She Married A Nobody, And Nobody Dared Touch Her Again

Chapter 009

At the Caldwell estate.

After burying Uncle Caden, Sera climbed the stairs toward her bedroom, her steps already starting to drag.

Her body was exhausted. Not the ordinary kind of tired, but the kind that piles up from too many things in a single night. Loss, confrontation, tears held back for too long. All she needed now was a hot shower, her bed, and not a single human voice until morning.

She'd almost reached the top step when she noticed a shadow following her from behind.

Sera turned around.

And found Lein strolling up behind her, hands in his pockets, as if this were a routine he'd been doing for years.

"Why are you following me?"

Lein raised an eyebrow, his expression like someone who'd just been asked a question with a very obvious answer.

"Isn't it obvious?" he said. "I'm filthy and I want a shower. So let's shower together." His smile appeared, faint and completely unashamed. "We're getting married, right? So why not start with a shower together?"

Sera stood frozen for two seconds.

This man was strong, but his brain was clearly broken.

Her cheeks flushed before she could stop them.

"We're only getting married on paper!" The words came out faster than she'd planned. "We're not living like a real husband and wife! Besides, we only met today, two hours ago, on the side of the road! Don't be crazy!"

Lein looked at her.

Then his expression shifted into something Sera didn't expect.

Disappointment.

Genuine disappointment, like a little kid who'd been promised candy and then found out it was only a joke.

"So no sleeping in the same bed?" he asked. "No enjoying long nights together?"

He let out a long sigh.

"Haah." He sounded like someone who'd just lost something precious. "That's disappointing."

Sera looked at him. Then she looked at that disappointed face a little longer.

And for some reason, seeing a man who'd just taken down ten armed men with his bare hands standing on the stairs with a face like that, something felt... guilty.

"A-actually..." Sera cleared her throat. "You can sleep in my room. I need your protection, and it makes more sense for you to be close to me." She paused, choosing her next words carefully. "But for the other stuff... I need time. We only met today. When the time's right, we'll actually do it. So you don't need to worry about that."

Lein listened.

Then he stepped up.

One long stride upward, stopping exactly one step below Sera.

Since Lein was taller, that one step was enough to put them at eye level. Their faces were suddenly very close, and Sera had no room to back away, with the stair railing right behind her.

Lein's eyes looked straight into hers.

Sera's cheeks flushed twice as fast as before.

She wanted to back up. Wanted to put some distance between them. But if she backed away now, it would look like she was scared, and Sera Caldwell wasn't scared of anyone.

So she held her ground.

Still, stiff, with a face that could no longer pretend everything was normal.

Lein smiled.

This time it wasn't the thin, cold smile he'd given Arthur. This was different. Warmer. More sincere.

"Alright," he said softly. "I'll wait. There's no rush." His eyes didn't leave hers. "And while I wait, I'll protect you. With my life, if that's what it takes."

Sera held her breath.

Then let it out slowly.

"Alright," she replied, trying to sound calmer than she felt. "Deal."

Lein nodded, satisfied.

Then, without any dramatic transition whatsoever, his expression went back to something far flatter.

"Now, where's your room? I want to take a shower." He scratched the back of his neck. "I haven't showered in three days."

Sera stared at him.

Three days?

Three... days?

Something inside her head was screaming. But on the surface, all that came out was an expression that couldn't quite hide her mild horror, before she quickly brought it back under control into a neutral face.

"Follow me," she said.

---

Sera's bedroom on the second floor wasn't a room you could call a bedroom in the usual sense.

The ceiling was high. The windows were huge, running from the floor almost to the ceiling, overlooking the backyard they'd just been in. A king-size bed with a dark wooden headboard that dated back to her grandfather's era. A small sofa in the corner. A desk on the other side. A built-in wardrobe that took up nearly an entire wall.

And the bathroom, its door opening from inside the bedroom, was big enough to be a studio apartment.

Lein stood in the doorway, not stepping in right away.

His eyes moved slowly, sweeping every corner of the room with an expression he couldn't hide.

"Is this a bedroom," he finally said, "or a training ground?"

Sera turned. "What?"

"This place is huge." Lein walked in, still looking around. "I could go jogging in here. Full laps."

Sera frowned. "Isn't this a normal size for a bedroom?"

Lein looked at her.

"Normal?" he repeated. He sounded like he was genuinely questioning it. "This room is ten times bigger than my old one. Maybe fifteen. Even my grandfather's room isn't this big."

Sera stared back at him.

Judging by his reaction and what he'd said, she concluded that Lein must have come from a very poor family.

But Sera decided not to comment on it any further.

"I see," she said. "Well, whatever." She pointed toward the open bathroom door. "The bathroom's over there." Then her hand moved to the large wardrobe on the right. "And there are clothes in that wardrobe. There are a few sets of my dad's casual clothes in there. You can wear those for now."

Lein glanced at the wardrobe, then back at Sera.

"Alright." He walked over to the wardrobe, opened it, and picked out a set of casual clothes like he wasn't putting much thought into it. A gray shirt, black pants. Simple, clean, and the right size.

"I'll shower first."

"Go ahead," Sera said.

The bathroom door closed.

Sera let out a breath.

Then she walked over to her bed, grabbed the remote from the nightstand, and turned on the TV mounted on the wall in front of her. Low volume, more to fill the silence in the room than to actually watch.

On the screen, a late-night news program was running the weather report.

Sera lay flat on her back on the bed, still fully dressed, staring at the ceiling.

From behind the bathroom door came the sound of running water.

She closed her eyes for a moment.

Tonight felt like a whole week crammed into a few hours. Uncle Caden. The hitmen. A family that had gathered to celebrate her death. And now, a man she didn't even know was taking a shower in her bathroom.

Weird.

All of it was so weird.

But somehow, for the first time since this night began, Sera didn't feel alone.

And that, more than anything, was what kept her from falling asleep right away, even though her body had been begging for it for a long time.