Chapter 15

“What happened to Lord Weldham?”

“When they were stretched thin in the castle in pursuing Goddess-sama, I had him captured by my own private troop.”

This was a harsh world for the first wife to capture his own husband.

Giselle added while glancing at Yuichiro’s expression, “We can give him to you, or we can ‘handle’ him ourselves. How would you like it?”

“Do whatever you like.”

When Yuichiro replied that it wouldn’t make much of a difference either way, Giselle’s eyes shone for a moment. Yuichiro gazed into the man’s eyes and vaguely thought, ‘Lord Weldham will not live to see tomorrow.’

The day was getting brighter. When he looked up at the sky, he could see a dimly whitened sky. The morning sun made its appearance. Yuichiro slowly yawned while pressing his fingertips against his drowsy, fatigued eyes. Then, he asked, “Can you fetch someone who specializes in steelmaking?”

“Am Abbey is a steel-making haven. Any number of experts in that field are freely available.

“Gather a small group of people by noon. I’ll get into the specifics later, but for now, I’m going to bed.”

Giselle’s eyes twinkled with surprise at Yuichiro’s casual remark. Temeraire, on the other hand, approached Yuichiro quickly, saying, “If you’re going to sleep, please wait until there’s a bed.” Giselle hurriedly called out, “If that’s the case, please use my secondary residence.”

Yuichiro then walked off with his arm dragged along by Temeraire. As he passed by Marcos, he tapped him on the shoulder and said, “I’m glad you’re alive. Everyone is happy.”

Yama, Belz, and Evelise all had watery eyes at the sight of Marcos. Marcos looked around at the platoon commanders as if he had only noticed when being told, and then closed his eyes tightly. Yuichiro noticed the man’s eyes were brimming with tears.

He then said the same to Giselle, “Also, thank you. Thank you for saving my men.” Giselle’s eyes widened as if he’d been caught off guard. He then bowed his head again and opened his mouth, “It’s too much of a praise,” Giselle replied quietly, his voice trembling. Afterward, Yuichiro ordered his men, “We will leave this town and return to the royal capital within a day. Get ready.” What followed was the platoon commanders’ affirmative replies in unison. Yuichiro chuckled as he observed the scene before him, which appeared to be a scene of a teacher and his students. With a faint smile on his face, Yuichiro looked around at everyone and said, “Good job everyone. Get some rest.” A big yawn escaped his mouth as soon as he finished speaking.

Upon being ushered into a room at Giselle’s secondary residence, Yuichiro immediately plopped down on the soft bed without even taking off his boots. His tensed mind slowly eased and absorbed by the bed. As he closed his eyes and took deep breaths that melted into tranquility, he felt a hand gently touching his foot.

“Please, at least take off your shoes,” the man muttered similar to his mother-in-law while removing his boots. The sound of the shoelaces rubbing against the shoe holes tickled him strangely. After his boots were removed from his feet, Yuichiro was grabbed by his shoulders and flipped over onto his back by Temeraire. At the sensation of his jacket being unbuttoned, he muttered with his eyes closed, “Are you going to f*ck me?”

In response to Yuichiro’s candid question, Temeraire was silent for a second before letting out a blatant sigh. “Even I know the appropriate time for when and where. Your body is covered in sweat and dust, so I’m just wiping it off,” faint laugh escaped the man’s mouth as if chastising a small child.

While Yuichiro was chuckling secretly, Temeraire was removing his clothes with a deft hand. After Yuichiro was stripped down to his underwear, Temeraire carefully wiped him with a wet towel. The man gently wiped Yuichiro’s face, shoulders, and sides, as well as the soles of his feet. The cold sensation of his skin was comfortable. Unknowingly, the man’s fingertips made their way from the back of his ears to his head, rustling his hair as he exhaled a short sigh. Yuichiro opened his eyes slightly and saw Temeraire sitting on the bed beside him, gazing at him. At the sight of the smoldering heat in his eyes, Yuichiro smiled.

