Ch53 - [Revisiting old grounds] Injured his head due to an unexpected mishap.

Xi Jin, who was unsuccessful at ‘pretending to be the Admiral’s lover’, had a strange fear towards Sirius, like he had exhausted all of the courage he had during that time at the onsen clubhouse. As a result, ever since then, whenever he saw the other, he would only live like a head-lowered bug.

The Emperor asked gloomily: “How was it exposed?”

However, no one answered him.

Nalun picked out a piece of orange from the fruit plate and handed it over to his terrified little buddy. Xi Jin obediently opened his mouth, swallowed the orange, and then expressed that he wanted to do it himself.

Nalun faintly understood and thoughtfully cleared away the fruits. He handed over the empty silver fruit plate.

This decision clearly suited the little buddy’s desire head on.

A huge grin blossomed on Xi Jin’s face as he happily got ready to accept the ‘huge round metal cookie”–

The mighty,intimidating gaze of the Imperial Admiral swept over.

Xi Jin: “……”

With a tremble of his hand, the Metal Devouring Bug swiftly returned the plate back to Nalun and even expressed that he wasn’t hungry anymore.

Why scare the bug?

Sirius said coolly: “It’s time to give an explanation. About the impersonation, or becoming His Majesty’s pet, and maybe even the Scepter. This is the true purpose of this meeting.”

As soon as he opened his mouth, the atmosphere suddenly became tense.

“It, it’s like this……” Xi Jin already felt very scared of Sirius. After being questioned, he obediently narrated his tragic fate. From when he woke up without memories to receiving employment information from a mysterious person. One thing after another, Xi Jin was rather sincere and honest.

What was gratifying was that he had avoided exposing the connection between Big Beard and the Honored Prince like a very loyal friend.

As for the ‘impersonation’, he expressed: “…… There was a script. I, I memorized it for many days.” He lowered his head in embarrassment.

This area didn’t have too many issues.

Nalun wasn’t nervous about it. Xi Jin didn’t know that the person who hired him was Alida. Even more so, he didn’t know that behind his employer hid Nalun. Even if Xi Jin racked his brains, he wouldn’t be able to create the truth out of thin air.

When asked how Xi Jin and Nalun met each other, the Honored Prince provided the answer himself.

“He laid on the side of the road, on his last breath. Out of kindness, I saved him. At that time, he had already fainted due to hunger, in a terrible state.”

–From a certain point of view, he really did save a certain 8 legged bug, who was trapped inside a cage.

The Emperor looked towards the frail youth in distress and heartache.

Fainted due to hunger…… Such a terrifying thing had actually happened on Asha land!

His gaze shifted to the youth’s four skinny limbs. He instantly felt a wave of pain: Before meeting him, just how much had Xiao Jin suffered?

Xi Jin, who lived without cares or worries, didn’t actually know that inside Luye’s heart, he had already become a homeless, vagabond bug who had no one to rely on. He innocently nodded towards his good friend: “Yes. Nalun saved me.”

Nalun let out a breath of relief.

–Although Xi Jin always brought him countless scares and mishaps, in the crucial moments, he also unconditionally trusted and cooperated with Nalun.

Xi Jin exchanged a few looks with Nalun and then suddenly hung his head in embarrassment: “Nalun… is a very good person.”

Nalun: “……”

Caught off guard and received a ‘good person’ card unexpectedly.

At this time, His Majesty the Emperor forcibly squeezed himself between the two people’s moment and started to narrate his meeting with the ‘bug’ from a ‘single’ person perspective.

The meeting between the Metal Devouring Bug and the Emperor originated from a ‘car accident’.

The bug, who was slammed onto its back, 8 legs into the air, and wailing in anguish, accidentally revealed its most important body part in front of the man– The culprit of the accident, His Majesty the Emperor, had randomly grabbed onto the antennas, wanting to throw aside the black bug that slammed into his foot. As a result, he heard the loud wailing voice of the youth.

