Chapter 19: He’s back

Rodion fluttered his eyes open.

It was already evening. His whole room was dim with no lit candles. Through the open window, he saw the full moon hanging in the hollow night sky, casting a soft glow that illuminated his room. He let out a weary sigh before propping himself up. As he crawled to the edge of the bed, the night robe that was draped over him slipped down and sat on the edge. His bare feet touched the cold floor.

That mysterious dream again... 

The strip of cloth remained clenched in his hand. He opened his palm and gazed down at it, his expression wistful and pensive.

That man makes me feel familiar emotions... Like how I feel when I'm with the prince. Does this mean 'I'm' not the one who's feeling weird towards the prince but the entity within me?

His hand turned into a fist, clenching the strip of cloth.

The original Rodion's strong emotions are still influencing me… How am I supposed to know that what I am doing is actually of my own accord? 

In a snap, he felt completely lost and lonely. He was supposed to live a carefree life and start afresh, different from his previous life. Who would have thought he would be dragged into some mysterious world with no certainty of his own identity? Was it still the same circumstances for him in this second life?

Before his emotions took hold of his reasoning, he stood up and tied the string of cloth back to his hair in a low ponytail. 

He glanced at the moon for a moment before striding towards the door. As he walked, he captured his half-naked body on the full-body mirror that stood by the door. In his dream, the tattoos over his body were gold in color, but what he saw in the mirror was the same hazy black, intricate tattoos. He grabbed a shirt from his cloth cabinet and wore it before he briskly exited his room.

When he arrived downstairs, the entire house was in complete silence. He slept for more than 10 hours, and it was already 10 p.m. Everyone in the house was done with dinner, but there was a variety of food set on the table left for him. However, he had no appetite. He didn't feel like eating.

...I think everyone is asleep now.

He decided to go outside to unwind.

Meanwhile, outside, under the maple tree, two figures sat on a blanket that sprawled on the ground.

It was Mikhail and Leonid. 

"I see that he's getting better now and gradually returning to his original self," Leonid spoke, gazing at the full moon, his voice low and a little weary. Mikhail hummed, his eyes fixed on Leonid. He was about to open his mouth when they heard the door from the house open and then close.

Rodion's figure emerged and moved to the doorstep. The two of them watched him in silence and noticed his pensive and melancholic expression. They turned to look at each other, unaware of what to do, when the subject of their current conversation appeared. Exactly as they turned to look at him again, Rodion's eyes darted at them, he was a little taken aback to see them together.

"Why is Mishka here?" he blurted out as he approached them.

"He's here to visit you. You were asleep when he arrived, so he waited," Leonid simply answered. "Did you eat yet?" he added.

Leonid scooted a little closer to Mikhail and gestured for Rodion to join them. "We decided to watch the moon while waiting for you since it's a full moon tonight," he said.

Rodion sat down with them, his curiosity about Mikhail's visit fading as his attention turned to the full moon hanging in the night sky. Thick clouds drifted lazily overhead, and stars twinkled in the darkness. Gradually, his emotions settled, and a sense of peace enveloped him, offering a temporary refuge from everything that had been troubling him.

The three of them took in the comfortable silence. Leonid yawned, and a soft smile lingered on his lips. It had been a long time since they enjoyed such comfort in one another's company.

"We should head back inside so you can rest properly," Mikhail suggested as he watched him yawn, concern was in his eyes. Even though he wanted to spend a little bit more of his time, Leonid needed to rest.

"No, I want to stay a little longer. We haven't done this in years; let's enjoy it a bit more." His voice was filled with wistfulness and nostalgia, and another yawn escaped him. Without a word, he leaned his head on Mikhail's shoulder. Mikhail nearly shuddered at the contact, turning his gaze from Leonid to meet his friend's ocean-blue eyes that sparkled in the moonlight, a soft smile crept onto his lips.

A loud, satisfied sigh escaped Rodion as he shifted his gaze from the sky to his friends. He instinctively furrowed his brows before a playful smirk tugged at his lips when he noticed the intimate closeness between the two.

Who would have thought that this rigid and grounded knight could smile like that? 

