Chapter 62: 61

“……You asked if I was angry?”

Hearing Renato’s question, Khalid, who was opening the carriage door, paused. Then, he looked at Renato with a slightly surprised face.

“Do I look angry?”

“……A little.”

Renato slightly nodded and timidly replied. Then, Khalid’s expression became stranger.

“Uhm.”

Khalid softly groaned as if he had heard something unexpected, and then swept his hand over his mouth and chin. He looked a bit bewildered, so Renato hurriedly opened his mouth.

“I’m sorry, I said something useless……”

“No, please don’t apologize. I am just a little surprised.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m not angry, but…… I’m a little bit annoyed. Though, I didn’t know it was so obvious that you noticed it as well, Your Imperial Highness.”

Khalid honestly answered and scratched his nape with an awkward face. He had never thought that Renato would notice his feelings. Because he was confident in controlling his facial expressions.

“You’re sharper than I thought.”

“It’s not to that extent…… I just somehow felt it. You seemed not to be in a good mood.”

Renato murmured in a faint voice when hearing Khalid’s admiration. Maybe because he had been living with Blanche and other people since he was young, he was sensitive to other people’s emotions and facial expressions. In particular, he was sensitive to negative emotions.

“May I ask why you are annoyed?”

Renato looked up at Khalid with a nervous expression. Before entering the pub which was Iris and Arche’s hideout, Khalid’s mood seemed fine.

That meant something happening inside made his mood become bad. Renato thought that he must have caused Khalid’s annoyance.

“Let’s get in the carriage first. I don’t think it’s something worth talking about on the street.”

Khalid showed a slightly troubled look when Renato asked the reason for his annoyance. But then, he let out a small sigh to say that he understood, and led Renato into the carriage.

“Let’s go.”

Knock, Khalid started the carriage by knocking on the horseman’s window, then looked at Renato sitting opposite him with complicated eyes. Unable to face the man, Renato rolled his eyes. A tension came up because of the gaze that pricked his skin, and his stomach became stiff.

“……The reason I’m annoyed today is because of your action that showed no sense of crisis at all, Your Imperial Highness.”

After wondering how to bring it up, Khalid chose to say it straightforwardly instead of beating around the bush. He thought that he should point that out to prevent such a situation from happening again in the future.

“Which action are you talking about?”

Renato’s shoulders flinched because of the straightforward remark, and he asked with an extremely tense expression. He knew that Khalid’s mood had gone bad because of him, but his heart still sank when he heard it directly from the man.

“You fearlessly approached lady Arche Luminus just a little while ago. I’m talking about that.”

“Pardon?”

“Unlike her twin sister who rushed at me, she didn’t seem to have much physical power, but she is still someone who has been dealing with information for several years. What would you have done if she had attacked you, Your Imperial Highness?”

“Ah……”

An exclamation like a sigh burst out from Renato’s small lips when he heard the man’s sharp words. It was then that Renato realized his mistake and showed an apologetic expression.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t careful.”

“It’s not just this time. It happened last time on Baker 13th Street, and when your wrist was hurt because of lord Florence as well…… You have a tendency not to take care of your body, Your Imperial Highness.”

“That……”

“You always act as if it doesn’t matter if you get hurt, as if things like bruises aren’t a big deal. Have you ever thought about how that attitude will look to others?”

Khalid pushed Renato without giving him a chance to respond. As he roamed the battlefields, he had seen a lot of people behaving like Renato.

People like that were usually of two kinds. Either they were bold and fearless by nature, or they got hurt so often that they took it for granted.

Renato probably belonged to the latter type. Khalid guessed that the reason he had less fear of getting hurt and was less responsive to potentially dangerous situations was that he was accustomed to violence against him.

Because he was injured and in pain so often, he didn’t feel alarmed in situations in which he might get hurt anymore. The thought that he could endure the pain even if he was hurt must have been embedded in his unconscious mind.

So Khalid was angry. Not towards Renato, but towards the fucking humans who made him become like this.

