Imprinted with the Obsessive Male Lead - Chapter 56

It was Logan’s voice. Blinking a few more times, I pushed myself up and looked out the window. It had already grown dark outside. It was late afternoon. When I opened the door, Logan was standing there.

“Logan. What is it?”

“Ah. Were you sleeping after all?”

Logan, who greeted me with a bright smile, asked as he saw me yawning. It seemed like he already knew I had been asleep.

“I suddenly got really sleepy.”

“Because of the nutritional drink, right?”

I widened my eyes and froze, staring at him in surprise.

“How did you know?”

“I saw it get delivered during morning training.”

“Have you ever had it too, Logan?”

“No. I don’t need to take something like that.”

Logan grinned, then proudly held out something he had been hiding behind his back.

“So! I brought this!”

Inside a transparent bottle was a blue liquid. It was a very pretty color. It swayed, reminding me of a clear midsummer tropical sea.

I took the bottle and stared at it. When I shook it lightly, slices of lemon that had sunk to the bottom floated up as if dancing. Tiny bubbles fizzed lightly around the bottle.

“What is this?”

“In the North, when there’s something worth celebrating, we drink a beverage made from special blue berries that grow in the summer. The taste is almost like coconut. Of course, it’ll taste better than coconut juice. It has lemon added, and it’s mixed with white wine.”

“You’re giving this to me?”

Logan nodded vigorously.

“Actually, I wanted to hold a celebration party. But the North is unstable right now, so…”

Scratching the back of his head, Logan explained at length. Even though I had been working hard on purification, the people of the North were still struggling because the land had been contaminated by mana for so long, so holding a party right now would be difficult. He said he had mentioned it to Chase, and Chase told him to do it in the spring when things improved. He looked quite apologetic as he said that.

In truth, there was nothing for him to feel sorry about. It was true that I was putting effort into purification, but I wasn’t doing it without any compensation. So I hadn’t even thought about something like a welcoming party, nor did I plan to have one.

Chase already dislikes me, and once Michael is dealt with, I intended to leave this place anyway.

“Can I try drinking it now?”

“Yes. If you’d like.”

“Then let’s drink it together.”

I smiled at Logan. Since I had some free time anyway, there was also something I had wanted to ask him. We headed to the sitting room.

“Will there be cups in the sitting room?”

“I’ll get them.”

Excited, Logan dashed off and brought back wine glasses from the dining hall. He also brought biscuits to go with it.

We sat facing each other and took a sip of the blue berry juice. I widened my eyes and covered my mouth with my hand as it opened in surprise.

“This is so good!”

It was refreshing, incredibly sweet, and had just the right amount of carbonation. Honestly, just from the color, being blue and mixed with lemon and wine, I had thought it would taste strange, but when I actually drank it, it tasted far better than I imagined.

Unlike the small sip I had taken to wet my mouth, I was about to take a big gulp, but I paused.

“…But it’s okay for me to drink this, right?”

“Why?”

“If it has wine mixed in, isn’t it alcohol?”

“Come on. The wine is only a very small amount. It’s basically fruit juice. I don’t think there’s anyone who gets drunk from this.”

“Really?”

“It’s forbidden for children, though. But I’ve never seen anyone actually get drunk from it.”

Now that I thought about it, aside from the carbonation, it didn’t feel strong at all. It really did taste like fruit juice. Without hesitation, I took a big gulp of the drink. Then, picking up a biscuit,
I brought up what I had really wanted to ask Logan.

“By the way, Logan. There’s something I’m curious about.”

“Yes? Ask anything.”

“Why does Chase dislike weak people so much?”

“Ah. That.”

Logan closed his eyes and nodded up and down with a rather serious expression. I put a small piece of broken biscuit into my mouth and waited for his answer. Logan opened his eyes.

“When you went into the office, did you happen to see the portrait above the fireplace?”

“I did. The previous Grand Duke, the Grand Duchess, and Chase, right?”

“That’s correct.”

Logan refilled my half-empty glass and continued.

“The Grand Duchess was very ill when she was alive.”

I knew it. So that was the reason. It was an answer I had more or less expected.

So his mother had been sick, and that was why he disliked weak people. Hearing it clearly from Logan made it easier to understand why Chase had pushed me away. If his mother had been ill, it made sense that he might have some trauma.