Johannes fell silent after rambling, belatedly remembering that he was a high-level ability user with faster recovery than normal people.
Come to think of it, it was a little strange.
Unlike Abellus, he wasn’t seriously injured; he’d only bumped his head on the table, yet he was still moaning in pain, unable to pull himself together.
There wasn’t even a bruise, let alone a bump on his forehead for someone supposedly suffering so much.
‘Shouldn’t a high-level ability user recover from this kind of injury right away? It doesn’t make sense for him to be in so much pain that he needs bed rest.’
Iris, who had been eyeing Johannes suspiciously, soon sighed.
After all, everyone has a different threshold for pain.
What is a small wound to one person might be a big one to another.
If he was really sick and lying down, but she doubted him for making a fuss over nothing, wouldn’t that be even more heartbreaking for him?
‘Even if I can’t see any wound… if he says he’s in pain, then he must be.’
Seeing Johannes’ pained expression made her feel guilty for doubting him.
After sticking a bandage over the ointment, Iris clapped her hands clean.
“All done. Be careful not to get the wound wet. Unfortunately, I don’t have any painkillers… Does it still hurt?”
“…It’s a bit better now.”
It would be weird to say it still hurt, since it had been a while since he hit his head on the table.
Johannes shook his head slightly and pulled the blanket up.
He was starting to resent the turmoil inside him that refused to settle.
‘Is he going to keep lying down? Looks like he even has a bit of a fever….’
His face—and even his neck—were flushed red; he didn’t look well.
She couldn’t very well force a sick person to play, but it didn’t seem like he needed nursing, either.
It was out of the question to seduce someone who was ill, and the mood certainly wasn’t right for that anyway.
Iris looked awkwardly down at Johannes, who was coughing for no reason, and opened her mouth.
“Um, if you need to rest, I should probably head ho—”
“Ah, no. J-just a little! If I just rest like this for a little while, I’ll be fine.”
Johannes grabbed Iris’s wrist with both hands, his eyes wide in panic.
He was so surprised that he didn’t control his strength and ended up grabbing her wrist too hard.
Startled, he immediately let go, and Iris shook out her hand.
A dull ache throbbed in her wrist.
‘He doesn’t want me to go, so I can’t just leave… Well, like Johannes said, he’ll probably feel better soon. He should know his own body best.’
Johannes looked at Iris’s wrist with drooping eyes, like an abandoned puppy.
Seeing the tears brimming in his eyes, Iris realized that if she made too much of her wrist hurting, he might actually cry.
She forced a bright smile to show it was nothing, but then paused. Wait—teary eyes?
‘Ah! When he bumped his head earlier, he took off his sunglasses. I was too flustered to notice until now.’
With interest, Iris met Johannes’ gaze directly.
It was the first time she’d properly seen his red, beautiful eyes.
He always avoided her gaze, or, if eye contact seemed likely, he would just close his eyes altogether.
Lately, he’d always worn his sunglasses.
His long, cool eyes were slightly drooped at the ends, unlike Laika’s, giving him a gentle, kind look.
Every time his long lashes fluttered, they cast a shadow over his clear eyes, making him look even more delicate.
While observing his face closely, Iris suddenly realized something.
‘He probably doesn’t know he isn’t wearing his sunglasses. If he’d noticed, he would’ve panicked and tried to hide his eyes, just like always. Well, I only just realized it now myself, since I was busy helping him to the bedroom and searching for ointment.’
And she realized one more thing.
<Mind Reading> didn’t activate automatically upon eye contact—it required the user to intend to use the Skill.
If Johannes had read her mind, he wouldn’t look so calm.
Thinking about it, it made sense.
Recalling the time she saw Johannes’s State Window, <Mind Reading> was a regular Skill, not a Passive Skill, so he would have to consciously use it.
Should she tell him, or pretend not to notice?
She hesitated, then reached toward his eyes—wanting to see his reaction when he realized.
