"Why... are you angry?" Heinz asked, blinking hard. He hadn’t expected this.
Not this kind of reaction.
It was the first ti he had ever seen Florian like this—genuinely seething.
Not anxious, not afraid, not flustered.
Just angry.
And Heinz could feel it. The air between them was sharp with it, every word Florian spoke vibrating with heat.
Florian’s chest rose and fell, his voice breaking through the tension. "Your Majes—" He stopped himself, his lips curling. "No. Heinz. How... how delusional are you?"
Heinz stiffened. "Pardon? Delusional?" His brows furrowed.
’First ti he’s calling by my na willingly out of our bedroom...and it’s to call delusional?’
"I just confessed my feelings for you, and you call delusional?"
Florian’s laugh was sharp, bitter, nothing like his usual soft chuckles. "Delusional doesn’t even cover it. You don’t realize how stupid you sounded."
Heinz’s patience snapped at the edges. His jaw tightened, teeth gritting as irritation burned through him. "What... are you talking about?" His voice was low, dangerous.
But Florian only laughed harder, the sound hollow and aching.
"First of all—you love ? That’s rich. That’s funny. You wanted as your queen? To marry ?"
His voice rose, filled with fire as his eyes glistened. "How the hell did you expect that to happen when I feel NOTHING for you?"
The words struck Heinz like a blade. He froze. His breath caught in his throat. "You... feel nothing for ?" The question slipped out, softer, almost wounded despite his pride.
Florian scoffed, his expression twisting. "You’re surprised?"
For a mont he hesitated, the fire in his eyes dimming into sothing more painful. But only for a mont. His fists clenched tightly at his sides as he pressed forward.
"You’ve dragged around like a pawn, forcing into whatever you wanted, tossing into danger over and over without a shred of explanation. You never told the truth, not once. And still—I obeyed. I did everything you asked."
His voice cracked, but he pushed through it, louder now, harsher. "Even... even letting you touch . Even letting you have !"
Heinz’s breath faltered.
"And all I ever asked for—"
Florian’s voice broke off suddenly. His eyes widened, the anger in them shifting into sothing Heinz couldn’t quite read. Realization. Pain.
Slowly, step by step, Florian closed the distance between them until Heinz could see the trembling in his lips, the hurt in his stare.
"Did you even an it?" Florian whispered, his voice shaking. "When you said you’d help get my body back? When you said you’d help go ho, get back to my body—did you an any of that?"
His words cut like knives, but Florian’s next demand was worse. His voice was cold, raw, and commanding. "Tell the truth. Don’t you dare lie to ."
Heinz’s mouth parted. His chest tightened, anger and pride and frustration boiling over.
And then he said it.
"No. I did not an it." His voice was flat, cold, sharp as steel.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Heinz’s own anger was rising now, swallowing the sting of Florian’s words. He couldn’t understand why Florian was lashing out like this—why he was spitting denial in his face after everything.
After all they’d shared. After every mont, every gaze, every touch.
Was it all spite?
’Petty revenge for the way I treated him before?’
Because Heinz was sure. He was certain.
Even if it wasn’t as loud, as desperate as the original’s love—this Florian felt sothing for him.
So why was he denying it now?
Why was he looking at him like this?
"All this ti... I didn’t think I could ever—ever—dislike you more than I already did." Florian’s voice shook with fury as he ripped the veil from his head and hurled it to the marble floor.
The delicate fabric crumpled there like discarded innocence.
"Florian!" Heinz’s voice snapped, sharp with command. "You’re reacting too much for—"
"Too much? TOO MUCH?!" Florian’s voice cracked, ragged with rage. "You’ve been lying to since the very beginning! And what’s worse—you treat the original Florian as if he’s truly gone, when YOU KNEW he was still inside?! You knew, and all this ti you could’ve helped —helped him—but you didn’t! You didn’t, because—"
"HE BETRAYED !" Heinz’s roar shook the air, his voice splitting like thunder.
He couldn’t rember the last ti he had scread so violently, so desperately. But now it tore out of him, raw and ragged. "He betrayed !"
And then—silence.
Heinz froze, his breath harsh in his throat. Because for the first ti since this confrontation began, he saw sothing that rooted him to the ground.
Tears.
Florian’s tears.
The hot, trembling streaks cutting down his cheeks weren’t from fear, weren’t from weakness. They burned with sothing heavier, more unbearable.
"You..." Florian’s voice broke, but he forced the words out, each one a dagger. "...you only saw everything from your own point of view. And you ran with it. You never saw it all. You never wanted to. But I—I saw almost everything." His steps closed the space between them, slow and deliberate. Heinz didn’t move. He couldn’t.
"I saw his pain. His cries." Florian’s trembling hand balled into a fist, pressing against Heinz’s chest. "Do you even know? Did you even care?"
His voice shattered as he pressed forward, "He tried to kill the baby—your baby—multiple tis out of fear. Out of fear of raising it alone. Out of fear that it would grow up never knowing the love of its father. Its real father."
"The... real father?" Heinz’s lips parted, his voice barely a whisper, his brows pulling tight in confusion. He didn’t understand. He couldn’t.
"You didn’t finish the whole mory, Heinz," Florian snarled, grabbing Heinz by the collar and yanking him down to his height—a bold, desperate act that shook Heinz to his core.
"That baby? The baby you spat on as a product of betrayal?" His tears glistened even as his eyes blazed with fury. "It was yours. It wasn’t Lucius’. It wasn’t Lancelot’s. It wasn’t even Hendrix’s."
"No." Heinz’s breath left him in a rush. His hand flew to Florian’s wrist, gripping it tightly as though to anchor himself. His heart thundered in his chest. "No... that—" His voice cracked, breaking under its own weight. "I heard him—I heard him—"
"You heard him pretending, Heinz!" Florian scread, shaking as his grip on Heinz’s collar trembled. "Pretending that Hendrix was you because he couldn’t bring himself to tell you the truth! Because Hendrix looked like you. Because he was terrified. He called Hendrix ’Heinz’ because in his heart, it was always you."
Heinz staggered back a step, his body trembling. His throat tightened as his heart twisted into sothing unbearable.
"No. No, Florian." His voice was low, desperate, almost pleading. "Don’t say that. Don’t you dare lie to ."
Because if it was true—if everything Florian was saying was true—then everything Heinz had built to protect himself, all the hate, all the walls, all the erasure of mory... it would all collapse.
Because then it ant—
Florian’s hand slipped from his collar, his tears still streaming as he laughed bitterly, the sound more broken than amused.
"You killed the original Florian..." His voice cracked, trembling with the weight of grief and fury.
"...AND your baby."
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