Please get me out of this BL novel...I'm straight! novel Chapter 225

Chapter 225: ’To Make A Statement’

"Quite clever, aren’t you?"

Heinz’s gaze flickered to Augustus, but his focus remained locked onto Florian.

Blood had matted his hair, turning soft lilac strands into something sticky and dark. His lashes fluttered ever so slightly, his chest rising in the barest of movements. Unconscious. Weak. But alive. Barely.

Heinz needed to keep it that way.

The moment Augustus had spoken, the villagers shifted, a wave of unease rippling through the crowd. Some exchanged glances, their expressions flickering between doubt and anger. Even Kane, so smug and sure of himself, faltered for just a second before regaining his sneer.

Only Augustus remained steady. Unbothered.

’He knew.’

’He knew from the very beginning.’

Kane’s grip on Florian’s hair tightened, fingers curling into the bloodstained strands as he yanked the boy’s head back. Florian’s throat stretched, vulnerable beneath the blade still pressed to his skin.

"So this is the fucking prince that got Levi killed?"

Something cold and sharp twisted in Heinz’s chest.

His foot nearly shifted forward. ’Nearly.’

But he stopped himself.

’Restraint is key.’

’Emotion is a weakness. A liability.’

And yet—

’If he so much as pulls another strand of his hair—’

He forced the thought away, exhaling through his nose. Instead of reacting, he played their game. "If I am to guess, you are also part of the rogues... or perhaps, you forced that Levi person to join under the guise of protecting his sister?"

Augustus’s lips curled in amusement. "And if we did?"

"Oh? Admitting it now?"

"No point lying to a soon-to-be corpse."

Kane answered this time, jostling Florian’s limp head like a ragdoll, as if the boy was nothing more than an inconvenience dangling from his grip.

’I want to cut off his arm.’

The thought came fast and vicious, curling around Heinz’s mind like a vice. His fingers twitched at his side, aching for his blade.

He swallowed it down.

His voice remained level. "Quite confident, aren’t you?"

Kane let out a low, condescending chuckle. "Arcaniors are nothing without their mana stones. There are a lot of us, only one of you. Even if this flimsy prince wakes up, he’d be useless. Especially since he isn’t even from Concordia."

That smirk. That fucking smirk.

’If only you knew.’

Heinz said nothing, but something cold and calculating slithered beneath his skin. Kane had no idea. He had no idea what kind of he could become.

Still, something was off.

They had stalled too long. If their plan was to kill him and Florian, why hadn’t they done it already?

Why hesitate?

A lesser man would have acted already. Heinz, however, was a king.

And kings did not act without a purpose.

’Attack me. Do it. Give me a reason.’

He almost wanted them to try.

Attacking the king was treason. And treason was punishable by death.

Not that Heinz ever needed an excuse.

But something about this was wrong.

If this village was starving, cursed, rotting from the inside out—how did they have mana stones?

Magic couldn’t conjure food. It couldn’t produce water. It couldn’t lift the sickness that had plagued this place.

But illusion magic had worked.

He had seen it.

’They tricked us twice.’

Leila. The girl had been dead. Already cold in the dirt. And yet, they had spoken to her, touched her.

A corpse shouldn’t move. Shouldn’t breathe.

Shouldn’t smile.

Mana stones were expensive. Even the weakest ones cost a fortune. A single household couldn’t afford them, let alone an entire village on the brink of collapse.

And yet—

’Not just any illusion magic, either.’

’I need to know who. I need answers.’

Heinz met his gaze without flinching. ’So that’s what this is about. Curiosity. Suspicion.’ He let a beat of silence pass before replying,

Heinz took a moment to glance around. The villagers had not moved. They continued to stare, their eyes full of something unreadable—anticipation, maybe. Or fear. He couldn’t quite tell.

’Why are they just standing there? Waiting?’ The weight of their collective gaze made his skin prickle.

Heinz’s jaw remained locked, but his mind worked quickly. ’He knows more than he lets on.’