“That’s good, then.”
Pretending to brush away dust from next to Johannes’ eye, she indirectly let him know he wasn’t wearing his sunglasses.
For a moment, Johannes stared blankly at Iris—then, suddenly realizing, he hastily covered his eyes with his arm.
He had only now realized he wasn’t wearing his sunglasses.
He knew it looked weird, but he’d insisted on wearing sunglasses indoors because he was afraid of reading Iris’s mind.
Yet here he was, having taken them off without realizing—how awful.
The only saving grace was that, not realizing he’d taken them off, he hadn’t tried to use <Mind Reading>.
Still lying down, he fumbled on the side table for his sunglasses that weren’t there.
So flustered, he even forgot to keep pretending to be sick.
“S-sunglasses, wh-where are they….”
“I think you left them under the dining table earlier. You don’t really need them, do you? Why? Do you have to wear them?”
He looked so cute.
The way he flailed about, desperate to cover his eyes even now.
Iris, a smile tugging at her lips, grabbed Johannes’ wrist.
Not satisfied with just one, she grabbed the wrist covering his face, revealing his expression.
Johannes, unable—or rather, unwilling—to stop her, squeezed his eyes shut and sighed deeply.
Being pinned by both wrists while lying down felt strange.
His wrists and face felt hot—and there was no need to mention what was happening below.
He couldn’t tell if Iris was doing it on purpose, but to him, it felt oddly suggestive.
As if Iris was about to pounce on him. Of course, she wouldn’t actually do that, but that’s what it felt like.
His mind filled with lewd images.
What if he pulled Iris down onto the bed and hugged her tight?
Embarrassed by the fleeting thought, he wiggled his toes under the blanket, then replied in a hoarse voice.
“Hoo, i-it’s… okay. I think… I don’t need the sunglasses.”
“Let me see. Why are you always so afraid to look me in the eye?”
Why was he so reluctant to read her mind?
There was no reason not to now.
She didn’t dislike Johannes anymore.
Gazing stubbornly down at him, Iris was suddenly struck by a realization.
‘Oh, right. I didn’t like him before. Actually, it was closer to dislike… Was that why he didn’t want to read my mind? But that’s not the case anymore. I mean, who visits someone they dislike at their house?’
Now, she finally understood why Johannes had always avoided her gaze.
It had been fourteen years—not just a day or two.
Even if she was slow on the uptake, he’d avoided her and given her cold looks for so long; there’s no way he hadn’t noticed she disliked him.
So, if he kept avoiding her eyes because of that… she wanted him to know it wasn’t true anymore.
“Open your eyes.”
Johannes squirmed, as if asking her to let him go, but Iris didn’t want to.
Rather than release him, she twisted both his wrists and climbed onto the bed.
Feeling the bed dip on one side, Johannes took a deep breath, eyes still shut.
Iris’ knee touched one of his legs through the blanket.
Johannes squeezed his eyes tighter, biting his lip.
If he didn’t hold onto his sanity, he might just pull Iris under him and kiss her.
If he did something like that, the kindness on Iris’s face might turn to contempt.
Breathing raggedly, Johannes weakly shook his arms, unable to forcefully shake her off.
“D-don’t know. Wait, c-can you just… let go for a second?”
“I said open your eyes. What’s so bad that you’re like this?”
With a playful note in her voice, Iris pressed him again to open his eyes.
Johannes, twice her size, squirming and pleading, was so cute it was fun to tease him.
She was only gripping his wrists lightly—he could shake her off easily if he tried, but he didn’t.
He really was too kind for a villain.
Finding amusement in her own mischief, Iris climbed atop his body, separated only by the blanket.
His troubled face was amusing, and she did want to tempt him a little.
She could feel his big body jump under the thick blanket.
Leaning closer to Johannes, Iris whispered in a low voice, pressing him again,
“Hurry! Open your eyes, okay?”
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