Chapter 18 - 2.9

Lea and Dwyl were eating a continental breakfast. Fresh bread, some jams and other toppings and a whole assortment of fresh fruits. It was good, but Lea was in a rather bad mood. Not only did she not get any satisfactory answers from Mason yesterday, as soon as they had arrived at her room the butler left, saying he had urgent business getting everything ready for some elite ball next week. With nothing better to do she explored her luxurious room that was made out of expensive marbles, the floors adorned with the finest handwoven carpets and soft bedsheets of satin. It was a beautiful, but impersonal room. It wasn't long before Lea had seen everything and could only wait for Dwyl to relieve her boredom. It felt like Sun's palace all over again, as if the only sights she was ever going to see were golden cages disguised as bedrooms.

The problem was Dwyl never came. She sent it telepathic messages, but it never answered! This made her incredibly annoyed. Wasn't it a systems obligation to answer their hosts questions? Why didn't Dwyl come? Lea was planning to stomp out of her room and go look for William herself to give him a piece of her mind that he couldn't ignore, but her body didn't move! When she checked Kailey's memories to see what she did wrong, Lea discovered that there was a law in this world that stated people couldn't walk around in another's home without their explicit permission, because otherwise it would be a violation of their privacy.

This just made Lea even more angry for a whole bunch of different reasons. The first was that even though she was a big advocate for privacy, it just felt like a huge joke in this world. The government could even decide who the people married! Why would they care about privacy? How hypocritical. The second reason was because once again Lea was imprisoned, and she blamed Dwyl for it. If only it hadn't chosen a world where people had a limited free will, if only William had given her the privilege of not needing to follow the law. This was all Dwyl's fault! How could it just leave her alone like this, without even a warning? Was it really that mean? Or did something happen to it that made it unable to answer her messages? That last thought made her very anxious. What would happen to her if her system went missing? This wasn't how worldhopping was supposed to be!

So for the entire night Lea was confined to the guestroom, without a wink of sleep – only for a small part because of her worry about Dwyl – but mostly because she wanted to violate the privacy rule and had very negative thoughts about the government, especially William Wright who she blamed for her predicament.

So when morning came and Dwyl just happily walked in to eat breakfast with her without any worry in the world, she only felt more resentment towards him.

[You are the worst system ever.]

Lea couldn't say her thoughts out loud, since there were a lot of servants around. She wished she could scream at Dwyl and shake some sense in that hot body of his. Unfortunately, that thought only made her unable to eat her food. At this rate, she would die before the week was over. Why did the worlds she entered make her suffer so much? Did fate have something against her?

Dwyl narrowed his eyes, not liking this statement one bit. Yes, Dwyl hadn't come get Lea after his meeting with the president, but that was just because he didn't feel like it. Why did he need to cater his host the entire time? He wasn't a slave. He could do whatever he liked. Okay, maybe he should've answered Lea's messages, but they were nothing important, so after a while he decided to just turn deaf to her. He just wanted a little bit freedom, without having to listen to Lea nag him. That wasn't a crime! He didn't deserve this insult. Why did Lea have to lash out were it hurt him the most? Dwyl already didn't like Lea that much, this only made him like her even less. Seriously, what did Writer see in her? If it wasn't for Dwyl really needing this and being unable to refuse Writer, he would have never chosen Lea as its host.

[What makes you say such nonsense?] Dwyl answered defensively.

[I tried to reach you yesterday, but you just ignored me the entire time. You didn't come to my room and I called out to you almost every ten minutes. I thought something might have happened to you!] Lea pouted.

[Dwyl: Well, I'm not sorry. I didn't feel like hanging out with you, and it's not like your messages were anything important. You're still alive, aren't you?]

[You could have said that! I didn't sleep, and right now I can't get a single bite through my throat!]

[Dwyl: It's not my fault you keep violating laws.]

[It is! Did you know there is a law prohibiting people from thinking badly about the presidential family? It is ridiculous I have to punish myself because my system, who is the president's son, is making me think bad of him!]

William sighed, and took a bite of a slice of mango. Why was it Dwyl's fault Lea didn't like him? It was only right she got punished.

Dwyl's action made Lea even madder. She can't eat and Dwyl is just shoving food in his mouth right in front of her face!

Dwyl munched on his food, and thought for a while. Although he believed Lea was being a tad bit unreasonable, as a system he should be the bigger person. Lea being angry wasn't that beneficial to him. What would Writer think of him if Lea kept having a negative impression of him? He should make an effort to get along, for the sake of his relationship with Writer. It wasn't like he was completely blameless in this situation. He should've answered at least one message.

[Dwyl: I realize I might have gone overboard. Tell me what you want, so that I can make it right.]

This surprised Lea. Was this Dwyl's version of an apology? She hadn't expected Dwyl to give in so easily. She was still angry, but this could be very helpful for her matchmaking plan. [Well, there is something…]

[Dwyl: Say it. Don't beat around the bush.]

She eyed William for a while, trying to imagine his reaction. He should be happy if her earlier assumptions were correct and William indeed had a crush on Mason. Well, even if Dwyl didn't feel that way, he should go along with her if his apology was sincere.

