“Can you continue acting as my senior, like before?”
It was a somewhat abrupt question.
Cayden’s mouth slowly closed as he received this unexpected inquiry.
“Treat me like your junior. Even after we leave Elba… I mean, in Helio too… well, that would be fine.”
“…”
“Your formal speech is just like Amun’s. Too stiff. I thought it was only when you spoke Imperial, but you’re the same when speaking the Kingdom language. But when you were pretending to be my senior, you weren’t like that.”
Assad continued speaking slowly as he glanced at Cayden’s face.
“I’m asking you to be more comfortable with me. Not necessarily right now, but slowly. Step by step… Let’s do that. Well, at least when we’re alone… be less formal with me.”
After finishing, Assad cleared his throat awkwardly.
Cayden nodded in response. He did so because he wasn’t sure whether to say “Okay” or “Yes, sir.”
Cayden felt bewildered by Assad’s request. Still, it was what Assad wanted. He thought he should try, even if it was awkward. Even if he ended up just trying until their remaining time was spent.
Avoiding Assad’s gaze slightly, Cayden put the remaining bread in his mouth. The bread was still painfully sweet. But thinking that Assad liked this kind of thing… even the sweetness that made his tongue sting felt quite good.
* * *
A navy blue began gradually mixing into the red sky that was close to a pale pink. The warm weather that he had thought was blessing Emma’s wedding changed its face to its original cold appearance.
Only then did Cayden arrive at the clearing where carriages were lined up. Assad was with him.
It was only a 5-minute walk from the estate to the carriage storage. They ended up taking 30 minutes to reach that short distance. It was thanks to Assad, who had led Cayden down another path, saying they needed to breathe in enough outside air before boarding the stuffy carriage.
Cayden felt sorry for the escorts who would have waited for them and followed them slowly, given that they arrived later than planned. The escort who had attended Emma’s wedding pretending not to be part of their group would likely already be at the lodgings. Assad had ordered him to return first.
Seeing the familiar carriage, Cayden felt urgent. But he couldn’t immediately go to it. This was due to a small accident—he bumped into a man who suddenly emerged from a narrow alley next to the clearing.
“I’m sorry.”
It was fortunate that he was able to turn his body before colliding hard. Cayden apologized first to the man who had bowed his head. It was partly a habitual response.
Assad stepped between Cayden and the man. With an irritated expression, Assad looked down at the man who had flipped up the hood of his black robe. His gaze was very sharp.
“What are you sorry for? This bastard was walking with his filthy eyes open and bumped into you out of nowhere…”
At some point, Assad’s voice became faint. Uncharacteristically, he couldn’t finish his sentence.
Cayden followed Assad’s gaze, which had suddenly gone silent. Assad was staring at the man who had bumped into him.
“You arrived on time.”
The man said. The mouth visible beneath the shadow created by his deeply pulled-down hood twisted into an ambiguous shape, impossible to tell if he was smiling or crying.
The man raised his hand and roughly removed the hood he was wearing. His face was clearly revealed under the red light.
The man looked frantic, like someone who had been sentenced to death. The whites of his eyes, which should have highlighted his green irises, had turned red from burst blood vessels, and his fine golden hair had become disheveled in the process of removing his hood. His improperly fastened shirt looked no different from those of drunken revelers.
The man, catching his breath, moved his lips as he looked at Cayden, half-hidden behind Assad. Then he smiled. A confused laugh, as chaotic as his face, burst through his lips.
“…”
Cayden knew all too well who this man was.
The man had an unfamiliar and careless appearance that Cayden had never seen before. Yet, even so… the moment he saw him, his body froze. His body was gripped by fear before his mind could process it.
Young master. Forgetting to blink or even breathe, Cayden stared at Alex.
“Cayden!”
Alex called out to Cayden.
It was just his name being called. But with just his name being called, Cayden’s world turned upside down. The happiness and joy he had experienced at Emma’s wedding, the sweet taste lingering on his tongue, all were sucked into the sudden black fear that appeared.
He was too close.
Cayden stepped back. He retreated reflexively. A fear greater than what he had felt at the market beyond Acro’s walls overwhelmed him.
