I Decided to Kidnap the Male Lead

“On a whole, the weather is not good this year, as is the flock of locusts.”

“Can you say it’s the weather?”

“If the sun can’t be seen even for a moment, apples don’t taste sweet.”

“Well… Doesn’t it seem like that?”

“Anyway, I hope there’ll be nothing bigger than this.”

Another was concerned about the food situation, which had already been severely damaged and was barely recovering.

However, even those who spoke different words did not regard the eclipse itself as a sign of the end of the world or something similar.

No, they never dreamed of it.

Of course. Who could think that the world they live in now was getting closer to destruction?

It would be better if the earthquake that caused the land to collapse or the heavy rain and fire that fell as if the sky was breaking would remain in people’s memories.

The word ‘destruction’ might have come and gone.

But they all just didn’t happen.

And as for the two who knew…

Knowing that the solar eclipse was the fifth sign of destruction, Ophelia and Richard were spending a quiet time.

Like the calm before the storm. No, like the calmness from being in the eye of a typhoon.

To be precise, it was more like silently processing documents, rather than quiet.

—Kirsch, kirsch.

How long had it been since the sound of a pen running over paper filled the office?

Ophelia’s pen stopped suddenly.

She blinked for a few seconds, then jumped up.

From the ends of her eyes, to the corners of her mouth, and even to the tip of her nose, her entire face was filled with a sense of solemnity, like a general heading off to a battlefield where only death awaited.

Ophelia stepped up to Richard’s desk and declared, holding the papers with both hands.

“I don’t like to work.”

Richard looked at her without answering. Then he covered his mouth with one of his hands.

But Ophelia, seeing his blank eyes, patted the papers unevenly.

“Seriously! I hate to work! This is no laughing matter!”

In response, Richard readily nodded.

“Don’t do it.”

“Yes?”

“You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.”

At the permission of her boss, which came so easily, Ophelia hardened as it was.

Then who would do it?

She was basically laying the mat for…

(TL/N: ‘laying the mat’ means ‘making arrangements’ and the unsaid words are probably ‘for her fellow poor aides’ lol)

Rather than saying ‘Yes!’ to the answer that she didn’t have to do it after she complained about not wanting to work…

“I’ll do it.”

Ophelia eventually said, her shoulders dropping sullenly.

“Even if the world suddenly ends tomorrow, there will be people who will die tonight if we don’t take care of these documents now.”

Watching her become sad as she played the drum by herself, Richard lightly flicked the tip of her nose with a smile.

“If you have something more to say, say it.”

“Let’s eat sweets!”

“What?”

“Eating something sweet will make me feel good.”

“You’re not the type to enjoy sweets.”

“That’s right, but I need a lot of sweets right now!”

Ophelia clenched her fists more resolutely than before, then opened her fingers one by one and listed sweet treats.

“Macaron, brioche, madeleine, fondant chocolate… No, chocolate tatin?”

While watching Ophelia tilt her head, Richard called for a servant, and soon after, the office was filled with a sweet smell.

Overflowing sweetness from Crown Prince Richard’s office.

There were so many sweet treats piled up that the scent of chocolate, honey and butter could seep out even through the closed door.

And Ophelia’s lips softened when she saw the snacks piled up like a small mountain.

“Aww, I’m happy.”

She hadn’t even taken a bite yet, but she fell in love with the cute and appetizing appearances, and adored the sweet smell that stimulated the tip of her nose.

‘Even though I don’t usually enjoy sweet things, I’m so happy. For those who like it…’

“It’s like heaven.”

“Heaven?”

“Where God lives? Anyway it’s a place where you can be happy forever.”

Ophelia answered, pressing her lower lip with the fork she had picked up, then gazed at the snacks with a smile.

Snacks that were sure to be sweet, like cotton candy clouds that decorate the blue sky.

Ophelia then switched the fork to her other hand and picked up a macaron with her bare hand.

She took a bite of the vanilla macaron, then crumbled her chocolat tatin with her fork, placing it into her mouth.

The two tastes mixed, but it wasn’t bad.

