Why, Can't You Eat? - Chapter 78
Translator and Editor: Effe and Yonnee
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Chapter 78
‘…My stomach hurts.’
Lying on the bed, I continued to toss and turn. The dull ache I had felt while talking to Ares had started to bother me again by evening.
Initially, it had felt like being pricked by needles, but gradually, it turned into a sharp pain as if a thorn was stuck in my stomach. I couldn’t do anything but roll on the bed in agony.
Crouching into myself provided momentary relief, but the pain would resurface from within. No position change made me comfortable. To make matters worse, my back now ached as well. Even though I took medication, the pain persisted instead of improving.
“Ugh…”
A moan escaped through tightly clenched lips. Cold sweat dripped from my forehead. Only in the late hours could I finally fall asleep.
And when I woke up in the morning, my body felt lethargic, so I thought it might have been due to travel fatigue. I didn’t think much of it until around noon when my stomach began to ache again, and I ended up hunched over my desk.
It wasn’t long before Damian came to visit.
“Hiya!”
“…..”
I have no energy in me to respond properly to his playful greeting. Lifting my head slightly, struggling even to sit up, Damian approached with a narrowed brow.
“What’s wrong with you? Are you sick?”
“Yes, I’m sick. So, please don’t say anything weird today.”
“Anything weird? Hmph, what do you mean weird?”
“…You’re asking even though you know?”
Damian chuckled, leaning over my desk with a mischievous smile. It was a smile that seemed to find great joy in this situation.
“Don’t you think we’ve become somewhat closer compared to when we first met?”
“No.”
“Hey, when we first met, you wouldn’t even make eye contact with me. You stumbled over your words and felt awkward. But how close do you think we are now?”
Did he really believe what he was saying? Rather than saying we’d become close, it might be more accurate to say we’d become comfortable with each other. I replied while pressing on my throbbing lower abdomen.
“We haven’t become close, but we have become more comfortable.”
“Comfortable?”
Even though we were more comfortable with each other, in reality, it felt more like we were on the bad side of things rather than the good side. It meant we could speak without reservations. Damian gave a strange expression to my blunt tone.
“I mean it. I’ve heard a lot of complaints from you like ‘annoying,’ ‘fiendish,’ ‘scary,’ ‘irritating,’ and ‘uncomfortable.’”
“…That’s not what I meant, but please, don’t live your life like that.”
“Haha.”
“I didn’t mean for you to laugh.”
I always thought of myself as someone who can tolerate a lot, but talking to Damian often made me feel irritated. He was even the first person I ever hit. I wondered what would happen if things got really bad. I looked at him with a mix of concern and pity. When Damian was acting all nonchalant, he suddenly reached out and touched my head and ear.
“Ack!”
I jerked my head violently, rising abruptly. I was so surprised that I almost forgot about my stomach ache.
“Why? You said we’re comfortable, so isn’t this okay?”
“No, I didn’t mean this.”
“What do you mean then? Does ‘comfortable’ have a different meaning?”
“…I misspoke. We’re not comfortable at all, so please don’t do that. But why are you here? You didn’t come to borrow a book, did you?”
“Unbelievable, how harsh. You’re right, though.”
I furrowed my eyebrows at his constant evasive replies. When I reflexively pressed my abdomen again, Damian discreetly glanced at my hand and said,
“Have you taken any medicine?”
“It’s not working.”
“Why did you come to work if you’re in pain?”
“I was fine in the morning.”
“But do succubi have periods?”
“No. I’ve never had one since my first period…”
“Then it might not be menstrual cramps.”
“……”
I didn’t even realize how the conversation flowed so naturally. I didn’t know what was so strange about it. I couldn’t help but think about how High Priest Larsen had educated him. He had been such a respectable person in terms of personality when compared to Sinclair…
I sighed and sat back down in the chair. I could feel Damian’s hand running through my hair.
“You’ll ruin my hair, please stop.”
“Then I’ll tie it back up for you. I haven’t tried it before, though.”
“Haa…”
“Why are you sighing?”
“Damian, really. Why did you come…?”
“Just bored, I guess? But it seems like you’re not feeling well.”
“If you know, just leave me alone.”
Damian brushed the fallen hair behind my ear as I replied in a weak voice. I accepted his words as he continued to run his fingers through my hair. Amidst the soothing feeling, I realized it didn’t feel as bad as I thought.
As I lazily blinked my eyes, time seemed to stretch on, Damian firmly pressed his cheek against mine. When I raised my head slightly, he was muttering a soft ‘ah’, I opened my lips reflexively and felt something gently enter my mouth.
A sweet taste spread across my tongue.
“Is it candy?”
“Yes.”
“It’s sweet.”
“Do you like sweet things?”
“No, not really.”
I straightened my back and mumbled with my mouth full. He extended a piece of candy wrapped in paper as if he was asking me to spit it out, but I shook my head.
I didn’t like my mouth to feel dry. But maybe it was because it had been a while. Today, though, the sweetness was enjoyable.
Damian took more candy from his pocket.
“I have more.”
“Ah. But why are you carrying candy around?”
“Huh? To give to Reg… Uh, wait. Don’t make that expression.”
“What expression?”
“What expression? You had a… really strange face.”
“Just thinking how close you’ve become.”
“No, Reg always looks for candy after training.”
“I see.”
I replied disinterestedly and acted blankly as I popped another piece of candy into my mouth. Damian, who had been looking at me curiously, asked,
“Good?”
Instead of answering, I grabbed another and put it in my mouth, causing him to make a slightly disgusted face. He had given them to me himself. As I rolled the candy around in my mouth and extended my tongue to lick my lips, Damian suddenly grabbed my cheek in front of him and kissed me.
