SLDS 85

A heavy tension flowed over the table where the candlelight flickered.

The high-ranking aristocrats gathered in the main palace’s conference room had been continuing their discussions for hours with serious faces.

It had already been over half a year since exchanges with Kazarjan were cut off. In the midst of a prolonged power struggle, just yesterday, Emperor Arnold had suddenly declared Kazarjan an enemy nation.

Alexis sat at the head of the table and listened attentively to the aristocrats’ conversation. His firmly closed lips had no intention of opening, but he was taking in every word of the dialogue going back and forth across the table.

“As long as they have been declared an enemy nation, we cannot just stand by.”

“What has Kazarjan done to us all this time! We cannot let it slide any longer!”

“If a war breaks out, the damage to the empire will also be immense. We cannot waste military power when the demonic beasts have reappeared. Knight Commander Vandel, what are your thoughts?”

“The Black Forest guard corps operates separately from the Imperial Palace Knight Order, so it is not a matter of great concern. If we were to seriously prepare for war, aristocrats and their private soldiers would also have to participate in accordance with military orders. It would take at least a week to form the imperial army.”

Those with the right to speak each threw in a word. As the turn went around the table, all eyes naturally gathered on one person. The only one who had not uttered a single word so far was Cecil Adrian.

Alexis also ended his long silence and opened his lips.

“Cecil, what are your thoughts?”

Cecil held the position of strategist. A strategist must be well-versed in various fields and provide advice to the emperor with quick judgment.

When Cecil Adrian, who was only in his early twenties, was appointed as a strategist, the voices of opposition were quite loud.

Everyone thought it was a position gained through the empress’s influence or the privilege of the royal family. But that negative perception did not last long.

His political sense was extraordinary. His ability to see through an agenda was second to none, not even to Crown Prince Alexis, and sometimes he even proposed surprising solutions.

Throughout the conversation, Cecil had been continuously looking down at the map spread on the table. He tapped the table with his fingers and finally opened his mouth.

“I believe war is unavoidable. Even if we do nothing, it’s clear that Kazarjan will attack first anyway.”

Then he tapped the table once more.

Alexis detected the signal Cecil was sending. He unclasped his intertwined hands and straightened into a more comfortable posture.

“I have something to discuss privately with the strategist, so everyone, please leave. The meeting will resume in two hours.”

Including the aristocrats, the royal guards and attendants all left the conference hall. Once they were alone, Cecil finally rose from his seat.

Without hesitation, he began to draw a line on the spread-out map. The line, which stretched out as if on a military march, reached a point in Kazarjan, and Cecil circled the name of that area. He even wrote a number next to it.

Cecil was now indicating the area and date to attack.

Alexis raised his blue eyes.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. We must strike here first. That’s the only way we can gain the upper hand.”

The corners of Alexis’s mouth drew a diagonal line. It was the face of someone extremely satisfied at having obtained what he wanted.

“Good, I’ll take it into consideration.”

Alexis had, at some point, become accustomed to listening to Cecil’s advice.

Whenever a crucial decision had to be made, Cecil would point the way forward as if he had received a divine revelation.

Though he had never admitted it with his own mouth, he was not unaware that this was a special ability Cecil possessed.

Alexis rested his chin on his hand at an angle and gazed intently at Cecil.

Was it because the strategist’s abilities were so outstanding? As the days went by, he felt that Cecil was becoming more and more lovable. His trust and affection were so deep that he could not express how happy he was that Cecil was by his side.

Alexis’s lips curved softly.

“You were right about the merchant ship being attacked recently, too. Your dreams are so accurate, it’s chilling.”

“I’ve told you repeatedly, it’s not divine power.”

“Then is it perhaps magic?”

At the nonsense, Cecil let out a chuckle. He had, in fact, taken the hint from Alexis’s nightmare and confessed that he too had prophetic dreams.

He had judged that he could not completely hide the secret. Cecil was prepared to reveal the future at any time, if it was for Alexis’s sake.

“Whatever it is, it’s an ability that helps Your Highness.”

“…”

Alexis did not deny it. Cecil’s presence had now become irreplaceable by anything.

“What would you like me to do for you?”

“What do you mean, Your Highness?”

“I mean a reward for that precious ability of yours. If there’s something you want, tell me directly. I’d rather not give you an unwanted gift and make you cry like last time.”

Cecil recalled the day he had received a dagger as a gift from Alexis. It was a bad memory for both of them, so his expression stiffened awkwardly.

“I don’t particularly… want anything.”

“Really nothing?”

“…”

“Cecil, be smart. You should take what you can when you have the chance.”

Cecil bit his lip.

As if he did not have desires of his own. Besides, with Alexis offering to give him anything in the first place, how could he possibly refuse?

A fierce battle raged in his mind between budding desire and restrained reason. The bait thrown before him looked too sweet to suppress his desire.

“Then… for just five minutes, could you close your eyes?”

At the words Cecil had difficulty bringing out, Alexis’s brow furrowed.

His face tingled under the direct gaze. Cecil, pretending to be unfazed, spoke calmly instead.

“I won’t do anything strange. Just, whatever I do, please bear with it for five minutes.”

“You know that’s even more suspicious, right?”

