I Don't Want To Work! - Chapter 123

CHAPTER 123

I felt breathless for a moment. 

Lionel was crying so sorrowfully this time, unlike the playful crying he had been doing until now, it was the second time he had cried like this. 

The first was after being rescued from the temple. 

It was the night he realized he had nowhere to go. 

The night he heard from a soldier that the whole village had burned to the ground. 

He crouched among the sacks of herbs, not even making a sound, his breath held, crying so bitterly.

“Lionel….” 

Even then, my breath was choked by the thick sorrow that filled the room.

Now, it felt similar, with my throat constricted just like back then.

“What is it exactly?” 

Lionel looked at me without even thinking about wiping away the pouring tears.

“What are you hiding exactly?”

His face twisted. 

He bit his lips as if holding something back, but a mournful voice escaped through the cracks.

“Why can’t the evil god and I ever get closer, why does she say that?”

Unresolved emotions fell to the ground.

“…What’s even more infuriating is that I can’t argue against that statement.”

His large hand approached slowly and grabbed my sleeve.

“I hate it, Master.”

Lionel, shaking his head, began to cry even more sorrowfully.

“I hate that something else knows you better than I do.”

“Lionel…”

“I hate knowing things I don’t know.”

But what’s even sadder is that Lionel, having said that much, gritted his teeth again.

“I can’t argue against the evil god’s words…”

With that, a drop of blood fell to the ground.

“Lionel.”

Startled, I approached Lionel.

After embracing him, I held his cheeks with both hands and made him look up.

The face that met mine was a mess.

Distorted face, reddened nose, tears streaming, and even blood vessels across the lips.

“Me.”

Lionel spoke again as if his appearance didn’t matter.

Tears that had gathered under his eyes fell again.

“Is it because of this, Master, that you won’t accept me?”

“Huh?”

“Because I keep crying? Because I’m not sturdy enough, so you won’t accept me?”

Lionel, holding my hand on his cheek tightly, stared at me.

“But you said it was okay.”

Yes, I did.

“You promised you wouldn’t leave.”

Yes, I did.

“Master….”

His big body slowly began to crumble.

Lionel, burying his face in my neck, continued speaking through tears.

“It hurts so much….”

“….”

“It hurts so much, I feel like I’m going to die….”

A tender voice echoed in my ear.

It was a voice with enough power to make me want to nod right away.

“Can’t you tell me?”

Please reveal everything you’re hiding to me now. 

Now, me.

“Won’t you accept me…?”

As if a mumble whispered in my ear, I bit my lip and wiped my dry face continuously.

Honestly, I don’t want to say it.

‘I just want to hide it.’

To others, he may seem a bit, or a lot, lacking in character and spine.

Lionel may just seem rough around the edges, but I knew how fragile he was inside.

Perhaps it was something only I knew in this world.

With such a child, it was easy to guess how deeply he would be wounded when faced with the truth.

Maybe he’d cry more than when he heard the village had disappeared.

Maybe…

‘No, that’s not it.’

I chuckled.

Lionel, upon learning the truth, wouldn’t cry.

He might be confused, but he wouldn’t hurt.

He’d just glare at me with eyes full of disdain.

‘You’ll leave me, won’t you?’

Yeah. Honestly, I was scared.

Scared that Lionel, upon learning the truth, would leave me.

And I’d be left alone, which was too frightening.

‘It wasn’t like that the first time.’

At first, I had no thoughts.

Honestly, I couldn’t think of anything else.

The child in front of me was dying, and I was the only one who could save him.

Months later, Lionel opened his eyes.

The second time was empathy and understanding.

It wasn’t just pity.

Being abducted and tortured just for having exceptional talent.

The fact that after barely rescuing him, he learned that his village, his family, and everything had disappeared.

I was lonely too.

When I left my father and the village to settle in another town.

I felt lonely countless times.

He’ll feel even lonelier.

I chose this, but he had no say in it.

So, I paid even more attention.

I understood his loneliness enough to give him space and waited for him to open up.

The third time was joy.

He came to sit beside me instead of curling up in a corner.

He silently put the herbs I needed on my desk while I worked.

He snickered while I petted his head.

Having someone I could share warmth with.

Having someone who stayed by my side.

I was just so happy.

So genuinely happy.

‘I was going to tell you when you were older.’

Because he’s still young. 

