Chapter 204 : Lower Back Pain.

“It’s totally fine! If you have questions, just ask me. I’m not the petty type,” Zervanie said cheerfully, stepping up beside Felyn and patting him on the shoulder with a big-hearted smile.

“Really?” Felyn truly did want to understand why past clients fell in love with him—so he could avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future.

Zervanie stood very close to him. Her long silver hair occasionally fluttered in the breeze, gently brushing against his back.

“So… what do you want to ask?” she said.

“I want to know… if I always made it clear I was only following the terms of the contract, why do people still get swept up in feelings they know aren’t real?”

Zervanie froze for a moment.

She had said it didn’t matter, that she didn’t mind—but hearing it aloud still stung.

She let out a soft sigh in her heart, pulled herself together, and replied:

“Maybe it’s not as fake as you think… Maybe it’s real.”

“You think clients fall in love with a version of you that’s just acting, just playing a role. And for some people, that might be true.”

“But there are others—people who can sense what lies beneath the performance. They can feel the real you behind the mask. They can tell that you genuinely care.”

“And when that version of you… happens to match the role they need most in their lives, well—of course they fall in love.”

Those were her true thoughts.

Zervanie had spent a long time with Felyn. And not once had he made her feel uncomfortable or disrespected. That, in itself, said a lot about his character.

More than that, Felyn truly understood her. He had taken time to learn all her preferences.

Falling for someone like that? It was only natural.

“Your clients can feel that everything you do for them isn’t an act,” she said softly. “It’s real care.”

“So they start to want that to last forever. To sign a lifelong contract with you… where love replaces money as the reward.”

Felyn nodded, half-lost in thought.

So the reason they fell for him was because he earnestly tried to understand them. Earnestly tried to pamper them.

Well, great.

If I do my job poorly, I don’t get paid.

If I do it too well, they want to date me—and I still don’t get paid.

They just want everything for free!

Zervanie hadn’t said everything aloud.

There were some, like her, who—after spending so much time together—had been permanently marked by his presence.

Once Felyn left, she realized her world could no longer function without him.

That feeling was calledFelyn Dependency Syndrome.

“Thanks, Zervanie,” he murmured.

Even if he now understood the cause, that didn’t mean he could change anything.

If he wasn’t sincere with his clients, they would sense it immediately, and then they wouldn’t want to pay him either.

He needed another approach. Maybe he could shorten contracts to a monthly basis. That way, clients would be regularly reminded that this was just a roleplay service.

“—Hisss…”

Right on cue, Zervanie suddenly clutched her waist and bent over the railing, gasping in pain.

“What’s wrong?”

“My back… I think I pulled something. Ow, ow, ow…”

She grimaced, pressing her hand to her lower back.

“Felyn, quick, quick—massage it for me! It really hurts!”

It was a perfect setup.

Felyn had no way of saying no in a situation like this.

“Where exactly does it hurt?”

Letting his guard down, Felyn stepped behind her and lifted her outer coat slightly.

Only a small number of people in the world had visible dimples on their lower back—and Zervanie was one of them.

The waist chain she wore sat perfectly above those elegant hollows, outlining the curve of her slim, toned waist.

“Put your hands on my waist. Use your thumbs to press the center.”

“Here?”

Zervanie’s voice trembled slightly with urgency.

Felyn didn’t press further. He placed both hands around her waist.

The moment his palms touched her skin, Zervanie’s body flinched ever so slightly.

“Are my hands too cold?”

“No…”

She tried her hardest not to let out any strange noises. Still, her voice was tinged with softness—tinged with something… delicate.

“Move your hands a little, Felyn.”

This position wasn’t great.

Zervanie was leaning over the railing, and Felyn was behind her, hands still around her waist. Combine that with her ambiguous phrasing…

It was hard not to imagine something more.

Felyn’s thumbs gently kneaded her back.

“Up a bit… now down… mm, yes, right there. A bit more pressure…”

Zervanie guided his hands along her back, up and down.

“Is that better?”

After three or four minutes of massaging, Zervanie finally hummed in agreement.

She bit her lip, took a few deep breaths, and quickly calmed the blush on her face.

“Much better. You should quit this job and become a massage therapist.”

She offered the line casually, using it to dispel the lingering tension.

Just a massage from someone she was familiar with—nothing unusual.

“Massage therapists don’t make enough,” Felyn replied. “I’ve tried it before.”

Since Zervanie showed no sign of treating it as anything more, just leaning against the railing and rubbing her waist, Felyn didn’t suspect anything either.

“No wonder. Still… that lower back problem of yours seems pretty chronic. You haven’t had it checked?”

She had picked that exact spot on purpose—not only was it where she wanted him to touch, but lower back pain was a real issue for her. It made the whole act believable.

“Who has the time? I’m always busy.”

“At this rate, you’ll be in a wheelchair by the time you’re forty.”

“If I really end up in a wheelchair, you’ll have to push me around. Curse me again, and you won’t benefit either.”

The two of them joked around like close friends.

But behind the glass doors, two others weren’t laughing.

Still arm-in-arm with Adelina, Princess Dorothy stood frozen.

She had been holding onto Adelina all evening just to keep her away from Felyn.

And yet, when she looked away for one moment, there was another girl next to him!

Impossible to guard against!

And judging by that silver hair… that was Miss Zervanie!

Great. I work hard all night only to find the house has already been robbed.

Adelina, standing beside her, looked just as upset.

Zervanie, you awful woman—why are you back at Felyn’s side again?! And why are you two LAUGHING together?!

This couldn’t go on.

Adelina looked at the pair and could only think of one thing:

Girls around Felyn are like whack-a-moles. I slap one down, and another pops up.

And there was no end to the game.

Even if she had a hammer in each hand, she wouldn’t be able to keep up.

There was only one solution left—

Get Felyn off the whack-a-mole board.

The only solution…was to marry him.

Emotionally shaken by the scene before her, Adelina began to reconsider.

Should I still ask Felyn how he feels about me tonight?

Or… should I just confess everything and lay it all on the table?

(End of Chapter)