The name alone made him want to punch something hard.
"Oh, fantastic," he muttered bitterly.
"I got reincarnated as a third rate villain whose main achievement in life was making an overpowered heroine's life a little inconvenient."
He grabbed a knife off the ornate dresser and made a small cut on his finger.
Wincing as sharp, searing pain confirmed his worst fear.
"Nope, not a dream… just my new personal hell."
Before he could wallow any further in his cosmic misfortune, a knock on the door shattered his spiraling thoughts.
"Enter," he said barely masking his existential crisis.
A maid, Linné, the personal maid of
"Ryan Astraus" of the Astraus family (whose body Abir was currently occupying) , stepped inside with the grace of someone who had dealt with rich idiots before.
She informed him that his outfit for tomorrow's banquet had arrived.
Normally, past Ryan would have dismissed her with a lazy wave. Today, however, the present Ryan was too distracted by his impending doom to bother playing the role of a spoiled noble.
"sure, whatever," he muttered, waving her off.
Linné, however, was sharp-eyed.
Her gaze flickered to his hand, where a thin line of red still glistened.
"My lord, you're injured."
"Huh?"
"Oh, it's nothing, just a scratch."
"I can take care of it," she said, stepping closer.
For a brief, blissful second, he assumed she meant bringing a bandage.
Logical, sensible.
What actually happened was straight out of an awkward anime scene.
Before he could react Lenné took his hand, brought it to her lips, and licked the wound.
His brain completely bluescreened.
His entire body locked up as he stareed at her, horrified.
"Uh…" was all he managed to say.
She released his hand with a satisfied smile.
"There, not a drop your precious blood wasted."
"Did she? Did she just call my blood precious? What was I, a rare steak?"
His mouth opened and closed as he struggled to process what had happened.
Lenné, meanwhile was completely unfazed.
She then touched her lips teasingly and said,
"Take care of yourself, my lord."
Then, like licking your employers wound was the mast normal thing in the world, she turned and left.
When the door closed behind her, exhaled heavily, his heart racing.
Then, like a delayed slap to the face, realization struck.
His face turned redder than a scandalous love affair, and covered it with his hands.
"Jesus, how dirty! " he shrieked, writhing on the bed like a fish out of water.
Meanwhile, just outside the door Lenné paused.
That had been unexpected. The young master had actually thanked her.
That was a first, but her moment of reflection was short lived because inside the room, Ryan Astraus was undergoing a full scale existential crisis.
to be continued...