89 – FAY 89

A soft, warm sensation, like down, pressed against my lips.

It was similar to the usual healing, but the feeling was different. Actually, I’d had a strange feeling about it for a while now. Is this really healing? I guess it is…

The eyes that Aska had closed as if a priest performing a ritual opened, and our eyes met. A static electricity-like tingle ran through my fingertips, and as I blinked, Aska tilted his head slightly.

My body, which had been heavy with muscle aches, felt light again. I reached out and touched the back of my neck, but there didn’t seem to be any remaining wounds. I had forgotten at some point, but I had been in constant pain.

“Living anywhere else would be better than being here.”

At his sudden words, I asked with a puzzled expression.

“Is that why you suggested we run away together? Because you don’t want to be here?”

There shouldn’t be anything lacking for him here, even in the slightest. Is it because of me? I remembered him saying that I was talking nonsense in my sleep.

What on earth did I say? Or did I perhaps even cry?

I was about to ask him, remembering that he had placed his hand over my eyes, when Aska frowned and grumbled.

“In my opinion, Khalifa is out of his mind.”

“Even a five-year-old could tell you that, not just you.”

I wondered what he was going to say, but he was just stating the obvious.

“Shouldn’t we go somewhere else, even if it’s just until Mahir ascends the throne? Let’s go to that hot spring or something and stay there for a few years.”

We had to get married, and Khalifa’s birthday banquet was coming up soon, so we couldn’t do that right now. It would be a disaster if we left Talim for too long and something happened.

“I can’t right now, but let’s see if we can go for a few days when the time is right.”

I tried to compromise as much as possible, but Aska didn’t seem pleased.

“What’s the point of going there for a few days?”

“We can’t go for that long.”

“Why?”

There were many reasons, but I couldn’t be bothered to explain them one by one. I was wondering how to compress it and say it easily when Aska added.

“It doesn’t have to be a hot spring, as long as we don’t run into Khalifa.”

“We won’t run into him after the banquet. Yesterday was a bit of an unusual case. You haven’t met Khalifa directly that many times since coming to Actan, have you? Yesterday was just bad luck.”

“It wasn’t that yesterday was bad luck, but that we’ve been lucky until now.”

It sounded like the same thing at first, but the meaning was different. I shrugged, thinking that might be the case, and Aska sighed.

“I really hate it.”

“I hate it too. But just bear with it a little longer. Things will get better when your brother becomes Emperor.”

“Should I use some magic to put him to sleep?”

Khalifa always wears several Magic tools… It’s absolutely impossible. But Aska, who has the ability to summon lightning, might be able to do it.

I was tempted for a moment, but it was too dangerous, so I shook my head.

“Absolutely not. Don’t do anything reckless. I’m going to scold you properly for breaking the statue later, so reflect on it in the meantime.”

“You’re only a pain in the ass to me.”

I couldn’t understand why he was getting angry at me when he was the one who did something wrong.

Aska glared at me for a long time before turning his back on me completely.

“…”

I stared at Aska’s back for a moment before reaching out and stroking his snow-white hair. The soft, fine hair tickled my fingers.

I stroked it a few times, then grabbed a small handful and started braiding it. His hair was too short to braid it long, and I didn’t have a string to tie it with.

Once I finished braiding one section, I left it as it was and grabbed the hair next to it, braiding it again. After repeating this, there were about six white ropes on the back of his head.

And then there was no more hair to braid. I made my fingers into hooks and swept them down from the top, shaking them a few times. I started braiding the loosened hair from the beginning again and said.

“Let’s go to the hot spring soon. You said you wanted to go last time.”

“No.”

“Okay, then. Don’t go.”

“…”

He didn’t say anything, and I couldn’t see his expression, but I could tell that Aska was seething inside. He was on the verge of screaming and throwing a tantrum, so I touched his hair and the back of his neck with the softest touch possible.

Then, I discovered a familiar chain on the back of his neck.

“Have you noticed any reaction or abnormality with the necklace?”

I asked, pulling on the thin necklace chain, but there was no answer. I reached out and groped around Aska’s Adam’s apple, bringing the pendant to the back.

“Nothing much has changed.”

Is it really just an ordinary necklace? Then why was it kept in that shape in the middle of those statues?

I heard that the parchment found with the necklace in the Ruins was difficult to decipher, so there were no significant results. I had experienced that excavating the Ruins was a dangerous endeavor that could lead to casualties, so it became difficult to deploy personnel recklessly.

It was suspended until an expert could be found, so it was back to square one.

Judging by the abilities I’ve discovered so far, he doesn’t seem like an ordinary monster.

“…”

I was thinking about that while fiddling with the pendant when I suddenly noticed his white neck. Perhaps because of his bent posture, the vertebrae connecting to his neck were prominent through his loose clothing.

I reached out and scratched down along the bone with my fingernails, and Aska flinched in surprise, hunching his shoulders.

