Chapter 116: Dinner After Dessert.

’He looks absolutely terrified,’ Kaelis thought, holding back a chuckle. ’Poor kid.’ But he had what he needed now.

Ezra had lied about Lior’s parents.

Which meant one thing.

Lior was Ezra’s son.

As for why Ezra was hiding it, Kaelis would figure that out eventually.

’I should reassure him I won’t say anything—he’s clearly afraid I might expose Ezra’s secret. He looks like he’s about to cry,’ Kaelis thought as Lior continued to stare at him with wide eyes. ’Also… how am I supposed to snitch on that face?’

He didn’t like children, but Lior was… unexpectedly cute.

He raised a finger discreetly and made a small “shh” gesture, quietly promising he wouldn’t say anything.

Lior’s eyes widened, almost sparkling. He looked surprised, but he nodded anyway.

’I made him confirm Ezra’s lie, and now I’m keeping it to gain his trust.’

Kaelis really was a scumbag.

But what choice did he have if he wanted to get closer to Ezra and understand him better?

He had always been curious when it came to Ezra.

And Kaelis was naturally curious in general.

It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

After all, if he hadn’t been curious, Ezra wouldn’t have met Helios.

And Ezra’s life might have turned out very differently.

So Kaelis turned to look at Ezra, who was glancing between him and Lior.

“Hello, Captain,” Kaelis said, giving a casual wave.

· ─ ·✶· ─ · ·

’Something happened here,’ Ezra thought, resisting the urge to narrow his eyes at Kaelis, who had just waved at him with that same mischievous look.

As if he had done something he was proud of.

And Lior looked… grateful.

Why would Lior ever be grateful to Kaelis?

’I need to figure out what they talked about.’

“What are you doing here?” Ezra asked again, for the second time.

Kaelis smiled, casually taking a strand of his hair and tugging at it lightly. “I wanted to speak with you, but then I saw you weren’t here. I decided to have a conversation with little Lior.”

’Bullshit. Why isn’t Fizzy here then? Kaelis must have wanted privacy to talk alone with Lior, but why would he go to such lengths?’ Fizzy would never leave Lior alone.

Why did Kaelis want to be alone with Lior?

“You see, I’m quite curious about him. I wanted to get to know him a bit, you know, humor myself,” Kaelis said, tilting his head slightly.

Ezra’s eye twitched. “You’re curious about… a child?”

“Yes. I heard him talking to that aide of yours and thought he was very clever,” Kaelis said with a small chuckle. “He almost reminds me of you when you were younger. Though there’s a chance he might be smarter than your ten-year-old self.”

“So…?” Ezra asked. He didn’t know where Kaelis was going with this, but he wasn’t buying any of it.

“I’ve been looking for young protégés. It’s rare to meet a child as sharp as Lior.”

’Hah.’ Ezra almost snorted. “Didn’t you condemn me the other day when you found out I was training him to be a knight? You had quite a lot to say.”

Kaelis tensed.

It was subtle.

His eyes widened just a fraction, but Ezra caught it.

’Try to talk your way out of this one, Kaelis.’ Ezra thought.

Surprisingly, Kaelis recovered quickly, running a hand through his long silver hair. “Perhaps I just wanted to annoy you that day.”

That was his answer.

It was the stupidest answer Ezra had ever heard, which only made him more irritated. The worst part was that it made sense.

Kaelis had always annoyed him. And now Ezra knew that most of the time, it had been intentional.

So he couldn’t even argue.

Kaelis was just… like that.

Ezra took a slow breath, forcing himself to stay still. His hands twitched at his sides, and for a second, he genuinely considered grabbing Kaelis by the hair and dragging him out of the tent, or at least pressing him to confess what he had said to Lior while Ezra wasn’t there.

He wanted answers.

’I regret helping him. I regret defending him. I regret everything.’

Ezra stopped himself. He couldn’t even finish the thought properly.

’This bastard may have seemed like a basic human being to me for a moment, but…’

He was tired.

Very tired.

And he was going to make that clear.

“As much as I want to entertain you, Your Highness, with everything that happened today, I need to rest,” Ezra said, meeting Kaelis’ golden eyes. “I would like to rest. This is my first time being suspended, and the other knights are already talking about it. My pride has been wounded.”

His pride had been wounded in more ways than one.

Kaelis knew that.

The worst of it had happened in the forest.

Between the two of them.

Ezra still couldn’t believe he was standing here, speaking to him as if nothing had happened.

“You haven’t eaten anything, right?”

Ezra almost lied out of reflex, but Kaelis already knew the answer. He only asked because he knew what Ezra would say.

“…Yes.”

“I asked your aide to get us some food,” Kaelis said, smiling. “We need to talk about our suspension, and I am also hungry. Shouldn’t we be the two people talking right now? Over a meal?”

’No, because I was suspended because of you.’ Ezra bit his tongue, holding the words back.

“And come on, Ezra.”

Kaelis took a few slow steps forward.

Closer.

A little too close for comfort.

’What is he doing?’

Ezra stilled as Kaelis stopped right in front of him. Close enough that he could feel his presence, close enough that it made his chest tighten slightly.

Kaelis leaned in just a little.

“Don’t be so cold,” he murmured. “You know, before people do what we did, I usually treat them to dinner.”

Ezra’s jaw tightened.

’Is he seriously mentioning this right now?’

“We went straight to the dessert,” Kaelis continued lightly. “So now I’m hungry.”

His gaze lingered.

“And since I helped you… Don’t you owe me this?”

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