Volume 3 – The Other Side Of The Dream (2)
1
“Yes, brother.”
Radan let go of Leshak’s arm and turned to follow Razil’s voice.
He couldn’t help but put so much affection into the word brother.
Radan did not see that Leshak’s expression became strangely wounded.
Razil signaled the servant with his eyes. The servant silently approached Razil and took hold of the chair he was sitting on and moved it in front of Radan.
“If you go to Ibeden, it will be hard to return here. Shouldn’t you bring something to remember Asilah by?”
Leshak raised his eyebrows.
What he didn’t get was that Lehak meant ‘there was nothing to remember about this filthy place’ by it.
He didn’t even know what to say.
“I haven’t thought about it……so far.”
Radan tried to answer as sincerely as possible, seeing as Razil was the only member of his family who didn’t harbor hatred for him.
He probably didn’t even know how much that meant.
“Let me think about it.”
“There is no need for that. Take Hedel with you.”
Radan’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
“……What?”
As opposed to Razil’s drawn-thin lips, which gently softened.
“There is no need to be surprised. I’m saying this because what you like most here in Kemened, is Hedel.”
“But still…… Hedel is very dear to my eldest brother.”
Radan hesitated, then shook his head carefully.
“No, brother. Hedel……Hedel is too much.”
Razil saw Leshak’s eyes fixed on him like daggers and they got narrower as he continued speaking.
“Don’t make too much of it. Anyway, it’s only a cat .”
“I heard that Hedel is the only pet that my older brother has cherished for years.”
“Cats are animals that are only found in the desert so they are rare in Ibeden. Hedel has been stuck with me for too long, so you two would be better together. If you have any affection for me, please take him and give it to him in my stead.”
“Oh yes……,”
Razil thought that the youngest brother showed such a beautiful expression.
“T,Then……then I’ll take him with gratitude……eldest brother.”
Radan pronounced the word brother a little slower than the other words. He said it with great care.
So it sounded special to Razil’s ears.
Even among his fragmented memories, there were exceptionally few with Radan in them. Razil only remembered that he had been imprisoned underground on the orders of his father and that he was cursed by the basilisk.
In fact, the youngest brother he knew now had no connection to his memories at all.
He was a nice, quiet, pretty person who was a little more shy than others. He often wondered if his memories were corrupted because Radan showed no signs of being cursed or having been an assassin.
It could be true that he was born as a basilisk, seeing as he always wears a blindfold.
Still, he felt affection for his youngest brother whom he unexpectedly discovered one day. Handing a single cat over to him wasn’t anything at all.
And the majority of that affection must have stemmed from the affection his youngest brother showed toward him.
Radan was very fond of him. To the point where fragmented memories pierced his conscience to the bottom of his heart.
In fact, he didn’t have the right to voice any criticism of the Crown Prince of Ibeden at all. He had never done anything for his youngest brother.
What was excessive was not him giving Radan Hedel, but the affection and unconditional love that his youngest brother gave him.
“Take good care of him.”
“……I will, brother.”
Radan squeezed in a tender voice.
Not only Razil, but everyone saw that the Crown Prince’s eyes became more narrow and blade-like, as though they could cut through anything.
“I will. I will think of him as a substitute for my brother,”
“Radan.”
Unable to bear it any longer, Leshak intervened.
He smiled as if nothing was wrong and pulled Radan’s head towards himself.
“How long are you going to keep me waiting?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Then, let’s get going now.”
“Alright.”
He was smiling, but his mouth was slightly twisted.
If Karum had seen it, he would have said it was the same face he’d made when he asked ‘Who had fed Radan chocolate?!’
Leshak grabbed Radan by the shoulders and guided him.
It was a walk, but he walked at a faster pace than usual. Radan was not yet aware that he could ask for him to slow down, so he just grabbed Leshak’s sleeve instead.
Only then did his twisted mouth return to its original position. Not entirely, but a little bit.
Leshak only slowed down when Radan’s cheeks began to flush.
At that pace, they were quite far away from Razil.
“Am I going too fast?”
“What? Oh, yes, a little……”
Leshak stopped walking and put his palm on his flushed cheeks.
“Then you should have said something.’
“Still, I’m fine.”
Leshak lowered his head apologetically and kissed Radan’s ear.
“Next time, tell me right away.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Then shall we hold hands and walk on now?”
Again, there was no sign of regret on his face. In fact, the Guardian Knights who followed five steps behind them knew that he wasn’t sorry.
Leshak took Radan’s hand and moved on again. Radan was the only person who believed that Leshak was sorry.
