<Chapter 97>
#11. Love is a Hurricane (2)
In the late night, with surroundings thoroughly dyed in black, Angel muffled his footsteps and looked around cautiously. Although the mansion’s owner was away, this was still undeniably a Padrian family residence. From the gatekeepers to the live-in employees, everyone was Padrian people, but Angel exercised the utmost caution.
Breathing a deep sigh of relief, Angel perched on the windowsill and gestured toward the raven that was waiting for him, tilting its head this way and that. Without even whistling, the raven keenly perceived what Angel wanted, spread its wings wide, and landed on his wrist.
“That’s right. Good job.”
Speaking in a whisper lest anyone should hear, Angel praised the raven and quickly removed the note from the small container fixed to the bird’s leg. Swallowing a dry gulp, Angel checked his surroundings once more as a precaution. Then he carefully unfolded the note.
“Damn it.”
Angel cursed with more sincerity than ever before and broke into a wide smile. His upturned lips quivered. Though he knew very well what kind of person Calix was, this was too much even for him. He had no idea who had intercepted the rescue request he’d written so carefully.
It wasn’t something he’d sent hoping to receive a reply like ‘Survive well.’ Thinking about it again, Angel’s blood pressure rose, and he trembled his tightly clenched fist holding the paper. The resentment that had gradually built up was also directed at Melty who was with him.
Not long after, Angel slumped his shoulders. It would be nice if only dissatisfaction accumulated, but the brief situation explanation Calix had written kept stimulating his reason. If it weren’t for this wretched situation right now, he would have accepted Calix’s decision without any particular anger.
Intending to comfort his mind and body by looking at the gold coins he had saved up, Angel patted his chest area. And just as he was about to turn around.
“Looks like you’ve finished your business, haven’t you?”
Angel’s spine chilled at the voice whispering languidly with a faint hint of laughter. He was so startled that even his scream hid inside his throat. As soon as his belated brain recognized the owner of the voice, he quickly stuffed the paper he was holding into his mouth.
Contrary to his expectation that the person behind him would rush in immediately, grab his jaw, and make him spit out the paper, the person took no action at all. Angel’s jaw, which had been vigorously chewing, slowed down. In this unexpected situation, he slowly turned his head.
“Ah, aren’t you going to take it?”
“Take it? What need is there for that.”
The man who spoke nonchalantly took steps toward Angel. As he approached, Angel could finally see him properly in the moonlight. Except for the very small droplets of red blood splattered on his cheeks, he looked quite ordinary.
Malek’s gaze moved slowly to his right hand. Though it wasn’t particularly noticeable, there was clearly blood congealed on the blade that gleamed silver in the moonlight. Angel unconsciously hastily averted his gaze from the blade.
‘They say they’re brothers, but how can their species be so different?’
Like Melty, Malek also had the distinctive ears of a hamster beast-person on top of his head, but the impression was completely different. To be precise, all those characteristics that Angel had thought were typical of hamster beast-people when he met Melty did not match with Malek.
As Malek approached him, the smell of blood grew stronger. It had been several days since Malek Crosel had stayed at the Padrian mansion, interrogating about his brother’s whereabouts, but the smell of blood came to mind whenever Angel thought of him. If he hadn’t been thoroughly eliminating those who infiltrated or monitored the mansion, using the reason of ‘protecting his brother’s safety,’ Angel might have thought he was a murderer.
“Spit it out.”
At the cold touch that hit his chin, Angel obediently opened his mouth. The saliva-soaked, crumpled paper fell down with a thud. Glancing at it, Malek crushed the crumpled paper with the front of his shoe.
“Th-that… you really don’t need to see…”
“Hmm? What need is there for that? There’s already someone who read the contents here, right?”
After finishing his words, Malek looked up at Angel. Belatedly realizing that the object touching the end of his chin was a scabbard containing a sword, Angel smiled awkwardly.
“I’ve seen where my brother is staying, and I’ve dealt with the trash lying around. But I still haven’t seen a single hair of my brother who was supposed to be back soon.”
“Ha-haha. That’s right. You haven’t seen him.”
Watching Angel try to change the subject, Malek let out a short exclamation of “Ah.” As the scabbard beneath his chin disappeared, Angel exhaled a deep sigh of relief. Then, with a jingling sound, a heavy cloth pouch was placed on Angel’s hand. Looking at Angel who had frozen stiff, Malek smiled with curved eyes.
