Looking at Matthew, who showed no intention whatsoever of giving him any pants, Riu made an awkward face. Thankfully, the shirt came down below his thighs, but seeing that Matthew would not even give him underwear, Riu pulled the hem further between his thighs.
“Um…, even so, shouldn’t I at least tell my father myself? I stayed out without a word, so by now he must be very worried…”
“I told you. Do not worry.”
“Then, did you tell your family?”
“No, I’ll tell them once you’ve sorted out your thoughts.”
It had been a question asked on the assumption that of course he would have told them. But at the unexpected answer, an inexplicable surge rose in Riu’s chest.
He bit his lip with the regretful thought that if only he had been given a little more time…
“You could have given me just a little more time too… If that had happened, then to my father…”
“If that’s what you’re worried about, you don’t have to be. I withdrew that letter earlier after hearing what you said.”
At the words that he had withdrawn the letter, Riu let out a sigh of relief. Even so, some emotion he could not understand welled up in one corner of his chest. It was a deflated feeling, and yet also a disappointed one.
Thinking that it really seemed like they would just end up dating and nothing more, Riu fiddled with the hem of his shirt.
“How long do I have to stay here?”
“Well, I suppose that depends on what you do. At the very least, I’m thinking a month.”
At the word month, Riu’s eyes opened wide. This was little different from forced confinement.
“That can’t happen. The imperial family had decided to sponsor my art activities this time…”
“Then you can paint here. And there’ll be no need to secretly paint with Albert like yesterday.”
“…Matthew.”
Whatever he said, it seemed like Matthew had no intention of letting him take even a single step outside this place.
At first, he had thought Matthew was merely angry and reacting like this temporarily. He had thought, would he really go this far, that he would just keep him for a little while and then let him go.
But at the span of a month, Riu felt as though his mind had gone completely blank.
“Don’t do this. You weren’t originally this kind of person…”
“Then what kind of person am I, to you?”
He asked with a soft smile. As if the person Riu had known until now had all been false, he erased his expression in an instant and stroked Riu’s cheek.
“Tell me. What kind of person do you think I am?”
His voice was gentle, but the look he was sending was chilling beyond words. Faced with a sight so eerie it went beyond that into madness, Riu’s lips began to tremble.
“Is this because of Albert? If it’s because of that, I won’t see him again. I really won’t.”
Even at the pitiful look in his eyes, he did not show the slightest reaction. Seeing him remain unshaken as though he were a person with no emotions to begin with, Riu slowly knelt in front of him.
“Matthew… I was wrong …hng, if there’s anything you want, I’ll do it all. I’ll do everything… so don’t do this…”
In the end, the tears he had held back spilled down his cheeks in heavy drops.
Just where had things gone wrong?
Along with the emotions he had built up all this time, tears burst out as if exploding.
“Riu.”
Along with that affectionate voice, he dropped to one knee and met his gaze. Because he kept being unable to see what expression he was making, Riu tried to wipe his tears away. But gripping his arm so he could not, he said,
“You’ve got it wrong. You already threw away your chance, didn’t you?”
“…Hng.”
“So even if you regret it now, it’s no use. I’ve already decided to do this.”
His gloomy voice filled the room.
He did not know how much he cried or begged. Riu realized that he had fainted.
Then, when he came to his senses, at the voices he heard, Riu swallowed his breath and pretended to be asleep.
“So.”
“After checking, I heard his condition really isn’t good.”
“That would be so. He has a proud personality, and on top of that he was rejected.”
At their conversation, one person came to Riu’s mind. For some reason, it seemed they were talking about René, so Riu held his breath and listened.
“Make sure it gets settled as soon as possible. And be careful that it doesn’t reach his ears for the time being.”
“Yes, understood.”
“Did you find out who that bastard was that day?”
“I’m not certain, but judging from the circumstances so far, we suspect it may be Sehironz.”
“Sehironz?”
Perhaps it was a name he had never expected, because Matthew clicked his tongue as if dumbfounded. But soon, with an interested expression, he crooked his lips up slantwise.
“Let a little information leak on that too. At times like this, shock treatment works faster.”
