I exclaid happily the mont I saw him.
“teor!”
So, he was here too!
It had only been a single night, but it felt like ages since I last saw him.
However, teor’s expression was serious as he spoke in a stern tone.
“Leaving the temple outside of training hours is against the rules.”
“Uh?”
“You can’t leave the grounds unless it’s the weekend. Don’t pretend you didn’t know—you were seen wandering around the village yesterday, and there’s more than one witness.”
“….”
Tch.
I clicked my tongue, unable to retort. It seed teor had found out about my little excursion outside the temple during my free ti yesterday.
Not only had he caught on, but he even had witnesses lined up to confirm it. There was no point in lying; I had already told Cardinal Reuben the truth. As long as you weren’t causing trouble, most senior knights turned a blind eye to brief outings.
Of course, it could still be a problem if you got caught.
“How did you find out?” I asked, a little sheepishly.
teor’s expression didn’t change in the slightest as he replied.
“How else? When you skipped training and disappeared from the dorms, did you think I’d just sit around?”
“Huh?”
Shouldn’t he have just waited for at the temple, then? What was he doing, chasing down?
teor furrowed his brows.
“Let remind you that you’re under my mother’s protection. And my mother worries about you constantly. If you disappear without notice, I have no choice but to go looking for you.”
“….”
My lips parted slightly in surprise. I hadn’t realized it before.
Had teor really gone around the village searching for while I was in the Demon Realm?
That hadn’t even crossed my mind.
“You… were looking for ?” I asked hesitantly.
Why would you do that?
teor sighed deeply at my reaction.
“I’m not your real family, but the situation is similar, isn’t it? And for the record, it’s not like I wanted to do this.”
He ran a hand through his hair, looking tired and frustrated.
I could tell he didn’t an to take on the responsibility of finding . But from his perspective, with missing from training and unaccounted for, he must have felt obligated to act.
The thought struck that I must be a real nuisance to him. We weren’t anything to each other, yet because I was under his mother’s protection, he had to clean up after .
Perhaps what he truly wanted was for to ease his burden a little.
“So, you just want to tell you whenever I’m going sowhere, huh?”
“That’s not what I—!”
My comnt made teor bristle, but he quickly shut his mouth and shook his head.
“Well, maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Though I’m not asking you to report every little thing to . That would be ridiculous.”
“Hmm.”
I mulled over his response, understanding his point. He probably just wanted to stay sowhere predictable, at least.
Even so, it seed a bit overkill to report my every move.
After giving it so thought, I softened my gaze and spoke with a bit more kindness.
“It’s nice to know soone cares about this much.”
“Yeah, well, you should be thankful to my mother,” he replied curtly.
No, I was talking about you.
teor still wore a slight scowl.
I took a deep breath and continued in a lighter tone.
“But teor.”
“Hm?”
His gaze shifted to et mine at the change in my voice.
I began to speak as casually as I could.
“I really appreciate the concern Lady Rearwin has shown . I don’t want to worry her, either. But if sothing like this happens again, where I suddenly disappear… you don’t need to co looking for . If I’m going sowhere far, I’ll make sure to let you know beforehand. But if it’s sothing out of my control, I’d rather you just focus on your own ti. That would put at ease.”
“…Hey.”
teor looked at in disbelief, his voice carrying a hint of irritation.
I didn’t want to be the source of anyone’s worry, and I certainly couldn’t handle soone searching for if I went missing.
Especially not teor.
I didn’t think I deserved that kind of attention.
Even now, I benefited so much from the Pluto Ducal House. If he went out of his way to care for any more than this, I wouldn’t be able to bear it.
I didn’t want my existence to waste his precious ti.
To ease the awkwardness, I smiled a little and added lightly, “Anyway, thank you.”
***
A few days passed, and the weekend arrived.
The weekend was when all the trainee knights returned to their hos.
Of course, staying at the temple to continue training was an option for those who wished to, but I needed to visit the Pluto Ducal Estate to see Marchioness Rearwin.
As always, I packed my things and boarded the carriage sent by the Pluto family.
Inside the carriage, teor was already seated by the window. When he turned to look at , I greeted him casually.
“Oh, hi.”
“Mm.”
A short, expressionless reply.
teor barely acknowledged before turning back to gaze out the window.
I shrugged off the awkwardness and sat across from him.
It seed he was still upset about what I said a few days ago.
After all, I had dismissed his efforts to find by telling him not to bother looking for in the future.
What I didn’t realize at the ti was that he hadn’t slept at all that night and had spent the entire ti searching for .
Even so, I would’ve said the sa thing again, but now I felt more guilty about it.
Carefully, I broke the silence.
“Lucas told … that you spent the whole night looking for when I disappeared.”
“I told you, it’s not like I wanted to.”
“…Still, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how much trouble I caused you. I never imagined you’d go through so much.”
“It doesn’t matter. It won’t happen again, and you ca back safely. That’s all that matters.”
“….”
teor crossed his arms, leaned against the window, and closed his eyes, signaling he didn’t want to talk anymore.
I rolled my eyes.
‘Wow, he’s really sulking. What should I do?’
‘…Okay.’
Even with Gabriella’s agreent, I couldn’t shake my concern.
How was I supposed to deal with this awkward tension when we had to see each other all the ti?
For a mont, I worried about the days ahead, but then I shook my head.
‘Forget it. Ti will smooth things over.’
At the very least, I had been honest about my feelings. Going forward, teor would probably stop fussing over so much.
That would make things easier for both of us.
With that thought, I leaned back against the seat and closed my eyes. The constellation chat continued to pop up.
‘…?’
What’s this about?
Why are they dragging each other around?
Confused, I thought about it briefly before dismissing the chatter and sinking further into the seat.
The fatigue from the past few days was catching up to , and I soon drifted off to sleep.
I wasn’t sure how much ti had passed when I was woken up.
“Wake up, Crescent. We’ve arrived.”
“Huh? Oh, okay.”
Already?
It felt like I’d barely slept, but we had arrived at the ducal estate.
I quickly got up from my seat. teor had already jumped out of the carriage and was walking ahead.
As we approached the estate’s grand porch, Marchioness Rearwin burst out the front door. The mont she saw , her eyes widened in shock.
“Oh my heavens, Centi!”
“Marchioness! Hello!”
I greeted her brightly, but she didn’t seem to have the composure to respond properly.
Rushing over to , she frantically examined from head to toe, her voice rising in alarm.
“Are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you? I’ve been holding myself back from running straight to you! Twice—twice in the Demon Realm! Can you believe it? My nerves were completely shot! Damn those wretched demons!”
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