He cleared his throat. "Am I perhaps in the way?" he asked in a deliberate tone.

Leonid pulled back and sat upright, stretching his arms above his head and shutting his eyes as another yawn escaped him. Rodion instantly felt the piercing look of the knight on him; his smirk deepened.

Heh… You look like you're going to snap me in half with your sword. 

"I'm just tired, it's already late." Leonid briefly said, unaware of the subtle friction between the two of his friends.

"We can head inside now so you can rest," Mikhail suggested once again, his voice gentle.

"Or we can just stay for a little while," Rodion proposed, then he shifted his position to lay on his back and used his arms as a pillow behind his head.

"Yes, I'd love that." Leonid chirped. 

Mikhail didn't insist further as he leaned back with his hands behind him for support.

The three of them fell into silence. Mikhail and Leonid gazed beyond the horizon, where the town across the vast terrain appeared abandoned under the moonlight, looking silent and small from a distance. Meanwhile, Rodion focused intently on the moon once again, his thoughts drifting to the prince. The image of him by the water fountain, staring up at the moon, lingered in his mind, intertwining with the mysterious dreams he had been having lately.

*

In the eerie manor of the prince.

Inside Prince Nikolai's room, he sat in a chair by the open window, clad in a black silk nightrobe. Across his lap lay a long-sleeved white shirt—Rodion's shirt from the previous night. He carefully worked on sewing the ripped seam, his hands deftly moving with the needle. A lit candle flickered on the nightstand beside his bed, but the full moon bathed the room in a brighter, more ethereal light.

"Is this really necessary?"

His low voice echoed softly through the room as he tilted his head slightly, meticulously mending the damaged part of the shirt.

"I want you to give it back to him." 

"That guy's wealthy, he wouldn't care about a single shirt."

"…I want to give it to him regardless of whether he cares or not." A dour voice echoed once again in his head in response.

The prince sighed in defeat. He reached for the scissors on the side table to his left and snipped the thread, completing his work on the shirt. After setting the scissor back down, he placed the roll of thread and needle beside it.

Prince Nikolai raised the shirt in front of him, examining it carefully before a satisfied smile spread across his face.

"Alright, it's done. I just need to launder this, and we can give it back to him if he comes back." 

"Thank you," sincerely said the voice in his head. 

The prince lowered his arms, and the moonlight washed over his face. The lashes around his eyes and his brows appeared white, while his silver-blue hair glowed softly in the moon's reflection. His azure pupils took on a hazy quality, contrasting with the pure, clear white of his sclera. His porcelain skin became even paler, and his lush, pinkish lips stood out, accentuated by the ethereal glow.

"Were you the one responsible for his injury?" he asked, standing up. His hand pushed his robe off his shoulder while the other, still grasping the shirt, pulled the belt from his waist. The robe tumbled to the floor, revealing his body's faint glow. The silvery marks on his shoulder became more pronounced, and his skin was covered in thin, snake-like scales that shimmered under the moonlight.

Silence prevailed for a moment before the voice in his head resounded in a soft, guilty voice.

"…Yes. I…I dragged his unconscious body inside." 

Prince Nikolai snorted as he spoke, slipping the shirt over his head. It hung loosely on him, a reminder of Rodion's taller, broader frame.

"You sound like you committed a crime," he said curtly, pulling the shirt's collar to his nose and inhaling its scent. "He smells like summer... and a bit sweaty. I like it."

"He has finally found me... He possessed the Young Master's body."

The prince paused, sensing the exhaustion and longing in the voice, a familiar agony that gnawed at his heart. He understood exactly what the entity was referring to; both of them had been waiting for it for more than five centuries. It was the only answer to their predicament.

Or his predicament.

"Do you think it's a little too late now?" He scoffed, indignation gradually swelling up within him.

However, he was answered by complete silence for a whole minute before the voice echoed in his head again.

"He's going to make it." 

"How much time do we have before our core is completely destroyed?"

In the chilly night, the entity's whispering voice resonated as it answered the prince's question.

"Six months… If we're lucky, we'll make it to a year."