* * *
“Hyung? How did you…?”
It was daytime.
Shouldn’t he be in class right now?
Or does the Royal Academy operate like universities in Korea?
I wasn’t sure how their classes worked, but if it was anything like that, then it would make sense for him to be here.
‘No, wait. That’s not it.’
How did he even get here from the Royal Academy?
If it’s a boarding school, wouldn’t he need permission to leave?
Or is this something he can do because he’s the heir of Pantheon?
Even if that were the case…
‘Did he go that far just to see me?’
My heart pounded on its own accord, and my mind was suddenly flooded with endless thoughts.
I took a deep breath, trying to clear my head.
Raizen was silently staring at me.
For some reason, I found it hard to meet his gaze, so I turned my head toward the desk.
“Ah, and this—these… I was just looking into what’s been going on lately.”
It was true, yet somehow, I felt like I was lying.
I had only brought those magazines because they happened to be there.
It’s not like I ever expected Raizen to become famous enough to be talked about in every publication.
“I see.”
Raizen answered easily, prompting me to ask,
“But how did you get here? Shouldn’t you be in class? Are you even allowed to just leave like this?”
At my words, he pressed his lips together before finally parting them.
“Mm… I’m not, actually.”
“You’re not?”
“I just stepped out for a bit.”
That was such an underwhelming conclusion.
He wasn’t allowed, but he just… left.
‘So basically… he snuck out.’
“You didn’t skip class, did you, Hyung?”
“Hmm. Which would make you happier—if I had a free period or if I skipped?”
“Don’t joke around.”
The Pantheon Duchy and the Royal Academy weren’t exactly close.
To get here this quickly, he would’ve had to use the teleportation gate.
The problem was that teleportation gates left a record of their usage.
‘Wait a second.’
The teleportation gate wasn’t located right in front of the Royal Academy.
From what I had researched, there was some distance to cover, either on horseback or by carriage.
‘Even if he rushed, it’d take an entire day at best.’
I had checked the distance between the Duchy and the Royal Academy out of pure curiosity before skimming through the newspapers and magazines.
‘So when exactly did he sneak out? Did he really skip an entire class?’
“…Hyung?”
Raizen suddenly let out a bright laugh. “Hahaha!”
His smile, revealing his white teeth, was like a scene straight out of a coming-of-age movie—vivid and full of life.
“Sorry, I’ll stop teasing. Your reaction is just too funny, Sei.”
“Haaa…”
Only then did I let out a sigh of relief.
Of course.
He must’ve gotten special permission to leave.
He probably wanted to surprise me, keeping it a secret from everyone.
“Actually, I teleported here.”
“…?”
What nonsense was that?
“Hyung, as far as I know, teleportation is a very, very difficult spell.”
Even moving just one’s own body properly was a challenge.
And that was the least of the concerns.
Extending the teleportation distance was an even bigger hurdle.
Raizen smiled faintly.
“I practiced. Really hard.”
There was an unusual weight to his words.
‘He teleported here?’
It was hard to believe, but if it was Raizen, maybe… just maybe.
That would explain how he showed up without a sound or a trace.
‘That means he must’ve had a really urgent reason…’
At that moment, a realization passed through my mind.
I let out a small sigh and reached out my hand toward Raizen.
He looked at it for a brief moment before clasping it in his own.
His hand, still larger than mine, was no longer ice-cold.
It carried a pleasant coolness instead.
“I’ll make a few more relics now. Just give me a second.”
I had been surprised when Raizen appeared.
For a split second, an absurd hope had bloomed inside me.
But I quickly found the real reason.
‘It must be because of the divine power.’
At first, I had worried that the curse was acting up again.
But Raizen’s face was perfectly fine.
There was no trace of the curse’s presence.
That left me with only one conclusion.
‘He must have been really anxious all this time.’
Even though my divine power had spread while I was asleep, resolving the issue with the relics, people’s hearts don’t work so simply.
And Raizen… he had gone so far as to hold my hand every day, despite disliking physical contact, just to make sure.
Rather than relying on relics to sustain himself, he must have felt more at ease by directly holding my hand and receiving my divine energy.
I focused on transferring as much divine power as I could through our joined hands.
‘My divine power has definitely gotten stronger.’
I had been unsure, but seeing Raizen confirmed it.
Before, I had to consciously think about sensing and using my divine power.
Now, it was effortless—like breathing.
And not just that.
‘I remember… the activation condition for my divine power was “recognition.”‘
Back then, I had to go through each step one by one. For example:
‘I want to sense the miasma in this space.’
‘I want to purify this miasma.’
But now, things were different.
‘I want to know what’s in this space.’
