The Villain’s Aide Has Run Away

Leslun and Robin both sucked in a sharp breath. What in the world was the Crown Prince saying?

“If I leave now, Leslun will surely try to get up. Then it would seem I carried my aide all the way here only to abandon him—not much of a good man, would I? So bring Lady Miroi here.”

“But I told you I would keep watch—”

“I’m here.”

Just as Robin was about to persuade Kailos again, a delicate voice cut in. Robin turned swiftly.

Lady Miroi, looking unconcerned, stepped closer and glanced down at Leslun.

“If you wait just a little longer, His Highness the Crown Prince will leave…”

“I’m fine. Treatment comes first.”

Robin hurried to try to smooth the situation over, but Lady Miroi wore a calm expression, as though she hardly cared. It was a relief she hadn’t stormed out altogether.

Robin, though reluctant, stepped back as though he had no choice. But the one who found the situation most unbearable was someone else.

“You could have stopped them more.”

Leslun squeezed his eyes shut, forcing back the urge to cry.

Robin, Lady Miroi, and now even the Crown Prince, all people of high rank, were watching him.

In the end, Leslun fainted.

***

When Leslun awoke, the first thing he felt was dampness.

Something was licking his cheek.

The ticklish, almost laugh-inducing sensation slowly tugged him from shallow sleep back into reality.

Lifting his eyelids, he saw an ornate ceiling above him. Golden curves painted with exquisite detail, red floral patterns, and a chandelier glowing with soft light came into view. There was no way his own ceiling looked like this.

‘This place…’

His memories from before fainting came rushing back.

Leslun bolted upright. The bedding was soft and cozy, but his heart felt more ill at ease than ever. To think he had been moved here and made to sleep, without his consent—it was nothing but a string of unreal events.

No one else was present. Perhaps they had all left after he’d fallen asleep. If anyone had stayed, the burden would have been unbearable.

Ever since entering the palace, why had such things kept happening one after another? Leslun sighed, only to hear the sound of movement.

Meow.

He turned toward the sound and saw Blue perched on his pillow. The creature flicked its tongue out as if to show off.

“So it was you who woke me.”

When Leslun extended his hand, Blue lightly stepped onto his palm. Hypnotized by the mysterious gaze of the cat’s eyes, Leslun gently stroked its forehead with his other hand.

“Cute.”

The Crown Prince, Lady Miroi, and Robin—all of them were dazzlingly beautiful people. Blue, too, was exceptional in its own way, but because it was so cute, his guard kept slipping away.

“But what’s this?”

There was a necklace around its neck—one he had never seen before.

As if it understood his words, Blue flicked at the necklace irritably with its paw. Usually, animals weren’t made to wear such things, since it would get in the way of grooming. Who had put it on?

When Blue tugged at the necklace with its front paw, trying to take it off, Leslun stopped him in alarm.

“What if you hurt yourself? Don’t. Let me—”

…Was it all right for him to remove it?

If the Crown Prince had placed it there, then Leslun had no right to take it off. So, hesitating, he simply gathered Blue into his arms and got down from the bed.

To have lain in the Crown Prince’s bed for treatment—such a thing was enough to make the heart of a country boy pound wildly.

From this, he made one firm decision.

“I mustn’t ever fall sick again.”

If it happened once more, wouldn’t he wake up beside the Crown Prince himself? Letting his thoughts wander that far made him shudder involuntarily.

“Ridiculous imagination.”

That the Crown Prince had carried him was already beyond belief. To imagine lying side by side with him was even more impossible.

Enough. Stop imagining.

Such a thing would never happen.

Thinking back, he recalled what was written—that the Crown Prince’s debauchery had begun openly only after he lost his first love so powerlessly.

“When does the Crown Prince’s first love appear, anyway?”

Once that person showed up, surely these sorts of misunderstandings would no longer arise. Of course, seeing that person in the flesh would stir complicated feelings, but for now, he wanted nothing more than to avoid further awkward entanglements.

As Leslun shook his head and stepped out, he failed to notice Blue’s amber eyes flash black and back again.

“Come to think of it, this necklace…”

Leslun traced the smooth metal surface with his fingertips. He had never seen it before, yet it stirred a strange sense of familiarity.

He couldn’t explain why—only that something in the back of his mind itched faintly.

In the original story, there had been several important necklaces. And if it was one made to be worn by an animal, there had been exactly one.