The unpredictable appearance of Meyer left the Black Night unit member flabbergasted and he disappeared in a hurry.
If I didn’t get there in time to report, Meyer would visit me quite often, and I wondered if he would, but I really didn’t expect him to show up at such a good time.
It was good to get rid of the troubling Black Night unit member, but Meyer’s momentum was unusual as if he had heard the conversation I had with him.
<Yelling aside, if his pride is hurt…>
The sound of the Black Night unit member’s voice lingered in my head like an echo.
The fact that his own men had come to me like matchmakers, interfering with me every step of the way, how embarrassing! And even though he had already made a definite decision not to have anything to do with me at all!
An awkward silence reverberated through us as I followed Meyer to his office.
Once in the office, I gravely put down the report that I had in my hands.
My arms felt lighter, but my heart was heavy with the fact that I had to talk to Meyer.
Meyer had a serious face weighing down on his shoulders, and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He didn’t seem like he was going to open up easily.
I guess I’ll have to make the breakthrough first.
Meyer’s pride would be hurt, but the Black Night unit had brought it up for Meyer in mind in their own way…
I didn’t want Meyer to complain. I did everything I could to defend the Black Night unit.
“He didn’t know what kind of relationship we had, and that’s why he brought it up. I’m sure he didn’t mean to disrespect the Commander when he said you weren’t enough…”
“…”
“He just said it with good intentions, so don’t take it too seriously. Okay?”
I tried to persuade him with a smile. While I was rambling alone, Meyer suddenly asked a random question.
“So, what do you think?”
“Pardon?”
“About what the Black Night member said.”
Then I coughed in vain.
I couldn’t believe he was biting back. What the Black Night unit member said seemed to be very attentive. I shook my head as if it was ridiculous and answered.
“The fact that the Commander lacks a lot of things? That’s…”
“Not that!”
The furious Meyer cut me off and shouted. Whether he was embarrassed or angry, his ears were red.
“Not that?”
I frowned and ruminated over what the Black Night soldier said.
There was nothing for Meyer to pay attention to… I took what I thought would be close to the answer.
“About having thoughts of things working well with the Commander?”
“…”
Meyer didn’t give a simple affirmation, just his lips quivered slightly. It seemed to be the right answer.
He can just openly say that you care about it. Did he have to use a speech that he wanted me to recognize?
But I also thought I would know what point Meyer was concerned about in the remarks. I sighed softly.
“I know, I know.”
Meyer’s face was brightened by my answer. It was a look of trust as if the Vice Commander was the only one who could do it.
That’s right. I’ll have to relieve his frustration. I spoke in a confident and firm tone.
“I won’t think anything strange, no matter how much the Black Night unit does. You don’t like me, right, Commander? You don’t even see me as a woman. It’s not like you have romantic feelings for me.”
“What?”
Meyer’s face was distorted.
It was clear that I pointed it out correctly. I put added on once again.
“I don’t expect that, so please relax. If the rumor is bothering you, then…”
“That’s not it!”
Meyer couldn’t hold back a yelp. His face was contorted, but he seemed to be betrayed.
How could he have been betrayed? I asked Meyer back, my eyes wide with incomprehensible emotion.
“It’s not?”
“No!”
“What’s not it?”
“…”
Meyer squeezed his mouth together again.
He bit his lip. He abused his lips so much that his lips, which were appropriately easy to see, turned red.
In the awkward silence, I had nothing to do so I fiddled with the end of a document and looked around.
In the meantime, Meyer looked straight at me a long time later, as if he had finally made up his mind.
I had a feeling that perhaps the reason why he kept repeating the end he had been trying to talk about all this time was related to this.
If so, that would finally clear things up a bit.
I waited for Meyer’s next words, thinking of something to unburden my mind, but what he said confused me, despite my expectations.
“I see you as a woman.”
His eyes, staring at me, blushed like hot melted gold. It seemed unfair, frustrating, and he looked as if I had made a very big mistake to him.
A corner of my heart began to beat fearfully as I faced those eyes, which were uncertain whether they were hot or watery.
Meyer said and asked as if chewing.
“Is there a problem?”
… Is there a problem?
There is! It’s overflowing!
