Ch7 - [The theatrical youth] Your medicine bag fell.

The other person turned around excitedly and grabbed Nalun’s hand, saying: “Half an hour ago, a certain female streamer on ‘Yu Chi’ started a live broadcast at LuoRi Volcano. Ahhhhhh I thought it was fake, but the Admiral really appeared!!!”

–So it was Sirius’s obsessive fangirls and fanboys.

“Live broadcast?”

“That’s right. We all rushed over after hearing the news. Unfortunately, that clubhouse was too well designed and concealed everything. You couldn’t see the onsen looking down from halfway up the mountain at all, only a few pebble roads. Ai……”

What’s going on with that disappointed tone?

Nalun scoffed: “The Empire did not spend meticulous efforts to teach you guys so you guys can worship an idol.”

That person froze and then slowly put away their excited expression: “Not a comrade?”

Nalun: “Why obsess over a superficial empty shell? How much of Sirius’s true colors do you actually know?”

He just finished speaking; the people in closest proximity to him immediately whipped their heads around to look towards him. One of them was a freckled man with fiery red hair. He narrowed his eyes and started examining Nalun impudently: “But you don’t even have a decent empty shell?”

Nalun: “……”

The person who first answered Nalun’s question added: “Bro, before verbally attacking others, you should clean up your excessively lush hair first. Regardless of the Admiral’s appearance, at least it’s better than a hairball.”

‘Hairball’ Nalun touched his thick luscious beard and smiled condescendingly: “I am very satisfied with my outer appearance.”

The freckled man choked briefly.

Nalun rubbed his chin, saying: “Actually……”

The freckled man: “En?”

Nalun lowered his voice: “I was once just like you guys, treating Sirius like my idol, worshiping him, following him, adoring him…… but ever since I unintentionally saw his undisclosed side, I only feel disgust and hatred left for him.”

The freckled man immediately became amped up like he wanted to argue.

Nalun pressed his head back down: “The idol disillusionment was a huge blow to me. Just look at my current, slovenly appearance……”

He sighed, expression anguished.

The freckled man hesitated slightly.

Nalun continued to say: “I told others about Sirius’s despicable conduct. However, no one believed me.”

Obsessive fanboy #1 furrowed his brows: “We can sue you for baseless slander.”

The freckled man smacked away Nalun’s hand and stopped his friend: “Let him talk. Let’s hear what kind of hilarious story this dumbass can create.”

‘Dumbass’ Nalun fell silent for a moment. Deciding to temporarily endure this humiliation, he said: “Sirius’s business has been spreading clamorously around in the last few days. I think you guys have also heard of it.”

The freckled man retorted: “Of course. Could it be? You want to use this as your striking point, to criticize the Admiral for having poor moral conduct? Although I’m extremely grieved that the Admiral is no longer single, I have to say, his subsequent actions were very responsible.”

Nalun secretly gave him an eyeroll and then said at an increased pace: “That’s all fake. How could the involved party not know who they rolled in bed with. Sirius knows very well in his heart, but he just doesn’t want to take responsibility for it. I personally saw with my own eyes an underaged boy crying and begging Sirius not to abandon him. However, Sirius remained unmoved and even shamelessly used a huge sum of money to make him leave.”

The freckled man blinked: “……underaged?”

Nalun nodded his head in lament.

The freckled man clapped his hands: “That’s great. I’m also underaged!”

The people in the surrounding area all cheered happily.

Nalun: “……”

The freckled man scoffed, tone changing abruptly: “Wake up. You should go wash that oily head of yours clean first. The Admiral is such a noble and refined person. How could he touch someone underaged? And refuse to take responsibility? And use money to make them leave?”

Has this advanced into personal attacks already?

Nalun pressed down on this kid’s head once again to stop him from hopping up and down heatedly. Nalun’s expression could be counted as gloomy.

Oily?

That’s the fake wig, foolish fanboy!

“No! How can you guys do this? Let me inside! Sirius, don’t throw me away!” The clear, distinctive shout of a youth was heard nearby.

Nalun looked over, following the sound of the voice. He discovered that on the empty ground in front of the onsen clubhouse laid a light golden haired youth. Two soldiers in uniform were currently standing defensively in front of the youth.

