"Ask no questions. Do not learn anything."
Richard could not understand him at all.
What am I not supposed to learn?
What exactly?
What was it that he did not know?
"......"
His mind went blank.
Then Cailus's breath drew closer.
"You... need only stay alive."
His voice was low, but the obsession permeating it was too unmistakable to deny.
At that moment—
Rustle—
Cailus roughly tugged at his clothes. Richard's trousers were pulled down without resistance, and cold air brushed his skin.
Richard's eyes widened as he twisted away.
"...! Wait—"
He tried to protest, but the hand pinning his thigh was firm and unyielding. Cailus's heavy, burning body trapped him against the stone wall.
"......"
Crimson eyes flickered.
For an instant they resembled flames, only to sink into tenacious darkness. As that gaze traveled down Richard's neck, over his collarbone, and into the gaps between his disheveled clothes, he felt as though every part of him were being laid bare and read.
"Haah...."
Richard's chest heaved with each ragged breath. His eyelids trembled heavily, and all strength drained from his body. He could no longer endure it.
"...Haah, ha...."
A faint moan escaped him as his vision gradually blurred. His consciousness sank as though descending into deep water.
"Richard."
Cailus's low, gentle voice reached him from far away.
Crimson eyes wavered close above him.
Richard barely managed to blink, but his vision had already faded into a haze.
Then a warm hand settled on his head.
Though it reeked of blood and alcohol, its touch was unbelievably gentle.
"......"
His eyelids grew heavier.
The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was...
Cailus lowering his crimson gaze as he stroked Richard's hair with infinite tenderness.
...Richard could not understand why.
I hate you so much, so why are you treating me like this...?
With that final image, Richard's consciousness sank into profound darkness.
Morning sunlight seeped through the gap in the window, faintly illuminating the room.
Filtered through the thin curtains, the light spread softly and settled over the heavy, stagnant air.
"...Ngh."
Richard barely managed to lift his eyelids.
An unfamiliar pattern on the ceiling came into view.
This was not the cold stone wall of the warehouse.
He soon realized that he was lying in a bed.
His heavy body was half-buried beneath the covers atop neatly arranged sheets.
His clothes hung disheveled and unfastened, while the heated marks covering his skin throbbed painfully.
His breath caught in his throat.
His heart gave a heavy thud.
"...Where...?"
His low, hoarse voice faded into the air.
Memories of the previous night poured into his mind in fragments.
The body that had pressed into him without allowing him a moment's respite.
The kiss marks left with every breath.
And the last thing he had seen before passing out—the gentle hand stroking his hair.
Richard clutched the blanket.
His knuckles turned white.
...Cailus.
The bedroom was silent.
Cailus was already gone.
But the faint scent of wine and the strangely familiar trace of his body told Richard that he had undoubtedly been there.
His neck throbbed.
When he touched it, the stinging pain flared anew.
He did not need a mirror to know.
Several layers of vivid red marks would be covering his skin.
Richard gritted his teeth.
He drew a deep breath and exhaled.
"...Damn it."
The words slipped out low between clenched teeth.
Cailus telling him not to learn anything.
And that confession, trembling with desperation.
Richard's mind reeled.
Those crimson eyes and that whisper still lingered in his ears.
...I know you returned to the past.
Richard pulled the blanket over his head.
His heart pounded.
He knows something.
He definitely knew something.
Richard threw off the blanket and sat up.
His legs wobbled, but he could not remain in bed any longer.
I have to find him.
He had to confirm it.
No matter how confused he was, he could not simply lie there.
Just as he managed to take his first step—
Click.
The door opened.
"...!"
Richard's gaze froze.
The person entering through the doorway was none other than Cailus.
He wore a black formal uniform, his face expressionless.
His crimson eyes swept lightly across the room before settling on Richard beside the bed.
"You're awake."
His voice was low and calm.
For a moment, Richard could not speak.
His heart thrashed, and his fingertips trembled faintly.
Cailus approached the bed and seized his wrist without explanation.
"...!"
Richard was abruptly pulled off balance. He tried to resist, but Cailus's firm grip did not budge.
"Your Highness—"
Before Richard could finish calling out to him, Cailus strode away on his long legs.
Forced to keep pace with his rough strides, Richard was practically dragged along behind him.
