The Duke had looked genuinely reluctant to leave him alone, tossing out various instructions to the servants and the knights guarding the door while keeping his eyes fixed on Raha.
The stark contrast between this attentive behavior and the terrifying man who had used dark magic to strangle him just days prior left him profoundly disoriented.
‘How is he planning to settle things with Blizan?’
No matter how close their friendship was, they were still a Duke and a Crown Prince; defying Blizan’s explicit commands would not be an easy task.
Furthermore, the Crown Prince had already issued an official decree instructing all attribute-wielding nobles to receive treatment from the new High Priest.
Teore’s current actions were a direct violation of Blizan’s orders, an offense that undoubtedly carried severe consequences.
Granted, the five attribute-wielding nobles held an immense amount of influence over the Empire, setting them apart from ordinary aristocrats.
That was precisely why they had grown up together alongside the Crown Prince, learning to master their powers from a young age.
“That might be true, but all five of them definitely think I’m still infatuated with the Crown Prince.”
He simply couldn’t comprehend Teore’s psychological motivation for going out of his way to tear him away from Blizan.
Especially now, right after Blizan had commanded Raha to reside within the Imperial Palace.
‘Whatever the case, if things continue like this, everything is going to get completely tangled up.’
Concluding that he couldn’t just sit idly by, Raha resolved to gather money as quickly as possible and make his escape.
‘To do that, I need to find a way to meet the other male leads…’
He could Teoreetically steal the castle’s silver candlesticks or any other valuables he could get his hands on, hiding them away to take when he fled.
However, the funds raised through petty thievery would pale in comparison to the immense wealth he could legally extract from the five leads.
Since he had been thrust into this new world, his sole dream after evading his death flag was to live a life of leisure—worry-free about finances, residing in a beautiful home, wearing fine clothes, and eating delicious food.
He was determined to exert every effort to make that dream a reality.
Raha decided his immediate priority should be figuring out a way to cross paths with Marquis Gerard and Border Earl Hayden, whom he had yet to meet.
“How did you spend your day?”
The moment his duties were finished, Teore returned to the bedchamber.
With astonishing naturalness, he leaned down and pressed a light kiss to Raha’s forehead as he asked the question.
Raha’s eyes widened at the gesture, which felt entirely like something a man would do to his lover.
“Just… sitting down…”
“Your voice still hasn’t recovered. Have you been drinking the tea?”
“Yes…”
Because the attendant had brought warm tea at regular intervals whenever he was about to forget, his stomach was already completely full of water.
“Good boy.”
“….?!”
A satisfied smile spread across Teore’s face at the response, and he reached out with his massive hand to stroke Raha’s hair.
The gesture made Raha’s already large eyes look as if they might pop right out of his head.
He couldn’t fathom what this man ultimately wanted from him.
Then, a sudden realization struck him, flashing back to a pivotal moment from the original novel when Edrion finally brought Teore to his knees.
‘The first encounter.’
In the original plot, Teore had fallen blindly in love with his childhood friend, Edrion, immediately after they shared their first sexual encounter.
Prior to that, he had merely cherished Edrion as a close friend. But after they slept together, he transformed into a fiercely possessive, obsessive character, clinging desperately to him.
Because Edrion had given his first time to his first love, he had felt immediate regret, but the die had been cast, and there was no turning back.
‘Come to think of it, sex was the exact reason Edrion managed to completely enthrall all five male leads.’
True to its nature as a explicit reverse-harem novel, Edrion had systematically conquered the five leads one by one through physical intimacy, bringing them all to his feet.
He hadn’t necessarily intended for it to happen that way, but the male leads grew terrifyingly obsessed after sleeping with him.
Ultimately, Edrion had no choice but to accept them all, leading to an overwhelming 6P dynamic by the end.
‘But how did the novel actually end…?’
Raha realized he had been right in the middle of reading the book when he reincarnated, meaning he had absolutely no knowledge of the final conclusion.
He didn’t know if Edrion ended up falling in love with all five of them equally, or if he ultimately chose a single partner.
Because those details remained a mystery, he couldn’t help but wonder if Teore—having now shared his first time with Raha instead of Edrion—would still end up obsessing over Edrion later on, exactly as the original plot dictated.
‘If I have completely derailed the original storyline…’
If the future had become entirely unpredictable, simply lying low was no longer a viable solution.
‘Right… Blizan and Gray have never even slept with me, yet their attitudes toward me have completely changed.’
A sudden surge of terror gripped him at the thought.
Teore’s current confinement, Blizan’s invitation to the Imperial Palace, and Gray’s sudden refusal of non-contact treatment…
Every single one of these twisted anomalies was undoubtedly a consequence of his interference with the original plot.
‘I… I need to run away as fast as possible.’
A chill ran down his spine, making his hair stand on end.
Looking up at Teore, who was currently wearing a brilliant smile while naturally stroking his cheek with a massive hand, Raha hardened his resolve.
“Why didn’t I realize it before?”
Teore murmured softly, his hand gently cradling Raha’s cheek.
“What…?”
Amused by Raha’s bewildered expression, Teore leaned down, pressed a quick kiss to his lips, and continued.
“That you are this completely my type.”
‘This guy is out of his mind.’
Never in his wildest dreams did he expect to hear that he was the “type” of the very man who had murdered him in the original story.
Raha was now absolutely certain that he had somehow profoundly broken the plot.
Of course, a complete derailment from the original timeline could be a blessing, since it meant moving further away from his designated death flag.
Yet, he knew better than to assume things would continue to flow smoothly.
If he grew too complacent, there was no telling when or how Edrion’s inevitable presence might suddenly put his life in jeopardy again.
Besides, it was deeply suspicious how a man could flip his attitude so completely overnight, like turning over a palm.
And this “confinement” inside the castle clearly wasn’t a joke.
This meant his initial plan—meeting all five male leads in short order to fleece them of their wealth in exchange for treatment—had a near-zero chance of success.
‘If that’s the case, I have no choice but to take a faster, more efficient route.’
Since things had already turned out this way, and since this lunatic claimed Raha was his exact type, Raha resolved to strip him of enough wealth to fund the rest of his life.
The Northern Duke was second only to the Imperial Family in wealth.
Providing enough fortune for Raha’s future life of leisure wouldn’t even dent Teore’s coffers.
Strictly speaking, as the master of the Grand Duchy—which held more territory than the Crown Prince himself—parting with a small estate would be trivial.
With that calculated conclusion, Raha looked up at Teore, who was still idly caressing his cheek, and asked cautiously, “Does this mean I am to remain here as Your Grace’s exclusive healer from now on?”
“Yes. You will focus entirely on healing me, and me alone.”
Nodding firmly, Teore finally released Raha’s well-kneaded cheek and added, “Any concerns or problems you might worry about, I will handle them personally.”
Since Raha’s primary concern was how to amass a massive fortune and escape this entire novel, Teore’s words felt like a direct answer from destiny.
‘Right. Why complicate things? If I can just get a small estate out of Teore, I can sell it off and run away.’
Nodding to himself a couple of times, Raha gave Teore a bright, dazzling smile.
“Please do so, Your Grace.”
