“……”
“……”
The two boys stared blankly at each other for a while.
Sarka was leaning back on the sofa in a languid manner, looking up slightly with a tilted head at Ruslan standing awkwardly.
Instead of the neat uniform he always wore, he was in a comfortable state wearing a loose nightshirt with a soft indoor gown draped over it.
The khaki lining of the pearl-colored nightgown that hung down carelessly without the waist cord tied matched his green eyes, and even that looked like a painting.
His silver hair, which he always combed back, flowed softly down over his forehead in gentle curls, and even the way he sat with his long legs slightly crossed and his clasped hands neatly placed at the crook of his thighs was utterly elegant.
Ruslan thought, looking at that neat scene, that even his own tattered luggage bag standing upright next to Sarka looked shameful.
However, the moment their eyes met with that beautiful boy, Ruslan swallowed empty air.
Those green eyes he had always thought were beautiful suddenly felt terribly horrible and disgusting.
Ruslan froze, feeling his pulse suddenly race and soar, and instinctive revulsion and fear fiercely grip his body.
Ruslan, who was confused by that unfamiliar and sudden emotion, soon realized this was the hatred a creature whose mind had been touched felt when seeing the one who had laid hands on their mind.
The very emotion Chichi had felt when he saw Kanya—Ruslan was feeling it too.
“……”
Sarka was observing Ruslan’s reaction with an expression of great interest. His attitude was that he knew all the emotions and thoughts occurring inside Ruslan’s body as if looking into the palm of his hand.
Sarka’s gaze slowly flowed, carefully brushing over Ruslan’s finely trembling fingers, his twitching eyelids, and his quivering lips.
It was clearly a gaze mocking a defeated soldier.
Covered in dust and filth, injured and bruised here and there, his terrified state wasn’t much different from an actual defeated soldier.
Sarka’s voice seemed to ring in his ears.
[……In the end, the inferior species has no choice but to fear and hate the superior species.]
When the gaze that finally flowed in looked straight into Ruslan’s dark blue eyes, Ruslan unconsciously squeezed his eyes shut as if fleeing from that gaze.
……No. This emotion isn’t what I intended.
I’m not afraid. I don’t want to kill that boy.
We’re friends.
Ruslan, who was feeling nauseous dizziness as reason and instinct collided, however, soon felt the emotions swirling in his chest suddenly drain away and settle down smoothly like water receding.
Ruslan, who realized that sensation, instantly began to regain his composure.
As the hunters had said, this hatred was proportional to the period of mental domination. Unlike Chichi who had been under domination for over a year, his own mind, which had been in a dominated state for only a short time of less than an hour, wouldn’t become that violent.
Before long, Ruslan could confirm as expected that all the unfamiliar emotions completely settled down calmly and his heart became peaceful.
Only then did Ruslan, relieved, open his eyes.
Ruslan looked straight at Sarka’s green eyes looking at him with a mocking expression, as if all those reactions were obvious.
There was no more hatred. No revulsion, no fierce disgust.
Only faint admiration toward the boy who was dazzlingly beautiful and neat as always.
Toward Ruslan who let out a long breath and stood straight with his chest out, facing him without wavering, Sarka slowly tilted his head.
As if expecting an answer, Sarka asked softly in a languid tone.
“……Are you still determined to be friends with me?”
That voice was tinged with laughter, and shallow mockery and contempt were also soaked in it. Like reproaching a foolish player who jumped into a match they were obviously going to lose.
Ruslan swallowed deeply as if shaking off that contempt, and lifted his chin high. Looking straight into those green eyes without the slightest hesitation, Ruslan replied in a clear voice, enunciating each word.
“Of course! You told me to do as I like, so we’re still friends. Thanks for accepting me as a roommate. I’m so, so happy! I’m counting on you from now on.”
It was a calm greeting with polite courtesy.
Sparkling dark blue eyes full of goodwill and joy, just like to a really close friend. Lips smiling broadly like a child without a trace of pretense. Blue eyes looking straight at him without any doubt or fear to be found.
Sarka smiled faintly, pulling up the corners of his mouth, as if he’d discovered a very interesting wild beast.
