Ring...!

Ring...!!

Ring...!!!

"Ack?!"

Blake jolted awake violently at the sound blasting right beside his head.

For one horrifying second, he genuinely had no idea where he was or what was happening.

Then the burning ache throughout his body returned all at once.

"Ugh..."

Right, the timer he set to wake up on time.

Thank god he had actually set one before falling asleep, otherwise this probably would’ve ended terribly.

Still half-buried in exhaustion, Blake grabbed his phone with sluggish movements and blinked blearily at the screen.

There was one unread notification, from the secretary.

Young Master, the car is near the apartment.

Blake squinted at the timestamp.

It was sent ten minutes ago.

"Good timing, I guess."

Slowly pushing himself upright, he immediately regretted it, of course.

Every single muscle protested.

His legs hurt.

His back hurt.

Even his shoulders felt oddly stiff.

Rubbing at his thighs first, then rolling his aching shoulders carefully, Blake sat there for a few seconds trying to gather enough motivation to move.

Eventually, he forced himself up anyway.

The room spun slightly, which greatly indicated just how sick he still was.

He was still feeling dizzy, too.

Dragging himself toward the closet, Blake opened it and started grabbing random clothes with absolutely zero care.

A hoodie, pants, underwear, a charger...

Everything got shoved into the backpack with all the elegance of someone seconds away from collapsing.

He wasn’t planning on staying in that house for long, really. Still, he was aware the visible bruises would take a while to heal, so there was a big chance it was going to take a week or two.

Once done, he headed into the bathroom.

The bright light immediately assaulted his feverish eyes.

"Ow."

Opening one of the drawers, Blake grabbed the box of plasters from inside.

Then, leaning toward the mirror, he carefully placed them over the visible bruises on his face.

As he changed into long-sleeved clothes, Blake paused briefly near the corner of the room.

There, hanging almost untouched, was a hat.

He stared at it for a second.

After a moment, he grabbed it and pulled it onto his head, so that, at least now, most of his face stayed hidden.

That was good enough.

Sighing quietly, Blake picked up the backpack.

Immediately, pain shot through his shoulders and back.

"Seriously? How can a backpack hurt this much?"

Adjusting the straps carefully, he made his way out of the apartment.

Locking the door alone already felt unnecessarily complicated.

And then came the stairs.

Blake had never realized bending his legs could hurt this badly.

Every step downward sent aching tension through his body, his knees stiff enough that he instinctively gripped the railing for support.

Halfway down, he genuinely considered sitting there forever.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t really an option.

By the time he reached the building entrance, he was already exhausted again.

The moment he stepped outside, a violent chill crawled across his skin.

Blake shivered immediately.

The fever hadn’t gone down at all.

If anything, it felt worse now.

Cold air brushed against his overheated skin in the most unpleasant way possible, making his entire body feel strangely shaky.

Keeping his head lowered beneath the hat, Blake slowly walked toward the same pickup spot as last time.

And, unsurprisingly, the black car was already waiting there.

Its polished surface reflected the dim afternoon light quietly.

The driver stepped out almost immediately upon seeing him.

"Young Master."

Blake gave a weak nod before climbing into the backseat.

The moment the door closed behind him, he froze.

The entire car smelled overwhelmingly like flowers, just like last time.

It wasn’t unpleasant really, just... way too strong.

His pounding head instantly felt worse.

"...Can you roll the window down a little?" Blake muttered.

"Of course."

The driver lowered it without question.

Fresh air entered immediately, cooling Blake’s burning face slightly.

"Thanks."

He leaned back against the seat with a tired sigh.

Then his eyes landed on the compartment behind the driver’s seat.

Blake reached forward and opened it.

Inside was a folded blanket, looking completely clean, practically new.

Without hesitation, he pulled it out and draped it over himself.

It was quite warm and comfortable.

The moment the blanket settled over his aching body, exhaustion hit him all over again.

Blake shifted slightly against the seat, closed his eyes, and fell asleep almost immediately.

The ride passed in complete darkness.

At some point, he vaguely became aware of movement around him.