Cecil slowly approached. Alexis, who was sitting in his chair, closed his eyes and waited as promised. His hands, hanging loosely below the armrests, made it seem like he would tolerate whatever Cecil did.

As Cecil carefully cupped his cheeks, Alexis laughed with a sound like escaping air. He kept his eyes firmly closed and said.

“Was the thing you wanted to do just touching my face?”

“Yes.”

Cecil replied without smiling.

He had never looked at Alexis’s face from this close before. Moreover, touching it was an unimaginable act.

Heightening the senses in his fingertips, he carefully traced Alexis’s face. The neat forehead, the straight brow bone, and the sharp jawline.

He could feel the delicate contours along the smooth, fine-textured skin. Cecil caressed his cheek and scanned the high bridge of his nose with his eyes. His gaze lingered for a long time on the line of his lips that followed below. The sensation of those lips was still vivid in his memory.

Perhaps the sinister thoughts were transmitted through his fingertips, as the closed eyelids slowly began to open.

When the eyes, which seemed to hold the clear water of a lake, looked at him, Cecil flinched in surprise and dropped his hands.

“There’s still time left…”

An arm that suddenly wrapped around his waist pulled Cecil in. The distance closed in the blink of an eye, and Cecil ended up sitting down with one of Alexis’s thighs between his legs.

“Will you be satisfied with just touching?”

“…”

“It is yours for five minutes, so play with it as you please. I give you permission.”

Alexis brought Cecil’s right hand and placed it on his own lips. As he added strength to the clasped hands, Cecil’s fingertips were pressed against the soft lips.

Cecil’s eyes trembled.

Although none of his own intentions were involved, the scene before his eyes looked as if he were toying with Alexis’s lips.

The stimulation, overwhelming to both sight and touch, muddled his mind.

Alexis closed his eyes again. Half of it was to tease Cecil, but in truth, he was planning to allow it even if Cecil really did something untoward to him.

No, perhaps he had been looking forward to it?

The more he got to know Cecil, the more he allowed him into his life, the more his heart kept tilting in unexpected directions.

Perhaps he had wanted to take this opportunity to define their relationship, which was teetering on the edge of crossing a line.

To entrust that to Cecil, wasn’t that quite a cowardly act?

Alexis snorted inwardly, finding himself ridiculous. He was waiting with a whatever-happens-happens attitude, but the hand that was touching his face dropped, and a warm breath drew progressively closer.

Even without opening his eyes, he could feel a shadow falling over his face. In that moment, Alexis’s petty composure vanished, and he grew tense without realizing it.

A sweet breath brushed past like an illusion.

Soon after, both arms wrapped around his shoulders, and Cecil’s smooth face touched his right cheek.

“This much is okay, right?”

“…Yes.”

Alexis could not hide his feeling of emptiness.

After touching him so eagerly, the courageous thing he did was merely a hug.

But an undeniable tremor could be felt in the arm that was tightly embracing his shoulder, the cheek that was touching his was hot as if with a fever, and Cecil’s heart was beating so fast it seemed like it would burst.

He could not determine what kind of emotion this was.

Cecil Adrian was, as expected, a difficult problem for him.

✽ ✽ ✽

As war preparations began in earnest, a sense of impending conflict also hung over the empire.

Blacksmiths produced armor and weapons without rest, and cargo carts loaded with various supplies came and went endlessly.

War is not something that begins by simply barging into the enemy’s camp like a gang fight. Each step had to be taken carefully under a meticulous plan. Thanks to this, the lights in the strategy meeting room never went out, day or night.

As they prepared for war, Cecil began to speak of the future more frequently.

With this, a pain in his chest followed like a leech. Fortunately, he had found the most effective painkiller and was taking it regularly, but it was not that it was not burdensome.

Even now, a short thoracic pain had just swept through him. Cecil, who had lost all his energy from secretly enduring the pain, lay face down on the desk.

Just then, Alexis spotted him.

Knowing only that Cecil had stayed up all night for strategy meetings, he naturally thought Cecil was just slumped over from fatigue.

He approached silently and began to massage the nape of Cecil’s neck. Cecil recognized who it was by the familiar scent. He slowly straightened his back and managed to sit up properly. His face was filled with an undisguisable weariness.

“Go and rest. At this rate, you’ll collapse before the war even starts.”

“I’m fine. I still have work left to do.”

“That’s an order, Adrian. There’s nothing more for you to help with, so go back to your palace at once.”

Alexis turned his head towards a corner. Leo, reading his signal, quickly ran over and supported Cecil. The gesture was polite, but it was no different from forcing him to get up.

“I’ll come to check on you in the evening, so rest quietly.”

With Alexis’s directive added to that, he was basically being kicked out.

“…Yes.”

Cecil was particularly weak to the crown prince’s words. The public regarded him as a hyena-like being aiming for the throne, but in reality, he was a gentle lamb. Leo found this point rather upsetting.

“Um… Mr. Cecil.”

On the way back to the Peridot Palace, Leo cautiously started to speak. He kept glancing around like a puppy that needed to relieve itself, in case someone was eavesdropping.

“What.”

“Well…”

Leo kept glancing at Cecil’s chest.

Cecil knew without having to look.

It had already been over two years since he had been with Leo. No matter how careful he was, it was impossible to completely hide a secret from someone who attended to him all day long.