novelraw Chapter 284: Someone Under the Bed
Chapter 284: Someone Under the Bed
"Hello."
Cecelia raised her hand and greeted Loren, the atmosphere somewhat awkward.
"What are you doing sneaking into my house?"
Loren suddenly realized he'd asked a pointless question. What else could she be here for? Definitely to get at him.
"I..."
Faced with Loren's question, Cecelia didn't know how to respond, her toes curling in embarrassment, wishing she could find a crack in the floor to crawl into.
She couldn't very well admit she was here to spy, could she? Although, if the opportunity arose, she'd probably ambush him too.
"Did you sneak in while we were out playing?"
Cecelia still didn't reply, but her expression told Loren everything.
Loren understood now why Cecelia had put down the Abyssal Gaze Eye; it was so she could seize the chance to infiltrate his home."How did you get in?"
The security here was fairly decent, not to mention Night Watchers were stationed nearby. It should have been impossible for anyone else to enter Loren's room.
Especially since Loren hadn't noticed any anomalies. If she'd used force to get in, there would definitely be noticeable traces left behind.
"I disguised myself as an attendant earlier... your maid accidentally gave me the key..."
Cecelia's voice was very low, as if she'd realized her current actions were wrong.
Loren rubbed his temples. He had already guessed the sequence of events.
Earlier, Cecelia had disguised herself as an attendant and come to Loren's place. Mirrorheart had taken the opportunity while giving a tip to hand the key over to Cecelia.
It couldn't have been an accident. Mirrorheart was very meticulous, often even more so than Loren himself.
Loren thought for a moment. Mirrorheart had never seen Cecelia before. Cecelia had always been very secretive; probably in the entire Uridia Kingdom, only Loren had seen her face. Mirrorheart couldn't possibly have recognized her.
So there was only one possibility: Mirrorheart thought this attendant was a pure beauty, sensed she was interested in Loren and harbored no ill intent, so she directly handed over the key, giving her an assist.
Sometimes Loren wondered how Mirrorheart could discern so many things...
However, Loren didn't make things too awkward for Cecelia and didn't press her further:
"Forget it, since you're already here, you sleep in my room. I'll sleep on the sofa."
Loren was afraid asking too many more questions might trigger a stress response in Cecelia, so he gave her a way out.
"But I want to sleep with you."
Loren had just reached the doorway when Cecelia called out to him.
This sentence poured all of Cecelia's courage into it. After saying it, the room became abnormally quiet, leaving only the sound of Cecelia's heartbeat.
Only then did Loren realize a human heartbeat could be so loud.
"Alright then. I'll make a bed on the floor here. You sleep in my spot."
Loren still gave Cecelia plenty of face. At this moment, Cecelia seemed to have lost all her strength and replied:
"A shady cockroach like me should just sleep under the bed."
As she spoke, Cecelia rolled a few more circles deeper under the bed, putting her out of even Loren's reach.
"..."
Loren didn't speak again either, just silently prepared his bedding on the floor. He couldn't really let Cecelia sleep under the bed.
"What kind of mess is this..."
After lying down on the bed, Loren rubbed his temples and muttered.
Cecelia was just completely baffling. Suddenly breaking into his house to leave strange letters, tricking Loren into going to find her with plans to kidnap him, and now suddenly hiding under his bed to spy on him.
Hearing Loren's sigh, Lilith gently hugged him. Cecelia, who had just rolled out from under the bed, saw this scene and then silently rolled back under the bed.
...
Loren didn't sleep well today because in the middle of the night, he kept feeling someone trying to pull off his clothes. And the person handling it was very clumsy, fumbling around, and ultimately didn't succeed in pulling them off, so Loren couldn't be bothered to deal with it.
"Good morning."
As usual, the first thing Loren saw upon opening his eyes was Lilith's gaze. Even after waking, Lilith hadn't left, not even shifting her line of sight, only smiling after confirming Loren's eyes were open.
"Where's Cecelia?"
Loren asked casually, but Lilith showed a confused expression. Loren understood and rephrased:
"That person who was hiding under our bed yesterday."
"She's still under the bed."
"..."
Loren was speechless. He lay on the bed, stuck his head out to peek under it, and then made eye contact with Cecelia in the dark corner.
"Good morning."
Cecelia also raised a hand to greet Loren.
"Coming out for breakfast?"
"No, I think this place suits me better."
"..."
Just as Loren fell silent, Anna walked in:
"Master Mentor, come out to eat... Is there something under the bed?"
As she spoke, Anna also looked under the bed and then saw Cecelia hiding in the dark corner.
"..."
Anna also fell silent, looking at Loren. Loren just shook his head and then led the others out of the room.
When Loren returned, he was holding a portion of food, which he placed by the bedside:
"Time to eat, Cecelia."
Hearing Loren's call, Cecelia didn't respond. She just silently reached out a hand and pulled the plate Loren had set down back under the bed.
Compared to Cecelia, the other Witches seemed a lot more normal.
"So that's Cecelia. She's completely different from what I imagined."
Anna commented while eating.
Besides Loren, Anna was probably the most familiar with Cecelia. She usually loved listening to Cecelia's songs, though most of the reason she listened was because the lyrics were written by Loren.
She had always thought Cecelia was some confident, radiant older sister type. She never expected Cecelia herself to be so gloomy. It was completely different from when she sang.
Loren really wanted to join Anna in complaining, but to spare Cecelia's self-esteem, Loren took Anna and walked out.
After arriving in the Living Room, Anna didn't bring up the matter of Cecelia. The others still didn't know Cecelia had infiltrated Loren's house, and Loren didn't know how to tell them.
They'd probably really think of Cecelia as a pervert... although that wasn't exactly wrong either.
Loren looked at Mirrorheart. Cecelia being able to sneak under Loren's bed was all Mirrorheart's doing.
Noticing Loren's gaze, Mirrorheart remained expressionless, as if none of this had anything to do with her, then silently threw her chopsticks on the floor and crawled under the table.
"..."
This time, Loren pushed her away. Loren was afraid Cecelia might accidentally see this scene if she crawled out.