258: 6.18 Twenty Seven Minutes

6.18 Twenty Seven Minutes

Lu Yizhou had no idea how it happened but one thing led to another and before he realized it, the rumor that the Duke's manor was haunted by a malicious ghost had spread all over the Duchy. The peak moment came with Marquis Ouin's — no, he didn't even have a title anymore — execution. The Marquis became a prime example of someone who envied Duke Lacrosa and intended to harm him only for the ghost to teach him a lesson. See how miserable his life ended up? That's why, one shouldn't dream to harm the Duke.0

Jillian stopped chewing for a second. He dabbed his lips with the napkin before replying. "Pardon?"

"Guardian angel, the spirit of the old Master, the ghost of a servant who has fallen in love with the Duke and decided to protect him…" Bassil counted with his fingers then glanced toward the doll who was sitting on Jillian's right side. "Certainly, Master Regius has amassed quite a diverse reputation."

Jillian tried to hold back his laugh but he could only last for approximately two seconds. "Pfft, Regius, did you hear that? Seriously, how can people be so creative? The spirit of my father? The ghost of a servant who has fallen in love with me?" Jillian shook his head, amused.

The servants who were on standby in the corner of the dining room could only brew in silent consternation. Well, wasn't it quite accurate? First, the majority of them had testified that they had once or twice spotted a white, translucent figure walking around the manor in the middle of the night. Bassil had warned them beforehand not to panic unnecessarily because that was the Duke's esteemed guest. Second, wasn't it the truth that the ghost was the one who had killed the assassin because he fancied the Duke? Haha, if people were to know the truth, they would definitely freak out.

Fortunately, ever since the brutal death of the traitorous stableboy, none of the servants dared to run their mouths carelessly anymore.

  "Well, you can be considered my guardian angel, can't you?" Jillian offered the doll a lopsided grin.

Beside him, Lu Yizhou could only look on helplessly. Either way, he had completely given up on the plan to lay low. With Jillian carrying him everywhere he went, there was no way people wouldn't talk. But Lu Yizhou was surprised that almost all the response they received had been quite positive, unlike the original plot where Jillian's reputation directly took a turn for the worse. On the contrary, Lu Yizhou even found a few commoners started praying to him. 

He had no idea who started it first but once someone set an example, others would gradually follow. What they asked was simple; good weather, make a fortune sufficient to last them for the rest of the winter, wishing for a successful hunt in the forest, wishing for safety and peace. Despite Lu Yizhou's inability to grant their wishes, the recipient of their prayers was still him and with each prayer he received, more and more power settled in his doll body to the point where Lu Yizhou was certain he could show himself to Jillian for a few minutes a day.

It wasn't bad at all — no, everything was great as long as it didn't harm Jillian, recalling how Lu Yizhou had spent 150 points for three Transformation Pills to kill the assassins, leaving him only with 1368 points. If he continued to spend it only on the Transformation Pill, then Lu Yizhou would be able to take on human form for twenty seven minutes.

Twenty seven minutes. Excluding the power he attained from prayers, he could only use it in urgent times and who knows how many years he had to stay here?

Cyrus' words echoed in his mind once again. You have to get out of here as soon as possible, he had said, the longer you take, the more danger you will be exposed to. You and him both.

Lu Yizhou still hadn't gotten an answer to Cyrus' question last time. He knew so little about his lover's true identity that he couldn't draw a conclusion as to why he remained in the simulator, one world after another, taking on the role of villains. But if the threat Cyrus' spoke of was true, then from now on, Lu Yizhou had to hurry.

"One more thing, Young Master." Bassil added. "The day after the assasination attempt, when you went out early in the morning, did your business happen to be in the countryside?"

Jillian hummed in affirmation. "And so?"

"Well, this morning, the Duchy's human resources officials have received a report that a huge fire has broken out there. Do you have any idea of it?"

"No." Jillian furrowed his brows and put down the utensils, giving Bassil his full attention. "The number of casualties?"