Having heard the two of them, Riu covered his mouth as it was. If all of this was true, then René was currently in great pain because he had been rejected by Matthew, and the one who had caused an incident with René at the masquerade that opened again was Sehironz.
As for why, for what reason, he had attended the masquerade taking Matthew’s appearance, it was as obvious as fire, but Riu had no room to think about that right now.
Thinking that all of this had happened because of him, an unidentifiable guilt came over him.
Before he knew it, a week had passed since he began living here. In that time, what Riu had come to feel was that no matter how much he cried and clung, nothing changed.
Eating every day, and spending time in his arms again and again. Such a simple life continued to the point that he wondered if he was really going to become a fool. Riu blinked vacantly.
“Haah…”
In the end, feeling a long, suffocating frustration, Riu stepped out onto the terrace attached to the room and looked outside.
Unlike when he had first visited this place, the leaves had now turned red and yellow in a way that truly suited early autumn.
“Time really passes fast…”
As though he had heard the words Riu let slip, Matthew, who had come over before he knew it, draped a blanket over his shoulders.
“You’ll catch cold.”
Since all he had on was just a single shirt, Riu felt grateful for his kindness. Even if the one who had made him like this was Matthew himself…
“…I want to go home.”
At an action of his that he truly could not bring himself to hate, Riu recited the words out of habit. But Matthew remained expressionless from start to finish, acting as though he had not heard a thing.
“You know, Matthew…”
As if it had become familiar, Riu called Matthew’s name. Somehow, the inside of his mouth felt rough, as though he were chewing grains of sand.
“Little by little now, I think you’re starting to scare me.”
His obsession was frightening enough to make Riu feel that he might really grow old and die in this place. At that indescribable feeling, Riu lowered his eyes tightly shut and his eyelids trembled.
If running away were the kind of thing he could do simply because he wanted to, he would have wanted to flee immediately. But even just the number of guard knights visible below the terrace looked to be well over six. It seemed impossible to do anything alone, and at the sight of that number, Riu bit down hard on his lip.
“What exactly is our relationship right now?”
To call them people who were dating felt wrong already in terms of the way things had gone, but to dismiss it as simple attraction also felt vague. At the words he had let fall bluntly, Matthew rubbed at his chin and said,
“A relationship where we like each other.”
At that, Riu felt his heart drop heavily. As Matthew said, it was certainly true that they were two people who were attracted to each other. But that had been before Matthew confined him here.
As things stood now, Matthew, who was holding him shut away like this, did not feel so good to him.
Honestly, by now he was getting worn out. At first he had refused and even pushed him away, but in the end Riu chose to go along with him. It was because he thought that if he did, Matthew might let him out sooner. But Matthew did no such thing.
In despair, Riu pulled the blanket he was holding more deeply into his arms and stared blankly into the air.
“Do you want to go home?”
“You’re not going to let me go anyway.”
At the powerless words that slipped out, Matthew lightly patted Riu’s shoulder, then suddenly lifted him up and sat him on the terrace railing. It was such a precarious angle that it would not have been strange if he fell at once.
Matthew grabbed the thigh visible between the opening of Riu’s clothes.
“I told you. Once our relationship is sorted out, I’ll let you go.”
“My father must be very worried. This is the first time I haven’t contacted him for this long…”
“He’ll be too busy to have time for that. By now, he probably hasn’t even been able to go home.”
Riu looked at him as though asking how he could possibly be so sure of that, but Matthew, with a look asking why he was questioning the obvious, rubbed with his finger at the sore spot where he had bitten and made it worse.
“Even if you want to go home, endure it. It’s not as if I said I’d never send you back at all.”
Seeing him, who gave away nothing of what he was thinking, Riu felt troubled.
“Matthew, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but first, wouldn’t everything be resolved if I met René…?”
By now, René might be searching for him desperately. Even if the reason was merely because he needed someone to talk to.
“Then I suppose you can send a letter. Right in front of me while I watch.”
“In front of you…?”
He had never imagined that he would even meddle to that extent. Riu stammered in embarrassment, but Matthew buried his face against him and gnawed at him with the tips of his teeth.
