Chapter 50

“Yu Pado! You came to see Morae? Come over here.”

Yu Jimin waved excitedly at him.

Pado flinched when he saw Morae’s parents sitting around her bed, but quickly composed himself and walked into the hospital room. He politely greeted the three adults before stopping awkwardly at the corner of the bed.

“Have a seat, Pado. We were just talking about you.”

“About what?”

Han Nokyeong and Morae both shot Yu Jimin a fierce look.

Don’t say it.

Intimidated by the mother and daughter’s glare, Jimin shrank for a second… then perked right back up when she looked at Pado.

“We were saying you resemble Lord Sea God.”

“I don’t like that.”

He didn’t sound disgusted, but Pado rejected the comparison without hesitation.

Morae was reminded of the time he’d said Jimin was like his mother.

If this was how they always interacted, she could understand why he’d think that.

He addressed Nokyeong and Jisung with impeccable respect, but spoke casually to Jimin. They looked like an absent-minded mother and her slightly cheeky son.

“You don’t have to reject it so bluntly. You should be honored to resemble Lord Sea God. He was an incredible man.”

“You’re just lumping us together because we’re both water users.”

“No. Lord Sea God was a man like you. He had black hair like you. He was Korean like you. And… he was also an underground Hunter.”

“Is this supposed to be a joke?”

“Your eyes look alike too.”

So after all that, the only similarity she could come up with was their eyes.

Morae shrugged and let Jimin’s words roll off her back.

Watching Jimin gush over the man she admired wasn’t exactly a new experience.

“Anyway, Lord Sea God was amazing. Back in his prime, he had at least a hundred women chasing after him.”

“I’ve heard he was popular.”

“Popular doesn’t even begin to describe it. He had twenty girlfriends at the same time.”

“I like this comparison even less now.”

Being compared to a notorious womanizer with twenty girlfriends…

Pado’s tone turned noticeably colder.

Completely oblivious to the mood in the room, Jimin only grew more animated.

“He loved women equally. He was wonderful.”

“Wonderful…? Not garbage?”

“It was like the Downtown Workshop. Everyone knew what they were getting into. Lord Sea God wasn’t the type to settle down with one person. He wanted to share his love with many women. He was incredibly benevolent.”

“…Benevolent?”

Pado narrowed his eyes.

Two of his basic definitions of common sense had just been shattered.

As far as he knew, wonderful and benevolent weren’t words people used in situations like that.

“I heard he wanted lots of children, so he had many wives too.”

“You’re saying this as a compliment, right? You’re not mocking me by comparing me to someone obsessed with women?”

“I… will love him forever.”

Jimin clasped both hands together reverently.

She was a complete captive of Lee Ucheong, the legendary Lord Sea God from decades ago.

To her, him dating twenty women at once and ignoring the law by having multiple wives were not flaws.

If he did it, then it was righteous.

A benevolent blessing.

Naturally, being compared to him was high praise.

Beside the visibly uncomfortable Pado, Nokyeong and Morae exchanged resigned glances.

Who could stop a twenty-year-long unrequited love?

Seeing the mother and daughter wear identical awkward expressions, Pado decided not to press the issue any further.

“Still, there was no denying his ability. He had a good personality too. Being compared to his skill is an enormous compliment.”

Eun Jisung scampered over, climbed up Pado’s arm, and settled on top of his head.

Pado’s eyes followed the tiny hamster all the way up.

“…Is that so?”

“Thank you for going to bring Morae back.”

“It was nothing.”

Pado—who was, quite literally, weak against praise—responded awkwardly, clearly embarrassed.

Watching him avert his eyes while her father showed almost no hostility toward him gave Morae a strange feeling.

Her father had told her to stay away from Pado.

Yet now that they were face-to-face, he didn’t seem particularly wary of him, nor did he dislike him.

Then what had he meant by that?

Her father had never once worried about her love life before.

His words had genuinely surprised her.

She’d always thought he was someone who had transcended such worldly concerns.

Maybe he was just an ordinary father with a daughter after all.

As she watched the two chatting quietly, Morae suddenly leaned forward.

For some reason, seeing her unusually polite father and an awkwardly stiff Pado made her want to interrupt and draw everyone’s attention to herself.

Something told her leaving the two of them together wasn’t a great idea.

“I want Earl Grey lemon cake.”

“Hm?”

Pado immediately turned his head away from the conversation.

“I want the Earl Grey lemon cake from La Petite downtown. Could you go buy one for me?”

It was a shameless request, but she’d phrased it as a favor, with a hint of childish pleading.

Speaking as sweetly as she had when begging adults for things as a child, Morae left Pado staring at her in bewilderment, as though he’d just seen a dog speak.

If she’d ordered him around haughtily, he could have refused immediately.

But a request?

That was much harder.

Especially with Morae’s parents sitting right there.

“What’s with that all of a sudden?”

“I want some.”

“If you want cake, Mom can go buy it later. Or I could make one for you.”

“No. I want the one from that shop. I want Pado to buy it for me. It’s still hard for me to move.”

She wasn’t so sore that she couldn’t walk.

The first day had been miserable with muscle aches, but after sleeping, both her hips and lower back had become bearable.

Still, she was hurting.

Her thighs still ached, and her back throbbed enough that she couldn’t run around comfortably.