Radan hesitated before opening his mouth.
“I wanted to say, you are,”
“Me?”
A blush appeared on his youthful cheeks.
“You are a really good person.”
“Why all of a sudden?”
“I just need to walk a little bit faster.”
“… …”
At that point, Leshak was finally sorry.
Leshak forced himself to swallow down the profanity in his throat and looked away.
He’s a really good person.
Damn, it!
Leshak I thought of himself as a magnanimous person. People always told him he was fair and generous and he never doubted that.
He was generous because he had nothing to be greedy for. There were always those who had less than him by his side, and he had always been in a position to give to them, and he had never felt that it was a waste.
He was a good and generous man,
With everyone, except when it came to Radan.
Damn, it!
Leshak gritted his teeth.
He felt a sense of discomfort at his inability to control this, why is it that he could be generous but not when it comes to Radan? However, Leshak soon accepted that he was a very selfish and petty person.
If being a generous lover meant being obedient even after hearing someone say to his lover just now, ‘Treasure my gift to you, think of the affection that you give it as though you are giving that affection vicariously to me’ he would decline even if that made him look like an impulsive petty asshole in the process. However,
Shit!
The more he mulled it over, the more apprehensive he became.
He wanted to avoid being seen as a narrow-minded and petty person by Radan. No human being in the world would ever say, “What I love most about my lover is that he’s petty.”
Fuck!
After swallowing that last profanity, Leshak cleared his throat and spoke to Radan.
“No, it was my negligence. Of course, I should have considered your pace first.”
At those words, Radan turned red up to the nape of his neck.
“……Thank you, Your Majesty.”
When he saw that, he felt a surge of emotion. It was a bewitching and dazzling sight.
So he pretended to be a generous and good man again today.
In truth, it wasn’t like that at all.
“You must be delighted to receive such a gift.”
“Yes. I didn’t know he would give me Hedel. I would have been very grateful for anything that he’d given me.”
The corner of his mouth, which had returned slightly to its original position, visibly twisted again, but Leshak played the magnanimous man with great skill.
“I’m glad, if you’re happy, then and so am I. It really is a kind gift.”
In fact, it only was possible to do so because of what he was anticipating.
If he was this happy after receiving just one cat, how happy would he be when he received Elk Palace?
He silently squeezed Radan’s hand.
“… …”
Yes, it will be great.
The magnanimity that had disappeared, returned. Leshak then inquired with a more generous mind.
“Is there anything else you would like to bring with you besides the cat?”
One could say that Radan’s habit of not keeping anything for himself had become his second nature. At this rate, he would never be able to catch up with the First Prince of Kemened.
“No, Your Majesty.”
“Then what else would you like to have?”
After thinking for a bit, Radan shook his head.
Seeing him seriously contemplating the question was lovely enough to make Leshak wonder what was going on with his head, however, he didn’t like the answer very much.
“No, Your Majesty.”
“Then is there anything you need to bring?”
“……No, there is nothing.”
“… …”
The mind that had been magnanimous became petty again.
He didn’t want to feel as though he had lost to the First Prince of Kemened, so continued to ask him yet again.
“Is there really nothing you want? Even if it’s something outlandish that you don’t think will ever happen, maybe it was something that you wished for, nonetheless, anything like that is fine.”
In fact, the more obscure the better.
Radan understood that Leshak had some kind of hidden meaning to his words.
“Alright, then.”
“Anything is fine.”
Leshak paused and added. He turned Radan to face him. He wanted to let Radan know that he was ready to listen to his request and he took it very seriously.
“Tell me.”
“I want to know if…he’s doing well.”
Leshak couldn’t understand who he was talking about because Radan’s lips quivered weakly.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, what I mean, is Oz doing well……?”
“……. You want me to tell you if he is alive?”
“Yes, that is……”
Radan lowered his head.
“You said it’s okay to ask for something that is outlandish……”
“… …”
“Oh, but it’s okay if you say no. I know it’s impossible.”
“… …”
Leshak was silent for quite a long time.
As he looked at Radan, his expression shifted wildly.
Damn, it!
He didn’t want to do it.
The path to being a magnanimous lover was a long way off.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than FoolishtranslationsS.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
2
“The ship should have left by now……it’s been around a week My Lord, so we should be prepared to wait another 3 months.”
Vendel’s lackluster voice spread woefully in the dreary underground dungeon.
“Kii~ Kiik~”
Zorg nodded a couple of times as his shoulders dropped.
