Me, the Weakest Member of the Hero’s Party? I’m the Villain Though? - Chapter 89
Snow Mountain Stragglers
“Wait, then did Derek see your body too?”
Kyle muttered as he held my shoulders, staring as if he were going to bore through my chest. At that moment, I suddenly became aware that I was exposing my bare body to him, and a wave of embarrassment rushed over me.
“I told you I’ve never shown myself to anyone…!”
I remembered what I had said to Kyle at the bathhouse. Afraid the scar would be discovered, I had improvised and used the excuse that I’d never shown my body to anyone because I was shy.
Come to think of it, the Crown Prince had seen my body once as well, but that had been so humiliating that I decided to keep it a secret.
“So stop looking.”
Embarrassment hit me belatedly, and I tried to push Kyle’s arm away, but instead he grabbed my shoulders even tighter and said,
“No, I’m not trying to look at your body. I’m trying to examine the stigmata closely.”
And with that, he openly stared at my chest.
Even though we were both men and it shouldn’t matter if we saw each other’s bodies, his gaze was so blatant that it was awkward, and overall the situation felt complicated.
“But do you actually work out or something? Or were you just born with this much muscle? Your chest, wow… Can I touch it?”
“Are you crazy?”
If I let him be, it looked like he would really start kneading my chest, so I finally forced him away and hurriedly pulled my collar closed.
Watching me, Kyle burst into laughter.
“I’m joking, I’m joking. I told you, I don’t have romantic feelings for my party members.”
“Romantic feelings? We’re both men to begin with.”
I cut him off bluntly at his joke. Talking about romantic feelings between two men was ridiculous.
But Kyle widened his eyes and studied my face.
“What does being the same s*x have to do with it?”
“Romantic feelings between men, that’s… That’s disgusting.”
Even setting aside the fact that Kyle was the hero, I had absolutely no intention of getting into a relationship with a man who had the same equipment as me.
“Disgusting? Why?”
But Kyle looked like he genuinely didn’t understand what I meant. His expression suggested that feeling romantic attraction toward another man didn’t seem strange to him at all.
“Then can you even kiss a man or something?”
I asked, a bit extremely, because the situation was so absurd.
To be honest, I had almost no dating experience. In fact, I had none at all.
But I’d once heard that if you want to know whether you really like someone, you should try imagining kissing them.
That was why I asked Kyle.
“I don’t mind.”
But Kyle answered calmly, as if nothing was wrong. His casual response left me speechless.
“When I kiss someone, their gender isn’t what matters. What matters more is who they are.”
Even so, Kyle seemed determined to argue against my opinion and started spouting an absurd line of reasoning. Obviously, ‘who they are’ includes their gender.
And what he said next was downright shocking.
“If it’s you, Lysian, I could do it anytime.”
This was the most accurate I had ever experienced the phrase ‘the hair on my head standing on end.’ Not just my hair, it felt like every hair on my body stood straight up.
“W-What did you just…”
“But like I said, I won’t kiss a party member.”
Whether I should feel relieved or not, I didn’t know. My feelings were extremely complicated. Seeing me standing there stunned, Kyle burst into laughter again.
“Teasing you is fun, Lysian. Your reactions have gotten pretty diverse.”
So it had been a joke after all. I wiped the cold sweat that had formed and let out a thin sigh.
“It’s late. Go to sleep. We’re leaving early tomorrow.”
Kyle said this, still unable to hide his smile, as he lightly patted my shoulder.
* * *
The next morning, the Grand Duke provided the hero’s party with a breakfast just as lavish as the dinner from the previous evening.
Since they didn’t know when they would be able to eat a meal like this again, the party stuffed themselves until they were about to burst.
“If you need it, please take plenty of food with you as well. I can give you as much as you like.”
The Grand Duke looked as if he intended to bring out all the food in the Grand Ducal Castle for them. His enthusiasm was so overwhelming that the party members waved their hands instead.
“This is more than enough.”
“Yes, thank you for taking such good care of us.”
Gerard and Elonen spoke in turn. If even Gerard was speaking this politely, it was clear they had truly been treated with great hospitality.
“Are you leaving the Grand Ducal Castle today?”
