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

As the debris from the suddenly destroyed wall gradually settled, the unexpected scene beyond finally came into view.

Hands that had absolutely no business coming anywhere near Luca were gripping the back of his head.

Their faces were only inches apart, and Luca’s expression was caught somewhere between shock and determination.

Xavier saw all of it.

Despite the room being filled with people shouting, struggling, and pulling one another apart, despite the wives of the master mechanics having turned the once orderly lounge into complete chaos, his attention narrowed until only one scene remained.

It felt as though something inside his ears had suddenly popped, and his legs nearly buckled beneath him.

Everything around him became strangely distant while his eyes remained fixed on his wife and the threat of losing what had since mattered to him the most.

For one agonizing moment, time itself seemed to stretch, granting him just enough clarity to understand exactly what he was looking at, but not enough to reach Luca before something irreversible happened.

Then that one whom he assumed was Lyrian smiled.

Not the pleasant or gentle kind, but the sort of malicious curl of the lips that made Xavier’s heart seize before dropping straight into his stomach.

No.

Not that.

Anything but that.

Then, as though his mind had chosen the absolute worst possible moment to dredge them up, memories came rushing in one after another.

Luca smiling at him. Those bright golden eyes instinctively searching for him across crowded rooms before always softening the moment they found his. Then, just as quickly, another image forced its way to the forefront.

The master mechanics.

Those hollow eyes. Those empty expressions that no longer carried the people they’d once belonged to.

Xavier felt the blood drain from his face.

He couldn’t accept that.

He couldn’t bear the thought of Luca ever looking at him with that same vacant gaze, stripped of the warmth, affection, and recognition that had always belonged to him.

”Luca!”

The Imperial Prince shot forward, driven by the single overwhelming instinct to tear those offending hands away from the person who meant everything to him before they could steal even one more thing.

__

At that very same moment, in that very same room, someone else found himself staring at a scene so horrifying that every crisis he’d lived through before suddenly seemed laughably insignificant by comparison.

Killian’s soul lurched.

Not just his gut.

Not just his heart.

The instant he saw that familiar redhead using both hands to cradle the head of the demon who just had to be Cyrion of all people, Killian could’ve sworn something deep inside him physically shook.

Then just as he thought that had been bad, Jax pulled the Aerun even closer.

”!!!”

The eldest Nox genuinely felt as though something inside him was about to crack.

But before that happened, was he really supposed to stand there and let those two happily continue whatever this was?

Honestly, he didn’t even know what he was looking at anymore.

Whether his vision had been clouded by anger, panic, or an emotion he stubbornly refused to name, all Killian could see was Jax wearing that unbearably focused expression.

The one Jax wore whenever all his attention settled onto a single person.

The one he’d complacently assumed had been directed at him ever since the day they became so unbelievably entangled.

And now that rascal was looking at somebody else that way while holding his face no less.

Hah!

Killian’s entire body locked up for the briefest of moments.

Every instinct screamed at him to stop.

To turn away.

To avoid whatever came next lest he not recover as well as he ought to.

But instead of reacting the way someone who’d once claimed to be detached from the world of emotions should’ve, he launched himself into the fray.

Screw how this would look in the eyes of all those people he’d apparently forgotten even existed the moment his vision tunneled, because it was already far too late for him to dip out now.

Just the day before, they’d shared what he’d believed had been a moment of mutual understanding, one where he’d personally risked his own sensibilities despite how insignificant the gesture might’ve seemed to anyone else.

Then earlier that very morning, they’d practically been inseparable while carrying their own spawn around together.

It sounded so mundane but they were literally together.

So whatever this strange thing was between Jax and Cyrion, Killian was going to strangle it before it ever had the chance to grow into something worse. And that dingus had better believe he’d shake him back to reality so hard he’d regret leaving the comforts of his bed that morning.

He surged toward Jax, intending to cover those eyes before they could look any longer.

He could only pray he wasn’t already too late. A forced change of heart was one thing, but the thought of that all too soft tank coming to harm because he hadn’t made it to him in time truly terrified him.

But just as he ducked beneath the wildly flailing arm of one panicked master mechanic, planted his foot, and thrust his hand toward Jax’s face at last, Killian froze mid-reach.

Everything happened in the span of a heartbeat, starting with a sudden—

”I think I got it!”

The familiar voice of the youngest in the room rang out as though reminding everyone that there was really more than one confrontation unfolding at once.

Then, almost in the same breath, Killian watched the smug confidence drain from Cyrion’s face as he stood before Jax.

”N-No...!”

His horrified stutter echoed through the lounge.

Jax, who’d maintained that same concentrated expression the entire time, actually widened his eyes before asking, ”What about now? Have you stared enough?”

Killian practically gawked as it happened, but he wasn’t the only one suddenly feeling utterly lost and confused, as the Aerun in question appeared to have no idea what had just happened.

Cyrion’s eyes seemed to strain wider as shock overtook him.

Something was wrong.