Chapter 48: The Confession (2)
"Nothing happened, at least, not in the way you think." Adrien licked his lips and looked away as he tried to gather his thoughts. He wanted to squirm to find a better seating position but decided against it since he was still perched on Mikyle’s lap, his legs dangling off to one side as his heels dug into the soft ground. "How much do you know about my family?"
"Just what’s floating amongst the nobles and the rumors going around the school."
Adrien looked up at Mikyle in shock. He had moved so fast that he had almost lost his balance. "You didn’t have an information guild look into me?! I don’t believe that a prince of this kingdom would hop into a relationship without knowing everything about the other person!"
Was he wrong in thinking that Mikyle had a connection with Dor-Shey Da’at? Or was it possible that this strange connection between them clouded his judgment?
Mikyle chuckled quietly, just enough for Adrien to feel his chest moving. He then bumped his forehead against Adrien’s. "I did have someone look into you. I just haven’t opened the file."
"Why?"
Mikyle brought his hand up to cup Adrien’s face once more, their foreheads still touching. "I wanted to hear about your life from your own lips instead of through a piece of paper."
Adrien’s heart thumped against his chest as it swelled with a tender emotion. He may have dated in his past life before, but no one had ever been as forthcoming or as sincere as Mikyle had. In all honesty, he had never felt this loved from anyone other than family.
Adrien brought his hands to Mikyle’s face before quickly pressing a kiss on his lips. "I think I love you," came the confession he could no longer hold in.
God, I feel and sound so sappy right now. I’m glad there’s no one around to witness this.
Mikyle’s eyes widened and a soft smile spread to his lips. He leaned down and captured Adrien’s lips in a passionately slow kiss.
"So, you only think?" Mikyle asked in a teasing voice after he broke away from the kiss.
Adrien playfully smacked his chest. "What about you?"
Mikyle’s smile slipped from his face and a serious yet thoughtful expression took its place. "Hmm. I find myself wanting to know every little thing about you, and that I want to be by your side every second of the day." He pressed a kiss to Adrien’s forehead. "I find myself missing you when I can’t see you, and I discovered how happy I feel when I see you smile." He then pressed a kiss on the tip of Adrien’s nose. "And I find myself wanting to stay in bed while intertwined with you." Finally, he pressed a kiss to Adrien’s lips, not missing the scarlet tinge coloring his cheeks and ears. "And more than anything, I find myself wanting to carry you off to the altar to claim you as mine. So yes, I am very deeply in love with you. I never knew I was someone who could fall so quickly, but I guess I just needed the right person."
Adrien buried his burning face into Mikyle’s neck. He had not been expecting such a confession, nor had he been expecting for Mikyle to have fallen for him that deeply, especially since it had only been a couple of weeks when they first met.
I knew he liked me, but not to this extent. He did a really good job of hiding-
"Wait a minute. You just admitted that you wanted to sleep with me but you’ve never tried anything past kissing," Adrien accused him.
Mikyle brushed a strand of hair behind Adrien’s ear. "I’ve been holding myself back."
Adrien looked at him in disbelief. He had tried to further their relationship once and was starting to feel a little peeved at hearing Mikyle’s words.
Mikyle chuckled when he saw his expression. "I’ve also been trying to give you some time since your mood had been dispirited this week. We’ve also had classes."
"But it’s now the weekend and there’s no class tomorrow," Adrien pouted. To hell with figuring his life out when he had such a good distraction in front of him. Wow! I can’t believe I’ve been reduced to this! That’s what I get for a having a good-looking boyfriend while reading those R18 novels in my spare time!
"Wait-" Adrien had just remembered the whole reason as to why they were even having this conversation. "I think we went off topic."
"Hmm? But I like where this conversation is going."
Adrien wanted to glare at Mikyle but found that he couldn’t. "We can finish this after we return to the dorm, but first, I actually do want to talk about what happened today. . .well, maybe a little more than just what went on today."
"Go ahead, I’m listening."
Adrien lowered his head in thought as he sorted through what he could and couldn’t say. "Before the Ratcliff Merchantry became what it is today, mother used to be home a lot more." He decided to start at the beginning since that was a good place to start when trying to explain the Count’s behavior. "The three of us would sit around her lap as she told us stories or played the piano. On days that the Count wasn’t busy, he would take all of us out to the lake where we would go boating or have picnics. When a deal that mother had been brokering took off, she was unable to come home less and less since grandfather refused to leave his home by this time. The Count tried to spend more time with us during mother’s absence." The childhood memories from the original Adrien flashed through his mind, bringing a soft, wistful smile to his face. "It was actually a pretty good childhood even if it became hard to see both of our parents together."
"And then our Mana manifested. The twins showed signs of manifesting first so the Count had decided to devote time to train them. During those times, I would hole myself up in my room where I would draw, and eventually begin to learn to paint. It actually became a comfort by the time my Mana manifested."
Even though Adrien hadn’t personally experienced any of those events, they still felt raw and fresh as if they had actually happened to him. It had been strange to him, to have gained both the memories and the emotions behind those memories when he had first awakened in this world. Even stranger was the fact that his likes, dislikes, and habits were almost identical to the Original’s.
"When my Mana manifested, the Count brought me along to the twins’ lessons to teach me right along with them. That was when the Count’s behavior towards me took a turn for the worse. He became more strict and violent. Though he never actually laid a hand on me, he still ordered the Head Butler to physically punish me when I didn’t do as I was told. The twins, which I used to have a good relationship with, started to distance themselves from me just as the Count had. And the year I turned thirteen, Brayden started lashing out at me. I’m pretty sure Cedric was the real mastermind behind those attacks even if he always pretended otherwise."
Mikyle tightened his arms around him and laid his chin on top of Adrien’s head. But he didn’t say anything as he let Adrien gather his thoughts and calm down his surging emotions enough to finish speaking.
"On the day that I signed up for the Academy, the Count didn’t take it well that I refused to enter into the Physical Department. So when he visited today, I was expecting a lashing of some sort. But instead, he apologized to me and even told me that he would support my relationship with you. It was completely unexpected with how he had changed in the way he spoke to me today."
Adrien moved his head slightly so that Mikyle’s chin was no longer resting on it. He then looked up at Mikyle as he spoke the words he really wanted to say. "Since I’ve entered this academy, I’ve had question after question about the Count’s behavior. I’m thinking about having an information guild look into my mother for me."
"You believe you might not be the Count’s son?" Mikyle reasoned.
Adrien nodded his head. "Yeah. I might also have them look into Duke Ceciles. Mother had a strange reaction when I mentioned that I had made friends with the Ceciles sisters."
Mikyle’s eyes narrowed and his lip twitched. "If you don’t mind, you should have Dor-Shey Da’at look into it. Though, it will certainly take time since Duke Ceciles is a pretty well-renowned Duke. There are also whispers going around that the Ceciles family is being watched by the Shigaron Kingdom."
Adrien knew they had ties to the Shigaron Kingdom, but that didn’t explain why they were being watched since the late Shigaron Queen and her daughter, the former Crown Princess, were both dead. "Why are they being watched?"
"There are rumors that the former Crown Princess body was never found," Mikyle explained.
"So the current Queen thinks the former Crown Princess might be hiding out in the Ceciles Dukedom since they share blood ties?" Adrien ventured a guess.
"Hmm."
Why are nobles so complicated?!