“I believe I said not to put a scratch on what's mine. Are your ears stuffed?”
The single low phrase from Luan's mouth froze the air in an instant. It was neither a shout nor a bellow. A cold, dry voice with the emotion stripped out, like the frost of midwinter. But the intimidation contained within it pressed down heavier than a physical blow.
Joe's lips trembled. His mind went blank white. Why? Why on earth would Her Majesty the Empress be all the way back here in the temple courtyard? Tens of thousands of questions flashed by, but instinct was warning him. Now wasn't the time to ask questions but the time to throw himself flat.
Joe dropped to his knees, trembling. The two peers standing behind him turned ashen and planted their heads on the ground in turn.
“I-I've committed a crime worthy of death! Failing to recognize Your Majesty—!”
“W-we were only trying to uphold the temple's discipline—!”
“Discipline?”
Joe poured out his excuses hastily. It was an instinctive survival urge.
“This fellow… no, novice priest Aiden was embezzling temple goods, so we were admonishing him! As seniors, we were only trying to guide our junior!”
Lies to the very end. Aiden bit his lip hard in indignation. His collar, grabbed, was left crumpled, but he hadn't even the strength to make excuses. He was so ashamed and aggrieved at having shown such a disgraceful scene before Luan that tears welled up. Joe, brazen as ever, felt relieved when Aiden said nothing.
But Luan wasn't shaken. As if it were a bother, he swept back his wet hair and slowly stepped before Joe. The outer robe thrown over the water-soaked linen gown fluttered in the wind. The sight resembled an envoy of the god come to pass judgment.
“Admonishing, you say.”
Luan looked down at Joe and gave a soft, mocking laugh.
“At the temple, do they grab collars and make threats when they admonish? It's quite different from the doctrine I knew.”
“Th-that's… because the junior wouldn't listen…”
“And you said embezzlement?”
Luan's gaze lingered on Aiden a moment, then fixed on Joe again.
“What's the proof that Aiden stole?”
“Th-the stock is short on the ledger! The Silver Leaf is gone! And Aiden managed the key today!”
Joe desperately asserted his alibi. On paper it was perfect. Aiden had held the key, so the responsibility for the goods that vanished in that interval lay with Aiden. That was the corner Joe was banking on. At that brazen display, Aiden was disgusted.
“Hmm.”
Luan rubbed his chin and chewed over Joe's words. An ordinary noble, the moment they were stuck for words, would have loftily driven him off with a How dare you make noise before me!—but Luan was different. The DNA of the audit team was etched into his soul. The "hunch" that had caught countless corrupt civil servants flashed.
“Interesting. Usually when you steal, you tamper with the ledger or erase the traces. You don't leave it conspicuously empty like this, going 'come arrest me.'”
Luan took a step closer.
“Besides, Silver Leaf. Isn't its sap quite potent?”
“Pardon? Y-yes…”
“When you snap the stem, a blue juice comes out, and I've heard that if it touches the skin it won't come off for three days.”
Luan held his hand out to Joe.
“Hand.”
“…Pardon?”
“Hold out your hand. Must I say it twice?”
A cold command. Joe, with no idea what was going on, held out both trembling hands. Luan didn't take his hand. He merely swept his eyes over them as if looking at something filthy. Then he pointed precisely beneath the nails of Joe's right index finger and thumb.
“This.”
Luan's eyes narrowed.
“The blue stain under your nails. Will you insist it's dirt?”
“…!”
Joe hurriedly tried to hide his hands, but it was already too late.
“Silver Leaf sap.”
Luan added a beat late.
“Not even any effort.”
Luan's gaze turned this time toward Aiden.
“Aiden, open your hands.”
Aiden, hesitating, opened his hands. From working all day in the herb bed they were dirt-covered and had scratches here and there, but there was no blue stain anywhere.
“As you can see.”
Luan coldly informed Joe of the truth.
“Aiden's hands are merely dirt-covered, but clean. The one who handled the herbs is you. The one who stole is you too. And you'd have tampered with the ledger as well.”
“Th-that's… I got it on me by mistake—!”
