Please get me out of this BL novel...I'm straight! novel Chapter 227

Chapter 227: ’He Truly Cared...’

Heinz barely paid attention to their laughter now. His gaze flickered toward Florian, still unmoving, still stained with blood. He hadn’t stirred once, hadn’t made a single sound.

’Still out cold.’

The laughter grated against his ears, a cacophony of voices that felt more like a mockery of reality itself. These people—these things—acted as if what he said was the funniest joke they’d ever heard. As if they weren’t moments away from being reduced to nothing but smoldering corpses.

He needed to end this.

Augustus, standing in the center of it all, smirked. His wrinkled face, bathed in firelight, held nothing but amusement.

"Oh, the palace men are still so clueless," Augustus mused.

Heinz’s eyes flicked toward him sharply.

"Clueless?"

The heat was getting worse. The fire had spread, greedy and wild, devouring what was left of the village. Smoke curled through the air, thick and suffocating. Sweat dripped down Heinz’s temple, but he ignored it.

The villagers weren’t worried. They weren’t running, weren’t trying to put out the flames, weren’t even reacting to the destruction around them.

’Why?’

Augustus chuckled. "Someone came to see us. Someone willing to help. Someone who sought to recruit us for their cause."

A sharp pulse ran through Heinz’s mind.

’Of course.’

"That person," Augustus continued, "told us of Levi’s death."

A pause. Then, Augustus tilted his head, his smile deepening.

"Not that we didn’t already know."

Heinz’s jaw clenched.

"Revenge," Augustus said, his voice thick with satisfaction. "That is what they seek. Revenge on the king. To see him dethroned, or better yet—" His eyes gleamed, his teeth flashing. "—killed. Just as he killed the only king who ever truly cared for us."

Something in Heinz stilled.

His father.

He exhaled slowly through his nose, forcing himself to stay still.

’Yet again, I am suffering because of that bastard.’

He had killed the last king. He had torn down his father’s reign, buried the past with his own hands.

But that was his business.

And yet, here they were, weaving their own foolish narrative into it.

"And Prince Florian?" Heinz asked, voice level. "How does he play into this foolish plan of yours?"

Augustus exhaled, as if pleased that Heinz was following along.

"Our savior," Augustus said, "gave us the means to survive. Mana stones. Power. And when things got desperate, they told us what to do—eat our sick, endure, and when the time was right..." His lips curled. "Florian would come to us."

Heinz’s mind raced.

’They expected Florian? So, Arthur did place that bait.’

Augustus shook his head, amused. "I was worried when different men arrived. We did what we could—tried to scare you both off. We needed the prince himself to come, not some knights in disguise." His eyes twinkled with twisted delight. "But to think Aden was actually Florian."

His heart thudded once, sharp.

’So they didn’t know at first. But they had been expecting him all the same.’

"The savior was right," Augustus murmured, eyes distant with reverence.

For a long moment, Heinz said nothing. Then, softly—dangerously—he laughed.

It was low at first, then louder, sharp and derisive.

"Bullshit."

Augustus blinked, but Heinz continued, his laughter curling into something venomous.

"You idiots think you stand a chance against the king?" Heinz scoffed, shaking his head. "The king who crushed everyone before him? Who killed the last ruler of this damned kingdom?"

Augustus merely watched him, his smile eerily patient.

"That wretched king," Augustus said, voice steady, "is not the only one blessed by God."

Heinz’s breath stilled.

A memory surfaced.

That god. The one who turned back time.

’I am only returning what was stolen. But remember, child of ruin... even you cannot escape punishment forever.’

’Was this it? Was this what he meant?’

His mind whirled. His death in his past life—had they been blessed, too? Was his killer being granted power just as he was? Was that why the tides had shifted, why things were no longer following the path he once knew?

’Doesn’t matter.’

’Trying to take him somewhere?’

’And if he does nothing...’

’The same night I died, too.’

His death had always felt predetermined. A consequence of his past life’s choices. A price he’d accepted long before it was demanded of him. But now, doubt crept in like a slow poison. _{freewēbnoveℓ.com}