“……2301. Same hotel. Within range.”

[“Oh, okay. 2301…… 23rd floor, huh? Same floor as our boss. Must be a fancy room.”]

“A room? Not really. It’s no different from my room in Dresden. The furniture is even worse…… Anyway, nothing special.”

[“Your room in Dresden, you mean the Tarten mansion?”]

“Yeah.”

[“……, …… Raised in the lap of luxury…… The boss said, from tomorrow onwards, after you’re done with the schedule at the hotel, you’re free to do whatever, got it? I’ll wake you up at five tomorrow morning! Good night!”]

The captain suddenly got angry, spat out something unclear whether it was a greeting or a yell, then abruptly hung up. Christoph, who had called to inform his current location, raised his eyebrows in surprise and blinked, staring at the phone. ‘What’s gotten into him?’  – He thought, shaking his head as he put the phone down.

However, ‘good night’ meant that today’s schedule was over. Christoph looked at his watch, which was nearing 9 o’clock, then leaned his head back against the sofa. The throbbing pain pulsed slowly like a heartbeat. It seemed to have eased a bit compared to when he had just returned to the hotel. Perhaps the whirlwind of events had left him no time to notice his headache.

‘I probably don’t need to take medicine to sleep,’ – Christoph thought to himself, gently rubbing his temples. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a door opening behind him.

He didn’t turn around. The sound came from Richard’s bedroom, and now the only other person in the room besides Christoph was him. Hans had packed his belongings and moved to another room a long time ago.

Footsteps approached. Christoph remained still, eyes closed, hand on his temple. But when he heard a voice from the sofa opposite him: “Take this”, he was forced to open his eyes.

When Christoph opened his eyes with a slight frown, he saw Richard indifferently holding out a small box. Christoph glanced at him suspiciously, but took the box anyway. Then he tilted his head quizzically and opened it. Given the size, it probably contained a small piece of jewelry. Like a ring, perhaps……

“……”

Inside was indeed a ring.

Christoph stared intently at the plain, unadorned platinum ring, then looked up at Richard. Richard simply stared back at Christoph without a word. His gaze was intensely observant, as if he didn’t want to miss a single expression on Christoph’s face.

After looking at the ring for a moment, Christoph finally spoke:

“Don’t tell me you’re giving me this plain, rustic thing as a ring. I’d rather wear a coke can tab on my finger. ——Did you choose this?”

At that moment, Richard’s stern expression crumbled, a blue vein throbbing on his forehead.

“I didn’t choose it. Why do you blame me for choosing everything you don’t like——. Whatever, forget it, someone gives you a ring and that’s all you can say?”

Christoph shot Richard a cold look as he spoke in a harsh tone. Then he looked down at the ring again.

Even though he lived detached from the outside world, Christoph knew that jewelry wasn’t something to be given or received casually, and among them were pieces that were particularly dangerous when considered as gifts……. However.

“If someone were to present something like this with a serious implication, I couldn’t think of any other response.”

“…… Fine. Stop talking nonsense, just put it on. It’s a tracking device.”

Richard rubbed his furrowed brow and spoke to Christoph in a resigned voice, defeated by his cold, definitive reply. From the beginning, it had been a million miles away from anything resembling a dangerous gift.

“Return it to me when we get back to the hotel tonight. They said they’ll check the daytime movement logs in the evening and return it the next morning.”

Only after hearing this did Christoph let out an “Ah” and nod. He finally understood the meaning of this mysterious object. It seemed the captain had told Richard to give it to him. When they were on business trips abroad, they were often issued tracking devices as a precaution. Its form changed each time; sometimes it was a pin, a button, last time it was a watch.

“Last time it was a watch that looked like it was picked up from a ditch, now it’s a ring so ugly I’m embarrassed to wear it,” Christoph muttered irritably, twisting the ring on his finger. Richard sighed, looking at him with a gloomy expression.

“You really are——, …… never mind.”

He stood up abruptly and walked across the living room. Taking a bottle of whiskey from the large glass cabinet, he poured himself a full glass and downed half of it as if he were parched. Then, leaning against the table, he seemed to recover somewhat. He then looked directly at Christoph with a puzzled expression.

A silence fell. Christoph frowned, meeting Richard’s gaze without flinching.

The atmosphere was strange. Come to think of it, this was the first time they’d faced each other properly since Richard had left Riyadh.

Christoph suddenly felt uncomfortable. He had never felt at ease or happy around Richard, but he had never felt this uneasy either. He wondered why, and as he pondered, his headache seemed to intensify.

Finally, Richard spoke:

“I had a hunch when I heard Al-Faisal was coming, but I wasn’t sure it would be you. He’s not at the Riyadh residence anymore, after all.”

Richard’s voice was a little lower than usual, but his manner of speaking was as calm as ever.