“You got it on you by mistake, so why pin it on Aiden? Is that the senior's guidance you spoke of?”
At the logical rebuttal, no escape route was in sight. Joe's face turned the color of dirt. Embezzlement, false accusation, and the crime of deceiving royalty. This was a grave offense that wouldn't end with simple disciplinary action.
“Y-Your Majesty…! I-I was wrong! Please forgive me just this once!”
Joe wailed, banging his forehead against the ground. The peers beside him began prostrating and begging along with him.
“We must have gone mad for a moment! Spare us!”
Noisy. Luan furrowed his brow. You don't go easy on an embezzler. A leopard can't change its spots. The cancer cells of an organization have to be cut out early.
“Benya.”
When Luan called low, the sound of someone running breathlessly came from the end of the alley.
“Your Majesty! So you were here!”
It was Benya. He'd spent the whole day combing every corner of the temple searching for Luan, who simply wouldn't stay put. Then, drawn near by the commotion, he'd found him.
“Huk, what's going on here?”
Benya looked back and forth between the novice priests prostrate and trembling on the ground and Aiden standing dazed with his collar pulled loose, trying to grasp the situation.
“Your Majesty, did these irreverent fellows perhaps do you harm?”
“The ones trying to do harm weren't me but that side.”
Luan pointed at Aiden with a jerk of his chin. It was a well-timed appearance.
“These men were siphoning off temple goods and pinning the blame on an innocent junior. They even used assault and threats. I witnessed it directly, so there's no need for a witness.”
“Wh-what did you say?!”
Benya's face turned red and purple by turns. To pull such thuggish nonsense in the sacred temple, and on the very day the Luan he most revered had visited. And on top of that, to be caught in the act—there was no greater disgrace than this.
“You… you rotten-to-the-core bastards!”
At Benya's roar, the heads of Joe's gang bowed lower. Luan had laid out the situation thinking he should make good use of the timely-arriving Benya, but his personnel pick had been precise.
How would a novice priest fresh out of theological college come to be assigned the counseling of the Emperor and Empress? He was the scion of an influential House, and in the temple hierarchy—closer to the secular world than to the god—he occupied a considerable position. He'd shown a rather ridiculous side, but within the grand temple there were few priests with as much influence as Benya.
“You dare commit theft in the god's name? And on top of that, sell out a comrade? And you think you're fit to wear the priest's robe after that!”
“B-Benya! It's a misunderstanding! We—”
“Silence! Drag these fellows away at once! The disciplinary committee is convened! No—I'll propose dismissal on my own authority!”
At Benya's roar, the temple guards came running. They twisted the arms of the ashen-faced Joe and his gang and subdued them.
“Your Majesty! We were wrong! Aaargh!”
The screams of those being dragged away rang through the back courtyard. Being dismissed from the temple was no different from social burial for them. It was just deserts.
The back courtyard was tidied up in an instant. Benya once more bowed at a ninety-degree angle before Luan. A little more and he'd have folded clean in half.
“Your Majesty, my apologies. My negligence in managing my subordinates has soiled your precious eyes.”
“It's fine. The sooner you prune a rotten branch, the better.”
Luan replied briefly and turned his gaze to Aiden, who leaned against the wall. So I got found out as the Empress. I wanted to win him over by seeping in gradually, and it's all ruined.
Of course, Aiden had already known Luan was the Empress, so the plan had been wrecked from the start. But the reason he couldn't pull himself out of his shock was something else.
With that body…
Aiden's gaze lingered on Luan's pale face and wet shoulders. The truth only he knew. The man had been vomiting blood until just earlier. He was a man who'd been dying in agony, as if he'd cough up his very organs.
And yet… and yet he'd come to save me. When even standing must be hard, he'd swallowed that pain and come all the way here to wield his authority.
And for someone like me.
That was exactly why Aiden's heart felt like it was tearing all the more. It wasn't simply crushing them with power. That was a mercy bestowed by shaving away at his own life.
