Please get me out of this BL novel...I'm straight!
Chapter 67: ’Mastermind?’

Chapter 67: ’Mastermind?’

Florian let the moment settle, allowing silence to stretch between them. Levi had finally given him something—his name. It was small, barely a crack in the rogue’s carefully constructed walls, but it was a crack nonetheless. And cracks, no matter how insignificant, had the potential to break things wide open.

He wiped at his eyes again, keeping up the act of vulnerability, his voice soft. "Levi..." He repeated it slowly, as if testing the weight of it on his tongue, as if committing it to memory. He let his lips curve into something gentle, something just shy of warm. "That’s a nice name."

Levi scoffed, shifting his weight as if the conversation had suddenly become uncomfortable. "It’s just a name."

Florian’s gaze sharpened, tracking every microexpression, every twitch of Levi’s fingers against his arms. A dismissive response, but not a defensive one. He hadn’t shut down completely—hadn’t sneered or told Florian to shut up, hadn’t immediately changed the subject. No, Levi was uncomfortable, but he wasn’t pushing him away.

That meant something.

"But it’s yours," Florian countered, tilting his head slightly, observing. There it was again—Levi’s fingers curling just slightly, his arms drawing tighter around himself, his stance stiff but no longer entirely closed off. A wall with a single, fragile crack.

This was the most at ease he had been since dragging Florian here.

Noted.

Florian let a few beats of silence pass before speaking again, keeping his tone even. "You said we’re waiting for the king to respond." He watched for any tells—shifts in body language, subtle flickers of emotion. "Does that mean you don’t actually know what’s going to happen to me?"

Levi’s jaw twitched. A flicker of something passed over his face, too fast to catch fully. Frustration? No—uncertainty. His lips pressed into a thin line, his gaze flicking toward the far wall.

"No." The word was quiet, begrudging. "We were just ordered to keep you here until further notice."

Florian hummed, considering that. No direct orders beyond detainment. No clear execution date. That was good. That meant someone was still making a decision. He filed that away for later, then tilted his head slightly, watching Levi’s face for even the smallest reaction as he asked, "So... you’re not planning to kill me?"

Levi’s gaze snapped back to him, his expression unreadable. "If that was the order, you’d be dead already."

Florian didn’t miss the way Levi’s grip on his arms tightened. The way his breath came just a fraction sharper after he spoke.

’Not boasting. Not a threat. Just a fact.’

The words sent a cold ripple down Florian’s spine, but he schooled his expression into one of careful consideration. Levi wasn’t saying it to scare him—he was saying it because it was the truth.

And yet... the way he said it.

There was something else buried beneath that detached tone. A reluctance? A quiet distaste? It was subtle, but it was there.

Florian nodded slowly, letting the weight of the conversation settle. Levi was a fighter, that much was obvious. Someone hardened by experience, someone who followed orders because that was the simplest thing to do. But he wasn’t ruthless. He wasn’t bloodthirsty.

’Dangerous, yes. But not a killer by nature.’

That, more than anything, gave Florian hope.

He took a careful breath, gauging Levi’s demeanor. His posture was rigid, but something had shifted. The air between them was different now, less sharp, less guarded. If he could just keep nudging, just keep pressing in the right places—

Florian leaned in slightly, lowering his voice just enough to make it feel like a secret. "Do you even want to be part of this group?"

Levi tensed immediately. A sharp exhale, fingers curling tighter against his arms.

Florian waited. He didn’t rush, didn’t push—just observed.

Levi turned away. "Doesn’t matter."

Florian’s lips parted, but he didn’t speak. He didn’t need to. The reaction told him everything he needed to know.

That hesitation. That refusal to answer directly. The way Levi shut down—not in anger, but in avoidance.

’He doesn’t want to lie.’

That was the key detail.

The silence stretched, thick with unspoken words. Florian held back a satisfied smile, keeping his expression neutral, thoughtful.

Levi wasn’t as loyal as he pretended to be.

And that meant one thing—

Florian might have just found his way out.

He just had to play this right.

The silence stretched between them again, thick and heavy. Florian let it linger, let Levi sit in it, unbothered by the discomfort. Pushing too hard now would just make him shut down, and he couldn’t afford that. He needed to be careful, needed to ask the right questions—the ones Levi would be willing to answer.

So far, he’d been surprisingly open, but there were limits. There had to be. Florian just had to find them.

His mind drifted back to the conversation he’d overheard earlier, the one between Charles and Arthur. The boss. That was the one topic Levi had hesitated on before. And hesitation meant something—doubt, uncertainty, maybe even something close to regret. It was a thread worth pulling.

Florian glanced at Levi, gauging his mood, and decided to test the waters. "Charles and Arthur mentioned someone earlier. Their boss."

Levi tensed, but only slightly. His arms were still crossed, his posture rigid but no longer completely closed off. "Yeah?"

"They acted like he was the one in charge of all this. The mastermind."

Levi exhaled sharply through his nose, his gaze flicking to the side. A hesitation—brief, but there. For a moment, Florian thought he wasn’t going to answer. But then, to his surprise, Levi nodded.

"He is," Levi admitted. "Usually, we just steal from nobles. Some petty crime, smuggling, that kind of thing. But this? This was different."

Florian studied him, caught off guard by how readily Levi had given that up. He wasn’t expecting that level of honesty. It was too easy. Why? Was Levi testing him too? Seeing how he’d react? Or was there something else at play here? A growing uncertainty within Levi himself?

Florian decided to keep pressing, carefully. "Who is he? What did he ask you to do?"

Levi’s expression darkened. His fingers twitched slightly against his arms before he answered, "No one knows who he really is. Only Charles has actually seen him. But the goal was clear—originally, we were supposed to kidnap the princesses. Hold them for ransom."

Florian nodded slowly, filing the information away. Then a word caught his attention. His gaze sharpened.

"Original goal?" he echoed carefully. "You said ’originally’."

Levi looked at him, his expression unreadable for a moment before something shifted. His lips pressed into a thin line, and then he gave Florian a look—serious, searching. "You really haven’t figured it out yet?"

Florian’s pulse quickened. "Figured out what?"

Levi’s jaw clenched, then he exhaled, slow and deliberate. "The plan changed," he said finally. "We weren’t told why or what happened. But we were ordered to forget about the princesses, and the one we should prioritize to kidnap... is you."