Please get me out of this BL novel...I'm straight! novel Chapter 528

"You're hiding something."

Kazaria didn't hesitate, her words sharp as an arrow loosed from a bow. Her emerald eyes narrowed, locking onto him with the intensity of someone who refused to be deceived.

"What?" Florian blinked, his throat tightening, his lashes fluttering nervously.

"Don't lie to me," Kazaria pressed, stepping closer. The cool edge of command in her voice slipped, replaced by something far more personal, far more piercing. "I've known you since the moment you were born. And don't even try to say we're only a few years apart—you know my memory never fails me."

The crown princess aura she carried so effortlessly fractured, melting away. What stood before him wasn't a ruler-in-training, wasn't the heir of Floramatria.

It was just his sister.

An older sibling staring through him, refusing to be fooled.

"I'm…" Florian faltered, completely caught off guard. His steps stilled as Kazaria released his wrist, squaring her stance and setting her hands firmly on her hips.

"Don't lie."

"I haven't even said anything yet!" Florian protested, his voice cracking into something perilously close to a whine. He crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at her with the stubbornness of a cornered child.

"Yes, but I know that look." Kazaria tilted her chin, her lips twitching in the faintest smirk of knowing. "You're about to spin some flimsy excuse."

"I am not!"

"You are."

"I'm not!"

"Rian."

The weight in her tone forced him to sag, exhaling through his nose in frustration. He turned half-away, his shoulders tense, rubbing at his temple as though her persistence was drilling straight into his skull.

"Look," he said at last, quieter, his voice more fragile than he'd intended. "I really have to talk to my friend. Maybe I am hiding something…" His eyes flicked toward her, pleading, before dropping back down. "But if I could tell you right now, I would. Really. I just… I can't say anything I'm not certain about."

Kazaria's gaze sharpened further, the older sibling mask in full force now. "You started acting strange the moment we brought up our letters." Her voice dipped to a near-whisper, but every syllable was laced with fire. "You never received them, did you?"

Florian's breath caught. His eyes widened.

'She's good.'

"I knew it." Her expression darkened, anger flaring in her voice. "I had a feeling that no good king—"

"Shh!" Florian hissed, panic exploding through him. He darted forward, one hand shooting up to clamp gently but firmly over her mouth. His eyes darted around, frantic, scanning for listening ears. "Don't say things like that, Kaz—"

And then the word slipped out.

Oh.

Kaz.

Not Kazaria. Not her full name.

Just Kaz.

The nickname fell from his lips like muscle memory, raw and unguarded.

For a heartbeat, the world seemed to stop.

But Kazaria didn't recoil. She didn't scold him. Her green eyes softened, the steel melting into something warmer—something achingly familiar.

When he lowered his hand, her voice came out steady, though edged with fury. "Why shouldn't I? He took you from us. And now you're telling me he hasn't even been giving you our letters?"

Florian shook his head quickly, his hand half-raised again as though ready to silence her once more. "I'm not even sure he knows about the letters," he whispered urgently. His words tumbled fast, desperate.

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