'Who is this person that dares to sleep so comfortably in my room?'
Jeremy wondered as he carefully stepped toward his bed, not forgetting to prepare a defensive spell in case the person suddenly woke up and attacked him.
From Jeremy's point of view, the only thing he can see is a tall man in a full-black outfit sleeping sideways on his bed while hugging one of his pillows.
The face of the man can't be directly seen, as he buried it on the pillow he was hugging.
Only half of his smooth forehead and his slightly disheveled raven black hair are visible from the pillow.
Seeing one of his pillows being hugged like that by a stranger, Jeremy can't help but frown in dissatisfaction.
Without hesitation, he tapped the man's shoulder to wake him up.
The man muttered a groan as he slowly opened his eyes and looked at Jeremy with annoyance.
"Mhmm… who dares disturb m—"
But upon seeing Jeremy's face clearly, the man's voice halted and his annoyed expression was replaced with a dazed look.
Jeremy was slightly stunned once he saw the face of the just-woken-up person.
It was an extremely handsome face that reminded him of a certain line from the novel, The Troubles of the Nobilities.
'With raven-black hair and jet-black irises that added charm to his extremely blessed, good-looking face when he was born, the crown prince was given the name Adonis, a name that perfectly suits him.'
Jeremy's brain then started flashing him several scenes of him and a boy playing together since childhood until they became best friends… but a few years ago, he started avoiding the boy.
The childish face of that boy gradually overlaps with the handsome face of the young man before him.
Somehow recognizing the man, Jeremy subconsciously called out the other's name.
"A-adonis?"
This was the usual way that the original Jeremiah de Thorne addressed the crown prince, and Jeremy unconsciously followed it, not finding anything wrong with it.
Hearing the intimate manner of calling his name, with no trace of formalities at all, the crown prince snapped out from his daze and smiled in satisfaction towards Jeremy.
It's been a long time since he last heard this voice… a long time since he heard this voice calling his name.
Now, hearing it clearly, albeit its childish pitch disappeared, its gentle tone was still the same as before, making the crown prince feel good listening to it.
He thought that this young man before him, who was avoiding him like a plague for years, might turn him away immediately upon seeing him.
But looking at the bewildered eyes staring at him, the crown prince slowly stood up from his bed with calmness.
"So, you're done with the hiding now, right?"
He asked, his face solemn while his tone held a trace of a slight annoyance.
At this moment, Jeremy's expression turned complicated.
He has memories of avoiding him, but it was not him who has been avoiding the crown prince, but the original Jeremiah de Thorne.
Moreover, the reason for his avoidance is embarrassing that Jeremy doesn't want to dwell on it.
"Ah… that…"
Jeremy opened his mouth to reply but for some reason, he doesn't know what to say to the crown prince right now.
Crown Prince Adonis noticed that he was unable to answer and couldn't help but wonder.
'Don tell me he was planning to continue hiding from me after this?'
Thinking like that, the crown prince felt irritation bubbling up inside him.
To calm himself, he stretched out his arms to embrace the young man before him tightly, inhaling the fragrant smell coming from the other's body.
'Mhmm… this is nice…'
Adonis thought as his irritation slowly faded away.
Jeremy was taken aback by the hug, but knowing already that the man was a childhood friend of his body, he quickly adapted to it and returned it, encircling his arms on the crown prince's waist.
The tight hug made him realize that the tall young man before him had no plan to let him go for a while.
Assuming that the crown prince was hurt by his body's constant evasion through the years, Jeremy whispered to the crown prince.
"I'm sorry."
That's the only phrase that Jeremy could sincerely say in this situation right now.
He was apologizing on behalf of the original owner of this body.
After he said that, he remembered that he had not yet answered the man's earlier question.
So, he added while patting the taller man's back.
"I won't hide from you anymore… I'm sorry, Adonis."
Hearing Jeremy's sincere and gentle voice, Crown Prince Adonis tightened his hug and buried his face on the other's shoulder.
"Jeremy, I missed you so much… I thought you wouldn't let me see you again during those times you've kept hiding from me."
The crown prince confessed to Jeremy's ears, his voice full of grievance.