“He’s fond of talent. Whatever he does, he lines up the talented ones and deals with them first.”

“So I couldn’t help but be chosen,” – Christoph added nonchalantly. He didn’t seem to possess any social skills that expressed modesty.

But that wasn’t what made Richard frown.

“Lately, there’s been growing discontent among those who followed Rashid. You know full well how likely that misplaced anger could be directed at you, so why did you deliberately come? Even if you were chosen, you could have withdrawn if you didn’t want to.”

Why? Christoph had never thought about the reason, nor did he need to. He was well aware that such people existed, but he had never considered them a threat. Christoph scoffed.

“You’re worried about me? How touching.”

He replied with his usual cold sarcasm, but there was no response. More than enough time had passed for Richard to retort with a similar taunt, but his silence surprised Christoph, who looked at him questioningly.

Richard silently watched Christoph. He stared for a moment with a puzzled look on his face, then raised his glass to his lips and took a sip. Then he coldly replied.

“No need for gratitude. It’s only natural.”

“Why?”

“…… If I told you, would you believe me?”

Richard took small sips as he looked at Christoph. His face was cold and unsmiling, his tone chilly. Though this was the Richard Christoph knew, he still hesitated for a moment.

‘I believe. What you say.’

“No.”

Christoph answered curtly, and as if Richard had anticipated this, he looked away from Christoph and down at his wine. Christoph frowned as he watched Richard silently fiddling with the glass, unsure of what he was thinking. A vague sense of unease welled up. His head throbbed again.

Christoph brought a hand to his temple and clicked his tongue. After a short silence, Richard abruptly asked:

“Did you sleep with your lover?”

It was an unexpected question, completely out of the blue. Christoph, forgetting his throbbing headache, widened his eyes and stared at Richard. It was more of a glare than a stare. Richard slowly turned his head, meeting his gaze.

Under Richard’s bewildered stare, before Christoph could open his mouth, he slowly said:

“You mean sleep with me, right?”

“SINCE WHEN WERE YOU MY LOVER?!”

Christoph yelled as soon as Richard finished speaking. Richard’s eyes also darkened as he looked into the blazing blue eyes glaring at him. After a brief silence, his tightly pressed lips moved to ask:

“So it was someone else?”

“I said we slept together, not that we were lovers. Besides you, who else would do such a vulgar thing? If not lovers, then why sleep together…… Disgusting.”

Christoph rubbed his arm as if just the thought made him shudder. Not only was his head pounding, but nausea was also rising in his throat.

Even if he could ignore the physical contact with another person, just imagining actions that went beyond that limit was enough to make Christoph feel unwell. The discomfort was even stronger than before. He actually got goosebumps. It felt like his body wasn’t normal.

Sometimes.

Although only occasionally, he would recall that feeling in his dreams. The feeling of Richard imprinted all over his body with his skin, warmth, fingers, lips, and everything else.

Even in his dreams, he felt his mind melting, his heart burning. It was a strangely horrifying sensation that made his whole body struggle and flail uncontrollably.

And afterward, even if it was early morning with sleep still heavy in his head, the moment he opened his eyes, he was forced to crawl out of bed, drag himself to the bathroom, and scrub his body repeatedly.

“……—”

Christoph frowned. A shiver ran down his spine as that feeling seemed to resurface. It was such a foreign sensation that he wanted to avoid it.

“Right, I thought so.”

Richard muttered as if speaking to himself.

“I didn’t think you’d have someone like that. No way. With your pathological haphephobia, voluntarily sleeping with someone is impossible, unless it’s someone you truly trust. No, not just trust——.”

He abruptly stopped. The hand holding the glass unconsciously tightened. His face hardened, his teeth clenched, as he stared intently at Christoph.

No, not at Christoph. He was looking at someone who wasn’t there – perhaps someone who didn’t even exist in this world – towards the space where Christoph was sitting.

It was a gaze that could freeze one’s heart just by touching it—a chillingly cold stare.

“……Richard.”

Only when Christoph called his name with an impassive expression did Richard’s eyes flicker slightly. He finally looked at Christoph. But only for a moment. Richard then averted his gaze, still gloomy, and brought the glass to his lips. But the glass was empty, so he clicked his tongue.

How much time had passed? After a period of silence, Richard sighed. He took a deep breath, as if trying to dispel the darkness within him, then looked at Christoph.

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since returning from Riyadh.”

When he spoke in a quiet tone, Christoph fell silent.

Since returning from Riyadh. There was no need to specify when that was. It was the period that had just passed.

“Even if I say something now, you won’t listen. Even if I think something, want something, you’ll just deny it all.”

“Right, even when I gave you the ring, you didn’t consider any other meaning,” – Richard said with a wry smile.

