HP: It's a snake, not a badger.

Chapter 164 Arguing

"Coo coo coo".

An unfamiliar owl landed on the window, carrying an envelope in its beak. After waiting a while and finding no one to greet it, it became angry and began frantically banging on the glass with its beak.

Finally, before its patience ran out, someone opened the window and let it in. Emeric caught the letter from the owl's leg, casually tossed it a piece of jerky, and opened it to find a school admission notice with a reading list for the next semester attached.

"Why does school have to start again?" Emeric hugged Severus from behind with a gloomy face. "It feels like we just had a holiday yesterday."

"Alright, stop being so cute. I'll go shopping with you this afternoon." Severus dried the stir bar in his hand and put it on the shelf next to him, where there were several different sizes of stir bar, all in his favorite colors.

The large pendant behind him shook its head. "No, there are people watching Diagon Alley these days. You can't go; it'll be dangerous."

"Hmm? I didn't hear about that," Severus's expression grew serious. "He suspects me? No, what I heard before was that he was going to monitor Godric Valley."

"Looks like our senior Tom's paranoia has gotten worse again." A hint of mockery flashed in Emeric's eyes as he gently hooked a button onto Severus's cuff. "This is a locator. Crush it if you're in danger, and I promise I'll be there for you within half an hour."

"You still need this? I thought the contract would tell you where I am." Severus was surprised; he thought Emeric already had real-time location tracking. Emeric's gaze unconsciously drifted into the distance. "I did think about it, but I was afraid you'd be angry, so I didn't dare..."

Sure enough, Severus found it a bit funny, reached out and pinched the guilty-looking person, "I'm not angry, why are you so guilty? Tell me honestly, what other functions haven't you told me?"

Seeing Emeric's eyes lower slightly, he knew the little rascal was about to lie. "Think carefully. If I find out you're hiding something from me—"

"Then promise me you won't make me sleep on the floor."

"It depends on what you're going to confess."

Severus gently broke free from Emeric's embrace, walked to the sofa by the window, sat down, adjusted his posture, and rested his chin on one hand. "Begin your performance." His expression was a half-smile, as if he wanted to see what kind of nonsense he would come up with.

"Severus..."

"Being cute won't work; just tell the truth."

Seeing that there was really no escaping it today, Emeric sat down next to Severus and put his arm around him. "Then I'll hold you like this as I confess."

"Tsk, hurry up and tell me."

"The greatest function of the contract is to exchange lives, to transfer the damage you suffer to me." Hearing this, Severus's heart trembled. He hadn't expected that America would do this back then, without knowing if they would fall in love. Then he heard, "The rest is just transferring the damage. I didn't arrange the location or anything, because I was afraid you would be unhappy."

"Hoo—" The man exhaled, turning slightly to look at the person next to him, "If I didn't love you, would you regret doing this?"

Emeric thought he was going to get scolded, but he didn't expect to hear such a sentence. He was stunned for a moment and tilted his head, "No, because I love you, and I want you to be safe."

"Didn't you think about what would happen to your family if something really happened?" Severus's tone grew increasingly serious. He didn't dare to imagine what would happen if he were suddenly injured. "Did you even consider whether I needed you to do this?"

Knowing that he was worried about him, Emeric hugged Severus and gently patted his back. "I didn't think that much about it. I just wanted to give you peace of mind. Don't worry, even if it's a fatal wound, I can survive. Don't forget that I have another identity." With each reassurance, Severus slowly calmed down. He remembered the identity Emeric had mentioned.

"I don't care what method you use, just break the contract as soon as possible, or we're breaking up," Severus said coldly, staring directly into Emeric's eyes.

"Why did you untie it? As long as you protect yourself, I'll be fine. Or did you never intend to live and just want to leave me alone in this world?" Emeric became more and more agitated as he spoke; he couldn't stand hearing the words "breakup."

"Or maybe you're lying about loving me, so you don't care about my feelings at all. Or maybe you're still thinking about Evans, so you want to break up with me."

Upon hearing this, Severus's eyes turned completely cold. He hated doubt, and he hated misunderstanding even more. "What do you mean? You doubt me? Fine, since you doubt me, let's break up. I'll trouble you, young master Thaddeus, to leave my little place and take all your things with you. My place is too small to accommodate you."

After breaking free from Emeric's embrace, he walked to the window and stood there, his eyes slightly lowered to conceal the grievance and anger in them. He hadn't felt wronged in this relationship for many years; Emeric would never have said such things to him before.

"I—I didn't mean that, I was wrong," Emerick remembered that he had inadvertently blurted out words of jealousy. He quickly stood up, walked to the man, and tried to hug him, but was dodged. Tears welled up in his eyes. "Severus, I didn't mean that, I didn't mean to break up, I...I'm just jealous. I'm jealous that you risked your life for Evans, that you even took care of your enemy's son for her. I...I just like being jealous. I didn't say it before because I thought you had feelings for me, but one day I'll get rid of her. Whatever kind of love you want, I can give you."

"I was so angry when I heard about the breakup today that I blurted out my jealousy." He reached out for a hug again, but when he realized the man wasn't responding, he burst into tears. Tears streamed down his face. He had never cried in all these years, even when he was suffering excruciating pain, but today he cried very hard.

"Severus, please don't ignore me. I know I shouldn't have done this. I was wrong," she said, her voice trembling with tears. The man instinctively wanted to forgive Emerick, but he immediately hardened his resolve. If this matter wasn't resolved today, it would become a permanent thorn in his side.

"Let's both calm down. I'll sleep next door tonight." Severus didn't know what to do, so he instinctively chose to escape.

"I've calmed down. It was my fault today. I shouldn't have been jealous. There was nothing going on." Emeric quickly picked up the conversation, unsure what would happen after he calmed down.

Severus was stunned. He hadn't expected an apology so quickly. He was partly to blame, and it was even clear that he hadn't given his lover enough security. But Emeric didn't mention this at all, taking all the blame upon himself.

The man sighed inwardly, thinking to himself that he was doomed to fail because of this little rascal. He might as well tell him; there was no need to keep it to himself and torture each other.

"I was wrong too, I didn't give you enough security," the man covered his mouth before he could speak. "Listen to me, I've never liked Lily. I only have friendship for her, and I feel guilty for having caused her death once." Severus suddenly felt embarrassed, but he continued, "You were the first person I ever liked. If you doubt my feelings again, I'm going to slap you."

He looked up slightly at Emeric's eyes, and this time, tears of joy streamed down his cheeks. "Tsk, stop crying. Why do you still cry at your age? You're like a little kid." He said with disdain, but gently wiped away the tears with his hands.