6 a.m.
In the Empress's bedchamber, only a heavy silence and intermittent groans lingered.
“Ugh…”
Luan tried to crawl out of bed like a zombie, then clutched his lower back and collapsed right back down.
It was full-body muscle ache.
Thanks to that emperor who'd fed him meat and then ended up bringing the document mountains the next day and the day after, the price of processing hundreds of sheets, frozen in one posture, was harsh. At this rate, the chronic ailments of his past life—forward neck and a herniated disc—looked set to descend upon this body too.
“I'm dying, seriously…”
His lower back felt like it might snap in two. His wrists throbbed, his eyes were dry and gritty. This body was feeble beyond measure and couldn't withstand labor like this. A strike. I need to go on strike.
Just then the door to the next room opened and Kirian came in. The relentlessly diligent emperor had already finished his morning training and even his shower. Toweling off the hair from which water dripped, he looked down indifferently at Luan sprawled across the bed.
“Still asleep?”
“…I'm awake.”
“How unusual.”
My body just won't get moving, that's all. Luan mumbled with his face buried in the pillow.
“I think full-body muscle paralysis has set in. A vacation is urgently needed.”
“What a baby. To be in that state after a mere few days of work.”
“Your Majesty may have a constitution of steel, but I'm a paper doll. Work me too hard and I'll tear.”
Luan pressed a hand to his back with trembling fingers.
“A pain patch… no, a hot towel, please. I think my back's gone out.”
“Ha.”
Kirian clicked his tongue but approached the bedside anyway. It wasn't out of worry. It was that he was displeased a tool that had worked so capably had broken down in a matter of days. For it to earn its keep, its physical condition had to be sound.
“Turn over.”
“Pardon?”
“I need to see your condition to decide whether to call a doctor or what.”
Kirian roughly grabbed Luan's shoulder and turned him. Luan flipped over limply. Over the thin silk sleepwear, the dry ridge of his spine stood out. Kirian furrowed his brow and pressed his hand along the line of the spine.
“Here?”
“Ack! D-don't press so hard!”
“The muscle's all knotted. Lack of exercise.”
Kirian put strength into his hand and pressed the knotted muscle. It was nothing like the delicate touch of a professional masseur. It was the crude touch of someone checking where a broken machine had gone wrong.
“Agh! It hurts! Gently, go gently, please!”
“Hold still. I have to loosen it for you to move, don't I.”
“This isn't treatment, it's torture!”
Luan writhed in pain and clutched the bedsheet tight.
“Be quiet.”
“Ngh… you're pressing too deep!”
Luan's sleepwear had come loose, baring a white shoulder, and his sweat-dampened hair clung to his cheek. By anyone's measure it was a strange, intimate posture, ripe for misunderstanding.
It was precisely then.
Bang.
Without a knock, the heavy door swung open. It was the Emperor's shadow, the captain of the escort guard, Kael.
“Are you here, Your Majesty? The Northern Knights' Order report has arriv—”
Kael's words cut off in midair. His eyes shook as though an earthquake had struck.
On the bed, the Empress, sprawled in disarray and groaning. Above him, the Emperor pinning him down by pressing on his back. And the room filled with phrases like “it hurts,” “go gently, please,” “too deep.”
Kael froze. He was a cool-headed knight with a sharp eye for analyzing situations.
…Don't tell me.
Kael's gaze fixed on Luan. A pale face, a faintly trembling body, reddened eyes. The Empress, who only yesterday had drawn cold lines of distance, was showing such a defenseless figure in the bedchamber.
A honey trap?
A chill ran down Kael's spine. Duke Requies was a cunning man. He'd tried to use his second son to blind the Emperor's eyes and ears. But the Emperor was an iron-walled liege who kept lust at a distance. And yet this feeble-looking Empress had, in a mere few days, broken down the Emperor's guard and seized control even of the bedchamber?
“…Kael?”
Kirian turned his head and frowned, displeased. Kael snapped to his senses and bowed his head. But his gaze gleamed with hostility directed at Luan.
