I took a moment to catch my breath before speaking urgently.

“Teron did nothing wrong…!”

“Are you taking his side again?”

“I’m not taking sides. It’s just that this time, Teron really didn’t do anything wrong. I asked him if I could get some fresh air, and he simply listened to my request. I was feeling bored staying in the room all the time, so I just said I wanted to take a light stroll around the hotel…”

Strangely, the more I spoke, the more shocked Reus’s expression became. I couldn’t understand why he was reacting this way when I hadn’t said anything problematic.

“So, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything to Teron…”

As I added timidly, the atmosphere turned completely cold.

“Reus…?”

Why did he suddenly freeze up?

I carefully moved my hand to touch him, but he barely reacted, as if his mind had completely left his body.

“Reus, what’s wrong all of a sudden?”

Even when I poked his arm a little harder, there was still no response. After staring blankly into space for a while, Reus finally spoke.

“You… Teron…”

“Teron…?”

I waited for him to continue, but after his lips moved slightly, he firmly closed his mouth, leaving the rest of the sentence unheard.

‘Teron what?’

How can you make me curious and then just clam up!

“Roel.”

“Yes, after Teron…”

I thought he might finally finish his sentence, but Reus just gave a slightly sardonic smile and said,

“I’m afraid Teron’s duty as your escort ends today. From now on, I won’t have any reason to be away.”

“Didn’t you say you had schedules until tomorrow?”

This time too, Reus didn’t answer my question, but instead gently took both my hands in his. Along with this gesture, the atmosphere softened a bit.

“That matter was resolved earlier than expected.”

“…You mean the conversation with that person we saw yesterday?”

I thought he was holding my hands to deliver bad news, but Reus said something unexpected.

“As you wished, I didn’t make an issue of that woman, so you don’t need to worry.”

“That’s a li- I mean…”

I almost blurted out that it was a lie.

“I know you don’t trust me much, but it’s true. As you wanted, I just had a calm business discussion and left.”

Although I desperately tried to hold back what I was about to say, my expression must have shown my disbelief. Feeling a bit embarrassed, I cleared my throat very softly.

“You didn’t receive some hidden gold mine or anything like that, right…?”

“I know full well you dislike that, so why would I?”

“Really?”

I can’t believe Reus is actually letting something go quietly. No, wait. This time it really was something that could be overlooked.

“Well, I already told Teron to mer-”

I abruptly closed my mouth as I was speaking according to my train of thought. I worried that the atmosphere, which had just improved, might deteriorate again at the mention of Teron, but Reus’s eyes already seemed to have read my thoughts and indicated there was nothing to worry about.

“To be honest, I didn’t want to just let it go. Even if it was done out of ignorance, you were still harmed, weren’t you?”

“Actually, there wasn’t much harm…”

“Even if you didn’t suffer financial or physical damage.”

“Um… yes.”

As I nodded quietly, Reus continued speaking.

“So I’m still not feeling too good about it.”

“I’m sorry, Reus. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. This time, I just…”

“This isn’t something you need to apologize for either. I absolutely didn’t bring this up to blame you.”

Then Reus asked in a very careful voice.

“Instead, if it’s alright, could you make one promise to me?”

After showing such clear dislike, he ended up doing what I wanted, so this time I had no choice but to nod without any resistance.

I expected him to say that if something similar happened again, he wouldn’t stand by idly.

But…

“Promise me that you won’t be alone with Teron again.”

“Yes, then you can do as you please, Reus…”

Wait, isn’t this a bit strange?

What’s with this sudden nonsense? Was his gentle voice just to trick me again?

My mind became hazy from the abrupt change in conversation.

“As I please? I wasn’t even hoping for that much, but if that’s what you want.”

“Ah, no… No! Wait, that’s not what I meant!”

I was so flustered that I forgot what we had been talking about just moments ago.

“Um, what were we talking about, Reus?”

“You were telling me to do as I please.”

“So what… what are you planning to do as you please?”

“Well. I suppose you’ll find out if you break your promise.”

Then, with the memory I had finally recovered, I snapped back to my senses.

“Teron. Right, we were talking about Teron…”

As soon as I mentioned Teron’s name, Reus’s face, which had looked pleased, instantly contorted. I understood he disliked it, but I still needed to properly conclude the conversation.

