Chapter 57

Chapter 57

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Chapter 57

"...I'm glad that your taste aligns with mine. It makes me feel that the effort to bring you on as my assistant was worthwhile."

"Pardon?" Diiscover new stories at nove/lbin(.)c/om

Yuder was preoccupied with thoughts about Thais Yulman, and had missed Kishiar's comment. He turned his head a little too late to ask again, only to find that Kishiar was also looking in his direction with a slight tilt of his head.

Their faces had stopped at a very close distance.

"..."

In that instant, Yuder's gaze was seized by Kishiar's face. Kishiar, too, blinked, staring back at Yuder.

After a short pause, it was Kishiar who first broke away from the gaze and flashed a smile.

"We almost bumped into each other."

"Oh, yes."

Yuder finally regained his senses and turned his head away.

"Did you fall for my face up close? You were looking rather passionately."

The unfamiliar short pang Yuder had felt shattered instantly.

"No, that's never happened."

Despite his immediate, firm denial, Kishiar persisted as if he had a winning hand.

"You didn't? Weren't you just looking?"

"I never did."

"I should have just bumped into you. It seemed like a perfect angle for a kiss."

Yuder felt a sudden chill in his spine and inadvertently looked back again. Fortunately, Kanna seemed to still be following from a distance, seemingly engrossed in her own pleasant thoughts.

"Making such comments to anyone could lead to unnecessary misunderstandings. Please refrain. I am your assistant."

What was the point of making such a joke to Yuder, who had yet to awaken his second gender?

Although he had accepted the position of assistant, there was clearly nothing more than that. The future would not be like the past.

"Anyone? That's a bit hurtful. Are you 'anyone'?"

Kishiar, who didn't care about other people's feelings, couldn't suppress a small chuckle, shaking his shoulders as he slowed down and quietly fell behind Yuder. It seemed he just wanted to tease.

"Alright, I won't do it anymore. Don't purposely distance yourself. Weren't we just happily discussing plans together?"

"...."

"Choosing you as my assistant seems like a good decision. I think we'll make a great team, don't you think?"

Kishiar had an extraordinary talent for expressing the same phrase in a strikingly different manner. As Yuder sighed lightly, Kishiar laughed once more.

"Whilst I understand you can't leave this place, didn't I tell you to at least clean up more often?"

"You're nagging the moment you arrive?"

Despite his words, the Emperor's expression was incredibly gentle. A faint smile, one he wouldn't even show his brother Duke Peletta, rose to his face. Seeing this, the Empress moved behind him. The sight of the Emperor's thin frame, visible through his shirt, hurt her inside.

"I worry for you. You look even more ill than before."

"My face is the same as always."

"No, it's not. You really do look unwell. Have you been drinking the herbal medicine I sent?"

The Emperor, feeling the Empress's slender fingers on his shoulder, smiled quietly. Even the times of excruciating pain that always ate away at his body, and the unbearable humiliation, felt like nothing in that moment.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I drink what you sent? I even had some just before."

Only after she had confirmed when and how he had taken the medicine did the Empress let her worry subside a little.

"So, you really did take it all."

"When have I ever lied to you?"

"Never. You've never lied... but...."

His grip tightened around the Empress's shoulder. The Emperor slowly raised his hand and held hers. The Empress's hand was soft and warm, but the Emperor's was rough like old bark and cold as a corpse.

"Sorry, did I startle you?"

However, before the Emperor's hand fully withdrew, the Empress's hand came down and held his tightly.

"I wasn't startled."

The Emperor was a little surprised, then he laughed. The two held hands for a long time, receiving the sunset that poured through the window.

After a while, as the Emperor's hand warmed from the heat transferred from the Empress's hand, the conversation resumed.

"By the way, did the Duke Peletta's visit go well? How was he?"

"I'm still unsure."

The Emperor responded in a soft voice.

"But he seemed more enthusiastic than I thought. I was a bit surprised when he volunteered to do the task we had planned to delegate to the mages. I wonder what got into him."

"Isn't that a good thing? Duke Peletta is undoubtedly worried about you as well."

"Well, he would be worried. The ordeal I'm going through will inevitably be his burden someday."

"There you go again, speaking so harshly on purpose."

The Empress applied a slight pressure to the hand she had placed on the Emperor's shoulder. Despite being brothers, closer and more caring for each other than anyone else, the Emperor never openly displayed it.

Considering the enemies scattered around them, it might have been inevitable, but the Empress felt a faint sadness whenever she saw the pessimistic attitude the Emperor displayed.

Hi, please check out this patreon link /al_squad to support the translation, ad-free chapters, and up to 40 additional chapters!!

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