As dawn broke and the day grew bright, Chester lay in bed, endlessly watching the person sleeping peacefully beside him.
Beneath that brilliant silver hair, the delicate features were both cute and beautiful.
His lips naturally curled into a smile at the soft, squishy sensation he felt when he lightly poked Ruite’s cheek.
Feeling a chill, Ruite unconsciously snuggled deeper into Chester’s embrace.
Chester barely suppressed a physical reaction from his lower body as he pulled Ruite closer, savoring the warmth and rubbing his lips against the silky, soft hair.
Staying still like this, the words Ruite had said last night drifted back to him one by one.
‘Inside you, there’s a conviction more knightly than anyone else. Isn’t that right?’
‘If you don’t know the reason or significance of what you’re doing here, can’t you… can’t you just make it about me?’
It felt just like that night during the third-year festival at the Academy when they were trapped in the storehouse.
To the Chester who had resigned himself to living a predetermined path, Ruite had given the courage to move forward.
Thanks to that, he was now able to be a knight by his own choice, not his father’s.
And once again, Ruite had anchored him just as he was about to waver because of his father.
Ruite had cleared away his confusion and anxiety all at once with words he had never even considered.
“……It’s truly amazing.”
Chester looked down at Ruite’s face and lightly brushed his cheek.
To think that a person could change so much because of someone else’s existence—it was nothing short of a miracle. In 그 sense, Ruite was a miracle to him.
Someone he could never let go of.
“So cute.”
Chester indulged himself by kissing Ruite’s forehead through his messy hair.
“……What are you muttering about all by yourself this early in the morning?”
Just then, a sleep-laden voice weakly cut through the air.
Ruite was looking up at Chester with eyes half-open.
“Are you awake?”
Ruite nodded.
“How’s your body? Are you okay?”
“I don’t know. I think my voice is a bit hoarse.”
Ruite tilted his head, touching the area around his Adam’s apple.
It seemed his throat was tight because he hadn’t held back his voice toward the end last night.
Chester scrambled out of bed and brought over a glass of water with incredible speed.
Ruite moved his body slowly to take it.
Pain followed every movement.
He felt as if his joints would make a creaking sound like a rusted machine.
“I’ll get breakfast ready, so take your time getting up.”
Chester stroked Ruite’s face once before heading into the bathroom.
After gulping down the cold water Chester had brought, Ruite felt like he could finally breathe.
As his senses returned, he found himself staring blankly into space.
He didn’t even know when he had fallen asleep last night, having slept like the dead.
He had fragmented memories of the damp sensation of a wet cloth touching various parts of his body.
He vaguely recalled Chester meticulously wiping him down and changing his clothes in the early hours of the morning.
“…….”
Ruite looked down at the clothes he was wearing.
Seeing how oversized they were, they were clearly Chester’s loungewear.
He instinctively reached up to pull the collar open.
Looking down, he saw reddish marks scattered across his once-clear skin.
At that moment, the events of last night on this very bed came back vividly—the moments he had clung to Chester, sweating together.
“Oh, man…….”
Ruite let out a groan and buried his face in his hands.
“Ruite, the water is ready…… What’s wrong?”
Chester, who happened to be walking out of the bathroom, froze.
Seeing Ruite sitting on the edge of the bed with his face in his hands, squirming, Chester panicked and rushed to his side.
“Do you feel unwell somewhere?”
Chester knelt on the floor and gently lowered Ruite’s hands.
Seeing Ruite’s face looking like it was about to explode from the heat, Chester’s expression grew serious.
“Do you have a fever? Should we go to the infirmary?”
Ruite bit his lip and glanced at Chester.
“I’m not sick. It’s just…… I’m embarrassed.”
“……Ah.”
Chester, understanding Ruite’s words a beat late, let out a low rumble in his throat.
Soon, as if Ruite’s heat had transferred to him, Chester’s face also flared up.
“Um…… the bath is ready.”
“Ah, right.”
“Do you want help washing up?”
“I’m not a child, I can do it myself.”
“Right, I see.”
It was a truly awkward conversation.
Both of them acted as if they were malfunctioning, moving stiffly and unable to look each other straight in the eye.
Ruite got up from the bed and waddled awkwardly into the bathroom.
“Haah…….”
Chester stood there dazed for a moment, rubbing the back of his neck and letting out the breath he had been holding.
The heat felt through his palm didn’t seem like it would subside anytime soon.
