“……How annoying.”
Mikhail glared at the dragon, lips tightly pressed together in a sullen pout. His muttered complaint hung in the air. Adrian stared back for a while, quietly enduring Mikhail’s inexplicable frustration before finally opening his mouth. It wasn’t as if he had caused Mikhail’s foul mood—that was clearly Kane’s doing—so he didn’t consider it particularly important.
“So? What brings you to my tent?”
“……What?”
Mikhail’s eyes twitched to either side, as if he hadn’t even imagined Adrian would ask such a thing. After a moment of stunned silence, he suddenly began speaking in a rush, as if trying to cover up his own hesitation.
“Am I not allowed to come here or something? Kane drops by all the time.”
“……Kane?”
“Yeah, Kane.”
“…….”
The guy you just kicked out is named Kane, actually.
Adrian frowned faintly at Mikhail’s sharp reaction. It seemed Mikhail truly didn’t care about trivial things like the names of underlings. Just this morning, when they briefly passed each other at the training grounds, Mikhail had seemed to be in a good mood—but now, his temperament was all over the place.
With a look that said You’ve got to be kidding me, Adrian muttered,
“……Kane is obviously different from you. He comes into my tent every day and handles the grunt work.”
He paused for a brief second, then cautiously brought up something that had been bothering him. The whispers exchanged among the humans nearby hadn’t escaped the dragon’s keen hearing.
“If you keep coming to my tent like this, don’t you think the other humans will grow even more suspicious?”
Honestly, this was advice given out of concern for Mikhail.
But Mikhail didn’t seem to appreciate Adrian’s thoughtful warning. He narrowed his eyes threateningly and shot back,
“Suspicious?”
“I’m telling you, people are already gossiping.”
“…….”
Mikhail stared at Adrian with a strange expression. He never would’ve guessed that the dragon—who always seemed above such petty matters—would bring up rumors of all things. His first instinct was to blame himself for not shutting up the loose tongues of the humans hovering around Adrian.
But setting that aside, what mattered more was how Adrian was reacting to the rumors, now that he clearly knew about them. Above all, the fact that the dragon was responding to human gossip at all was a surprising development. Mikhail decided to prod him further.
“So it does bother you, huh?”
“Hmm? Not at all.”
Adrian let out a short, dry laugh.
At that very moment, Mikhail’s crimson eyes froze for a beat—but the dragon continued talking as if nothing had happened.
“I mean, I’ll just leave eventually, so it doesn’t matter to me… But you’re the one who’ll still be here, stuck dealing with all that pointless chatter.”
“……Ah.”
That was all the flustered Mikhail could manage to say in response.
The canvas walls of the tent blocked out the noise from outside, making the interior especially quiet. With Mikhail clamming up, the silence became even more palpable.
A long stillness drifted between them.
Mikhail stared at Adrian’s serene face for a while, then finally spoke—his voice as cold as the look in his eyes.
“Never thought I’d hear such considerate advice from you.”
Though the words on the surface were polite, Mikhail’s crimson eyes—eyes that should’ve radiated warmth—seemed to drip with chill. There was an edge buried deep in that so-called compliment.
Adrian muttered in a low voice,
“……They’re just pointless rumors that do absolutely nothing good for you.”
“‘Pointless rumors that do absolutely nothing good for me’……”
Mikhail repeated the part that irritated him the most. His voice was thick with annoyance.
“What the hell kind of rumors are they, exactly?”
Mikhail already knew what the rumors were about. That was exactly why Adrian’s choice of phrasing had rubbed him the wrong way.
“I’ll tell you, but don’t go bullying the other humans over it afterward. They think I couldn’t possibly hear their little whispers.”
“So that’s how little you think of me, huh?”
“Ha…”
With an irritated expression, Mikhail ran a hand roughly through the side of his hair. The truth was, he didn’t have the time or mental energy to bother with tormenting other humans, let alone care about them. The only thing he was interested in—the only person he could focus on—was Adrian, who sat before him with that sulky look on his face.
“There’s a rumor going around that you and I are lovers.”
