The Villain’s Aide Has Run Away - Chapter 63.2
“And I did not come here just to receive your report.”
Warm breath brushed Leslun’s ear as he looked down at the papers. Kailos had leaned forward, as though to whisper to him.
“I came to ask if you returned safely.”
The sigh that escaped Kailos felt unguarded, almost painfully so.
“That is not what I meant…”
Heat that started at his ear seemed to spread across his entire face. Leslun blinked rapidly, unaware that his face had flushed red.
“It isn’t that I didn’t want to greet you… I only wanted to be able to tell you more clearly what happened at the academy…”
The more he spoke, the more he doubted himself, but Leslun still looked troubled, unsure of how to express his thoughts.
He was the Crown Prince’s aide. The invisible line between them loomed so large that he did not know what to do with his own feelings.
“How frustrating.”
When Kailos withdrew his hand, Leslun caught the falling handkerchief. The bleeding had already stopped, but perhaps because of the warmth that lingered in the cloth, he could not bring himself to set it down easily.
Leslun felt guilty at the Crown Prince’s words. If only he had the ability to handle the situation more naturally. He sank deeper into self-reproach.
“Here. Apply this to the wound.”
Kailos held out a small bottle. The thick, opaque liquid inside moved sluggishly whenever the bottle tilted.
It was an ointment. Leslun had used it once before, but its ingredients were expensive—something not just anyone could own or use freely.
When Leslun hesitated, Kailos’s quiet sigh could be heard.
Instead of forcing the bottle into Leslun’s hands, he opened the lid himself and scooped out the medicine. Then he carefully applied it over Leslun’s cut finger.
The sting lasted only for a moment before a cool sensation spread around the wound. Once again, Leslun had received the Crown Prince’s care.
“What are you thinking about?”
“I was thinking that it would have been better if I were Aide Robin.”
“What?”
Kailos’s brows knitted at the sudden mention of Robin.
“I just thought that if I could have handled this situation more smoothly, like he would have…”
Abruptly, Kailos tilted Leslun’s chin up. Leslun’s eyes widened in shock.
Kailos stared straight down into his face.
“Leslun. It has to be you.”
Kailos’s calm, low voice rattled Leslun’s composure.
“It’s because it’s you, so I embraced you that way. If it had been Robin who drank that potion…”
Kailos’s expression darkened, as though he hated even imagining it.
“I would not have cared—because he wouldn’t have died from it. Enough of this.”
Though his tone carried displeasure, there was unmistakable gentleness hidden within it.
Speaking the sort of words that would have made Robin most indignant had he been present, Kailos’s gaze swept over Leslun’s face, his nape, and the ink-stained sleeve one by one.
“When I saw you earlier, you were writing without resting your wrist on the desk. Why is that?”
“To keep the paper from getting dirty.”
“Doesn’t that make your wrist hurt?”
At those words, Leslun instinctively covered his right wrist with his left hand. Then, belatedly, he nodded.
Kailos sighed. As expected, Leslun had simply been enduring it again.
“All this trouble just for some sheets of paper…”
Kailos’s words trailed off, then he forced a small smile.
“I was praising you for being thorough.”
He spoke deliberately, so that Leslun would not mistake it for another scolding.
“Nothing unusual happened, did it?”
Kailos shifted the subject. Leslun found it difficult to answer right away.
Several scenes flickered through his mind, but the most vivid of all was still Prince Tarensiu’s meeting with Prince Cassian.
Should he reveal that Prince Tarensiu was actually the Crown Prince now that he had entered the academy? But the original objective was not yet achieved…
When Leslun remained silent, Kailos asked again.
“You haven’t crossed paths with the prince and the young lady, have you?”
Leslun answered a beat late.
“I did not see them during class today.”
“If you do run into them, make sure to…”
Kailos suddenly frowned, cutting himself off. Whatever he was thinking, it did not seem to be a pleasant thought.
“Make sure you greet them.”
“You mean… greet them? But you once told me not to associate with them.”
When Leslun asked, puzzled by the change in instruction, Kailos forced a small smile.
“At the very least, those two will not do anything harmful to you.”
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