I Bought the Male Lead with Money

31.

“I’m happy because you’re taking care of me.”

The emotion of liking Yu Jin was evident in Keith’s voice. No, it wasn’t just his voice. Keith was expressing his affection with his entire body. Seeing this, Yu Jin suddenly felt a tingling sensation.

Had he ever received such blind affection before? Without realizing it, Yu Jin covered his reddening face with a spare towel. Even though he knew Keith’s eyes were covered, he felt embarrassed to show his face openly.

His flushed cheeks wouldn’t cool down. Despite knowing that Keith’s actions were somewhat calculated, his heart was pounding. But at the same time, another thought crossed his mind.

He had said he would accept Keith later, but would that really be okay? Unlike Keith, Yu Jin wasn’t a normal person. Whether he remembered his past life or not wasn’t important. What mattered were the things he had done to protect Keith and Haruna.

‘I even got intimate with someone else in front of Keith.’

What if Keith’s feelings changed because of that? He wondered if familial affection might be better than romantic love. That kind of love would never change. As these thoughts came to him, his cheeks suddenly cooled.

The memories that surfaced in this happy moment were eating away at Yu Jin. He knew what this feeling was.

‘I’m scared.’

Even though he knew Keith wasn’t that kind of person, he couldn’t stop the negative thoughts. In the end, Yu Jin forced an awkward smile and said,

“Then you rest, Keith. I’ll go for a short walk.”

“Suddenly?”

“I feel like I haven’t moved enough today.”

Yu Jin hurriedly left the room before Keith could stop him.

Jinhyeon was swinging his sword wildly at the training ground. What he was doing wasn’t training or anything of the sort. It was just venting his frustration by aimlessly swinging at the air.

He didn’t know how long he had been swinging the sword, but his arms started to tremble as his stamina ran out. Then, the sword slipped from his sweat-soaked palm and flew off.

The sword embedded itself in a tree at the edge of the training ground. He had thought that moving his body would help clear his complicated thoughts, but it didn’t really work. The tightness in his chest remained. Jinhyeon clicked his tongue as he looked at the sword that had flown away.

‘Should I continue?’

He briefly considered it, but it didn’t seem like moving more would change anything. Jinhyeon sat down on the ground. From the training ground, he could see the window of Yu Jin’s room. Considering that this training ground was originally used by Keith, it was probably built here on purpose.

What a gloomy guy. If he liked Yu Jin so much, he should have made a move earlier. Jinhyeon felt irritated at Keith, who was now clinging to Yu Jin and shedding tears. Moreover, Yu Jin was accepting it gladly.

‘He cried like that under me too.’

As Jinhyeon thought this far, he finally realized the nature of the emotion he was feeling. In the modern world, countless media cover this topic, and there’s a lot of related content. Looking back, he wondered why he hadn’t realized it earlier.

Having fallen into another world and gone through rough times, his way of thinking had become biased. Jinhyeon had never thought about someone this frequently before. But Yu Jin kept coming to mind. And whenever Keith approached him, it made Jinhyeon feel dirty. He hadn’t felt this emotion even when he was betrayed by a merchant he met in the desert.

“Using him? Yeah, right.”

Let’s admit it. Choi Jinhyeon likes Yu Jin. Since when did he start liking him? Jinhyeon tilted his head. Sex with Yu Jin was amazing, but what else did he like about him?

‘His appearance is to my taste too.’

When he lived in the modern world on Earth, he didn’t know his preferred type. He wasn’t interested in anyone. But after meeting Yu Jin, he realized. So this is the type of person I like. Someone who looks soft like tofu, who speaks their mind even while being cautious.

Thinking about it this way, he could understand why he found Keith unpleasant. As he acknowledged his feelings and came to this conclusion, he suddenly felt embarrassed. He remembered how childishly he had acted in front of Yu Jin all this time.

Jinhyeon sighed. Even after acknowledging his emotions, his heart didn’t feel at ease. Even now, Yu Jin was probably with Keith. Before Jinhyeon came to the mansion, and after he arrived, Keith was always like that.

‘It won’t be easy to separate them.’

During his stay at the mansion, Jinhyeon had seen and heard quite a bit. Although Keith and Haruna were employees, they were like family to Yu Jin. They had been together since birth, so it would be difficult to separate them.