“If not, choosing not to do it is a good method too. I’m someone who gets jealous over even the smallest things.”
That place was already sore to begin with. With him stimulating it for days, not only had it not calmed down, it felt like later there would probably be a small scar left.
“Hng…!”
When Riu let out a moan at the pain, he called his name.
“Riu.”
“…”
“Don’t do anything. Just stay by my side like you are now. Other than that, there’s nothing I want from you.”
Matthew’s soft, even voice came faintly along his thigh. It felt as though he were whispering right by his ear.
“I’m sorry, Matthew…”
At Riu’s words, Matthew’s face hardened. But Riu could not face Matthew without properly sorting out his relationship with René.
Even if liking someone was not something he could control at will, at the very least he did not want to live without a conscience.
Even if the end of this relationship meant pushing aside what existed between him and René, he wanted to be honest.
He felt that if he did that, perhaps his selfish heart could be forgiven even a little. Because the two of them were a pair set in place in the original work.
Suppressing the guilt rising within him for a moment, Riu gave his body over to what Matthew was doing… while making up his mind that, no matter what, he would definitely escape from here…….
Because he had been tormented by him all night, his whole body hurt. He had thought he might soon get used to it. But as expected, an unwanted relationship only exhausted Riu.
“I’m going out for a while. I’ll definitely be back before sunset.”
“Okay. Be careful.”
Just as he had hinted the previous night, Matthew was in the middle of getting ready to go out. At the unusually neat way he was dressed, Riu stared blankly for a moment.
Matthew truly had a perfect appearance, fitting for the main gong of this world. A face handsome enough to make even another man gape, and broad, sturdy shoulders. The aura he gave off when expressionless felt so strong that it seemed untouchable.
“But Matthew… since you won’t even be here, isn’t this kind of outfit a bit much?”
“Give me some clothes before you go”, Riu said, softening his eyes as plaintively as he could.
At the very least, he wished he would give him underwear.
“If you kiss me.”
Before he could even say, I’ll think about it, Riu wrapped his arms around Matthew’s neck. With the sole determination of getting to wear underwear, he kissed Matthew on the lips.
Because they were rubbed and licked every day, the inside of his mouth stung. Realizing that this was almost an angle at which kissing would be difficult, Matthew wrapped an arm around Riu’s waist and set him down on top of the table.
“You’re passionate today. It looks quite nice.”
Tilting his body slightly sideways, he continued the kiss.
His tongue, moving like some living thing with a will of its own, had already occupied the inside of Riu’s mouth.
At the fingertips moving as though even this would not satisfy him, Riu lightly pushed him away and knocked his forehead against his.
“Yesterday too… we did a lot.”
Riu spoke while swallowing down his ragged breaths as best he could. His cheeks, flushed along with it, had turned red like a rosy cosmos flower, making the mood all the more alluring.
Whether he knew that or not. Looking at Riu, who only told him to endure it no matter what, Matthew let out a hollow laugh.
“Fine, I’ll stop here for now. You must have pushed yourself too hard yesterday.”
“Then… you’ll give me underwear, right?”
“I’ll give you pants too. While I’m away, I don’t much like the thought of other bastards looking at your body and having lewd thoughts.”
Then you should have given them to me earlier, was what he wanted to add, but he did not want to sour Matthew’s mood. No matter how you looked at it, he seemed to draw a very clear distinction between when he was present and when he was not.
Matthew took out pants and underwear from somewhere and held them out to Riu. In case he changed his mind, Riu hurriedly put the clothes on at once, right there.
“Don’t cause trouble, and wait here quietly.”
“Am I a child or something?”
With a slightly sullen face, Riu pushed his lips out. Hearing it, he really felt as if he had become a child. Then, seeing the way Matthew was dressed, Riu called his name.
“Wait a moment, Matthew…”
Perhaps it had become crooked during the kiss a moment ago, because his cravat caught his eye. Riu quickly straightened the cravat and tied it for him, then smiled brightly.
“Have a safe trip.”
“From next time on, I shouldn’t tie it myself.”
“Hm?”
“That way, you’ll tie it for me every single day.”
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