Holy Idol [EN]: Chapter 445

◈ 445. Become My Exclusive

“You’re quite picky.”

“Please… can’t we just do it?”

As Yeon Seung-kyung looked at him with a tearful face, Rembrary adopted the demeanor of a magnanimous man, nodding and mentally scrolling through songs that might be useful in this situation.

‘A lullaby would be good, right?’

He can’t sleep, after all. Having made his decision, Rembrary slowly opened his mouth.

“Let’s go to the bedroom first, Grand Duke.”

“Hey! Why… why the bedroom?!”

“You asked me to sing.”

“Why sing in the bedroom?”

“If I sing here, you look like you’re about to collapse.”

Yeon Seung-kyung gritted his teeth.

If the Grand Duke wasn’t looking at him with eyelids half-closed, he would have shouted immediately.

However, the Grand Duke, suffering from insomnia, didn’t like anyone raising their voice in front of him.

Yeon Seung-kyung suppressed his anger and said.

“The Grand Duke has insomnia, not narcolepsy. He won’t collapse and fall asleep just from listening to your song.”

Rembrary muttered, “Is that so,” but since he insisted, he decided to just sing. However, he worried that if he sang a song infused with divine power here, everyone else would fall asleep too, and his greatness would be revealed. So, he changed his mind once more and approached the Grand Duke.

Seeing this, Yeon Seung-kyung shouted, “Where are you going?!” with wide eyes, but fortunately, the tired Grand Duke seemed to just want to hear the song quickly and gestured for him to be left alone.

Even when bringing in talented singers, they would tremble and only make whimpering sounds when standing before him. So, seeing Rembrary, who didn’t seem to fear him, he was annoyed but thought he would at least sing properly.

“Just do something, anything,” Yeon Seung-kyung muttered, and Rembrary readily replied.

“I will.”

Rembrary stood right in front of the Grand Duke.

However, he still thought that if he mixed divine power into the song at this distance, it would affect others as well. So, he decided to just sing and use his hand to put him to sleep with divine power.

Like the clever high priest he was, Rembrary quickly finished his calculations and approached the Grand Duke, slowly opening his mouth.

“Lullaby, lullaby, sleeps so well, our baby sleeps so well…”

“!”

“Woof woof, dog, don’t bark, cock-a-doodle-doo, rooster, don’t crow…”

Lullabies can become art if sung well.

Yeon Seung-kyung almost ran out to hit Rembrary in the back of the head the moment ‘Lullaby, lullaby’ came out, but he hesitated at the soft, whispering tone.

And while he hesitated, he was stunned by the continuing song.

He knew that this guy originally had a good voice.

He also knew that he was an incredibly good singer after hearing him sing at 11th Street before.

But has his singing skill improved even more in the meantime?

Or is it because he’s listening up close?

His singing skill seemed even more outstanding today.

It was thanks to putting in a bit more divine power than before, but Yeon Seung-kyung had no way of knowing.

At that moment, Rembrary reached out and patted the Grand Duke’s back, and the Grand Duke collapsed and fell asleep.

As the Grand Duke fell weakly from the chair, Yeon Seung-kyung was surprised and ran over.

“Grand Duke?!”

A black shadow slowly fell over Yeon Seung-kyung, who was supporting the Grand Duke.

When he looked up, Rembrary, who had stopped singing, was smiling contentedly.

“Didn’t I tell you? He would collapse.”

* * *

As the Grand Duke opened his eyes and raised his upper body, the guards who had been waiting silently rushed in all at once.

“Are you alright, Grand Duke?”

“Are you feeling better?”

“Did you sleep well?”

“How is your body?”

The Grand Duke becomes endlessly sensitive when he can’t sleep, but because of this, after sleeping well, his personality becomes about thirty-three times softer than usual. Just like this moment.

Instead of answering, the Grand Duke gave an order.

“Bring me a mirror.”

One of the guards quickly brought a round hand mirror.

