The Threshold of Light and Shadow

His voice remained soft, clinging to my ear with a sticky, melting heat. It made my skin crawl so much I wanted to scratch it.

“Stop… talking nonsense.”

My voice cracked with a sense of injustice. He was the one who dragged me here to see this, and now he was blaming me for actually paying attention? What kind of logic was that?

If his intention was to steal my focus, he had succeeded. The boisterous music from below no longer even registered in my mind.

I hadn’t expected things to escalate like this so suddenly. I let my eyes wander as I ran through Luke’s “keywords” in my head. I haven’t properly cleared any conditions yet. He shouldn’t be falling for me yet, should he? Then why…

I was busy holding up puzzle pieces, trying to see if they fit the blank space, when a realization struck me. You don’t necessarily have to “fall” for someone to get physically close to them. In this world—especially in a place where life is cheap—relationships devoid of love were far more common.

A flash of realization hit me: I had been far too naive. Is this bastard going to try something right here? And if he does, can I even push him away?

I never thought I’d be worrying about this at an age where I wasn’t even an adult—where I hadn’t even finished growing. Cold sweat trickled down my spine as I imagined the worst-case scenario. A sudden chill washed over me, and I shivered involuntarily. Seeing me frozen stiff, Luke finally let go of my wrist. The moment the pressure vanished, I scrambled backward. There wasn’t much space to retreat, but I couldn’t stand being pressed up against him for another second.

Luke narrowed the distance as if my reaction were amusing. Mischief danced in his eyes as he leaned in close. Even though I knew he wouldn’t try to kiss me this time, I leaned my upper body back as far as possible to avoid him. He was clearly enjoying my distress.

Trying not to let my nerves show, I spoke stiffly.

“Back off.”

“When you act all prickly like that, it just makes me want to mess with you more.”

Don’t give me that bullshit. I swallowed the curse and glared at him, and Luke finally pulled his face away.

“Why the look?”

“……”

“Did you think I was going to do something else?”

I let out a huff of indignation and moved even further away. Seeing that look of amusement on his face only made me feel worse. It made the threat I’d felt seem pathetic—like I was a child jumping at shadows. I might have been overreacting, but it wasn’t like my fears were entirely baseless.

I tried my best to ignore him and look back at the performance. Of course, I couldn’t focus on it. My nerves were pinned to the side. Eventually giving up, I pulled one knee to my chest and rested my chin on it. I figured if I just looked at him openly, he might stop playing games. It seemed the more I tried to ignore him, the more he wanted to poke at me.

As day reached its end and the red traces of the sun faded toward night, lanterns began to flicker on, illuminating a face where the laughter had vanished. His face, sharply divided by light and shadow, was as beautiful as a painting.

His black hair was disheveled over a wound that looked painful just to smile with. Without thinking, I reached out to brush it away, then stopped myself. Luke watched me, leaning back loosely on his hands against the floor.

Pushing my irritation aside for a moment, I felt a genuine sense of awe at the sight. Since these guys were chosen by the original author’s strict standards to be leads, their faces were truly… on another level. I hadn’t met one of them yet, but since he was a “Sub,” he surely wouldn’t be lacking.

If the Crown Prince was like a jewel, and Cedric Klein felt like a finely crafted doll, then Luke was like an old masterpiece. It was the way his somber aura drew the eye, even though he was constantly wearing a smile. The wound—which was sure to leave a scar—bothered me a bit, but his features were so naturally elegant that even the scar would probably look good once the swelling went down.

“If you stare at me that vacantly, I’ll start to get the wrong idea.”

“…The wrong idea?”

When I asked back dumbly, Luke tilted his head to the left. With that relaxed smile, he looked almost arrogant. He was like this even now, without any official title; in a few years, he would be truly overwhelming. I briefly regretted getting involved with him. Better to deal with him while he’s young, I thought, steadying my heart. Meanwhile, his golden eyes followed me, persistent and obsessive.

Luke didn’t answer the question this time, either.

“I’ll walk you back. Can’t have you getting lost again.”

I thought he just meant he’d walk me to our usual meeting spot, but Luke walked much further out than I expected. The alleys looked completely different between day and night, almost unrecognizable, so I didn’t refuse his company.

