The Villain’s Aide Has Run Away - Chapter 28.1
At Kailos’s reply, Baron Kelly’s thin eyebrows arched.
“I cannot do that. As long as I am Headmaster, remember there will be no special treatment.”
“I recall hearing that it was Leslun who recommended you for the position of Headmaster.”
“All the more reason I must be fair before that aide.”
“Well, do as you wish. Not discriminating between ranks is one of your strengths, is it not?”
Kailos gave Baron Kelly a subtle warning. Though he hoped for no incident, his words pressed him to deal with any trouble fairly, regardless of who was involved.
He did not want to see anyone at the Academy brandishing rank as if it made them superior.
“My requests end here.”
With a light expression, as if he had said all he needed, Kailos rose to his feet. Baron Kelly stood and bowed his head. His demeanor was courteous, yet never servile.
“I leave it in your hands.”
Offering his farewell to the Headmaster, Kailos turned to leave the office. Then, as though remembering something, he glanced toward Robin, who was waiting by the door.
“Where is Leslun?”
“I will find him at once.”
Kailos looked at Robin briefly, then let the corner of his lips curl.
“No. I’ll find him myself.”
His relaxed tone carried a trace of pleasant anticipation.
The office door shut softly behind him as Kailos gestured across the hall to Robin.
“You check that way. I’ll look this way.”
“Your Highness, if you wait a moment, I’ll return quickly with him.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
With a firm wave of his hand, Kailos rejected Robin’s suggestion.
“Since I’m already looking for Leslun, I may as well take in the surroundings too.”
With those words, he turned from Robin and strode down the corridor, the weight of his boots echoing against the floor.
Robin, unable to argue further, hurried off in the opposite direction.
When the sound of Robin’s footsteps had faded, Kailos looked leisurely about the corridor and murmured to himself,
“So, Leslun rather liked this place, did he?”
From the moment they had arrived at the Academy, Leslun’s face had carried an unusual brightness. He wasn’t normally expressive, which was why that moment lingered in Kailos’s memory.
It had been a face completely unlike the one he wore when looking at him.
Was it admiration? No, there had been a faint sorrow beneath it.
It was not a feeling one could easily associate with someone who had hardly even attended a village school, let alone an Academy such as this.
Still, what did it matter what emotions Leslun held? After a full day of rest, sharing a meal together in the evening would be another step toward becoming a “good master.”
“He ought to realize how much effort I am putting in to match him.”
Kailos idly traced the air with his fingertips as he walked slowly.
A light smile played on his lips like a jest, but his eyes had already grown cold.
Leslun was not like Robin—he did not converse easily, nor did his thoughts flow in harmony.
And yet the Crown Prince wanted, one-sidedly, to look after him.
To others, it would surely seem strange. Indeed, Robin himself could hardly understand it.
Robin knew very well that Kailos did not find Leslun comfortable. There were too many things about him that clearly grated on his nerves.
Kailos muttered as though to himself,
“After he settles in, I could just as easily tear him down.”
Or consume him whole.
As he spoke, his lips twisted into a cunning curve. Within that smooth smile, playfulness and cruelty intertwined.
To draw someone close, only to break them apart in the safety of that closeness—perhaps that delicate destruction was the most entertaining game of all.
These days, he found Leslun even more fascinating than Blue. Thanks to him, there was no room for boredom.
His heart pounded so fiercely it felt as though it might burst from his chest. The heavy thud reverberated from deep inside, and Kailos instinctively pressed a hand against his breast.
He was not short of breath, and yet there was a suffocating tightness.
“What is this?”
Even as he muttered, bewildered, his heart jolted violently once again. The force of it left his ears ringing, as if stunned.
Kailos narrowed his eyes. The suddenness of the symptoms left the cause uncertain, but there was only one suspect.
“If Robin had seen, he would have scolded me.”
It was easy to imagine Robin railing at him.
‘This is why I told you from the beginning not to put the necklace on Blue.’
He would have stormed about, claiming the Empress must have schemed something.
No doubt he would have nagged him at the border of alarm and reason. Perhaps it was fortunate he had acted alone. Kailos gave a bitter smile and resumed walking.
He was the Crown Prince. The Emperor himself had appointed him, and the Empress had given her assent.
Even before Cassian’s birth, that fact had not changed. Though now they schemed to drive him from succession, he had no intention of yielding anything.
Beneath the grand title of Crown Prince, nothing had ever truly been given to him.
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