FMY 38

From spring to summer, during this busy time when even the tender, small, light green leaves were growing tough and boasting their swelling, darkening bodies. The midday sun was now quite hot.

Walking down the vast promenade of the Sorbonne University campus, lined with tall, lanky beech trees, Raphael naturally pulled Serge’s hand.

“Come a little closer this way.”

At his touch, Serge was dragged along.

“I can’t let my fiancé, who came out without even a hat, get freckles on his face.”

Raphael, with his usual slick, handsome smile on his face, moved deeper into the shade of the trees. His steps, as he walked the narrow path, were somehow lighthearted. Unaware, perhaps, that the one being dragged along was walking with trudging steps and a sigh.

“…There isn’t a soul in sight. Why on earth do we have to walk stuck together like this, even here…”

At Serge’s weary words, Raphael shook his head and pulled the arm he had extended for the escort more forcefully toward him. The force was so strong that Serge let out a choked sound, “Ugh!” and had no choice but to surrender his arm to the pull of that muscular forearm and hand.

“The newspapers and weekly magazines are all abuzz about our engagement.”

He was right. Hadn’t they been laying the groundwork for some time now, making themselves out to be passionate lovers getting engaged? On top of that, they had danced at the royal ball, openly flaunting their relationship in front of the nobles, and had gone around boasting about their engagement news and the ring to everyone they met. And after the queen’s announcement at the last salon, they had always attended social functions together, drenched in each other’s pheromones….

What topic could possibly beat the news of the second prince’s engagement, which had the attention of all the people of Blanche and all the blue bloods of Anser? It was only natural that the scraps of paper containing their rosy news had been selling like hotcakes for the past two months.

Raphael, that persistent bastard…. Serge had clicked his tongue while reading the daily paper that had been published that very morning.

It was truly a persistently sustained effort. He felt as if he had just witnessed a scene from ‘If it doesn’t work, make it work,’ creating truth and facts through sheer will. This guy, for all I know, might have the blood of the Republic of Korea’s Special Forces flowing in him. I’ve experienced regression myself, so there’s no reason reincarnation couldn’t exist. Serge glared at his fiancé with eyes full of paranoid delusions and suspicion.

“Besides, the engagement ceremony is soon.”

Raphael had been diligently exchanging the necessary documents for their engagement with Duke Arthur, and after the meeting with the queen, the preparations for the ceremony were proceeding all too smoothly.

“It’s not just the royal family that has eyes everywhere. Even in a place like this where no one seems to be watching, we must not stop acting.”

Look who’s talking, the method actor.

He was saying that they must never stop acting, no matter where they were, so that the role would become second nature, like air and skin, as if the character were his very self.

Right. I, of all people, must not forget that I am the fiancé of Raphael Duke de Bernadotte, as naturally as I breathe.

“You’re right.”

Serge let out a deep sigh, straightened his slumped body, and gripped Raphael’s arm tightly. To an onlooker, it might have looked less like an escort and more like a detective firmly linking arms with a criminal to haul him to the police station. It was a rather comical sight, but in its own way, it was a declaration of his will.

“By the way, what brings you here all of a sudden?”

It was an unexpected visit.

“I went to the ducal residence, and they said you had come here.”

“You came unannounced again?”

Serge frowned, as if to ask if he still hadn’t kicked the habit of startling people.

“I had some business with Duke Arthur.”

“Ah.”

Though he didn’t know exactly what business they were concocting in the study, the two of them had been visiting frequently and spending a lot of time together lately. It almost felt like they were achieving a love for the ages, and he truly wanted to cheer them on…. Serge shook his head, deciding to just be thankful that he wasn’t included in such complicated paperwork. The marriage-related documents that Raphael and Duke Arthur were currently racking their brains over were clearly a very complex and difficult task.

“I thought you had already graduated and wouldn’t have any reason to come here anymore.”

At Raphael’s question, Serge nodded. In his past life, where he had focused solely on academics, he had already graduated early. Normally, he would have graduated at the end of the current semester, but the past Serge, who had only wanted to take classes in the subjects he was good at, was not ‘normal.’ It said it all that one of the nicknames Gabriel always used to tease him was a geeky and old-fashioned ‘bookworm.’

“I had some things left in my professor’s research lab. I need to clear them out now.”

Raphael took this to mean that now that he was the prince’s fiancé, he was wrapping up his studies, and he nodded. But that was not what Serge meant.

It was true that he had come to the lab to clear out his remaining belongings. But there was another purpose for his visit to Sorbonne University today.

He had come to this campus, which had one of the largest libraries in Anser, in the morning for his investigation. He had thoroughly searched the section of the library where past newspapers were collected and the daily paper reading stands.

‘I need to find out in more detail what is happening right now.’

In his past life, he had paid no attention at all to political matters or the radical movements of the Third Estate citizens. But things had been constantly happening in the areas Serge was not interested in. The extremists who had caused a scene at the royal ball…. And the future that seemed to be deeply entangled with it….

Serge glanced sideways at Raphael, who was stuck right beside him.

A scene came to mind as he looked at him.

On the surface, it was just the face of a strikingly handsome dominant alpha, but the sharpness in his eyes that he sometimes showed…. In fact, Serge was replaying the situation on the day of the royal ball, just before the terror attack.

The sight of him urgently searching for the absent Serge. And the subtle sense of déjà vu, like the anxious look in his eyes.

‘There’s definitely something more….’

Raphael was clearly hiding a great deal from him.

On top of that, Serge had another matter that was complicating his thoughts.