“I know you want to f*ck me,” he said pretentiously, hoping to provoke the man next to him. In response, Temeraire squinted his eyes in displeasure for a moment before responding in a suave, blunt manner, “I want to. I’ve always thirsted for your body.”

“It’s… a pity,” he continued to speak words of pity without a pause. Yuichiro looked up at him and whispered, “It’s a pity that you have lust for a murderer like me,” echoing the man’s previous words. Yuichiro pondered quietly, that it was definitely a curse that a man like Temeraire had thought a man like him as not only beautiful but also desiring his body. He then laughed, his cheeks contorting. Even Yuichiro struggled to fathom his own feelings. As he mocked the man in front of him while pitying him, he felt complex emotions akin to falling in love within him.

After hearing Yuichiro’s remark, Temeraire’s face flushed with resentment. He pressed his forehead against Yuichiro’s chest, holding his breath to endure his heartfelt pain.

“…If you truly pity me, give me yours. Even if it’s only a sliver of your heart.”

Yuichiro almost burst out laughing. How could he have given someone else something that is not apparent, and didn’t even know if it exists anymore? He wanted to curse him. However, the man who was clinging to Yuichiro’s chest was so pitiful that the feeling of cursing withered away.

He sighed quietly and whimsically reached out for Temeraire’s hair. Slowly, he glided his fingertips through them, enjoying the glossy, silky texture. Mana’s hair was the same. It was soft and silky to the touch, making him want to keep touching it. While Yuichiro was buried in his thoughts, Temeraire suddenly looked up at him.

“After giving birth to a child, will you return to your original world?”

Yuichiro looked into Temeraire’s eyes, which were slightly moist, yet deep down they seemed to be dry. At the thought of his own world, it seemed like a strange place to him now. Although he had been living there and alive only a few days before, it now appeared to him as a distant world. He had a wife and a daughter. However, he lost them. He had killed many people on the battlefield. They were either shot, stabbed and even tortured. He could only recall the scenes vaguely of the scenes as if his memories were spread out on a roll of a thin film. Despite this, Yuichiro replied, “Ah~ I’m going home.”

There was no sense of longing. When he returned home, there was no place for him. Yuichiro had to do the same thing in his original world as he did in this world. All he could do was plunge back into the battlefield and fight to his death. Regardless of all these facts, there was still a reason why he had wanted to return home.

Afterward, Temeraire asked faintly, “Is there someone important waiting for you in the original world?” with a trembling voice.

Avoiding the man’s wistful gaze, Yuichiro gently closed his eyelids and answered, “Ah~ Yes…”

“Who are they?”

“…My wife and daughter.” Although they were not technically waiting for him since they were dead and reduced to ashes. It was just that Yuichiro could not discard away the memories of his wife and daughter.

After a brief pause, Temeraire quietly murmured, “…Your wife and daughter, they are not alive are they?”

“Why do you think so?”

“Your way of fighting is reckless and rash, even from an outsider’s point of view. It is a deliberate way of throwing your own life down the drain. If you really wanted to return to someone, you would take care of yourself a little more.”

Yuichiro no longer responded to Temeraire’s frank words. While keeping his lips open slightly, he breathed repeatedly. Suddenly he felt a palm touching his neck. Yuichiro opened his eyes to see Temeraire intertwining the fingers of both of his own hands around his neck. Yet, no matter how long he waited, there was no pressure on the man’s fingertips.

“You’re not squeezing?” Yuichiro asked absentmindedly, with Temeraire smiling dejectedly.

“I want to kill you for thinking of someone else.”

For some reason, Yuichiro’s laughter overflowed at those words full of obsession. Temeraire stared down at him, who was chuckling slightly with a small quiver in his throat. Afterward, in a soft tone, Yuichiro whispered, “If you want to kill me, so be it.”

Temeraire’s eyes widened in surprise, “You… aren’t you afraid to die?”

“I am afraid of dying.” This was true. No matter how many dozens of people he had killed, the mere thought of it being his turn next made his teeth clench.