Then a voice.

"Young Master."

A pause.

"Young Master, we’ve arrived."

Blake opened his eyes slowly.

For a second, he looked genuinely confused, then reality returned.

’...Ah. Right.’

Carefully pushing the blanket aside, he stepped out of the car.

Cold evening air brushed against him again.

In front of him stood another massive villa.

Blake stared at it blankly.

’Well. It looks unsurprisingly expensive.’

That was about all he could really think about it.

Honestly, it felt more like some summer house his stepmother occasionally used rather than an actual residence.

The atmosphere was quieter than the main mansion somehow.

Less suffocating.

Maybe, one thing that didn’t change was the fact that there were so many different flowers. It looked beautiful. They were like those at the villa, just, much more.

A butler greeted him near the entrance and silently guided him inside.

Blake followed without much thought.

What did surprise him, however, was where his room was located.

Not the top floor, hidden at the very end of a hallway like in the main mansion.

Instead, it was on the second floor, right in the middle of the corridor.

Blake blinked slightly.

’That is... oddly normal.’

The butler opened the door for him before quietly stepping aside.

"Please rest well, Young Master."

"Thanks."

Blake walked inside, and paused, because the room was nice.

Not really coldly luxurious like the one in the mansion.

Warm pastel colors decorated parts of the walls softly, and scattered around the shelves were various small objects that made the place feel strangely lived-in.

His gaze slowly moved across the room.

Then stopped.

There were many childish drawings.

Messy crayon sketches and colorful paper stars sat framed near one of the shelves.

Blake stared at them quietly.

They were obviously made by a child.

’Did the original Blake stay here as a kid?’

The thought slipped through his mind naturally.

But that only made everything weirder.

Because wasn’t his stepmother supposed to dislike him? At least, according to everything he had to go through around her.

Although her attitude was never directly hateful... even during their last interaction, she acted a bit strange.

Blake frowned slightly, then sighed.

"Whatever."

Honestly, he was way too tired to care anymore.

Dropping the backpack beside the bed, he pulled out fresh clothes and changed immediately.

The moment he crawled under the covers, his body practically melted into the mattress.

Strangely enough, Blake fell asleep almost instantly.

No tossing around or struggling.

...

Now there was just darkness.

It had actually been a while since he’d been aware of dreaming at all.

Usually sleep came and went too quickly for him to notice anything.

But this time, he knew he was asleep.

It felt oddly quiet.

Then, something cold touched him.

Blake frowned faintly in his sleep.

The sensation was cool and comfortable against his burning skin.

It was so gentle and familiar.

So familiar that it unconsciously made him smile slightly.

For a moment, he leaned toward it instinctively.

Then the coolness disappeared.

The warmth faded.

And slowly, Blake opened his eyes.

"Mm..."

He rubbed at them tiredly before sitting up.

Immediately, he noticed the tray beside the bed.

Soup, medicine and water.

"Why food now?"

How long had he been asleep? Still confused, he looked toward the window and froze.

The sun was already setting!

"What?!" 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Blake stared in disbelief. He had slept that long?

Slowly reaching for the bowl, he picked it up carefully.

It was warm, and the scent alone already made him feel better somehow.

Blake took a cautious spoonful.

Then another.

And another.

"This is really good."

The warmth spread pleasantly through his body, easing some of the awful stiffness sitting in his chest and shoulders.

For the first time all day, he almost felt human again.

After finishing the soup, Blake took the medicine and remained sitting there quietly for a while.

Did one of the workers bring this in while he slept? Well, that made the most sense.

Eventually, he pushed the blanket aside and stood up carefully.

"...Bathroom."

Unfortunately, finding it turned out harder than expected.

Blake wandered into the hallway and looked around blankly.

Should he go left or right? He had no clue.

The villa was annoyingly large.

After several minutes of walking around aimlessly, Blake was already getting tired again.

Seriously, this body was hopeless right now.

"Blake."

A voice suddenly called out from nearby.

"Why are you here?"

The boy turned slowly, and immediately froze.

Standing a short distance away, was his stepmother.