The following week...

Remis darted through the dormitory halls, his steps swift and his eyes focused as he trained in on the door to his room. He heard the quick clacking of footsteps behind him, followed by a clear, resonant voice yelling for him to stop and just face him. His mind was in too much disarray and his body was too jumbled up for him to cast a spell to help him, and his lungs had long since started hurting from the lengthened period of exertion, yet he didn't dare to stop.

He finally reached the oak door and hurriedly fumbled around to unlock it, grabbing the handle and twisting it so forcefully that he swore it almost flew off. Then, with a quick swerve through the open door, he slammed it shut and instantaneously collapsed onto the floor, his chest rising and falling as he gulped in air. "I'm safe..." he wheezed out, his tired expression giving way to a resigned yet triumphant smile.

Just as he felt his heat slowing, his tired and flushed face regaining its usual complexion, the door swung open.

Shit. I forgot to lock it, Remis swore inwardly and wanted to smack his forehead.

"Remis... please, can you please... just stop running from me?" A crisp voice. From the floor, Remis saw flashes of that familiar platinum blonde hair and emerald green eyes. His mind subconsciously recalled that moment in the infirmary and his face immediately twisted inscrutably.

Just as his muscle twitched and he prepared to make a break for it through the prince's legs, Lucius grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him into his arms. His thick chest was heaving from exertion, his face only slightly worn out as if he had just taken a light jog. Remis' heart soured at his unaffected figure, starting to struggle in the prince's embrace.

"You– I'll call workplace harassment on you! Let go of me–" Remis grunted as he tried to unfurl himself from the thick arms enveloping him like a little teddy bear.

Lucius' eyes furrowed, his expression quickly turning dark as Remis continued to struggle. "I'm the crown prince. You can't threaten me so stop struggling."

Remis' face twisted with vexation in response, but he knew that it was no use. He quieted down and instead tried a different tactic: acting as a dead, unresponsive human teddy bear. Seeing the black head of hair quieting down, Lucius' eyes had a trace of appeasement in them. He silently loosened his hold by just a bit and carefully rested his chin on the crown of Remis' hair, enjoying the sensation of silky hair brushing his skin from all sides. Remis' entire expression was deadpan, his heart resigned as he felt the pressure on the top of his head.

"Now..." Lucius muttered, his chest rumbling as a result of the deep voice, "..could you please explain why you're avoiding me?"

----

A few hours ago...

"You're fully healed, my lord. Congratulations." A healer, dressed in a pure white coat, smiled and bowed. Remis rubbed his eyes sleepily. It was early morning and he was finally released from the infirmary, his wound perfectly healed without a scar by the royal healers. It was abnormal to be woken up by doctors to release the patient, but Remis had specifically requested for them to do it.

Every day following the prince's confession, Remis had been playing dead. He would pretend to sleep from morning to night, then drowsily fall into real slumber just after midnight, repeating the cycle, all to avoid facing Lucius. He couldn't be "awake" if the capture targets weren't even there, either, since the doctors would quickly notify their masters and the capture targets would come rushing back.

So Remis decided he would rather be dismissed early in the morning and have a day to himself, completely avoiding any interaction with any capture targets.

After the doctors released him, Remis scurried to his dormitory room, his slippers squeaking against the clean and bright floors as his pajamas fluttered behind him. He looked both sides before facing the door and undoing the magic lock, bursting in and rushing to his bedroom.

He then was immediately faced with a stark-naked Reask.

The air turned absolutely still.

Frankly, Remis was speechless. Perhaps the days of solitude he served when pretending to be asleep the previous days had resetted his consciousness to its factory settings. He completely forgot he was in an otome game with ikemen more handsome and beautiful than one could imagine.

Remis' fair face immediately turned bright red and his eyes hastily jumped away, scanning the walls as if there were diamonds etched onto each and every tile.

Reask stood motionless in the heart of the living room. His body, like a doll carved from the essence of astonishment, looked like a Greek statue, just as naked as those in the museums. In that frozen moment, the very pulse of existence held its breath, captivated by the silent drama unfolding in the depths of Reask's stunned mind. It was only when Remis started screeching like a hyena on fire that Reask snapped out of his daze. His entire body seemed to be sprayed red as a flush painted him from head to toe.

