Chapter 23.2

It was so funny that she could laugh.

“Do you want one, too?”

Yernia must have lost some of her memories from eating that chocolate.

Why was she acting like nothing had happened between them at the lake?

Cassian shook his head as he glanced at the chocolate being offered.

Next, he took a step closer to Yernia.

Was he the only one who cared about the lake incident?

That hurt his pride.

“Why did you–”

Cassian was about to ask Yernia why she cried at the boat, but he suddenly heard a strange voice.

“Well. Well. If I lose my voice, will it be alright if I drink some water?”

Eyes widening in alarm, Yernia wandered the kitchen in a hurry before she decided to blow out the candles on the table.

The kitchen was pitch dark in an instant.

“What are you doing—”

“Shh.” Yernia held his hand, and  Cassian wanted to shake the chocolate and her saliva sticking against his skin.

He hated it so much that all he could do at that moment was to close his eyes shut and endure.

He didn’t want to make a fuss, not when Yernia’s face looked so horrified before she turned out all the lights.

She didn’t want to be discovered, and Cassian decided to put up with it.

Yernia dragged Cassian behind the counter to hide while she carried another box of chocolates in her free hand.

She crouched down and pulled Cassian–who wanted to stand away from her–to do the same.

Cassian stood there, defenseless, as Yernia took him down with a sudden, brutal force.

He slammed his head on the counter.

“Oh. Are you okay?”

Yernia’s hand reached out to check his injured head, but she had slapped him in the cheek instead.

The kitchen was too dark that Yernia could barely see where she had touched.

“You did that on purpose–”

“Shh!”

Alarmed, Yernia placed a finger in front of his lips as the sound of footsteps grew louder.

Cassian sighed.

He was convinced that they were completely hidden from plain sight, but he chose to shut his mouth.

“Huh? Why do we have candles?”

Of course, Yernia only blew out the candles and didn’t bring them with her.

She was panicking so hard that she couldn’t think clearly.

Yernia should have grabbed the candles.

Not the box of chocolates!

As the maid placed the candle on the counter, Yernia’s heart thumped when a soft orange glow illuminated their heads.

Yernia covered Cassian’s mouth just in case he wanted to sabotage their hiding spot.

Cassian thrashed as he struggled to escape from Yernia’s hold, but she didn’t let him go.

He got irritated when he saw Yernia raise her head slightly to peek over the counter.

She seemed nervous.

“Did the lady eat some chocolates in secret?”

The maid’s guess about Yernia stealing the chocolates like a thief was correct, but she didn’t look surprised at the thought.

On the contrary, the maid assumed it was the only logical explanation.

Did she already know about it?

Only then did Yernia realize why the Countess had squinted at her the day after she stole the chocolate.

The maid drank water and got out of the kitchen, leaving them to wonder if she still had the intention to look for Yernia and see if she had already left the crime scene.

When the sound of dragging slippers had faded away, and the light had also disappeared, Cassian shook off Yernia’s hand.

He scowled at her as he wiped the chocolate on her face with his palm.

Cassian had no other reasons aside from thinking that the girl looked annoyingly dirty.

“Why did you sneak in here, Yernia?”

Cassian couldn’t understand.

He thought it was alright if she wanted to eat chocolate anytime.

Why would she be wary of her servants and hide from them like criminals?

“I will get in trouble if Mama caught me eating chocolate. She had forbidden me from eating them.”

“Why?”

“She said it’s not good for my health if I ate sweets too much and it would make my teeth rot too. But it’s so delicious that I can’t stop eating it. I feel so sad.”

Yernia was a chocolate addict.

Cassian still couldn’t understand what was up with her, but he decided to stop asking her questions.

The girl was strange, but he was more curious about something else than this.

“There is something I wanted to tell you. Aren’t you bothered—”

“Are you going to tell Mama about this?”

Yernia, watching the kitchen door from the counter like a hawk, turned to look at him.

His large pupils trembled as if he had said something he shouldn’t have.

What made him anxious all of a sudden?

Misunderstanding Cassian’s silence, Yernia had regarded him as the enemy.

Yernia released  Cassian’s hand without warning and realized she wasn’t even holding it.

He seemed offended that he was the only one clinging unto her fingers.

“You don’t even listen to me till the end–”

Cassian’s complaints were interrupted when Yernia shoved the leftover chocolate—-that had already melted from her saliva– in his mouth.

He had never eaten any leftovers from anyone else in his life.

He was too stunned that he couldn’t even chew or spit the chocolate invading his taste buds right now.

“You’re my accomplice now.”

He wanted to spit the chocolate right away, but he was afraid that she would take that as a rejection.

She will cry an ocean of tears, and then, Yernia wouldn’t show her face to him anymore.

Cassian chewed the chocolate grumpily.

“Accomplices must protect each other. You know, right?”