TMLNHMB 15

                                                        Chapter 15

Hichel trembled like a bear and cried out pitifully.

“Your Majesty, if my report is inadequate, please punish me immediately. To trouble Your Majesty, who is burdened with so many affairs, with such a substandard report… I, Hichel Ormond, cannot forgive myself!”

“Hichel.”

“Y-Yes!”

Hichel quickly snapped his feet together. Then, as if he were really asking to be punished, he clasped his hands over his heart. At that moment, Luan calmly set the report down on the table and spoke leisurely.

“Have you ever been in love?”

“…Excuse me?”

Blink, blink.

Hichel blinked his round eyes. With his thick, dark red hair that looked like sunlight hidden behind dark clouds, his solid build, and a sharp appearance—as long as he kept his mouth shut—he didn’t look bad at all. But Luan, seeing his subordinate remain silent for a long while, came to his own conclusion and said,

“I knew it—you haven’t.”

“Y-Your Majesty?”

“No, never mind. That was an inappropriate question. With a face like that, no noble lady would ever be interested in you…”

“What’s wrong with my face, Your Majesty?!”

Hichel, who had intended to start calmly with, “Why would you say such a thing, Your Majesty?” instead burst out in frustration. Something strange had been said mid-conversation, and he just couldn’t hold back.

Among the men of the Ormond family, he was less bear-like and less rough. That’s why, at least when it came to his looks, he couldn’t tolerate criticism. And so, without realizing it, Hichel—who had never once stood up to his superior—began muttering in protest.

“Your Majesty, my parents say I’m the best-looking man in the family.”

“How unfortunate.”

“…All the men in our family are decently good-looking.”

“And you’re supposed to be the best-looking one? That’s…”

Luan let out a sigh as if in shock—like someone who had just learned for the first time that the sun rises in the east. Feeling even more wronged, Hichel muttered bitterly,

“Not everyone in the world looks like Your Majesty.”

“But that doesn’t mean they need to look like you.”

“Gugh.”

The sudden attack on his looks made Hichel fall silent. Luan, indifferent, picked up the report again and started reading. Then, unexpectedly, he spoke again.

“So you have been in a relationship before? If your appearance isn’t that bad to others, I mean.”

“Ah, yes, I have.”

Hichel answered timidly. It had been quite a while, but back in the Imperial Academy, he’d had a few relationships. Lost in the nostalgia of those days, he fell silent again. Luan, observing him quietly, suddenly said,

“Then may I tell you something?”

“…What is it?”

“My unrequited love troubles.”

“…?”

Hichel tilted his head. He felt like he’d just heard something really strange. His Majesty… unrequited love?

“Your Majesty, did you just say something about mismatched feelings?”

“No, I said I have unrequited love troubles.”

“Y-Your Majesty…?”

Hichel was dumbfounded. Right in front of him stood the man who was the ideal type for every noblewoman in the empire.

So many of them were desperate to become his wife—if not, then even his concubine. Some noble ladies even studied healing magic, willing to bear the burden of side effects that came with his divine power, just to stand by the emperor’s side.

The emperor, unintentionally increasing the popularity of the healing arts, was now calmly staring off into space. Hichel swallowed dryly.

“No, why… how…”

He wanted to ask, ‘Even someone like Your Majesty suffers from unrequited love?’ But he kept those words to himself and looked around. Was it okay for him to be hearing such a secret?

Noticing his reaction, Luan put down the report and said,

“This won’t take long. Sit down.”

“A-Ah, yes!”

Hichel sat down politely on the sofa. Then he thought, I’ve followed His Majesty through nearly ten years of war and political strife, but this is the first time we’ve spent time like this.

It felt like something that would happen at a student council meeting in the Academy.

If this were the Academy, Luan Killian Siebold, the man with divine powers, would’ve been the most popular boy there. Luan then said drowsily,

“It was ten years ago…”

And so, Hichel suddenly found himself listening to the love story of the emperor he respected. It was when the unseasonably bright winter sunlight filled the distance between them through the window.

“Hm… So during the time Your Majesty was captured as a prisoner, you fell in love at first sight with the princess who took care of you, and you became emperor to save her—but now that you’ve met her again, she’s keeping her distance?”

“That’s right.”

“What did you do when you first reunited?”

“I carried the unconscious princess to her bedroom and waited until she woke up.”

Luan said this nonchalantly. Hichel, finally understanding, responded,

“Ah, then the woman you were holding when you returned from the war in triumph—that was her, wasn’t it? I never heard the full story, just that you carried someone to their chambers…”

The battle had been so brutal that his vision was soaked in blood. Those damned black magicians of Herais—no matter how many limbs you cut off, if their mouths were intact, they’d keep cursing.

In that chaos, he remembered seeing the emperor holding a woman gently while tearing some enemy apart.

So that was her…

Even though he’d overheard the maids gossiping, Hichel had been a loyal subject. And in his mind, a loyal servant didn’t pry into his ruler’s private affairs. Unless His Majesty spoke directly, he wouldn’t know.

Now that I think about it, everything lines up.

Impressed by how the pieces fit together, Hichel said,

“Now that I’ve heard the story from Your Majesty, I understand.”

“Understand what?”

“The part Your Majesty is troubled about.”

“You mean how the princess doesn’t love me?”

“You carried her to your chambers and confessed out of nowhere! What good is love if it’s one-sided? Even small animals perform courtship dances for the ones they like… That kind of approach doesn’t work for the ladies of today.”

Then Hichel cleared his throat and said,

“It’s good that you expressed your feelings. But the method needs a little polish.”

“How so?”

“If it were me, I’d perform every courtship dance I know!”

“You keep using odd metaphors.”

“No! I mean Your Majesty should use what you have! Your Majesty has wealth and power, right?”

“All I have is wealth and power? That’s a bit harsh.”

Luan frowned. Then he seriously added, recalling how Seidin had admired his face since childhood,

“I also have my face.”

“….”

“And my body.”

He said it with complete seriousness, without a hint of humor. The deep, unwavering tone he used to praise his own looks left Hichel unsure of how to respond. Then Luan spoke again, flatly,

“But you’re right. Relying solely on my face to win over the princess is a lazy approach.”

“Hrm.”

Hichel decided to take it positively. Better for his master to be confident than insecure, he thought.

As Hichel rambled on about gifts he would give to a woman he liked, Luan listened quietly and then said,

“The princess wouldn’t like things like that.”

“Sorry, what?”

“She said she’d stay by my side as a friend and as a healer. If I suddenly gave her a gift, she’d be flustered. I need to do something she’d genuinely like.”

“Um…”

“I can’t trust your advice.”

Luan shook his head. Hichel’s eyes sharpened. It wasn’t just upsetting to be unrecognized as a knight or a subordinate—it was downright insulting to be considered unattractive.

Shrinking his bear-like shoulders, Hichel desperately tried to think of “ways to seduce a woman.” Just then, as both men were deep in thought, Luan, resting his arm lazily on the chair’s armrest, spoke up.

“When I was in Herais Kingdom, I was once summoned to a royal banquet.”

“A banquet?”

“It was nothing unusual. The youngest imperial prince of the divine empire, captured splendidly. Sure, I was a weakling who might die in a fight for the throne, but still, they’d captured a prince of the empire—they had to show me off. The king of Herais fed his pride that way.”

“That bastard.”

“No need for such words. That bastard’s already dead.”

Luan, who nonchalantly added, “He squealed like a pig to the very end,” gave a faint smile. Watching Hichel fume with rage, he fell into a brief recollection.

He still remembered it clearly—

The royal banquet of Herais Kingdom. The dark, dreary hall lined with black magicians…