HEO 124

But Silver’s face?

Even if he wanted to forget, forgetting was impossible. How could a face that beautiful…?

His jaw throbbed. He had been clenching his teeth too hard, lost in thought.

Wolf closed his eyes. Think.

Everything has a cause and effect. If he dug deep enough, he would find some clue to this bizarre situation.

Wolf disassembled the problem one piece at a time, as if opening a pocket watch. He opened the back, peered at the components, and looked for where the gears weren’t meshing.

Hypothesis one: Silver is crazy.

His mind had detached from reality. Silver’s rage was real, but unfortunately, the truth surrounding his father’s death was a fiction woven by a broken mind. Wolf had encountered many similar examples in reality. For instance, an old warrior who insisted his son had been kidnapped by a sea serpent, stolen contentcontent">stolen contentwhile his fellow warriors claimed the boy had fallen off the boat trying to save his father. Grief breaks a person’s mind. Sometimes, it constructs a fiction of perfect logic to shroud the truth.

Fine. That kind of thing happens often.

But why me?

He wondered why, out of countless people, Silver had chosen him as his father’s enemy. Hadn’t he said his father was a contract killer? There must have been more than one or two people holding a grudge. So why me, someone with zero connection? Fuck, I don’t even know what your father looked like. I firmly believed you grew up as a dockside brat until you told me you even had a father!

Hypothesis two: Silver’s father died. The truth behind that death was something Silver simply could not accept. Therefore, he needed a villain. Some guy he happened to cross paths with around that time. An idiot from Atania who had shot up from attendant to prince. By chance, he steps on the hem of Silver’s robe in some tavern, but because he doesn’t know the Stohl language, he fails to apologize and just wanders past in a daze.

Finding this insolent, Silver casts the idiot as his father’s enemy. Since Silver had his robe hood pulled deep over his face at the time, Silver’s face remains unknown to the unfortunate idiot’s memory. End of story.

No matter how he looked at it, Silver’s claim was the result of a delusion. However, the fact that the guy knew the name ‘Wolf’ bothered him. Only the warriors under his command knew that name. Had Silver overheard it somewhere? Well, it wasn’t impossible.

One thing was certain. He had to clear up Silver’s misunderstanding somehow. But how?

With a pocket watch, it’s a simple fix: reassemble the parts and close the back. [stolen content]style="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[Read unauthorized copyon Read BL Novels]With dough, you knead it, fold it, and roll it out again. But a person’s delusion was difficult to fix.

His mind grew only more troubled. Wolf swallowed a sigh and covered his face with both hands.

Goddammit. How did it even get to this point?

He knew. No one knows the future. Reality is a place where unimaginable events happen at any time, just as he had been suddenly dragged into a skeleton wraith’s den.

Still, wasn’t this situation excessively tangled? Somehow he ended up nursing Silver, somehow they ended up sharing a bed, and somehow he discovered that he had been framed for murdering Silver’s father without even knowing it. He didn’t even have a clue where to start untying the knots.

His chest tightened as if he were wearing clothes a size too small. Eventually, Wolf suppressed his presence and stood up. Just before leaving the room, he looked back. Silver was fast asleep. One arm hung off the bed, and his face was half-buried in the pillow.

Sleep well, you weirdo.

He closed the door and stepped into the hallway. Wolf slumped down in front of the entrance and tilted his head back. The cloudless autumn sky was a blue so vivid it made his eyes ache. If it were a person, it would be an expression of complete lack of worry. As if mocking Wolf, the sound of a dog barking echoed from somewhere, and a white parrot circled down through the sunlight.

“Wolf!”

Red Eagle landed on Wolf’s forearm. Wolf brought a finger to his lips.

“Shh.”

There was no way Silver, drugged into sleep, could hear them. Still, Wolf indulged in the slightly absurd thought that if he were a thunder, he might have extraordinary hearing. Red Eagle tucked its head in and hopped over to Wolf’s shoulder.

“About last night. Do you know how surprised I was? You…”

“What is it, Prince. People can graduate from virginity in their lifetime. Is it because the partner is a man? Did Stohl pass a law banning sodomy while I wasn’t looking?”

