an unfortunate change in genre

Part 42

"I'm starting to think you're doing this just as an excuse to wake up in his bed." Roksu's voice rang out wryly, disrupting Cale's half-asleep jumbled thoughts.

Cale sat up, squinting in the low light of the bedroom and holding his aching head with a frown. "...the fuck happened?"

Roksu was seated at his bedside with his typical stoic expression but Cale could tell he was a bit worried. "I was hoping you'd be able to illuminate me on that."

Cale frowned. The Vitality of Heart healed most all physical injuries, mending some that would have been fatal for anyone else, and only times Cale had fainted since receiving the ancient power had been due to the injuries being too severe for the ability to heal all at once. Or, while healing, the power strained his plate and he needed to rest to recover.

That didn't really fit for his current circumstances.

"...stress?"

Did he really faint due to stress? It was pathetic to admit but Cale's stress levels had been intensifying lately with absolutely no outlet. And perhaps he had been pushing his body a bit much lately.

It wasn't an extraordinary injury, it was just the cumulative efforts of the vitality of heart having to heal him day after day without letting the ancient power rest. Training himself past exhaustion, hardly sleeping at night, drinking recklessly, and ruminating on all the most miserable things in his life.

"You're really an idiot, hyung-nim." Roksu said critically but passed him a cup of water. "Everyone else should be back soon. His highness was especially concerned about you."

"Stop." Cale scowled, looking at his brother in disapproval. "Please don't continue your misguided matchmaking attempts even now. There is nothing between me and any royal and I'd appreciate it if you didn't push the matter."

Roksu frowned. "I was just stating a fact."

"A superfluous fact. Of course he was worried, I fainted. Who the fuck wouldn't be worried? I'm sure you were worried too, does that mean anything special? No."

Cale's snappish tone and bitter words were a bit surprising. The last time the pair had spoken about the matter Cale had been much less defensive.

"What happened."

Cale sighed. There really wasn't evading Roksu's notice. "Nothing."

'Liar.' Roksu's thought was written all over his frown.

The pair sat in silence for a while, the weight of the brief spat making Cale itchy.

He let out another ragged sigh, running his hand through his hair and leaning up against the headboard. "...I had a talk with Rosalyn."

"I heard. Apparently quite a few people witnessed the two of you sitting intimately with one another. Changed targets already?"

Cale sputtered. "What? We were just talking–"

Ah.

How must it have looked from the outside?

No one could hear their conversation, all they could see was their body language... their rather intimate looking body language.

Cale groaned. "The fuck did I do to deserve this?"

Now it wouldn't just be his brother who had misguidedly assumed he was a part of some ridiculous love triangle but now half the nobles across the kingdom were sure to have convinced themselves about it. It was exactly the sort of gossip that appealed to their vapid need for drama.