Viktor had accepted his words and said that he believed him. Qiu Nuoya had hoped that this would finally help him calm down a little.
But the result was...
"Nuoya, the problem is that you’re far too kind to everyone! You go around giving people false hope, charming everyone you meet, and do you have any idea how much that has tormented me all this time!? Your body is still that of a child, and you cannot match an adult’s physical strength. There’s no way you could win against physically powerful adventurers or demi-humans, either. And yet you act so carelessly around them, completely defenseless! Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been because of that!? Until now, I have restrained myself and watched over you as your magic teacher. But now that we are lovers, I will no longer hold back. That’s right, I absolutely will not! As your lover, I will never again allow anyone else to touch you! Surely that is a right I can exercise as your lover!"
Oh, enough already! You’re so noisy, so noisy, SO NOISY!
You’ve been going on and on about being lovers!
It was true that Qiu Nuoya had said he loved Viktor, and he certainly had no objection to becoming his lover. But using their relationship as an excuse to get his own way was a completely different matter!
What Qiu Nuoya had wanted to say was that he genuinely loved Viktor, so he should stop picking fights with everyone and learn to trust him enough to watch over him without worrying so much.
Yet none of that had gotten through to Viktor. Not even a little.
If anything, Viktor’s possessiveness had only grown stronger.
This has completely defeated the purpose!
"I take it back."
"Huh?"
"I don’t like Viktor when he’s this selfish."
"This is not selfishness..."
"If you’re going to keep making unreasonable demands like this, then I won’t be your lover."
To begin with, Qiu Nuoya felt he had already put up with quite a lot of Viktor’s possessiveness. He had stayed quiet even when Viktor secretly peeked into his room. He had agreed to have a protective seal inscribed on his back. And he had even allowed Viktor to keep one of the dolls he had collected that looked exactly like Qiu Nuoya.
He had done all of that out of kindness, because taking every single one away would have seemed a little too cruel.
After everything Qiu Nuoya had already compromised on, what on earth was Viktor still dissatisfied with?
Frankly, Viktor’s behavior up until now had already been enough to qualify as stalking. And now, just because they had become lovers, he was trying to force even more demands on Qiu Nuoya. There was no way such a relationship could be considered an equal partnership.
In other words, Qiu Nuoya believed this was a clear case of emotional abuse.
"Until Viktor learns how to build equal relationships with other people, our relationship is on hold! If you can’t accept that condition, then understand this: from now on, the possibility of you ever dating me is absolutely zero!"
"Wha..."
"First, you can start by apologizing to Warren for how you’ve treated him."
"Why should I!?"
"You can’t do that? Then I’ll just find another lover. Hmm, maybe I should start dating Warren instead..."
"Please don’t!"
Qiu Nuoya had meant his confession sincerely, and he certainly had no intention of treating romance so casually that he would simply move on to someone else if things did not work out with Viktor. He had absolutely no intention of doing something so irresponsible.
However, unless Viktor learned to behave more maturely, he would continue causing problems in his relationships with other people. Qiu Nuoya therefore steeled his heart and refused to back down.
"Then apologize properly for the way you’ve treated him! Refusing to call a companion by his name just because you dislike it is incredibly disrespectful!"
"It’s not as though I willingly chose to form a party with him in the first place..."
"Viktor?"
Qiu Nuoya leaned closer with a bright, pleasant smile.
Viktor flinched as though frightened, then nodded nervously.
"I-I’ll do my best..."
If they were merely friends, Qiu Nuoya could probably overlook a few flaws in Viktor’s words and behavior and continue getting along with him.
A romantic relationship, however, was different.
If they wanted their relationship to last, they needed to share their values and work through their differences. A relationship built entirely on one person’s willingness to endure everything would never last. The moment that person’s patience finally ran out, the relationship could easily fall apart.
And if that happened, Qiu Nuoya feared they might not even be able to return to being friends.
That was precisely why he could not simply give in to Viktor’s demands now.
Characters who accepted every single flaw of the person they loved, simply because they were in love, only existed in stories. Qiu Nuoya could not be expected to play that role.
He had his own will and his own feelings. His friendships with people other than Viktor mattered to him, too. He was not the sort of person who could abandon everything else in his life just to immerse himself in romance.
After all, that was exactly why Qiu Nuoya, a forty year old virgin who had never married, was who he was today.
That was one part of himself he was not willing to compromise on.
Qiu Nuoya knew full well that he was a difficult person to deal with. But that was simply who he was. If Viktor could not accept him as he was, then perhaps Viktor should never have tried to date him in the first place.
Fortunately, Viktor was an elf with a long lifespan, while Qiu Nuoya’s current body was still in its teens. They had plenty of time left to work through their differences and find common ground.
"Let me say this one more time. I’m not Qiu Tailang. And if you genuinely want to be with me, Viktor, you need to be prepared for what that means. I’m a lot more demanding than you think."