This paper rose resembled the flowers that the object of punishment often gave him in the last world.
His white fingertips pinched the slender branch of the flower, and the soft feeling was just like a real flower branch.
Gently rotating, the layers of bright red petals were stacked and scattered with the centripetal force of rotation, slowly blooming in soft and beautiful curves, each petal was delicate and exquisite, just like a real flower.
It even had a freshness that real flowers didn’t have, which showed the level of dedication of the paper flower maker.
“……”
The production method was exactly the same as the object of punishment.
The blonde hair and blue-eyed beautiful young man sitting on the bench, quietly looked at the roses in his hands, blue eyes reflecting the petals, he seemed to be a little lost in thought, so that no one could see what he was thinking.
He didn’t like it?
Not far away in the shadows, there seemed to be someone who pursed his lips uneasily, somewhat nervously looking at the young man sitting on the bench.
And the young man, so beautiful that he couldn’t bear to look away, just looked at the rose in his hand and didn’t move for a long time.
This made the person hidden in the shadows even more nervous.
He became apprehensive.
As the young man’s silence lengthened, his originally hopeful emotions gradually sank, and his previously straight stance also slumped slightly.
The bouquet of roses that took several hours to make last night, now that he thought about it, it was indeed very imperfect, although it was practiced more than a hundred times, it was still a little simple, it was normal that the proud and beautiful young man didn’t like it.
Perhaps he should have sent some more precious gems, like the sapphire cufflink that the young man had picked up yesterday, instead of these simple and cheap paper roses.
Just as he was thinking so remorsefully about what he should give next time, the young man not far away finally made a move.
He seemed to have finally come back to his senses from his complicated thoughts, there was a smile on his snow-white face, his lips softer than rose petals slightly hooked, and the brilliance of his blue pupils was so bright that even the sun in the sky couldn’t compare to it.
It was a smile that was even more brilliant and beautiful than the one at the banquet last night, so beautiful that it dazzled the eyes.
The young man’s slender fingers gently stroked the petals in his hand, he obviously really liked it.
The person in the dark stared blankly at the smile on Jiu Shu’s face. After a long time, Jiu Shu lifted his eyes and looked towards the direction of the corridor behind him.
A piece of clothing corner that hadn’t been hidden tightly was vaguely visible.
Retracting his gaze, Jiu Shu didn’t intend to frighten that person, although there were still some uncertain doubts in his heart, there was no hurry.
After thinking about it, he put the paper rose in his hand aside and wrote a line in his notebook.
The page was then torn out and placed at the other end of the chair, alongside the paper rose.
After doing these things, he once again picked up the occult book placed aside and read it carefully.
Despite the fact that there was a line of sight behind him peering in the shadows, he was not affected by it.
Instead, he smiled, as if he had seen something interesting in the book, his mood became much happier, and he became more focused on reading the book.
The time spent reading books always passed very quickly, and by the time Jiu Shu returned from the book, the sun above his head had already gone from the middle to the end of the mountain range in the west.
It was already dusk.
Jiu Shu raised his head, his sea water clear eyes reflecting the dim daylight in the distance of the manor.
Today’s weather wasn’t good, even if the sun was out, it was still a bit dim, and his eyes were a bit tired from watching it.
It was time to go back and rest for a while.
Jiu Shu gathered the heavy books in his hands, and his beautiful pupils seemed to glance behind him for a moment before he got up and left the place.
He took the bouquet of paper roses with him, leaving only a page on the bench that said something unknown.
“……”
He didn’t know how long it took until the beautiful noble young man’s figure disappeared from view before somewhat hesitant footsteps came out from behind the cloister.
Dressed in a black suit, the man whose face could not be seen stood next to the bench, seemingly hesitating for a long time before gathering the courage to pick up the page.
On the white page was the youth’s beautiful and fluent handwriting, with the characteristic sharpness of a young man, and the words, although only a short line, caused his heartbeat to accelerate violently, as if he had seen something unbelievable.
[Thank you for the paper rose, it’s beautiful, I like it very much.]
That young man said he loved the gift, loved the roses that he had folded with his own hands.
“……”
The fingers holding the paper seemed to tremble slightly from the over-stirring emotions, and the masked man carefully gathered up the pages until he was sure that no creases would be created, and then he barely breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, after a long hesitation, he sat down at the other end of the bench.
The aristocratic cultivation in his bones made his spine straight even as he sat in the remote corner of the manor, with an unconscious dignity and steadiness.
Compared to the young nobles who were nowadays fashionable for debauchery, he was a relic of the old times, a typical old nobleman who valued etiquette and rules to the point of almost paranoia.
He seemed to hold some kind of bottom line, and did not dare to touch the place where the young man had sat, but just quietly sat aside, as if the beautiful young man was still sitting there, and he was sitting beside him.
