My Disfigured Duke Husband Helps Me Plot My Revenge
Chapter 236: Friend Until the End

Chapter 236: Friend Until the End

Perhaps that’s why it stung Quinn so badly that Leonor was keeping secrets from him. He had given her everything during the conversations they shared.

For a long time in the Academy, Leonor realized just how irritated the mere mention of Stephano made Quinn.

If she were to receive a letter from the former Crown Prince or express worry about what he was doing in the capital, it was always met with strange resistance. Quinn always changed the topic quickly when it came to Stephano.

Since they were close to the Eastern Sea in Magia, the monsoon season was quite harsh and the students were given a couple of weeks off of school during that time.

Since Leonor opted not to return to Burien, she found herself with endless time to talk to Quinn.

They were locked indoors anyway and, while still studying, all they could do was share their lives.

Those were the times Quinn realized how awful Count Mikael was to his eldest daughter even if she didn’t tell him about the count’s physical violence towards her. Her newfound confidence was only possible away from such a man.

This trust caused Quinn to relent when Leonor brought up Prince Stephano and the silver-haired mage immediately scowled. He tried to change the topic quickly but it didn’t sit right with Leonor.

Back then she said, "I just want all of us to be friends. Why do you despise the Prince so much? He spoke highly of you before I met you."

Considering their past of being mana partners before Stephano graduated early and at the top of his class, it was strange that something might have happened to sour Quinn toward Stephano so badly.

Leonor remembered the tension seemingly leaving Quinn’s body as he sighed and bowed his head. Back then he wore his hair more shaggy and she remembered him shaking his head which caused his hair to sway.

"I used to have feelings for Stephano," Quinn admitted to her all those years ago, except she wasn’t sure that his feelings truly stopped. "I had to get over it so I don’t ruin his life but it’s hard to get over someone you have to see each day. He’s an unwelcome presence. The more I hear about him the more I want to know and I have to stop myself before I get carried away."

She remembered saying she was sorry, but he stopped the conversation before it could go further and he could start to get hurt even more.

That was the last time she ever heard about that topic.

Despite the secret he shared with Leonor, she never treated him differently or made him uncomfortable. For that, he valued her immensely.

The modern Quinn stood in front of Leonor, a full-grown man rather than a teenager who was confused about his crush on someone as wonderful as the prince. For him to still struggle with this very topic, she had a feeling her theory that he hadn’t ever gotten over Stephano seemed correct.

Unfortunately for Quinn, his tastes hadn’t changed as he got older. He was still just as miserable as before since he received a summoning from the King and was asked to be the closest mage to him.

As much as Quinn wanted to say no, he knew there would never be a better opportunity for a mage. He had to say yes.

When he saw Stephano for the first time in ages, the man who was finally King welcomed him with open arms. He was as charming and frustrating as ever.

What Quinn deemed to be immature feelings compounded. The more he couldn’t deny that he had grown out of it, the more he stayed out of the palace.

Stephano had too easy of access to him. Quinn didn’t want to be forced to see him walking the hallways in casual garb at night or waking up in the morning with his blazing red hair a wreck.

He especially didn’t want to be the King’s confidant in the middle of the night when he couldn’t sleep because of a decision that had to be made.

All Quinn wanted was for Stephano to be the King and not rely on him whatsoever.

Yet he found Stephano getting vulnerable with him and Quinn stopped calling him by his first name and only ’Your Majesty’. He needed to draw the line in the sand before his ridiculous heart could jump to conclusions.

Quinn worried that Stephano would certainly kick him out of the palace if he knew what a disgraceful man he was. He was the living embodiment of sin. Not only was magic a contradiction of the church that presided over Castille but he would also be shunned for his preferences that he did not ask for.

Quinn finally answered Leonor’s question of whether or not he had feelings for Stephano.

"I will be free of this sin soon, but not if I have to live a few doors down to the cause of it all," Quinn managed to say. "I have to remember how to behave as if I’m like everyone else."

Leonor’s gaze fell. All she could do was feel sorry because there was nothing she could say to rectify the situation.

"Please don’t talk badly about my friend in such a way," Leonor uttered. "You are not someone full of sin."

He was the embodiment of purity and kindness. Yet she knew how their culture viewed people like that.

It was kept as quiet as possible. People had died in the past for giving into feelings such as that.

Amongst the gossip her parents were privy to when they were entertaining other nobles, it slipped out that there was a noble family who had a son found with another man. He was sent to the temple in the capital and emerged entirely different. He even married a noblewoman chosen for him by his family.

Years down the road, the man drank himself to death.

While Leonor was a believer in the church, it always rubbed her the wrong way that even a good person could be punished in such a way. He never harmed another person nor were his business dealings ever put into question. Because of his lack of sin in her eyes, the man’s everlasting misery up until the day he died stuck out to her.

At times like that, she questioned her beliefs or how she could support something responsible for something like that. Yet she continued praying and hoping that the higher power she believed in was as just and loving of all as scripture told her.

"If something ever happens, please know that you always have a place at my side," Leonor reminded him. "I will hide you in Montclair if it ever gets to that point. I know I’m speaking in extremes but please understand how much I value you."

She gently squeezed Quinn’s shoulder before deciding to retreat down the ladder and to the main area of his quarters.

While he got himself together, she perused the shelves to see if there was anything else she recognized.

She heard Quinn start coming down the ladder but she would allow him a few moments before he directed them to the next location.

Hearing that he was approaching her, Leonor turned to see what he was doing, but instead, she was met with a wall or, rather, Quinn walking forward swiftly and hugging her tightly in a way that he normally hated.

"Thank you," he uttered.

She was being squeezed and could hardly wrap her arms around him in return but she tried nonetheless.

As soon as the hug was over, Quinn quickly turned away, knowing that Leonor might be able to read him further if he faced her immediately.

"We ought to eat an early lunch," Quinn said.

He escaped the lab out the door that led to the narrow staircase and Leonor simply smiled for a few moments before following after him.