Please get me out of this BL novel...I'm straight!
Chapter 210: ’Too Coincidental’

Chapter 210: ’Too Coincidental’

Florian’s heart dropped.

He had already suspected it—he wasn’t an idiot—but hearing Heinz say it out loud made it feel more real, more inevitable. A heavy weight settled in his chest. The timing had been too perfect. Leila had shown up the moment he was about to see what was inside. Had she been waiting? Had someone told her to stop him?

His fingers curled into a fist at his side. ’Damn it.’

Taking a steadying breath, he forced himself to glance at Heinz, who was watching him with that same unreadable expression—calm, composed, completely unaffected, as if none of this was surprising to him.

"So... what do we do now?" Florian asked, keeping his voice steady despite the frustration simmering beneath his skin.

Heinz raised a brow, and then, to Florian’s mild irritation, a smirk tugged at his lips. "Oh? Asking for my opinion now, are we? I thought I was the terrible king who couldn’t be trusted with anything."

Florian huffed, crossing his arms. "Still stand by that, by the way. Don’t think for a second that I regret saying it."

Heinz outright chuckled, the amusement in his red eyes deepening. The sound was low, rich, and entirely too entertained for the situation they were in.

"You’re quite bold, aren’t you?"

"And you’re unusually interested in this village all of a sudden," Florian shot back, narrowing his eyes. "You didn’t give a damn before. Now, you’re all in on investigating? What changed?"

Heinz simply shrugged, his expression as infuriatingly casual as ever. "I’m naturally curious."

Florian gave him a flat, unimpressed look. "Uh-huh. Sure. Let’s go with that."

Heinz only smiled. A slow, knowing curve of his lips that made something in Florian bristle. He hated how this man was always two steps ahead, always knowing more than he let on.

Florian rolled his eyes, shifting Azure in his arms before exhaling. "So... we’re going to check the storage unit out, right? How?"

This time, Heinz didn’t smirk. Instead, something sharp flickered in his gaze, and for a brief second, Florian saw it—the same calculating edge that had made the entire kingdom fear him.

"Carefully," Heinz murmured, and for some reason, the single word sent a chill down Florian’s spine.

Florian wasn’t sure why, but the way Heinz said that—so quiet, so deliberate—sent an uneasy prickle down his spine. It wasn’t the word itself, but the way it slipped from Heinz’s lips, edged with something almost too careful.

’Carefully.’

Something about that didn’t sit right with him.

He exhaled, shaking the feeling off as he adjusted Azure in his arms. The little creature shifted slightly, sensing his unease, but Florian didn’t loosen his grip. "Alright, fine. Do you actually have a plan, or are we just winging it?"

Heinz leaned back against the wall, his posture deceptively languid, but his red eyes held an unwavering sharpness. "Not going to focus on aiding that Leila girl anymore?"

Florian frowned. "This is about Leila," he muttered, his arms unconsciously tightening around Azure. "If it weren’t, she wouldn’t have gone out of her way to stop me from looking inside." He hesitated, then exhaled slowly. "And... something else is odd."

Heinz arched a brow, his expression unreadable. "Oh?"

Florian’s mind raced, piecing things together even as unease settled in his gut. "When we first arrived, the villagers were outside," he said, voice quieter now, as if saying it aloud would make it worse. "All of them. Just standing there, watching us."

His fingers twitched against Azure’s fur. He could still picture it—the silent, unmoving crowd, their faces unreadable, their presence lingering like an unspoken warning.

"But now..." His gaze flickered toward the boarded-up window, that gnawing feeling twisting deeper into his stomach. "Where are they?"

For a fleeting second, something flickered across Heinz’s face—so subtle that had Florian blinked, he might have missed it. But he hadn’t blinked.

Then Heinz exhaled softly, almost amused, though the mirth never quite reached his eyes.

"So, you noticed as well," he murmured, voice as smooth as silk, yet carrying an undercurrent of something Florian couldn’t quite place.

Florian stiffened. "You mean—?"

"Yes," Heinz confirmed, stepping forward with an unhurried grace. "It is peculiar, is it not? Their presence was deliberate when we arrived, as if our coming was anticipated. And now?" He paused, glancing briefly at the door before his gaze returned to Florian, piercing and knowing. "They have vanished without a trace."

Florian swallowed, a cold weight settling in his stomach.

’Shit.’

Florian’s gaze flickered toward the nearest house, its windows dark and empty. The village, once filled with quiet murmurs and the occasional creak of wooden doors swinging open, now felt eerily silent. The absence of movement pressed down on him, thick and suffocating.

