The Villain’s Aide Has Run Away - Chapter 44.2
“What I need is the key to controlling that boy.”
At that, Blue let out a short laugh.
[Control? You don’t even understand your own emotions.]
Kailos’s brow furrowed deeply. In an instant, the air grew frigid.
“Why do you say I don’t know my emotions? And if you’re about to claim you’ve been the one to awaken me to them, then save it. I only tolerated that out of generosity.”
To make him see Leslun as an object of desire—under normal circumstances, that would have enraged him.
But he let it slide, in good faith. He decided instead to count it as simply one more way of showing Leslun just how merciless the world could be.
Blue, oblivious to the grace she’d been granted, carried on with brazen shamelessness.
[Fool. If you could only look straight at that boy, you’d see another world altogether.]
Kailos gave no reply to her counsel. With a dismissive wave of his hand, as if it weren’t worth answering—Blue struck her tail against the desk.
[Or prove it for yourself. Even without my power, you would still have fallen for him.]
Then, as though she no longer wished to speak, Blue bounded swiftly toward the window.
[I like Leslun. So make the effort and keep him for yourself!]
“That again.”
[Do you think you’re the only beast with its eyes on Leslun? And with that attitude, how do you expect to become Emperor?]
That was not something he could simply let pass.
“And if I destroy him—what then?”
Kailos muttered the words without looking at her. Even now, he had not decided whether to cherish Leslun gently in his arms, or to break him and claim him as his own.
Blue paused at the window, turning back toward him. A cat’s pupils curved into crescents.
[Whether you destroy him or not—that’s your choice.]
If he was even capable of such a choice. Blue, who had just tugged at the unacknowledged depths of his emotions, acted as though it were nothing at all.
With that final remark, she flicked her tail lightly and slipped out into the night. A breeze brushed past the window, and Kailos was left alone.
Blue’s recent outings had grown ever longer.
Kailos tried to convince himself it was only because Leslun had become busier. He fought hard not to guess at whose windows that vexing cat might be slinking through.
But appearances aside, Blue was a guardian beast—one meant to safeguard the Empire’s future generations.
“Prove it for myself…”
Kailos’s voice carried a heavy aftertaste.
The words brimmed with a fog of tangled emotions. It was not conviction, but rather a decision clouded with doubt and conflict.
Things no report could reveal, no intelligence could satisfy. The suffocating frustration of needing to confront him directly pressed relentlessly at Kailos’s chest.
Resting his chin on his hand, he slowly traced the edge of the desk with his fingertips. Behind that composed gesture, agitation simmered.
Just then, a knock came—and Robin entered.
“There is something I must confirm with Leslun.”
“…What?”
Robin’s eyes narrowed, wary as he studied Kailos.
***
Leslun had been sorting through paperwork until dawn, rubbing at his heavy eyelids. At last, unable to resist the waves of drowsiness, he rose from his desk.
His shoulders were stiff, and pen marks stained his fingertips. So this is as far as I’ll go today, he thought, exhaling a long breath.
As he crossed the silent office and walked down the hushed corridor, the back of his neck chilled. A shadow slipped soundlessly into his path.
Startled, Leslun instinctively tried to step back. But the unfamiliar figure reached toward him, and as he nearly fainted from shock, the stranger gestured for him to stay quiet.
“His Highness the Crown Prince summons you to his chambers. At once.”
“…At this hour?”
“Yes.”
And just as stealthily as he had appeared, the messenger vanished.
Leslun struggled to calm his pounding heart. What could be happening at this hour of night?
He quickened his pace.
It had already been two full days since he had last seen the Crown Prince, ever since Robin had told him to focus on paperwork.
While Robin went to deliver reports, Leslun had been confined to the office, working endlessly. Naturally, he hadn’t encountered him in the meantime.
Somehow his steps grew faster. Pausing before the door, he steadied his ragged breath, then composed himself and knocked.
“This is Aide Leslun. May I enter?”
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