Chapter 82
Moments earlier, the room had been overflowing with voices. Now, in the blink of an eye, the conference hall fell into complete silence.
Not a single person dared to speak.
Because Abel had never made an issue of it, because he had never bothered to dig any deeper, they had managed to keep their positions to this day. But had Abel been even a little more determined to uncover what had happened back then, there would have been no shortage of people who would have lost their heads.
Abel quietly studied those who could not bring themselves to meet his eyes, as well as those who feigned composure and looked back at him without hesitation.
“Lord Abel. Why bring up what happened back then…”
One of them cleared his throat and tried to ask the question, but Abel answered in a bored tone before he could finish.
“I have no intention of rehashing something so stale that’s already long past.”
Few people present would take Abel’s words at face value.
But Abel had no intention of reassuring them or earning their trust.
Whether they feared him or not made no difference to him.
“But I have no intention of overlooking a jackal that presumptuously attacks me again.”
Abel met Gregory’s steady gaze head-on.
“My mercy and forgiveness end here.”
Then he declared, leaving no room for doubt.
“Even the Father will take my side this time.”
If you lay a hand on me, if you lay a hand on someone who belongs to me, I will not let it pass in silence as I did before.
Even if I have to invoke Father’s name, even if I have to wield my authority as the Herald of God, I will make you pay the price.
It was the unmistakable signal that the predator, who until now had never once bothered to look beneath itself, had finally acknowledged the prey lying below.
“Because this is the first time His beloved son has ever been this angry.”
* * *
Whether his declaration threw the temple into turmoil for an entirely different reason or not, Abel paid it no mind as he left the conference room and looked with satisfaction at his bedchamber, which had been completely transformed in the meantime.
When Abel had first declared that Felix would be sharing his room, everyone had been visibly taken aback.
Even so, they had followed his orders and prepared the room to perfection.
“Lord Abel. Are you certain this is really all right?”
One of the priests who had overseen the redecorating asked cautiously, but Abel nodded as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Yes.”
“But…”
The priest looked as though he wanted to object further, but after noticing how unmistakably pleased Abel seemed, he could only retreat with a resigned expression.
Unbothered, Abel checked the time and tried to estimate when Felix would return.
‘I wonder when he’ll be back?’
With everything that had happened today, Abel’s security had been reinforced. The Commander of the Holy Knights had summoned all of the knights who had originally been assigned to guard Abel, leaving Felix away from his post for the time being.
‘I hope he likes it.’
Drawing on everything he had learned over the past few days, Abel had done his best to arrange the room to suit Felix’s tastes.
“Move those items over there. Don’t let them get mixed up.”
Still actively directing the servants, Abel turned with obvious delight when Felix returned to the bedroom a short while later.
“What do you think, Felix?”
It might not be perfect, but surely it was good enough that he wouldn’t get scolded.
Turning confidently toward Felix, Abel immediately lost that confidence when he saw the smile spreading across Felix’s face.
“Lord Abel.”
Felix had done nothing more than say his name, yet Abel understood the message perfectly.
Send everyone else out.
And whenever Felix sent everyone away, it meant he was about to get angry.
After dismissing the others as Felix wished, Abel looked around the room once more.
‘What’s the problem?’
He hurriedly scanned the room for an answer when Felix asked irritably:
“Are you telling me to move out of the room on my own?”
“What are you talking about? I told you to move in.”
Tilting his head at the incomprehensible accusation, Abel looked puzzled. Felix frowned impatiently and replied:
“Then why have you drawn a line right down the middle of the room?”
A line? What line?
“There isn’t one.”
Felix let out a scoff and pointed with his finger.
“Anyone can see the left side and the right side are completely different, can’t they?”
It had made perfect sense. Felix’s belongings were all on the left, while Abel’s were on the right.
Seeing that Abel still had no idea what the issue was, Felix clenched his teeth.
“I’m asking why all of my things are pink.”
Ah, so that’s what this was about.
Abel answered without the slightest embarrassment.
“Because if everything’s the same color, our things will get mixed up.”
Most belongings in the temple were white or ivory. But Felix had always hated it whenever Abel touched his things. So Abel had separated them by color to make sure they would never accidentally get mixed together.
Since they were going to be sharing a room now, he wanted to avoid making Felix uncomfortable as much as possible. If things went well, perhaps they could even continue sharing a room after all of this was over.
Though that was highly unlikely.
And that besides—
“Pink is mine. Yours is white, Felix.”
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