The Price of a Secret Partnership

I didn’t know how to start the conversation. I had been looking for him with the intention of dragging him into this, but I hadn’t expected to meet him like this. Come to think of it, this wasn’t bad. I had planned to break down his door if he was holed up in his lab focused on research, but that would have inevitably drawn unwanted attention.

Looking at Cedric’s face, I thought of Elizabeth Luxteel’s necklace tucked in my pocket. Years ago, on the day I gave ‘Sisi’ a gift, Elizabeth had given it to me, feeling guilty that she hadn’t immediately revealed Sisi’s identity. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but I was certain it was important enough to serve as ‘collateral’ for a deal.

“You…”

My palm felt hot and damp from the breath leaking through his partially opened lips. From the floor below, I heard someone shouting, asking if something was there. The rug on the floor was thick, so the sound of the fall itself wasn’t loud, but it seemed the recoil from my jump from the tree had caused a stir.

Cedric calmly grabbed my hand, which was covering his mouth. His slender fingers were elegant, looking as though he had never lifted anything heavy in his life. Out of a sudden spike of spite, I shifted my weight, pressing my knees harder into Cedric Klein’s chest and arm. A stifled groan escaped him. Ignoring it, I reached up and adjusted his glasses.

“If I let go, will you stay quiet?”

He nodded immediately—a slight, restricted movement in my grip.

Keeping eye contact, I slowly pulled my hand away. As promised, Cedric Klein kept his mouth shut and simply regulated his breathing. I retracted my previous assessment of him. He was the same as ever. His movements were slow and sluggish, making him look like a young animal. Whether he was acting like ‘Sisi’ in front of me or if he was always like this, I couldn’t tell—well, actually, I could. I recalled Louis’s rants about Cedric Klein, which he’d delivered with utter disgust. Even after being backstabbed like that, I still hadn’t learned my lesson.

The floor below soon went quiet.

I strained my ears to track their movements. There were no urgent footsteps coming up, and the voices didn’t continue. They seemed to have decided to lose interest. Perhaps they had realized, however late, that this was Cedric Klein’s territory.

Still perched on top of Cedric, I scanned the room. I’d heard his room was at the end of the hall on the same floor as Chloe’s, so this place seemed to be used for a different purpose. The interior was dark and silent, with long, thick curtains surrounding the area right in front of the terrace.

In the quiet room, filled only with the sound of our breathing, the occasional sound of liquid boiling and bubbles popping was added. Contrary to his vacant expression, his chest was heaving rapidly, suggesting he was somewhat surprised. I had pinned him down in the heat of the moment, but realizing how embarrassing the posture would look to an outsider, I slowly climbed off him.

Cedric remained lying down, watching me as he slowly took off his crooked glasses. His gaze lingered on my face for a long time before moving to the sword my hand rested on, then finally toward my chest.

“Swordsmanship Department?”

Following his question, I looked down as well. A round seal was dangling above my welt pocket. Inside the circular coin was an engraving of a bird with its massive wings spread, looking as if it were bound. I had wondered how anyone told the uniforms apart when they all looked the same; apparently, this was the marker.

Since I had to wear the Swordsmanship Department uniform to carry a sword, it must be right. I answered easily.

“Yeah.”

“I’ve never seen you before…”

“I’ve never seen you either.”

At that, Cedric’s hands fidgeted, fingering the hem of the robe he wore over his shirt. That was just like when he was a kid, too. Apparently, something was bothering him again.

“What’s your name?”

The moment I heard the question, I almost let out a scoff of disbelief.

I debated how to answer, wondering just how much he was playing with me. I’d heard many times that Cedric Klein’s personality was incredibly twisted. Even if that weren’t the case, the normal reaction to a stranger pinning you down would be to resist. I didn’t need any more evidence for the hypothesis that he knew exactly who I was and was acting coy on purpose.

Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be, I thought. I suppressed my rising irritation and feigned composure.

True to Erkel’s taste, the ‘leads’ he had written seemed to have a knack for pissing people off. My only consolation was that Dimension, the most normal one, had a larger role than Luke or Cedric Klein.

“Elliot Dylan.”

It was a name I’d mentioned frequently in the letters I exchanged with ‘Sisi,’ so there was no way he didn’t know it. I offered a brief internal apology to Elliot for selling out his name without his knowledge.

