"Hmm." Florian tapped the quill against the edge of the parchnt, his brows furrowed in deep thought. The words weren’t coming easily, and his mind kept circling back to the conversation he’d had with Cashew just monts ago.
As expected, his loyal servant had been utterly floored by what he said.
"Pardon...you don’t love His Majesty anymore?" Cashew’s voice trembled, his wide purple eyes filled with disbelief. "But..."
’Ti to use the accident card again.’ Florian let out a quiet sigh, channeling every ounce of drama club experience he’d accumulated over the years. He placed a hand dramatically over his heart, tilting his head just enough to look like he was carrying the weight of unrequited love.
"After my accident from trying to get His Majesty’s attention..." he began, his voice low and sorrowful.
’Thank you, Scarlett, for bringing that up earlier, or I wouldn’t have rembered to use it.’
"I realized..." Florian paused, glancing upward for maximum theatrical effect. "I realized that he will never truly love back." He forced a tear to slide down his cheek, letting it glisten in the soft light of the room.
Cashew gasped audibly, his hands flying to his mouth. "Y-Your Highness!" Without hesitation, he grabbed a handkerchief from his pocket and rushed to Florian’s side, gently dabbing at the tear with such care that it nearly made Florian laugh. "Please... please don’t cry..."
Grasping the handkerchief, Florian dabbed at his eyes, biting back a grin as pride swelled in his chest. ’Damn, I’m good at this. Soone should’ve cast in a drama series.’
"Thank you, Cashew," Florian murmured, his voice quivering as he pushed the mont to its emotional peak. He let out a deep, dramatic sigh before continuing, "His Majesty announced that he intends to look for a wife... a wife."
He placed extra emphasis on the word, letting it linger as though it physically pained him to say it. "I realized... I never stood a chance."
"That’s..." Cashew faltered, his expression heartbreakingly sympathetic.
"We both know it’s true, Cashew," Florian interrupted, his voice low but steady. "But don’t worry. I have a new goal now." He t Cashew’s gaze, his tone suddenly resolute. "I’m hoping you’ll still help and remain by my side to achieve it."
Cashew’s eyes widened, shimring with unshed tears. Without hesitation, he knelt beside Florian’s chair, his small hands clasped tightly in front of him. "O-Of course, Your Highness! I’ll do anything for you! You can leave everything to !"
The shift in Florian’s deanor was imdiate. He straightened his back, his dramatic facade slipping into sothing more serious. His gaze softened as he looked down at the boy.
"I want to go ho."
The conversation replayed in Florian’s mind as he tapped the quill once more, the ink pooling slightly at the edge of the parchnt. For Cashew, his vague wording probably made it seem like he simply wanted to return to his kingdom.
After all, it made sense for Florian to miss his holand, especially with the humiliation he faced daily in Concordia.
But for Florian—Aden—the aning was far deeper. He didn’t just want to return to Florian’s kingdom. He wanted to find a way to return to his world, to his old life, to his sister, Kaz.
’So kind of divine interference or magic got into this ss,’ Florian thought, his jaw tightening. ’There has to be a way out of it.’
This world wasn’t ordinary; it was filled with magic, powerful artifacts, and gods who ddled in human lives. The sa gods who granted Heinz the power to overthrow his father and conquer other kingdoms. Surely, sowhere in this world, there had to be a way to reverse whatever had brought him here.
But before he could even begin to think about his true ho, he had to focus on the more imdiate problem: escaping the plot of this ridiculous novel.
As long as he stayed in Concordia—under Heinz’s nose and within the reach of the other male leads—he was constantly at risk of being dragged deeper into the narrative. And while he wasn’t naïve enough to think his plan was foolproof, he knew his first step had to be returning to Florian’s kingdom.
Florian set the quill down, leaning back in his chair as he rubbed his temples. "First, get sent ho to Floramatria," he muttered under his breath. "Then figure out how to get out of this ss for good."
The thought of freedom, however distant, gave him a flicker of hope.
’Even if the odds are slim, I’ll take my chances. There’s no way I’m dying again, and if I do end up surviving I’m not spending the rest of my life as part of a harem.’
Florian drumd his fingers against the edge of the desk, staring at the blank parchnt before him. "Alright," he muttered, picking up the quill again. "Step one: avoid any romance with Lucius and Lancelot."
He carefully wrote the words in bold strokes at the top of the list, his handwriting surprisingly elegant for soone whose nerves were currently shot. His lips pressed into a thin line as he underlined the phrase twice for good asure.
’At least I’ve already started working on this,’ he thought, reflecting on his earlier interactions with Lucius. Sure, there had been so awkward monts—okay, maybe a lot of awkward monts—but he had successfully drawn a line in the sand. For now.
The key was maintaining that distance and making sure he didn’t accidentally fall back into old habits that Florian—the original one—had established.
’Lucius seems wary, but it’s manageable. One down, one to go,’ Florian thought grimly as he tapped the quill against his chin.
Lancelot, however, was a different story. He didn’t even know where to begin with him because— Oh no.
Florian froze, his quill hovering mid-air as a sudden realization struck him like a bolt of lightning. His eyes widened as mories of the novel flooded back into his mind.
’Lancelot falls for Florian during the kidnapping of the harem!’
He dropped the quill, his hand instinctively going to his temple as he leaned back in his chair. "How could I forget sothing so important again?" he whispered, dread sinking into the pit of his stomach.
The harem kidnapping arc was one of the first pivotal monts in Kaz’s story. Florian, along with the princesses, had been abducted by a rogue faction opposing Heinz’s rule. In the novel, it was a harrowing ordeal that forced the harem mbers to rely on one another for survival.
And it was during this event that Lancelot—one of the kingdom’s most skilled knights—was sent to rescue them. Florian, in his typical lodramatic fashion, had been utterly helpless, requiring Lancelot to step in and save him on more than one occasion.
’After the kidnapping, Lancelot volunteers to be Florian’s bodyguard.’ Florian pressed his hands against his temples, the pieces of the narrative clicking into place.
It was during their ti together as knight and charge that Lancelot began falling for Florian. And, to make matters worse, Lucius was always lingering in the background by that point in the story, having already succumbed to Florian’s relentless advances.
But that wasn’t even the worst part.
’Florian got molested during the kidnapping.’
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