"I-I–" Reask flusteredly stuttered, fumbling around as his eyes seemed to swirl.

"No, don't talk to me! Don't talk, don't talk, don't talk! I don't wanna hear it!" Remis said between his screams. Now, he wasn't confused or embarrassed, just angry. He didn't know exactly why, perhaps it was because he had been telling himself for the past ten years, ever since he met those damned ikemen, that he would work out but didn't. Or maybe, it was because while he was trapped in that damned infirmary, pretending to be asleep for the past week—worried that he would be stripped down to his underwear and that his virginity would be taken—Reask was standing buck naked without a care in the world.

"C-calm down..." Reask tried, his voice soft as he approached with his hands up in the air. But instead of soothing Remis, it only served to aggravate him more, especially when his eyes were inevitably drawn downward and he saw the long stick swaying side to side as Reask slowly approached.

By the time Reask made it to the fuming youth, it was already too late. He had completely snapped. "Calm down, my ass! You bitch, I'll castrate you!"

At that very moment, Remis lifted his arm, his hand opened for a slap. Then, with the same amount of brainlessness, his hand viciously swung down, slapping the innocent pole-like organ like a piñata.

With nothing but a slightly aching hand and a new unwanted memory, Remis stormed out of the room right there and then.

He seeked refuge in the academy's library. Thankfully, Zier—or Theodore—was away, still searching for the culprit behind the staged attack. He no longer wanted to see his old reading friend in the library, not after he revealed his identity to him as the Audovár dukedom's heir.

The old floorboards creaked under him as Remis glided to the magic section of the second floor of the library, in a complicated mood. He was unable to control his train of thought as his mind jumped from ikemen to ikemen, eventually landing on Cyrus. The still-fresh memory of that kiss in the garden jumped out at him as soon as he recalled the fake angel's face.

Remis' mood grew more and more sour by the second. His hands clenched as he slid into one of the aisles, his eyes flitting over the titles impatiently. He just wanted to fill his mind up with something else, anything else, at that point, so he started shoveling thick, hefty tomes into his arms, and rushing away to a private spot.

The Evolution of Monster: 5th Edition. The book sagged in his arms, its pages dusty and yellowed with age. An uncontrollable half-smile appeared on his expression as he opened the book and that familiar bibliosmia smell hit him.

----

Hours passed, and the black-haired youth's eyes never strayed from the page, jumping over the ink with glee as his preoccupied mind digested the text. The dimmed window beside him let a halo of soft midday light hit his skin, and the warmth seemed to envelop his shape, lulling him into a content daze.

He didn't even notice the resounding footsteps slowly approaching his corner.

Lucius walked single mindedly, his hands balled so tightly that his knuckles were paper white. Early morning he visited the infirmary but found Remis gone, his usually calm body that rose and fell in slumber gone, from the white bed. His heart almost jumped out of his chest at that moment. An uncontrollable ear-to-ear beam bloomed on his expression and he ran to the first place he could think he could be.

Yet, when he reached the black-haired youth's dormitory door, his face flushed from exertion, no one was there. He felt his hands itching impatiently, restlessly, as he yearned to see the revitalitized face of his love again. He checked the training grounds, the magical artifact room, the garden he often frequented, yet nothing. His mind quickly began spiraling with conspiracy theories and his impatience grew.

Then he remembered, the library. His feet moved almost automatically. He just needed to see him—a tuft of his hair, a glimpse of his eyes—and he would be happy.

His eyes flitted from book to book, from shelf to shelf, until it landed on a hint of a hand like jade. His breath must have stopped at that moment and he felt an indescribable sense of relief before a wave of jittery apprehension quickly followed.

Has he ever actually spoken to Remis since his silent confession?

Scratch that, has he ever been conscious of Remis the same way as he felt now?

He gulped but couldn't restrain himself anymore, speeding towards the entranced boy like a bullet train. He grabbed his shoulders and pulled him in for a tight embrace. "I-I'm glad you're safe." He said gruffly in contrast to his actions.

Remis practically jumped when he felt a sudden touch. He snapped out of his daze and quickly looked around, surveying the situation before turning his attention to the assaulter in question. From the side, he couldn't see the man's face, but he could swiftly spot the head of shining blonde hair rustling next to him.

Aw, shit. Remis thought.

The tsundere's here.