“There’s no other way. That’s the price I have to pay……. But even so, I can’t stand it anymore. The words stuck in my throat have to come out. I can’t hold back anymore——I have to say it. What I want. How much I yearn. What I want to do.”

“There’s no way to hold back the words I want to say anymore,” – His voice trailed off, gradually fading. The softly murmured words died away, but they still echoed clearly in Christoph’s ears. Christoph watched him without any expression. ……Throb. A slight buzzing in his head. His headache seemed to be getting worse.

The words he wanted to say.

‘……I don’t want to hear them. I didn’t want to hear the words that I was sure I would end up denying from the very beginning. Regardless of whether I believe them or not, just hearing them in that moment will make my heart ache and race……’

Richard’s lips suddenly trembled slightly as he looked at Christoph’s face, stiff as a wax doll.

“Don’t look at me with those eyes, Christoph.”

“——My eyes?”

Despite saying so, Christoph felt his voice freeze over. The corners of Richard’s lips twisted further.

“You’re looking at my mouth anxiously, wondering what I’ll say. With pale blue eyes.”

“Don’t presume to interpret my feelings. If you have something to say, say it.”

But the tension that had just begun to build quickly dissipated as Richard snorted derisively. He tilted his head down, looking at Christoph with a mocking gaze.

“Do you think I’m a naive brat who can’t distinguish time and place? Come on, not now.”

“What is it?”

There was no answer to Christoph’s words. Richard set the empty glass down and turned to walk away. As if to end the conversation, he muttered: “Tea is better than alcohol”, then placed a kettle on the stove and took out a small glass jar of tea leaves from the cupboard.

Christoph silently watched Richard prepare the tea, seemingly deliberately not looking in his direction. What was he thinking……no, he didn’t want to know. Every time he thought about it, his headache intensified.

Richard only looked back at Christoph after the water boiled and the kettle automatically switched off. With his usual demeanor, Richard raised an eyebrow slightly when their eyes met, then uttered a curt remark in his familiar manner.

“What are you looking at?”

“……Nothing. ……I don’t think I’ve ever seen you make tea yourself. Do you even know how?”

“It seems you’re used to having servants make your tea. Unfortunately, I don’t live a leisurely life like a rich young master.”

When Christoph asked sarcastically, Richard, after letting off some steam and pouring the hot water into the teapot, calmly retorted. And at that moment, Christoph suddenly realized, perhaps this was the feeling the captain had mentioned about the silver spoon, a newfound enlightenment. This was the first time he’d felt this way. A face he just wanted to kick.

“What time do we start work tomorrow?”

Richard placed a large mug in front of Christoph while bringing an identical mug in his other hand to his lips. Christoph looked at the dark brown tea with a dissatisfied expression, then blew on it and took a sip. It had a peculiar aroma, but it wasn’t bad. Quite palatable.

“Five o’clock. Old man Al-Faisal will probably take a morning walk and then rest for a bit.”

“That old man is so diligent,” – Richard muttered, watching Christoph cradle the mug in both hands and sip continuously, then snorted.

“A low-blood-pressure guy like you, at five in the morning. It must be tough to get up.”

“That’s why I’ll go to bed early.”

Christoph checked his watch; it was past 9 o’clock. He habitually rubbed his temples. His headache wasn’t severe but persistent. Though he was used to it, the anticipation of not being able to sleep soundly wasn’t pleasant.

“Tsk,” – Richard clicked his tongue towards Christoph. Then he spoke in his low, quiet voice.

“Hopefully this tea will help. It relaxes the mind and promotes good sleep. They say it helps you sleep deeply and not wake up easily…… Well, if you don’t have a pathological neurological disorder, that is.”

Christoph stared at the man who was muttering about whether or not it would be effective for chronic headaches or nervous breakdowns. Then he snorted.

“Sleep soundly and not wake up, in this room, where I don’t know what will happen while I’m asleep?”

Richard’s mocking smile disappeared. He sipped his tea and silently watched Christoph for a moment, then placed the empty mug on the table.

“It seems you know what I want to do to you.”

Christoph remained silent. The expression on his face was wiped clean in an instant.

What he wanted to do. He didn’t want to know such things. He didn’t even want to think about it.

Richard slowly observed Christoph, whose face had stiffened, then clicked his tongue.

“Come on, finish your tea and go to sleep. Since you won’t believe anything I say anyway, lock the door. ——I have a lot of work to do, so I’ll be in my room. I’m not here to play around and admire your face this time.”

Richard said coldly, then checked his watch and turned towards his bedroom. He entered the bedroom without looking back and closed the door. *Click,* A small sound, separating the two sides of the door.

Christoph glared at the wooden door, still holding the slightly warm mug in his hand.

Though he glared as if he wanted to devour it.

His lips seemed to move soundlessly at some point.