There was so much sweetness on her tongue that she had to drink tea, but it really wasn’t bad.

“For now, I am happy because I am not working.”

“Aren’t you happy eating sweets?”

“That also contributes a little to happiness.”

Ophelia didn’t even ask Richard to try it.

To the extent that she did not enjoy sweets, Richard did not attach importance to all kinds of flavors, let alone sweets.

It was like eating to not die.

Ophelia, who had gone crazy with her thoughts, flinched.

Aside from not offering some, she ate too passionately in front of a person who lost a large part of the joys of life.

Ophelia put down the fork she was holding with both hands, and gently brushed the crumbs off her lips.

Of course, it wasn’t that she ate sneakily, but she wasn’t shaking her face like a puppy.

(PR/N: Ophelia wasn’t all excited and full of energy how puppies are when they’re eating, so she is wondering why he is staring at her since she’s eating normally.)

Wiping the chocolate from her fingers on the hem of her skirt, Ophelia could not bear it any longer and asked.

“Why do you keep staring at me like that? Would you like one? No, two?”

Shaking his head in a relaxed manner, Richard opened his mouth.

“I like it.”

After a short answer, he added naturally as if breathing.

“I like just looking at you.”

Ophelia was left speechless.

‘What should I say? If it was before, that is, the relationship with him… If it was before…’

She would have calmly responded with a joke.

She would have the shamelessness to stick her face near and tell him to take a good look.

But now she couldn’t bring herself to do that.

Her eyes were closed, but his figure was clearly drawn through the inside of her eyelids.

“I love you.”

The confession under that red sky was probably a moment that would never be erased.

Ophelia suddenly found this situation unbearable.

It was not unusual to spend time alone like this.

For they went through so many regressions and the times when the two of them leaned on each other were too many to count.

But it was somewhat new.

It really was new. As he was staring at her…

Ophelia couldn’t stay still because somehow her fingertips were tingling and her stomach was throbbing.

Richard’s lips parted as he kept his eyes on her as she shifted her gaze and played with her fingers.

“How pretty.”

It wasn’t very loud, but it wasn’t so low that it couldn’t be heard.

Ophelia’s mouth opened, but she said nothing, blinking once before turning her head away.

Watching her cheeks covered by her red hair turn a similar color, Richard sluggishly got up.

Ophelia stubbornly refused to turn her head in that direction, knowing that he was coming to her side.

No, she couldn’t turn.

Badump, then badump badump badump again.

Her heart was beating so fast that it almost jumped out of her mouth.

If she ever met his golden eyes in this state, her entire face would really turn as red as a ripe apple.

‘No matter how much he has never seen me in this way… this, that, uh, never seen… hmm… I’ve already shown what he really can’t see, right?’

While thinking so, Ophelia quickly picked up the hot chocolate filled with white foam in front of her to cover her cheeks.

Fortunately, it was moderately cool, so she didn’t burn the roof of her mouth with the chocolate she swallowed.

But maybe she had inhaled too passionately to cover her face…

“Ophelia.”

“Yes?”

He pointed to a corner of her face.

“Here.”

“Here?”

He tried to reach out his hand toward Ophelia, who asked back, not knowing why, but then withdrew it.

“Richard?”

“No, just like that.”

Tilting her head, she widened her rabbit-like eyes at the distance from him, which at one point became closer.

A distance close enough for their fluttering eyelashes to brush against the other’s.

“Stay still.”

Ophelia involuntarily held her breath at his whisper, which tickled her ears.

Richard pressed his lips against the white foam that had fallen on the tip of Ophelia’s nose.

—Chu.

It was a very light kiss, like a bird pecking.

Ophelia, whose neck shrunk, met Richard’s eyes, and he whispered in a terribly low voice.

“Sweet.”

At that word, Ophelia’s cheeks instantly turned red.

And Richard didn’t hold back this time.

Ame: I swear… the continuation of this scene better be in the next episode! (´• ω •`) ♡

Dea: This is a nice break from the end of the world, I’ll take more of this haha