MBD | Chapter 12

As Everhart slightly furrowed his eyebrows, Karl Heinrich poured the same amount of alcohol into his own glass.

“Fair enough.”

Fair? You’re drinking because you want to, but I’m not! This is abuse of power!

Everhart wanted to shout that it was ridiculous, but he gritted his teeth and held back.

Instead, he forced a business-like smile, raising one corner of his mouth, and clinked glasses with Karl Heinrich.

“Hahaha, it seems like you really enjoy drinking, sunbae-nim.”

Come to think of it, in the original story, Karl Heinrich was always attached to strong liquor.

With a resigned heart, Everhart downed the liquor Karl Heinrich had given him.

At first, it was a bit overwhelming, but as the alcohol started to kick in, he felt a bit of determination.

‘I’ve got some experience, after all.’

His body was that of a boy, but he had memories of being over thirty. Alcohol, after all, could be half overcome with grit and guts.

Crucially, he didn’t want to lose in drinking capacity to a man who might ruin his family.

“Would you like another?”

“Of course!”

Everhart nodded enthusiastically with a bright face.

࿐⋆˚𝜗𝜚˚⋆

“Ugh…”

He felt like his insides were turning upside down. His whole body ached as if he’d been beaten. He couldn’t understand why his head hurt so much.

Everhart’s eyes snapped open. The first thing he saw was the blue marble.

“No way…”

Staggering to his feet, he saw a bed at waist height above his head.

‘Damn it! I’m not a kid, and yet I blacked out…!’

Or maybe he blacked out because he was a kid? Realizing he had been sleeping sprawled on the marble floor, Everhart groaned.

“Ugh, I’m dying. How much did I drink?”

When he came out to the living room, empty liquor bottles were rolling around on the floor.

Soon, he sensed someone approaching. Looking up, it was, as expected, Karl Heinrich. Even in the morning, he looked slightly damp but otherwise perfect.

“I thought you were dead, but you slept well.”

“Didn’t you leave? I thought you were gone.”

“I said I’d stay the night. Put your clothes on properly.”

Looking down, his shirt was a mess, wide open, and his pants were missing, leaving him in just his underwear. He sighed deeply. It seemed he had taken off his clothes because it was hot, but he had no memory of it.

Karl Heinrich approached Everhart. Water dripped from his still-wet hair onto the towel draped over his shoulder.

His eyes slowly scanned Everhart’s body, which felt oddly unsettling.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because you look pathetic.”

“What kind of thing is that to say to someone’s face?”

“The Everhart I know wasn’t like this.”

His tone was almost certain, and Everhart’s heart sank for a moment. Had he spouted nonsense while drunk last night? He quickly buried such fundamental anxiety and suspicion inside and raised his head shamelessly.

“I’ve always been like this. You just didn’t know me well, sunbae.”

“If you’ve always been like this, that’s even more dangerous.”

“What?”

Everhart unintentionally let out a foolish sound due to Karl Heinrich’s cryptic words.

Everhart looked at Karl Heinrich with eyes that said he didn’t understand anything. Karl Heinrich, who seemed about to say something, sighed halfway through and gave up.

“Just go wash up.”

Everhart, still confused, didn’t ask any more questions and turned to head back to his room.

“What the heck is going on?”

Thinking Karl Heinrich couldn’t hear him, he muttered to himself as he entered the bathroom.

The sound of water could be heard clearly from beyond the door he hadn’t closed. Karl Heinrich, drying his hair with a towel, sat on the sofa.

In front of the table was a cigar prepared by the hotel for Everhart. However, Everhart hadn’t touched it.

In the pause when the water stopped, Karl Heinrich asked a question.

“Not going to smoke the cigar?”

“It’s too strong.”

Everhart, wondering what he was talking about, answered briefly. Karl Heinrich looked at the bathroom door where Everhart was.

‘Sunbae-nim. Honestly, don’t you think it’s a scam? You’re tall, have a great physique, um… you’re big there too. Ah, but I’m better at drinking.’

‘You’re drunk,’

‘I’m not drunk? That’s what I’m saying. When someone is perfect, it’s a bit much. Let’s have a drink.’