Behind his slowly blinking eyelids, his black pupils drifted lazily. Cedric Klein parted his lips and whispered, “Can I call you Elliot?”

“No, you can’t.”

Again, it wasn’t the answer he wanted, and his closed lips pouted slightly.

“Why?”

His voice was blunt, like a child’s. Seeing him determined to feign ignorance, I decided to toss something else at him instead of showing him Elizabeth Luxteel’s necklace as originally planned.

“We aren’t close enough to call each other by name.”

“…….”

“Why should I give you permission?”

In contrast to the cold boundary I was drawing, my voice was quiet and gentle. Noticing this, Cedric’s lips curled into a smile. He clearly understood what I was trying to say.

“I want to become close enough to call you by your name.”

19. Reunion with Sisi, no, Cedric

The claim that Cedric Klein was the genius of the century might have contained a bit of hyperbole, but it was no lie.

I hadn’t had high expectations even as we entered the Principal’s office, which Louis had pre-opened as planned. I’d heard he was incredible, but I couldn’t even accurately grasp the extent of my own brother Abel’s abilities. The praise for Cedric Klein had felt like some distant, airy story. I figured he was great because everyone said he was.

So, while I didn’t show it outwardly, I couldn’t help but be shocked as I watched Cedric disarm the traps. It was even more impressive considering who the owner of this room was. The Academy Principal was Pisa Tecon, a man who had held the position of Tower Master for decades and was hailed as the greatest living mage. And yet, the traps he created were being easily broken by a disciple significantly younger than him.

It wasn’t as if Pisa Tecon would have set up sloppy magic. As I’d felt before and heard from Abel, the Principal was a stubborn, meticulous old man.

The type to never forget the small things and stake his life on trivialities. Therefore, the security magic in the Principal’s office was likely of the highest difficulty, and Cedric Klein was indeed impressive for handling it. If it had been truly simple, Louis, who visited first, would have taken care of it all.

I just… didn’t want to readily admit it. That this guy was a genius who defied common sense.

“It’s open.”

When I didn’t say anything, Cedric turned around and spoke. His pale face was filled with anticipation. He was practically begging for a compliment.

It wasn’t a difficult task. Uttering a few words of praise wouldn’t ruin my tongue or leave me with a bitter stomach. If I could utilize labor that was difficult to hire elsewhere for the mere price of words, it was a bargain. I decided to give him what he wanted.

“Good job.”

However, even after hearing the praise he sought, Cedric didn’t look happy. His face, which had been looking this way waiting for the next thing, turned sullen. I ignored it. He had realized that a soulless, empty compliment was the entirety of his reward.

“What are you doing? You have to open the next one.”

“This is really difficult, you know.”

His voice was grumpy. To my eyes, it looked easier than crumpling fabric into pleats, but if the expert said so, I suppose it was.

“Right. You’re amazing.”

“This is… really hard and exhausting.”

“It’s really hard and exhausting, but you did it so easily. Impressive.”

I even gave him a little round of applause, but his expression didn’t brighten. On the contrary, he shut his mouth as if he were about to snap.

To the Cedric Klein who begged to call me by my name, I had extended a kindness. Normally, intimacy is built over time, so we—having technically just met—would take a very long time to build a relationship that could be called ‘intimate.’ But when I told him we could overturn that all at once, Cedric had smiled quietly.

‘What is it?’

‘They say people get close when they do bad things together.’

‘Bad things?’

‘Becoming accomplices in something you shouldn’t do, something that shouldn’t be found out by others, and sharing a secret.’

As I spoke in a hushed voice, he pushed himself up. His deep purple hair flowed down with his movement.

In that image, I found his childhood face. The fine texture of his hair, his white face contrasting with the dark hair color, his quietly closed lips, and his gentle, round eyes that created an almost defenseless, soft atmosphere. Certainly, even putting aside his personality and talent, Cedric Klein had a striking appearance that would stand out anywhere.

I couldn’t deny that he was more my type than the inhumanly gorgeous Crown Prince or Luke, who had looked dangerous and sharp since he was young—no, I had to deny it.

I almost bit my tongue following that train of thought. Unless I had been fully assimilated into this BL novel, there was no way. I bit the inside of my cheek, appalled at myself for even briefly thinking about whether a man was my ‘type’ or not. I had to stay sharp.