Chapter 324 - Who likes who now?

Chapter 324: Chapter 324 - Who likes who now?

Dican was already moving before the guard finished explaining.

He left his chambers at a near run, barely noticing Bian following behind him. His mind was still reeling from everything that had happened in the last few hours. The Grayling material in his blood had been confirmed. He had watched Bian pull a suspicious little container from his clothes. And now, somehow, Grayling sap had been discovered in Nansich’s room.

None of it made sense.

By the time he reached the guest wing, Dican could hear Nansich long before he saw him.

"I said I’ve never seen that fucking thing before!"

Dican rounded the corner and found Nansich’s room packed with royal warriors. Several were searching through his belongings while another two stood near the doorway, clearly there to prevent him from leaving. Nansich himself stood in the middle of the room looking ready to murder everyone present.

His dark hair was slightly disheveled, probably from running his hands through it in frustration, and his jaw was clenched so tightly that the muscles along his cheek stood out. His sword had already been taken from him and placed across a table on the opposite side of the room, which only seemed to make his mood worse.

In the corner stood a young maid.

She looked terrified.

Both hands were wrapped carefully around a small sealed container, holding it away from her body as though it might suddenly bite her.

"I don’t even know what Grayling sap looks like!" Nansich snapped at one of the warriors. "How exactly am I supposed to prove something isn’t mine? You came into my room, found something I’ve never seen before and decided it belongs to me because it happened to be here?"

"Lord Nansich, please calm down."

"Stop telling me to calm down!"

The warrior wisely took half a step back.

Nansich pointed furiously around the room. "Half the things in here aren’t mine! That table isn’t mine. Those ugly curtains aren’t mine. The weird glowing thing in the bathroom isn’t mine. I’m a guest!"

"That is not the same—"

"Exactly! So explain to me why some random pot appearing in here suddenly makes me a Grayling poison collector."

"Nansich."

He spun around.

The moment he saw Dican standing in the doorway, his expression somehow became even worse.

"Oh, wonderful."

Dican stopped.

Nansich laughed once without humor and spread his hands. "The husband is here too. Perfect. Maybe someone else wants to accuse me of something while we’re all gathered together."

Dican would normally have found his reaction amusing. Right now, he couldn’t.

Nansich was furious, but beneath that fury Dican could see something else. Genuine frustration. He was in an alien palace, surrounded by armed soldiers belonging to a royal family he’d known for only a short time, accused of possessing a substance he didn’t even understand.

And he had absolutely no idea how to prove his innocence.

Dican stepped into the room.

"Enough."

The warriors immediately fell silent.

Nansich crossed his arms and glared at him.

Dican ignored it for now and looked toward the maid. "You’re the one who found it?"

The girl visibly swallowed.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Come here."

She approached nervously and bowed deeply, still holding the container.

"Tell me exactly what happened. From the beginning."

The maid glanced anxiously toward Nansich.

"He’s not going to hurt you," Dican said.

Nansich made an incredulous sound. "Why did you say that like I might?"

Dican gave him a warning look.

Nansich muttered something under his breath and turned away.

The maid gathered herself before speaking. "I came to clean Lord Nansich’s chambers this morning. While changing the bedding, I found this near the lower side of the sofa. It was partly underneath."

Nansich immediately turned back. "Under the sofa?"

"Yes."

"I’ve never put anything under that bed."

The maid shrank slightly.

Dican lifted a hand before Nansich could continue. "Let her finish."

Nansich’s nostrils flared, but he fell silent.

"I didn’t know what it was," the maid continued. "Lord Nansich is human, so I thought perhaps it was something from the human world. I was curious and took it with me."

Dican frowned. "You removed something from a royal guest’s room without permission?"

Her face went white.

"I know I shouldn’t have, Your Highness. I’m sorry. I thought it was only some small human object. I wanted to show my grandmother because she likes hearing about things from other worlds."

Nansich stared at her.

"So you stole it."

The maid’s eyes filled with panic. "I didn’t mean—"

"You took something you thought belonged to me without asking. That’s stealing."

"Nansich."

"What? It is!"

Dican pinched the bridge of his nose. "Continue."

