“Brother.”
Rev, who was reading a book, slowly raised his head.
He saw his half-brother Delmar.
“I didn’t know you were still awake. May I come in?”
“Are you going to sleep here again today?”
Delmar, who had been smiling awkwardly as he stood in the doorway, nodded lightly.
Rev knew about Delmar’s chronic insomnia.
The fact that his insomnia is also relieved to some extent if he is next to him.
‘It’s probably because of my latent magic.’
What would Delmar say if he found out that the reason his insomnia was disappearing next to him was because of magic.
Rev, who was laughing inwardly, beckoned with his expression hidden.
“Come in.”
Delmar approached with a big smile right away.
There were two beds in Rev’s north tower.
One was a new bed, the other an old bed, but Delmar insisted on the old one.
It was a strange choice for someone who likes anything new and expensive.
Rev made eye contact with Delmar, who was looking at him as if his body was used to the old bed.
“Why?”
“It’s just, it’s really nice to see Brother again at the imperial palace like this.”
“Because you can sleep well?”
“It’s not necessarily because of that…”
When trying to hide an understatement, a learned expressionless face was often helpful.
Rev wasn’t too pleased with Delmar’s visit, but he didn’t show it.
If there’s something to gain, there’s something to lose.
With Delmar’s visit, what Rev lost was quietness and comfort. So what does he gain?
“I like that Brother gives me advice, and I like that Brother helps me.”
Taking turns as regent with Diana, Delmar tended to obsess over rather trivial matters.
For example, if fires were frequent due to the dry climate of the northeastern border, instead of devising a way to rescue the people of the empire who were damaged by fire, he would ask to find out exactly how many houses were burned.
Of course, making statistics is important, but Delmar, who had lived in the imperial palace the whole time, didn’t know that a handful of flour and water were much more important for the people of the empire who needed help right away.
So Delmar would come to Rev when he was stuck. Rev’s knowledge helped with the second problem.
The first thing to do wasn’t to be looked down on by the nobles, who were always looking for flaws, even if they couldn’t help themselves for the stability of the empire.
‘I didn’t know that the position of ruling and leading someone was so tiring.’
In that sense, it was very comfortable for Delmar to be by his brother’s side, who had killed the ruler of Peter’s country and suppressed the rebellion, but didn’t show off.
Isn’t he a man who is not greedy like other aristocrats and who knows how to devote himself to the Vladin Empire?
‘I don’t know when on earth he grew such a force.’
Is it because it’s Hadasa’s bloodline? Delmar laughed bashfully.
“I should thank you for taking my advice.”
During his regency, he was unaware that Rev was controlling state affairs according to his will.
It would be Delmar’s credit right now, but it didn’t matter to Rev.
‘It must be a blessing to me to have such a great chess piece in a position where I can’t go to the front.’
“Do you remember what you said to me the other day about the education business?”
“I asked you to establish a qualification system.”
Of course Rev remembered.
“It’s confusing because it’s in the early stages of introduction, but public opinion is not bad. Architects, blacksmiths, and pharmacists are all professions that require qualification tests. At first, there was some disagreement, but everyone agreed that certification was important to become a better Vladin. I think we’re getting closer to an agreement.”
Because he was the one who made it happen.
“Especially the pharmacist. Come to think of it, as Brother said, it is directly related to the health of the people of the empire, so why has it been delayed so much… Hoaam.”
“Even people who have a vague reluctance to pharmacology will be able to trust it if they have a qualification recognized by the Empire. Just like you.”
All monarchs should put the happiness of the people of the Empire first.
The reason why Delmar talks about the health of the people of the empire is probably because of the theory of the emperor that he happened to pass by.
But at least, the first priority for Rev wasn’t the health of the Empire’s people.
‘Because it’s a job that Luce will have. It would be better to change people’s minds in advance.’
A faint smile appeared on Rev’s lips as he looked at the pendant hanging on one side of the desk.
‘….Luce is in the capital.’
Delmar, who was staring at him with half-closed eyes, mumbled something in a sleepy voice.
“Brother seems to be very concerned about the people of the empire. You look happy.”
Rev didn’t deny it.
Luce is an imperial citizen, and he was happy.
It reminded him of a conversation he had with Chelsea, who had to speak out about his own powerlessness. Unlike that time, the fact that he was providing practical help to Luce made him very happy.
