I Ran Away And The Reverse Harem Started

Chapter 68 “Stop it. Even I have my limits.”“If you don’t stop, what are you going to do about it? Go tell everyone you have a boyfriend already!”At that moment, Angela, in her excitement, hit my shoulder hard. I staggered and took a couple of steps back. Before I knew it, I was teetering at the edge of the fountain.Now, I was starting to get angry too.She must think I have a boyfriend because I send letters to Lynne’s family every weekend and secretly meet the three brothers in the mansion’s forest path.I now looked at Angela with an expression of disgust.“No.”“Say you have one!”“I said no!”Angela ran at me again. I was startled and opened my eyes wide.“Let go of this!”I struggled not to fall into the fountain. While Angela and I were evenly matched in strength, I was standing on a slippery marble floor damp from the pond water, putting me at a disadvantage compared to Angela, who was standing on grass.“Ack!”In the end, I didn’t last long. The slippery surface caused me to lose my footing, and I was pushed backward. My body tilted toward the fountain behind me.If I fell into that water, there was no way I could avoid the stench of algae soaking into every part of me. I’d look like a drowned rat for sure.I reached out, trying to grab Angela’s collar, but she quickly twisted away and escaped onto the lawn before my hand could reach her.‘Hey! Do you think it’s okay as long as you don’t fall in?!’That was when it happened—just as I was about to plunge into the villa’s fountain, which hadn’t been cleaned in who knows how long.“Hah, hah!”A strong hand pulled me back from the brink of falling, and I suddenly found myself propelled onto the marble edge of the fountain instead. Someone firmly caught my swaying body.“Gasp…”I was safe.When I raised my head, panting, what I saw was a familiar side profile.The delicate, childlike features from our childhood were long gone, replaced by a sharp nose, slender cheeks, and strikingly blue eyes.I exhaled the breath I’d been holding.“Luca…”Just as I was about to call his name absentmindedly, Lucas quickly opened his mouth.“You.”His piercing gaze wasn’t on me—it was on Angela.“What’s going on here?”Those blue eyes burned with fury, and his voice was icily unfamiliar.  * * * It was the first time I’d seen Lucas so angry.The waning afternoon sun glinted off his golden hair, which now reached his nape. I had to tilt my head up to look at the boy who had grown a few hands taller than me.And I felt a strange emotion stir.Back at the orphanage, he’d been so small and light that I could carry him around easily…Now, his blue eyes were cold and filled with rage—a look I’d never seen before.Lucas grabbed my shoulder with a firm grip. It seemed unconscious, as if he wasn’t aware of his own strength.“Y-Young Master!”Angela, flustered by Lucas’s sudden appearance, stepped back. She must have sensed it instinctively—Lucas was utterly furious.“I-I’m sorry, Young Master!”Angela almost reflexively apologized. Tears were forming at the corners of her eyes, perhaps because she was scared. Unlike when she had growled at me, she trembled as if she were a rabbit in front of a wolf.However, Lucas’ expression did not soften at all. Now, his face had gone beyond the level of blazing and had become cold.“Is that an apology meant for me?”“What? Um, I…”Angela looked back and forth between me and Lucas, clearly confused. I stared blankly at Lucas before snapping out of it with a start.‘Just moments ago, I was fighting with Angela about whether or not I had a boyfriend…’Was it really a good thing that Lucas showed up at this time? I grabbed Lucas’ shirt from an angle that Angela couldn’t see, meaning to tell him to stop.But Lucas didn’t care.“I asked if that apology was meant for me.”“……”“Have you been bullying the maids in the mansion like this? Trying to push someone into the fountain, and right in front of your owner?”Angela’s face turned pale. She frantically waved her hands.“N-no, Young Master! I swear I’ve never done such a thing! This is all a misunderstanding!”“Never? I saw it clearly with my own eyes.”Lucas replied coldly. A twisted smile appeared on Lucas’ face.“You have guts. This kind of blatant bullying behind the master’s back. I don’t think Daniel pays the maids to bully each other.”“That’s…”Angela’s face, which had been terrified, suddenly showed a sense of injustice that didn’t fit the situation.She was probably thinking about how unfair it was that she was being scolded for something Miriam usually did. Even now, in this situation.Angela had a habit of blaming everything on Miriam whenever she felt wronged, so it wasn’t surprising.As my fear subsided, my mind cleared. I let go of Lucas’s shirt and gently pulled his hand back.Then, I traced letters onto his palm with my finger.Stop it now.I glanced at Lucas meaningfully, signaling that he should leave it at this.Fortunately, Lucas had avoided revealing our personal relationship while scolding Angela. His anger seemed like an objective intervention in a conflict between maids.