Camus, the stableman’s son, had come back to life. He had been expecting that the one thing he couldn’t change in this new life was ‘death.’ Could his hypothesis be wrong? Serge’s mind was in a turmoil.

He had to get more evidence related to this. Just how far could he intervene in matters of death? It was to contemplate and explore this that he had visited the library early in the morning. He had to grasp the current circumstances to accurately predict the situation ahead.

“Am I so handsome now that you’ve had a good look? You seem to like what you see, don’t you?”

Perhaps sensing Serge’s intense stare from up close, Raphael also glanced at him, a slick smile habitually forming on his lips as he bantered.

Serge looked at his fiancé and shook his head. He was getting sick and tired of it.

“Is that confidence of yours a pitiful gift from God, something you were regrettably pre-equipped with in the womb? Or, was it acquired later in life after you looked around and thought, ‘Ah, a man as handsome as me is truly impossible to find, no matter how hard I look,’ what is it?”

Having heard it over and over again, Serge was now genuinely dumbfounded.

“Huh? You know what! Even if a person is brimming with confidence, they’re more likable if they show a little humility! But you, prince, are so busy boasting out loud every chance you get, so how am I supposed to be impressed?!”

And at those words, Raphael bent over laughing.

“Yes. I admit that you’re as alpha as an alpha gets, handsome and upstanding. I have an eye for beauty myself. But look. The moment I even think of being impressed, I get worried, thinking, ‘That damned mouth of his is going to get all excited and start bragging again…,’ so I can’t bring myself to praise you! I know perfectly well that if I say 1, you’ll say not 2, but 3 and 4!”

“Pfft…”

“A person needs to know their limits, really…. Shouldn’t you feel a little sorry for my lot in life, having to stick by a guy like this as my fiancé…!”

As Serge fumed and clenched his fists, Raphael—my goodness, tears of laughter—wiped away the tears gathered at the corners of his eyes with his fingertips and finally answered.

“…I told you, Serge. It makes me want to live up to your expectations.”

“What?”

“When you look at me with those eyes, it’s only natural that I want to tease you. Isn’t that the only time you, who always acts the part of the perfect Duke Arthur’s son in front of people, take off your mask?”

He had hit the nail on the head. Seeing him stammer, at a loss for words, Raphael confessed.

“I like it when you get all huffy and honestly angry in front of me like that.”

“What…? I-Isn’t this completely perverted…?”

Liking something like that…! Isn’t that a rather dangerous inclination…?

“Then I’ll have to act like a pervert again, just as you expect.”

“Ugh…”

He’s a completely hopeless, perverted scoundrel. I can’t deal with him with the thoughts and heart of a normal person…. Serge, in a state of resignation, shook his head and wordlessly quickened his pace again. How long did they walk like that? Raphael, who had been laughing for a while, finally calmed down, took a few long strides to catch up, and once again linked arms with Serge to escort him.

“You have to take your perverted fiancé with you, chouchou.”

Is he bragging about his long legs again?

“Sigh… this hopeless guy, I…”

Serge let out a deep sigh and changed the subject.

“What about you, what brings you here? Surely you didn’t come all this way because you missed me….”

He was the one who was more curious about the purpose of the visit.

“Could it be…?”

A wide-open space, free from outside interference, and just the two of them. Combining these two things, a reason came to mind.

Serge lifted his eyes from the path ahead and looked at Raphael’s profile.

As if sensing his gaze, Raphael’s eyes also turned to Serge’s face. A breeze scented with spruce trees passed between the two men as they faced each other.

“Are you finally going to tell me?”

Serge asked with a serious face, stopping his large, sturdy body.

Before the royal ball, on the day he received the ring, Raphael had certainly made a promise to Serge.

<Aren’t you going to tell me what your real purpose is for this engagement?>

<…I’ll tell you that properly at the upcoming royal ball.>

He had expected to hear it on the day of the ball as promised, but the chaotic incident had caused them to miss the opportunity. Since then, they had been too busy preparing for the engagement ceremony.

Hearing Serge’s question, the man’s handsomely smooth lips curved upwards at the corners.

“As expected, you’re quick on the uptake, my chouchou.”

I wish he would just get rid of that damn ‘chouchou’ nonsense.

“Let’s sit for a moment and talk. This will be a long conversation.”

The marble benches placed at intervals along the promenade welcomed their rest.

Raphael, having led Serge to a bench and sat down with him, rested his elbows on his knees and stared silently ahead. Serge’s gaze naturally followed his toward a shallow, artificially created fountain.

A song thrush was busily moving back and forth between the edge of the marble fountain and the pooled water, diligently washing its soiled wings and tail feathers. The exquisite skill with which it lifted its feathers and quickly preened them with its beak was captivating, stealing one’s attention. The bustling movement of the small life was beauty itself. Raphael, who had been intently following the natural spectacle with his eyes, finally opened his mouth.

“Even a bird like that, which will be hunted and served on a dinner table come autumn or winter….”

“…”

“Even a tiny creature like that knows how to wash away its own filth.”

Now, from the song thrush’s wings, which were no longer stained with mud, water droplets flew up in fine sprays, scattering tiny jewels in the air under the midday sun.

“It’s only humans who don’t look back to see if they’ve been sullied by filth….”

Who was the person that came to Raphael’s mind as his eyes wandered between the bird and the empty air? Serge tore his gaze from the song thrush and looked up steadily at the fake fiancé sitting beside him, who had begun a serious conversation.

“…You must have seen it that day, on the second floor of Camellia Hall.”

It was a statement laced with the certainty that he knew exactly what Serge had seen then.