Intimacy as a loving couple.
The man sitting on the bench didn’t make a sound for a long time as if he was immersed in a beautiful fantasy.
Only when the sun was completely swallowed by the night and the surroundings darkened did he carefully touch the paper in his hand as if waking up from a dream, and got up to leave the place.
His previously hesitant pace returned to its usual evenness, and with a slight lift of his chin out of habit, he became again the fierce old count that others had seen him as.
Perhaps it was enough for him to simply watch that young man from afar.
Watching him smile brightly and live happily as far as he could see was enough for him as an old man.
To come any closer would only harm that young man.
When the old count thought of this, his fingers subconsciously stroked over the wrinkles on his face, and his eyes, which were originally a little bright because of that line of messages, dimmed again.
But there was still some fire in his heart, and he had already decided to make more paper roses tonight.
As long as the young man didn’t find out who he was, then this unspoken relationship could last for a long time.
Perhaps they would establish a close relationship like pen pals, and it would be nice to be a pair of friends who would not reveal their identities.
When the old count thought of this, it was as if he had already seen the smile that Jiu Shu would reveal the next time he saw the roses, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly, revealing a smile that was completely at odds with his somber face.
And he didn’t seem to notice that he was smiling.
It wasn’t until he got back to the castle and the butler unintentionally looked up in a cold sweat of fright that he re-straightened the corners of his lips and grimaced.
“What a fool!”
Stupid enough to not be able to stand the sight of the young man, even if he got a smile from him it wouldn’t be of any use.
Unlike him, who immensely valued that young man’s every word, so he got an even more beautiful smile.
The old count thought so with slight condescension, snorted disdainfully, no longer paying attention to the empty-headed butler, and returned to his room.
Leaving the butler alone behind him with a cold sweat on his face, almost unable to believe his eyes, if he hadn’t seen it correctly, the old count seemed to have smiled.
In ten years of service, he had never seen his master show a smile, and now this scene really startled him a lot.
Although he didn’t know the reason, the butler only hoped that this wasn’t a precursor to the old Count’s madness, after all, the only situation that could make the old count laugh out loud that he could think of was him mocking someone.
Just as the butler was thinking this in fear, the old count who returned to his room suddenly started calling out again.
The butler was so frightened that he almost thought that the old count could read minds, but it was only after he went in that he realized the old count wanted to eliminate a few candidates.
“…… This one, and this one, drive them out of the manor!”
The old count said coldly and threw the outlined list onto the butler, who picked up the list with shaking hands and answered yes again and again.
Only after finally exiting the room did he take the time to look at the list and found that the old count had eliminated almost half of the candidates, although it was understandable that three of the candidates were eliminated, after all, they were so bold that they dared to mess around in the old count room, which almost made the old count mad.
The butler also knew that these three would have to be ousted sooner or later.
But he couldn’t understand the elimination of the other few.
These five or six people seemed to be doing well, but forget it, it wasn’t something he should care about, he was only responsible for doing what the old count told him to do.
The butler put away the list and prepared to notify the people on the list to pack up their belongings and leave tonight.
After the list was handed down, there was a sigh of relief in the castle.
Nearly ten of the twenty-five candidates were gone, and while some people were privately glad that there were fewer candidates, others began to wonder why these people were eliminated.
None of them seemed to understand the old Count’s mind.
No one knew, perhaps it was simply because of the smile of a beautiful young man.
Jiu Shu listened to the noisy voices outside the door and seemed to guess what was going on, the corners of his rosy mouth slightly hooked up as he lazily rested his cheeks, his eyes hovering over the paper roses in his hands.
Only after a long time did he put down the paper roses, his flawless cheeks showed a delicate porcelain white color under the dim light, and his lightl narrowed eyebrows seemed to be slightly thoughtful.
In fact, dating in this world wasn’t a big deal.
It was just that more planning was needed regarding the outcome of the old count.
Jiu Shu flipped through the Blood of Madness in the system panel and looked at the original content therein with a slight frown.
Although he didn’t want to admit it, judging from the information he had recently accessed, the old Count’s future might really be like what was said in Blood of Madness.
Reduced to a ghastly and monstrous existence because of the secrets buried in his family bloodline, living in pain and torment in the ground without seeing the light of day, reduced to a puppet.
And studying the old Count’s family history might lead to a quicker solution.
Jiu Shu looked at the occult book in his hands and pondered for a long time until late at night when he turned off the light and went to bed.
And in the room across from him, the old count who was sitting at the table and was looking at the pages in his hands also noticed that the window across from him was not lit.
His eyes softened a little, and he put away the paper that he loved and cherished so much, and also prepared to rest.
