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Chapter 17.
The grass swayed in the gentle breeze, and within a world awash in shades of green, Adrian stood alone, glowing with a light that was both red and blue, and clenched his fist.
“…Yeah, I fell for him. His Highness was really kind. He helped me personally when I got lost and even gave me flowers.”
For the voice of someone in love, it was icy cold, but the content remained unchanged.
Adrian had fallen in love.
Not with Cyril, who had been by his side for eight years, but with a prince he had only seen once by chance in the distant imperial palace.
That cruel fact stabbed at Cyril’s heart, over and over. It felt as though despair was flowing through his veins, spreading throughout his entire body.
“You went all the way there and got lost? Why were you wandering around instead of sticking right by His Lordship’s side?”
His wounded heart spat out the words on its own.
“Father had to have an audience with His Majesty. How could I follow him?”
Adrian shot back without backing down.
“Then you shouldn’t have gone to the imperial palace in the first place!”
At that last, irritable remark, Adrian, who had been pressing his lips tightly together, let out a deep sigh.
As if pondering something, Adrian bit his lip a couple of times before slowly beginning to speak.
“Cyril Valentine.”
“What.”
“Do you… like me or something?”
Cyril unconsciously held his breath.
He could hardly believe that the very question he had been asking himself for years was now coming from Adrian’s own mouth.
Did Cyril Valentine like Adrian? Had he liked him? And if so, since when?
It was pathetic that even he, the person in question, didn’t know the answer.
Yet, Cyril still couldn’t be sure how to define this feeling.
Was love such a complicated emotion? Was it not just sweet and thrilling?
What if it was merely the kind of worry siblings might feel? What if he was mistaken? What if his misunderstanding ruined their relationship beyond repair?
But even if this truly was love, should he confess it to Adrian?
Adrian already liked the prince.
In that moment, a gloomy future flashed through Cyril’s mind.
It was a situation he might face if he recklessly acknowledged this uncertain feeling as love.
‘We probably couldn’t even remain friends.’
In a situation where he didn’t know when he might have to leave Cassinel, was it right to burden Adrian, who already liked someone else, with this?
Once it was done, Cyril’s heart might find peace.
But what about Adrian? The Adrian who would have to hear an unexpected confession?
“……That’s impossible.”
After a long deliberation, Cyril answered.
He didn’t have the courage to risk losing Adrian by clinging to an uncertain possibility. Not yet.
The gaze that had been meeting his directly drifted downward with those words. Cyril witnessed the moment the strength left Adrian’s hand.
“I thought so. Then don’t mind it.”
The voice, usually so clear and bright, somehow sounded powerless.
Adrian picked up his gun and abruptly left the spot. The now-setting sun had cast a long shadow behind him.
Cyril watched that retreating figure for a very, very long time.
