Seeing the power awakened from its long slumber flowing through Abrisius’s entire body, Ircadeon laughed.
Yes, this is how my son should be.
Like himself, consumed by desire in everything, Abrisius was the same. Though the desired form and purpose might be different, the desperate desires they both held needed each other.
“What will you do now?”
“……That’s a problem I’ll handle myself.”
The sensation that seeped into his body was transmitted as is. Even though his power as an underground divine being had been opened, the surface was still quiet.
None of the surface gods had yet sensed the presence of an underground god. It must be because Amina’s power that had seeped into his body together was still blocking the underground energy.
Quietly clenching and unclenching his hand, Abrisius felt the power moving vividly within him.
Ircadeon, watching that sight with satisfaction, looked up at the sky. It would soon be time for the sun to rise.
“Listen well, Abrisius. You will surely come to find me. When that time comes, call my name from this place.”
“That day isn’t far off.”
The underground gate slowly opened. Until just before the light darker than the night sky swallowed Ircadeon, he didn’t lose his smile.
“Yes, I hope that day comes quickly.”
Leaving those words behind, Ircadeon suddenly disappeared into the underworld.
As soon as he disappeared, the darkness lifted, and sunlight shone brightly, soaking the surface. The lives that had been sleeping awoke again and released their energy.
“I should go to Seianes, right?”
From somewhere, two crows began to cry, “Caw!” Abrisius wasn’t unaware that it was Lily’s voice.
Lily, who would support anything if Abrisius was happy. But this time her crying echoed pitifully.
* * *
From morning, a gentle breeze tickled Seianes’s hair.
After yesterday’s stormy time passed, the place Seianes headed to was the temple’s prayer room.
The only place in this temple that no one but Seianes himself had touched that had been touched by others’ hands.
As it was a place that heard the wishes of countless people, many who revered him voluntarily came forward to clean it. There was even a legend that if they did so, Seianes would highly value their good deed and grant their wishes. Now it was also a kind of pre-prayer ritual for people who came here.
“Huuu…….”
And Seianes was here too.
It felt strange as if he was praying to himself, but still, this tranquil place was no different from his only sanctuary.
All last night he had been lost in deep thought here.
How should he deal with Cairens? How should he soothe Abrisius? The former was a problem, but the latter was an even more difficult problem.
Because he was a child he loved more than anyone, he didn’t want Abrisius to be hurt. He wanted to soothe the child’s heart so he wouldn’t be hurt as much as possible, but he was afraid even that might be poison.
‘How can I explain that the feelings you hold are wrong?’
A child he had raised like his own from when he was a newborn baby until now.
But that child was approaching him saying he loved him romantically. Though Seianes loved Abrisius more terribly than anyone, he couldn’t accept those feelings.
Because he had never once thought of Abrisius in that way.
‘He’s still young, he doesn’t know. He’s never experienced anyone other than me, that child.’
Until now, Abrisius had no experience encountering others besides Seianes. Thirteen years ago, he was briefly away from his side, but he was young then, and the only one he formed a bond with while growing up was Seianes, so it was natural that he was particularly attached to him.
The best method would be to gain experience by meeting someone other than Seianes. By meeting others and learning through various experiences, he would realize how futile the emotions he felt were.
To recommend that, there was a concern that Abrisius’s origins might be discovered. Also, if he suddenly met others, he might become shy or only develop a sense of rebellion. Above all, imagining Abrisius laughing with others, leaving him behind, didn’t feel good.
Yes, like Cairens.
That presumptuous bastard who dared to casually call Abrisius’s name in front of him and declared he would get close to him.
[I am a hero. And just as I must help you according to fate regardless of what I think of you, you shouldn’t interfere with whatever I do either.]
Just briefly recalling last night’s conversation was enough to make anger surge so much that blood rushed to his head.
The only reason he could survive after saying such things in front of him was purely because he was the person the surface gods needed most.
But that wasn’t a reason for him to act as he pleased.
‘……Should I send him far away like this?’
When he was quietly lost in thought before the altar…….
“Wak—!”
A warm temperature and a mischievous voice came from behind.
