The military doctor from the branch had advised me to refrain from using my injured hand for the time being. Not only had it been corrupted by unholy mana, but it was also wounded. They even gave me an ointment to aid the healing, so there was no room for debate.
Although it was inconvenient that the injured hand was my right one, I figured it wouldn’t be too much of a problem. After all, I had Pale at home to help me out.
“Here, Luke. Eat up.”
That is, until Theo walked into my room carrying a small tray. Before I could even say a word, there he was, acting as if it was the most natural thing in the world, scooping up soup with a spoon and holding it out toward me.
“What... are you doing?”
“As you can see, feeding you.”
“No, setting that aside, why are you here again?”
This was a question I should have asked back when he’d started following me. After leaving the branch, Theo had tagged along, and I should’ve realized something was off. But at the time, my arm was throbbing, and I was so exhausted that all I could think about was getting home and lying down.
After calming Pale down, who had been in a complete panic upon seeing my injuries, I went up to my room, slept for a while, and then woke up to the sight of Theo entering with a tray of food that smelled absolutely delicious.
“I plan to stay in Calum until we extract more information from Benji.”
“Sure, that makes sense. But that’s not what I’m asking. Why are you in my house?”
I already knew Theo wasn’t planning on returning until Benji’s mana recovered. I had no objections to that arrangement. The last time he stayed at my house was because he had arrived late at night and had no other options, but the circumstances were different now. The branch had already arranged accommodations for him. So why was he here again?
“Luke, didn’t I already tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
I snatched the spoon from Theo’s hand and took a bite of soup with my left hand.
“That I’m taking responsibility for your injury.”
There it was again. That talk. Just hearing those words reminded me of what he’d said back at the branch, and I quickly shook my head. For some reason, I could handle everything else he said, but whenever he mentioned taking responsibility for me, my heart started racing in an inexplicable way.
“And that means feeding me?”
“Since you can’t use your right hand, daily life must be inconvenient.”
Theo effortlessly took the spoon back from me, as if I hadn’t just taken it from him.
“Pale seems to be quite skilled at cooking. He was especially meticulous today since you’re injured. Maybe he’s developed some affection for you in the meantime?”
I glared at Theo as he offered me another spoonful of soup, but I sighed and gave up. It wasn’t worth the effort to argue with him.
“Maybe.”
Calling it affection seemed like a stretch, but it wasn’t entirely wrong either.
I leaned forward slightly to accept the soup Theo was offering. Telling him I could eat on my own and asking him to leave would just lead to an exhausting back-and-forth. Instead, I decided it was faster to just let him feed me so I could get it over with and send him on his way.
“Theo, the salad. No, not that—give me the tomato.”
“...”
Theo skewered a tomato with a fork, its red juice glistening slightly. Watching me crunch into the tomato with satisfaction, he suddenly chuckled.
“What’s so funny?”
“Ah, sorry.”
“Why are you laughing?”
Did I have something on my face? Was he teasing me about that? But Theo, still smirking as if he’d just heard the best joke in the world, didn’t seem like he was about to answer.
“Seeing you obediently eat the food I give you is, how should I say it...”
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“What, amusing?”
If anything, this was all his fault.
“No, it’s... kind of cute.”
“...”
The words that came out of Theo’s mouth were ones Luke never thought he’d hear. With an audible creak, Luke turned his head awkwardly toward him. Meanwhile, Theo tilted his head as if nothing was amiss, completely unaware of the weight of what he had just said.
What did he just say? Cute? Normally, Luke would have retorted with something like, “Are you mocking me because I’m injured?” or “Do you think this is funny?” But at that moment, his mind went blank, as if a part of his brain had shut down. Perhaps it was because he’d never heard such words directed at him before—or perhaps it was because they came from Theo, of all people, that the impact was strangely unsettling.
“At my family’s estate, we have a cat, and you remind me of it,” Theo added.
A cat? Luke let out a disbelieving laugh, more out of incredulity than humor. Of course, that made sense. That guy must find it hilarious to see his former rival injured to the point where he couldn’t even use one hand. Sure, he had apologized and talked about taking responsibility earlier, but seeing him act like this, it was obvious how amusing he found the situation.