No, even before forming a proper thought, just the desire to know if the space was safe was enough.
‘But it’s still too shallow.’
I could sense something tightly binding Raizen’s very soul.
But that was all.
I couldn’t grasp how heavy, wicked, or cruel it truly was.
With only newspapers and magazines around, I couldn’t find anything suitable to turn into a relic.
After hesitating, I grabbed the spare fountain pen I had brought.
“Hyung, a fountain pen is okay—”
I glanced at Raizen without thinking and was momentarily stunned into silence.
‘Why is he making that face?’
It was an expression I had never seen before—disappointed, frustrated.
“Hyung?”
Raizen lifted his gaze from where it had been lowered and looked at me.
“Sei.”
“Yeah?”
Was it just my imagination?
The tension in his lips seemed to waver slightly.
His fingers shifted, and then—he intertwined them with mine.
“……!!”
‘What the hell, you crazy bastard?!’
Instinctively, I tried to pull my hand away, but Raizen didn’t let go.
“Hyung? T-this is a bit…”
“Why?”
‘…As if you don’t know.’
This bastard.
There was a time when Raizen truly didn’t understand human interactions—what to say or do in certain situations.
Even when he acted affectionate toward me, it always felt like an imitation.
‘But now…’
Now he knew.
And he was doing it on purpose.
In nearly four years at the Royal Academy, Raizen had absorbed all kinds of knowledge about human relationships.
That meant… he could fake emotions flawlessly now.
‘I can’t fall for this.’
If I ever let my emotions slip, even for a second…
Raizen would just look at me with that cold, detached gaze.
He wouldn’t even need to say it aloud—I’d feel it.
“How dare someone like you.”
‘Yeah. How could someone like me…’
How did I end up falling for you?
There was nothing left to think about.
Raizen loving me back, us being happy together—that was something I couldn’t even imagine.
“Sei.”
He called me again.
A little resentful, I deliberately didn’t respond.
Then, he tightened his grip and pulled me closer.
“Sei.”
“…What.”
Raizen smiled again.
His teeth showed slightly, as if he was truly happy.
“Sei.”
“Stop calling me. I’m right here.”
“Yeah.”
Raizen responded obediently and continued speaking.
“I’m not here because of the divine power.”
‘He’s really grown up.’
He still doesn’t know anything, yet he somehow knows exactly what I want to hear.
Well, in the novel, Raizen was always the charming heir adored by everyone.
“…Then why?”
I already knew the answer, yet I was foolish enough to ask anyway.
“You said I’d be back soon. Did you forget already?”
“No. I remember, but…”
Damn it. My heart’s racing again.
“Is that why you came?”
As our eyes met, Raizen smiled—radiant, like a flower in full bloom.
At that moment, the lingering scent of roses in the air grew even stronger.
“Yeah. I promised, didn’t I?”
Could that even be called a promise?
It was just something Raizen had casually thrown out.
But the truth was, I’d thought about it. I’d even… hoped for it.
‘Then, I guess it counts as a promise.’
“I guess so.”
Muttering under my breath, I deliberately shifted my gaze to the fountain pen in my hand.
I infused it with holy power, turning it into a sacred relic, and handed it to him.
“Still, take this with you.”
“Thanks.”
He accepted the pen without hesitation and slipped it into the front pocket of his uniform.
Only then did I finally notice his outfit instead of his face.
The academy uniform was designed like a suit.
The problem was the color. White with blue accents.
‘And of course, he pulls it off effortlessly.’
With his well-built, mature frame, he looked less like a student and more like a soldier in uniform.
He was so flawless it was almost as if he’d been painted into existence.
“Hyung, don’t you have to go now?”
If I kept looking at him, I’d really make a mistake.
I hurriedly changed the subject.
“Yeah. I should get going now.”
Crap. Why does that sound so regretful?
“Oh, right. Hyung, is there anything you want for your birthday? It’s coming up soon. And your coming-of-age ceremony… too.”
Even if I started preparing now, there wasn’t much time.
I’d been wondering what to get, and since he was here, this was the perfect chance to ask.
“Something I want?”
Raizen paused as if considering, then smiled silently.
“Then, I’ll tell you on the day.”
“On the day? At the party?”
But then there wouldn’t be any time to prepare a gift.
As if reading my thoughts, he added,
“You don’t need to prepare in advance. It’s something only you can give me, Sei.”
Now that just made it sound even more ominous.
“I really have to go now.”
Raizen slowly unlinked his fingers.
“I’ll see you next week, Sei.”
With those final words, he disappeared.
The only thing left behind was the deep scent of roses.
‘This… seriously feels like I’m being enchanted.’
Like I’d just woken up from a short, sweet dream.
* * *