Vendel glowered at the next room with torn eyes.
“My Lord? Will you please answer? Are you still alive?”
“Kiik~.”
“… …”
“My Lord?”
“Kiik?~”
“… …”
“My Lord!”
“Kiik! Eikkk!~”
After a while, a low voice was heard.
“I’m still alive.”
“Ah, really.”
Vendel put his hand to his chest. Zorg stuck his head out through the bars and pointed his finger at Ozdin.
“Then at least give me a decent response will you? Or are you too busy being held captive in an underground prison, where all there is to do is breathe and sleep, to answer?”
“… …”
Ozdin was sprawled out on the floor, staring up at the pitch-black ceiling. The distance from them being busy people was as great as the earth to the stars, but still, his response came ridiculously slow.
“My Lord!”
Vendel couldn’t take it anymore and screamed.
“What are you talking about?! You have to double the time it takes from there to here, and then back again.”
“Ah, damn it!”
Vendel slammed his forehead against the prison wall.
“We have to be locked up here for over half a year!”
“Eikkk Kiik, eikkk Kiik!~”
Zorg grabbed Vendel’s head and held it in his small hands to stop him. Vendel looked up and hugged him with tearful eyes.
“Oh, aren’t you supposed to be the lucky one? No, I guess that makes me the unlucky one. Oh, this is destiny?”
After the Battle of Cythern, Ozdin Gett became a prisoner of the Ibeden Empire.
Decker and the mercenaries who followed him were in the same situation.
Leshak Caliph, as a show of being a great and magnanimous Knight, spared the survivors.
Instead, enormous reparations and bounties were demanded from the Gett merchants. It was a notice and did not require negotiations. Decker gritted his teeth and accepted the number thrown down by Leshak Caliph, and left for Amboia.
If one demands money as a means of taking responsibility from those who have only money to spare, it is in fact an understatement to say it was a magnanimous act.
In fact, Vendel and Zorg did something similar, Vendel said he had acted in order to save his life, and instead of making excuses, Zorg bit the back of Ozdin’s hand.
“However, please take this into consideration. Considering what My Lord has done, it is right to say Crown Prince Leshak is being generous. He must be out of his mind.”
Vendel said, and as managed to hit on a single word,
Ozdin knitted his brows.
“……It’s useless.”
He also had to admit that Leshak Caliph had been extraordinarily magnanimous. The only problem was that his generosity was wasted on Ozdin.
“Why didn’t he just kill me?”
Ozdin’s whole face distorted as he was overcome with grief.
His destiny was now beyond his reach.
He couldn’t do anything. It wasn’t because they had yielded to the might of the Imperial Army.
It was because Radan asked to be let go, saying that he would become a nameless concubine for the rest of his life.
“He is damned now.”
Ozdin swept his face with his rough palm. His heart felt like it had broken and split in half.
When the memories blew in like the wind his life felt like it was in tatters by the smallest sway, and he complained about a pain that he had never felt before in his life.
“You’re such……a fool. What the hell will you do with a life like that?!”
Radan didn’t understand what it meant to live as the Crown Prince’s concubine. No, even if he knew, he wouldn’t know anything about what life was like in the Imperial Palace.
He would have to watch as Crown Prince Leshak Caliph took a Princess and watch as that woman produced his heir. And even after that, he will have to watch as Leshak brings in numerous concubines from powerful families, and Radan would be at the center of all those power struggles!
The Third Prince of the fallen kingdom had no value. If he was just a mistress who couldn’t even give birth to a child, there was nothing more to say.
Radan would be wretchedly abandoned, or, even before that, he would be poisoned by a concubine who was already blinded by jealousy.
Such was life in the Imperial Palace.
Leshak Caliph was nothing but a good-looking poison from the beginning.
“You fool!”
Bang!-
Ozdin punched the wall.
His knuckles were cut and blood was flowing.
He felt pity for himself, but compared to what Radan would experience in the future, It was nothing to rot in the dungeon for half a year.
“My Lord! What the hell are you doing now!?”
Vendel nagged him after hearing the suspicious sounds coming from his cell.
It was noisy. He thought it would be better if he covered his ears, however, that wouldn’t really make a difference. Ozdin wanted to crawl into his personal hell alone.
Kiik, Kriik!
It was then that the thick entrance door to the dungeon opened.
Ozdin didn’t care, he assumed they were bringing him a meal that even the dogs of Amboia wouldn’t eat.
However,
“……Oz.”
A voice he thought he would never hear again called out to him.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than FoolishtranslationsS.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
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