In response, Luke defiantly reached out with his left hand, grabbed a tomato from the salad, and popped it into his mouth. Theo immediately started scolding him for eating with his hands, but Luke ignored him, biting into the tomato with a satisfying crunch. The sour yet refreshing juice exploded in his mouth.
Unfortunately, Luke had bitten into it a bit too hard, and some of the juice dribbled out of his mouth.
“Ah.”
The light red liquid trickled down from the corner of Luke’s crimson lips. Theo’s gaze landed there, and he froze, staring blankly. Before the juice could drip further and stain the bed, Luke instinctively started to ask for something to wipe it off with. But then a sudden thought crossed his mind, and his eyes narrowed.
Without warning, Luke grabbed Theo’s hand and pulled it toward him.
“What the—?”
Before Theo could even process what was happening, Luke took Theo’s fingers and wiped the juice from his lips with them. Theo’s thick thumb became wet with the tomato juice.
“Consider this payback for mocking me,” Luke said with a smug grin, staring at the liquid now smeared on Theo’s hand. He figured Theo would find the sticky sensation absolutely revolting. Just the thought of it made Luke chuckle quietly to himself.
However, Theo didn’t respond. The reaction Luke had anticipated—scolding him for being unsanitary or making a fuss—never came. Instead, Theo simply stared blankly at his own hand.
“...I think I’ll head downstairs to clean up,” Theo finally said.
“Huh? Sure, go ahead.”
Theo stacked the nearly empty dishes onto the tray and stood up. Without another word, he left the room. Luke watched him go, tilting his head in mild confusion.
“Did I go too far with the joke? Nah.”
After all, Theo was the one who started it by teasing him about looking like a cat. Luke shrugged it off and lay back down, deciding to rest and recover from the lingering fatigue.
As Luke drifted off to sleep, Theo made his way downstairs. Each step he took down the staircase seemed to echo in his ears, and his eyes remained unfocused. He entered the kitchen and set the tray down with a clatter, the sound snapping him back to reality.
Theo blinked rapidly, trying to clear his thoughts. His gaze landed on his hand, which still bore traces of the juice. Slowly, his eyes traveled over the calluses and down to his right thumb, where the faint sheen of the liquid still lingered.
The scene from earlier replayed vividly in his mind: the bright red liquid trickling from Luke’s lips, the furrow of his brows, the low, startled sound of “Ah.” Before Theo even realized it, his hand had been pulled to Luke’s lips, and he hadn’t resisted. The moment he felt the soft, warm touch, it was as if something had shocked his entire body.
It wasn’t an injury or an attack, yet he felt a strange, stinging sensation all over. An entirely unfamiliar feeling. He hadn’t pulled away immediately, perhaps because of the way Luke’s amused gaze seemed to pin him in place.
“You really do remind me of that cat,” Theo muttered, running a hand over his forehead.
“...That was a poor choice of words.”
At the very least, the cat at his estate didn’t pull such brazen tricks. Theo hesitated, then brought his finger to his lips. That part of his hand felt unusually warm. He lightly licked the liquid off his thumb. The sharp, tangy flavor snapped him back to reality.
After standing in the kitchen, lost in thought for a while, Theo was startled out of his reverie by Pale, who caught him loitering there. Embarrassed, he hastily returned to his room—the same one he had stayed in when he first came to Luke’s house.
The night outside had grown dark, but despite lying down on the bed, sleep eluded him. The memory of what had happened earlier kept replaying in his mind, making it impossible to settle his thoughts. What kind of joke was this? He’d offered to help, yet now it felt like he was the one being tormented.
Of course, it wasn’t just that incident bothering him. The Empire’s growing threat from the recent events weighed heavily on his mind as well. The situation hadn’t escalated yet, but until they uncovered the mastermind, he couldn’t let his guard down.
After tossing and turning for hours, the exhaustion from days of relentless activity finally began to take its toll. Theo’s eyes slowly started to close.
Knock, knock.
Just as he was about to fully succumb to sleep, a sound came from outside the door.
“Theo, are you awake?”
It was Luke’s voice. Theo jolted upright and opened the door to find Luke standing there, his expression unusually sullen.
“Is something wrong?” Theo asked.
“No, it’s not that... Uh...”
Luke frowned, seemingly deep in thought, before stepping forward decisively.
“Hey, help me take a bath.”