The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] novel Chapter 478

Chapter 478: The Difference

It was a mutual craving.

If anything, Kyle might have gone further than craving and was well into malnutrition, considering how long he’d actually held out with his bottled feelings. So it was understandable that Kyle was savoring everything.

He was still enjoying Ollie’s soft hair and tight hug when someone decided to rain on his parade.

Because just as Kyle shifted, intending to leave with Ollie, a voice cut through the air like a cold slap.

"Ollie!"

Not Kyle.

But Ollie.

Hmm.

It was unfortunate. But he figured he would eventually have to deal with this glaring problem soon enough: Lyka Vela.

Kyle’s brow rose, and the blonde—who had apparently forgotten people existed—turned toward the source, blinking.

Only then did he register the stormy expression on Lyka’s face.

The poised young lady had lost all trace of cool composure. Her lip trembled with indignation. Her perfectly styled hair seemed to frizz with disbelief.

Because she could not believe the scene before her.

She had staked everything on poise, precision, and performance. And yet that bumbling, wailing, shirt-stealing mess of a man had somehow ended up being held like he was the prize while she’d been relegated as someone utterly irrelevant in the last three minutes.

Un-fucking-thinkable.

And so she snapped.

"Do you not have any pride as a man? Clinging to someone like that—crying in front of everyone?"

The crowd collectively gasped. A few even flinched. That was below the belt.

But surprisingly, the clinging beast just blinked up at her.

He looked genuinely confused. "What do tears and being tired have to do with pride?"

He straightened up slightly in Kyle’s arms, voice growing steadier. "I am a man, yes. But even manly men need love and care, too."

The people around them started murmuring.

Ollie continued, "Since when do men lose their pride for being tired after trying their best?"

Lyka screeched, "Some man you are! Men don’t act like that!"

Ollie looked at her as if she’d grown a second head.

"Sure," he said, "My mom once told me that emotionally unavailable men don’t cry. So if you want your man to be emotionally constipated, cool, that’s on you. But that’s not me."

He crossed his arms around Kyle’s neck with a sniff. "I’m a manly man in touch with my feelings."

The gasps that followed weren’t just dramatic—they were theatrical.

Lyka’s face twisted. "You’re just saying all this to make excuses for not being good enough! You’re trying to make it easier to cry again when you realize you’re not needed!"

Every onlooker took a collective mental step back.

She had a death wish.

Because the human carrier was now repositioning himself, slowly, deliberately—as if ready to address her directly.

Kyle tilted his head, looking at Lyka with mild curiosity, like she was a strange bug under a glass.

"Is that what you were hoping for? To be needed?"

The question was simple, but it landed like a brick. Lyka looked taken aback, her composure cracking. "Of course! Isn’t that what everyone wants? To be indispensable?"

Ollie also looked confused, and with honest curiosity muttered—loud enough for anyone with enhanced hearing to catch—"Huh? No. Because what could people possibly need from me?"

Kyle turned to him with the faintest smile. "You’re right. I don’t need you."

The words stunned Ollie. It was one thing to say that about himself—he did that often enough. But hearing Kyle say it? Out loud? It made his puffed cheeks falter.

But Lyka’s smug expression didn’t get the chance to settle in.

Kyle continued, "I may not need him. But I want him. Want him more than I’ve wanted anything or anyone in a very long time."

That shut everything down. Even the buzzing crowd froze.

Lyka stammered, "But isn’t that just semantics? Obviously, people end up wanting what they need!"

Kyle let out a small laugh. "Funny. People seek nutrients because we need to survive, but we didn’t stop at just food, didn’t we? Pretty sure you had some nutrient solutions within the last week. All because we didn’t want to be prisoners to ’need.’"

He took a step forward, his tone razor-sharp.

"You should know that. You’re good at history, right? Then you’d know how hard humans fought to have alternatives—to break free from the shackles of necessity."

"The difference," he said, "is in the ability to choose."

"And the beauty of wanting," Kyle said clearly, "is that it, in itself, is a choice. And the only time people settle for something else is when they can’t actually have what they really want."

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