The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] novel Chapter 1212

Chapter 1212: The Cliff

Truly, just when the Chief of Staff thought this guy couldn’t possibly surprise him any further, Jax somehow found another way to do exactly that.

"I want to be a positive addition to your life," he said simply. "So I can’t exactly be the first person to ignore the things that are already working well for you, right?"

Well.

May hell kindly reserve him a spot, because at that exact moment, Killian thought he might actually cream himself.

There were plenty of things capable of sending his thoughts into complete frenzy, but hearing something like that as someone who happened to be Killian Nox?

That was right up there with the kind of statement that warranted preparing for a nosebleed. He instinctively lifted a hand toward his nose as though making sure it hadn’t actually happened.

But come to think of it, Jax had never really asked how Killian planned to reduce his workload. At most, he’d asked whether there were workarounds so they could transfer spiritual energy back when Isabelle hadn’t hatched yet.

Not once had he questioned how Killian intended to balance a relationship with all the responsibilities he already carried. More importantly, he never made Killian feel as though he had to choose between the things he cared about or implied that he didn’t understand what truly mattered, when everything he’d done until now had been to keep those very people safe.

To think those were always the questions he got.

The exact same questions that had him swearing off blind dates people tried setting him up on.

Ridiculous.

But somehow, of all people...

He was hearing this from Jax.

Maybe his decisions hadn’t been as irrational as he’d feared.

After collecting himself, Killian finally said, "Okay. I get it. Never mind... that."

He briefly tried to think of a more appropriate way to refer to their earlier extracurricular activities, only to settle on something so painfully generic he couldn’t believe his parents had paid so much for his education.

Moving on...

"But even if we’ve got something scheduled tomorrow, we can’t just pretend what happened back at the lounge never happened, can we? I know it’s already late, but wouldn’t it be worse if we kept putting off talking about it?"

He genuinely didn’t want Jax thinking he’d forgotten about it when, in reality, it had been sitting at the front of his mind the entire time.

Then, as if determined to keep surprising him tonight, Jax answered in the most unexpected way possible.

"Well, I didn’t think there was any reason to squeeze it into tonight when it was already this late," he said simply. "Besides, I knew that, of all people, you wouldn’t treat me unfairly."

The words, coupled with the absentminded nuzzle accompanying them, made Killian’s thoughts stumble all over again.

He straightened instinctively and practically screeched, "Of course."

"See? I knew you’d keep me in mind."

"I would."

"And I also know you’d think about what’s best for both of us."

"Mmm."

At this point, Killian answered almost automatically because everything Jax was saying felt like common sense. After all, why would he ever short-change this overly obedient rascal?

"So," Jax continued smoothly, "even if we’re not getting married anytime soon, and we’re not officially engaged or anything... we could at least date each other exclusively, right?"

"Right."

The answer left Killian’s mouth before his brain managed to catch it.

A second later, his eyes widened.

"!!!"

He whipped his head around.

"No, wait a minute."

He’d been so busy agreeing that he completely failed to notice the very specific direction the conversation was heading. In fact, he hadn’t just followed it willingly; he’d enthusiastically marched himself right into the cliff.

But the indignant words sitting at the tip of Killian’s tongue never made it out. Jax merely blinked at him, his lashes fluttering with infuriating innocence, and somehow he ended up disarmed.

"...?!"

"Do I not even qualify for getting to know each other exclusively?"

Now, when it was phrased like that...

What exactly was Killian supposed to say?

The rascal in front of him already shared a daughter with him.

They’d practically exchanged and swallowed each other’s DNA not even ten minutes ago.

And now this same man was asking whether they could at least date exclusively.

How was anyone even supposed to respond to that?

So, after a brief silence and an admittedly strangled cough, Killian said, "N-no. I was just thinking maybe that isn’t enough. I was considering drafting a few agreements so you’d have something concrete to hold on to."

That wasn’t something he’d come up with just because he’d been left speechless.

On the contrary, it had been one of the first things he’d thought about.

He simply hadn’t known how to bring it up without sounding like a prick most assumed him to be.

And since he still hadn’t managed to come up with anything better...

Well, that was what came out.

If anyone thought that wasn’t remotely romantic, then they were welcome to think so.

Killian, however, considered it necessary.

After all, saying they were this or that didn’t really amount to much in any legal sense. And while it wasn’t exactly the conventional order of things, they quite literally shared Isabelle. Given the nature of his work, he couldn’t possibly be satisfied with offering nothing more than endearing words.

Whether Jax needed it or not was beside the point. Killian simply believed he ought to contribute the best he could.

And even if they didn’t progress into anything more, he still wanted the redhead and the little bee to have something tangible.

But now they were in this situation, and he’d just agreed to it with his own mouth. Even so, one question kept nagging at him because the more he thought about it, the less it made sense from his perspective.

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