CH 52

“I see you’ve become very close with her, so soon despite her recent employment.”

“Of course! Tania’s a good friend, but she’s also my savior who delivered me from Aled!”

“What savior, when all she did was bring a jewel from her family? It was merely good luck.”

“Be that as it may, without Tania I would’ve still had to listen to Aled’s rambling. You don’t know what a maniac of a talker Aled was until we got Tania’s jewel, Your Majesty. Even during the lady-in-waiting election, it was going on about you being impotent all day lo-… Hup!”

“…What?”

Cecile hastily blocked her mouth, but alas, the words had already left her mouth.

* * *

“I was wrong. Please take anything but my life.”

Aled kneeled on a table and slammed down its forehead in a bow to Estian, who was sitting opposite with the jewel offered by Tania in his hand. Estian raised his hand high and—Aled grew wide-eyed—let go of the jewel, but fortunately for the spirit, he used his other hand to catch it before it dropped to the floor.

“I, I beg of you. Anything but that… I barely finished renovating yesterday…” The spirit pleaded. It went through a terrible time looking for another home-worthy jewel after the Emerald of Aled was broken, so much so that when it found what it was looking for, it bellowed ‘THAT’S MIIIIINNNEE!’ and demanded Cecile get it from Tania. 

After going inside the jewel to take a look, it saw traces of someone having taken up residence before, which was why it excitedly set to fixing up the place to the latest trend, but…

‘I can’t afford to lose my home, not after everything!’

The spirit’s reluctance to lose its house made Aled act servile to the utmost. Its various proud embellishments to its name, of being the first elf’s shadow, or of being the one and only spiritual entity capable of physical manifestation, so on and so forth… did not help its situation in the slightest. As Aled lowered itself flat and begged for Estian’s voice, it heard the latter throw a question coldly. “You cherish your house so much, yet you wag your tongue with abandon. I wonder why?”

“Exactly as you say. I wonder why I did that?” Speaking as if it had nothing to do with the matter, Aled turned to sneak a peek toward the bed in the room where Cecile was lying down, exhausted and with only a thin blanket covering her. By the looks of the colorful marks left on her exposed neck, shoulders, and even her back, it was evident how eager Estian was in his activity. 

After taking a look at Cecile—she had suffered to the point of snoring in her sleep—Aled returned its eyes to Estian and wiped at the corner of its mouth at the sight of Estian half-naked with his torso bare for all to see. 

Although Aled was a genderless spiritual entity, it did have working eyes and could tell that Estian’s naked torso was, to put it crudely, ‘hot’.

His shoulders were broad, his collarbones were flawless, and his chiseled muscles lined with veins beneath it all would ripple with his every movement. And while his lower half was covered up, he was using a large bath towel to do so. The towel had slightly slipped down to expose his hips, the sight of which made Aled gulp dryly. 

The man sat there in all his splendor, his face languid as he swept back his hair. Aled was once shown a photobook by a spirit it was acquainted with who lauded its contents, saying, ‘Hey, this is what they call a photobook, but it’s out of this world, amazeballs I tell you. Take one look and your mind will be blown to another realm.’ and Estian was like a picture out of that very book.

‘What a gosh darn tactless towel… If it went just a little lower…’

As Aled was swallowing dryly in discontent, Estian tossed the jewel in the air before catching it again.

“Stop! Please stop! I’ll really end up a vengeful ghost if my house breaks again! Haven’t you heard how horrible spirits become when they’re consumed by malice?” Aled cried anxiously.

“I can simply eradicate you before that happens.”

“…”

Aled could only fight back tears as his words were not wrong. Just what the hell had this bugger eaten to become so strong for a human? The only one among humans capable of wielding a black steel blade was…

“Eh?”

Aled was lost in thought but then felt surprised upon recalling a certain piece of its memory. “Wait a second. Emperor, you didn’t ingest Eugendiph’s Blood, did you?”