Bondage and Marriage - 58

In the bright sunlight, Noah muttered in his sleep, turned his head, and soon woke up. Blinking his eyes open, he saw a somewhat unfamiliar ceiling. The blanket around him was as soft and fluffy as clouds, and the pillow he was resting on fit just right, making it hard to get up. But eventually, Noah’s stomach growled, and he couldn’t stand it anymore. He got out of bed with messy hair.

“……”

Still half asleep, Noah looked around the room. He realized he was in the master bedroom. This was the first time he had been here since Dmitri and the other guests visited. Noah tried to recall how he ended up in this room.

Last night, while enjoying his time with the android, Ian suddenly did something he had never done before when he returned. Unfortunately, the android was put away, but Noah didn’t mind being teased by Ian. When he looked up, he saw Ian just staring at him for a long time. Then, unexpectedly, Ian wrapped Noah in the sheets.

Noah didn’t know what was going on and kept rolling his eyes, but Ian, apparently unfazed, picked him up and carried him to the master bedroom. Without saying a word, Ian silently washed Noah and laid him down in the bed. Noah didn’t understand Ian’s actions, and even after the lights went out and the blanket was pulled over him, he was still confused. He eventually fell asleep and woke up this morning.

Could it be that a guest is coming today? But no one had mentioned anything about guests… And what Ian did yesterday, taking care of everything for Noah, was something Noah couldn’t understand. After thinking for a while, Noah decided to take it easy and get up. In fact, this bedroom was much nicer than his bed at home.

When Noah went downstairs for breakfast, he had a pleasant and delicious meal, but he noticed that the staff seemed unusually cheerful. He thought it might just be his imagination. Perhaps something good happened, he thought. After finishing breakfast, Noah went to his room to get his phone. He rubbed his eyes.

“Huh?”

Noah closed the door, opened it again, and looked around, slightly opening his mouth. The room, which had been small and cozy with a bed, desk, and wardrobe just last night, was now completely empty. His things were nowhere to be found. Where had everything gone?

Noah entered the room and came out, but still, there was no sign of his belongings.

Why did Ian empty my room? Was this some kind of silent message not to stay anywhere else? But then again, Ian had made him sleep in the master bedroom yesterday… In the end, Noah called one of the staff to ask where his things were. The staff member had a strangely satisfied look on his face and said that Noah’s belongings had been moved to another place and led him to the third floor. Noah, still confused, followed him into a room he had never entered before.

“This will be your study from today, Mr. Noah.”

The staff member said kindly as he opened the door. Noah blinked when he entered. There was an empty bookshelf waiting to be filled with books, a comfortable sofa, and a table designed for reading, along with Noah’s personal items already neatly arranged around the room.

“Would you like a different arrangement?”

“Oh, no… It’s fine. Thank you.”

After the staff member politely bowed and left, Noah closed the door behind him. He furrowed his brow and groaned. What’s going on? Why is Ian suddenly giving him a study and letting him into the master bedroom? Yesterday, Ian had been so angry, and now everything had changed overnight. Noah was completely confused. But when he sat on the sofa, it was so soft and comfortable that he soon thought, “Why does it matter? This sofa is really nice.”

Ignoring Gabriel’s stalker-like messages, Noah spent time lounging in the study. When he asked Alex if everything was alright, Alex’s positive response reassured him that Ian hadn’t done anything to him. Good, everything seems to be getting resolved.

“Oh, right. The android.”

Noah, who had been lazily curled up on the sofa, suddenly jumped up. The android that Ian had brought last night was really good… A smile spread across Noah’s face. Where had it been placed? When Ian wasn’t around, Noah could enjoy the android, and when Ian was there, Ian could take care of things! Noah, having come to a clear and satisfactory conclusion, quietly slipped out of the study.

t would be faster to ask the staff, but given Noah’s current position in the mansion, he couldn’t directly ask where the android was. So, Noah pretended to be out for a walk and wandered around the mansion. However, the android was not in the master bedroom, nor in Ian’s study or the reception room. After searching every floor from the first to the third, Noah became dejected. Where could it be hidden? Having three androids, it would be hard to hide them.

By the time lunch was approaching, Noah gave up on finding the android. Well, if he wanted to buy an android later, he’d have to save up some money. From what Noah knew, female androids had various options, including body shape, br3ast size, appearance, hair color, eye color, and personality. Male androids were probably the same. Noah had happy thoughts. Once he saved up some money, he would buy three of them—one female alpha version, one male alpha version… Hmm, what should he do with the third one?

After imagining all sorts of things he would do with the androids in the future, Noah finished his lunch. To digest and get some exercise, he went for a walk in the garden. While slowly strolling through the beautifully arranged garden, Noah’s eyes caught sight of an oddly dug-up patch of grass.

“What’s this?”

Noah approached, wondering why the gardener had left the grass looking so ugly, and froze. A person’s hand was sticking out from the disturbed soil. In an instant, various thoughts raced through Noah’s mind. Just as he was almost piecing together a detective story in his head, Noah, frozen in place, noticed something strange in the hand that was limp from being buried in the dirt. At first, he thought it was a vein, but after the shock wore off, he realized it couldn’t be. It was a red wire.

“Wait a minute, could it be…?”

Suddenly, a thought came to Noah. He swallowed nervously and cautiously pulled the hand, and as he did, the arm snapped off, revealing blue and red wires hanging out.

“Uh…?”

Noah’s mouth hung open as he dropped the hand he had been holding. This… this is an android, right? Could it be the one from yesterday? Carefully digging through the dirt, Noah found some mechanical parts likely used for the android and what appeared to be a piece of ripped artificial skin.

“Uh…uhh…?”

But… but it’s an android? Why… Why?? With a progressively upset expression, Noah picked up the hand that had fallen to the ground. My android!! Feeling utterly defeated, Noah collapsed onto the grass.

