"Come in," Heinz ordered.
The doors opened almost instantly, revealing two familiar knights.
’Those are the ones who helped save me... during the kidnapping.’ Florian recognized their faces this time—Gareth and Elias. But his attention snapped away as soon as he saw what Elias was holding.
A small jar. Inside it, fluttering weakly, was—
"Luluwing!" Florian gasped, his heart dropping. He rushed forward without hesitation. "What happened to its wing?!"
The butterfly’s once graceful blue wings were now damaged—one of them twisted unnaturally, clearly broken. It kept trying to fly, desperately hitting the jar’s glass as soon as it saw him.
"Luluwing, no—don’t hurt yourself—" Florian reached for the jar in Elias’s hands, but before his fingers could touch it, Gareth grabbed his arm.
"Wha—?!"
"Please do not get close, Your Highness," Gareth said firmly. "This butterfly is suspected to be the cause of Lady Delilah’s death. It is evidence, and we can’t—"
RUMBLE.
The walls, the floor—everything trembled. Florian flinched, eyes wide.
Everyone knew what that sound meant.
Heinz.
The king’s magic thickened the air like a thunderstorm ready to strike.
"Unhand him," Heinz growled, his voice low and laced with danger. "Let him do whatever he wants."
The tension in the room snapped like a bowstring. Gareth immediately released Florian and dropped his head in a bow.
"O-Of course, Your Majesty. My sincerest apologies."
Florian stood frozen for a moment, processing what just happened. ’He’s... He’s been so kind to me lately. Why?’
He glanced at Heinz, who didn’t look at him—he simply waited, arms crossed, like none of this was unusual.
’Still... Thank you.’
Florian gave him a small smile before turning back to Elias. He took the jar with trembling hands. As soon as he touched it, the rumbling ceased completely. The air cleared.
"Luluwing..." Florian whispered as he carefully opened the jar. The butterfly struggled to move, wings trembling.
It couldn’t fly.
It tried, and failed, then tried again—until Florian gently placed his hand inside.
"Come here," he coaxed softly.
Luluwing crawled weakly onto his finger, resting there. Its tiny body was shaking.
’What on earth happened?’
The sight crushed him. He held the butterfly up close, heart aching.
"What happened to you?" Florian murmured, barely able to speak. Then he turned toward the two knights—his expression no longer soft, but sharp.
His eyes narrowed. Voice cold.
"Did either of you do this?"
Gareth’s eyes flew wide open, panic flashing across his face as he immediately shook his head.
"N-No, Your Highness. We would never." His voice cracked slightly, but he quickly cleared his throat and gestured toward Elias. "Elias, explain. Tell him."
Elias straightened his back, standing tall like a soldier, though his eyes still flicked toward the butterfly in Florian’s hand with unease.
"When we were stationed outside Lady Delilah’s cell, everything was quiet at first," Elias began, voice measured. "But then we heard her coughing—at first mildly, then violently. By the time we opened her cell to check on her, she was still tied to the chair. The butterfly was... already there."
Florian’s breath hitched.
"On her lap," Elias added. "Its wing was already broken, and... a piece of it had torn off. It was near her mouth. She was bleeding, her skin turned an unnatural color. We didn’t know what it meant until later."
’Motherfucker.’
’No. Azure is far too intelligent. If Cashew tried anything—anything at all—Azure would’ve noticed. Azure would’ve alerted, screeched, told Heinz. Hell, maybe even transform into his original form to kill Cashew. There’s no way it was him.’
"You mentioned the butterflies were agitated before this happened," Lucius interjected, stepping closer. "Something must have triggered it. Something must’ve been done to them."
"Look at Luluwing," he hissed. "Look at its wing. Jagged. Sliced. That’s not a natural tear—it was cut. Someone cut its wing to agitate it, probably right before pushing it into Delilah’s cell."
’I know it’s just a butterfly... but how heartless do you have to be to do this?’
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Please get me out of this BL novel...I'm straight!