The Grand Duke looked at his reflection in the mirror.

The dark circles under his eyes, which had been hollow from lack of sleep, had been greatly alleviated.

This was proof that he had slept soundly.

Slowly raising his body completely, he moved his arms and legs slowly before opening the door and going outside.

Taking a slow, deep breath, fresh air filled his lungs, clearing his head.

The symptoms of being intoxicated with sleep, the boundary between reality and dream becoming hazy, and his head feeling dizzy were completely gone.

The corners of the Grand Duke’s lips slowly rose, and finally, the wicked atmosphere that had been hidden by insomnia returned, causing his subordinates to be moved to tears.

“The Grand Duke is finally…”

“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen that side of him.”

“Seeing him smile so wickedly makes him seem like our Grand Duke.”

The Grand Duke enjoyed the refreshing air for a long time before going to wash up, ordering one of the guards.

“Bring the blonde singer.”

* * *

He puts others to sleep well, and he sleeps well too.

Duran, who woke up early, washed up, and even had a meal, was taken aback when he saw Rembrary still sleeping.

He had been rustling and moving around next to him, so he thought he would have woken up by now. Why is he still sleeping?

However, he was sleeping so soundly, and he had worked hard yesterday, so instead of waking Rembrary, Duran knelt down in front of him and stared intently at Rembrary’s eyes, which had turned a strange color yesterday.

‘What was it that I saw yesterday?’

That smiling shape… was completely different from usual. Besides, can a person’s whites of their eyes turn that black?

‘Was I seeing things? Should I ask Rembrary directly?’

At that moment, Duran jumped back in surprise at the sound of “Rem Great One, are you there?” from behind the door, then hurriedly ran to the door and opened it.

A stranger was standing in front of the door with a friendly, smiling face.

“Rembrary is still sleeping,” Duran replied in a small voice, thinking that he was a member of the Demonic Cult. The man pointed at Duran and smiled, saying, “Ah, you must be the musician,” then looked at Rembrary lying on the bed and asked.

“When will our singer wake up?”

Duran became even more nervous at the completely different, gentle voice from yesterday and replied.

“I’m not sure either.”

“Hmm. The Grand Duke has ordered me to bring Rem Great One. What should I do?”

What is it? Is it a threat? Is he telling me to wake him up right away?

Duran interpreted the Demonic Cult member’s ‘What should I do?’ as ‘What are you going to do?’ and muttered.

“I’ll try to wake him…….”

“Ah, will you?”

I guess it was a threat after all.

Duran couldn’t close the door in front of him and hesitated, then left the door open and approached Rembrary, gently shaking his shoulder.

“Rembrary. Someone-”

“Hmm!”

“The Grand Duke is looking for you.”

“…….”

“Rembrary. The Grand Duke is looking for you.”

Duran was worried that Rembrary might be hard of hearing when he was asleep, but fortunately, Rembrary slowly opened his eyes and woke up after being shaken about three times.

Duran quickly pointed to the person standing in front of the door.

“The Grand Duke is looking for you.”

* * *

“Could you please show some respect to the Grand Duke?” Duran pleaded in a whisper while Rembrary was washing up, and Rembrary promised to do so.

After washing up, the people sent by the Grand Duke gave Rembrary and Duran clothes to change into. Rembrary put on the light and flowing clothes and went to meet the Grand Duke.

The Grand Duke was in a different room than yesterday. Perhaps because his condition had improved after waking up, the atmosphere was much more relaxed.

If he looked like a game boss right before getting sick yesterday, today he looked like a game boss who could cleanly conquer the world.

Whether this was a good thing or not, there was a lot of food on the table where the Grand Duke was sitting, so Rembrary decided it was a good thing.

As Rembrary approached, the Grand Duke smiled, stood up, and greeted him with a polite bow.

“Come here, my benefactor.”

As Rembrary approached as soon as he was told to, the guards were impressed by his boldness.

“Did you sleep comfortably last night?”