Karl Heinrich was oddly bothered by the look in Everhart’s eyes when he poured him a drink.

Not long after, Everhart, having finished his shower, opened the door and came out. Karl Heinrich, as if waiting, spoke to Everhart.

“Do you not remember anything from last night?”

“Huh?”

Everhart blinked, wondering what he was talking about. Judging by his expression, he genuinely seemed not to know.

“…Never mind.”

Karl Heinrich bit into the cigar that seemed prepared for Everhart and lit it.

‘I can’t understand.’

Since the mock battle, he had started to be bothered by him.

To be precise, he couldn’t forget the face that had glared down at him, panting, after punching him in the face during the mock battle.

That look in his eyes was like, how should I put it, as if he were looking at the enemy who had killed his family.

The sudden outburst of emotion was unexpected, and recently, his behavior seemed like he had become a different person overnight.

‘Does it even matter?’

He lightly tapped the ash off the cigar. As long as Everhart von Friedrich was a member of the Friedrich family, there was no way he would go along with Karl Heinrich.

That was an absolute value that wouldn’t change no matter what Everhart did.

Considering what the five great families, including the Friedrich family, had done to Karl Heinrich’s family, any affection for Everhart could be brushed off at any time.

Whether Everhart knew Karl Heinrich’s feelings or not, he approached, dripping water.

“Ah, sunbae-nim. Could you bring me some clothes from the wardrobe?”

Though the door was blocking it, Everhart’s pale naked body was fully exposed.

“Don’t you have any pride as a noble?”

“Why would I need pride to ask someone to bring me clothes? Ah, never mind. I’ll just get them myself.”

After confirming the curtains in the living room were drawn, Everhart simply dried off and came out to grab his clothes.

Karl Heinrich seriously wondered if he was deliberately testing him.

If so, for what purpose?

࿐⋆˚𝜗𝜚˚⋆

The capital, Feldheim, is divided into several names according to each district. Among them, the area where the May charity event takes place is Artsbach 10th Street.

Everhart headed to the mansion on Artsbach 10th Street in the same car as Karl Heinrich.

From the start, luxurious high-end cars were lined up, and officials were out controlling some roads.

“Why are you insisting on this when I said we should go separately?”

“So you do care about what others think.”

“No, I don’t mind, but wouldn’t this only harm you, sunbae-nim? Associating with me, a member of the five great families.”

“Charity events are originally attended by nobles too.”

Karl Heinrich answered as if it was no big deal.

“I’m from the five great…”

“It sounds like you’re implying I particularly dislike the five great families.”

Karl Heinrich’s sharp point left Everhart momentarily speechless. Well, Karl Heinrich’s fundamental anger towards nobles was directed at the five great families, not nobles in general.

Everhart, who couldn’t say he knew the original story, was momentarily flustered. He realized he had gone too far, thinking he was being considerate of him.

“That, that wasn’t my intention. Anyway, you’re not uncomfortable, right?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

With Karl Heinrich cutting it off like that, Everhart had nothing more to say.

Sure enough, as soon as the two entered the mansion together, people who recognized Karl Heinrich started whispering.

“Then I’ll be off.”

Regardless of Karl Heinrich saying he wasn’t uncomfortable, Everhart quickly slipped away as soon as they entered.

Just being seen with Karl Heinrich, a member of the five great families, would surely spark countless rumors behind their backs.

Everhart tactfully distanced himself from Karl Heinrich. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Everhart to find a group.

“Oh- are you by any chance Everhart-nim?”

“What brings you to a place like this?”

“Is the Friedrich family finally interested in this charity event…”

The May charity event, in name, was a charity event, but it was actually a sponsorship event where wealthy patrons interested in the arts supported emerging artists.

However, the main power-holding class was not the general nobility but the commoner capitalist class, the Bergents.

Not everyone liked the outdated nobles, but not everyone hated them either.

Many capitalists knew well that if they got in the good graces of the nobles, they could gain a lot of money.

As soon as Everhart entered, he received attention no less than Karl Heinrich.

Despite being bothered by Karl Heinrich’s strange attitude since the morning, he had a purpose for coming here. The reason he had gone out of his way to attend the May charity event.

‘Viktor von Grabenhaupt. So he was here after all.’