Chapter 17
[Six years later.]
The clinking of silver trays rang through the palace corridor, accompanied by the startled cries of maids.
A snow-white hound raced down the corridor on its long, slender legs.
It looked more like a wolf than a dog.
The attendants scattered to either side in fright, afraid it would crash into them.
With a loud clang, a tray slipped from someone's hands in the panic, and its contents spilled across the floor.
Just as the white hound charged at full speed toward the end of the corridor,
“Aokasi, sit.”
A deep male voice rang out from there, carrying a chill so severe it brought to mind the deep sea a thousand meters below.
The maid bending to pick things up paused, then instinctively looked in that direction.
The first thing to enter her view was a pair of well-defined hands. A leash was clutched in the man's fair palm.
The once-arrogant white hound fell silent at once. Its ears flattened as it obediently went to the man and slipped its neck into the leash, as if it had transformed from a “wolf” into a “dog.”
The man crouched down.
Silver hair fell from his broad shoulders to his waist. He had a high nose bridge and thin, slightly pursed lips the color of begonia petals. Beneath his lowered lashes was a pair of blue eyes.
The merman's round eyes from childhood had grown long and deep, their outer corners tilting slightly upward. Even a careless glance from him made people feel as if they had received some special favor, like moonlight falling upon them.
He was a creation favored by the god of beauty...
Mu Chen clutched the leash, his palm pressing against the white hound's back. In a lowered voice, he said, “Didn't I warn you what would happen if you disobeyed?”
Aokasi whimpered.
Mu Chen narrowed his eyes slightly. “If you do it again...”
Aokasi began licking its master's palm with its wet tongue, trying to curry favor.
“I'll lock you up in the confinement room.”
As he spoke, Mu Chen tugged the leash and stood up.
The maid before him immediately lowered her head. “Your Highness.”
Mu Chen lowered his eyes to the mess scattered across the corridor and pursed his lips. “I'm sorry. I should have kept a better eye on it and spared you all this trouble.”
When he smiled, the two shallow dimples from his childhood still appeared, though they now lent his strikingly handsome face a different kind of charm.
“Ah... no...” The maid suddenly blushed. Her gaze flitted away, and she no longer dared look into his eyes. “It's all right, Your Highness.”
Mu Chen smiled and walked on, leading the wolfhound.
Just moments ago, King Jorah had received a message from the border.
It was from Wright, saying that he wanted to cancel their engagement.
The following week happened to be Mu Chen's twentieth birthday, the age at which humans came of age.
At that moment, Jorah was raging in his bedchamber.
When the attendants around Mu Chen first heard the news, they had looked just as nervous as they asked him, “Your Highness, you aren't angry, are you?”
Mu Chen didn't understand...
Why would he be angry?
He'd never been in love, nor had he ever liked anyone. He didn't think everyone had to find a mate.
So what difference was there between lovers and brothers?
As long as he was the most special person in Wright's heart, wasn't that enough?
As far as Mu Chen was concerned, nothing had changed. It was just that the people around him were making too much of it.
An attendant was already waiting outside Jorah's bedchamber. As soon as Mu Chen arrived, he immediately opened the door for him.
Mu Chen handed the leash to him and had him hold Aokasi.
At the sight of the large wolfhound pacing around his feet with its mouth open, a flicker of obvious panic crossed the attendant's eyes. Even his hand trembled as he took the leash.
Mu Chen crouched and whispered in Aokasi's ear, “Don't move until I come back.”
“Good dog. You can do that, can't you?”
“Woof! Woof!”
Aokasi barked twice, then sat obediently where it was.
Mu Chen contentedly patted its head and entered the hall.
He looked at the person seated on the throne and greeted him, “Your Majesty.”
Jorah leaned against the armrest, his fingers swiping over a glowing blue screen.
Six years ago, an abnormal signal first appeared at the border. Wright returned there and stayed for three months before coming back to the capital. For most of the first four years, he lived in the palace.
If not for Mu Chen, Jorah thought he wouldn't have stayed for so long.
Over the past two years, the abnormal signals had returned. Wright had no choice but to go back to the border, where he was too busy to get away most of the time. But whenever he had a spare moment, no matter how brief, he would find a chance to come back and see Mu Chen.
It was obvious to Jorah how much Wright cared about Mu Chen.
Besides, he knew his eldest son's character. Wright would never take a lover on the side. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with his character...
It was that his brain was the problem!
Jorah had been ready to formally announce their engagement after Mu Chen's birthday this time, but Wright had gone and sent a letter all the way from the border saying he wanted to cancel it.
The moment he heard Mu Chen's voice, Jorah looked up and asked him, “What do you think?”
His voice betrayed his anxiety.
He assumed Mu Chen must be as furious as he was to have received such news about the engagement being canceled. Now that the two of them were together, they could gripe about Wright.
Who would have thought that the next second,
“I support Big Brother's decision... He must have his reasons.” Mu Chen said without hesitation, a warm smile on his face.