‘I was worried he’d start asking why she was picking on his Rosie… Thank goodness.’While Angela wiped away her tears, I stepped out of Lucas’s arms. He frowned slightly, clearly displeased, but didn’t say anything.Angela, meanwhile, kept her head bowed and started crying harder, her tears falling like raindrops. She stubbornly kept her lips pressed together, refusing to apologize to me.I sighed softly as I watched her.‘You won’t ever say sorry to me?’After threatening and trying to push me into the fountain, Angela still seemed to think she was the one being wronged.I was so fed up that I couldn’t even bear to look at her anymore. Taking advantage of her distraction, I gestured to Lucas to send her away quickly.Lucas frowned but complied with my words without further resistance.“You. Go back to the kitchen. I don’t want to see your face.”“Sniff, sob… Y-Young Master…”“Not going?”Angela wiped her tears and turned her body as Lucas pressed her irritably.But even as she walked away, she gave me a sideways glance with her tear-streaked face. I was dumbfounded.‘What are you looking at!’…I wanted to shout, but I held it in.Angela glanced at Lucas once, then turned her back completely and moved away from us.Only after Angela completely disappeared did I let out a deep sigh. I thought she was an emotional person, but I didn’t expect her to be this bad.She might be a stronger enemy than Miriam.“Hah…”After letting out a sigh of relief, I too tried to leave. At that moment, Lucas pulled my wrist that he was holding, pulling me back to his side.Before I could react, I found myself standing beside him again.Why, it was colder than when I confronted Angela.“Rosie, look at me.”“Huh? Me?”Without letting go of my wrist, Lucas applied just enough strength to prevent me from escaping and led me into the mansion.I felt flustered.Wait… Why does it feel like I’m the one in trouble now? * * * In Lucas’s room, two wooden terrace doors were wide open. The late afternoon breeze blew in through them.I sat on a rattan chair near the terrace, feeling oddly like I was about to be interrogated. My hands were clasped together on my lap.Lucas sat on the edge of his bed, staring at me with a stubborn expression.“Are you sure this only happened today?”His frown deepened, as if something about my answer didn’t sit right with him. To me, it just looked like a little brother trying to act tough.“Even if it did, it’s not like this happens all the time.”I denied it firmly.“Really? Then why would someone who’s never bothered you before suddenly try to push you into a pond? Did you do something wrong?”Lucas was pressing me for details about what had happened between Angela and me.More accurately, he was trying to find out if Angela—or the other maids—had been harassing me regularly.Angela’s and Miriam’s faces flashed through my mind, along with their past misdeeds. But I sighed deeply and lied.“I don’t know. Maybe she just suddenly decided she didn’t like me. Why are you questioning me about it?”Lucas snapped back angrily.“When I saw you two arguing from a distance, I had my doubts. But when that maid tried to push you into the pond, I nearly had a heart attack! You don’t get to act all tough about this!”“Ugh…”“Do you know how scared I was? If I hadn’t caught you, you would’ve crashed straight into the bottom of that fountain.”Lucas glared at me as if daring me to argue. His expression was so insolent that I wanted to flick his forehead, but his now-larger hand stopped me before I could.Then Lucas grabbed my hand and gently pulled me forward. Before I knew it, I was standing awkwardly in front of him, sitting at the edge of his bed.The cold face he’d shown Angela was gone. Now, he looked gloomy as he gazed up at me.“You have no idea how worried I was, Rosie. And you won’t even give me a straight answer. Have the maids been bullying you?”“I told you, they haven’t…”His delicate eyebrows drooped down. Then he muttered softly, barely audible.“I don’t believe you.”“You don’t believe me?”Lucas lowered his head.I quickly twisted my wrist free from his grasp and cupped his cheeks with both hands.“Look up. You don’t believe me? Are you saying I’m lying? Huh?”“…….”“Lucas. Why can’t you make eye contact?”“…….”“Are you really going to act like this?”When I pressed his cheeks firmly and gave him no choice, Lucas reluctantly lifted his head to meet my gaze.As I expected, his blue eyes were clouded with worry.