Delmar blinked his eyes slowly.
“If there are many apothecaries, will we be able to find it?”
“What?”
“Cherry pills. Long ago…I ate it. I wish I could get it again. Just eating cherries won’t solve the problem.”
“Where?”
He thought. Rev wouldn’t know that a woman with red hair in Xenon gave him medicine.
It was natural for Delmar. He hadn’t seen Rev that day.
While asleep at Rev’s house, he wasn’t sure how he got back to the imperial palace, but he vaguely thought that the magic on Radanum’s cloak had been activated.
‘I shouldn’t say it.’
“It’s just the old days.”
“So where, Delmar.”
“…I can’t keep asking Brother to sleep with me…”
Delmar, who was only answering questions that had nothing to do with the question, yawned in succession and soon fell asleep.
Rev, who was staring at him, pressed his throbbing temple.
‘Cherry medicine?’
“He said he was still sleepy but couldn’t sleep well, so I gave him a sleeping pill I made for him.”
He seemed to be referring to the sleeping pills Luce had given him.
Radanum’s medicine is frightening and he hates it, but he remembers the medicine Luce gave him.
As Delmar said, it would be solved if the pharmacist was trained and a standardized recipe was developed, but the fact that Delmar still remembered Luce’s medicine made Rev’s eyebrows narrow.
After looking down at the sleeping Delmar for a while, Rev left the room. He was holding the pendant on the desk.
‘Have you fallen asleep, Luce?’
Rev calmed his breath as he recalled the Luce he had seen at the hotel.
A little while ago, when Luce was looking for a hotel, the timing was good. After checking the location coordinates continuously detected near the hotel in the capital city, Rev headed straight to where she was.
He couldn’t show his face in the capital, so he was covered in a black robe.
Luce, seen from a distance, was exactly the same as before. She had a face like a small spring flower, and a smile like the warm sunlight.
But the fact that she was a little thinner than the last time he saw her bothered him.
She shouldn’t have considered Dominic’s house as a place of residence. He called the manager, paid several times the price, and told him to treat her the best, and he faithfully complied. Along with all kinds of food, he asked for orange peel cookies, which Luce likes, and he readily agreed.
‘But the timing can’t always be right like today.’
It takes more than a week by ordinary carriage to reach the capital from Xenon.
Luce’s pendant had been modified, but it was impossible to detect the signal from Xenon at the end of the continent with a magic stone the size of a fingernail.
Thanks to this, Rev, who had not heard Luce’s voice for a year and six months, devised another method.
He doesn’t know when Luce will arrive in the capital. If Luce comes while he is away, he might not hear her first voice.
It couldn’t be. Rev started modifying his pendant after posting the qualification exam notice.
He added a delay output device so he could hear Luce’s voice when he operated the pendant, not in real time.
However, he wasn’t able to hear in all situations.
He could only receive a signal if Luce activated it herself or if Luce’s heartbeat was significantly different from usual.
Rev carefully stroked his pendant.
He wanted Luce to think of him and speak to him, just as he thought of her.
He was waiting with his eyes closed when he heard a low voice.
「I still hate you a little bit.」
It was a very different first word from what he had imagined, but Rev decided to put meaning in the fact that Luce also thought of him.
Since he had left without saying anything, he thought that Luce might say something like this.
「I’m also sad.」
The same was true of this. A corner of his chest was stiff.
Perhaps it is because he is happy to hear Luce’s voice.
Rev believed so.
Until he hears what follows.
「Even so, I want you to be happy, Rev. I hope you were living a life of being loved like the meaning of your name…Take care.」
To be blessed by telling him to be happy. That he deserves to be happy.
But why?
‘What do you mean be happy? What do you mean by take care?’
Anxiety and questions fell.
Take care? This kind of greeting is like…
“Please be happy.”
Isn’t it empty and bitter words that only say when they don’t see each other again?
Like his mother said when she left.
The pendant fell helplessly from his fingertips.
When the pendant rolled down the marble floor, it made a crackling sound.
「Take care. Take care. Take care.」
Rev asked back blankly.
I’m without you?
「Take care.」
The broken pendant kept repeating those words for a very long time.
In Luce’s soft and distant voice.
