☆、(10 Fresh Coins) The Sigh of the Rose (7) (Alternate Universe, OOC Side Story - Warning!)
"Ugh..." Adam's body jerked violently, a tingling sensation spreading across his chest where the touch had been. Terrified, he forcefully pressed down on the hand that was groping inside his clothes. "What...what are you doing!"
Upon hearing this, the elf couldn't help but chuckle: "Don't you know perfectly well what I'm going to do?"
Adam's face flushed even more. Of course, he knew what the other person was going to do—and it was precisely because he knew that he found it even more unacceptable! They had only just met, hadn't they? In his twenty-odd years of life, he had never had any romantic experience, and he hadn't even had his first kiss yet… Was it really going to come to that? After all, even if he was Cozmo in his past life and deeply loved Calvin, he was now Adam Scylla. Although he had feelings for Calvin, he couldn't be sure about such a sacred emotion as "love."
“Calvin…Sir…” Adam hesitated for a moment, then frowned and said, “I don’t think our relationship has reached that point yet…”
Calvin's eyes flashed, and he raised his upper body to look down at the knight. After a moment of silence, he finally released his grip: "It was my oversight. To me, no matter what you become, you are Adam... But I will not force you."
As he spoke, he simply got up, got out of bed, and walked towards the door.
Adam stared blankly at his retreating figure, opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.
Calvin, who had already reached the door, suddenly turned around and met his gaze: "There's a hot spring in the backyard, please make yourself at home."
Adam quickly turned his face away, avoiding his gaze, and stammered, "Thank you..."
He looked down at himself and realized he definitely needed a thorough cleaning. After days of running through the forest, he was completely soaked—it was a wonder Calvin had been so cruel to him! Thinking about it, his face flushed again, and he quickly shook his head, trying to shake off the memory, along with the scenes from his previous dream. After all, they were all too stimulating for him.
Adam washed himself thoroughly from head to toe. When he came out, he saw clean clothes already laid out by the pool. While grateful for the other person's thoughtfulness, Adam also felt a pang of guilt. He then angrily thought about how silly he had been. The other person had acted without considering his situation, and it was right for him to refuse! Why should he feel guilty? To suppress the chaotic thoughts in his mind, he wiped his sword and armor clean—something that usually calmed him down. Seeing his filthy clothes, stained from days of jungle life, regain their shine, his emotions gradually stabilized, and he went to bed to sleep.
Lying in bed, eyes fixed on the bed curtains, Adam's mind replayed the day's events. He realized with frustration that this time, even scrubbing his sword and armor raw wouldn't bring him peace. The crucial issues were there, and there was no reasonable solution! As the Empire's First Holy Knight, he was obligated to serve His Majesty the Emperor. To fulfill the Emperor's wishes, he had to use the Oath Ring. Using the ring meant staying, but that would violate the knightly code—a dead end! And that wasn't all. The bigger problem was his relationship with Calvin… past lives and present lives—it was a truly tangled mess!
Even if Adam had no concept of love, he understood the depth of the bond between Calvin and Kozmo. Seven years of knowing and supporting each other, three years of loving and enduring each other—their time together wasn't short, but in the grand scheme of a lifetime, it was only a small fraction. Yet, those ten years bound them tightly together for life, an inescapable bond. Kozmo, as emperor, possessed everything countless people dreamed of, but he could only live with regret—without Calvin, power, wealth, and beauty were meaningless. His only support was his responsibility as emperor and his ideal of a peaceful and prosperous nation. However… compared to Calvin, Kozmo was perhaps fortunate. Calvin, with his long life, endured unimaginable suffering during his century-long wait.
Calvin's wait finally came to an end, but the end was far from perfect. He was no longer facing the Cozmo he knew, but a completely different person with the same soul. Although he had remembered his past life, it didn't immediately inspire him to reciprocate with equal love. And despite Calvin's words, the man he deeply loved had become a completely different person; did he truly not care at all?
As he thought this, a thought suddenly flashed through Adam's mind. Calvin and Kozmo's love was based on the time they spent together, but Calvin knew nothing about Adam Scylla, what kind of person he was, or his past... If he weren't Kozmo's reincarnation, Calvin would never have loved him! A chill ran through him, and his hands, hidden under the covers, slowly clenched.
What's past is past, it can never come back. A cold voice seemed to tell him this in his mind. Adam felt a wave of dizziness, and when he came to his senses, he was already out of the room, standing in the corridor, facing the portrait on the wall. Without even thinking, he knew that the young general was Adam Cozmo. Was he really this person? Why did he look nothing like him?
The faint sound of water interrupted Adam's gaze. Somewhat puzzled, he turned to the end of the corridor and realized this was the hot spring he had bathed in earlier—he had come directly here and hadn't known that he could enter from this side of the corridor. Who could be here so late? The question flashed through Adam's mind, then he suddenly realized—he hadn't seen anyone else here since daytime, so the only person here could be… Calvin himself.
Realizing this, Adam instinctively wanted to leave, but the scene before him froze him in place. The elf, sitting by the pool with his back to him, had the thin veil that had been draped over him loosely to the side. The bright moonlight cast a silvery glow on his fair, naked body, and his smooth, long hair shimmered like silk, making him breathtakingly beautiful—even more captivating than the stunning scene he had witnessed during the day. Adam couldn't help but hold his breath, afraid of disturbing this picturesque view.
"Adam..." The soft, gentle voice startled the knight so much that his heart nearly stopped. Fortunately, the elf didn't turn around, seemingly unaware of his presence.
What happened next was something the knight would never forget.
Author's Note:
...I...I'm guilty ORZ The plot suddenly turned into a mythical beast, please don't hit me!
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