At first he thought he had picked up a special bug, who understood human language. Soon afterwards, he recalled the despicable species of Insectoids in this world…… However, this bug, who was suspected to be deliberately committing fraud, truly cried very pitifully. Therefore, the Emperor’s heart softened momentarily and he brought it back to the Royal Palace.

The entire time, Nalun was expressionless. Hearing this, he couldn’t help but ask: “So yesterday night was also a moment of softheartness, when you brought him away?”

The Emperor said with a straight face: “This concerns the Insectoids and Asha. How could I allow the suspect of thievery to get away?” He paused for a moment: “That’s why I decided to monitor him myself.”

Nalun smiled politely: “So right now, you’re bringing the suspect out to get some fresh air?”

The room quieted down. A moment later–

“I trust you, Nalun.” The Emperor said seriously: “You’re an upstanding, patriotic citizen of Asha. Why would you steal the national treasure? This is why, after what happened, I felt confident in handing the innocent you over to the most fair and honorable judges of the Empire.”

Nalun leaned backwards into the cushion, putting distance between the two of them.

Despite receiving disdain, the Emperor’s expression didn’t change: “I trust you. I trust Charvey. I trust my intuition.”

Nalun thought to himself: ‘I trust you’, such utterly touching and heartfelt words. In the short period of one day, he has already heard these words from several different people. However, things still remained the same. Sometimes, “trust” was merely a concept.

Xi Jin furrowed his brows: “I didn’t steal anything either! You’re suspecting me?”

The Emperor: “…… Uh, this is two different things.”

At the same time, Nalun asked: “Xi Jin lost his memories. How are you certain of how he was before the memory loss? Perhaps, he is the criminal who stole away the Scepter and had injured his head due to an unexpected mishap?”

Xi Jin looked over, hurt.

The Emperor: “…….”

After a moment of fatigue, he decided to first comfort his cousin: “You don’t need to worry about the trial. With no actual evidence, they are incapable of convicting you. There are hundreds and thousands of cases in the Empire everyday. No matter what it is, everything always fades out of sight over time.”

Nalun raised a brow: “But I still have to go to the courthouse tomorrow.”

The Emperor patted his shoulder: “You can do it!”

Nalun: “……”

The Emperor secretly swept a glance at his friend, who’s been silent this entire time, and gave Nalun a wink: “I will give you a huge gift as consolation between us brothers.”

Well aware of the hostility between the two people, the Emperor, out of a certain desire to compensate, decided to betray his good friend this time.

Regarding this, Sirius had no reaction at all. He only gave a polite smile at the Emperor’s back.

If Nalun looked over from his angle, he’d discover that this polite smile looked extremely like the [Polite smile] emoticon in the Honored Prince’s communication device. However, at this moment, Nalun had his head lowered in deep contemplation and didn’t notice anything abnormal. He seemed to be thinking deeply. After a long time, he finally gave his answer.

Grayish green eyes blinked. Silently, the two people reached an agreement.

The satisfied Emperor looked at the steaming hot onsen and suddenly felt interested.

“Why don’t we continue our discussion inside?”

He exuberantly nudged over Xi Jin, who was stuck to Nalun’s side: “Xiao Jin, we can go together!”

The Metal Devouring Bug said unwillingly: “Bathe?”

His gaze turned towards Nalun, looking like a pitiful child who needed the company of his father.

Nalun shook his head.

The Emperor smiled in satisfaction and then swiftly suppressed it in the next second. He said very pretentiously: “You should come, Nalun. I remember Aunty bringing you to the Royal Palace before. We’ve even bathed together.”

Nalun was completely befuddled.

“At that time, you just turned 6 years old. While you were eating, you knocked over the adults’ red wine and got my clothes dirty as well.”

Nalun: “….. I don’t remember it.”

The Emperor then asked: “What about you, Sirius?”

The Admiral-daren, who was called upon, calmly waved his hand: “Nalun and I still have business.”