With his body frozen, Cayden instinctively raised his hands. He wrapped his hands around his neck and closed his eyes. He did so because he felt like his throat would be strangled.
Alex, with furrowed brows, took an irritable step toward Cayden. But he couldn’t move further forward, blocked by Assad’s hand.
Alex looked at the man who had placed his hand on his chest. The young alpha who was said to be traveling with Cayden, with somewhat youthful aspects. A Helio man with a face that looked like he wouldn’t even mix words with someone as awkward as Cayden.
“Who the hell are you?”
Alex cursed and pushed Assad’s shoulder. Alex sneered at Assad. He found it ridiculous how the man’s face had hardened coldly as if to protect Cayden, when just moments before he had been smiling stupidly in front of Cayden. A desert man who probably worked for a merchant guild that might not even be properly functioning.
Cayden was in a state of panic. He felt terror toward Alex, who had narrowed the distance, and anticipated pain would come to him, so he tightly closed his eyes. But even as time passed, no pain came.
Afraid that only the harsh voice reaching his ears would be more frightening, Cayden hastily opened his eyes. He rolled his eyes to check his arms, the front of his clothes. But Alex’s hands weren’t touching him anywhere.
Cayden raised his head again. Alex’s angry face wasn’t as visible as before. It was because the man standing in front of Cayden was blocking Alex.
The man in front of him.
Crown Prince… Assad…
Assad. Turning that name over in his mouth several times, Cayden blinked. The distorted world that had felt like it contained only him and Alex was gradually returning to its previous form.
Assad is in front of me.
Cayden swallowed. It was a breath in which incompatible relief and fear coexisted.
He had completely forgotten that what he needed to hide from Assad was not what he had done, but himself.
With the person he loved beside him, Cayden faced a man who knew all his shame.
His mind began to darken. Gloom and humiliation, self-hatred and contempt, fear. In the midst of these emotions, tangled into a mess, Cayden couldn’t breathe.
But Cayden didn’t run away.
He had to stay here. Stay and separate that man from Assad. A goal several times larger than the fear that made his body tremble moved Cayden’s legs.
“You shouldn’t think of the Cayden from Elba and the current Cayden as the same person.”
“You must understand that each of your small actions can either raise or lower Crown Prince’s dignity. You must be that careful.”
The words he had heard from Amun, Cayden repeated and pondered over and over.
Cayden moved forward as much as he had stepped back.
“…I can’t create a situation that would harm Assad. I mustn’t.”
That was the only thought he had.
Cayden grabbed Assad’s arm. However, before Cayden could pull Alex away from Assad, Assad had already grabbed Alex by the collar.
“I was wondering when these insect-like creatures would finish their report… and here they are already.”
The corner of Assad’s mouth twisted upward.
Assad, turning his body slightly toward the back, took in Cayden’s face as he held onto his clothes. But without speaking to Cayden or acknowledging him, he simply gestured lightly toward the carriage storage area. He was stopping the guards who were approaching.
“I asked who you are?”
Alex’s fierce anger reached Assad, who was blocking him. He asked in Imperial language when the other wouldn’t give an answer.
But Assad didn’t answer Alex. The veins on Assad’s hand, which was twisting Alex’s collar, protruded. Alex’s face, which had been only white, instantly changed color.
“Cayden! You answer. Who is this bastard? What relationship do you two have?”
Without taking his eyes off Cayden, Alex roughly grasped Assad’s hand.
It felt like cold water had been poured over his head. Finally, Cayden fully came to his senses. The thought that he despised that man touching Assad made him move again.
He was terrified. But Cayden didn’t stop. He wedged himself between Assad and Alex. With trembling hands, he pulled on Assad’s wrist that was holding Alex’s collar.
Assad pretended to yield to Cayden’s grasp. He completely released the strength from his right hand, which Alex had been unable to push away. Thump. It was as he pushed Alex away.
Assad looked down impassively at Alex, who was gasping for breath. Cayden couldn’t read Assad’s expression at all. He couldn’t read it.
“…He’s my junior. W-we work together.”
Cayden hid Assad behind him. With a stiff face, as if nothing was wrong, he mumbled the words to Alex.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
