Chapter 13
The dark expanse of the hall stretched before him, enveloped in the night’s shadow.
It seems he’d dozed off just where he was before.
But not quite in the same position.
He’d been on the sofa before, but now he was on the floor.
Realizing his situation, he felt ridiculous.
It wasn’t like him to fall off the sofa in his sleep; it must have been that damned dream’s fault.
Why did he have to dream of that, of all things…
“Ah! Boss, wake up!”
Ravian blinked.
It wasn’t his sleep-talking that had caused him to fall; it was a deliberate act by someone, and the rage surged through him as he realized it.
The audacious person who dared to lay hands on the boss’s body was none other than Keith.
“Hey you cheeky punk, just because I’ve been lenient lately…”
“Wake up! The kid might be dying!”
Keith boldly snapped back.
Ravian was taken aback by this outright defiant attitude.
“What are you talking about?”
“The kid seems sick!”
“…Damn it, are you messing with me? The kid was fine just a while ago, running around. How can she suddenly be sick?”
Keith blinked in bewilderment at Ravian’s unexpected reaction.
Seizing the momentum, Ravian growled threateningly.
“Obviously, you’re making a fuss over nothing, or that impish brat is faking sickness. Are you all this stupid…”
“If anything happens to the kid, it’s all on you.”
“…What?”
“If anything happens to the kid, it’s entirely your fault. You inhuman bastard.”
“…..”
Being called inhuman was nothing new to Ravian, but coming from Keith, it stung differently. Yet, what shook him most was the accusatory tone.
“Hey… what are you, my wife? Where do you get off talking to me like that?”
Keith just glared back at Ravian, filled with reproach, unmoved.
Ravian wondered if Keith had gone mad, getting too deep into the parental role Mercy had shoved onto him.
The chills that crept up Ravian’s spine turned into a full-blown shudder.
“Alright, alright, I’ll look at her…”
The next moment, Ravian found himself quickly ushered to Nina’s bedroom by Keith’s insistent pulling.
The long golden hair soaked in moonlight shimmered palely.
The owner of that hair, the young girl, was lying turned away from the door, buried in the bed.
“Check on her quickly!”
“…..”
Ravian shot Keith one last look before approaching the bed and staring down at the child turned away.
Nina didn’t move an inch.
She seemed to be asleep at first glance, but the irregularity of her breathing and other subtle signs made it clear she was awake.
Ravian was convinced that this impish little rascal had tricked Keith, that dimwit.
“Tsk, just pretending to be sick…”
As he clicked his tongue loudly, intending for the child to hear, he reached out to feel for a fever, only to recoil in shock the next moment.
Before even touching her, the wave of heat that hit him was startling.
Dreadful thoughts began to cloud his mind.
What if she was actually suddenly ill…
“Hey, kid!”
Nina’s body was quickly turned over.
Her small face, buried in the blanket, was now fully exposed.
“Huuuh…”
Her blue eyes, feverish and teary, looked up pitifully.
Ravian’s absinthe-colored eyes widened in shock, frozen in place.
It’s worth reiterating that Ravian dislikes children.
Be it a whiny child or a nagging adult, he has an aversion to any form of petulance.
He isn’t the type to be moved by tears or pitiful displays.
But in this moment, facing Nina’s tearful eyes, unexpectedly, his heart sank, and his mind went blank, experiencing a phenomenon he couldn’t quite understand.
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