Sarka, who had been looking at Ruslan with one arm resting on the sofa and his back leaning against it, with an expression that things were turning out interestingly, soon seemed to think this wasn’t bad either and smiled like a child playing along with a childish game.
“……I’m counting on you too.”
The two boys looked straight at each other with calm smiles. Like motivated athletes gripping rackets and staring at their opponent with the court between them.
Who would be the victor was something that couldn’t be known until the game was over.
Ruslan had absolutely no intention of losing.
He intended to watch who would bend their assertion first, who would admit defeat.
Esteban School’s 2nd year, 3rd semester, on a cool night when autumn was beginning.
Thus, Ruslan became the vampire’s roommate.
***
The next morning.
Ruslan vigorously kicked off his blanket and got up.
Last night, Sarka had—without even touching it, with telekinesis—flung Ruslan’s luggage bag into the empty space next to the terrace as if removing a dirty object, then opened the bedroom door and went in without even looking back at Ruslan.
It was an attitude like telling a dog that was too dirty to let into the room to curl up and sleep in a corner of the living room on its own.
It was utterly cold treatment, but Ruslan didn’t bat an eye.
He vigorously took out a blanket from his bag and spread it well on the floor, then fell asleep with an extremely happy expression, satisfied.
Ruslan had no reason to complain at all.
He had finally found the vampire, talked with the vampire, and poured out all the oaths he’d been holding onto for 8 years.
And without losing his life, he survived so well with all four limbs intact, and even became that vampire’s roommate.
Though they were roommates sleeping with one wall between them, that much distance was no different from sleeping in an embrace compared to the Miral Mountains.
Even if he could sleep in the imperial golden bed, he wouldn’t have been this satisfied.
Ruslan slept like honey on the wooden floor next to the terrace where cold wind seeped in, with only a thin blanket covering him.
The deep sleep he hadn’t achieved even once in 8 years.
Ruslan, who organized his blanket as soon as he woke up and even finished washing his face refreshingly, carefully looked around the living room where morning sunlight was seeping through the terrace’s glass windows.
It was a space luxurious beyond comparison to the scholarship student 12-person room that had been like a chicken coop.
A luxurious common living room equipped with a fireplace, sofa, and tea table occupied the center, with two double-occupancy bedrooms on each side arranged facing each other.
The left bedroom was locked as it wasn’t being used, and the right bedroom was used by Sarka alone.
Consequently, it was no different from Sarka monopolizing a 4-person room including the living room all by himself.
Setting aside the unused double room, it meant he was paying dormitory fees for at least two people alone.
He knew he was from a wealthy family, but seeing him solely occupying the highest-grade dormitory facility that even most noble children used four people to a room made Sarka’s wealth feel real anew.
On the floor was laid an imported carpet that wouldn’t be out of place in the mansion of a respectable noble family, and on the ceiling, though small, there was even a proper chandelier. On one side of the living room was arranged a small stove for boiling tea and a display cabinet full of high-quality tea sets, and on the walls hung oil painting frames and antique tapestries. The bathroom attached to the living room even had a private bathtub.
In the rural village of Frükan where Ruslan grew up, things like bathtubs were luxuries among luxuries. Seeing that item, which even the working class in the Empire couldn’t see in their lifetime, brazenly attached to a student dormitory made his mouth drop open.
……They really are on a different ‘level.’
It was around the time when Ruslan, who had become embarrassed by himself standing in shabby old nightshirt attire in the middle of this terribly luxurious scenery, was busily changing into his uniform.
The bedroom door opened, and Sarka walked out with a languid face.
The loose white linen nightshirt wrapped softly around his body, and the nightgown still left open fluttered like a cloak following his steps. His silver hair that naturally flowed down to his forehead without anything applied shone in a pale golden color under the sunlight.
His eyes were more languid than usual because of traces of sleepiness not yet wiped away, and his skin receiving the morning sunlight seemed to be emitting light rather than reflecting it.
The hand movement sweeping down his nape as if chasing away sleep was so utterly elegant that it couldn’t be imitated even if one tried deliberately. Sarka moving in the sunlight looked exactly like a spirit that had just walked out of mythology.
……How is that boy so beautiful even after waking up from sleep?
Ruslan, who had been entranced, came to his senses only when Sarka, who had come out from washing, sat down on the sofa while shaking out the moisture remaining in his hair.