Morning training proceeded just like any other day.
Ruite was doing his best to endure the pain he felt every time he moved within the formation.
He had never experienced such intense muscle soreness in his life.
It felt as if his entire body was screaming.
“Ruite, you don’t look so good today. Are you sick?”
Dane, who was training beside him, noticed and asked cautiously.
“Ah…… it’s just muscle pain.”
“Muscle pain? Have you been overdoing it lately?”
It wasn’t exactly because of work.
It was because of what he had done with Chester last night.
But Ruite couldn’t possibly say such an embarrassing thing out loud, especially about Chester, so he just brushed it off with a vague “yes.”
After morning training ended, Ruite headed to the small conference room instead of the Research Department office.
Today was the day for a meeting regarding the mutated monster incident.
As they parted ways, Dane told him not to push himself too hard if he was in pain, which made Ruite feel a slight pang of guilt.
When he entered the conference room with Cedric, the combat squad members who were already there greeted them warmly.
They were chatting and sharing trivial stories when, a few minutes later, Chester walked in.
Even as he took his seat at the head of the table, Chester’s eyes were fixed only on Ruite.
He had been so worried about Ruite’s condition during morning training that he had been glancing at him constantly—which had even earned him a scolding from Elka.
“Everyone is here.”
At Morgan’s words, Chester finally looked away from Ruite and nodded.
As the meeting began, Cedric from the Research Department spoke first.
Chester nodded as Cedric explained that while they were intensively studying the recently discovered mutated monster carcasses, they hadn’t found any clear anomalies yet.
He had already expected that it would take time.
“What about the black market?”
Chester looked at Morgan.
“Yes. There are currently two active black markets inside the capital. One was formed relatively recently and isn’t very large. The other is believed to be managed by a merchant guild that has grown in size over time by evading our knighthood’s eyes.”
“If it’s those two places, there might be people there who know something about this incident.
It would be best to infiltrate them as soon as possible.”
If they moved in with the intent to raid the black market, some would surely slip away like rats.
If those people spread word that the knighthood’s movements were suspicious, the masterminds behind this incident might go into hiding.
Since that would mean losing their chance to catch them, it was more necessary to slip in secretly and gather information while pretending not to be knights.
“Ah, and regarding the request for data from the Northern Branch that you mentioned last time, Commander.”
The next person to speak was Toby.
Chester had previously asked Toby to request the Northern Knighthood to send any data related to this phenomenon.
Although this phenomenon hadn’t occurred in areas managed by other branches, it had reportedly happened in the North, so he thought they might be able to get help.
“Regarding that, the Northern Branch has contacted us saying they will personally send a knight to deliver the data.”
“Personally? They could send data quickly via magic messenger pigeon.”
The messenger pigeons trained by the knighthood were special.
They were a species with a very small amount of mana in their bodies, making it possible to send letters or documents much faster and more securely than ordinary pigeons.
“They said it would be more helpful if a knight who could explain it in person came along.”
“That is a generous decision.”
“The knight is expected to arrive sometime today.”
Chester nodded, saying he understood.
They decided to guide the Northern knight to Chester as soon as they arrived, and then they proceeded to form a detailed plan to infiltrate the black market.
“For the recently formed black market, Vice Commander Morgan, Cedric, and Knight Ella will form a team to infiltrate. For the remaining one, I, as the Commander, and Knight Ruite will take charge. Toby, you stay with the rest of the squad and keep track of incoming information.”
“Understood!”
The meeting finally ended after the infiltration schedule was set.
Ruite intentionally lingered and walked out of the conference room side-by-side with Chester toward the end.
“I’m asking just in case, but you didn’t set up the infiltration teams like that on purpose, did you?”
Ruite asked with narrowed eyes, making Chester’s shoulders flinch slightly.
“How could I? You told me to keep work and personal life separate. I just organized it considering the balance of power.”
Ruite seemed to accept that easily and dropped his suspicious look.
As the two of them walked through the lobby on the first floor of the main building, the doors opened and someone walked in.
Ruite reflexively turned his head.
“Oh.”
As soon as he recognized the person who had entered, his eyes widened and he froze in his tracks.
“You…….”
“Lui!”
Before Ruite could say anything, the man smiled brightly, ran over, and pulled Ruite into an embrace.
Because it was such a sudden situation, Chester, who failed to block it, saw his face instantly harden.
“How have you been?”
“You haven’t changed at all, Colin.”
Awww Colin is back <3