Please get me out of this BL novel...I'm straight! novel Chapter 282

Chapter 282: ’The Fruits Of Genius!’

A few more days passed. Quiet, drifting days—though nothing ever stayed truly quiet for long.

Just a few more weeks remained before the end of Emberreach. Three more months until Heinz turned twenty-two.

Which also meant... three more months until Florian’s supposed death by execution—and Heinz’s death, too.

It was a grim countdown, a shadow hanging above them. Something Florian couldn’t help but mentally cross off day by day, even though—hopefully—they’d already managed to change that outcome.

’I’m still breathing. So is Heinz. That has to count for something...right?’ Florian would think, sometimes staring up at the ornate ceiling of his chambers long after everyone else had gone.

But peace didn’t bring certainty.

Especially not with danger still looming—creeping in through the cracks of the palace like smoke in a sealed room. No matter how many times they went over it, neither Heinz nor Florian had uncovered who the strange man truly was. Nor how he kept slipping past the ever-tightening security like it was nothing.

That alone made Florian’s skin crawl.

Truthfully, not too much had changed over the past few days.

Well—maybe that wasn’t true.

Some things had changed. Some big things.

Lancelot had been busier than ever. Training new knights. Drilling them until they could no longer stand. More soldiers were stationed across the palace grounds now—especially around Florian’s personal wing. Every corridor leading to him had turned into a gauntlet of steel and vigilance.

It would’ve been comforting if it didn’t feel so... suffocating.

People started whispering. Of course they did. The palace was practically a pressure cooker for rumors. The sudden increase in guards around Florian—especially after the visit from Drizelous—set tongues wagging.

Somehow, everyone knew now.

They knew Florian had been fitted by Drizelous.

’Did Heinz tell someone? No... no, he wouldn’t. Then how did it get out? Was someone listening in? Watching?’

Heinz, ever the calm tactician, didn’t seem too fazed by the spreading news. He let it slide. Trusted the rumor would die out.

But Delilah was visibly distressed. Lucius too, in his usual quiet, meticulous way. They both made efforts to douse the fires—tried to cut the whispering short—but with Heinz’s open support and the visible increase in Florian’s security... it only added more fuel.

It didn’t matter. Florian was used to being talked about.

Besides, other things were taking up his time. He’d been seeing more of Athena and Alexandria lately. They would gather in his room for tea, sometimes midmorning, sometimes late afternoon. Their conversations flowed easily now—warm, occasionally biting, always grounding.

Scarlett had surprised him, though.

She came to ask about Heinz’s answer—the one she was too scared to hear. When Florian reassured her, her shoulders visibly relaxed. After that, she stayed a little longer. She wasn’t quite friendly, not yet, but she wasn’t cold either. She was... learning.

She even let it slip, once or twice, that she had been spending time with Athena.

That made Florian smile. ’Maybe they’ll become friends too. That would be... nice.’

Heinz and Florian had started meeting more regularly as well. Usually in Heinz’s office—quiet, dimly lit, often smelling faintly of old parchment and tea.

Sometimes they met to work: planning strategies for the upcoming summit, poring over reports, trying to piece together who the strange man could be.

Sometimes, they met to talk: about the village of Forgotten Waters, about Azure—who still coiled up comfortably in Florian’s room—or about memories Florian might be regaining from the original Florian.

But sometimes, they just sat.

No words. No agendas.

Just the sound of pages turning as Heinz worked and Florian sat nearby, sipping tea, staring out the window.

He didn’t really know why it felt... right. Comforting. Necessary, even.

’Maybe I’m getting used to him.’

It was strange, how that realization didn’t scare him like it used to.

As for Cashew...

That was still a complicated knot in his chest.

Florian had been trying to figure out how to bring it up. The question. The suspicion. Whether Cashew had met with the strange man—or worse, helped him.

But that normalcy was exactly what made Florian wary.

’Is it guilt? Or is it intuition? I don’t want to believe it. I don’t want to doubt him. But what if I’m right...?’

Today—well, today was apparently important.

"Ah! Your Majesty, it has been a while. It has truly been a while!" Drizelous practically beamed, clapping his hands together in delight. His round spectacles slipped slightly down the bridge of his nose as he bounced on the balls of his feet, radiating barely-contained glee.

"And of course, Your Highness! My second muse." His hands twitched in excitement. "To see you both here together—ah, I cannot wait!"

Drizelous practically vibrated where he stood, the silk ribbons on his sleeves fluttering like they had minds of their own, caught in the storm of his excitement. His eyes gleamed behind his crooked spectacles, flitting between Heinz and Florian with a fervor that bordered on obsession—like he was witnessing the climax of a masterpiece he’d been envisioning for years.

’How is he so nonchalant about all this?’ Florian thought, shifting ever so slightly where he stood, hands clasped neatly in front of him. He managed a polite smile for Drizelous, though the fluttering in his chest said otherwise.