Is the Friend of a Friend a Stranger? - Chapter 46.1

She relied on the many reports to conceal these and other concerns when news came that Heston was calling her.

“My Sylvie is so busy. With Sommers, with Heston.”

Ignoring Kali’s deliberately mischievous reaction, Sylvia jumped up from her seat and left. She had to go as quickly as possible and relieve Heston of his burden.

It was because Heston had been so busy these days. Taking care of Princess Catherine’s orders, investigating the fake relic, and even the death of Courtney Merino.

Heston, who was sincere, called Sylvia to give her a short report as things progressed. Sylvia was a little surprised that Princess Catherine, who was handling this matter with such care, was even including her as a close associate, but it turned out that it was all Heston’s own decision.

When Heston was talking about what drugs Courtney Merino had given to Sylvia and how she had obtained them, the door suddenly opened, and Princess Catherine entered.

After checking that Heston was with Sylvia, she asked her to go to the next room for a moment with a stiff face, and Sylvia could hear some of what they were saying through the door.

Sylvia felt restless and couldn’t help but stand up and pace around in the room when words such as ‘other people’ and ‘secrets’ flowed out with the princess’ stiff voice. But Heston’s attitude towards that was firm.

‘It was thanks to Sylvia in the first place that we were able to find out, and we were able to recover it thanks to her. It makes no sense for her to be an outsider in this matter.’

From then on, the princess seemed to have taken her hands off this matter. Sylvia thought that she couldn’t stop Heston, who had gone against his lover while trying to protect his friend uselessly and uncompromisingly, but that was indeed like him.

She stood in front of the room where Heston was staying and carefully knocked on the door. But instead of hearing a nice and quiet ‘come in,’ there was silence for a long time. Sylvia put her hand on the doorknob for a moment before pushing it to enter.

There was another door inside leading to the bedroom, but behind this door was only a small parlor, so she didn’t think she would invade his private space. It seemed that he was just a little late, so she was going to wait inside.

But when she opened the door and saw a pair of shoes sticking out from the end of the long sofa, Sylvia couldn’t help but panic. She realized that Heston was sleeping right there on the sofa.

“… Heston?”

There was no answer to her cautious call.

Sylvia stood by the door and looked at the hallway outside, then looked at the sofa again. The sofa had its back to the door, so for now, all she could see was the sofa and Heston’s shoes sticking out.

“…”

It was right for a sharp friend to leave the room like this. But the moment she found out Heston was sleeping there, time suddenly slowed down, and Sylvia couldn’t resist the intense urge to watch him sleep. She had never seen Heston’s sleeping appearance in the many years she had been by his side.

If she missed this opportunity, she might never see it again. There was no reason to look at it at this point, when she had to let go of her feelings for Heston anyway, but Sylvia couldn’t prevent her mind from becoming impatient like someone who suddenly ran out of time.

Tap, tap.

Sylvia walked carefully on the carpet and got closer and closer to the sofa.

Heston’s neck was uncomfortably bent by the sofa handrest, and he had a hand on his forehead, perhaps because the sunlight coming in was painful. Sylvia carefully sat down on the stool across from Heston and turned her back on the sun to give him a little shade.

Then, she suddenly realized.

Rather than being curious about Heston’s sleeping appearance, she simply wanted to be with him in this moment of weakness. The air in the room where someone slept was a little heavier and more languid than usual, but Sylvia just wanted to be in that space with Heston.

Since he had fallen asleep with his right arm raised, his face was half-covered. Sylvia looked at his nose, which seemed to indicate his upright personality, and his lips, which were a little thick for a man. The sunlight coming in through the lace curtain settled on his cheek, drawing a distinctive pattern.

Just then, his hand came down from his forehead. Sylvia turned her head completely in surprise, and Heston finally realized Sylvia’s presence, sitting in an unexpected place, after elbowing the narrow sofa and raising his body.

“Sylvia?”

“Huh? Yeah.”

She should have brought a book to look at it. She had no idea where to look at.

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