Ranshel stepped back and put all his strength into his arm to pull his hand away, but the hand that held him didn’t budge.
“…Stop joking and let go, Baha.”
“Aha, does it look like a joke?”
He pulled Ranshel’s hand close and rubbed his lips against the pale back of it, laughing softly.
It was the moment Ranshel was about to draw the dagger from his robes.
Shhh, the sharp sound of metal scraping a scabbard pierced the air, and Baha, letting go of Ranshel’s hand, quickly retreated.
A blade swept nimbly through the space where Baha’s arm had just been. If he had been a moment later, his arm would have been severed.
“…Does the Commander of the Temple dare to stand on holy ground and harass someone else’s servant?”
Ranshel stared blankly at the broad back that had suddenly appeared to protect him.
He had no idea how long Zavad had been watching them.
“Ha, I merely discovered someone acting suspiciously and interrogated them. Your reaction is excessive.”
Baha spoke while wiping the playful smile from his face and donning the stoic mask of the Holy Commander.
Zavad spat out words steeped in dense rage.
“Is there an interrogation method that involves rubbing lips against a hand?”
“If necessary, wouldn’t any method be usable?”
“Then I suppose I should interrogate you in a way that suits you.”
Zavad readjusted his grip on his sword.
Ranshel’s body stiffened at the bloodlust radiating from Zavad’s angry back.
“I’d look forward to that, but unfortunately, today isn’t the day. I still have things left to enjoy.”
However, instead of raising his sword, Baha raised both arms in a sign of surrender and backed away.
Then, with a face that had broken its mask into a smile, he offered a greeting to Ranshel standing behind Zavad.
“Stay well, Ranshel. Give my regards to Simon.”
“……!”
Ranshel felt as if all the blood in his body had drained to his feet.
Zavad held his sword until the figure turning into the garden had completely disappeared, then slowly sheathed it.
After a brief silence, Zavad turned to Ranshel and suddenly asked:
“Did you already know him?”
“……We’re from the same hometown.”
“And that guy, Simon?”
“……Simon, too.”
‘Ha.’
A breath of disbelief escaped Zavad’s lips.
“Why didn’t you tell me? He’s the one who ordered you to be tortured.”
“…….”
“I’m asking why you hid it, even though it’s a situation where personal grudges can’t be ruled out.”
Fortunately, it seemed Zavad hadn’t properly heard the conversation Ranshel had with Baha.
However, the situation was still grim, and his white-blank mind couldn’t find a way out.
Ranshel muttered whatever came to mind in a barely audible voice.
“It wasn’t that I hid it; I just thought it wasn’t something I needed to tell you.”
“…What on earth does that mean?”
Zavad’s brow furrowed, and his voice was laced with anger.
“I didn’t bring the Holy Commander to trial because I believed that incident was purely an attack on me and the Saintess. Why did you judge for yourself and make things—”
He cut himself off and went silent as he looked at Ranshel, who was bowing his head like a criminal.
After a moment of heavy breathing as if to control his rage, he ruffled his hair and spoke much more calmly.
“I know there’s no point in reprimanding you for something that’s already passed. I have no intention of doing so. But I need an explanation. If you’re from the same place as that Holy Commander, how did you meet? He’s the son of Count Celeb, so did you work at his mansion since you were a child? Or was there another Konection?”
Ranshel felt wretched.
‘Celeb’ was nothing more than a false identity Baha had taken to carry out Nameless missions.
Ranshel had never had a relationship with a person named ‘Baha Celeb,’ so how could he explain their past?
To talk about Baha, he would naturally have to talk about himself.
That they were from the Nameless, and that he was an assassin hired to kill Zavad.
Unless he revealed that truth, a proper explanation was impossible.
Perhaps it would be easier to just confess the truth and be done with it.
But that alone wasn’t enough to make him the kind of traitor Zavad would find truly horrific.
It wasn’t time yet.
Until he gave up the quest, he couldn’t answer anything properly.
“……Why are you asking me such things?”
Ranshel ultimately had no choice but to respond with that meaningless question.
It felt as if he had swallowed a handful of coarse sand.
Every time he made a sound, the inside of his mouth felt unpleasantly rough.
A hollow laugh escaped Zavad.
“You’re asking my intention? Naturally, it’s because I want to know you. I know nothing about you, yet that bastard is acting so familiar with you.”
“…….”
“If there’s some… troublesome past, it’s fine to hide it. I’m just curious about… the part of you I don’t know. Tell me about yourself.”
Ranshel kept his head down and showed no reaction.
Zavad, seemingly uneasy at the continued silence, spoke more gently as if coaxing him.
“It’s okay even if it’s something simple. Or… right, you said you had a younger sibling.”
“…….”
“Where do they live now? Are you in contact?”
Every time that agonizingly sweet voice flowed in, it felt like swallowing a blade.
He tasted blood from his finely shredded insides.
Ranshel realized now that the uncomfortable sensation filling his mouth like grit was, in fact, something overflowing from within him.
A truth he had deferred, ignored, and pushed into the furthest corners was now surging up in waves, thick and undeniable.
“I don’t mean to cause any harm. If you wish, you could even bring your sibling to the mansion—”
At that moment, Ranshel pressed his lips against Zavad’s.
He gripped Zavad’s collar tightly, pulling him in and kissing him desperately to prevent the broken sentence from ever continuing.
“……No, Lan—”
“…….”
Every time Zavad tried to speak, Ranshel blocked his mouth again.
As he clung to him, his body trembling violently, Zavad stopped trying to talk.
Instead, he simply pulled the desperately entwining body into his arms and patted him gently.
Ranshel prayed to whatever being had brought him to this world.
‘I will do what I must. I will carry it out. So please, just a little longer, let me be drunk on this sweet dream. I have wished so much for at least one moment like this in my life.’
He offered a silent, fervent prayer for a mercy that would never be heard.
Zavad never brought up the subject again.
Ranshel knew Zavad wasn’t so complacent as to overlook such things lightly, but he leaned on Zavad’s kindness and tried his best to erase his anxiety.
Worrying wouldn’t provide a solution anyway.
Zavad still welcomed Ranshel into his open arms without hesitation, and after they were finished, they slept in the same bed.
Their relationship remained unchanged—if anything, it grew more intense as time passed.
In the midst of this, Zavad never neglected to attend training every single day, tempering his body and honing his martial arts.
Eventually, he won the promotion matches held at the end of the season, claiming the Gold Medal of the Commander rank and seizing command of the knights, his skill recognized despite his youth.
That day, he watched Ranshel’s sleeping face before finally dragging his heavy feet out of the room.
He still knew nothing about his servant, but he had long since resolved to keep him by his side for life.
‘With that personality, he couldn’t possibly be some grand, heinous criminal.’
Even if he were, what did the past matter?
The past was merely the past.
The Ranshel he saw with his own eyes was a man always overflowing with affection, almost to the point of foolishness.
How could such a person be evil?
