Edrion swallowed hard as an unpleasant sensation crept over him, and he spoke to Teore.
“I don’t think he’s someone worth loving, Teore.”
“That’s not for you to judge, so mind your own business.”
“…..”
“More importantly, say what you came to say. You didn’t come all this way just to talk about Raha, did you?”
At Teore’s words, Edrion let out an “Ah,” finally remembering the reason he had rushed here.
In the first place, the moment his father, Viscount Havigael, learned of his condition—specifically, that he had failed to heal Hayden—he had told him to go to Teore and ask for help.
That help was merely a request to use the library in Teore’s castle, which was stocked with all sorts of rare ancient texts.
However, to find the reason why his light attribute had temporarily vanished from those books, he would have to stay at the Grand Duke’s castle for a few days.
“Actually, I suddenly became unable to heal.”
“I told you I heard that from Hayden.”
“Yes, it happened so suddenly, so I went to see my father. He told me to ask if I could browse the Grand Duke’s library…”
“The library?”
At Teore’s question, Edrion nodded once and continued, explaining that his father had ordered him to find and read every ancient book concerning the light attribute in the castle’s library, which held all the ancient texts in the world.
At that, Teore thought for a moment before nodding his head.
“Go ahead. But will looking at ancient books give you an immediate solution?”
“Finding the cause is the top priority for now.”
“Right, find it quickly. The sooner you find it, the sooner the other guys will stop drifting in and out of my castle.”
As Teore spoke while standing up, Edrion stood up after him and said, “A-Are you leaving?”
“You said you were going to use the library.”
“Yes, but it’s been a while since we met, so we could talk a bit more—”
“I am not a person with that much free time.”
Teore’s brow furrowed slightly as he answered.
“You must be in a hurry too, so go quickly and find the cause.”
“Teore!”
Reaching out toward Teore, who was turning to leave, Edrion grabbed his arm firmly.
When Teore turned his head and looked at him as if asking what he was doing, Edrion stepped closer, narrowing the distance between them.
Then, looking up at him, he put on the most pitiful expression possible.
“Are you really just going to leave?”
“If I don’t just leave, then what—”
“Your Grace! Are you in here—”
Right then, Raha walked into the drawing room looking for Teore, but froze when he saw how close the two were standing.
“Raha.”
The moment Teore saw Raha, he immediately shook off Edrion’s arm and walked over to him.
“Is the treatment over? Did Hayden leave?”
“Ah, yes. A little while ago. But I see the new High Priest is here.”
Raha tilted his head slightly past Teore, who was blocking his view, and looked at Edrion.
When their eyes met, Raha offered a greeting by bowing his head slightly, causing Edrion’s eyes to widen.
‘What is this? Why isn’t he flying at me?’
Normally, regardless of who was around, Raha would have come up to him and screamed about whether he had met Blizan, what they had done, or whether he had feelings for him.
It was incomprehensible why he was greeting him with such a harmless expression.
Looking at Raha, who was smiling brightly up at Teore, Edrion unconsciously clenched his two fists tightly.
He felt an unknown fire burning fiercely inside him.
‘He’s the person who harassed me so much, so why…!’
The sense of betrayal was beyond words.
Until not long ago, hadn’t Teore despised Raha for acting so maliciously toward him and taken Edrion’s side?
To the point where Teore had gotten so angry he nearly killed Raha by using his dark attribute.
Yet, he couldn’t understand why Teore’s attitude had changed like this overnight.
‘Surely that High Priest must have used some kind of trick. Could it be that light attribute healing also has a power to bewitch people’s hearts?’
If that were the case, he should possess that ability too.
‘Seeing how the Crown Prince suddenly slept with me, maybe I have that kind of power as well…?’
Looking at Teore, who was gazing down at Raha with a gentle smile he had never really shown to Edrion, Edrion began to harbor completely meaningless expectations.
In reality, if a person with the light attribute possessed the kind of ability Edrion was thinking of, there would have been no reason for Raha to be so obsessed with Blizan and commit such atrocities against him until now, but Edrion failed to think about that at all.
Hadn’t Raha acted as if he wanted to hunt him down and kill him just because Edrion had met Blizan a few times after awakening his light attribute?
If Raha had such an ability, he wouldn’t have thrown tantrums at Edrion in the first place; he would have used that power to make the Crown Prince his own.
Blinded by jealousy, Edrion couldn’t think even a little bit about that very basic, natural point.
Looking at Raha, who was chatting happily while looking up at Teore, Edrion felt as if his place had been stolen.
That feeling was likely mixed with an inferiority complex toward Raha, who was lucky enough to be born with the light attribute.
Edrion had acquired the light attribute later in life because of his father, and now he couldn’t even use it for some unknown reason, so he was bound to compare himself to Raha in many ways.
“No, I have to go back to the office. Are you going to the bedroom to rest?”
At Teore’s question, Raha shrugged his shoulders and replied that he didn’t know.
Teore suggested that since there was a glass greenhouse, why not relax and drink some tea there, and Raha smiled brightly and said that sounded good.
‘The glass greenhouse is a place I’ve only been to exactly once…’
Thinking of the glass greenhouse, which he had visited only once as a child with his father to meet the previous Grand Duke—a place he himself had never been specially invited to—Edrion bit the tender flesh inside his mouth.
Why was Teore being so special only toward the High Priest…
He felt an unbearable sense of disappointment, but in the end, he indulged in the ridiculous, vain imagination that this, too, might be the power of the light attribute.
“Then do that. I’ll be there soon too.”
After finishing his words, Teore lightly kissed Raha on the cheek and left the drawing room.
Raha stood there until Teore’s back disappeared, then turned his head to look at Edrion.
“Uh… well, it’s been a while?”
Raha scratched the back of his head and smiled awkwardly.
Edrion moved his head in a slight nod, remaining wary of Raha, whose attitude toward him had completely changed.
Because Raha used to scream as if he wanted to devour him every time they met, Edrion was slightly on guard, not particularly wanting to converse with him.
“I was surprised to find the person who should be at the High Temple here.”
At Raha’s words, Edrion’s brow furrowed slightly.
Although Raha didn’t mean it that way at all, to Edrion, it sounded like, ‘Why is someone like you, who should be at the High Temple, here?’
“Ah, I have a request to ask of an old friend. If I may ask, why is the High Priest staying here?”
He asked as politely as possible, but with a sharp edge buried in his words.
For a moment, he thought Raha might fly into a rage at his words and lash out, but he thought that might actually be a good thing.
He didn’t know why Teore had let Raha into this place, but he figured that if that suddenly 180-degree flipped mask were ripped off, Teore would go back to despising Raha as before.
However.
“I know, right? Haha. I’m also quite flustered by how things turned out like this.”
Contrary to Edrion’s expectations, Raha wore a completely harmless smile and put on a troubled expression.
At that, Edrion felt a surge of irritation again for some reason, and a desire welled up within him to strip away that mask right now, not knowing how long Raha intended to wear it.
So, forcing a regretful expression toward him, Edrion said, “At any rate, since I’ll be staying here for the time being, I’m worried it might make things uncomfortable for the High Priest.”
“Oh, are you going to be staying here?”