The maid’s voice became quieter. "When my grandmother saw it, she became frightened. She recognized the smell when I opened the outer seal. She lived through one of the Grayling attacks when she was young. She told me it was one of their dirty substances and that I had to report it immediately. So I came back to the palace and informed the guards."

Nansich stared at her for several seconds, visibly struggling to contain himself.

Then he failed.

"So let me understand this. You found something under my bed, stole it, carried it out of my room, took it somewhere else, brought it back, and now everyone has decided I’m the suspicious one?"

The maid’s face burned red.

"I reported it!"

"After stealing it!"

"I admitted what I did!"

"That doesn’t mean you’re telling the truth!"

The maid looked close to tears.

Nansich dragged both hands down his face and paced away. "For all I know, she brought the damn thing in herself. Maybe it was never under my bed. Maybe she’s lying. How am I supposed to know?"

Dican watched him carefully.

That was the problem.

Nansich couldn’t prove anything.

Neither could the maid.

Dican looked toward the container again. His stomach tightened as he remembered the healer’s words.

Grayling in origin.

His own blood contained something related to whatever was inside that pot.

A soft voice came from behind him.

"She admitted what she did."

Dican turned.

Bian had entered the room quietly.

He stood several steps behind Dican, his golden clothes making him look almost painfully bright among the armored warriors. His expression was gentle and concerned, although Dican noticed the faint redness around his eyes from his earlier crying.

Bian looked at the maid sympathetically.

"She shouldn’t have taken something that didn’t belong to her, but she admitted her mistake and returned immediately when she realized it might be dangerous. I think she can be forgiven for that."

The maid looked at him gratefully.

Nansich stared at Bian.

"Oh, of course."

Bian flinched slightly at his tone.

Nansich gave a humorless laugh. "You’re here too. Why wouldn’t you be?"

"Nansich," Bian whispered, "I’m not trying to accuse you. I’m only saying this is serious. If that really is Grayling material, everyone should be careful."

Dican watched Bian from the corner of his eye.

There was nothing unusual about what he’d said.

Nothing Dican could point to.

Yet he couldn’t forget the little container he’d seen disappearing into those golden clothes.

Bian slowly moved closer to Dican.

"I know Nansich from the human world," he said softly. "He was always reckless. He could be frightening when he became angry. Sometimes he didn’t care who got hurt."

Nansich’s expression changed.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Bian’s eyes immediately filled with tears.

"I don’t want to think badly of you."

"Then don’t."

"But why would something like this be in your room?"

"How the fuck would I know?"

Bian recoiled from his raised voice and instinctively moved closer to Dican.

Nansich stared at him in disbelief.

Dican felt a headache beginning behind his eyes.

Then Bian suddenly seemed to realize something.

His face went pale.

He looked at Nansich, then at Dican, and his lips trembled.

"Could it be because of me?"

The entire room became strangely quiet.

Nansich frowned. "What?"

Bian’s eyes filled completely now. A tear slipped down his cheek as he clutched Dican’s sleeve.

"You’ve always been strange toward me. Even before we came here." His voice broke slightly. "Are you still interested in me?"

Nansich went completely still.

Dican slowly turned his head toward Bian.

Bian wiped his cheek, looking increasingly distressed. "Is that why you’re trying to hurt my husband? Because you know Dican and I are mates?"

For several seconds, Nansich appeared incapable of producing a sound.

His mouth opened.

Closed.

Then opened again.

"What?"

Even Dican was stunned.

Of all the possibilities he’d considered since entering this room, Nansich secretly desiring Bian had not been among them.

Nansich looked around as though expecting someone to announce this was a joke.

Nobody did.

"You think I..." He pointed at Bian, then at himself. "You think I want you?"

Bian’s fingers tightened around Dican’s sleeve.

Nansich’s face twisted into an expression of such profound disbelief that Dican almost forgot the seriousness of the situation.

Dican looked from Bian’s tearful face to Nansich’s horrified one.

Then, despite everything happening around them, one question escaped him before he could reconsider it.

"Nansich."

Nansich snapped his head toward him.

Dican hesitated.

"Do you like Bian?"

The look Nansich gave him could have killed a man.