Huh?
His half-closed eyes opened wide at the sight of the unfamiliar phenomenon.
Ben reflexively reached out to grab the corona of light surrounding Haimar’s neck, but it didn’t seem to be tangible; nothing changed when he touched it.
However, what was vividly clear to his eyes remained, and he stared blankly at the sight of the tiny galaxy of golden star dust.
‘Had this kind of shimmer ever been so clearly visible to my eyes? So this is what it feels like when it’s clearly visible.’
The golden light, resembling its owner, was extremely beautiful.
Haimar’s energy, as Ben usually felt it, was in the realm of abstract sensation.
It was vaguely perceptible but never visually distinct, so its sudden appearance felt like a new domain had opened up.
“Do you see it? On your neck right now.”
“On my neck?”
“Yes. Right here… Ah, it’s gone.”
While he blinked a few times, trying to take in more, the cluster of stars vanished completely, like an illusion.
He gestured to inform Haimar, but Haimar, who hadn’t seen it, simply tilted his head once.
Instead of pulling Ben’s hand away, which was still reaching for him, Haimar offered his face as if inviting Ben to touch.
“It felt like the energy I usually sense, but it was incredibly pretty. I’ll let you know if I see it again.”
“Alright.”
A subtle feeling came over Ben as Haimar, with his cool but warm body temperature, affectionately rubbed his face against Ben’s hand.
As Ben gently stroked his cheek, a familiar energy surged toward him.
As if to prove the effect of the guiding, the energy was refined, clean, and radiant with a golden light, even feeling warm.
Ben let out a satisfied breath.
“But the feeling of touching you like this is good, too.”
“That’s fortunate.”
Leaving the disappointment of the vanished light behind, Ben touched and felt Haimar’s energy for a long time before he began to nod off.
As his eyes began to close, just like before, and Haimar’s hand didn’t show any sign of releasing his cheek, Haimar grabbed his wrist and brought his lips down to it.
“Ben Plaskun, you need to sleep soundly.”
Through his hazy vision, Ben saw Haimar preparing the tools for washing.
It seemed Haimar was seriously preparing to clean him and put him to sleep, so Ben felt like he could comfortably entrust himself to Haimar and drift off.
But suddenly, something he wanted to say came to mind.
He briefly considered saying it the next day, but he felt it wouldn’t mean much unless he said it on the first day.
Ben tried his best to hide his sleepy voice and speak clearly.
“I was never… inadequate as a lover in the past, you know…”
Despite the sudden and irrelevant nature of the words, Haimar calmly looked at Ben and waited for him to continue.
It was awkward for Ben to say this himself, but ultimately, the point he wanted to make was one thing.
“…I mean, I will be good to you. Please trust me.”
Even if their relationship had started with shallow trust in the past, it had now blossomed into a relationship cultivated with affection.
Haimar Eilec knew this, too.
Ben Plaskun was a man worthy of trust.
Haimar knew that Ben had always done his best not to break his trust since their first meeting, and he would continue to do so.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have ended up in this relationship.
So, Haimar could answer without hesitation.
“Gladly.”
Seeing Haimar’s certain expression, Ben also looked relieved, leaned his face into Haimar’s shoulder, and closed his eyes.
“Then, please take good care of me…”
Although he was almost completely consumed by sleep and exhaustion, it was not a bad, new second start.
*
“Huh?”
Like the other Esper and Guide couples who had stayed at the mansion that night, Ellyn, after having a passionate night, woke up feeling thirsty in the early morning and came out to the kitchen.
Filled with the intention to quickly drink some water and return to the bed where her beloved Honey was, she groggily opened the refrigerator, took out the entire bottle of water, and gulped it down without pouring it into a cup.
The sight of a tall man lightly holding what looked like a bundle of blankets in one hand, appearing suddenly like a ghost—or rather, like a bolt from the blue—was enough to instantly chase away the remaining sleep.
She briefly wondered if she was caught in one of the twins’ dream pranks.
She felt the cold of the refrigerator and even bit the inside of her mouth to confirm the pain, but it was not a dream.
That was clearly Haimar Eilec.
Furthermore, he didn’t seem to notice her standing right in front of the refrigerator, and his steps towards the entrance were so natural, as if he was about to leave this place immediately.
Ellyn, flustered, stopped Haimar.
“What? Where are you going?”
“He won’t wake up soon, so it’s better for him to rest at home.”
“Who? Are you talking about Ben? Still, you’re leaving this early? Why don’t you leave after sunrise?”
“Why bother?”
‘He’s saying it’s better for Ben to rest at home than here, so he’s taking him? Are the words coming out of that man’s mouth so altruistic that the sun will rise in the west tomorrow? Maybe the sun won’t rise today.’
Ellyn, who was putting the water bottle back in the refrigerator, was momentarily dumbfounded.