Then, he waved his arms back a few times as if telling me to stop, before hunching his shoulders and curling up like a turtle. He still wasn’t saying anything, so he must still be sulking.

Since he obviously wouldn’t answer even if I tried to talk to him, I kept my mouth shut and continued to poke Aska. His scalp, the back of his neck, his shoulders, back, waist, buttocks…

“Ah, damn it!”

Finally, Aska turned his head to look at me with a frustrated expression.

“Stop it!”

He scratched the back of his neck and shoulders, where I had poked him earlier, with his fingernails, shuddering. I sighed and lay down on my back, looking up at the sky above the open Greenhouse, and said.

“Khalifa doesn’t have much time left to live anyway.”

“So what?”

“Even without external factors, his health is already poor. He’s been having trouble breathing in his sleep a lot recently. It’s confidential, so don’t tell anyone.”

“Who would I tell? I don’t know anyone.”

Aska pulled the blanket over his head as if he was going to sleep. He didn’t turn his back this time, but I could only sigh as I stared at the blanket-covered lump that looked like a pill bug.

“It’s best not to get involved with him at all because his emotions are so volatile. If we go to the hot spring and don’t come back for a few months, as you said, Khalifa will obviously look for us. We won’t even meet him if we stay quietly in Talim.”

“That’s why I said I’d put him to sleep or something.”

“If we fail, we’ll die. It’s foolish to take such a risk when we can just endure it and things will resolve themselves. It’s like jumping into a stormy sea to catch a fish that you could easily catch by casting a fishing line and waiting.”

At my words, Aska peeked out from under the blanket and looked at me. His eyes, which were usually sparkling, were now ugly with dissatisfaction.

“Aren’t you angry?”

“Since there’s nothing I can do about him anyway, I’d rather just resign myself to it and wait for him to collapse on his own and die an unhappy death.”

“It’s over when he dies, so how can we get revenge?”

At his strange words, I asked with a puzzled expression.

“What revenge? Did Khalifa do something to you?”

“I didn’t get hurt, but you did.”

“Me? I haven’t had much contact with him recently. We just had tea and talked peacefully yesterday.”

I wasn’t hit, and no one died. It was a perfect ending that couldn’t be better.

“You said he fed you poison when you were a kid.”

How many times has he said that already…? I regretted mentioning it a little.

“It’s a bit ambiguous because the imperial family originally eats poison little by little to build up immunity. It wasn’t just me, Mahir did it too. Khalifa has been doing it since he was a child.”

“So did they lose their sense of taste from eating poison?”

That’s not the case. I was a bit of an extreme case.

But I didn’t think I should say that, so I lied appropriately.

“They didn’t lose their sense of taste, but Khalifa went a little crazy instead. I’m lucky that I’m mentally sound. Imagine if I was a crazy person like Khalifa. I wouldn’t be able to lie here with you and look at the stars.”

At my words, Aska pushed the blanket aside with a sulky expression and lay down on his back. Then, he stared at the night sky for a moment before saying.

“I’ve been thinking, and it seems too risky to gamble all of our money.”

It was a sudden statement, but I agreed with him.

“The money you earned by carrying charcoal? Why?”

“You might lose it all.”

“That’s true. You need luck. I could cheat a little, but if I get caught, it’ll be a big deal… I won’t be a prince anymore by then, so I’ll probably get my hand chopped off.”

Aska was disgusted by my words.

“You can just not gamble. Do you really have to do that? Can’t you earn money normally?”

“When would I ever save money if I earned it that way? Your food alone costs as much as a commoner’s monthly salary every day.”

“The porcelain in your room looks expensive. Can’t you steal it and sell it? And you can take your rings and necklaces that you wear every day with you.”

I clicked my tongue at his naive words.

“You can’t sell things that are supplied to the imperial family anyway. Even if you sell them secretly, you’ll get caught in less than a day.”

Aska’s expression became serious. I was about to laugh, so I rolled my tongue around in my mouth and bit down hard. I wasn’t lying, but it was so funny that he was so seriously worried about money.

“Can’t you sell clothes either?”

“The clothes you’re wearing now are also made of fabric that’s only used in the imperial family. The embroidery is the same, and you can’t use these colors outside.”

“There are so many ridiculous laws.”

“Want me to tell you something even funnier? When an imperial family member is born, they get a name. Then everyone in Actan who uses that name has to change their name.”

That’s why I was the only Kyle in Actan, and Mahir was the only Mahir. That was the reason why the imperial family didn’t have a separate family name.

“What happens if you don’t change it and use it secretly?”

Aska turned to me and asked. I glanced at his curious face for a moment before answering.

“You die.”

“They always kill you for everything.”

“I know.”

“Haa…”

Aska, who was close to me, sighed with worry. He seemed to be pondering how to earn money. His expression changed every moment, and I wouldn’t get tired of watching it all night.

And as time passed, the day when the banquet would begin in Sa Dillin was approaching.