Just as he had promised years ago, Wright saw him as his younger brother, his precious treasure.
When Wright returned this time, nothing between them would change.
Mu Chen didn't care about anything else.
Jorah didn't understand. He angrily rubbed his chin. “You're still taking his side? Is an engagement some kind of joke? How can he change his mind just like that?”
After all these years, he'd long considered Mu Chen half a son. There was no need for them to mince words.
Mu Chen smiled. “Don't be angry. You know I'll always be loyal to the Igor royal family. Even if my status changes, that won't change.”
His face was far too deceptive; whenever he smiled, no one could bring themselves to speak harshly to him.
Jorah irritably put away his terminal. “I'm not angry at you. I'm angry at him!”
“He really does whatever he wants! When he comes back, I'll, I'll...”
Mu Chen saw right through Jorah's intentions and advised him, “Big Brother hasn't come back in two years. If you lash out at him as soon as he returns, he'll be even less willing to listen to you. You know...”
“He always responds better to gentleness than force.”
The atmosphere fell silent for a moment.
Jorah let out an almost imperceptible sigh. As if recalling something, much of his earlier anger faded. He looked like a deflated balloon. “That's true... You understand him better than I do.”
Mu Chen said, “When Big Brother comes back, you can talk to him properly.”
“...”
After discussing the engagement, they chatted about this and that.
Just as Mu Chen was about to leave, Jorah called out to him. Perhaps it was the angle, but the white hair at Jorah's temples seemed especially prominent, making him look older than usual. He asked Mu Chen,
“Is there really no chance for the two of you?”
Mu Chen turned around, one side of his face shrouded in shadow. “He's always seen me as his younger brother.”
...
When Mu Chen came out of Jorah's bedchamber, Aokasi—or rather, Good Boy—was wagging its tail with a loud thwap, thwap.
The blond man in front of it made kissing noises to tease the dog. “Little puppy, why are you so well-behaved?”
Lance's smug expression made the dog want to lunge up and bite him. But Mu Chen had ordered it not to move, so Aokasi could only glare furiously at Lance with its canine eyes, seething in silence.
Seeing Mu Chen emerge, Lance craned his neck to peer inside the hall. After making sure Jorah wouldn't come out and overhear their conversation, Lance raised an eyebrow at Mu Chen. “I'm throwing you a singles' party tonight to celebrate.”
Mu Chen's temple twitched...
Only Lance could come up with a term like “singles' party.”
Lance was one of only two people in the palace who weren't surprised by the canceled engagement. After all these years, he could see that Wright had always seen Mu Chen as his younger brother and had never harbored any other feelings.
Besides, Lance had always lived by the motto, “Life is short, so enjoy it while you can.” If two people could be together, then great; if not, they could just be brothers. What was there to agonize over?
The “singles' party” Lance mentioned was really just his plan to take Mu Chen to a high-end club in the capital.
Mu Chen was twenty and legally allowed to drink. Wasn't that worth celebrating?
Though if Wright found out about this way of celebrating, he would probably want to beat Lance up.
Which was exactly why they had to celebrate before Wright came back.
Mu Chen wasn't particularly interested in going to clubs or drinking. He'd attended plenty of palace banquets, and to him, there wasn't much difference.
But Lance kept going on about it, saying, “You're twenty now. You should do some things adults are supposed to do.” Mu Chen got a little fed up and agreed...
Before Wright came back, he could indeed find something to pass the time.
Just then, “Ding!” His personal terminal chimed with a notification. The sender was listed as “Big Brother.”
[The situation at the border was resolved ahead of schedule.]
[I'll be back next Monday.]
Mu Chen's fingers swiped back and forth across the glowing blue screen, and the corners of his mouth curled into a smile.
His birthday was the following Tuesday.
Wright sent two more messages.
[Are you free around ten tonight?]
[I'll video call you.]
Mu Chen replied, “Okay.”
While Wright had been at the border, the two of them had video-called almost every day whenever they were free.
As he replied, Lance frowned suspiciously. Why had he shown no reaction at all to going to the club, but looked so happy just replying to a message?
Could there be something going on?
But before he could investigate any further, Mu Chen looked up and said seriously, “I need to be back before nine-thirty tonight.”
Lance: “...What?”
Seriously, who the hell went drinking and left before ten?
Mu Chen didn't mention that he was going to video-call Wright. He just made up an excuse. “I still have an application form to finish writing.”
After all, some things were hard for people to understand, no matter how you explained them.
Like the day he graduated from high school, when a bunch of people invited him out to have fun. He said he was busy, and when they asked what he had to do, Mu Chen said he was going home to call his Big Brother.
The group had burst out laughing. “Who still calls their Big Brother every day when they're twenty?”
From then on, Mu Chen understood one thing...
If people couldn't understand what you said and questioned you about it, then don't talk to them.
“Sigh...” Lance let out a heavy sigh when he heard that. “Going to a club and still thinking about writing forms...”
Was he beyond saving, just like Wright?