“Brother.”
Rev, who was reading a book, slowly raised his head.
He saw his half-brother Delmar.
“I didn’t know you were still awake. May I come in?”
“Are you going to sleep here again today?”
Delmar, who had been smiling awkwardly as he stood in the doorway, nodded lightly.
Rev knew about Delmar’s chronic insomnia.
The fact that his insomnia is also relieved to some extent if he is next to him.
‘It’s probably because of my latent magic.’
What would Delmar say if he found out that the reason his insomnia was disappearing next to him was because of magic.
Rev, who was laughing inwardly, beckoned with his expression hidden.
“Come in.”
Delmar approached with a big smile right away.
There were two beds in Rev’s north tower.
One was a new bed, the other an old bed, but Delmar insisted on the old one.
It was a strange choice for someone who likes anything new and expensive.
Rev made eye contact with Delmar, who was looking at him as if his body was used to the old bed.
“Why?”
“It’s just, it’s really nice to see Brother again at the imperial palace like this.”
“Because you can sleep well?”
“It’s not necessarily because of that…”
When trying to hide an understatement, a learned expressionless face was often helpful.
Rev wasn’t too pleased with Delmar’s visit, but he didn’t show it.
If there’s something to gain, there’s something to lose.
With Delmar’s visit, what Rev lost was quietness and comfort. So what does he gain?
“I like that Brother gives me advice, and I like that Brother helps me.”
Taking turns as regent with Diana, Delmar tended to obsess over rather trivial matters.
For example, if fires were frequent due to the dry climate of the northeastern border, instead of devising a way to rescue the people of the empire who were damaged by fire, he would ask to find out exactly how many houses were burned.
Of course, making statistics is important, but Delmar, who had lived in the imperial palace the whole time, didn’t know that a handful of flour and water were much more important for the people of the empire who needed help right away.
So Delmar would come to Rev when he was stuck. Rev’s knowledge helped with the second problem.
The first thing to do wasn’t to be looked down on by the nobles, who were always looking for flaws, even if they couldn’t help themselves for the stability of the empire.
‘I didn’t know that the position of ruling and leading someone was so tiring.’
In that sense, it was very comfortable for Delmar to be by his brother’s side, who had killed the ruler of Peter’s country and suppressed the rebellion, but didn’t show off.
Isn’t he a man who is not greedy like other aristocrats and who knows how to devote himself to the Vladin Empire?
‘I don’t know when on earth he grew such a force.’
Is it because it’s Hadasa’s bloodline? Delmar laughed bashfully.
“I should thank you for taking my advice.”
During his regency, he was unaware that Rev was controlling state affairs according to his will.
It would be Delmar’s credit right now, but it didn’t matter to Rev.
‘It must be a blessing to me to have such a great chess piece in a position where I can’t go to the front.’
“Do you remember what you said to me the other day about the education business?”
“I asked you to establish a qualification system.”
Of course Rev remembered.
“It’s confusing because it’s in the early stages of introduction, but public opinion is not bad. Architects, blacksmiths, and pharmacists are all professions that require qualification tests. At first, there was some disagreement, but everyone agreed that certification was important to become a better Vladin. I think we’re getting closer to an agreement.”
Because he was the one who made it happen.
“Especially the pharmacist. Come to think of it, as Brother said, it is directly related to the health of the people of the empire, so why has it been delayed so much… Hoaam.”
“Even people who have a vague reluctance to pharmacology will be able to trust it if they have a qualification recognized by the Empire. Just like you.”
All monarchs should put the happiness of the people of the Empire first.
The reason why Delmar talks about the health of the people of the empire is probably because of the theory of the emperor that he happened to pass by.
But at least, the first priority for Rev wasn’t the health of the Empire’s people.
‘Because it’s a job that Luce will have. It would be better to change people’s minds in advance.’
A faint smile appeared on Rev’s lips as he looked at the pendant hanging on one side of the desk.
‘….Luce is in the capital.’
Delmar, who was staring at him with half-closed eyes, mumbled something in a sleepy voice.
“Brother seems to be very concerned about the people of the empire. You look happy.”
Rev didn’t deny it.
Luce is an imperial citizen, and he was happy.
It reminded him of a conversation he had with Chelsea, who had to speak out about his own powerlessness. Unlike that time, the fact that he was providing practical help to Luce made him very happy.