Just then, Luan went to lift his foot and staggered slightly because of his wet shoes. To Aiden's eyes, it looked like the figure of a man collapsing, having reached his limit.
“Your Majesty!”
Aiden cried out as if screaming and rushed over. Instinctively, he supported Luan's arm. No—he gripped it tight, all but holding him up. The body leaning into him was far too light. Tears felt as if they'd burst out.
“…?”
Luan looked at Aiden with puzzled eyes. My body's light as air thanks to the detox, so why is this kid like this? Aiden's hands were trembling, and his eyes brimmed with tears.
“Your Majesty, are you all right? You mustn't overexert yourself. Please…”
His voice was wet with the verge of tears.
I won't tell anyone. Because His Majesty wants to hide that he's ill.
The moment the fact that he'd vomited blood left his lips, it could become a weakness for his enemies. Aiden swore to carry the horrific scene he'd witnessed to his grave. He had to be the one to support this precarious person so he wouldn't collapse. That was the duty owed to a benefactor who'd saved his life.
What's gotten into this kid?
Well, I guess he was moved that I saved him. Or he got intimidated by the title of Empress. Luan thought nothing of it and looked at Aiden.
“Aiden.”
“Y-yes! Your Majesty.”
“Benya. This child—you said his assigned duties aren't set yet, right?”
Luan asked, looking at Benya.
“Yes, as a novice he's helping here and there, but…”
“Then from today, make him my exclusive attendant.”
At Luan's bombshell declaration, Benya's and Aiden's eyes went wide at the same time.
“Exclusive attendant?”
“I'll be coming every week for the purification rite from now on. And as you know, I dislike noise.”
Dislike it to the point of being too bothered to stay conscious, really. Benya recalled Luan's manner during the counseling.
“This child is quiet, and his touch is delicate.”
“Ah…”
“When I come, I'll entrust every little errand to this child. Don't assign him any other duties. He'll be busy enough attending to me.”
Benya and Aiden opened their mouths. This wasn't a simple work order. It was the rank of "the Empress's exclusive priest," no less. The moment that title was attached, no one in the temple could lay a careless hand on Aiden. Even the formal priests would treat him with deference.
Luan had fastened a perfect armband onto Aiden. It was also a strategy to keep Aiden at his side and manage his networking safely. Having no way to know what was inside Luan's head, Benya marveled at an empress merciful even to a mere novice priest.
“Understood! If that's what Your Majesty wishes!”
In the midst of all this, Luan did grow a little curious just how far Benya's authority extended. It seems my counselor was a bigger fish than I thought.
“Did you hear that, Aiden? You're now Her Majesty the Empress's exclusive attendant. Consider it an honor!”
“…!”
Aiden looked up at Luan with trembling eyes. It wasn't simply that his work would get easier. This was salvation.
To… protect me.
He was just a novice priest met for the first time only today. But Luan had dragged his ailing body to protect him, and said he'd protect him from now on too. Something hot surged up in Aiden's chest.
“Thank you… Your Majesty!”
Aiden bowed his head deeply. Tears dripped onto the ground.
“If you're thankful, address me casually. We agreed you'd call me hyung, didn't we.”
“H-how could I…”
“Or at least call me Luan.”
"Your Majesty" is too much of a burden. The distance in a form of address was also the distance of the heart. Hyung seemed like a stretch, so he'd at least have him use his name. At Luan's words, Aiden's eyes glistened.
“Yes, Lord Luan!”
“Repay the thanks with work. I'm fairly demanding, you know.”
Luan spoke with feigned coldness and turned away. But Aiden saw it. Through the wet strands of hair, the tip of Luanisiel's ear had reddened slightly—it was red because the water had gotten in and gone cold.
I swear it.
Aiden watched Luan's receding back and clenched his fists.
Even if it costs my life, Your Majesty—Lord Luan—I'll protect you. Your secret, and your safety both.
He was the first person to give him warmth in his life. No matter what he offered, it wouldn't be enough.
That agony you carry—if I could ease even a little of it…
It was the moment when, of the original's couple destined for plague and ruin, the male lead awakened as Luan's most faithful devotee.
