The early morning, not long after the dawn's light had faded.
"..."
As Harold woke up, he frowned at the feeling of a cramp in his arm, then chuckled when he saw Lily sleeping on his arm.
It was a laugh directed at himself, not at Lily.
Everything that happened last night, starting from helping Lily who was drunk and in trouble without money, had gone in a completely different direction from what he had planned.
Although it was an unavoidable situation, he wondered if this was really the only way.
Harold swallowed his doubts and checked the wounds on Lily's palm, elbow, and knee. The knee wound was the most concerning, but fortunately, it hadn't gotten worse.
This should be fine without applying more medication.
Harold got out of bed and called the hotel staff he had seen yesterday, asking for breakfast to be brought up in an hour.
By then, Lily should be awake.
Thinking it would be better to wash up before she woke up, Harold took off his clothes and entered the bathroom.
When Harold came out after cleaning himself thoroughly, Lily was trembling like a herbivore thrown into a carnivore's cage.
"..."
Anyone who saw this would think I had forcibly done something bad.
Harold's lips curved crookedly. He felt a bit wronged to be treated like a villain when he hadn't done anything bad, but rather had saved her from a difficult situation, comforted her crying, and even when she was lying naked like a fully set table, he hadn't laid a hand on her.
"Why aren't you saying anything?"
No matter how many times he asked, she didn't answer. Meanwhile, seeing her rolling her eyes as if she didn't know anything, it seemed Lily didn't remember what had happened last night.
If that was the case, it was better to bury yesterday's events as they were. There was nothing good for either of them in digging it up, so he just needed to keep his mouth shut...
"I'd like to get dressed... Could you step out for a moment?"
As Lily continued to treat him like a villain and shrink back, Harold felt a mischievous desire to make her as uncomfortable as he had been, so he tilted his head slightly and asked back.
"You want me to go out like this?"
"Th-that...!"
Lily ducked her head in shock after just seeing the chest exposed through the robe, and Harold let out a low laugh. He found it cute that she was so startled by just this much, after doing something much more than this.
Should I tease her a bit more? A playful prank hung on Harold's lips. Unfortunately or fortunately, Lily with her head down didn't notice it.
"Then I'll turn around, so you change first!"
Lily shouted urgently, but Harold neatly ignored it and sat at the head of the bed.
"Is there really a need for that between us?"
"B-between us?"
The green eyes that looked up again trembled anxiously. It was a sight that hadn't pleased him last night, but today it strangely appealed to him, so Harold smiled and leaned his upper body towards her.
"Don't you remember?"
"..."
The green eyes trembled anxiously. He had asked just in case, but judging by her reaction, it was certain that she didn't remember the talk about becoming his mistress.
Should I tell her, or not?
As Harold was contemplating, he made up his mind the moment Lily glared at him as if warning she wouldn't stay still if he laid a hand on her.
"You asked me to become your mistress."
He decided to tease her a bit more.
[This is the timeline separator]
What... did this man just say?
Mistress? That I asked this man to become his mistress?
Lily's mouth gaped open unceremoniously at the unbelievable story. Her head felt dizzy as if she had been hit hard on the back of the head with a large hammer.
"That's... a lie."
After being half dazed for a while, the first thing Lily did when she came to her senses was denial.
"D-don't lie! I would never make such a proposal...!"
"Then... will you become my mistress?"
Lily closed her mouth at the fragment of memory that suddenly came to mind. Even though she wanted to deny it, it was too vivid to do so.
"Seems like you remembered something."
At these words that hit the mark, Lily tucked her head in like a turtle. Her lost eyes rolled around, fidgeting with the innocent blanket.
"No answer again. Yesterday you were answering even what I didn't ask."
"..."
What did I say? As Lily searched her memory, she tightly closed her eyes when the scene of kissing Harold came to mind, feeling a moment of dizziness. It was maddening that she couldn't remember what she really wanted to, and only these strange things kept coming to mind.
"Are you going to keep doing that?"
At Harold's question, Lily hesitantly raised her head, but as soon as their eyes met, she lowered it again.
"I-I don't know what I said, but it was all nonsense because I was drunk, so please forget it."
"So you remember being drunk."
Oops, I made a mistake.
"...A little."
Since she couldn't deny it now, Lily stammered on.
"I remember entering the hotel... but I don't remember anything that happened after that at all."
She vaguely remembered what happened after that too, but she pretended not to know because it was all too embarrassing to say with her own mouth.
"We were getting along quite well... What a pity."
Harold said softly, twirling Lily's long, stretched-out hair around his finger.
"Should we reenact what happened yesterday?"
As the large hand that had been fiddling with her hair pulled at the blanket as if to remove it, Lily jumped up in surprise.
"I-I'll go put on some clothes!"
And she picked up her clothes that had fallen on the floor and hurried towards the bathroom. Because she was wrapped up in the blanket, she had to walk with small steps, and it looked quite funny, but unfortunately or fortunately, Lily didn't notice this fact at all.
Lily, who had entered the bathroom, leaned against the closed door and rubbed her face dry. The scattered pieces of memory were steadily coming together even at this moment, tormenting her.
"Why did you do such a thing, Lily."
Search "lover" on redcatty(.)com to read ahead up to chapter 70.