Jeremy felt like he was going to suffocate because of the man's tight embrace.
He tapped his back as he replied.
"Mhmm, I miss you too. But let me go for now, I can't breathe."
Crown Prince Adonis rebutted unhappily as he gradually loosened his hug to face Jeremy but didn't directly let go of him.
"Your I miss you is quite insincere."
Jeremy paused for a second before chuckling.
He smiled at the extremely handsome young man, who was gazing at him.
"I really missed you, Adonis."
Jeremy gently said, this time, his voice was full of sincerity.
It was the truth.
His body truly missed the crown prince as Jeremy felt his body reluctant to part from the man's embrace.
And Jeremy himself really longed to meet this crown prince, his favorite character from the novel… so he was not lying when he said he missed him.
After a while of coaxing the crown prince to let him go, he asked.
"By the way, why did you come here?"
The crown prince instantly answered.
"To see you."
Jeremy raised one of his brows as he said.
"We're gonna see each other in the academy, though."
He pondered if there's a difference between seeing him now than seeing him in the academy after a few days.
Hearing his statement, the crown prince laughed in anger.
"Who knows if you'll run away once we meet in the academy?"
Jeremy felt guilty, and immediately changed the topic to something else.
. . .
As the sunset began to signal that night was coming, Jude slowly emerged from the shadows near the ducal estate in the capital, and leisurely walked until he stopped on the estate's huge gate.
Seeing him, the guards greeted him before allowing him to enter.
Noting that his young master would be back before dinner, he went first to the kitchen.
Seeing that the dishes are done cooking, he went to his young master's bedroom.
As he was right by the door and was about to knock, he heard a laughter coming from inside the room.
It was his young master who was laughing.
'What made the young master so happy?'
Jude wondered.
As he imagined his young master's laughing face, he couldn't stop smiling as well.
But just as he was about to be happy for his young master's happiness, a familiar voice and scent that doesn't belong to his young master made him frown.
'His Royal Highness?'
He was quite unsure as the voice sounds quite similar to the crown prince he saw a few years ago, but it also sounds different.
He immediately raised his hand and knocked on the door.
"Young Master, may I come in?"
There was a slight pause from the inside of the room, which made Jude uneasy.
Jeremy is currently chatting with the crown prince to catch up about the times they haven't seen each other, when suddenly he heard his young butler knocking from outside his room.
He panicked for a moment, finding some place where he could hide the crown prince, but then he asked himself.
'Why would I hide the crown prince?'
The crown prince is not a bad person and they were not doing anything bad.
Hearing no reply from inside the room, Jude grew restless and was about to push open the door, without waiting for his young master's reply, ready to be punished as long as he could enter the room.
Inside the room, Jeremy concluded that there's no reason to hide Crown Prince Adonis.
So, he finally answered to let his butler come in.
"Jude, come in."
Jude heard his young master tell him to come in at the same time he pushed the door open with an anxious expression.
What he saw inside the room was his young master sitting closely beside Crown Prince Adonis.
'What is this man doing here?'
His face couldn't help but turn cold.
Jeremy noticed Jude's unusual expression and asked.
"Is there something wrong, Jude?"
As Jeremy asked, Crown Prince Adonis, who had a soft expression while talking to him a while ago, suddenly turned toward the door with an icy stare.
Jude glanced expressionlessly at the crown prince, before answering softly to his young master.
"No, Young Master. I just want to inform you that dinner is ready."
After a moment, he added as his eyes locked with the unfriendly gaze of the crown prince.
"I didn't know that Young Master Jeremy had a visitor. Greetings, Your Royal Highness, the Rising Sun of the Empire."
Seeing the crown prince nodding slightly toward Jude, Jeremy smiled and said.
"Ah, yes. Please prepare an additional tableware set for His Royal Highness, Jude. We'll be coming down once Dad and my brothers come home."
Jude nodded his head in understanding as he replied.
"Yes, Young Master. I'll call you when His Grace arrives."
After that, he turned his face from his young master and cast a sharp gaze toward the crown prince, who was also staring at him coldly.
Then, he turned around and left.