Delmar blinked his eyes slowly.
“If there are many apothecaries, will we be able to find it?”
“What?”
“Cherry pills. Long ago…I ate it. I wish I could get it again. Just eating cherries won’t solve the problem.”
“Where?”
He thought. Rev wouldn’t know that a woman with red hair in Xenon gave him medicine.
It was natural for Delmar. He hadn’t seen Rev that day.
While asleep at Rev’s house, he wasn’t sure how he got back to the imperial palace, but he vaguely thought that the magic on Radanum’s cloak had been activated.
‘I shouldn’t say it.’
“It’s just the old days.”
“So where, Delmar.”
“…I can’t keep asking Brother to sleep with me…”
Delmar, who was only answering questions that had nothing to do with the question, yawned in succession and soon fell asleep.
Rev, who was staring at him, pressed his throbbing temple.
‘Cherry medicine?’
“He said he was still sleepy but couldn’t sleep well, so I gave him a sleeping pill I made for him.”
He seemed to be referring to the sleeping pills Luce had given him.
Radanum’s medicine is frightening and he hates it, but he remembers the medicine Luce gave him.
As Delmar said, it would be solved if the pharmacist was trained and a standardized recipe was developed, but the fact that Delmar still remembered Luce’s medicine made Rev’s eyebrows narrow.
After looking down at the sleeping Delmar for a while, Rev left the room. He was holding the pendant on the desk.
‘Have you fallen asleep, Luce?’
Rev calmed his breath as he recalled the Luce he had seen at the hotel.
A little while ago, when Luce was looking for a hotel, the timing was good. After checking the location coordinates continuously detected near the hotel in the capital city, Rev headed straight to where she was.
He couldn’t show his face in the capital, so he was covered in a black robe.
Luce, seen from a distance, was exactly the same as before. She had a face like a small spring flower, and a smile like the warm sunlight.
But the fact that she was a little thinner than the last time he saw her bothered him.
She shouldn’t have considered Dominic’s house as a place of residence. He called the manager, paid several times the price, and told him to treat her the best, and he faithfully complied. Along with all kinds of food, he asked for orange peel cookies, which Luce likes, and he readily agreed.
‘But the timing can’t always be right like today.’
It takes more than a week by ordinary carriage to reach the capital from Xenon.
Luce’s pendant had been modified, but it was impossible to detect the signal from Xenon at the end of the continent with a magic stone the size of a fingernail.
Thanks to this, Rev, who had not heard Luce’s voice for a year and six months, devised another method.
He doesn’t know when Luce will arrive in the capital. If Luce comes while he is away, he might not hear her first voice.
It couldn’t be. Rev started modifying his pendant after posting the qualification exam notice.
He added a delay output device so he could hear Luce’s voice when he operated the pendant, not in real time.
However, he wasn’t able to hear in all situations.
He could only receive a signal if Luce activated it herself or if Luce’s heartbeat was significantly different from usual.
Rev carefully stroked his pendant.
He wanted Luce to think of him and speak to him, just as he thought of her.
He was waiting with his eyes closed when he heard a low voice.
「I still hate you a little bit.」
It was a very different first word from what he had imagined, but Rev decided to put meaning in the fact that Luce also thought of him.
Since he had left without saying anything, he thought that Luce might say something like this.
「I’m also sad.」
The same was true of this. A corner of his chest was stiff.
Perhaps it is because he is happy to hear Luce’s voice.
Rev believed so.
Until he hears what follows.
「Even so, I want you to be happy, Rev. I hope you were living a life of being loved like the meaning of your name…Take care.」
To be blessed by telling him to be happy. That he deserves to be happy.
But why?
‘What do you mean be happy? What do you mean by take care?’
Anxiety and questions fell.
Take care? This kind of greeting is like…
“Please be happy.”
Isn’t it empty and bitter words that only say when they don’t see each other again?
Like his mother said when she left.
The pendant fell helplessly from his fingertips.
When the pendant rolled down the marble floor, it made a crackling sound.
「Take care. Take care. Take care.」
Rev asked back blankly.
I’m without you?
「Take care.」
The broken pendant kept repeating those words for a very long time.
In Luce’s soft and distant voice.