“Then why would you give up your life like that?”

“I’m afraid of living.”

Words he hadn’t expected to utter spilled from his mouth. He wished he could bemoan the pitifulness of those words. However, he did not laugh. For a moment, his throat moved up and down as if it were convulsing. Temeraire’s thumb rested on his windpipe. After stroking his Adam’s apple several times with the pad of his finger, Temeraire whispered in a sad voice, “If I kill you, you will die thinking of your wife and daughter. That’ll be too frustrating, isn’t it…” with a voice filled with regret and lifted his fingertips from Yuichiro’s neck. While the sight of the man nodding in disappointment made Yuichiro laugh, it also brought up the strange feeling that the man in front of him was terribly cute. He then extended his hand and playfully caressed Temeraire’s cheek. The man’s skin was soft and fair, and despite his beauty, he was a pathetic man.

“When I return to my own world, will your curse be lifted?” Yuichiro said while omitting if he ‘died’ in his sentence. He was sure Temeraire would be furious if he said it out loud. He speculated that if he indeed returned to his original word, Temeraire would finally be happily released from his duty as a ‘servant and devotee’, along with the curse of yearning toward him. Holding this thought in his mind, he raised his gaze to Temeraire.

Temeraire, on the other hand, replied with a pained expression, “…I don’t understand.” His voice was filled with anguish as if he was rejecting the notion of the curse being lifted. Yuichiro found Temeraire’s voice was both amusing and endearing. He reached out with his other hand and wrapped his arms around Temeraire’s neck, drawing him closer and causing the man’s eyes to widen.

“Shall I remove the curse?” Yuichiro whispered and then placed his lips onto Temeraire’s in front of him. Although the man’s lips were soft, they were not as soft and submissive as those of a woman’s lips and Yuichiro knew they belonged to a man. A pang of displeasure lingered in his body, but it was soon soothed slightly by the sight of Temeraire’s face.

At the sudden kiss, Temeraire stiffened, seemingly confused, but quickly slipped his tongue into Yuichiro’s mouth. The slick tongue licked Yuichiro’s saliva greedily through the gap between his teeth. Yuichiro’s throat softly trembled up and down as their tongues intertwined. Temeraire’s kisses were gentle but unrelenting. The man’s tongue crawled all over Yuichiro’s mouth, becoming entangled with his own saliva. Temeraire then poured his saliva back into Yuichiro’s mouth. Although the man’s saliva tasted different from his own, he didn’t find it as repulsive as before. As a result, he gulped down Temeraire’s saliva. Later, their lips parted gently. As their tongues parted, Yuichiro noticed transparent silver threads connecting them.

“Why…?” Temeraire muttered, his eyes searching for the reason Yuichiro had kissed him.

“A kiss breaks the curse.”

“What exactly is that…”

“It’s a kind of fairy tale magic in my world,” Yuichiro said, aware of how ridiculous and childish his words were. Temeraire responded with a chuckle and a stunned look at Yuichiro.

“Was the curse lifted?”

“…I feel like it’s gotten worse.”

Temeraire laughed quietly at his response. Yuichiro then added, while mischievously playing with the man’s hair ends, “The kiss was a joke, but I’ll break your curse one day.”

[My death or separation will set him free.]

Yuichiro found the thought strangely comforting. It was a feeling of relief he had not felt in a long time. Temeraire moved his neck in an abrupt manner, neither vertically nor horizontally, but eventually pressed his cheek against Yuichiro’s chest without saying anything. “I’m going to sleep,” Yuichiro said softly as he closed his eyes. “Wake me up before noon.”

After a brief silence, Temeraire’s small voice answered, “Yes.”

Translator’s Notes

After translating this chapter, I guess Yuichiro is a lonely person. Perhaps, the reason he was transferred into this foreign world is to find solace and comfort his broken soul. At this point, maybe Temeraire is the person that he could depend on emotionally. What do you readers think? Leave your comments below!