[I want you and Mason to get together.]

Dwyl, who had just taken a sip of orange juice spit it out. What did Lea just say?

Lea rushed to the other side of the table to help him clean up the spilled orange juice before the maids even noticed it happening. She hadn't expected Dwyl to have such a cute reaction. Ah~ she should tease it more often.

Dwyl was completely out of it. Did Lea just say what he thought she said? He was repeating Lea's words in his mind, and the more he thought of it the more blood rushed to his face. How could she suggest such a thing? He and… and Mason?! Mason? The protagonist? The one that Writer had made the most important in this world? She wanted them to be together? As in, romantically?!

"William, are you alright? Did you choke on something?" Lea asked teasingly. She looked around looking for a napkin and started wiping up the orange juice around the edges of Dwyl's lips. They had such a nice shape, and his skin was so smooth. It was clear William was well taken care of. "You shouldn't drink so fast."

Dwyl suddenly felt something near his mouth, and when he focused his eyes to see what was going on he saw Kailey's face super close to him! When did she get there? Flustered he shoved her away without thinking and yelled: "What are you doing?"

William's face was beet red, and he was breathing rapidly. He couldn't make sense of what was happening.

"Young master!" The maids finally went into action. They had thought it would be alright for miss King to attend to the young master, and had just waited for their next orders from young master Wright. But then the young master shoved miss King away, clearly not okay! Oh, if they had known, they would've immediately removed her! What if they lost their job or lives over this? "Are you alright?"

Dwyl was even more confused when all of the sudden at least four maids were fussing around him, touching him and asking if he was injured anywhere. It just made him more flustered, especially with thoughts of Mason and him still on his mind. "Go away! All of you! Don't touch me," he yelled. He needed to breathe! He needed to think!

The maids all turned ghastly pale. Oh, no! They had made him angry. "Young master, we're just trying to help…" a brave maid trembled.

"Go away now, or I'll execute you all!" Dwyl couldn't take it anymore. He needed to be alone with Lea and talk this out without prying eyes.

The maids all left the room in a hurry, but there were still a couple of other servants on standby, who watched the commotion from afar. Dwyl also turned to them. "Everybody, except Kailey must leave the room!"

Lea just watched it all from the floor on which she landed after William had pushed her away, and all the while these were the thoughts in her mind: 'Cute! Dwyl is so cute! Kyaa~ Just imagine how he would look like when Mason pushes him down on the bed. Aah~ I want to see!'

After all the servants had left and Lea and Dwyl were the only ones in the room, Dwyl's still red face looked down upon Lea. With a soft shaking voice he said: "What… What did you just ask of me?"

Lea smirked. Dwyl was like a baby chick, especially with his blonde hair. And he said he wasn't a virgin! Why else would he be so ruffled over something like this? "I want you to start a relationship with Mason."

Dwyl clenched his fists and swallowed hard. It seemed he hadn't misheard it. "About which Mason are you talking?"

"Do we know more than one Mason? I mean the protagonist of course!"

Dwyl shook his head. It was a silly question, but he needed to be sure. "Why?"

"Because I want to. I'd like to see you guys together."

Dwyl closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart. "What if I say no?"

Lea blinked. She should have expected this. "Are you going to say no?" She knew she couldn't force Dwyl to do anything. Besides, Lea wasn't as unreasonable to think she could control people's feelings, but that didn't mean she would give up. Dwyl owed her something!

Dwyl hesitated. He definitely wouldn't mind being together with Mason, he would really like it to be honest, but he also knew it was impossible. Mason would never want a relationship with him. "I… I… It will never work!"

Lea stared at William's adorable appearance, and when she saw his eyes getting moist she couldn't help but feel distressed. She just wanted to tease Dwyl a little, not make him cry!

She stood up from the ground and pulled him into a hug. "Hey… hey… Don't cry. You don't have to do anything you don't like."

Lea had hoped she could push William against her bosom, and gently stroke his hair, but unfortunately he was too tall! It was her face that was against his firm shoulder. How could someone so cute, be so big?

Dwyl was startled by the sudden contact, but he didn't push Lea away this time. Instead, he froze. "I'm not… not crying."

"Yeah, yeah. You're not." Lea patted his back.

After a while Dwyl had had enough. He had calmed down and slowly removed Lea's arms from his body. "I'm fine."

"Really?" Lea studied his face carefully. His face was indeed less red.

"Yes."

"So, may I ask why you think it won't work? I really thought you liked Mason." Was she so wrong about that? Was she seeing the world to much in fujoshi-colored glasses?

William shook his head. "No, it's not that. It's just that I don't think Mason likes me."

Lea's eyes widened. She was right! Dwyl did like Mason! "Aw~ How can someone so annoying be so sweet?"

Dwyl felt shivers seeing that puppy look on Lea's face. He shouldn't have said anything.

"Look, Dwyl. I don't know if Mason will like you or not, but you can't know without trying!"

Dwyl sighed. He had tried. He had tried thousands of times, but maybe, just maybe with Lea backing him something might happen. "Fine, I'll do what you wish."