Adrian spoke with a firm voice, the tone oddly similar to ‘Shocking, right? I was just as surprised when I heard it.’
“That rumor’s already out there, and if word spreads that you keep coming to my tent, it’ll only add fuel to the fire.”
“……”
Mikhail lowered his gaze without a word. He was torn—should he just admit the truth, or brush it off and let it slide? He could’ve chosen to feign ignorance. But if he did that, Adrian would probably spout more nonsense like ‘Well, I’ll be leaving soon anyway.’ That would be… far too troublesome for Mikhail.
Adrian needed to understand the situation a little more seriously.
With that thought, Mikhail finally opened his tightly sealed lips.
“Don’t worry. Everything’s going exactly the way I intended.”
“……What?”
Adrian’s eyes widened slightly at Mikhail’s bombshell. The idea that a royal like Mikhail would want a ridiculous rumor like that? That this entire situation—being the talk of the camp—was intentional? Back during their days at Basamiel, Mikhail had seemed completely indifferent to gossip.
“Why?”
Adrian couldn’t help but ask.
In response to the dragon’s question, Mikhail slowly let the stiffness melt from his face as he spoke.
“Isn’t it annoying when strangers keep pestering you with questions? I know it gets on my nerves.”
“Of course it’s annoying—ah… so that’s why the others never say anything to me.”
Adrian muttered as if he had finally connected the dots. No one in the war camp had been treating Adrian Heather, the sudden and uninvited guest, with any suspicion.
“……So that’s why you were so confident back then.”
There had been no need to be wary of someone rumored to be the lover of Prince Mikhail. The dragon nodded thoughtfully and rubbed his lips with his index finger.
Mikhail, watching him fall into a brief silence, added,
“Yeah. And just in case there’s a misunderstanding—I’ve never officially acknowledged the rumor. I just… let them whisper.”
“……”
Even after Mikhail finished explaining, Adrian seemed lost in thought. What is he thinking about? Mikhail bit down gently on his lower lip. Maybe the dragon would get angry—after all, he had manipulated a rumor without consulting him. Damn it… maybe he shouldn’t have been so honest.
With his gaze lowered just slightly, Mikhail asked,
“Are you mad?”
At that, Adrian turned his eyes back to Mikhail. There was nothing about this that warranted anger.
“Well… not bad. Seems the rumor wasn’t entirely useless, after all.”
It had, admittedly, made things considerably more convenient.
Of course, Adrian was well aware of the sidelong glances every time he entered the mess hall. He even knew people had been slipping casual questions to Kane, his servant. But out of all those people, not a single one had come directly to him. No one except Catherine Esteban—who kept pestering him about magic formulas and enchanted tools.
Seeing that Adrian didn’t seem particularly upset, Mikhail let his gaze drop with feigned guilt. It was the perfect setup for the final line he needed to secure a situation already tilting in his favor.
“If you say you’re against it… I’ll go out there and clear up the rumor right away.”
If anyone outside had seen Mikhail’s expression just then, they might have dropped dead from shock. Fortunately, the only one in front of him was Adrian.
“No, I don’t think it’s necessary to go that far.”
“Yeah? That’s a relief.”
“Then… there’s nothing else I need to do?”
The sound of Mikhail’s head whipping up was practically audible.
“You mean… you’re willing to help me with this?”
Mikhail’s voice trembled slightly, stunned by the unexpected catch of the day.
The other people in the camp—their concerns, even the matter of the black beasts they had just been discussing—were suddenly swept off Mikhail’s list of priorities. None of that mattered right now.
Adrian let out a short chuckle and replied,
“Look, I’ve spent a few hundred years amusing myself in the human world. Going along with some silly rumor like this? It’s nothing.”
There wasn’t even a need to act like real lovers. All they had to do was give off the impression of a romantic relationship when eyes were on them.
Mikhail’s eyes crinkled slightly as he smiled, almost bashfully.
“Really? I should’ve asked you sooner.”
Now that things had turned out like this, there were so many things he wanted to ask of Adrian. Whether the dragon would actually agree was another matter—but just imagining it made him happy.