At Wolf’s blunt response, Red Eagle gaped its beak.

“Gender isn’t the issue. I mean, that… isn’t he a total eccentric? How could you with a guy who looks like that…”

“Ah. You haven’t seen his real face, have you?”

Wolf nodded.

“That human-skin mask certainly makes even most warriors lower their eyes immediately. It’s fine, his real face is worth seeing.”

“No, but… really, why on earth… why did you suddenly turn into a beast…”

Red Eagle mumbled, busily moving between Wolf’s head, forearm, and shoulder. Wolf got slightly irritated.

“Why? Am I not allowed to fuck? The Prince disposed of his purity at sixteen, but I’m supposed to remain a virgin until the day I die like an Atanian monk? Where is such a law?”

“That’s…”

Red Eagle sat on Wolf’s forearm.

“You’re right about that. I was just surprised that you turned stolen contentinto a different person. The atmosphere Read on Read BL Novelsbetween you two back then was so embarrassing it was hard to watch. But Wolf, were you really, re-re-re-really a virgin?”

“Not anymore.”

“So you were a virgin until then? Wolf, I thought you enjoyed a mature private life when I wasn’t around.”

It was absurd. You’ve been stuck to me almost every day and night, and you had such a stupid thought?

“You’re mistaken, Prince. Only my body grew; until then, my lower half had never been used for any purpose other than discharging pee like a newborn baby. Even when the warriors were all fucking in groups, I just sipped alcohol in the corner. My body was a siege engine, but my crotch was a sanctuary. The rumor that I’m a eunuch spread everywhere; you’re the only one who didn’t know.”

Red Eagle looked speechless. One short leg and one wing were awkwardly raised.

“…I see. So, did the first experience go well?”

“No. It was a disaster.”

The white parrot squeezed its eyes shut. Wolf let out a sigh, his shoulders drooping. His dignity [unauthorized copy]aria-label="Read on Read BL Novels">Read on Read BL Novelswas plummeting into an endless darkness.

“Don’t be discouraged, Wolf. You can make up for it next time. You’re handsome and have a great build, so that eccentric guy will give you another chance.”

‘Handsome.’ That one word brought back the memory of last night. The question Silver had asked while staring intently at him. How old are you? Thirty?

Wolf’s mood sank even further.

“Prince, I… I’ve grown disgustingly large over the past year.”

“It’s not disgusting. Some people might find it a bit overwhelming, but as a warrior, it’s a perfect build. It’s a blessing, Wolf.”

“My face changed too.”

“It changed to be very handsome. Don’t you exclaim in admiration every time you look in the mirror?”

“Silver asked me if I was a thirty-year-old uncle.”

“What?”

Red Eagle’s eyes widened, and it spread its wings wide.

“That’s bullshit! Total bullshit! Honestly, compared to a year ago, it’s true your face has become more mature. But your previous face was far too young for your age! Now you look exactly your age. The face of a gallant young man. I emphasize, you absolutely do not look like a thirty-year-old uncle. Seriously.”

Red Eagle’s consolation only made Wolf feel more empty.

“Until just yesterday, you told me every chance you got, ‘Your face is as fresh as a seventeen-year-old, Wolf!’ Now you’re changing your story?”

“That’s… because you seemed subtly depressed about your facial changes…”

Red Eagle, hesitating, hopped onto the crown of Wolf’s head.

“Have confidence, Wolf. Looking down from here, the bridge of your Read [stolen content]on Read BL Novelsstyle="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[visit our site]nose is even sharper and more wonderful. Your mother likes your more grown-up appearance even more.”

“Saying it like that makes me hate this face even more.”

He wasn’t joking. The main culprit who had mobilized a tattooist to scrawl all over Wolf’s upper body, claiming her son couldn’t be recognized by warriors because he couldn’t shake off the ‘Atanian grime,’ was none other than his mother, White Deer. While the tattoos were being forcibly engraved, Wolf understood the feeling of livestock being branded by a slaughterer’s hand.

Red Eagle sat on Wolf’s forearm again.

“Think positively, Wolf. At least you avoided the disaster of getting tattoos on your lower body.”

“Fuck. I guess so.”