CHAPTER 63……………….
Linaria’s pale, slender hand slipped the black glove off the hand she was holding.
Then she looked at Kaas’s palm.
“How’s your hand?”
That day when they had gone to Noah like thieves to secretly deliver the medicine—
while trying to stifle Noah’s cries, Kaas had suffered a severe burn.
He had never shown a hint of pain, but later, when she checked, his hand had been injured so badly he could hardly use it.
“Kaas!”
Startled, Linaria had immediately shown the hand to Magnus.
“You should have said it hurt! Don’t tell me you kept quiet because you didn’t want to trouble us?”
“I was really fine.”
“No. This is not fine at all.”
Kaas only acted like it was nothing.
That frightened Linaria even more, as if he truly felt no pain at all.
It had been better when he used to complain that a healing wound still hurt.
After all, humans can cry over something as small as a paper cut. That was the natural reaction.
Much better than casually showing a hand too damaged to use.
Magnus seemed to think the same.
“This brat! If I heal him up perfectly, he’ll never learn and just throw himself into danger again! He needs to feel the pain so he won’t repeat it!”
Even Magnus, who had never cared much for Kaas, was genuinely angry this time.
He scolded him sharply, then stopped healing halfway. That was why only recently had new flesh begun to grow back.
“It’s fine now.”
“Kaas.”
Because it was a wound he couldn’t explain, they had to hide it from others and treat it cautiously.
That was why she had called only Kaas into her room.
“I told you to be honest when you’re in pain.”
“I wasn’t in pain.”
“You were burned. You nearly lost the use of your sword hand forever. Don’t tell me that didn’t hurt.”
Linaria, feigning anger, clasped his still-reddened hand with both of hers and squeezed.
She applied pressure—yet he didn’t even twitch an eyebrow.
“Don’t ever do this again. Don’t follow my orders at the cost of being eaten away yourself.”
By now, Kaas had proved his loyalty—he would even give his life for Linaria’s sake.
He was like a well-trained hound.
That should have pleased her.
But unlike Maximilian, Linaria saw Kaas as a person. And that made it impossible to be entirely glad.
“And don’t lie to me, even little lies like saying it doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t reassure me—it only makes me worry more.”
“It’s not a lie.”
Kaas shook his head.
And then—
“Liri, I…”
He pulled her hand to his chest, pressing it over his heart.
“When you’re with someone else, this hurts here.”
Kaas had never lied to Linaria.
When flames had devoured his hand, he had truly felt nothing.
The days of being experimented on in the imperial palace—he could bear even that in hindsight.
But lately, he had begun to feel a different kind of pain.
“Compared to when you look only at someone else, when you speak only to them… this burn was nothing.”
“You know that can’t be helped. Talking to other people is a normal part of life.”
Linaria tried to slip her hand free.
But his grip only tightened, making escape impossible.
“That’s not the reason, is it?”
“What do you mean? What are you talking about?”
“To achieve your wish… you can’t be satisfied with only me, can you?”
Linaria’s eyes widened.
He had seen right through her—that her closeness to August and Noah was to obstruct Maximilian’s ascension.
She had never once said it aloud.
‘How…?’
Was it simply because he had always been by her side, watching?
Kaas might be clumsy in daily life, but that didn’t mean he was stupid. He was only uneducated.
He looked at her with eyes glistening with emotion.
Linaria turned away, unable to give an answer.
Then Kaas slowly drew her hand up toward his throat.
Specifically, to where the slave collar rested.
“If I remove this collar… will you look only at me?”
To Kaas, the collar meant he belonged to Linaria. It was precious to him.
But lately, that feeling had begun to crack—ever since he saw Maximilian’s gift.
If he abandoned this idle peace, if he stood not as Linaria’s slave but as “Kaas” himself—
then maybe she would look only at him.
“No.”
But her reply was firm.
“That will never happen. The moment your bloodline is revealed, you won’t be able to stay by my side.”
“……”
“Things have changed. The moment you take that collar off of your own will, you’ll no longer be my slave, nor Obel’s knight, but the rightful heir of the imperial family.”
She spoke deliberately harshly, to keep him from entertaining dangerous thoughts.
“Your Highness, the Prince.”
“……”
“That is what I would have to call you.”
As though drained of strength, Kaas let go of her hand he had clutched so tightly.
“If you returned to the imperial palace now, what do you think would happen? Do you think they’d welcome you? No. You’d just become prey again.”
“……”
“You once swore to take everything from your half-brother. But in reality, that dream is impossible right now.”
He couldn’t argue.
Not a single word of hers was wrong.
Kaas lowered his gaze.
Seeing how uncertain he looked, Linaria felt she might have pushed him too far and grew regretful.
“Kaas.”
He didn’t answer when she called his name.
So like giving water to a parched beast, Linaria rose on tiptoe and kissed him.
It was brief—her lips brushed his and quickly parted.
“That’s why, for now, there’s no choice but—”
She couldn’t finish.
Because her lips were seized.
“Mmph.”
The moment their mouths met again, Kaas’s eyes widened in surprise—then, as though his collar had been undone, he kissed her back fervently.
When their lips touched, he realized how thirsty he was.
And to quench that thirst, he pressed hard, almost violently.
He came at her like an onrushing force, and Linaria stumbled back.
Her heel caught on something, and she toppled.
Kaas caught her head with one hand, lowering her onto the bed.
By the time their lips parted, Linaria’s chest was rising and falling quickly, as if she’d run a long race.
“Haa.”
Breathless gasps filled the air.
Only then did Linaria realize she was lying on the bed, looking up at Kaas.
His cheeks were flushed now, as though only belatedly aware of what he had done.
Shy, despite his earlier recklessness.
“Liri.”
As she steadied her breathing, his low, husky voice brushed her ear.
“I never knew shame before.”
“……”
“But the more I stay by you… the more I want to be with you… the more ashamed of myself I feel.”
His voice cracked at the end.
“With you, I’ve learned so much—how to write, how to feel. Life itself.
And with it… I’ve come to see how pitiful I really am.”
The fuller his life became, the more deeply he felt how small and lacking he was.
“I want to give you only the best of what I have… but I have nothing.”
His heart clenched so tightly it stole his breath.
This sensation was “pain.”
“And that makes me sad.”
This was “sorrow.”
“Kaas.”
Linaria embraced him, stroking his black hair.
“You don’t need to give me anything. From the start, what I wanted from you has always been just one thing.”
To trample Maximilian and rise above him.
That alone.
“You can have everything. It just takes a little more time.”
“……”
“So get along with Lord Brimstone and Duke Ignas. If you can befriend them, it will serve you well.”
At the mention of August and Noah, Kaas flinched.
“You’re clever. You understand why I say this, don’t you?”
Those friendships would be the foundation for Kaas, who had no base of support.
His mind knew it was true.
But his heart resisted. He didn’t want it.
Because all he wanted was to stand by her side alone.
“Give me your hand for a moment.”
Kaas obediently offered his hand.
Linaria clasped their fingers together tightly once again.
“This feeling you have right now—that’s what pain is.”
Kaas thought:
Even so, compared to the pain in my heart, it’s nothing.
