Chapter 2 - The Beginning of Suffering

Translator: Black Lotus

Editor: Delinquent Angel

Editor’s Note: I made what I think as the characters’ own thoughts in italic.

–It was an event that could only be described as “bad luck” for Alto.

He happened to be there that day, that time, that place.

Just like that…

…His life had changed dramatically.

○●●●●

Alto was in a good mood that day.

He went to the military officer’s office to deliver the book he brought for Ryun and treated him to a cup of tea in his room as a thank you.

The court knight’s room was a large private room, and Alto felt glorious as he chatted with his object of admiration in a space surrounded by simple and elegant furniture.

It was very interesting and meaningful to hear Ryun talk about his many overseas assignments.

As he resigned to his room and walked down the hallway in a buoyant mood, he saw a figure in front of the doorway of the government building.

Alto braced himself for a moment.

Ugh…

What he could see was his natural enemy, Lloyd, and … a woman. The woman was clearly not the same as the one he had an affair within the library the other day, and Alto blatantly frowned at her.

The woman with long hair and mature, sexy charm handed Lloyd a black box while flashing her bewitching smile and spun around as she left.

After watching the woman, Lloyd turned on his heel and finally noticed Alto’s existence.

“Well, well, well, Librarian-san. Are you here for the dwelling place of the knights?”

He was struck by the words of Llyod, who was deliberately being courteous.

“Ryun-sama invited me. Excuse me.”

Alto ducked his head and tried to get out of there as quickly as he could.

“Wait.”

As he passed by, Lloyd grabbed his arm.

“Hey, Librarian-san. You’ve been avoiding me for a while now, haven’t you? Is there a reason for this?”

“Nothing…”

He could not say that he hated him physically, it’s perplexing. The other party was a noble and he was a commoner. In case people didn’t know, he had to pick his words.

“I just ask that you refrain from engaging in lewd behavior in the library.”

“I see. Yeah, sorry.”

Lloyd apologized in a straightforward but light tone. This attitude irritated Alto even more.

“Also, you are not allowed to bring women into the government facility. You can’t meet someone openly while the sun is still up…”

“Oh, no, no.”

Lloyd interrupted Alto, who began to lecture tersely, with a wave of his hand.

“The woman from earlier just came to say goodbye because she’s moving far away. I thought you’d be home soon. Well, I was in a relationship with her at one point, but that was a long time ago. I didn’t even mean to bring her in.”

It made his head hurt whenever Lloyd made excuses.

“It’s not my problem. Excuse me.”

Alto bowed and turned to leave.

“I told you to wait.”

Lloyd still hadn’t let go of Alto’s hand.

“Enough…”

The moment Alto opened his mouth to protest, something was thrown in. As he reflexively chewed, the brain-meltingly sweet taste and aroma filled his mouth.

“Huh, what is it? This…”

Alto covered his mouth with his hand and grunted. He tried to spit it out, but it had already dissolved and was moving down his throat.

“It was given to me by that woman. It’s an exotic sweet called chocolate. Kids love sweets, don’t they? This should put you in a good mood.”

Lloyd’s words of sputtering laughter had only the opposite effect. Alto snapped out of it and shook off Lloyd’s arm.

“Stop treating me like a child! I hate you!”

Alto shouted and ran off.

“ I hate you … are you a child?”

Lloyd muttered and scratched his cheek while looking at the distant back.

○●●●●

“Alto, lock it up, please.”

“Sure.”

The library was past closing time.

Even after his colleague left, Alto continued to organize the bookshelves. Alto was the most recent recruit, so chores like these were his job.

The monotonous workday events came back to his mind.

Frustrating.

He vented his anger by imagining stomping the blond-haired, blue-eyed, unremarkable, monk-knight’s beaten face.

…If he fought, he would be killed in an instant by Lloyd. Poor little employee, Alto, the other was an agile and strong knight.

I was fed weird things…

The smell of that chocolate, or whatever that confectionery was, still seemed to cling to him.

Maybe it was the booze in the confectionery that made his throat hot. His mind was kind of fuzzy, too.

The red sunset was shining through the window.

He wanted to be done with his work by sunset, because he did not want to go around carrying lamps. That’s what he was thinking…. For some reason, he could not get his body to work.

“…Ha?”

Alto crouched down on the spot.

His body felt hot. His heart was beating fast.

It’s getting darker and darker outside.

Hmm….

Alto rolled around on the floor, holding his chest.

My body feels hot.

My body feels hot.

My body feels hot.

The last rays of sunlight shone through the window and disappeared. The darkness of the evening enveloped the area.

Meanwhile–.

“HA?!”

With a thump, Alto jumped.

He twitched a few times. With a jerk, he stopped moving.

….and how long I’ve been doing this?

When he regained consciousness, Alto raised his body. He shook his head to clear his hazy thoughts.

Then he put his hand on his still-painful chest….

What the hell is this?

Alto’s cry echoed through the quiet library.

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