The Emperor narrowed his eyes in suspicion. When did these two people get so close? Last time, he thought it was only a coincidence. This time, coincidence might not be enough to explain it.

But he also suspected this to be a tactful decline and instantly had a bad feeling– With Nalun’s personality, he usually objected to a lot of Sirius’s decisions. Furthermore, Nalun was also especially committed to clashing with Sirius’s words. If this stimulated Nalun’s rebellious heart, he might very well say goodbye to his two-person bath with the human-form Xi Jin.

Reality proved that he was overthinking.

“En, that’s right.” Not only did Nalun not object, he even stood on the same ground as Sirius and sneered: “I’m temporarily not in the mood to relax. After all, all of the troubles and frustrations have fallen on me.”

Sirius said in agreement: “No matter how you want to say it.”

The Emperor was stabbed once again: “……”

However, it wasn’t guilt.

Instead, it was amazement–

In a situation where Sirius was present, his little cousin would actually point his fire barrage at someone else?

Furthermore, there wasn’t any hints of opposition to Sirius.

In other words…… while he was unaware, these two people really did have some kind of epic development?

In the Emperor’s eyes, the only things that could create a change in his obstinate cousin… was probably nothing short of a miracle or love.

It should be a miracle, right?

Xi Jin had the Emperor as his support. Nalun, however, had a hard battle to fight. If he could be declared not guilty and cleared of suspicions, it would be best. However, if he had to go to trial…… this possibility couldn’t be eliminated.

The two people had no interest in sharing a bath with others. They got up and left the room.

Sirius stood at the entrance, thinking about the oranges, thinking about the onsen, thinking about everything that he had prepared, but didn’t help him…… His expression was calm and deep.

“You brought me here, because of Luye’s instructions?”

Sirius nodded his head: “If an issue or mishap occurs tomorrow, you can push everything on him.”

Nalun: “……”

Be quiet, we’re still at the entrance!

The Honored Prince, who had the same plan, guiltily looked behind him.

Sirius continued to say: “He can do it.”

Nalun: “……” These words sounded extremely familiar.

Inside the warm pond of the onsen, a certain Emperor, who was currently cupping and admiring the face of his beloved human-form bug, suddenly felt a cold chill.

In any case, this short meeting more or less calmed Nalun down. Seeing the time was still early, the two people then started to stroll around in the vicinity.

Within a few short months, the Honored Prince, who had visited the LuoRi Volcano multiple times, can be considered very familiar with the place. When he gradually saw the scenery nearby becoming desolate, until other pedestrians decreased and the road became more and more remote, he finally realized something wasn’t quite right.

Wasn’t this the route that he had taken on the day when he went seeking medical treatment?

The further they walked, the more it verified his guess.

Until the drifting horizontal advertisement of the “Abbott’s Clinic” entered his view, he finally reacted abruptly– Why would Sirius bring him here?

Nalun’s eyelids jumped as he had an even more terrifying thought.

Could it be, Sirius discovered something?

No, he shouldn’t have. Nalun had already made foolproof preparations. It was impossible for any flaws to exist.

“The first time we met, he was holding a medicinal bag from this clinic.” Sirius didn’t indicate clearly who ‘he’ was. However, that didn’t hinder Nalun from understanding the meaning of these words.

–Yes. He definitely recalled the medicinal bag that dropped to the ground and came over along the way to investigate.

“He doesn’t want to see me. So I can only think of plans to investigate myself.” When he spoke, Sirius’s gaze remained on Nalun the entire time. He said: “Perhaps the owner of the clinic would know some clues.”

At certain times, the Admiral’s deep obsession was really terrifying.

Nalun said: “He clearly doesn’t want to associate with you.”

Sirius: “You’re not him, so how would you know what he thinks? Not to mention…… he’s always been a little liar who says one thing and means another.”

Nalun with a cold expression: “……Oh, so it’s like that.”