The soft call, laden with anxiety, slipped out effortlessly, shattering the romantic bubble between Arvin and Kaydan.
Both of them started slightly. The quiet voice snapped them back to reality. They were not alone, but soaking alongside Calverd in the huge bathtub.
Arvin, followed closely by Kaydan, turned toward the voice. In a distant corner of the tub, Calverd sat with his head bowed. His shoulders were tense, and his gaze was locked onto the surface of the warm water, watching the ripples caused by his own slight movements.
"Is there something you need?" Arvin asked in a very gentle tone, showing no hint of annoyance. "Are you still angry with me?"
Hearing the calmly posed question, Calverd immediately looked up. He shook his head quickly, wanting to dispel the assumption before it could take root.
"I... I'm not angry with you!" Calverd answered nervously. His face, which was already flushed from holding back the turmoil in his chest, grew even redder. He gripped his own knees beneath the water's surface. "Quite the opposite! I... I apologize for all my words and actions toward you."
Calverd clenched his hands tightly in the water, desperate to find an outlet for the guilt crushing his chest.
"You are the one who has every right to be angry with me." his voice dropped, heavy with regret. "What I did, lashing out and ruining everything, is unforgivable."
Arvin looked straight into Calverd's eyes. He completely understood the unease and guilt shackling the youth before him. Slowly, his lips curved upward, forming a smile full of deep understanding.
"I am not—"
"But!"
Calverd cut him off with a slightly louder tone, refusing to let Arvin placate him or soothe his frantic emotions.
Realizing that Calverd still had a heavy burden he needed to get off his chest, Arvin closed his mouth. He decided to simply be a good listener, letting the youth pour out all his feelings until it was time for him to speak.
"My trauma and sense of loss made me blind, to the point that I took all that anger out on you." Calverd continued, his breathing slightly ragged as he recalled his actions in the hallway earlier. "I was even so insolent as to use my magic to hurl you against the wall."
Calverd swallowed hard, his voice trembling as he held back the welling emotions. "What I did truly doesn't deserve your forgiveness. But... but everything feels so strange!"
Without warning, Calverd suddenly stood up. The warm water that had submerged half his body now cascaded down his skin.
Arvin and Kaydan instinctively looked up. They could see his naked body clearly under the bright bathroom lights. At the exact same second, their eyes caught an unexpected sight. They saw a fully erect shaft.
"Look!" Calverd said, his voice shaking. He slowly reached down to hold his own shaft, laying bare his utter confusion. "This is the very first time this has happened! It never reacted at all before, even when I saw you completely naked!"
Calverd's chest heaved as he struggled to steady his breathing. "Ever since I saw the two of you together, my emotions have been all over the place. But after seeing the pure happiness on that Larde boy's face in your arms... I actually... I want to feel what he is feeling!"
With slow, slightly trembling steps, Calverd waded through the water, approaching them. He stopped right next to Arvin, then slowly lowered himself back down, sitting directly across from his savior.
"This might seem improper to you." Calverd said softly, his eyes reflecting a deep sense of inferiority. "But is it possible... for someone as tainted and worthless as me to experience the same happiness as he does?"
Hearing those self-deprecating words spill from Calverd's lips once more, Arvin, who had patiently listened until now, immediately spoke up.
"I already told you, you are not worthless, those soldiers are!" Arvin stated firmly, his voice slicing through Calverd's doubts like a blade through the air. His gaze locked onto Calverd's, refusing to let him drown in self-loathing. "As for happiness, I'm absolutely certain that you will find yours in the future!"
Anchored by the absolute certainty in Arvin's voice, the heaviness in Calverd's chest eased. He took a slow breath, gathering whatever fragments of courage he had left.
"D-Do you still want me to be your spouse?" Calverd asked in a quiet voice, needing to confirm Arvin's feelings one more time.
"I told you from the very beginning that I do want you!" Arvin answered straightforwardly, firm, yet incredibly gentle all the same.
Calverd nodded slowly. "Including Kaydan, there are eleven people who have become your spouses, right?"
"Yes, you're right!"
"May..." Calverd suddenly cut himself off.
Doubt crept back into his mind like poison. The harsh reality of his own condition, having been forcibly violated by others, weighed heavily on him.
Do I even deserve to stand among them? he thought, overwhelmed by insecurity.
Seeing Calverd suddenly fall silent, his face paling, Arvin furrowed his brow in confusion.
"Why did you stop talking?" Arvin asked, puzzled. "What about my spouses?"
"It's not about them!" Calverd quickly dismissed the thought, not wanting any misunderstanding.
"Then what is it?"
Calverd fell silent for a long moment. He closed his eyes, fighting hard to suppress the inadequacy and fear gnawing at his sanity, desperately trying to fortify his resolve. He lowered his gaze back to the water's surface, letting the silence take over.
Opposite him, Arvin, with Kaydan still resting in his lap, sat in perfect calm. He waited patiently for the rest of the unspoken words, completely unwilling to pressure the indigo-haired youth.
After taking a few deep breaths to steel his heart, Calverd finally looked up again. He stared straight into the face of the handsome blue-haired youth before him, staking whatever pride and future he had left on a single sentence.
"May I... may I ask you to take me as your twelfth spouse, and help me recover from my trauma?"
The question, spoken with utter fragility, hung heavy in the humid air of the bathroom.
The happiness Arvin had already been feeling thanks to Kaydan instantly skyrocketed, multiplying tenfold upon hearing what Calverd was directly asking of him. His patience in weathering the youth's emotional storm had yielded a beautiful reward.
A warm smile graced Arvin's face once more. Without a single shred of hesitation in his heart, he answered with absolute certainty.
"Yes, I will!"