Chapter 60

30. — XXX-Rated Romance Novel (2)

“Lyle went there.”

“Sir Lyle?”

“Yes.”

A sigh of relief escaped after I heard Cain’s reply.

At least, the rumor that Grand Duke Destro had a strange hobby of buying and collecting fairy tales would not be spreading in Aren. As a fellow writer, I was grateful that Cain’s character did not completely disintegrate, and I suddenly had a strange thought.

“Wait… Does that mean Sir Lyle agreed when the owner of the bookstore said that my book and this book were of a similar genre?”

Cain did not answer my question this time.

However, to me, that silence already sounded like an affirmation.

“…Sir Lyle, I didn’t see him that way, but his eyes are really on the soles of his feet.”

I pouted my lips and drank the ginger tea Roan had brought. Because of the heat, it felt like my stomach was relieved a little.

“I’m asking because I don’t understand.”

“….?”

“Then, are you saying that this book written by Young Lady and the books I prepared are completely different kinds of books?”

“It’s completely different!”

How many times is this guy really going to ask?

“If you read a little, you’ll know. My book and these books are completely different!”

Hearing my angry voice, Cain narrowed his eyebrows and turned towards the books on the table. Seeing him like that, I continued my words.

“If you later find out in which bookstore Sir Lyle bought these books, please let me know.”

“….”

“If it’s a bookstore that can’t tell the difference between romance and adult literature, I really don’t them to have my books.”

“….”

“How could they say that my books are similar to these books?”

Saying that, I then pushed the books in front of me away. I didn’t even want them to be kept near me. I glanced back at Cain, who was moving his body and muttering as he buried his body in the depths of the sofa.

“It’s different…”

“I’ve said it many times though it’s completely different! It really is as different as heaven and earth!”

“….”

“Undoubtedly, if my books were of a similar category to these books, I would’ve had nothing to say and even cut my head off when Your Highness found out that I had written a book with you as the model of my book.”

It was only when he heard that I would cut my head that he seemed to believe what I was saying.

Cain said, putting my book on top of the pile of books.

“Then, let’s leave these books behind and go straight to the point.”

“…To the point?”

“Read it again, your book.”

“….”

“As much as you can read.”

The gold leaf engraved title on the dark turquoise cover caught my eyes.

The book that made Cain, the male protagonist, and Adelia, the extra, become so terribly entangled and made me his lover, ‘The Mad Grand Duke Loves Me.’

“…Read, read this book?”

I swallowed dry saliva in front of the lustrously rising sun and the man in front of me, who seemed to not even be able to sleep at all. When I saw Cain nod his head, I suddenly remembered the embarrassing lines that the male protagonist would throw at the heroine, and my hand that was reaching for the book stopped.

…Is this a new torture method? Wanting me to read the romance novel I wrote myself?

Watching me falter, he added quietly.

“If you don’t like it, you can read the book you threw away a while ago…”

“Reading—I’m reading this!”

I looked at Cain and quickly opened the book. As I scratched my head in embarrassment from my book, which had been a while since I had read it, I then carefully read the first sentence.

“Cain Destro. He was the only Grand Duke of the Empire, Lian. With dark hair and cardinal eyes as red as blood, he was the most cherished servant and close friend of the Emperor of Lian, Joan, and the war hero who led the war against Repli to victory five years ago…”

As I read the book slowly, the hot gaze I felt from the side of my face disappeared. In an unexpected situation, I glanced at Cain, and his eyes were tightly shut.

…He is not sleeping, is he?

Even when I read those uninteresting books for six hours, his eyes were fully wide open. But now, his eyes shut before I even finished three lines…?

“H-he’s the war hero that led victory against Repli… Your Highness?”

Sleeping.

This stupid guy told me to read a book, and then he just sleeps again.

“Oh, isn’t this really too much?”

Even though I closed the book aloud, he was still asleep and did not move in the slightest. Although I should have thanked him for ending the difficult labor I usually had to do for six hours in just thirty seconds, this second experience was making me feel more absurd rather than making me feel grateful.

I groaned as I got up from my seat and glared at him.

So, was he saying that my book is less interesting to him than books like “Pythagorean theorem”, “A Study on Human Behavior and its Background”, and “The Metropolitan”?

“This is ‘Million’s’ book! It’s one of the most famous in our world…!”

After I shouted in frustration, I then put the book on the table and swept my head. When I saw Cain sleeping peacefully, a hoarse voice leaked out of my mouth.

“How can this male lead have insomnia, writer?”

Skepticism of the original author, whom I didn’t even know what their face looked like, soared to the sky.

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