“Mmph!”
I made a strange sound in response to the unexpected situation. His tongue entered my mouth at that moment, and soon an explicit sound followed. It wasn’t just ticklish—it was overwhelming to the point where I couldn’t taste the sweetness at all.
Gasping for air, I quickly pushed his head away.
“Aack!”
“You, you! Really!”
“That hurts.”
He muttered as he rubbed his forehead where a red mark remained. On the other hand, I was stunned by his reaction. My cheeks started heating up. Damian, who had been pouting, smirked and opened his mouth, revealing the candy that had ended up on his tongue. I took a deep breath and collapsed onto the desk.
“Why are you so embarrassed? It’s not the first or second time.”
“…I just want to be alone. Leave.”
“Look at you, getting all flustered. Are you really that comfortable around me now?”
“Yes, I’m comfortable.”
“That.”
“I’m so comfortable that I don’t know what I might do next time.”
“……”
Fortunately, he wasn’t completely clueless. I stared at him, his smiling face now frozen, and Damian brushed his arm.
“Wow, I just got goosebumps. You’ve got quite the sparkle in your eyes… I mean, if it were like before, you wouldn’t even be able to look at me because you’d be so embarrassed. We’ve really become close, haven’t we?”
“Maybe being shameless to this extent is like a contagious disease, right?”
“I’m only shameless around you.”
“Don’t lie.”
“Are you still in pain?”
“Out of nowhere… Oh.”
“It’s not hurting much, is it?”
I alternated my gaze between the candy on the desk and Damian, my face full of doubt. Did the candy have something in it? Damian, as if knowing what I was thinking, raised an eyebrow and said,
“It’s not that. Earlier, when I touched your head, I used magic to dull the pain a bit.”
“You can do that too?”
“Well, there are a lot of drama queens and crybabies out there.”
Drama queens and crybabies, really? I didn’t want to delve too deep into it. Anyway, thanks to him, it was much better than writhing in pain as if I’d been stabbed with a needle or punched with a fist. After letting out a sigh, I said,
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now, come play with me.”
“I have a lot of things to do.”
“Aha, lots to do. Well then, I guess I’ll have to help.”
“No, there’s no need…”
I’m fine, so just leave.
But since I received his help, I couldn’t bring myself to say it outright. And although he knew my expression wasn’t great, Damian pretended not to notice until the end.
“What should I start with?”
“……”
“Why? I said I’d help.”
“Unwanted favors are just unnecessary meddling, Damian.”
“That’s because your thoughts are written all over your face. In reality, you don’t dislike it that much.”
“I dislike it.”
Despite my prompt response, Damian’s face continued to show a smile, but I frowned.
“I said I dislike it.”
“I know, I know. I like it too.”
“No, I said I dislike it!”
“If you really disliked it, you wouldn’t have spoken or looked at me at all. You’re generally quite soft with us, you know?”
Soft? That couldn’t be. If it weren’t for the situation with Lilith, I wouldn’t be having this conversation, let alone look at each other. But before I could counter, Damian continued.
“When I look at your face, it doesn’t seem like you’d ever do that, but who knows? If you truly disliked it and found it dreadful, you wouldn’t have seen things that way, no matter the situation.”
“……”
“You said something like that back then too. That there might have been some goodwill.”
“If we had met under normal circumstances, I might have said that.”
“Hey, come on, what’s normal? We met each other in our own way, didn’t we?”
“…Are you being serious?”
I didn’t think my idea of normalcy was that far from others. I spoke with a straight face, and Damian chuckled.
“No, I’m kidding. But really, what does it matter? Your attitude toward me, Eddy Hyung, Odil Hyung, and even Al Hyung has changed quite a bit compared to when we first met. Oh, Reg, too.”
“That’s… true.”
“Living and being in conflict together for three years, how could emotions not develop, right? In my opinion, you’ve grown fond of us too, even if you don’t realize it. So that’s why you got so upset.”
It wasn’t entirely wrong. I had trusted them, and that trust had been shattered. But then again, isn’t that something anyone would feel? It was problematic to jump to conclusions based on that. I opened my mouth to counter, but Damian spoke faster.
“Let’s be honest with each other.”
“It doesn’t seem like that should be coming from you.”
“I’ve got nothing to hide now, you know.”
“Did you come here to say that?”
“With it? To chat, get closer, and maybe even ask you out on a date.”
“Dam…”
Ares had said something like that, why were these people all acting this way? I would have gladly screamed and bolted if Damian had said something similar. It would have been chilling to hear those words from him.
Although I had already heard something akin to a confession before, the situation now was different. I stared at him nervously, but Damian spoke with a serious face.
“I said it, I like sweets.”
“…Ah.”
“I think maybe I lived too strictly when I was young, and that’s why I turned out this way. But there’s a cafe I really want to visit, and I can’t go alone.”
“You want me to go with you?”
“Yes.”
“There are other people you could go with, like Regulus or Ares.”
“It’s not the kind of place two guys can go to!”
What kind of scheme was this? I was about to reject him again, but he suddenly shouted.
“Hey, now that I’ve shown my sincerity, just go out with me!”
“What?”
“I heard you’re going out with Al Hyung, right? That guy, he was so excited about going out that I had to corner him and pester him to reveal it. He’s trying to hide it now and stuff, but he’s terrible at playing it cool.”
“……”
“Will you go?”
“…Ha.”
In the end, I must have given in to Ares’ suggestion, which was why Damian was persisting like this. If I refuse again now, he looks determined to cling to my ankles. I sighed several times and reluctantly nodded, my expression clearly showing my lack of enthusiasm. Damian smiled broadly.
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