“Abrisius?”
Seianes, who instantly recognized the owner of that mischievous voice, reacted. Abrisius, who embraced him from behind, wiggled the arms wrapped around his waist.
“Hehe, right. It’s me, Abrisius. What are you doing there all pathetically alone? Aren’t you working today? If you have nothing to do, let’s play with me.”
Abrisius, who hugged Seianes’s abdomen even tighter, grinned widely.
“……What’s this all of a sudden?”
Had he forgotten yesterday’s events, or was he leisurely suggesting they play? Despite Seianes’s flustered expression, Abrisius acted even more boldly.
Before Seianes could move his body, Abrisius moved first. With a swish, he turned his body toward Seianes. Their gazes met. At the breath felt at a distance where their lips might or might not touch, Seianes’s heart pounded.
‘Same as yesterday.’
The image of Abrisius terribly devouring his lips came to mind. The thought ‘This shouldn’t happen’ came strongly as he turned his head.
Abrisius’s gaze, as if thoroughly examining his innermost thoughts, swept over Seianes.
“You know. Seianes, are you bothered by yesterday’s events?”
“Hm?”
“From what I see, Seianes likes me too…….”
No matter how much he tried to avoid it, Abrisius didn’t take his gaze off Seianes with persistent tenacity.
“What are you talking about?”
Before he could hear an answer, a soft sensation was layered on Seianes’s lips. The event happened so instantaneously that Seianes couldn’t offer any resistance. The short kiss, with yesterday’s clumsiness completely gone, ended.
“You, what are you doing……!”
“No matter what you do, I can’t give up my feelings for you.”
“Just because you do this doesn’t mean I’ll accept you.”
“I know that too. But that doesn’t matter at all anymore.”
Soon he would fall to the underworld with him. Even if he said he didn’t want to, Abrisius’s resolve, already devoured by desire, was firm. So he no longer needed to care about Seianes’s heart that thought of him like a child.
He stroked Seianes’s trembling face. But Abrisius knew now. The power that the underground lineage inherited from Ircadeon possessed was telling him Seianes’s true feelings.
“You love me.”
The moment he grasped Seianes’s true feelings, he felt as if he was being compensated all at once for the heart that had been anxious alone.
“You said you’d love me no matter what I did. Those words were real.”
Abrisius’s eyes, exhaling in admiration intoxicated with a sense of victory, drew a gentle curve toward Seianes. Seianes still couldn’t understand this Abrisius.
He believed without doubt that his love was a parent’s love toward their child. Rather, the Abrisius he was facing now didn’t seem like the one he knew, to the point of being frightening.
Where did that pure child go?
“Stop!”
Finally, Seianes pulled off Abrisius, who had been clinging closely to his side.
However, as if remembering the ankle he had twisted yesterday, his touch in pulling Abrisius off was very careful.
“Just because you do that doesn’t mean there’s anything you can do. You’re my only child whom I’ve raised for years. If you act this way…… what are you telling me to do?”
A cry. A plea. Seianes shouted, appealing with every emotion he could muster. Even if it meant he would be hurt like this, he hoped he would please come to his senses.
But contrary to his wishes, none of Seianes’s words reached Abrisius.
“While expressing with your whole body that you love me.”
Abrisius, whose underground power had been opened, could see it.
Right after that power opened its eyes, a strange resonance was felt within Abrisius. And when he followed that path, Seianes was there. Love that even he hadn’t noticed was whispering to Abrisius. That this was desire directed toward him, so please look at him quickly.
‘So this is what the underground power was.’
The power to know the other’s heart. It felt like being compensated for the past days when he had been anxious alone. If he had known it would be like this, he would have approached sooner.
Seeing his love for him, hidden tightly deep in Seianes’s heart. It felt like being fully compensated for all the sadness of the past.
But Seianes still wasn’t aware of those emotions.
Then there’s no choice.
‘I’ll just have to awaken that love.’
Slowly, Abrisius closed his eyes. Seianes’s anxiety and worry. And Cairens. Carefully scanning through the thoughts occurring within Seianes, Abrisius smiled slyly.