“My apologies. There was no sound of anyone, so… judging it an urgent matter, I committed a breach of etiquette.”
“I told you to leave reports in the study, did I not.”
“I judged it a matter to report in person.”
Kael answered with feigned composure, but inwardly he was sounding the alarm. Luan raised his head and looked at Kael.
A hazy gaze, tousled hair. To Kael, that figure looked like the ease of a man who'd achieved his objective.
“…I'll take my leave.”
Kael withdrew, stepping backward. Just before the door closed, his eyes met Luan's. Kael's mouth moved without sound.
Don't let your guard down. I'm watching you.
Bang. The door closed. Luan stared blankly at the shut door.
“…He just glared at me like he was going to kill me on his way out.”
“Don't mind him. He's got a foul glare to begin with.”
Kirian took his hand off Luan's back without much concern.
“In any case, things are going to get noisy out there.”
Kirian got off the bed and put on a robe. Without turning to look at Luan, he straightened his appearance in the mirror.
“There'll be a wild rumor going around that you clung to me all night.”
“…Pardon?”
Luan's mouth dropped open in indignation. Clung to him? Who, to whom? I'm the one who got my labor exploited, so why do I feel like the perpetrator?
“It's a misunderstanding. Please set it straight.”
“Why bother? It's not a bad thing.”
Kirian replied dryly without even turning around. But the expression reflected in the mirror looked rather amused.
“If Duke Requies hears this news, he'll be thrown into confusion. He'll think his own second son is wrapping the Emperor around his finger. As a rumor to throw off the enemy, it's not half bad.”
“…And my honor?”
“Does a rumor that the Empress enjoys the Emperor's favor sully your honor?”
Kirian slowly turned and looked at Luan. The corner of his mouth tilted upward.
“You're in my domain anyway. A rumor that you have my favor would even help you escape the Duke. So why are you so revolted by it?”
Kirian secretly hoped. That Luan would say still, being at Your Majesty's side is better, or at least show a hint of relief.
But Luan's brow only furrowed further. He heaved a sigh as if greatly troubled.
“It doesn't help. If anything, it only gets in the way.”
“In the way?”
Kirian's eyes shot up.
“Because we have to divorce.”
Luan added businesslike, patting his lower back.
“Didn't we agree to part cleanly in six months? But if rumors of favor or whatnot go around, the divorce proceedings later only get complicated.”
“…”
“To separate over differences in personality, I need evidence that the rift in our feelings runs deep, and a rumor that we're on good terms is unfavorable.”
The smile gradually faded from Kirian's face. In Luan's eyes there was neither fondness for Kirian nor any sense of regret. Only the calculation of legal pros and cons for a clean divorce filled them.
We're sharing a bedchamber like this now (with the door open, it's no different from one room), eating the same meals, and our bodies have even touched (it was a massage, but still). And this man's head is filled with nothing but thoughts of leaving.
“…Ha.”
Kirian let out a short scoff. His mood sank strangely. It was like a cat he'd thought he'd tamed eating its fill and then, without so much as a backward glance, plotting only how to leap the garden wall.
“You really… don't forget that damned divorce talk for a single moment, do you.”
“You permitted it, didn't you. I take mutually agreed-upon matters seriously.”
Luan answered flatly and buried his face in the pillow again.
“So please set the record straight yourself.”
Kirian shut his mouth. He had no words to refute it. The man was right. They were simply a relationship that would soon part ways.
So why did his mood feel so… foul? He couldn't make sense of it.
“…Be quiet.”
Kirian snapped, roughly tying the cord of his robe.
“I'll handle the rumors. Don't worry about useless things and just straighten out your back.”
Bang. The sound of the door closing was louder than usual. Luan started and lifted his head.
“What's with him? Is he going through menopause?”
Luan tilted his head, unable to understand.
Outside the door, Kirian stood glaring at the shut door for a long while. His insides churned. Very much so.