We walked in silence, maintaining enough distance that our clothes didn’t even brush. I kept stealing glances at his profile, calculating how much distance we had left.

He was strange today. Usually, we’d meet and exchange trivial banter, but today he suddenly wanted to show me a performance. He had rushed ahead earlier without caring if I could keep up, but now he was walking leisurely—as if he were intentionally matching my pace.

And then there was that tower. A tower whose entrance was blocked, requiring one to traverse rooftops just to get inside… that was likely Luke’s hideout. Bringing me to a place like that was something I couldn’t have imagined normally. Luke always mimicked kindness with his gentle voice, but he had always drawn a very firm line. Instead of a sword fight, I began to wonder if he’d taken a hit to the head.

Asking him what was wrong felt too awkward, and saying thank you felt like it would wound my pride. He wouldn’t answer the question anyway, and he’d probably give some bizarre response to a “thank you,” so I didn’t want to try. While I was debating, we approached the main road. Luke came to a halt right before the second alley, as soon as the paved road appeared.

A few more steps and the path would widen; two more buildings and we’d be in the well-policed central district. Seeing him stand perfectly still, as if this was as far as he could go, I asked:

“When am I seeing you next?”

Setting the appointments was always Luke’s job. I would go to the alley on the days he specified. Even if I stopped going, he could find me whenever he wanted, but the reverse was impossible. Hadn’t I just wasted several days coming here when he didn’t show up?

The most infuriating part was that Luke had nothing to lose. If he pushed me away, I was the one who had to stomp my feet in anxiety, but in the opposite scenario, he could just forget about me without a second thought. In the end, Luke held the keys to this relationship. I was just the one hanging on, worrying that the knot I’d barely managed to tie would come undone.

Luke let out a long “Hmm…” before asking, “You’re going to keep coming out?”

“…Yeah.”

I answered flatly, trying not to show how much my pride was stinging. If I showed a crack, Luke was the type of bastard who would wedge himself in and tear it wider.

“I can’t for a while.”

How long is “a while”? My lips felt dry, and I licked them. Part of me wanted to just play along with his whims. Every relationship needs a proper tug-of-war, and I knew a type like Luke would find it interesting if I acted against his expectations.

The problem was that I didn’t have much time. How many days were left until Edward Spellman sent his reply? I planned to move into the Spellman estate the moment I got confirmation. I wouldn’t have the luxury of stopping by my house, let alone wandering the alleys looking for Luke.

If we parted with such an ambiguous relationship, all my effort would go to waste. When I’d reunite with him years later, Luke probably wouldn’t even remember me.

“Why?”

Luke just stood there, smiling silently. Are you not going to answer this either, you bastard? Seeing his composed face while my insides were burning made my temper flare.

I tried to calm myself and think. I needed something—something to prove a deeper level of intimacy.

The first thing that came to mind was the locket. Since I didn’t know if Luke’s keyword was “Locket” or “Lost Item,” it was still sitting quietly in my drawer. I wasn’t sure if giving it to him as a gift right now would mean much. But no matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn’t figure out a way to “lose” it so that it would naturally find its way into Luke’s hands.

This wasn’t my specialty. I really felt the absence of Erkel, who used to help me. I gritted my teeth, thinking of Cedric Klein’s face—a face that was still stuck at age ten. If I couldn’t establish a proper way to stay in contact, I felt like I might even track him down at the Academy. Even shaking Cedric by the collar wouldn’t be enough to vent my frustration.

“Get home safe, Lin.”

Luke spoke tenderly as he stepped back. He didn’t turn around immediately; instead, he moved away while facing me. His body looked as though it were passing through an invisible barrier between the streetlights that lit the road like day and the silent darkness of the alleys. Soon, he would disappear into the gloom.

For some reason, I felt that if I let him go now, it would be difficult to meet Luke in Robenus ever again. In a moment of urgency, my body moved first. As I grabbed his arm, he blinked slowly.

“You said you were interested. You said you liked me.”

“……”

“What’s the reason for this all of a sudden?”

“You get scared so easily, yet you act like you have no fear at all.”

Luke brushed off my hand as if flicking away a piece of lint.

“Even though you know how dangerous I am.”