Please get me out of this BL novel...I'm straight! novel Chapter 320

Chapter 320: ’All The Help’

Heinz met his gaze, unblinking. Not accusatory, but not exactly neutral either. His stare was heavy, rooted with something unspoken—curiosity, perhaps, or maybe suspicion veiled in calm. A flicker of something sharper passed behind his eyes, like the glint of a blade just before it’s unsheathed.

’Why is that even a question?’ Florian thought, a beat of disbelief pounding through his skull. ’Why do I have to explain myself for wanting to check on someone who was humiliated in front of a room full of dukes?’

Still, he forced the frustration down, swallowing it like bitter medicine. His voice, when it emerged, was quiet but firm—controlled.

"Because she didn’t come back to dinner," he began slowly, as if explaining something that should already be obvious. "Because she’s probably mortified, and no one else is going to check on her. And because..." He faltered. The words clogged in his throat, tangled in something he couldn’t quite name.

"Because it’s the right thing to do," he said at last, though the conviction behind it cracked slightly under the weight in his chest. The truth was, it was the right thing—but saying it aloud in front of him made it feel hollow somehow, like it had to be defended instead of just felt.

Heinz didn’t answer immediately. His silence stretched between them, taut and unyielding. His gaze hadn’t softened—if anything, it had grown more dissecting, as though Florian were another puzzle to be solved, another pawn to be placed just right on the board.

’Is that really so hard to understand?’ Florian thought bitterly, his jaw tightening. ’Or is it just that foreign to him... kindness for kindness’s sake? Do people like him only understand moves and motives?’

A quiet exhale finally escaped Heinz as he leaned back slightly in his chair. He looked... not exactly convinced, but perhaps just tired enough to let it go.

"Alright," he said, voice low and clipped. "But go back to your room right after. No wandering."

Florian blinked, momentarily thrown off. That was...odd.

There was something in Heinz’s tone—too deliberate, too cautious. A thread of protectiveness twisted with authority. He wasn’t just giving permission. He was laying down conditions.

’That was strangely specific,’ Florian thought, eyes narrowing slightly. ’Why so insistent? What are you not saying?’

He considered pressing, but the exhaustion weighing down his bones made the decision for him. He bowed politely, keeping his tone even.

"Of course, Your Majesty. Then, I will see you tomorrow."

"Right," Heinz said, gaze lingering as Florian turned away.

As the heavy door closed behind him with a muffled thud, the odd pressure in Florian’s chest didn’t ease—it grew.

The hallway felt colder now, the silence thicker.

’That was weird,’ he thought, rubbing the back of his neck as he walked. ’He was being weird. Suspiciously weird.’

His pace picked up slightly as he moved through the dim corridors, eager to shift his focus to something else—someone else. The princesses’ wing wasn’t far, and he would feel better once he saw Alexandria.

Still, the unease coiled in his gut refused to unravel. It sat there like a knot of smoke and instinct.

’What a weirdo,’ he thought, lips twitching downward as he tightened his robe around himself. ’Honestly, that man gives me a headache.’

And yet, for reasons he couldn’t explain, Florian couldn’t quite get Heinz’s stare out of his mind.

✧༺ ⏱︎ ༻✧

Florian made his way down the marble hallway that led to the princesses’ wing, the quiet echo of his footsteps softened by the velvet carpet running between the columns.

Sunlight filtered through the tall, arched windows, pouring in like liquid gold and casting gentle reflections over the polished floor, as though the palace itself shimmered in breathless anticipation.

The ornate door at the end of the hall stood framed by two guards in crisp uniforms. They straightened and bowed the moment they recognized him—no questions asked, only respectful acknowledgment.

"I’m here to check on Princess Alexandria," Florian said, offering a small, polite smile.

The taller of the two gave a curt nod and turned to open the door, the gilded handle catching the light as the entrance creaked open. A delicate wave of jasmine scent wafted through, warm and faint, like a whisper clinging to silk.

Inside, the room felt like it belonged to another world—quiet, graceful, touched by an elegance that didn’t quite belong in a place so soaked with court politics. The silken drapes billowed near the tall, open windows, stirred gently by the spring breeze.

And there, illuminated by the soft daylight, stood Princess Alexandria.

Her pale-blond hair was tied in a loose braid that draped over her shoulder, and she moved with the kind of quiet dignity that made Florian pause at the threshold. She wasn’t alone.

She was speaking, no, whispering to someone.

’He just... left?’ Florian frowned slightly, unsettled. ’Why do I feel like that wasn’t just any servant?’

’Huh? Is it just me or... does she look nervous?’ Her voice was steady, her smile practiced—but there was a flicker in her eyes, brief, almost imperceptible. ’No. It’s probably nothing. Just startled... maybe.’

’She’s too kind.’

’She’s too good for this place. I swear.’ The thought settled like a warm weight in his chest. ’If I didn’t have the original Florian’s memories inside me... I probably wouldn’t even be bitter about her and Heinz.’