Wrong Genre! - Chapter 25.2
“…I’m sorry.”
Time had passed since that day, so he had thought that by now, he would have become a man worthy of standing beside Rueg.
But ten years ago or now, whenever Felix stood next to Rueg, he felt small.
“I’m sorry…”
For not being able to protect him.
For letting him form another painful memory in the imperial palace.
For not being the one to say he liked him first.
He was still atoning for all of it.
* * *
The next day.
Waking early in the morning, Rueg slowly sat up and stared blankly into the air.
He had a strange dream.
In it, a younger version of himself, not even half his current height, was clinging to the arm of an equally young Felix and crying his eyes out.
Slowly rising, Rueg turned his head to look at Felix.
The Felix in the dream had been small and thin, little enough that the young Rueg to look down at him instead of the other way around.
On top of that, his hair and clothes had been somewhat unkempt. He hadn’t looked like the Crown Prince, but rather like a child abandoned and forgotten by everyone.
“Rueg! You… You’ll stay by my side, right?”
The youthful voice echoed faintly in his ears.
He had been transported into the world of a novel, so there was no way he could have met Felix as a child.
Yet it felt as if the memories of this body contained moments shared with Felix, as though the dream had pulled out something that already existed.
Come to think of it, he had felt something similar before.
When he had been half delirious from a high fever, he remembered hearing the voice of a young Felix repeatedly apologizing to him.
‘The real Rueg’s memories…’
Had the real Rueg met Felix as a child?
But if that were the case, Versha would have mentioned it.
She might have said he would feel glad to see the Crown Prince again after so long, or warned him to be careful not to get found out.
But neither Versha nor Felix had said anything.
“Rueg.”
While Rueg was staring blankly at Felix’s face, lost in thought, Felix, who had just woken up, moved and wrapped an arm around his waist.
“Why are you sitting like that, hmm?”
Blinking slowly, Rueg brushed aside the hair that had fallen across Felix’s face and asked,
“Your Highness. I have something I’m curious about.”
“Mm?”
“Have we… ever met before?”
The moment the question ended, Felix’s shoulders trembled slightly.
As if waiting for what would come next, he simply stared into Rueg’s eyes without answering.
“I had a dream.”
“A dream?”
“I think it was from childhood… Your Highness was holding onto me and crying. But it wasn’t a room like this. It was a wooden house…”
It might sound strange to ask if they had met as children just because of one dream, but he was curious. He wondered if Felix’s kindness toward him came from a past connection he himself didn’t remember.
More than anything, if the same kind of memory had surfaced twice, there had to be some reason.
“What did I look like as a child?”
Felix spoke calmly as he sat up. His crimson eyes carefully studied every detail of Rueg’s expression.
The gaze felt almost persistent, and Rueg tilted his head.
Had he said something he shouldn’t have?
After glancing aside, Rueg slowly opened his mouth and answered,
“You were small. Very small. Smaller than me. I could look down at you…”
At that, a short laugh slipped from Felix.
“And what about me now?”
“You’re… big?”
At Rueg’s answer, Felix nodded lightly, as if he had confirmed something.
“It seems you really wanted to look down on me.”
“…Huh?”
“I was already quite tall even when I was young.”
After lightly tapping the tip of Rueg’s nose and letting out a small laugh, Felix got off the bed.
As he stretched widely and walked toward the bathroom, Rueg tilted his head while watching his back.
It felt like he had left to avoid the conversation…
Thinking it might be his imagination, Rueg tilted his head the other way. Then, standing at the bathroom entrance, Felix took off his shirt and asked,
“Would you like to wash together?”
At that question, Rueg, who had just been about to get out of bed, froze.
…That man really seems determined to destroy my heart.
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