After secretly shaking out his uniform once more, which was covered in dust despite having changed, Ruslan offered a deliberately cheerful greeting like throwing a ball at an off-guard opponent.
“Good morning, Sarka! Did you sleep well?”
“……”
Sarka turned to look at Ruslan, then was indifferently silent.
It was an expression that anyone would mistake for watching a dog bark after letting it into the room, but Ruslan smiled broadly as if he’d received a warm morning greeting and asked again.
“You’re eating breakfast, right? Want to go to the dining hall together?!”
“……”
Sarka, who had been blankly staring at that energetic suggestion, smiled for some reason. While slowly rolling down the towel he’d been drying his hair with, Sarka answered in a strangely softened voice.
“I don’t usually eat breakfast…… but I’ll think about it if you bring it directly to me.”
Ruslan’s eyes widened. Sarka, who smiled and looked at him in the sunlight, surprisingly had a shy expression.
Ruslan, who had been blankly staring at Sarka looking up at him expectantly with an utterly pure expression, soon shouted with half-surging momentum.
“I’ll bring it right away! Wait just a moment!!”
Ruslan immediately kicked open the door and ran out.
While tumbling hurriedly into the dining hall, his head spun wondering what on earth this was about, but anyway, it was the first thing Sarka had requested.
The vampire he’d met after 8 years had asked for help. He was determined to obey even if told to die with his nose stuck in a plate of water.
Ruslan, who had diligently put breakfast on a plate, placed it on a tray, and returned excitedly, however, froze solid when he encountered a black dog standing firmly blocking the path to the dormitory building.
“Grrrrrrr……”
The black dog drooling was staring straight at Ruslan’s eyes.
Eyes gleaming with madness and a muzzle revealing even its gums refreshingly.
Cold sweat poured out.
When the black dog began charging while barking fiercely, Ruslan, without seeing more, hugged the tray tightly and ran.
“Uwaaaaaah!”
“Keurk kerk kerk kerk!!!”
……Was this how Bruce and his cronies felt back then?!
While running so fiercely that he could hear the sound of wind brushing his ears, Ruslan suddenly felt fierce camaraderie boiling up for Bruce’s gang, whom he had thought of as less than toe dirt until now.
This is incomparably more thrilling than being chased by you guys, hey!!
Only around when breakfast time was almost ending did Ruslan return to the room carrying the tray, gasping for breath with both body and mind in tatters.
There were several moments when his spine ran cold, but after working hard to strategize, he succeeded in luring the rampaging black dog into the lumber storage and locking it in.
He could hear sounds of it going berserk and breaking something inside, but, well, he’d have to pray it wasn’t anything important.
Ruslan, who busily returned to the dining hall again and neatly set food on the tray, walked carefully this time while watching his surroundings. Fortunately, there was no interference this time until he flung the door open.
This much is nothing! I’ll just think of it as morning exercise!
Ruslan, who puffed out his chest with an energetic expression, looked at Sarka standing by the fireplace.
Sarka had already changed neatly into his uniform and even combed his hair cleanly back, and was about to check his tie in front of the mirror for the last time.
At the sound of the door opening, Sarka stopped and turned his head, then looked back at Ruslan, who was tremendously more tired compared to when he left, a bit more disheveled, and looked slightly hungry too.
Ruslan gasped for a few breaths to regulate his quickened breathing, but soon took a big breath, straightened his back, and smiled radiantly bright with an expression of not being tired at all.
“Sorry I’m late! The way here was a bit rough, but this much is nothing for a friend!”
“Ah.”
Looking at the tray extended triumphantly, Sarka let out a short exclamation as if remembering something he’d forgotten.
Before Ruslan could even reply, Sarka, who smoothly picked up the plate from the tray, flung all the contents into the fireplace without a moment’s hesitation.
It was a swing so utterly elegant as if swinging a golf club, natural enough to even give the feeling that this was the proper way to have breakfast originally.
Before Ruslan’s dumbfounded gaze could even leave the fireplace, Sarka, who again with neat movements placed the plate on the tray with a click, passed by Ruslan who still had his mouth hanging open and left the room while adding indifferently.
“Take it back.”