"Six. The fire has consumed four houses and one of them…" Bassil trailed off, looking unusually hesitant. Jillian gestured for him to go on. "One of them happened to be the seer's house. Barbara — or so they said her name was — was found dead inside her house, her body burned to crisp. More importantly, one of our soldiers happened to be there at the time of the incident. He tried to save Barbara and ended up being knocked out by a fallen beam. The aftermath has been taken care of, Young Master. We have offered monetary help to those who need them and the soldier has also been rescued. Too bad…" Bassil shook his head in pity. "The doctor said that his wounds were quite severe. He's still alive but unfortunately, he has to be bedridden for a few months to recover fully."

Jillian was stunned as he slowly registered the information. "A soldier?" He poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue and wondered. "Perhaps, is he named Hayden?"

Bassil blinked, surprised. "That's right, Young Master. How do you know that?"

"Well, we bumped into one another coincidentally when I was ready to leave."

"Goodness," Bassil clicked his tongue. "If you had just stayed there for a bit longer, would you have also been caught up in the fire? That was close."

Beside them, Lu Yizhou was stunned speechless. The seer was dead and Hayden accidentally got stuck in the fire and got severely injured? Cyrus wasn't lying when he said that everything had been taken care of. At first, Lu Yizhou thought that it was better to prevent Hayden from fulfilling his fate as a Royal Prince but now that the plot had changed and Hayden wasn't kicked out of the manor in disgrace, he might become a useful ally for Jillian in the future if he were to ascend the throne. 

Lu Yizhou could have schemed his way to make Jillian the next monarch but there was still the arranged marriage thing with the female protagonist, Maia. Nope, there was no way Lu Yizhou would put Jillian through such a situation. Lu Yizhou didn't doubt that Jillian would abscond in a beat if he were to be forced to marry someone he didn't wish to and he wasn't such a masochistic to let his lover marry someone else either. So it was a fix. If Hayden and Maia were meant to be together, then Lu Yizhou would make sure it happened.

Lu Yizhou almost laughed at Cyrus' thoughtfulness. Of course, making Hayden unable to get out of the bed for the next few months was the best possible choice. This way, he wouldn't be able to snoop around nor would he have the chance to meet the King. It wasn't the time yet.

When Jillian visited Hayden in the infirmary that day, Lu Yizhou wondered if Cyrus might have overdone it a bit. Hayden was lying on the bed wrapped in thick bandages like a mummy, his limbs were held in a cast and his complexion was listlessly gray. Alas, as soon as he saw Jillian, his face instantly brightened up like a sappy fanboy he was.

"G—General…" Hayden croaked. Apparently, his throat had also been nearly damaged from inhaling the smoke for a long period of time. "I—" He wanted to get up only for Jillian to press his shoulders back down.

"No need for formal greetings in such a situation. I only come here to check up on you. Don't worry about your duty, just focus on getting better first."

Hayden's eyes glistened with tears. He couldn't believe that after years of being outside the General's radar, there finally came a day when his name was remembered! Not only that, the General even came personally to visit him! Hayden was beside himself with joy, the pain all over his body seemed to fade away under the General's (detached) gaze. 

Hayden swore that he would recover as soon as possible and returned to the General's side!

Jillian didn't even stay for five minutes but that was enough to send Hayden over the moon. Lu Yizhou stared at his oblivious lover with not so little amusement. How could his expression remain placid all the time when Hayden was obviously staring at him with those disgusting puppy eyes?

(No, Lu Yizhou wasn't jealous. Not at all.)

"What's wrong?" Jillian tapped his nose after they had settled into the carriage. "I feel like you have something to say to me." He narrowed his eyes, a smile playing on the corner of his lips. "It can't be… you aren't jealous of him, right?"

Ridiculous, Lu Yizhou scoffed. Why should he be jealous of a mere protagonist?

"Don't worry." Jillian giggled as he brought the doll closer to him and dropped a kiss to his forehead. "For me, there is only you."

.

.

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Mini theater 

Everyone except Bassil who saw Jillian talked to the doll, cracked a joke, carried him everywhere, even kissed him when he thought nobody's looking was spooked so bad that they had nightmares for days. Then, some of them gradually caught the doll's small movement like the different curls of his lips and the slight turn of his head.

Everyone: …scared. So scary QAQ working in a haunted manor is really taxing.

But the Duke was even scarier when he got angry so no one dared to say anything.

(Lu Yizhou was steadily building everyone's instinctual fear toward dolls, much to his denial.)

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