"Young Master… answer me," Matthew suddenly said.

"Huh?" Jean didn't pay attention, so he asked again, "What did you say?"

"I said… Young Master, you're not happy to live with me, right?"

…

Jean could sense the darkness that slowly built up and turned the shadow behind Matthew's back into a cackling shadow monster. He shivered and shook his head immediately, "Not at all, Matthew. How do you get that assumption anyway?"

"Because you don't seem to be excited…." Matthew replied, still with his dark as coal gaze staring at Jean.

"Ah, that's not because I don't want to be with you! It's because of my Big brother! He intentionally put me in a dorm to make me uncomfortable, so I will return to the Palace every weekend. Huff, he is a meanie!"

…

'So it's because you want to stay with your Big brother, Archduke Maximillien, right?' Matthew thought.

'Or is it with your fiancee, Saint Raphael De Argent?'

'Maybe with that knight, Wolf, whom you had kissed just now? No need to hide it from me, Young Master. I know that you had just kissed that guy. Your red and moist lips already told me.'

Various scenarios played in Matthew's head as he kept having suspicion on Young Master Jean and everyone else he was close to.

Yes, he had to admit that he was a jealous man. He had been in love with Young Master Jean since the first time they met, but Young Master never saw him as a potential suitor.

Maybe because he was just a peasant, not worth entering his eyes.

Yet, his greediness kept on growing every day, and it was inevitable that Matthew had a slight… just a slight obsession with Young Master Jean. Even though the latter always saw him merely as a friend instead of a romantic interest, unlike Archduke Maximillien, Saint Raphael, and Wolf.

'I want him all for myself...'

[Pupa: Ding! ?????]

[Pupa: Alert! ?????]

[Huh?]

[Pupa: Huh?]

[That should be my line. What the heck was that? An empty notification from you? Are you messing around with me right now?]

[Pupa: I don't even know what happened. The notification is automatic, so something must've triggered it.]

[But there's nothing there, not Wolf, Maximillien, or Raphael. What is that empty notification?]

[Pupa: I don't know, this is the first time. Maybe it's just a bug. Let me report this to the Headquarter later. Hopefully, that lazy Father Admin can just do something rather than shrugging every problem.]

While Yunyu and Pupa were debating about this, Matthew's shadow turned even more volatile as the air around them started to thin and suffocating.

But because of Saint Raphael's divine protection, Jean was utterly oblivious because he was unaffected by the pressure, even though regular people would've fainted at this point.

"Young Master… are you sure that you want to stay with me? I can… I can leave the dorm and stay with my parents in the city if you find me unsightly…."

"No!" Jean got up from the bed and then threw his weight on Matthew. Matthew was startled, and they fell on the bed, with Jean hugging him tightly. "Don't speak like that, Matthew. I never find you unsightly. Trust me, it's just me who's in a bad mood just now…."

The shadow and dark aura around the room started dissipating. Matthew slowly put his hands on Young Master Jean's waist.

"Really? You want to stay with me?" Matthew asked, full of hope.

[… Okay, somehow, I got creeped out by him. Something about Matthew just doesn't feel right. But I can't really ignore him at this point.]

[Pupa: Just cater to his need, but not too much.]

"O—Of course, we're best friends, right?" Jean said.

…

Matthew released his hands from Jean's waist and chuckled bitterly, "Yes, Young Master, we're great friends… for now."

"Eh, what do you mean?" Jean asked.

"It's nothing. Now, please get off of me. I need to unpack my shirt," Matthew said curtly.

"Ah, sorry…"

Jean got up and then sat on his bed again. He saw Matthew unpacking his luggage and started putting his shirt inside his assigned medium-sized wardrobe.

Somehow, Jean felt that Matthew's mood was pretty unpredictable. He could smile for a second, then scorn at the next second. Even though Matthew was very handsome, he was also a very gloomy person, making him undesirable for the ladies. Not that he wanted to be close to them in the first place, he found zero interest in any woman… or man. He only had a romantic interest in Young Master Jean.

Though, Matthew always cheered up whenever Jean was around.

[Matthew is very different compared to Madeline Moulin, the MC of this otome game.]

[Pupa: Of course, because the one inside this MC's body is Xu Jiansheng. That sad soul whose heart had been broken by a spicy chicken host so many times.]

[Ehe, I mean, I didn't know that they are the same person before. If I knew it earlier… I will still probably do the same. Because he is not part of the mission.]

Matthew noticed that Young Master Jean had been eyeing his movement for hours. Thus he confronted him.

"Young Master, do you need something from me?"

"Unn… nothing, I just think that Matthew is a very handsome young man. Why don't you have a girlfriend?"

Matthew paused. He dropped the shirt he held and stared at Jean with a simple gaze full of deeper meaning inside. As if he was signaling the oblivious Young Master that everything was so obvious, it was Jean who was too stupid to realize it.

But knowing that Jean wouldn't get it, Matthew replied, "I'm not attracted to girls."

"Ahh, so you are attracted to boys? Hn… Jean has a lot of young noblemen around! Do you want me to introduce you? Un…" Jean was thinking about the suitable man for Matthew, but Matthew found this so aggravating.

Thus he stated, "I already have someone that I love."

"Oh?!" Jean gawked excitedly, "Who is that lucky boy?! Tell me!"

Matthew stared at the oblivious Jean dead in the eyes, and he opened his mouth, "The one that I've been in love with for a long time is…."

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