“Oh… I guess things went well.”
Soon, Haimar’s unusually composed attitude made sense.
When Ben was dragged away a few hours ago, she had been worried that a tiger was catching an innocent lamb, but it seemed the certain conversation she had hoped for had gone well.
It was a good judgment to give them some alcohol and grease the wheels of their relationship.
Ellyn was proud of herself.
Despite being dressed in nothing but a sports bra and panties, she approached Haimar without hesitation.
As she got closer, the identity-unknown blanket bundle became clear.
She had wondered why he was taking someone else’s blanket, but in the darkness, she saw strands of hair sticking out—a person was inside.
She was certain it had to be Ben.
Since Ben’s original clothes were thoroughly taken care of by Ellyn, Haimar had dressed him in his own coat and meticulously wrapped him in the blanket.
“How was my gift? Amazing, right?”
“Gift?”
“Why, the knit and the shorts were so cute. Should I surprise you again later?”
“Oh, really.”
The flow of his words was an easy, non-threatening agreement, but the surrounding temperature dropped by about half.
From the slight twitch of his pupils, which coldly turned toward her, Ellyn instinctively realized that giving a similar gift again would be disastrous.
Well, she already knew there wouldn’t be a next chance since the two of them had resolved their issues.
She just wanted to tease him a little more and see a reaction from the man she was seeing for the first time.
“Try it if you’re curious about what will happen to you. That sounds fun.”
“Come on. Can I shoot a bullet into your head every time I get a little scared?”
“In that case, you wouldn’t have any bullets left. Or your head would fly off first.”
“…Seriously, your way of speaking. Say the same thing in front of Ben later.”
“Why would I?”
‘How can he not lose a single word?’
“Hey!”
“……Umm……”
As Ellyn suddenly got annoyed and raised her voice, the blanket bundle, presumably Ben, that Haimar was carrying, gave a big twitch.
Ben seemed uncomfortable with his tightly wrapped body and tossed and turned.
Haimar adjusted his hold, put his mouth close to Ben’s slightly exposed ear, and whispered.
“We’re going home. Go back to sleep.”
As he whispered sweetly, the squirming blanket figure quieted down again.
Following that, the area around Haimar warmed up as if a heater had been turned on.
Ellyn did not know the principle of the technique that countered the sharp chill in the empty, large space and only warmly heated the area around himself and his Guide.
All she could tell was that, regardless of the mechanism, it was an act based on affection.
He was clearly cherishing Ben like a priceless treasure.
‘Wow, so Haimar Eilec has finally met his match, regained his senses, and will start living like a decent human being.’
The thought that he would also stumble over a person, like others, and worry about trivial things like an ordinary person made Ben look like the greatest philanthropist, educator, and saint in Ellyn’s eyes.
“You really need to treat him well. Ben is a genuinely good guy.”
“Mind your own business.”
[You mind your own business.]
‘Wow, is he sending thoughts now too?’
It seemed the overflowing, uncontrollable power of that man had become much more manageable.
Sending telepathic thoughts like a message to another person, instead of mind control, was one of the more difficult mental abilities.
Of course, since he wasn’t completely unrestrained, it was probably only at a level of sending a short thought to the person in front of him, but the fact that he could do even that as a jest meant he was probably living a comfortable life now.
‘And that’s all thanks to Ben!’
As a Guide, Ellyn began to see Haimar as a mean-spirited beast who had swallowed a little lamb whole.
‘Seriously, Ben is too good for him, too good.’
She regretted meddling and helping them out.
She had intervened because he was being so frustrating, but she wondered if she hadn’t thrown a guy who deserved nothing but a smooth path toward an undeserving man.
She felt a tinge of regret.
“Even if you think that, I won’t give him to anyone.”
[You sly fox bastard.]
Ellyn repeated the words she wanted to yell out but couldn’t, for fear of waking Ben.
Despite this, the man was not only unaffected but openly sneered at her for biting her tongue.
Ellyn was annoyed, but as a mature adult, she decided to think positively.
‘Fine, since things turned out this way, I’ll just make sure Ben is on top and Haimar waits on him.’
Even though Haimar’s personality was trash, he seemed to value Ben.
She might even get to see Haimar groveling in front of Ben later.
She should look forward to that day.
When that day comes, she would definitely laugh her head off.
Ben was a much more upright and normal person than Haimar, so she firmly believed he would somehow make Haimar behave like a normal human being.
Even if his inherent nature wasn’t fixed, he would at least act like a person, fawning over Ben’s every word.
Convinced that the situation she was envisioning would be the near future, Ellyn subdued her anger.
“I told you he’s a dog bastard.”
‘Augh. Even so, that mouth from hell is irritating!’
Ellyn cursed under her breath and returned to her bed.