“I should pay for the help before I leave. Ah, of course, that’s if I can leave.”
***
Glaring at Calix who was sitting across from him with his eyes fixed only on documents, Melty placed his left leg over his right. His left foot moved up and down, expressing his discontent.
It was already the second day since they had visited Durasen Botenta’s mansion. Although Calix had said he’d contacted him beforehand, despite the potentially sudden nature of their visit, Durasen had welcomed Melty and Calix with the same gentle attitude as when they had met at the exchange meeting. If anything, it was Calix whose attitude had changed.
Melty suddenly stood up from his seat and moved to sit right next to Calix. Only then did Calix’s gaze reach Melty as he sat down close beside him.
“…What is it?”
“Do I need a reason?”
Calix cleared his throat loudly at Melty’s prim question and slowly moved his buttocks to the opposite side. Seeing him try to distance himself as much as Melty had approached, flames lit up in Melty’s eyes once again. Melty moved closer, persistently tracking him with his eyes. At the same time, Calix again slowly moved to the opposite side.
“Why are you running away?!”
“When did I run away?”
“You’re doing it right now!”
Melty raised his voice with a shout and pointed to the empty space between them, about two finger joints wide. Calix glanced at the small empty space and cleared his throat loudly again.
“It’s because I’m hot, that’s all.”
Seeing Calix confidently tell such an obvious lie, Melty’s body trembled. Calix glanced at Melty who was biting his lips firmly again and reached out his hand. After lightly tousling Melty’s hair, Calix stood up.
“…Where are you going?”
“The discussions aren’t over yet. I’m going to attend a meeting… If you’re tired, go to your room and rest.”
Melty blankly watched as Calix finished speaking and left the room, then clenched his fists tightly. The “room” Calix mentioned was undoubtedly his own room that had been assigned by Durasen.
“How can he be like this?”
As soon as Calix disappeared from sight, resentful complaints burst from Melty’s mouth. He should have noticed something was wrong from the moment Calix sat across from him in the carriage, when he had always tried to stick close before. From that day on, Calix began to distance himself from Melty. He was still as affectionate as ever when they conversed, but the sweet skinship that had been almost annoying in its persistence was suddenly cut off.
“Just look at this.”
Melty looked around the spacious, neatly arranged room. The bed was generous enough for two people to lie down comfortably. When they were first shown to their rooms, Melty had intended to share a room with Calix. They were officially a couple, and that was reason enough to use the same room. Since Calix was always complaining about not being able to be together, Melty believed he would naturally think the same.
– Still, it’s better to have separate rooms.
But Calix refused Melty’s suggestion with a smile. It was also Calix who pushed Melty, mouth agape in bewilderment, into the assigned room. His incomprehensible behavior continued afterward. In the carriage, Melty had thought perhaps Calix wasn’t feeling well, and on the first day of arrival, he thought it was due to fatigue. He tried to console himself with the thought that Calix seemed very busy, but no matter how he thought about it, it didn’t make sense.
At the Padrian mansion, the lodgings they had stayed at while traveling, and the mansion near the herb field where his parents lived, Calix had always entered Melty’s room without hesitation. However, since arriving here, Calix had not visited Melty’s assigned room even once. No matter how many reasons he tried to understand, Calix’s attitude was far too different.
“How can a person change this much?”
Melty frowned deeply and expressed his indignation. The most important thing was that he couldn’t even guess what had caused Calix’s sudden change in behavior.
“It’s more suspicious that he keeps avoiding me.”
He thought it might be because Calix was busy, but in the current situation where both the cause and solution to the drought crisis had been determined, there was no reason for Calix to be that busy. Even in situations that had been much busier than this, Calix had always been someone who stuck close to him. The more he thought about it, the more unfair it seemed, and unable to bear it any longer, Melty got up and quickly headed to where Calix was holding his meeting. He had no intention of disturbing his work, but he was determined to uncover the cause of this suspicious behavior.
Arriving at the place where Calix always held his meetings, Melty wore a puzzled expression at the sight of the half-open door. From inside, he could hear Calix’s familiar voice. Swallowing a dry gulp with an inexplicable ominous feeling, Melty crept closer to the door. Around a large, wide table, Calix was sitting unnecessarily close to a woman. In contrast to the way he kept creating distance when with Melty, Melty’s mouth fell open at the sight.
This was… undoubtedly a scene of “cheating.”
