Please get me out of this BL novel...I'm straight! novel Chapter 278

Chapter 278: ’Scolded’

Lucius visibly took in a slow, shaky breath. Then another. And another.

Each inhale sounded like it hurt.

His spine straightened with that familiar, mechanical grace—shoulders drawn back, chin lifted—but his eyes...

His eyes betrayed him.

Wide, stunned, and glinting with something raw.

’He’s horrified.’

Florian didn’t need any sixth sense to see it. The always-composed, unreadable Lucius—who’d once stared down assassins without blinking—was falling apart behind his glasses. That perfect mask he wore like a second skin was cracking at the edges, letting something stormy bleed through.

Lucius turned sharply to Heinz. His voice came clipped, formal. Controlled—but not steady.

"What... are you doing in His Highness’s room, Your Majesty?"

Then—he turned.

And looked at Florian.

Really looked.

His gaze dropped—collarbone to chest, to the faint ridges of Florian’s stomach. It lingered. Too long. Too heavy.

Florian squirmed under the weight of it, his throat tightening.

"Your Highness..." Lucius spoke slower this time, hesitant. His eyes narrowed just slightly, like the question already burned in his mouth. "Why are you shirtless?"

’Oh god, here it comes.’

Florian’s eyes darted toward Heinz. Help. Please help. He still didn’t know how far Heinz was planning to go with this story—and whether Lucius was even allowed to know.

Heinz, of course, didn’t flinch. He moved with all the careful grace of a man completely in control, brushing invisible dust from his cuff like this was a dinner party, not a bomb about to explode.

"I came to check on Florian," he said smoothly. "He’d just returned from being fitted by Drizelous."

Lucius reacted like he’d been struck.

His breath hitched, eyes going impossibly wider. His hand jerked, and for a second, it looked like he might drop the plate he was holding.

’Oh,’ Florian realized, ’Lucius didn’t know?’

Of course he didn’t.

Drizelous’s involvement wasn’t public palace knowledge. It hadn’t been announced, whispered about, or even hinted at.

’But...’ Florian flicked his gaze toward Lucius again. ’He’s Heinz’s head butler. Shouldn’t he have known?’

He expected Lucius to be the exception. To know everything.

Apparently not.

Heinz, unfazed, gestured lazily toward the dragon curled innocently at Florian’s side.

"Azure acted out while inside Florian’s clothing," he said with perfect composure, as if he were reciting a weather report. "He burned through the fabric. Hence... the shirtlessness."

’What a great excuse!’

Florian kept still, face neutral, not even allowing a twitch of his brow to give him away. But inside?

He was screaming.

’It’s a lie. It’s such a bad lie. But Heinz just said it like it was the only possible explanation in the world.’

As if summoned by his cue, Azure let out a low, warning growl.

But not at Heinz.

At Lucius.

Lucius visibly flinched. Just a fraction. But enough.

’He’s... playing along?’ Florian blinked, stunned. ’Azure’s intelligence knows no bounds.’

Lucius stepped back. Slow. Controlled. And then lowered his head respectfully.

"...Oh. Understood."

But the tension didn’t break. It lingered—suspended in the air like a drawn bowstring, ready to snap with the slightest wrong movement.

Then Heinz shifted.

Just one step forward.

Quiet. Smooth. Deliberate.

But it was enough to position himself squarely between Lucius and Florian, obstructing the view entirely.

His voice was calm, still steady.

"Lucius. Why did you enter without knocking?"

Florian blinked in confusion.

’Wait, what?’

Lucius froze.

He hadn’t expected that. Neither had Florian. It wasn’t an accusation. Not exactly.

But it cut like one.

"I..." Lucius stumbled, clearly thrown, then defaulted back to his earlier reasoning. "I had seen Cashew assisting the maids. I only meant to deliver some refreshments. Not to intrude."

His voice had regained its usual polish, but Florian caught the sliver of something else.

A crack beneath the surface.

Like glass under pressure.

’What is Heinz doing?’

’He’s strengthening my security.’

’I think this is the first time Lucius was ever scolded.’