“Why suddenly ask for such a promise? And because of Teron, why…”

“I wonder if I can tell you all the reasons, there are so many.”

That’s because there would be as many reasons as Reus’s dislike for Teron!

“Then who will handle the Ivel matter from now on-”

“Is there anything to worry about? We can meet where I am. In my office.”

From the general nuance, it seemed that Teron’s duties hadn’t changed. Reus literally just didn’t want Teron and me to be alone together anymore.

Then there’s not really a problem, but… what is this uneasy feeling?

“Well, I don’t think there will be much reason to meet in the future anyway. Come to think of it, if it’s about the bank account, I could receive it and pass it on to you, so there’s no need to have you two meet.”

“I understand you don’t get along well with Teron. But Teron hasn’t done anything wrong to me…”

“Tch-. I shouldn’t have assigned him as your escort in the first place.”

It seems that no matter what I say, it just comes down to not talking about Teron.

‘But I really don’t understand.’

It feels like there’s a specific reason he particularly dislikes me being with Teron, but he always brings it up so abruptly that I can’t even guess the reason.

As I just blinked my eyes, Reus soon picked me up in his arms.

“If you’re tired, it would be best to just change clothes quickly and go to sleep.”

I certainly wasn’t tired at all when we came back from watching the ballet, but now I did feel a bit exhausted.

“Are you very tired?”

“A little… I think so.”

It’s because of you.

Even if I said that, he would probably just laugh it off while saying, “Is that so?”

“Reus. You know you’ve been acting very strange lately, right?”

“I’m not sure. But if you don’t like it, I’ll change.”

In the end, he always says nice things even though he’ll do as he pleases. It truly was a night that reinforced my belief that Reus was an unpredictable man.

As Reus had said that day, Teron no longer served as my escort. I could accept that since it had been the case before coming to Leveren as well.

But…

‘These days, it feels like there’s no time I’m apart from Reus from when I open my eyes until I close them.’

No, that’s not right. Since we sleep together too, it would be more accurate to say we’re together all day long.

I sometimes think it was roughly similar before coming to Leveren, but then I wonder if he didn’t use to leave his post often back then.

‘He should find it bothersome by now.’

At this point, I was starting to worry if Reus wasn’t being too considerate of me.

“Roel?”

Startled by the touch on my cheek, I turned my head. But Reus, who had looked pleased, suddenly frowned slightly.

“Don’t tell me you’re looking for Teron?”

“Ah, no, I’m not…?”

I had briefly thought about Teron just a moment ago, but that wasn’t it. I shook my head vigorously, but Reus didn’t seem to believe me.

After appearing to be lost in serious thought for a moment, he soon spoke again.

“You asked me to hug you, but why is your attention always on Teron…”

“What…! What are you saying, Reus!”

I looked around, worried that people might have heard what Reus said. Fortunately, the knights were far away, and Dwin was in the distance too, so it seemed no one had heard the strange words.

“When did I ever do that?”

“When? Even though you acted like you’d never drink again, you got completely drunk that day and wrapped your arms around my neck-”

“Ah! Stop… Please, stop. It was all my fault. I’m sorry, Reus.”

I thought it might pass quietly this time, but it seems it gets brought up one way or another.

I have no memory of it at all, but just looking at Reus’s face, which seemed confident, I could tell that something similar definitely happened that day.

In fact, considering that I woke up with my arms around Reus’s neck, there was no need to ask further about how annoying I must have been.

Why didn’t I just confess my feelings while drunk, self?

“You’re still going on about that ice cream.”

“…”

“And you’re still speaking informally.”

“…”

“You seem closer to me than anyone else, so why do you keep looking for Teron, Roel.”

I had been hiding my face in my hands, but I suddenly raised my head.

“When did I ever look for Teron!”

Why is he blaming me when he’s the one making assumptions?

“You keep spacing out and turning your head.”

What does that have to do with Teron…? Now that I think about it, this man seems to be quite extreme with his sophistry.

“I just had some things to think about. For your information, I wasn’t thinking about Teron, so don’t even bring him up.”

Having thoroughly turned my insides out, Reus smiled prettily, saying he understood.

“Haa…”

“If you’re hot, I could buy you a melon ice cream-”

“Reus, I really did wrong. I won’t space out anymore, so please, stop…”

I had to keep my face buried in my hands for a long time because the heat wouldn’t subside.