"They could just be inside," he muttered, though even as he said it, doubt gnawed at the edges of his mind. It didn’t sit right.

Heinz tilted his head slightly, his red eyes gleaming in the dim light. "All of them?" His voice was light, teasing, but there was an unmistakable sharpness beneath it. "Every single one? Conveniently at the same time? Right after watching us?"

Florian opened his mouth, then closed it. ’Shit. He’s right.’ The villagers had stood outside when they first arrived, watching them with silent intensity. Now, not a single one remained in sight. It was too coordinated, too unnatural. As if the entire village had been waiting for them—watching—and then, the moment something changed, they vanished.

His fingers unconsciously tightened around Azure. "Yeah... that’s not normal," he admitted begrudgingly. His pulse thrummed uneasily beneath his skin.

Deciding to push past the discomfort curling in his gut, he exhaled sharply and turned to Heinz. "Can you use any magic to help us sneak into the storage unit?"

Heinz regarded him for a moment, a slow, knowing smirk creeping onto his lips. "Of course."

A small smirk tugged at Florian’s own lips. "Then this might be easier than I thought."

Heinz chuckled under his breath, the sound low and velvety. "Oh, Florian. You underestimate me." His expression shifted, becoming something dangerously amused. "I can do far more than just sneak us in. I can undo whatever magic was placed on the storage unit entirely."

Florian’s smirk faltered. "Wait—undo it? Won’t that..." His mind worked through the implications, and a sinking feeling settled in his stomach. "That’ll expose us, won’t it?"

"Precisely," Heinz said smoothly, his voice dripping with amusement. "No simple Arcanior would be capable of setting up magic of this complexity. If I unravel it, whoever cast it will know immediately." He tilted his head, eyes locking onto Florian’s. "And considering we’re supposed to be traveling nobodies, well... that might be a bit difficult to explain."

Florian’s fingers curled into his palm. ’Damn it. He’s got a point again.’ If the magic protecting the storage unit was advanced, it meant someone powerful had placed it there. And if Heinz broke it, they would instantly know someone equally skilled had undone their work.

His brows furrowed as another thought wormed its way into his mind. "If placing certain magic requires skilled Arcaniors... does that mean one of the villagers is actually trained?"

Heinz gave a careless shrug, though his eyes remained sharp. "Perhaps." He paused, then added with a thoughtful hum, "Or perhaps someone is helping them."

A slow chill crawled up Florian’s spine. He didn’t like that answer. "It all seems too coincidental, doesn’t it?" Heinz mused, watching Florian’s expression shift.

Too coincidental.

Florian’s mind raced, the pieces clicking into place one after another. The villagers had been waiting for them. Leila had intervened at the perfect moment. The storage unit had magic so advanced that only an expert could have set it up. And now, all the villagers had disappeared, as if on cue.

His breath caught in his throat. His heartbeat hammered against his ribs.

"What if—" Florian’s voice came out quieter than he intended. A lump formed in his throat, and he swallowed hard, forcing himself to say it. "What if this has something to do with whoever killed you in your first life?"

The words hung in the air, heavier than he expected.

And not just that—there were too many things piling up. The one who orchestrated his kidnapping. The stranger he saw at the ball. The one who drugged him with that aphrodisiac. The one who killed that servant.

’The traitor.’

The air between them grew dense, weighted with something unspoken. Heinz didn’t react immediately. He simply looked at Florian, his red eyes dark with thought, unreadable pools of contemplation.

Then, ever so slowly, he shrugged.

"There is only one way to find out."

Florian stiffened.

’What?’

His brows knitted together in confusion. "What do you mean, Your Majesty? We don’t even have a plan yet."

Heinz exhaled softly, his expression betraying nothing. "I have thought of one."

"Oh?" Florian crossed his arms, eyes narrowing slightly. "Then what is it?"

Heinz took a step closer, his presence looming but not imposing—deliberate. "Like you said, pursuing this further could compromise our disguises. However..." He tilted his head slightly, watching him carefully. "I suspect our disguises may no longer matter."

Florian blinked.

’Is he... actually being considerate?’

That was unexpected.

Still, at this point, there were far too many things happening for him to ignore. Even if they had initially come to help Leila and the village, there was a much bigger picture forming—one that felt tangled with everything else.

He let out a slow breath, steadying himself. "...Alright," he said at last. "I’m willing to do it."

Because somehow, every strange coincidence they had encountered so far felt like it wasn’t a coincidence at all.