Khalid gritted his teeth, thinking of Maximo, Blanche, and Marquis Medus whom he had yet to meet. Even without directly looking, he could see how Renato had lived.

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Perhaps Renato had never felt safe until now. Nowhere in the Imperial Palace, not even the Prince’s Palace which was Renato’s space would have been a haven for him.

“Even if your wounds tend to heal faster than others, you shouldn’t act that way, Your Imperial Highness. Please think about it from a different perspective. What if His Imperial Highness the 2nd Prince that you cherish got hurt while training recklessly? How would you feel if he left the wound unattended and said that it would heal on its own?”

“……I would be worried and upset.”

“Why do you act like that while knowing that? You have to be careful, for the sake of those who value you as well.”

“I’m sorry.”

“If you feel sorry for me, please don’t do that again from now on. Do you understand?”

“Yes……”

Renato’s head drooped down as he let out a sullen answer. He mumbled in a small voice while wiggling his hands.

“I will be careful so as not to make you worry from now on. And earlier…… I thought it would be okay since you were with me, your highness.”

“……Thank you for trusting me, but please be more careful in the future. Accidents can always happen at any moment.”

With Renato’s words, Khalid’s eyes lightly shook for a moment, but then he spoke with a stern expression again. He felt like a nagging teacher, but he couldn’t help it. If Renato behaved like this next time, he felt he could have a heart attack again.

“Especially when dealing with someone who is greatly perplexed or mentally cornered. We can’t predict what kind of sudden action they will take.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Renato nodded his head to promise. Khalid sighed a little when he saw Renato drooping like a flower withered by the frost.

“Can I sit next to you for a moment?”

“……Yes.”

When Renato gave his permission, Khalid got up and sat down next to him. Then, he raised his hand and gently stroked Renato’s soft silver hair.

“Please don’t make me worry too much.”

“……Were you very worried?”

“Why would I not? You have no idea how anxious I was while watching you two talk.”

Khalid glanced at Renato with a gaze saying he was asking something obvious. Renato lowered his eyes again because of the gaze filled with subtle reproach.

He felt sorry when thinking that Khalid would have been surprised and worried because he approached Arche recklessly. But at the same time, the corners of his lips felt strangely itchy.

Worried that he perhaps had pushed Renato too hard, Khalid looked at Renato’s face and squinted his eyes when seeing the twitching red lips.

“Why are you smiling?”

“Pardon? I am?”

Hearing Khalid’s words, Renato raised his head, wondering what the man was talking about. Seeing that Renato himself didn’t know he was smiling, Khalid lowered the hand stroking his head to pat the lips’ corners that had slightly raised upwards.

“The corners of your lips are going up right now.”

“Ah.”

Only then did Renato realize he was smiling, so he blinked with a puzzled expression. He could understand why he was smiling. But he didn’t know how to explain to Khalid how he felt just now. After pondering over his words for a moment, Renato carefully opened his mouth.

“That, uhm, will you listen to me without thinking it’s weird or getting angry?”

“Please say it.”

“It’s the first time that someone has scolded me out of worry, so I feel a little better.”

“……? First time?”

Khalid, unable to understand Renato’s words for a moment, slightly frowned. When Renato saw the man’s expression, he softly laughed.

“Isn’t it a bit strange? But I thought it was a good thing, so…… I suddenly started smiling. I felt strangely happy when I realized the concern and affection in your face and voice as you pointed out my mistake and told me not to do that again, your highness……”

Renato muffled his words with a pleasant smile. He was very accustomed to someone getting angry or irritated at him.

For more than 20 years including his previous life, Renato had been living with one-sided anger and quarrels, to the extent that there were more days of being scolded than days without it.

It was definitely Blanche who scolded Renato the most. He was always angry and didn’t like what Renato did. Marquis Medus sometimes rebuked Renato. Maximo, who became the Emperor, did not only swear at him but also used violence.

On the contrary, Ludmilla and Tristan did not scold Renato at all. It was because Ludmilla pitied Renato, while Tristan felt apologetic towards him.

Because of that, Khalid was the first person to get angry and scold Renato not because the man hated him, but because he was worried about him.

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