He looked at the closed glass window across for a long time before he made a sound, though the young man across the street who had haunted him could not hear it at all.
“Good night.”
The old count’s velvety, silky, magnetic voice was still low, but with an added tenderness that wasn’t present when facing outsiders.
Sweet dreams.
The night was dreamless.
Jiu Shu woke up early in the morning, washed up, and went to breakfast to find that the people in the dining room were all listless, obviously because of the old count’s sudden eviction order last night, it was difficult for them to rest at night.
Jiu Shu slept very well. After a simple breakfast, he returned to his room to continue organizing his thoughts and turned a deaf ear to all the chaos outside.
Since a number of people were eliminated, some people started to make noise and were eventually escorted away by the guards recruited by the butler, Jiu Shu didn’t bother to watch the fun and focused on jotting down line after line of text on his notes.
According to the original “Blood of Madness”, the occult in this world did exist, and Jiu Shu’s powerful soul allowed him to better understand these things.
But this world didn’t seem have a systematic organization of this knowledge. It was all about the little content of this book, and the little content of that book, so he had to piece it together himself.
He could only say that fortunately the old count’s manor was quite rich in books, otherwise he really couldn’t find so many books.
It wasn’t until the afternoon that he completed today’s task. Looking at the gloomy sky today, it seemed like it was about to rain, but Jiu Shu still followed his usual habits and came to the corner of the estate , ready to read.
And today, there was another paper rose on the bench, compared to yesterday’s bright red, today’s pink rose was more delicate, and Jiu Shu liked it very much.
And compared to yesterday, there was also an additional piece of paper on the bench today.
Jiu Shu picked up the paper, after sweeping his eyes over the gorgeous sentence above, the corner of his mouth slightly hooked up, curving up his beautiful blue eyes, his light-colored pupils was brimming with intoxicating soft light, his smile was just like yesterday.
In the dark, it seemed that someone was mesmerized, and didn’t react for a long time.
[Presented to the beautiful you – anonymous].
Jiu Shu looked at the page and wrote a reply on the back, then put the note back, he sat on the bench and continued to look at the heavy books in his hands.
The curved delicate side face was still beautiful and flawless under the gloomy sky, and there was a moving beauty in the way he carefully studied the books.
It wasn’t until the roaring thunder sounded in the sky that he pulled his mind from the book, glanced in the direction of his side, and got up to leave this place.
If he didn’t leave now, that fool who peeked in would only catch a cold from the rain.
Jiu Shu’s footsteps were not slow, but he quickly got out of view and back into the castle.
Then, sitting in his room, he saw that it was soon raining outside, fortunately it wasn’t too heavy, so even if he got wet, it wouldn’t hurt.
Despite this thought, the next day, Jiu Shu wrote on a note to take care of his health, and the reply he received was [I will, thank you for your concern!]
Although the words were simple, from the slightly trembling handwriting, Jiu Shu could still see the man’s nervous and excited emotions, and he smiled slightly.
It was as if he saw the former object of discipline.
For a week after that, Jiu Shu received a paper flower every day, getting more and more delicate every day, and more and more similar to the last world.
Jiu Shu stood in the corridor of the castle, looking at the sky outside the floor-to-ceiling glass window, seemingly thinking about something, but the system’s voice suddenly rang in his ears.
[Do you really want to fall in love with him?]
[Didn’t you find it troublesome? You can get more energy by killing him directly!]
Jiu Shu banned the system.
Although this system had been remedied in the last world, it was still hard to change its nature, always thinking of ways to stir up trouble.
Although he could also obtain energy from the target of punishment after obtaining the initiative of the soul contract, he was not as shameless as the system that wanted to directly kill the target to obtain energy.
Jiu Shu liked to change fate to gain energy, and although it was a bit more troublesome, the energy was not less than killing the disciplinary target.
For his plan, these energies would be enough.
What was more, they might be the same soul.
Jiu Shu was almost certain about the speculation in his mind, after all, he was a powerful soul that had experienced countless worlds, and Jiu Shu trusted his intuition.
Gathering his thoughts, Jiu Shu began to wonder how long it would be before the count unloaded his defenses.
Seeing how shy he was now, he probably wouldn’t initiate it himself.
“Have you heard? The old Count’s thirty-second birthday seems to be today ……”
“Heh heh, isn’t he about to die then? It seems like everyone says that people from this family can’t live past thirty, and even though the old earl is thirty, he won’t live past thirty-five at most!”
“Hush, lately that old undead will always come out and walk around, it’s not good to be heard ……”
The whispering voices gradually faded away, and Jiu Shu walked out from around the corner, faintly glancing at the candidates who had walked away.
In the original, the old earl did die at the age of thirty-five, three years short.
