The next morning.
The sunlight gradually entered his room as Noel let out a soft moan while gradually opening his eyes. It had been a while since he slept in his previous bed.
It was nostalgic but also made him feel lonely, knowing that there were no servants or parents in this mansion anymore.
An image of his maid suddenly came to his room to greet him in the morning and change his clothes even flashed in his mind. Her voice saying, 'Good morning, Young Master,' also rang in his ears.
Noel looked at the ceiling and let out a sigh. 'I guess the time has changed.'
When he was about to go up, he suddenly felt his arm being restrained as if someone pulled him.
"!!!" Noel hurriedly turned around and saw Anna sleeping beside him. "Huh, what?"
Noel's mind became crazy in that instant.
'What's happening right here? Why does Anna sleep beside me? Did something happen last night? What did I do last night?' Noel's mind tried their best to recall every single detail.
…
Last night.
Noel opened his room with the key and smiled, looking at this familiar room. The tables, the cupboard, and even the floor was covered with dust. However, Noel didn't pay attention to it as he immediately went to the bed.
"I guess I have to change the sheet," Noel muttered. "Where is the sheet again? Is it in the servant quarter? No, they're too small for this. So, I guess I have to go to the storage."
Noel turned around and saw Anna entering his room. "So, this was your room?"
"Wait here. Don't go anywhere." Noel hurriedly left the room to grab some clean sheet. Of course, there would be no clean sheet in this house since they should have been covered with dust. However, everything in the storage should be better since they had been folded neatly. Only a small part of them is covered in dust. They could be cleaned a bit with a few flaps.
Meanwhile, Anna looked around the room. "This was Noel's room. It's kinda similar to what I have."
She walked around while touching the cupboard and the table, wondering if they had any significance to Noel.
"He would still be living in this place." Anna muttered while looking around with her Moon Blessing.
Though, she couldn't do anything as Noel had gone back with a new sheet. He started changing the sheet carefully as if he had done it so many times.
"I guess you have gotten used to change your sheet by yourself instead of making your servants do it." Anna wanted to tease him, but it soon backfired as Noel snorted. "Yeah. I won't get used to this if you didn't ask your father for my parents execution."
"Wait, wait. I know that I'm in the wrong for that, but your father was the one who arranged it, right?"
"You're going to wash your hands with that?" Noel rolled his eyes as he had finished changing his sheet and returned his own sheet to the storage. Since no one bothered to enter the mansion, the new sheet would be getting covered with dust again after a while.
As soon as he finished preparing his bed, Noel fell down on his bed with a relaxed expression. "Finally done."
"Ehm, where should I stay?" Anna asked with a wry smile.
"There is a guest room at the corner of the second floor. You can sleep there."
"Then, where is the new sheet?"
"In the storage room."
"I mean, where is the storage room?"
"Who knows? Go suffer by yourself." Noel chuckled as he started taking off his boats and robe to make himself more comfortable. "I guess we can't really wash our bodies here since there's no running water. Well, it's not much of a problem."
Noel immediately sneaked into his quilt and waved his hand to Anna. "There you have it. Go sleep with the dust."
…
That was what happened last night according to his memory. There should be nothing that happened since he had made Anna suffer through the night by forcing her to sleep there.
However, he didn't understand how Anna slept next to him.
It seemed that the shocked reaction he let out earlier woke Anna up.
"Mhm?" Anna opened her eyes and saw Noel next to her. "Good morning."
"Morning? What did you do last night? You must be taking advantage of me!" Noel gritted his teeth.
"What do you mean taking advantage of you? Well, I guess I kinda did? I don't want to sleep in that dust covered bed, so instead of searching for the storage room, why don't I just sleep with you? This way, we can hide in the same room and I don't need to bother myself to inhale the dust on the bed." Anna answered with sleepy eyes.
"Huh?" Noel's body trembled. It seemed that he was too wary against her that his mind thought of all the bad things that could happen to him.
Anna misunderstood Noel's relief as disappointment as she couldn't help but smirk, teasing Noel. "What's wrong? Disappointed that we didn't do anything last night? You are the one having the dirty mind here. You must be thinking that we're—"
Before she finished her words, Noel looked at her in disgust. "Woah, your ego is so high that it goes to the sky."
"I can't help it since I'm born this beautiful." Anna made a smug smile as if she was proud of her beautiful face.
"Yeah. If only your heart is as beautiful as your face. I guess the more beautiful you are, the more dangerous your heart is." Noel snorted.
"What did you say?" Anna gritted her teeth.
"I'm just stating the fact. If a scandal like this spreads, I'm afraid that my reputation will be smeared by yours."
"I should be the one saying that. If what you said is true, there's no way you made me go to Earl Hawkins and received the recognition of those people!" Anna smirked. "You're the one chickening because you don't dare to do it."
Noel pushed her down, grabbed her hands and and looked into her eyes. "So, should we test it?"
