“Hyung…?”
Sean’s startled voice rang in his ears.
Raizen could feel the younger boy tense up at the sudden touch—it was kind of cute.
And also… a little embarrassing.
‘How the hell do I explain this?’
“You showed up in my dream, and I got so mad I came running?”
Even Raizen knew that wasn’t a reasonable excuse.
If someone asked why it wasn’t appropriate, he’d honestly be too flustered to answer.
But regardless, it just didn’t sit right with him.
And at this point in his life, there wasn’t anyone he could talk to about feelings like this anyway.
All he could do now was regret his impulsive actions.
Acting on raw emotion—this was a first.
It was both cathartic and deeply uncomfortable, like standing completely exposed.
He didn’t like it.
“Get it together, you idiot.”
A voice rang in his head, snapping him out of it.
He chose silence.
After letting go of Sean, Raizen met his eyes and gave a soft smile.
Usually, that was enough to make Sean flustered and glance away—problem solved.
But this time was different.
Sean cautiously held his gaze.
He looked away once or twice, as if it was hard to bear, but always returned to him.
“Um… hyung, did you have a nightmare or something?”
Slowly, carefully— But he didn’t look away as he asked.
Raizen’s mind went blank for a moment.
How could he even describe this?
Something like warm water, thin and gentle, flowed through his heart.
The feeling was so foreign, it made his skin crawl.
Barely holding back the impulse to reach out again, Raizen shook his head.
“No. It’s nothing.”
But something had changed.
Raizen told himself it was just a fleeting moment.
He had no idea—it was only the beginning.
The custom-ordered uniform, tailored from a design they had chosen together, arrived unusually fast.
Most nobles had to wait months just to place an order with this famous atelier.
But for the Ducal House of Pantheon, such delays didn’t apply.
“It’s ready, sir.”
The attendants who had helped him into the uniform stepped back.
Without even checking his own reflection, Raizen turned his eyes toward Sean.
The cloth screen that had been blocking his view was removed—And there stood Sean, under bright lights, fully dressed in the black uniform.
The boy who had once looked so small now radiated a maturity Raizen had never noticed before.
“Does it look okay?”
Sean’s voice was sheepish, almost shy.
Raizen paused and listened—their mother’s gentle voice ordered all attendants, except Mila, to leave the room.
Once the sound of the closing door reached his ears, a faint smile formed on his lips.
“Sei, I’m going to disable your magic artifact for a bit. Is that okay?”
“Ah…”
Sean nodded, seeming to understand immediately.
Raizen stepped closer, cautiously.
As the distance between them closed, a cool mint scent reached his nose.
Faint, but sharp enough to be unmistakable—Sean’s pheromones.
Raizen barely managed to suppress his own as he disabled the artifact.
“Oh my…”
Their mother let out a soft gasp.
Raizen froze halfway, still holding Sean in a half-embrace.
He just needed to lift his head to look—but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
“Hyung?”
“Raizen?”
Their voices, questioning, nudged him.
He stepped back, slowly.
Even then, his eyes stayed downcast.
He took a breath without even realizing it, then finally raised his head.
And there he was.
A being that seemed to gather all the light around him.
Raizen couldn’t look away—even though it was almost blinding.
If he so much as blinked, it felt like Sean might disappear into that light.
“H-how is it? It’s not weird, right?”
Sean couldn’t quite look him in the eye either as he spoke.
But he kept sneaking glances, clearly curious about Raizen’s reaction.
“You look good in yours, hyung… But me? I kinda feel like a kid stealing grown-up clothes…”
That was all he had to say as he looked at himself in the full-length mirror.
Raizen let out a breath of laughter—but couldn’t say what he wanted to.
Normally, he’d just say it wasn’t true.
That it looked perfect.
That it suited him more than anything.
Words Sean would love to hear.
But for some reason, his voice wouldn’t come out.
“…Is it that bad? Maybe the color contrast is too harsh…”
Sean mumbled as his shoulders drooped.
Raizen immediately stepped closer.
“No—it’s beautiful.”
He didn’t even know what he was saying anymore.
“It suits you. Really.”
He had imagined how it would feel when the moment finally came.
That when Sean revealed his true self, draped in the black uniform that symbolized the House of Pantheon, he would feel nothing short of complete satisfaction.
That even Sean’s decision to return to being Sean Kreveta was, in the end, a declaration—made in front of everyone—that he was choosing to be by his side.
But… this—this he had never imagined.
‘Maybe it’s because Sean’s behavior has subtly changed recently,’ Raizen thought.
“Really?”
Only then did Sean smile, as if reassured, and gave Raizen a careful once-over.
“You look really cool too, hyung. Haha…”
“……”
“We’re really… doing something, huh….”
Just like now.
Until recently, it had always ended with Sean being flustered by Raizen’s actions.
But lately, Sean had begun to express his own feelings and respond in kind.
That’s what made their conversations feel real—two-sided.
‘We’re really doing something together.’
As Raizen mulled over Sean’s words, he suddenly felt his face flush.
Instinctively, he covered his face with one hand, then quickly swept a hand over the back of his neck, pretending nothing was wrong.
When he glanced at Sean, the younger man was chuckling quietly, as if he’d caught on to Raizen’s embarrassment.
What was he supposed to say?
For some reason, in moments like this, he always ended up feeling like he was losing to Sean.
And yet… that feeling didn’t bother him.
Something within him was changing.
It should have felt unfamiliar and unsettling, but instead, he just wanted to keep watching him.
“You two look so good together.”
Noticing their conversation had wound down, the Duchess finally said what she had been holding back.
Her face was full of emotion as she approached, looking between Raizen and Sean.
Tears spilled from her already glassy eyes the moment she looked at Sean.
“Oh my, I’m being silly now.”
She muttered under her breath, unable to continue speaking.
Even though she covered her mouth with both hands, her gaze never left Sean.
She had seen Raizen before, but this was her first time seeing Sean—truly him, almost fully grown.
In a way, only his hair and eye color had changed.
And yet, seeing Sean finally reveal his full self stirred complicated feelings.
After all, there were countless memories and unspoken stories between his mother and the Marquis couple of Kreveta.
That’s why Raizen understood his mother.
And in that moment, he found himself strange for doing so.
‘Understood her?’
It wasn’t just intellectual understanding—it was emotional.
He had empathized with her heart.
And that made Raizen feel like he was becoming someone entirely new.
‘This isn’t right.’
“……”
‘Run. Run right now!’
Something inside him was screaming, but the words didn’t reach him clearly.
For a brief moment, Raizen just… stopped, like a machine that had lost power.
“Rai?”
“Hyung.”
It was his mother’s and Sean’s voices that pulled him back to himself.