It was hardly surprising after having sex the entire time either standing up or being held, without lying down even once.

When she silently conveyed, ‘I’m like this because of you,’ Pado slowly got to his feet.

Since she was practically confined to a hospital bed because of him, guilt had clearly gotten the better of him.

“One Earl Grey lemon cake?”

“Yeah.”

He stood up and left the hospital room.

“You’re so mean,” Jimin scolded.

Morae simply folded her arms confidently.

It wasn’t as though he felt comfortable wedged in among her family anyway.

She had merely given him an excuse to leave.

…Although the biggest reason was that she liked the fact that he listened to her.

Her mother’s words kept circling in her mind.

“Pado likes our Morae, doesn’t he?”

Eun Jisung and Han Nokyeong had lectured her a little, but neither of them had actually scolded her.

Parents were always weak when it came to their own children.

They might dislike seeing their child trying to please someone else…

…but seeing someone else’s child trying to please their child wasn’t unpleasant at all.

After Pado left, the atmosphere in the hospital room remained warm.

The real trouble began when the next visitor arrived.

“Morae! I heard you were kidnapped! You must’ve had such a hard time. I brought your favorite La Petite Earl Grey lemon cake, so eat lots and feel better!”

“Ah… Ah! Thank you!”

An older acquaintance from another organization came to visit and brought an Earl Grey lemon cake.

“Who did this to our princess?! I baked your favorite cake myself, so eat plenty and recover quickly.”

Another older man brought her a homemade Earl Grey lemon cake.

[Big Sis Morae! I heard you’re in the hospital! I hope you’re okay… You must’ve gone through so much after being kidnapped. (ㅠㅠ is a crying emoticon expressing sadness.) I brought your favorite La Petite Earl Grey lemon cake ♡♡ Please enjoy it and get well soon!!]

Even White City’s villain kids competed to send her get-well gifts.

The hospital room became packed with visitors.

Gifts piled up one after another, especially cakes.

By the time the sixth Earl Grey lemon cake had been added to the stack…

…Pado still hadn’t shown up.

“I can finally breathe…”

Left alone in her private room, Morae let out a long sigh.

People had come all day to check on her, making so much noise that she barely had a moment’s peace.

To Morae, it was just another kidnapping.

What was everyone making such a fuss over?

But to everyone else, it was different.

News that Morae had wiped out the Shadow Knights and ended up hospitalized had spread like wildfire, and visitors never stopped coming.

Acquaintances outside the organization who adored her…

Children from White City who admired her from afar…

An endless stream of people came to see her, bringing gifts along the way.

Even if she wasn’t seriously injured, entertaining guests all day was exhausting.

As she cleaned up the wrapping from her third Earl Grey lemon cake, Morae stretched lazily.

While six different people had brought her Earl Grey lemon cakes…

…there had been no sign of Pado.

It wasn’t as if the shop had sold out.

Nor had he gotten lost.

The whole thing was strange.

“Just what is he doing…”

Lying back on her bed, Morae gazed out the window.

Against the dark night outside, a familiar silhouette suddenly appeared.

The figure lightly tapped on the glass.

“Why are you coming through the window?”

The indirect lighting inside made it easy to recognize the visitor.

Pado was standing outside the third-floor window, holding a small box.

Morae unlocked the window.

After hesitating for a moment, Pado climbed inside.

“There were too many visitors.”

“Too many?”

“So…”

He hesitated before continuing.

“I was watching.”

He dragged out the words awkwardly.

It was unusual to see someone who normally carried himself with such swagger looking so unsure of himself.

“You could’ve just come in. You could’ve said, ‘I brought the cake Morae asked for.’ Everyone would’ve made room.”

“They would’ve made room for what? They all came to see you.”

Sometimes Pado said things she simply couldn’t understand.

So what if everyone had come to see her?

He could’ve walked in confidently, handed her the cake, found an empty seat, and joined in the casual conversation.

Instead…

He’d stayed outside the window simply because there were too many people.

Morae couldn’t understand it.

If it had been her, she’d have pushed through the crowd and shown up with such an impressive gift that everyone would’ve looked only at her.

No matter how much she thought about it, it made no sense.

He’d gone all the way to run her errand…

…only to refuse to come inside because there were too many people.

Worse, he was still holding the Earl Grey lemon cake instead of giving it to her.

His gaze remained fixed on the pile of La Petite cake boxes stacked beside her bed.

“Give it to me. I said I wanted it.”

“You already got a lot.”

“You can never have too much of something you like.”

Morae snatched the cake box from his hands.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, she placed it on the bedside table.

When she removed the packaging, La Petite’s familiar Earl Grey lemon cake appeared.

It was already the fourth one she’d eaten today.

The cake had become very familiar.

She cut off a small bite with her fork.

The rich Earl Grey flavor, blended with fragrant lemon, filled her mouth.

“It’s delicious.”

Honestly…

She was sick of it.

She’d already forced herself to eat three out of appreciation for everyone’s kindness.

Anyone would get tired of it.

She hadn’t even left the room all day, so she still hadn’t fully digested everything.

Her stomach already felt heavy from all the cake and snacks.

Even so…

It was delicious.

Because this was the cake Pado had bought just because she’d asked him to.

Pretending she wasn’t tired of it at all, Morae took another bite.