MIRACULOUSLY ESCAPING SLACKERLIFE

LIII

Rosalyn finally had time to spend with Cale. She can not be with him at the academy because everyone is obsessed with Cale. She sat next to Cale, who was reading a book after finishing the mountain map.

"You're so diligent, Cale?"

Cale frowned as he looked at her. She is grown accustomed to his solemn expression and enjoys his scummy smile.

"If I want to make him proud, then I should be diligent."

Rosalyn notices a smile on Cale's face that is brighter than the smiles he would show them.

"Him?"

She mumbled. She can not help but notice Cale, who is wearing a small smile on his face.

Ah. I remember.

Cale would only show this smile to his father.

She remembered how Cale would always smile when Deruth came to visit and how he would patiently wait for his father. Just thinking about how close this boy is to his father, and how he expresses emotions he has never expressed before.

"You really adore your father, do not you?"

Cale gave her a look.

"Of course," he replied, "he is the only person who was there to love me when I could not even love myself."

Those words pierced her chest.

"Um... Who is your ideal woman, Cale?"

Cale rereads the book and says, "I am not sure. I have never thought of that."

Cale has no intention of being in a relationship, his cold voice echoed.

"What would you do if someone confessed to you?"

Cale set down the book.

"Rosalyn," he said, his voice echoing in the darkness, "I am a person incapable of falling in love; if such a person exists, I would certainly thank her and apologize."

Cale's sour grin was all she could see.

"And wish her to be happy with someone who can make her happy, not me." Cale smiled gently, "I am currently happy with the way my life is right now."

It's the words of someone who can't take another heartbreak.

"Rosalyn..." Cale called her, "Why are you crying?"

She wiped her tears and smiled, "Nothing, Cale. It's just so sad thinking that you thought like that."

"Is it really?"

"You really trust and love the Count." to the point he has no space left for someone else in his heart.

"He's the only person I would do anything for, Rosalyn." Even if I have to take my heart out and crush it, or kill myself because he wants it—Deruth—no, my father is the only person I will betray, even if He would betray me.

Rosalyn didn't understand the weight and the sacrifice born out of trust between Deruth and Cale. She couldn't comprehend the world that Cale wished for Deruth. It may sound like Cale was indeed in love with his father, but...

"He was the only family I had." That justifies such adoration and protection. "If I lose him, I know I will never get back on my feet."

Cale's strong pillar and support, which none of them could give.

She just knows that Cale can give all his love without asking in return.

Rosalyn smiled at Cale after she realized all this. She remembered how Cale went as far as to save him during the pandemic, and how the count struggled to keep him from breaking. None of them were there—it was that man who struggled to keep him safe from the world.