No matter how talented he is, he’s still a child. 

So, later, I thought, I’ll tell him.

‘But looking back, I don’t think I would’ve told you when you were older.’

For another reason, I would have put it off until the end.

‘This is stupid, isn’t it?’

Saying I set boundaries well, that I’m okay with it.

With my father’s work and now this.

I’m such a fool who feels so lonely and remembers everything from the past.

I chuckled, blinking my eyes.

Tears, I didn’t know when they formed, trickled down my cheeks.

“M-Master?”

I don’t know when I looked up.

Lionel’s complexion paled with surprise at my tears.

“Is it because of me? Are you crying because of me? I’m so-.”

I raised my hand and covered Lionel’s mouth, trembling as he tried to apologize.

“Lionel.”

Gazing into his eyes, shimmering with tears, I weakly lifted the corners of my lips.

“Okay, I’ll tell you the truth.”

It was time to do what I’d been putting off out of fear.

Lionel slowly nodded.

“Please sit down, Master. You look dizzy.”

Lionel spread his cloak on a nearby flat rock and gestured for me to sit.

Yeah, it was going to be a long story.

Sitting on the rock, I took a deep breath and slowly began to reveal the story I had hidden for so long.

“Lionel, do you know why you were taken to the ancient temple?”

Lionel, kneeling on the dirt floor, nodded.

“To turn me into a follower of the evil god?”

All the children held captive in that temple were brought for that purpose.

To prevent the complete disappearance of the evil god, who had lost her name and power and had fallen completely from the divine realm.

“Yeah. But to be precise, only half of that is true.”

“…?”

“Isn’t it strange? The other children were all marked and made to pray. But not you.”

“That’s…”

Lionel’s response, delving into old memories, was a bit slow.

“Because I resisted. Because the marks didn’t stick properly, wasn’t it?”

“No.”

I answered firmly.

“They never even attempted to mark you from the beginning.”

“…?”

Lionel narrowed his eyes.

“They knew it would be several times harder for you than for the other children. They knew you’d break easily once you grew a bit.”

The ones who abducted exceptional children throughout the continent.

Among those children, they surely knew Lionel’s strength, which was unrivaled.

“So they decided to use a different method.”

“A different method?”

“Yeah.”

I nodded, still touching Lionel’s seemingly innocent eyes.

“They made you into a vessel for imprinting.”

It was nothing special.

A way to help someone who had lost hope and was about to give up everything.

In a way, it was a common story.

The problem was that they tried to artificially create it.

“So they kept you separate.”

Suddenly kidnapped young children were locked in an underground prison where neither moonlight nor sunlight reached.

They were given no food and no water.

They were tortured, tortured, and tortured.

As it reached the point where he thought he was going to die, they’d finally give him a sip of water, and a spoonful of food. 

They’d devote themselves to him, spending time to slowly dry him out and kill him. 

Occasionally, weakening his body and mind with the power of the evil god was just a bonus.

“At the moment when you were about to give up all hope and die, that’s when the evil god would appear, right?”

In that moment of dying, of letting go of all hope, how overwhelming and ecstatic would it be to have salvation grasped like a miracle?

“They must have made sure to focus solely on one person.”

By eliminating everyone around and making only one person visible. 

Naturally, the emotions toward that target would be abnormally strong, a mixture of intense obsession, loyalty, and affection. 

His savior, the one who would lead him. 

His eternal love.

“It’s like looking at you now, Lionel.”

I weakly smiled.

“It wasn’t my intention, but, um, I guess I took the place of the evil god.”

I shook my head. 

I had to wait for his response, but part of me wanted to run away.

“Now you understand, right? You’re almost in a brainwashed state right now. I’m sorry for keeping it hidden from you until now. You’re precious to me… That sounds too much like an excuse. So, yeah.”

“Master.”

Given Lionel’s character, I expected disdain. 

I thought he’d leave right away. 

But his voice interrupting me sounded strangely bright.

Wait, what? 

When I raised my head, I was met with a surprising sight.

‘…Are you… happy right now?’

Yes, he was enjoying this. 

There was a blush on his cheeks, and his tear-filled eyes were gleaming with delight.

“Master.”

Lionel, calling me again, gripped my wrist with force. 

And he smiled brightly.

“You… you cherish me, don’t you?”

Huh? 

This wasn’t the reaction I was expecting.