HPV 61

At that moment, Riarun couldn’t control his expression.
If he had immediately raised an eyebrow or reacted with disbelief, brushing it off as nonsense, there might have been a chance to smooth things over.
But it ended there.
Their companions stirred again.

— I kissed you because I wanted to.

It wasn’t like they had only kissed once or twice; he didn’t even clarify which one.
No—there was exactly one time that had been different from the others.
Riarun bit his lip, recalling it.

Until now, every kiss had been for the purpose of transferring the demon from one host to another.
Except once.
When he had fainted in the Duchy and then woken up.

They had kissed, but the demon hadn’t transferred.
Back then, Banwes had claimed he failed because he hadn’t focused properly.
Since there was no reason to doubt him, Riarun had believed it.

But now, hearing him say he had wanted to kiss him, he couldn’t understand his true intention at all.
What kind of thought process led someone to suddenly blurt out something like that while walking along the road?

— I have no intention of letting you go.

Even though Riarun was ignorant and inexperienced in matters like this, he could guess that, in any other situation, such words would sound like a passionate confession.
But Banwes’s expression was far too grim for that.
His face was hard and closed-off, like armor refusing even the smallest kindness.
Even with his mask off, he was stern, his blood-red eyes like a cold lake.

There had to be some ulterior motive.
He looked angrier than anything.
Or perhaps Banwes was just clumsy and overwhelmed by his own emotions.

“W-when? Why? The two of you?”
The group’s hero was utterly dumbfounded.
To him, Banwes and Riarun had always seemed more hostile than affectionate, so he was even more confused.

Neither of the two involved seemed inclined to explain.
Paronai glanced at Penzey.

Penzey’s foxlike eyes narrowed further as he smiled meaningfully.
There was a faint twang, like a bowstring being plucked.

Banwes twisted his head aside and caught the flying arrow in his hand.
A flicker of disturbance crossed Riarun’s eyes.
Banwes gestured toward Bzhan, signaling him not to shoot.

“Yuri, you’re awfully quiet. You okay?”
The high priest stood frozen like an ice sculpture.
Penzey chuckled lightly and nudged him.

“No. There’s so much to condemn, I don’t know where to start.”

“Just start with what you think is most serious.”

At that, Yuri lifted his veil and glared at Banwes as if to kill him.

“You scoundrel! How could you…! Riarun is ten years younger than you!”

“Ah, that’s your main point?”
Penzey snickered.
He showed no sign of taking any of this seriously.

“Yuri, when do you think is the proper age for marriage?”

“Twenty-nine.”

“That’s ten years after the coming-of-age ceremony…”

“Humans need that long to think straight.”

Riarun, half-tuning out the surrounding noise, clenched him teeth slightly.
This needed to be cleaned up—and Banwes needed to be stopped from saying anything more reckless.

“This is between me and Banwes. I’d appreciate it if everyone else kept out of it.” His voice rang out, clear and firm.
The tone was unexpectedly cold, and the atmosphere quieted, like a campfire’s embers being smothered.

Riarun turned to Yurichen, and said quietly,
“Banwes was joking.”

“Is it a joke to you?”
Banwes, who had been silent until now, cut in—and the air grew even colder.
Riarun let out a heavy sigh.

“Don’t pick fights like this. If you have something to say, say it to me in private.”

He enunciated each word sharply while glaring at him, then, without waiting for a reply, he seized Penzey’s sleeve.

“Penzey. You have that artifact that creates a soundproof barrier, right? Lend it to me.”

— I’m still withdrawing from the Black Dragon Subjugation. Go alone, defeat the dragon, and come back.

From that moment, Banwes lived shackled inside dark imaginings.
Scenes of returning after slaying the Black Dragon, only to find Riarun gone—or worse, dead.

He had seen countless creatures die and be eaten throughout his life.
Imagining Riarun falling prey to a monster or demon was all too easy.

In truth, Riarun was already caught in the demon’s grasp.
It was impossible to know how long it would take to defeat the Black Dragon—if the demon claimed him in the meantime?

He couldn’t leave him.
Yet he also didn’t want to drag him into the Black Dragon’s lair beneath its black wings.
Those conflicting emotions crashed together.

He could not have both.
He had to choose one and abandon the other.

— You sure talk big for someone who can’t even take care of himself.

Banwes had refused to make a choice, instead pouring out his anguish in harsh words that wounded Riarun.

And now, after some time had passed—

“What exactly are you trying to do?”

Banwes was facing Riarun’s reproach, the price for his reckless words.

He hardened his heart and stared right back at him.

He was fully prepared to be lashed with accusations—whether it was about humiliating him on purpose, or being stupid beyond saving.

That was the only kind of conversation he and Riarun ever had.

But then—

“…What do you mean, you ‘did it because you wanted to’?”

Riarun lowered his hood.

In the cold air, his hair shone white.

The shadow cast by the hood fell away, and countless gemstones seemed to glimmer across his face.

The jewels that made up Riarun were both one and tens of thousands at the same time.

Banwes’s mind heaved like a swamp stirred up from below.

His heart wavered—whether it crumbled or was mended, he wasn’t sure.

When he answered, his voice trembled slightly, against his will.

“Because I don’t want you to die… That’s why I kissed you—by my own will.”

…No.

That wasn’t the whole truth.

There was something more—something hotter, fiercer, far more persistent and bittersweet.

If it was only because he didn’t want Riarun to die, he couldn’t explain why he was now staring at Riarun’s lips.

“You’re nothing. Worthless. Whether you’re there or not doesn’t matter to me.”

He had survived countless threats and scorn; his heart had become like a stone wall, impenetrable even to himself.

So he had no choice but to believe that the face of the stone wall was his true self.

“I hated hearing things like how you’d only get in my way. That’s why… I think I said something back then, something to make you angry in front of everyone.”

And yet—If he could even glimpse the tiniest crack in that stone wall, if he could just slightly change the way he spoke—

“Decide for yourself whether you’ll come to the Black Dragon subjugation or not. Just consider which option is safer for you. That’s all that matters.”

Banwes tried harder than ever before to convey his words properly.

Even so, deep down, he felt unsatisfied.

He refused to admit that he was beginning to crave something unknown even more desperately.

***

Riarun had borrowed Penzey’s artifact and moved far away from the rest of the group to talk with Banwes alone.

From a distance, they were only small dots, too far away to make out their expressions.

“Let’s piece together the situation.”

Paronai rolled his eyes around and grabbed his chin with his left hand, trying to make sense of it all—muttering aloud for everyone to hear.

“Banwes kissed Ria… and then probably brushed it off as a mistake or something.”

His face turned red even as he said it. He hurried to move on before he got even redder.

“But now, way later, he’s correcting himself—saying he actually wanted to kiss him. Which means… he confessed his love! Right there! In front of everyone! A public confession!”

Granted, Banwes’s face had looked more like he was launching an attack than making a love confession, but that detail had long since been forgotten inside Paronai’s head.

“And Ria’s reaction?”

Paronai suddenly leapt up like the world had ended.

All the muscles in his face twisted in horror as he screamed,

“He rejected him! Banwes got rejected!”

He clutched his head in despair, face pale as a ghost.

He had seen it before back at the Swordsmanship Academy—how a comrade fell apart after confessing to his crush and being turned down.

“Is our party… finished now?”

To make matters worse, Bzhan was crouched beside him, eagerly listening like he had just discovered an entirely new world, ears perked up in fascination.