His tone had changed a bit, but it was better than speaking informally, so everyone just let it go.

“Hmm? Did I have a dream? It seemed like you were using stranger words yesterday.”

“Are you talking about this tone?”

“Yes. That. Why are you suddenly speaking formally?”

“Duran begged me to.”

“Haha! Speak comfortably. You only need to be careful in front of my teacher.”

“Then should I?”

As Rembrary immediately began to speak informally, the guards flinched, thinking that the blonde singer was bolder than they had thought.

“This way. Sit here.”

As the Grand Duke pointed to the chair opposite him, Rembrary immediately sat down without hesitation.

“Eat as much as you want.”

Rembrary immediately started eating, focusing on the dishes he had been eyeing in advance. The Grand Duke watched him with a pleased expression, relieved that ‘this singer seems to have no fear, so he won’t make goat noises when singing [singing badly].’

Moreover, as soon as the Grand Duke saw Rembrary eating gracefully and quickly, he noticed his gluttony and didn’t even talk to him while he was eating.

He exercised great patience, waiting until the food had been changed about twice, and then brought up the matter when Rembrary’s eating speed slowed down a bit.

“So, your name is Rembrary.”

“!”

“Why are you surprised?”

“Everyone here shortens my name. You’re calling me by my full name right away.”

As Rembrary acted as if he was a little touched, the Grand Duke became pleased.

He eats well. He says he slept well.

And he’s even touched that I called him by his full name. Easy.

“I’ll call you that name as much as you want. If you become my exclusive singer, I’ll call you that a thousand times a day.”

“No.”

It wasn’t easy. The Grand Duke frowned at Rembrary’s firm refusal.

“What did you say?”

“I said no.”

“Do you know what I just offered?”

“Didn’t you ask me to become your exclusive singer?”

“And you said no?”

“Yes.”

As Rembrary reached for a sweet pastry made of red fruit, the Grand Duke became annoyed and pushed the plate away.

As Rembrary looked at him with wide eyes, the Grand Duke frowned and asked again.

“I am the Grand Duke of the Demonic Cult, whom everyone fears. You only need to sing for me once or twice a day. If you do this properly, I will give you so much money that you won’t be able to spend it all in your lifetime. Is it just money? No one will dare to treat you carelessly. If anyone insults you, I will catch them all and kill them. Do you still say no?”

As Rembrary stared blankly at the plate, the Grand Duke took out just one pastry and handed it to him.

Rembrary took the pastry, chewed on it, and replied again.

“No.”

“Why? What’s not enough?”

Yeon Seung-kyung, who was watching the scene from the side, subtly informed him.

“Grand Duke. That singer’s goal is to be affiliated with the Imperial Theater.”

The Grand Duke looked at Rembrary, feeling displeased.

“Is honor more important than money and power?”

If that’s the case, it’s a rather troublesome value, he thought, at that moment.

Rembrary looked strangely at Yeon Seung-kyung and denied it.

“My goal isn’t to sing in front of the Emperor, but to find my companions. That guy knows something strange.” At those words, Yeon Seung-kyung was furious, but the Grand Duke waved his hand, instructing Yeon Seung-kyung to be quiet, and asked.

“Companions?”

“I made a deal when I came here. If I come here and put you to sleep, that guy agreed to help me find my companions. So, I can’t be your exclusive.”

“Are you talking about that guy who was holding gold?”

The Grand Duke frowned, wondering what he meant by looking for more companions when he already had one next to him, so Rembrary explained in more detail.

“Duran is from the same theater. My companions are other people.”

“Who are they?”

As Rembrary explained about his group, the Grand Duke listened sullenly and then proposed again.

“Then I’ll find that group for you. In the meantime, become my exclusive singer here.”

A scale appeared in Rembrary’s mind.

One side was finding his scattered group with the help of the Grand Duke.

The other side was finding his scattered group with the help of the Emperor.

Before a few seconds had passed, the balance shifted to one side.