His tone sounded like he was saying, ‘What would you know,’ but the thick hands gripping my shoulders conveyed his genuine vigilance for my sake.

Realizing that deep intent, I felt embarrassed for having found Feyden annoying all day for being overprotective.

“Ahaha… I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about that.”

“What about it? The contract ends today anyway, so think of it as a final bit of service.”

Feyden pointed ahead. He probably meant we should get in line before it was too late.

As I walked slowly, I mulled over what he’d said.

‘It’s already been five years.’

The contract I’d made with him from the start lasted until the day I became an adult, in other words, the day I received my baptism. Honestly, it would’ve been enough to hire him only until we left the Eastern Kingdom, but we’d set a generous term.

Back when we first made the contract, it felt like a distant future, yet here the final day already was, leaving me with mixed emotions.

The fact that I was getting baptized today meant my relationship with Feyden ended here too.

His light, unburdened voice calling it the end somehow made me feel disappointed, sinking my mood further. We’d gone all the way to the Eastern Kingdom together and lived side by side for years. Did Feyden really not grow attached to me at all.

‘I’m this reluctant, huh.’

I stopped walking and turned to look at Feyden. If he asked why I was making that pouty face, I was ready to shout back and ask if he wasn’t reluctant too, but for some reason, Feyden’s gaze wasn’t on me.

‘What is it?’

When I turned my head to the right, where he was looking.

“……”

The massive crowd was splitting apart to either side, like the Red Sea parting.

At the end of the empty passage created as people withdrew, a man appeared, walking with an air of ease and dignity.

He was tall, with long limbs. He wore black pants that revealed the strength of his thigh muscles, and a black poet shirt loosely unbuttoned at the front. With an indifferent expression, the man carried a long sword at his waist, secured by a belt.

Though his attire was comfortable and ordinary, the overwhelming presence emanating from him made it feel as if he were wearing a uniform.

Untamed black hair contrasted against pale skin. And eyes of a vivid red, like melted rubies, sharp and piercing. His tightly pressed lips sent a chill through the hearts of those who looked at him.

The man, now giving off a distinctly masculine aura no longer befitting the word boy, was named Declan.

Declan.

“……”

He had changed so much, yet how could I forget him.