I looked at Meyer, stunned. He said he had no feelings for me! He jumped up and down with a serious look just in case I misunderstood!
Is he messing with me? Or is he saying something that doesn’t even work because he’s nervous?
Yeah. There’s a possibility. Hasn’t he always been wary of Fabian?
This time, Fabian’s behavior provoked him again, and… Because of that, I became fickle. It was a possibility enough. My frustrated fingertips saw and curled up to stomp out the corner.
Just when I thought I’d finally talked him out of useless thoughts of Fabian and calmed him down during the debriefing!
My head was spinning. I had no idea what to cut out of this.
Meyer stared at me with a restless expression and opened his mouth.
“I know it’s very confusing for me to suddenly bring this up.”
Meyer reached out his hand.
His fingertips rubbed against my fingertips as I stroked the report, and then withdrew like a mimosa fold.
It was just that. A banal contact that had passed between him and me several times.
Yet at that moment, Meyer’s face turned bright red.
It was an emotional upset that was obvious to anyone who saw it.
“I’ve endured and held it back because it’s too early to do so far, but… But now I’m forced to say it. That’s right. I can’t take it anymore. I’m at my limit.”
He was going to drop some more bombshells. In all honesty, I wished he would keep his mouth shut.
But my wish did not reach my mouth, and I could not shut Meyer’s mouth. I just had to listen to what he had to say.
“Jun.”
With a red face, he closed his eyes tightly and forced himself to make eye contact with me as if pressing down the real feelings he wanted to avoid.
“I like you.”
“What?”
“Romantically.”
“What?”
Is it right that I heard him correctly? My head was dizzy and my heart was as stuffy as if it were tight.
No, maybe I guessed all of this inwardly. In retrospect, the telltale symptoms were always there. I just pretended that I didn’t know them and turned my face away.
It wasn’t that I was unhappy or uncomfortable. Rather, it was the opposite, but…
It was just that all the plans I had made, which could not be resolved by that, were all shattered and I was suffocated by the chaos of fragmentation.
I didn’t have time to indulge in such sweet, sloppy, or fiery passions.
Does Meyer like me?
What variables does that add to dungeon strategy? What if I reject his confession? Or what if I accept?
What problems would arise in training the Black Knights?
Meyer smiled bitterly as he saw me smiling without saying anything in my complicated head.
“I’m flustered, too. I… I didn’t know I’d like someone.”
I was the same way. I thought that Meyer’s love was still a long way off after he defeated the Demon King.
I never dreamed that it would be me.
Meyer stuttered and added as if to excuse his actions.
“The reason I kept worrying about Fabian… It was because I was insecure. I couldn’t believe it at all. How could he abandon you? Who would expect that the person who holds the most precious thing in the world would throw it away in one fell swoop?”
“…”
“So even though I saw the discord between you and that guy with my own eyes, I thought there was something… I thought something was going on that I didn’t know about. So I kept being foolish and sensitive.”
Meyer chuckled. His smile was full of self-mockery as if he was dumbfounded when he thought back on it.
“But it wasn’t that. Fabian was just stupid. And… I also realized that I was foolishly ignoring my feelings.”
Having said all that, Meyer finally grabbed my hand firmly.
His hand was hot and trembling finely as he gripped the back of my hand tightly. How nervous he was, it took over his hand.
It would have been easy to shake his hand off. But I couldn’t budge, and I felt his nervousness and desperation intact.
Meyer whispered to me with an anxious, heated gaze.
“Right now, I know it’ll be pressure for me to even tell you this. However… It’s my first time doing this, so I couldn’t stand it without saying it.”
Meyer said that and grabbed the report under my hand. The warmth that had been passed on to my hand had disappeared.
“It’s not that I want an immediate answer to my confession. After we defeat the Demon King… yes. You can answer me after that if you want. So think about it one by one until then.”
His feverish gaze disappeared without a shadow of a trace.
After confusing me and completely calming down, Meyer left his seat.
As he walked to his desk in the office, I could read from his back that it meant it was okay to leave.
I couldn’t say anything at all as the distance between us became greater and greater. I didn’t know what to say.
I just hurried out of the office, relieved that I didn’t have to conclude this right now.
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