‘But is there really a need to separate them?’

I could just kill them. Jinhyeon was originally insensitive to the deaths of others, and after falling here and frequently encountering death, he had become even more desensitized. Yu Jin would be sad if he lost someone precious, but Jinhyeon knew that people are easily swayed at such times.

Of course, there was no immediate way to do it. Jinhyeon had just barely escaped from slave status and was now just a commoner with nothing to his name. First, he needed to climb higher. Then he could get rid of Keith and keep Yu Jin by his side.

He had no intention of confessing first. Although he was curious about how the tofu would react if he confessed, it was still too early.

Having organized his thoughts, Jinhyeon stood up. His stamina had recovered somewhat, so he planned to swing his sword properly this time.

Rustle.

At that moment, he heard the sound of something being stepped on behind him. Jinhyeon immediately drew his sword and turned toward the sound. He was ready to stab if it was someone suspicious, but when he faced the source, it was a familiar face.

“No! It’s a misunderstanding!”

Yu Jin was frantically waving both hands. The strength left Jinhyeon’s sword-wielding hand.

“What’s the matter?”

When Jinhyeon asked, Yu Jin cleared his throat and said,

“I got lost while taking a walk.”

“Alone at this hour?”

“I’m not alone. There are guards over there. Keith gets worried if I walk alone.”

Indeed, there were two guards maintaining some distance from Yu Jin. If skilled individuals like that keep their distance, it’s not easy to sense their presence. Jinhyeon added this new realization to his mind and berated himself for being too distracted by other thoughts.

As he was reflecting that he should keep his senses more alert in the future, Yu Jin cautiously asked him,

“Were you practicing swordsmanship?”

When Jinhyeon nodded, Yu Jin looked at the sword in his hand. Then he hesitated for a moment. It seemed he wanted to say something but was hesitant. Having just acknowledged his feelings for Yu Jin, Jinhyeon had become more generous and asked first,

“Do you have something to say?”

“Yes. This is just a question, but do you need someone to teach you swordsmanship?”

Yu Jin had hit upon something Jinhyeon had been pondering.

“I do.”

Although his practical combat skills had improved quickly through fighting others, there was still much he didn’t know about swordsmanship. The strongest person he had met so far was Keith, but he wasn’t sure how Keith’s level compared in this world.

Jinhyeon wasn’t complacent about easily killing people in the back alleys. No matter how strong those thugs were, they couldn’t compare to trained knights. The slaves in the Colosseum had said that true knights were incomparable to battle slaves.

“Think about it. Born with noble blood, they grow up receiving proper education in basic skills from the start. They’re on a completely different level from people like us. And even among them, not everyone can become a knight. They’re further selected from that group. Knights are monsters.”

In a world ruled by mysteries, it was common for abilities to be inherited through bloodlines. And most of those with such bloodlines were nobles. Like Yu Jin standing right in front of him.

Perhaps Yu Jin’s abilities also stemmed from his bloodline. Thinking this, Jinhyeon continued,

“Besides swordsmanship, I’d like to have someone teach other things too.”

“Like what?”

“History, literature, etiquette. Anything. I want to learn whatever you’re learning.”

In short, he wanted to learn everything that nobles learn. It was a presumptuous request that might make other nobles fly into a rage and threaten to cut off his head immediately, but Yu Jin accepted everything.

“I’ll find someone for you soon.”

He even granted this request without deducting one of the two remaining wishes. Just like a soft tofu. You shouldn’t give in so easily. Although Jinhyeon thought this, he didn’t point it out. It was beneficial to him for now.

Even if it’s someone you like, you can use them a little. Jinhyeon smiled gently at Yu Jin. He deliberately put on this expression knowing that Yu Jin was afraid of him, but it had no effect.

Witnessing Jinhyeon’s smile, Yu Jin stepped back with a wry expression. Unlike Jinhyeon, he showed no sign of affection.

‘It’s okay.’

Since they would be together from now on, he could approach slowly and change Yu Jin’s heart. It wasn’t like this had never happened before. Although not as extreme as Yu Jin’s case, even those who used to curse behind his back would quickly change their minds when Jinhyeon treated them kindly.

Jinhyeon believed that Yu Jin would be no different.