Retracting his gaze, Jiu Shu was about to return to his room when he saw someone walking slowly down the long corridor on the other side.
“Master, uh, they probably didn’t mean it ……”
The butler’s embarrassed voice rang out, so fearful that his voice trembled.
Apparently, the voices of those people talking just now seemed to have reached the ears of the old count, who was fuming over it.
“Shut up.” The old Count’s gloomy voice was icy cold to the extreme, seemingly devoid of anger, yet it was even more heart-breaking than mere anger.
Jiu Shu blinked at the two men with whom he had just happened to meet, his gaze sweeping over the old count’s violently tightened fingers with a gentle smile.
“Good afternoon, Your Excellency the Count.” The young man’s voice was as sweet as honeyed water, softening the heart.
“……”
“As well as, happy birthday to Your Excellency.”
The young man curved those blue eyes that were beautiful to the extreme, the brimming watery light in them shaking one’s heart.
“!!!”
The butler watched in horror as this beautiful young man said wherever he wanted, desperately blinking to signal him to stop, the old count was the most concerned about his age.
To actually dare to wish him a happy birthday in front of him was just like wishing someone a long life in front of a hundred year old man, the butler really couldn’t bear to see this young man being harshly criticized, but there was nothing he could do about it.
The old Count’s anger was already hard to suppress when he heard those people talking just now, although the old count seemed to be in a better mood lately, but he was more concerned about his age than before, the butler still had this insight.
He only hoped that the old count would not vent all his anger on this young man.
He was just a simple young man!
The face under the butler’s mask became wrinkled, and he avoided the sight of Jiu Shu, although he wanted to plead for him, he didn’t dare to offend the old count.
He could already imagine how shocked this young man with a lovely smile on his face would be afterward, the old count used to scare people into nightmares every time he was angry, no one knew better than him how terrifying the old count was when he shot out icy rays of light from those dark pupils of his eyes.
This time, he was afraid that he would be furious, and his angry words filled with venom would be enough to terrify the young man who had not yet been introduced to the world.
The butler thought so sorrowfully, yet the next moment, he began to doubt his ears.
“…… Thank you.”
The old Count’s voice was low and elegant, as if he was trying his best to maintain his apparent calmness, but there was still some nervousness that came from nowhere causing his voice to carry a rare softness.
There was absolutely no outburst of anger as the butler had imagined, or a tone of sarcastic ranting about the young man’s ignorance and stupidity in subdued tones.
“?”
The butler raised his head in bewilderment and saw the young man in front of him reveal an even gentler smile, his already beautiful features becoming even more moving.
And as if infected by the smile, the old count hesitated for a while before nodding to the young man and returning to his room with an unprecedented gesture of gentleness and calmness.
Bang–! The door was shut tightly.
The butler’s bewildered look worsened as he was shut out by the old count.
He suspected that he was dreaming, or else how could he have felt for a moment that the old count was like a brat meeting his sweetheart for the first time, with a sense of pretense and reserve, wanting to leave a good impression but flustered at his wits’ end.
The butler knew that he must have been overthinking it, after all, that young man was so beautiful that it was normal to have such an illusion.
The old count must have been trying to maintain the decency of the nobility to not get angry on the spot, but in reality, he was secretly plotting and planning something, just like those few ousted candidates, he would be punished in a few days.
A few years ago when the matter of Miss Julie and Young Master Reid had not yet broken out, the old count was indeed like this, seldom angry in person, but only secretly using underhanded tactics, so deep in his heart that they, the servants, couldn’t see what was really going on.
Thinking so, the butler finally calmed his inner panic.
But he began to worry about the future of Jiu Shu, he only hoped that the count wasn’t heartless to the point of killing this poor young man.
And in the room at this time.
The old count who said to be conspiring by the butler was pacing back and forth in the room somewhat uneasily, no longer having the reserve and arrogance that he had just had.
His brows were tightly locked and his lips were pursed to death, as if he was a little chagrined.
Was he a little too aggressive just now?
Would it scare that fragile young man?
The old count remembered the smile on Jiu Shu’s face just now, and instantly became uneasy, if not for the basic etiquette of a nobleman, he would have wanted to whack his own stupid head hard.
Just now he actually didn’t give the young man a smile, it was simply too rude!
TN:
I love Christmas 💗, I got gifts [early but still] and I got so drunk on Friday, had a banging headache the next day and the room spun everytime I stood up, it lasted the whole day, then I told myself I would never drink again but why do I lie to myself 😏?
See ya tomorrow ✌️
Thanks for the update
[Jiu Shu was almost certain about the speculation in his mind, after all, he was a powerful soul that had experienced countless worlds, and Jiu Shu trusted his intuition.]
I much prefer this than in other 1v1 QT novels where there’s chapters of angst and doubting