Please get me out of this BL novel...I'm straight!-Chapter 261: ’Do You Suspect?’

Heinz walked through the grand halls of his palace, the familiar weight of silence settling around him. The only sound was the rhythmic echo of boots against polished marble, his own steps measured and deliberate. Behind him, Florian followed as usual, maintaining that small, polite distance. Heinz couldn’t see the prince’s face, but he didn’t need to.

’He’s upset.’

The thought was amusing. As usual.

Lately, Florian had been showing more and more of his true colors—his real thoughts slipping through that carefully composed mask. Heinz knew he should be irritated, possibly even insulted, but instead, he found himself intrigued. The change in the prince was a puzzle, and Heinz had always loved unraveling puzzles.

As they neared his office, he considered what excuse to give for summoning Florian. In truth, there wasn’t much of a reason. He simply wanted to get him away from the tea party.

Just like the first time.

That day, Heinz had only intended to confirm his suspicions. Florian had been acting differently since the second summoning. The original Florian—arrogant, disinterested, dismissive—would have never willingly attended a tea party with the princesses. Yet, this one did.

So Heinz decided to test him.

The confrontation had been... revealing. His irritation from waking up after dying, the sheer frustration of being thrown back in time, had made him act a little harsher than intended. Some of that anger had been directed at Florian, who, at the time, was just another reminder of how little control Heinz had over his situation.

But then, Florian looked him in the eye and asked,

"Why shouldn’t I go near the princesses, Your Majesty?"

And when he made that ridiculous proposition—offering to help him choose a bride, to give insider information on the princesses—Heinz knew for certain. freewēbnoveℓ.com

This Florian wasn’t the same as before.

’He even had the nerve to ask me to go back to his kingdom with no shame whatsoever.’

Heinz smirked at the memory, flicking a strand of his long black hair over his shoulder. Crimson eyes flickered to Florian, who was still trailing behind him.

And pouting.

Heinz nearly stopped walking.

Pouting.

Florian, who usually carried himself like someone with decades of wisdom beyond his years, was pouting like a child denied his favorite dessert.

’Sometimes he acts as if he’s older than me, now he’s pouting?’ Heinz shook his head, suppressing the urge to laugh. Instead, he came to a stop in front of his office, his expression smoothing into its usual unreadable calm.

The knights stationed at his door immediately straightened, snapping into a sharp salute the moment they saw him.

"Y-Your Majesty!" one of them stammered. Heinz didn’t bother to remember their names.

"At ease," he commanded, barely sparing them a glance as he gestured for the door to be opened.

The knights obeyed without hesitation, but there was a brief moment of hesitation when they finally took note of Florian standing behind him.

"Oh—Your Highness. Apologies. We didn’t see you," one of them murmured before bowing respectfully.

Florian, ever the picture of casual grace, offered them a polite smile. "It’s fine. You’re stationed here today, huh? I thought you were usually assigned to the dining hall."

The knight blinked, visibly surprised. "O-Oh... You remember us?"

His voice held an unmistakable note of excitement, the kind that irritated Heinz for reasons he didn’t care to analyze.

The prince remembered him. And he seemed happy about it.

Too happy.

Heinz turned his gaze onto the knight, crimson eyes narrowing ever so slightly. The reaction was immediate—the poor man stiffened, his enthusiasm draining in an instant, replaced by a nervous gulp.

"Once we go inside, you will move to your next station," Heinz ordered, voice smooth but laced with authority. "I don’t need knights standing in front of my door. Understood?"

Both knights straightened, their posture rigid with tension. "Yes, Your Majesty."

"Good."

Without another glance, Heinz stepped into his office, leaving them behind.

Florian followed, though Heinz didn’t miss the soft, amused sigh that left his lips as he did.

As soon as the doors shut behind them, Heinz strode toward his desk, the heavy silence of his office settling around them like a familiar shroud.

The air was thick, the quiet stretching between them, unbroken save for the soft click of his boots against the polished wood floor. Sunlight filtered through the tall windows, casting long, fractured shadows across the room, as if even the light hesitated to intrude.

Finally, for the first time since leaving the tea party, he turned to face Florian.

The prince stood stiffly in front of the desk, arms loosely at his sides, his expression unreadable—except for the sharpness in his green eyes, glittering with something between suspicion and irritation. Heinz had expected some measure of annoyance, a pointed sigh, perhaps a wry remark about being dragged away again. Instead, Florian spoke the moment Heinz settled into his chair.

"Your Majesty, did a princess kill you?"

Heinz stilled.

For a fleeting second, the question knocked the air from his lungs. It wasn’t the words themselves, but the way Florian delivered them—calm, direct, and cutting through the room like the edge of a blade.

Heinz blinked. Not out of confusion, but from sheer surprise.

’This one doesn’t hesitate, does he?’

Florian held his gaze, unwavering. His posture was poised, his tone measured, but there was something in the way he studied Heinz—like he was searching for cracks in armor, waiting for a slip, a tell.

Silence stretched between them, thick and electric, but Florian wasn’t done.

"No. More like... do you suspect that one of the princesses killed you?"

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"No. More like... do you suspect that one of the princesses killed you?"

Florian had no time to hesitate when asking. The words left his lips before he could second-guess himself, sharp and unwavering. He forced himself to hold Heinz’s gaze, but the longer the silence stretched, the harder it became to maintain eye contact. Staring into those deep crimson eyes felt like being trapped in a slow, suffocating freefall.

The silence pressed down on him, heavy and unrelenting.

Heinz didn’t blink. Didn’t move. Just watched him, his expression unreadable.

Florian swallowed, resisting the urge to shift on his feet. His pulse thrummed in his ears, but he couldn’t afford to back down now.

He had been thinking about this since the beginning—since the first time Heinz had interrupted a tea party with the princesses. It wasn’t just once, or even twice. It was every single time. Coincidence? Hardly. And then there was the tea test.

It hadn’t seemed like just a casual test about his mother accidentally poisoning him. No, that had been an excuse, a convenient cover for something deeper. There were too many inconsistencies, too many odd choices, too many things that just didn’t add up.

’Come on... say something!’ Florian thought, his fingers twitching at his side, his foot tapping nervously against the polished floor.

Finally, Heinz moved. A slow, deliberate shift as he rested his chin atop his hand, his fingers drumming lightly against the armrest of his chair.

"And what made you think that?" he asked, his voice smooth, unreadable, but there was a sharpness in his narrowed eyes—a gleam of something dangerous beneath the surface.

The way he said it, the way he looked at Florian... it wasn’t dismissive. It wasn’t the reaction of someone who found the question absurd. No—Heinz was waiting. Watching.

Testing him.