’This doesn’t sound good...’
Florian swallowed a thick lump in his throat.
Something was wrong.
Heinz wasn’t being impossible. He wasn’t teasing. The usual smirk, the playfulness—gone. Instead, his face was eerily serious, his crimson eyes sharp and unreadable.
Florian wasn’t used to this.
This version of Heinz unsettled him.
And from the way his expression darkened, whatever he had to say was urgent.
Florian licked his dry lips. ’What... is it, Your Majesty?’
Silence stretched between them.
The fire crackled softly, a deceptive warmth against the chill creeping up Florian’s spine. He stared into Heinz’s blood-red gaze, and Heinz—Heinz stared right back.
Neither of them looked away.
Then Heinz let out a slow, measured sigh. "The villagers—before they ran, after they found out who you were... they wanted to take you."
Florian’s stomach dropped.
His blood turned to ice.
His fingers curled into the fabric of his clothes, gripping tightly, desperately.
’Again? Me... again?’
His breath quickened, his pulse roaring in his ears. No. No, not again. Not after everything.
Heinz tilted his head slightly, his eyes flickering with something unreadable. "I know what you might be thinking."
Did he? Did he really?
Because right now, Florian felt like he was being dragged beneath a freezing current, unable to breathe, unable to think past the suffocating weight in his chest.
"I believe this confirms my suspicions," Heinz continued, voice smooth, calculated. "Whoever killed me in my past life is targeting you now. For whatever reason."
Florian barely had time to process before Heinz added, "Not only that, the villagers called them their ’savior’... as they said."
Florian’s breath hitched. "Savior?"
His mind reeled. His throat felt tight. "So... whoever killed you and wants to take me... they’re acting like the villagers’ savior?"
Heinz nodded. "And it gets worse."
Of course it does.
"The villagers confirmed they are not the only ones standing behind this ’savior.’"
Florian clenched his fists.
’More villages? More people following them? How deep does this go?’
"It seems," Heinz continued, "that the ’savior’ was the one who supplied them with mana stones, the same stones they used to perform magic—the very magic that tricked us. The magic they used on the storage unit, on the land itself... and even more disturbing, the one who gave them the idea to resort to cannibalism."
A shudder ran down Florian’s spine.
His nails dug into his palm. He felt sick.
He felt cold.
This wasn’t just some cruel twist of fate.
This was planned.
’Someone wanted this to happen.’
And then Heinz spoke the final blow."The ’savior’ told them, prior to today, that you would be coming."
Florian’s heart stopped.
His entire body froze, his skin prickling with dread.
’What.’
His ears rang.
His mouth felt dry, his voice barely above a whisper. "What?"
’They knew? Before I even decided to come here, they already knew?’
His thoughts spiraled, crashing into one another. "I-I figured that Arthur knew I would go but... it was actually planned? They... they knew I was coming?"
His chest rose and fell rapidly.
He turned to Heinz, eyes wide, voice sharp with disbelief. "Your Majesty... really... what did you do to the person who killed you?"
There was no point in avoiding it anymore.
Whoever this ’savior’ was—whoever had orchestrated all of this—they loathed Heinz.
But they weren’t going after Heinz.
They were going after him.
’Why? Why me? Because I’m a transmigrator? Do they know? Do they know who I really am?’
Heinz exhaled lightly, his expression unchanged. "I have done many things to many people."
He said it so casually, like it was the simplest truth in the world.
Florian’s lips parted in disbelief. A surge of frustration bubbled in his chest, hot and suffocating.
"How can you still be so calm, Your Majesty?"
His voice cracked.
"You don’t even know who killed you! And now they’re targeting me! I— I may have avoided getting executed by you but now I’m at risk of dying because—!"
Because of you.
Because of everything you did.
The original Florian suffered because of Heinz.
The original story died because of Heinz.
And now—
Now, he was suffering because of Heinz.
"Florian."
Of the fact that he was practically laying on top of Heinz.
That Heinz had both hands on him now—one resting on his head, the other firm against his spine.
He swallowed thickly, shifting, about to move— "Your Majesty, I—"
"You were right."
’What?’
"Right now, I cannot do the same things I did in my last life. I can’t use force. I can’t resort to destruction."
His real home.
His actual home.
"And I would need you to do this with me."
’The fuck happened while I was passed out? Is this really Heinz?’
Home.
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The readers' comments on the novel: Please get me out of this BL novel...I'm straight!