“You’re saying it’s not my business?”
Displeased with Seianes’s attitude of drawing a line, Abrisius repeated his words.
Breaking away from his embrace, he looked up at Seianes with eyes that had grown much more distant.
Just from his expression, one could tell that Seianes’s mood wasn’t very good.
“Why on earth?”
Abrisius couldn’t understand at all why he was leaving him alone like this. Even if it was because of Cairens’s divine power training. Was there really a need to distance himself from him while being this sharp?
“He is…”
Having opened his mouth, Seianes chose his words for a moment.
I’m afraid he might connect with you. I’m afraid you might leave my side. He’s someone who will harm you someday… and so on, all kinds of words flashed through his mind.
Cairens, who had said absurd things today about how he should lose what was most precious.
What would happen if Cairens deliberately approached his child? Thirteen years ago, Abrisius thought of him enough to protect him, as a close friend. Even if that reason was for Seianes’s sake, he would still recognize him as a friend.
If he approached Abrisius with impious intentions, he would probably be hurt so deeply it couldn’t be washed away. Seianes didn’t want the child’s pure heart to be wounded.
But he couldn’t just let Cairens leave carelessly either. It was just better to keep Abrisius from knowing about him as much as possible.
He just needed to stay only before him without any worries, just like now.
“I just wish you wouldn’t worry about that guy. There’s no need to. It’s not your business, Abrisius. Just don’t approach him for a while. Cairens is my problem. I’ll handle it myself.”
Trying to keep the two apart as much as possible, Cairens firmly warned Abrisius.
Whether they were friends in the past or whether Abrisius tried to save Cairens, since Cairens showed hostility toward him, there was no way he would be favorable toward Abrisius.
“…”
Meanwhile, Abrisius found those words unfamiliar.
Why on earth? Why does he care so much about Cairens? Leaving him here alone, why only Cairens…
‘Why that guy… Why does he cling only to Cairens and distance himself from me?’
An unidentifiable impulse and jealousy surged darkly from his chest. A dark red light rippled in his pupils. If their relationship had grown closer than he thought, that couldn’t be tolerated.
Absolutely not, because Seianes was always purely Abrisius’s alone.
“Seianes, what do you think of Cairens?”
Without holding back, Abrisius asked bluntly.
“What do I think? What are you talking about?”
At Abrisius’s question, Seianes tilted his head as if hearing something completely unremarkable. But he couldn’t back down like this.
“Just, you two seem close, and lately you’ve been leaving me out.”
“Close? That’s just because Cairens needs my power to build his divine power. He must learn the power to control the earth from me.”
Seianes gently appeased him as he pouted and expressed his dissatisfaction.
Seeing his face full of sulking, laughter came naturally. Like the jealousy and attachment shown toward an adult who goes out to play leaving only him behind.
It was so visible that even his heart that had grown thorny with jealousy melted away like snow. How should he persuade this child? After pondering for a moment, Seianes thought of a reason Abrisius could naturally accept.
“Abrisius, my baby. The contaminated land that Cairens and I are restoring was a place that was once the underground domain ruled by Ircadeon, so his power still remains deeply embedded.”
Ircadeon. The King of the Underworld who was Abrisius’s root. As his name was mentioned, Abrisius’s pupils widened slightly.
“That purifying power could be fatal to you. Even though it’s being suppressed by Amina’s power, if by any chance Cairens discovers that you’re from the Dark Divine Race, we can no longer be together.”
“What?”
Patting the back of the flustered Abrisius, Seianes whispered gently in his ear.
“So don’t approach him anymore. Just ignore him. You just need to stay as you are now, and continue living playing in my arms from now on.”
In truth, overcoming Amina’s power and being discovered as having underground power was an exaggeration, but if this would make Abrisius stay away from Cairens, it didn’t matter.
He didn’t need to worry about anything else. He just hoped he would stay as a child forever, just like now.
But despite Seianes’s words, Abrisius was still concerned about the relationship between the two. Even if the Seianes in the original story and the current Seianes might be different, there was no law saying he wouldn’t feel attracted to Cairens.
‘And Cairens might also like Seianes. No, maybe by now he’s already developed feelings for him.’
But if he objected more here, it seemed like it would turn into a quarrel, so Abrisius closed his mouth.
“…Okay.”
In the end, giving an answer he didn’t mean, Abrisius closed his eyes in Seianes’s embrace. Right now he just wanted to nestle quietly in his arms.
* * *
The next day. After yesterday’s sharp conversation, Seianes hadn’t come to find Cairens.
Eventually, Cairens, who had been controlling his divine power alone, stopped what he was doing for a moment and slipped out of the contaminated zone. If Seianes found out, it would obviously be called neglecting his duties. But staying only in the contaminated zone was gradually suffocating him.
It felt like only by going somewhere else to get some air would his stuffy insides be relieved.
“Still, it’s changed a lot.”
Looking at the land’s appearance, which had changed considerably from the beginning, he did feel a strange sense of accomplishment.
When Seianes first brought him to this land, it was damaged so severely that he wondered, ‘Is restoration even possible?’
The underground land where the green grass had turned black, and the trees and springs had all dried up.
He had doubted whether he could dare restore the land imbued with the power of the King of the Underworld called Ircadeon.
But facing the land that had regained its greenness like this, he realized that had been a needless worry.
Now that color had settled into the dark and murky land, he was a bit excited about how beautiful it would be once it returned to its original state.
‘I still can’t forgive Seianes. But learning this kind of power isn’t bad either.’
Thinking of his still arrogant and self-righteous appearance made his insides twist. When he thought of that, he didn’t want to learn even the Power of the Earth, let alone become a god.
Still, because this land he had restored was so beautiful, his sharp feelings eased a little. He was also happy thinking about people breathing and living on this lifeless land.
Walking aimlessly like that, Cairens finally left the contaminated land and arrived at a small field.
A small poppy colony a bit removed from Seianes’s temple.
After spending days and nights in the contaminated land, coming to a place with vitality like this made him feel relieved.
He was about to clear his head for a moment, blankly watching the white poppies swaying.
But among the numerous poppies, there was someone who caught his eye.
“Abrisius.”
“Huh…?”
Abrisius, who had been sitting boasting ebony hair sparkling under the sunlight, whipped his head around.
“Why are you here?”
At Cairens’s appearance without notice, Abrisius’s expression became sullen. He recalled Seianes’s words from a few days ago telling him not to get close to him. So he had tried not to run into him as much as possible.
‘To think he’d come suddenly like this.’
He couldn’t understand why the guy who should only be in the contaminated zone was out here.
He deliberately avoided eye contact with Cairens, who took a seat next to him.
It was just yesterday that he said Cairens, who had mastered the purifying power, might discover Abrisius’s hidden secret. But for him to come on his own feet—Abrisius, now in a difficult position, slightly pursed his lips.
