* * *
Anyone paying a little attention would have noticed.
Even Crown Prince William was aware and didn’t pity Henry for it.
Henry, however, chose not to mention this fact.
He was more interested in what the Duke had to say about Edwin than dredging up their shared past. So he came up with a neutral response.
“If you mean the bond, it was an accident.”
“Yes, an accidental bond. Yet Edwin doesn’t want to break it.”
Their conversation weighed heavily on Henry.
Unlike the times he’d naively praised Edwin to the Duke, thinking it was harmless fun, today, the Duke’s words carried real pressure.
“I’d assumed Edwin wouldn’t care whom he married. But watching him around you, I’ve seen expressions I never thought he’d make.”
“Is that so?” Henry feigned ignorance, though he knew it wouldn’t fool the Duke’s perceptive eyes.
“It’s clear he’s taken a liking to you, so I doubt he’d break the bond willingly. But if you despise him, perhaps he would. Yet I suspect that would only be the beginning.”
“Weren’t you the one who ignored Edwin until now, Your Grace? Why do you suddenly speak as if you know him so well?”
This was a calculated attempt to unsettle the Duke.
The conversation was turning against Henry.
Despite his confidence in understanding Edwin, he was finding it difficult to counter the Duke’s words.
Still, he couldn’t yield too easily, not knowing where this would lead.
“Just because I didn’t watch closely doesn’t mean I know nothing. He’s too similar to me for that.”
The Duke’s gaze swept over the empty table, then rose to meet Henry’s eyes.
Henry licked his dry lips, silently cursing the lack of tea to ease his tension.
Feeling the uncomfortable thirst, Henry faced the Duke head-on.
“Forgive me, Your Grace. I cannot grasp your intentions. Could you be a bit clearer?”
He wished the Duke would stop speaking so indirectly and just state his purpose.
The Duke’s eyes grew sharper, and his voice took on a chilling tone as he pressed Henry.
“When Edwin manifeste, you imprinted with him, correct? You entered his room without permission and forged an incomplete bond. Now you want to sever it?”
“That’s…”
“You disrupted his entire life, yet now you wish to escape that bond.”
Henry couldn’t hide his flustered expression, the guilt evident in his face.
“If you truly wanted to take responsibility, you should have considered Edwin’s feelings, not fetched some treasure. Your methods were all wrong. How is it that you spent so much time with him yet understood nothing? Meanwhile, Edwin swings his sword in the training grounds as if he’ll break everything, waiting for someone who never comes.”
The Duke continued his relentless criticism, pointing out that even from a distance, he could see what Henry had failed to notice.
“Therefore…”
Henry started, desperate to say something to alleviate his guilt, but he had no defense.
Explaining that he’d only become Henry recently wouldn’t change anything or absolve him of blame.
After all, Edwin’s behavior had only shifted when he’d taken over Henry’s body.
And yet, he’d only wondered why Edwin was acting that way.
Realizing this, Henry found himself unable to speak any further.
“I’ve said my piece. Thank you for accepting my invitation.”
With that curt dismissal, Henry stood, too shaken to argue.
Bowing to the Duke and turning around, he found the door had opened at some point.
Sir Heron waited there to escort him.
It seemed that returning home was part of Sir Heron’s duty.
As Henry followed him, his expression was even more troubled than when he’d arrived.
He had no intention of seeing Edwin today, but as he tried to shake off his unease, he called out to the knight ahead of him.
“Where is Edwin?”
Henry paused multiple times on his way to the training grounds, as if needing to make sure he was heading in the right direction.
He couldn’t quite understand why he had chosen to go toward where Edwin was.
“I said I wasn’t going to see Edwin today.”
Henry muttered to himself, confused by his own fickle heart.
Even though he was the only one who could answer himself, the conclusion wouldn’t come easily.
Clicking his tongue, he moved forward, only to stop again.
Walk, stop, and repeat.
“Sigh.”
Despite the hesitation, his feet eventually carried him to where Edwin was: the training grounds.
If Edwin had been outside, Henry could have watched from afar, but he was inside, in his private, dome-shaped training area where even the air circulation was questionable.
Standing at the door, Henry hesitated one last time, hand gripping the handle.
If he turned back now and absorbed all the energy from the pheromone stone, he could sever the bond with Edwin.
Even though he had wrestled with the decision, his heart had leaned slightly in one direction.
The idea of everyone knowing about his bond wasn’t enough to make him completely change his mind.
But in the end, Henry’s heavy heart chose to press the handle and open the door.
Even if he knew everything was crumbling after the meeting with Duke Lorenz, there was no way to turn back now.
Edwin’s comment about how he had never really paid proper attention to him pushed Henry’s steps forward, guilt urging him to face things properly.
When Henry opened the door, he was immediately greeted by Edwin’s familiar pheromone-laden air.
The wind, as unruly and wild as Edwin himself, swept over him.
Henry waved a hand to disperse the scent as he stepped inside.
The training ground had walls circling the edges, with raised steps along the outer ring, creating a slight dip toward the center.
Descending the steps quietly, Henry observed Edwin, who was fiercely focused on his sword, slicing the air with precise, deadly swings.
“If you get hit by that, death would be the least of your worries.”
Training was supposed to have limits, but Edwin seemed oblivious, wielding his sword as if he meant to cut everything apart.
Henry should have known from the ferocious gust earlier.
Unconsciously leaning against the wall, Henry watched Edwin, as if he hadn’t just been wavering.
The sight of Edwin, usually emotionless like a doll, now flushed with a fiery, wild energy, struck him.
The pheromones pouring off him were intense, almost suffocating.
“You always say you can’t understand me, but really, it’s you who’s strange.”
Henry whispered, words Edwin couldn’t hear.
“You should have fought harder to break our bond, been the one to go wild. So why did you change your mind?”
In the original story, no matter how much chaos Henry caused, Edwin never so much as blinked.
Henry let out a dry laugh as he watched Edwin’s sword aura split the walls, somehow never reaching near him.
Edwin seemed unaware of Henry’s presence, or so Henry thought.
And yet, Henry didn’t feel fear watching Edwin’s relentless swings.
Somewhere deep down, he trusted Edwin’s sword would never hurt him.
“I really am a fool.”
Only now did Henry start to see Edwin’s heart.
Edwin had always been there, just as he had been when he saved him from that cliff fall.
Who else would do that?
The confession Edwin once made, it had been genuine.
His heart had been directed at Henry, not at Kayla.
This was all the fault of the original story.
Thinking he knew everything, Henry had blinded himself, projecting the past story onto Edwin.
In the end, he tried to cover Edwin’s eyes to hide his own heart.
Pointless efforts, all of it.
“I should’ve removed my own blindfold first.”
Perhaps it was because of Henry’s murmuring or the way his pheromones were now free-flowing, but Edwin finally lowered his sword.
He caught his breath, slowly turning his head, not at all surprised to see Henry there.
Instead, Edwin’s face remained composed, as if he had known all along and was simply ignoring him.
Henry couldn’t help but cHookle.
“Your face is all red.”
He pointed at Edwin’s flushed cheeks, teasing.
* * *
Awwww cute
🥰🥰
Blushing
So cuteeee
Very cute