“…What is this?”

Mikhail raised an eyebrow as Ian slammed a large, heavy box onto the desk. When Mikhail opened the box, he quickly realized it contained something that had once been an android, and he furrowed his brow slightly.

“If you’re going to make an android, at least make it properly.”

“…What?”

Ian, who seemed less angry than the last time he had come to buy androids but was in a worse mood, pointed to the two androids that had followed him.

“They do dangerous things I didn’t ask them to.”

“Dangerous things? What are you talking about?”

Mikhail, who took great pride in his androids, looked at the broken pieces of what seemed impossible to even recycle. This was completely ruined.

“According to the manual, androids aren’t supposed to insert objects larger than 4 cm in diameter or more than two items without permission… but they were doing whatever they wanted.”

“That can’t be true.”

“I saw it with my own eyes. Well, it must have been a program error.”

Ian scoffed and tapped the box containing the destroyed android. While Ian wasn’t as vicious as he seemed, Mikhail’s pride was hurt by Ian’s words calling it a program error. However, he didn’t express his anger openly like Ian would. Mikhail preferred to get back at people more subtly. He decided to ask about the “android parts” in the box.

“Okay, let’s assume it was a program error, but why is it in this state?”

“It suddenly started rolling down the stairs on its own.”

Ian answered nonchalantly, and Mikhail raised an eyebrow. Androids were built to be sturdy for safety reasons, so they wouldn’t break from rolling down stairs. If it had been thrown out of a third-floor window multiple times, maybe, but an android’s AI wasn’t stupid enough to do that on its own.

As Mikhail rummaged through the box, he became a little upset. No matter who bought the androids, they had all gone through Mikhail’s hands. Ian was making trouble for no reason.

“Here’s the information on the alpha android you ordered, Alex.”

Mikhail took a file from a drawer and handed it to Ian. It was the information Ian had requested in a text message the night before. Without realizing that Mikhail had intentionally pulled out a single page, Ian flipped through the file. Apart from basic personal details, there was nothing extraordinary—just some random information. The file noted that Alex was an alpha who had met Noah a few years ago and had remained friends since. Ian briefly skimmed through the content before closing the folder.

“Is this really all of it?”

“Yes.”

Mikhail, who was aware of Ian’s suspicious gaze, pretended not to notice. Of course, the one document he had hidden contained information that Alex was a member of Tear, and it also detailed how often Alex had visited this hotel with Noah. Ian, who didn’t realize Mikhail’s little mischief, pushed aside his suspicious thoughts.

After completing an important transaction with Mikhail, Ian returned the androids and left Tear, falling into deep thought. Today, many complicated and numerous thoughts had crossed his mind. Half of them were guilt and regret over how harshly he had treated Noah, while the other half was jealousy toward Alex. Moreover, after investigating, Ian found that Alex had been an alpha Noah had known for a much longer time than he had expected. Ian felt he needed to be more cautious.

Thinking about all these things, Ian returned to the mansion and paused for a moment before heading to the third floor. He looked at a room on the first floor. It was the room Noah had been staying in.

After Noah had fallen asleep the previous night, Ian had dealt with several matters, one of which was moving Noah into the master bedroom and giving him the room that had been used by the Millers’ ancestors. This action essentially announced to the staff that Ian had fully accepted Noah.

The staff, including the butler Hayden, had repeatedly asked Ian to accept Noah, so naturally, they welcomed Ian’s decision. Thinking of this, Ian realized he should call Hayden back soon. Hayden was probably tired of the luxury cruise by now.

“Oh, Ian.”

As Ian entered the bedroom to change before dinner, he saw Noah inside and felt a brief sense of satisfaction, but his expression soon hardened when he noticed Noah’s dark mood.

“Welcome…” Noah greeted in a gloomy tone, glancing up at Ian.

Since Noah had discovered the android’s hand in the garden, he had been wanting to shake Ian by the collar and demand to know where the android was, but he couldn’t act on his feelings. Moreover, when he saw Ian’s sour expression, he felt it was not the right moment to ask. He kept waiting for the right time to ask about the android, but Ian suddenly frowned.

“…What? Is there something you want to ask?”

Without realizing it, Ian asked coldly out of habit, then quickly added something. It seemed that Noah’s expression was bad because Ian had been too harsh on him yesterday. But yesterday’s actions were already in the past.

Then Noah hesitantly, almost cutely, held out the hand he had found, and Ian’s expression froze. It was the hand of the android he had destroyed yesterday. After breaking it, he had thought it was dark and hard to find, so he had left it. But it seemed Noah had found it while walking.

“Android… what happened to it?”

Noah asked, with a faint hope. Since he had only found one hand, he thought that even if Ian had lost his temper and destroyed one, there were still two left. But after a moment of silence, Ian’s words caused Noah to feel despair.

“I didn’t like it, so I returned it.”

“R-returned it?”

Unable to believe this harsh reality, Noah’s voice trembled involuntarily. Ian seemed a bit flustered. Noah, still unable to give up, asked again, his voice almost breaking.

“Then… you’re not buying it again?”

“…No, I won’t buy it again.”

Why?? Why??? How can you take it away after giving it to me? I should have at least used it for a month, or at least a week, to know if I liked it or not… No, if I bought three, I should at least use them until I got my money’s worth… Why is Ian doing this? I thought he would keep bothering me with androids… Noah, feeling it was such a waste, almost started to cry.

On the other hand, Ian didn’t understand Noah’s reaction. Why? Why was he upset? Shouldn’t he be relieved and happy that the androids were returned? Did I say something wrong? And why is Noah holding that hideous hand like it’s precious…?

In the midst of many unanswered questions, both Ian and Noah felt somewhat discouraged.