“That night! You were clearly the one who took me forcibly. You even said you’d take responsibility! Yet now! You are making people throw me out like a piece of trash! If this is the case, why did you put on an act like you were hoping to find me? I’m clearly! Right here!”

The youth covered his face in agony, voice anguished and desperate: “Is it because I’m only one of Princess Shasha’s insignificant servants? So you feel like I’m not worthy enough for you?!”

Nalun: “……”

Where did Alida find this theatrical god?

What a truly tearful performance. With such resonating shouts. And an utterly helpless expression. He even supplemented his character setting, perfectly interpreting and displaying the role of an innocent youth that had been used and abandoned.

The freckled man took a deep breath and mumbled: “A conspiracy…… This must be a conspiracy.”

Over to the other side, the youth was still weeping and sobbing. His skinny frail shoulders trembled and shook. After a while, he raised his head and revealed an immature-looking baby face.

The freckled man swayed. Under…… underage?

Voice hoarse from crying, the youth choked out emotionally: “Sirius, you’re too heartless, too cruel. Even the minerals of Galore aren’t as cold and hard as your heart.”

Nalun: “…….” Just where did this script come from? It even allowed room for change.

Was that unreliable friend of his finally reliable for once? The youth that he found was really a highly skilled theatrical god, capable of perfectly integrating his acting skills, his appearance, and the script.

One of the soldiers furrowed their brows: “If you continue to pester endlessly, we will have to implement some more abrasive methods.”

The youth sobbed once and looked at the soldier in resentment. Then he exploded in a heaven-shaking wail.

The soldier: “……”

The freckled man looked dazed: “This isn’t real.”

Nalun gave him a sweeping glance and said in the tone of a person who’s been around the block: “Stay strong.”

The freckled man looked at him vacantly.

Nalun was very pleased with his reaction and continued to do his best to blacken Sirius to the very end.

“At that time, I was also this heartbroken and inconsolable. How could Sirius be such a two-faced beast? He betrayed my wonderful image of him. The amount of ardent love I felt for him previously, was how much pain I suffered after learning the truth.”

The freckled man: “No……”

Nalun: “I can practically see. In the future, you will be just like me……” He stroked his thick, long beard and suddenly asked: “Do you want to count how much is here?”

The freckled man silently shook his head.

“My heart shattered into thousands and millions of pieces, just like this beard. Countless.”

The freckled man’s gaze turned blanked.

Just as Nalun decided to give one last blow, a low laugh came from behind him.

“Then I really must apologize.”

Nalun instantly stiffened.

Why did this voice sound a bit familiar?

He slowly turned around, and looked directly into the face of the person at the center of their discussion, the distinguished and impeccable face of the Imperial Admiral.

“……”

Sirius took a step forward, his deep unfathomable eyes landing on Nalun’s face. The corner of his mouth twitched briefly before swiftly returning to normal.

“Are you okay?”

No. I’m not okay at all…… Nalun had already blanked out just like the freckled man. If it weren’t for the heavy layer of beard covering his face, right now his face color would be white as paper.

Who can come tell him, just why would this guy appear behind him?!

How long has this guy been standing behind him?!

Sirius bent one leg, half stooping and half squatting down. His jet-black hair whorl appeared in Nalun’s view, making his entire person somewhat dumbfounded.

“Sirius……”

“Your medicine bag fell.” Sirius picked up the traditional medicine that was packaged with reed paper and handed it over in a humble and amiable manner.

Nalun didn’t move. He silently looked at that familiar medicine bag– When he retrieved the medicine, he never noticed. The bottom of the medicine bag actually had a round piece of paper stuck to it. On it were the exact same words on the billboard.

“Abbott’s clinic, century old prescriptions……”

Because it fell to the floor, the bottom was revealed. These words appeared like an eye-catching headline right in between the two of them.

Nalun silently stared at the thing in Sirius’s palm, conducting an intense struggle between ‘pretending it wasn’t his and allowing his left nipple to rot off’ and ‘enduring humiliation and accepting it for the sake of his body’. A few seconds later, he snatched the medicine bag over with a ‘pa,’ and swiftly stuffed it into his shirt, hiding it well.

Sirius: “……”