Please get me out of this BL novel...I'm straight! novel Chapter 210

Chapter 210: ’Too Coincidental’

Florian’s heart dropped. _{ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom}

He had already suspected it—he wasn’t an idiot—but hearing Heinz say it out loud made it feel more real, more inevitable. A heavy weight settled in his chest. The timing had been too perfect. Leila had shown up the moment he was about to see what was inside. Had she been waiting? Had someone told her to stop him?

His fingers curled into a fist at his side. ’Damn it.’

Taking a steadying breath, he forced himself to glance at Heinz, who was watching him with that same unreadable expression—calm, composed, completely unaffected, as if none of this was surprising to him.

"So... what do we do now?" Florian asked, keeping his voice steady despite the frustration simmering beneath his skin.

Heinz raised a brow, and then, to Florian’s mild irritation, a smirk tugged at his lips. "Oh? Asking for my opinion now, are we? I thought I was the terrible king who couldn’t be trusted with anything."

Florian huffed, crossing his arms. "Still stand by that, by the way. Don’t think for a second that I regret saying it."

Heinz outright chuckled, the amusement in his red eyes deepening. The sound was low, rich, and entirely too entertained for the situation they were in.

"You’re quite bold, aren’t you?"

"And you’re unusually interested in this village all of a sudden," Florian shot back, narrowing his eyes. "You didn’t give a damn before. Now, you’re all in on investigating? What changed?"

Heinz simply shrugged, his expression as infuriatingly casual as ever. "I’m naturally curious."

Florian gave him a flat, unimpressed look. "Uh-huh. Sure. Let’s go with that."

Heinz only smiled. A slow, knowing curve of his lips that made something in Florian bristle. He hated how this man was always two steps ahead, always knowing more than he let on.

Florian rolled his eyes, shifting Azure in his arms before exhaling. "So... we’re going to check the storage unit out, right? How?"

This time, Heinz didn’t smirk. Instead, something sharp flickered in his gaze, and for a brief second, Florian saw it—the same calculating edge that had made the entire kingdom fear him.

"Carefully," Heinz murmured, and for some reason, the single word sent a chill down Florian’s spine.

Florian wasn’t sure why, but the way Heinz said that—so quiet, so deliberate—sent an uneasy prickle down his spine. It wasn’t the word itself, but the way it slipped from Heinz’s lips, edged with something almost too careful.

’Carefully.’

Something about that didn’t sit right with him.

He exhaled, shaking the feeling off as he adjusted Azure in his arms. The little creature shifted slightly, sensing his unease, but Florian didn’t loosen his grip. "Alright, fine. Do you actually have a plan, or are we just winging it?"

Heinz leaned back against the wall, his posture deceptively languid, but his red eyes held an unwavering sharpness. "Not going to focus on aiding that Leila girl anymore?"

Florian frowned. "This is about Leila," he muttered, his arms unconsciously tightening around Azure. "If it weren’t, she wouldn’t have gone out of her way to stop me from looking inside." He hesitated, then exhaled slowly. "And... something else is odd."

Heinz arched a brow, his expression unreadable. "Oh?"

Florian’s mind raced, piecing things together even as unease settled in his gut. "When we first arrived, the villagers were outside," he said, voice quieter now, as if saying it aloud would make it worse. "All of them. Just standing there, watching us."

His fingers twitched against Azure’s fur. He could still picture it—the silent, unmoving crowd, their faces unreadable, their presence lingering like an unspoken warning.

"But now..." His gaze flickered toward the boarded-up window, that gnawing feeling twisting deeper into his stomach. "Where are they?"

For a fleeting second, something flickered across Heinz’s face—so subtle that had Florian blinked, he might have missed it. But he hadn’t blinked.

Then Heinz exhaled softly, almost amused, though the mirth never quite reached his eyes.

"So, you noticed as well," he murmured, voice as smooth as silk, yet carrying an undercurrent of something Florian couldn’t quite place.

Florian stiffened. "You mean—?"

"Yes," Heinz confirmed, stepping forward with an unhurried grace. "It is peculiar, is it not? Their presence was deliberate when we arrived, as if our coming was anticipated. And now?" He paused, glancing briefly at the door before his gaze returned to Florian, piercing and knowing. "They have vanished without a trace."

Florian swallowed, a cold weight settling in his stomach.

’Shit.’

Florian’s gaze flickered toward the nearest house, its windows dark and empty. The village, once filled with quiet murmurs and the occasional creak of wooden doors swinging open, now felt eerily silent. The absence of movement pressed down on him, thick and suffocating.

Florian opened his mouth, then closed it. ’Shit. He’s right.’ The villagers had stood outside when they first arrived, watching them with silent intensity. Now, not a single one remained in sight. It was too coordinated, too unnatural. As if the entire village had been waiting for them—watching—and then, the moment something changed, they vanished.