In other words, Grey was saying that because he explained the situation through himself—a third party—rather than having Raha explain it, Teore’s level of agitation had stopped where it did.
Raha didn’t know if that was truly the right way to put it, but since Grey looked quite confident that he was correct, Raha felt he couldn’t even ask back.
He felt like following Teore, thinking he might have gone to see Edrion, but it wasn’t a situation where anything would change even if he followed him, so Raha just let out a short sigh and looked out the window to soothe his troubled mind.
“But what business do you have with me?”
At the sudden memory, Raha asked, looking at Grey.
Grey, who had been staring at the wound the whole time, answered with an “Ah.”
“The treatment.”
“Treatment?”
“Yes, treatment.”
“Yes.”
“I heard that saliva exchange is more helpful for suppressing runaway powers than simple contact.”
At the completely unexpected and sudden remark, Raha’s eyes widened slightly.
“So, that’s why. Let’s start the next treatment with a kiss.”
“…Yes?”
Raha’s eyes widened to the point of popping out.
☆ ☆ ☆
“Th-Teore, what’s going on?”
Edrion’s eyes widened at the sight of Teore, who had visited his room without any prior notice.
He was extremely nervous because he roughly knew why he had come, but he tried his best not to show it.
Teore watched Edrion silently for a moment and then asked:
“Why did you do that?”
‘Thump.’
His heart sank to the floor.
He wanted to ask what he was talking about, but the words wouldn’t come out properly.
He knew all too well what Teore was referring to.
Edrion looked at Teore, biting his lower lip hard with his front teeth.
The gaze Teore had fixed on him was unusually cold.
When he thought that perhaps Raha had been acting kind and playing the “good guy” in front of him, only to turn around and sow discord by telling Teore that he did it on purpose, he came to hate Raha—whom he already disliked—to an unbearable degree.
“Why can’t you answer, Edrion?”
Teore asked again with an expression that suggested he wanted to know if he had really hurt Raha on purpose.
Edrion lashed out and shouted at him:
“Did the High Priest say that? Did he say I intentionally wounded his arm?!”
“I am asking for your answer, Edrion.”
“It was a mistake! I was picking up the teacup and…!”
“It is not a wound that can be caused by a mistake. That is why I came to ask you directly why you did it.”
Teore said, looking terrifyingly stern at his excuses.
Edrion stared at him, his face stiffening as he faltered.
“Why did you do it?”
“…”
“Did Raha bother you again?”
“……! Y-yes, that’s right!”
At the answer that jumped out instinctively in response to his question, Teore’s pitch-black eyes sank even deeper.
However, Edrion, who failed to notice his gaze at all, began to speak hastily, as if he had found a loophole in Teore’s words.
“You know the High Priest is always itching to get at me whenever he sees me.”
“For some reason, he kept insisting we have tea together today, in the glass greenhouse. Honestly, it felt a bit fishy. But he kept saying he wanted to have tea every time he saw me—what was I supposed to do? You can only refuse so many times. So, I went to have tea.”
Sure enough, Edrion continued, saying that while they were having tea in the greenhouse, Raha began to act out by talking about Blizan again.
He said that it seemed Blizan was favoring him, the new High Priest, over Raha.
Edrion, completely unaware that Raha had already told Teore that he no longer liked Blizan, added that Raha seemed jealous of him for still receiving Blizan’s attention.
These were words he had offered in hopes that Teore, having realized how much attention he was getting from Blizan, would feel jealous.
One way or another, it was said with the meaning that he had spent the night with Blizan and was therefore a special person to him, and that Raha still considered him an eyesore.
Edrion looked out the window, forcing an awkward, troubled smile as he continued.
“But it’s not my fault. It’s not like I intentionally seduced the Crown Prince.”
He was completely unaware that the face of Teore, who was looking at him, was becoming chillingly cold.
“Anyway, he was acting out again, so by mistake, the teacup…”
“Why don’t you explain exactly what kind of ‘acting out’ he did?”
Suddenly, Teore interrupted Edrion and asked.
“Oh…?”
“You used to be very specific. You’d tell me exactly what Raha did to you and what kind of nonsense he spewed.”
It was true.
Until now, he had explained exactly what Raha did, crying or feeling wronged as he lamented to Teore.
Ever since he realized that Teore became much more enraged when he described the events exactly as they happened, he had never once left out a description of the situation.
In truth, Raha’s behavior was bad enough that there was no need to add or subtract anything.
But today…
“….Ah, in the greenhouse…”
Edrion, who was about to say something, suddenly clamped his mouth shut.
It wasn’t hard to make up a story as if it were true, but he didn’t know if Teore would believe it.
No, since Raha and Teore were practically glued to each other now, he felt that if he made up a lie, he would be found out immediately.
So, he couldn’t easily describe what happened, and Teore was starting to doubt him because of it.
“Since you said it was a mistake with your own mouth, and considering what Raha has done to you until now, I will let this slide this time.”
At Teore’s words, Edrion’s eyes widened.
He had been at a loss as to how to explain the situation, as Raha had not acted out toward him as he had in the past in the greenhouse, and had even behaved in a way that seemed intended to build a friendship.
He was relieved that he was letting it slide, but the phrase “this time” bothered him, and his face stiffened slightly.
“There’s something I want to ask, Teore.”
At Edrion’s words, Teore looked at him with cold eyes instead of answering.
Since he had never looked at him with such an expression before, Edrion felt a surge of emotion and said to him:
“Why has your attitude changed?”
“……?”
“You hated the High Priest, didn’t you? You despised him because of how he acted toward me. So why has it changed?”
“Because it has changed.”
At that question, Teore answered without a moment’s hesitation, as if it were obvious.
“The Raha of now.”
Edrion’s eyes slowly widened.
