Chapter 64
A day without Felix was still peaceful and quiet, but it was also dull and unbearably boring.
Abel realized just how boring the day had been when night fell and it was time to turn in. He found himself regretting yesterday’s decision a little.
‘I should’ve just told him to come.’
He had only told Felix not to come because it looked like he needed a day to rest. He hadn’t expected the day to be this dull.
Lately, they hadn’t even been having proper conversations anyway, so Abel had assumed it wouldn’t matter much.
“But he’ll be back tomorrow, so—?”
Abel abruptly turned toward the door.
The person currently walking down the corridor toward his room was…
Felix, whom he had spent the entire day thinking about.
Abel strode forward in long steps. Felix’s stubborn insistence on coming despite being told not to was adorable, and he was simply happy that he would get to see him.
Before Felix could enter, Abel flung the door open and called the name of the person he loved.
“Felix!”
The corners of his lips lifted of their own accord, and his eyes curved into a smile.
But the only response he received was an urgent question.
“What in the world is this?”
Still smiling brightly whether Felix was angry or not, Abel noticed the object in Felix’s hand and smiled in satisfaction.
At last, Felix had found the gift Abel had left behind in his secret training spot.
“A gift to apologize?”
He had been sure Felix would like it.
Felix shoved him roughly back into the room, slammed the door shut, and exclaimed:
“Have you completely lost your mind?”
Being asked whether he had lost his mind was nothing new to Abel. Naturally ignoring the question, he pointed at the item in Felix’s hand.
“So? It’s an apology gift. Do you li—”
But before Abel could finish speaking, Felix roughly seized both of his hands. Then he carefully began inspecting them.
“Felix?”
Abel looked down at his own hands resting atop Felix’s large ones.
Unlike Felix’s hands, which were covered in scrapes and cuts as though he had come straight from training, Abel’s were smooth and pale, without a single wound or even a callus.
Felix’s rough, misshapen hands contrasted starkly with Abel’s elegant, delicate ones.
As Abel idly compared the obvious differences between them one by one, Felix asked urgently:
“Which hand was it?”
“My left.”
“Which finger… this one?”
After examining each of Abel’s fingers in turn, Felix suddenly lowered his head over one of them.
Seeing Felix’s hand and shoulders trembling ever so slightly, Abel blinked.
“Felix, are you crying?”
What was wrong? Was he hurt somewhere? Had he bitten his tongue? Or was something suddenly causing him pain?
‘Is he touched by my gift?’
Though if that were the case, his reaction was rather extreme. Had he liked it so much that this was how strongly he reacted?
Just as Abel was about to press him for an answer, a faint but warm current of holy power wrapped itself around his hand.
“Nothing hurts, though.”
Is he really in pain, and that’s why he can’t control his holy power? Something similar could happen when someone was emotionally overwhelmed.
‘Though, it’s not like he has that much holy power.’
Abel swallowed the words he had been about to say and craned his neck this way and that, trying to get a look at Felix’s face.
Then Felix suddenly jerked his head up and glared at him.
“Have you actually gone insane?”
But the venom had vanished from his eyes.
Instead of the sharp hostility he’d shown until now, there was only exasperation, disbelief, utter bafflement… the look of someone staring at a person who genuinely lacked common sense.
Abel simply blinked at him.
Felix abruptly let go of his hands, almost throwing them aside. Then he thrust the gift Abel had left him forward.
“Who in the world gives something like this as an apology gift?”
Abel looked down at the gift resting atop the handkerchief, a present overflowing with holy power. He tilted his head.
“It’s not unheard of. Some high-ranking priests with exceptionally strong holy power occasionally make donations like this.”
Is it because he’s a holy knight that he doesn’t know? When Felix remained stubbornly silent, Abel elaborated.
“Since it was once a part of my body, it retains holy power much longer—”
“Please. Just stop talking.”
Why was he angry?
A holy relic made from part of a priest’s body possessed effects that couldn’t even be compared to holy water. Since it was crafted from flesh imbued with holy power, it lasted far longer than relics made from other materials, and it was vastly more difficult to obtain.
Abel parted his lips to continue, but the moment he saw the sharpness returning to Felix’s eyes, he quickly shut his mouth.
“Okay.”
Felix squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before opening them again and handing the gift back to him.
“You dispose of this yourself.”
Abel looked down at the gift that had been returned to him.
His fingernail.
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