Their destination was obvious.
The bathroom.
Click—
The door opened, and the chill of the marble floor swept over Richard's toes.
Damp air brushed his nose. The lingering heat of the night had yet to leave his body, and the faint mingled scents of alcohol and blood still clung to him.
Cailus did not say a word.
As though it were only natural, he seated Richard on the edge of the bathtub.
His crimson eyes wavered calmly.
"...What are you doing?"
Richard's low voice trembled.
There was no answer.
Cailus set the handkerchief aside and turned on the water.
Warm water filled the bathtub, sending up gentle curls of steam.
He cupped water in his palm and slowly poured it over Richard's shoulder.
As the hot water streamed down his skin, the marks left the previous night emerged in vivid detail.
His neck, shoulders, collarbone, and chest were covered in red.
Richard squeezed his eyes shut.
His breathing shook raggedly.
"......"
Cailus silently wet a towel and wiped Richard's neck.
As though cleansing the scent and stench of blood that had seeped into his skin, he slowly wiped it once, then again.
His touch was not rough, but it was excessively persistent.
"......"
"......"
Silence circled the bathroom.
Cailus's expression never changed as he washed Richard.
He was neither gentle nor cold. He merely washed him with utter detachment.
Water dripped from Richard's dark, sodden hair, running down his damp cheeks and neck.
Cailus silently lifted a towel. Wrapping the thick strands in the fabric, he gently pressed them dry.
"......"
Richard felt strangely suffocated.
The touch was as careful as though Cailus were handling a child. Yet at the same time, the cold discipline of his movements made Richard's body stiffen.
The scent that remained even after he had been washed in warm water contrasted strangely with the red marks on his neck.
At last, Cailus helped Richard to his feet and seated him in a chair prepared at one side of the bathroom.
His crimson gaze flickered as he gathered Richard's hair and wrapped it in the towel.
"......"
With an indifferent expression, Cailus smoothed his hair as though combing it.
His crimson eyes remained calm and subdued.
"......"
Richard drew a heavy breath and released it.
The air was humid, and his lungs felt constricted.
Yet his heart only raced faster, pounding more violently.
"...Your Highness."
Richard finally spoke.
His voice was badly hoarse from the events of the previous night.
"......"
Cailus's hands did not stop.
He continued drying Richard's hair, listening in silence.
Richard bit his lip before finally asking,
"How much do you know?"
Cailus's hand paused atop Richard's head.
"......"
Crimson eyes gazed down at him quietly but insistently.
There was no answer. Only his gaze wavered in silence, as though confirming that he did indeed know something.
After a moment, Cailus asked indifferently,
"What are you talking about?"
Then he resumed drying Richard's hair.
He pressed the towel against it with measured movements, his touch somehow both cold and delicate.
"......"
Richard clenched his icy fingertips together.
His heart thudded.
...Just as I thought. He knows something.
The silence in the bathroom weighed heavily around them.
But he clearly has no intention of telling me.
Richard's watery-blue eyes turned cold.
Could it have something to do with the ambush at the banquet celebrating the Emperor's birthday?
Feeling water drip steadily from his wet hair, Richard met Cailus's crimson gaze.
"Do you truly not know?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
For a while, only their gazes met.
Watery blue and crimson collided with crystalline clarity.
At the end of that suffocating silence, Richard spoke with a sigh.
"...Forget it."
...If he has no intention of talking, there is no point trying to pry it out of him.
He would have to investigate quietly on his own.
Richard continued.
"...More importantly...."
There was something else he could not simply overlook.
The mere thought of it made his teeth chatter with humiliation.
It was fortunate that something similar had happened once before. Otherwise, he might have bitten off his own tongue the moment he awoke.
"What... was last night?"
"......"
Cailus's hand paused briefly. But a moment later, he resumed moving the towel as though nothing had happened, his voice dry and dispassionate.
"...It was a mistake."
"......"
Richard's gaze instantly turned glacial.
A cold breath escaped him.
"...A mistake?"
His watery-blue eyes gleamed icily.
"You forced yourself on someone, and you call it a mistake?"
"......"
Cailus did not answer.
Silence lingered for some time before his gaze wavered subtly.
His crimson eyes remained fixed on Richard as he asked curtly,
"...Is there something you want?"
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