The ship’s doctor hurriedly came.
On the way, he first saw a blood-soaked hover stretcher flying towards the transport ship, dripping blood all the way.
Then he saw the chaotic blood footprints on the floor of the transport bay and signs of a fierce struggle.
His heart pounded with anxiety.
When he finally reached the medical room on the Emperor’s ship and saw the familiar silver-haired boy’s back, he let out a long sigh of relief.
Nero was standing behind the White Wolf Knight, carefully pressing on the knight’s shoulder and back.
He had already taken off his cloak but was still wearing plain clothes, with his sleeves rolled up, revealing his competent, pale wrists and elbows.
What shocked the doctor was the Emperor’s neck, which bore several frightening red finger marks, as if someone had tried to strangle him to death.
After a moment, Nero’s expression turned severe, and he pushed with a firm hand.
With a sickening ‘crack,’ the White Wolf Knight’s dislocated shoulder blade was set back in place.
“Ugh…!”
Despite Nero’s skilled technique, the White Wolf Knight couldn’t help but let out a groan of pain.
Nero rolled down his sleeves and used the cuff to wipe the sweat from under the knight’s blond hair.
Noticing the doctor from the corner of his eye, he said without looking up, “Come over and check Alexei’s injuries.”
After confirming the location of the fracture, the doctor inserted a stabilization brace into the knight’s shoulder under the Emperor’s watchful gaze and treated the torn muscles before carefully reporting:
“Sir Knight, please enter the medical pod to recuperate. The procedure will take about two to three hours, after which the bone will be as good as new.”
The White Wolf Knight urgently replied, “Please remember to treat His Majesty as well.”
He added, “I cannot protect His Majesty while in the medical pod. Once His Majesty is safely back in the Capital, I will enter the pod.”
Nero’s voice was still hoarse, “With the Wolf Knights protecting me, you can rest assured in the medical pod. We will rest on this planet for about an hour to settle the slaves rescued from the Star Pirates. I’ll come wake you in an hour.”
While they spoke in low voices, the doctor carefully applied medication to the Emperor’s neck and wrapped it with a thin nano bandage.
After examining Nero’s throat and vocal cords, the doctor reported, “Due to external pressure, Your Majesty’s vocal cords are slightly damaged. Please take good care in the coming days; they should recover in three to five days.”
Nero nodded.
Once the White Wolf Knight lay in the medical pod, Nero pressed the button to close the pod door, watching as the semi-transparent door rose from the pod’s rear.
Before the door closed over his head, the White Wolf Knight repeatedly instructed the other Wolf Knights, “Wake me before the fleet departs, and ensure His Majesty’s safety. Do not let him get hurt again.”
The pod door fully closed.
Because bone repair would bring inhuman pain, the pod began to release a large amount of anesthetic gas.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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After three seconds, he nonchalantly walked back and slipped the ice pack into his pocket.
…
During the transport and rest phase, all starships in the fleet were connected via the bridges, with the Emperor’s ship connected to the command ships of the Northern Fleet and Heidrich’s Fleet.
Nero, accompanied by the Wolf Knights, stepped onto the bridge connecting to Heidrich’s command ship.
The dark-haired General was indeed alone in the command room.
There was a slightly swollen red mark on his right cheek, but his expression was as usual, diligently working.
Hearing the door open behind him, he suppressed the curve of his lips and stood up from the command chair, fastening his coat.
“Your Majesty.”
Heidrich bowed to the Emperor.
Nero waved for him to dispense with the formalities.
Then, the young Emperor seemed to suddenly take a keen interest in all the equipment in the command room.
He inspected the scrolling information on the screens and touched various buttons on the control panel, all the while casually inquiring about the battle situation.
After circling the spacious command room four or five times, he finally feigned indifference and walked up to the platform with the command chair.
“Why aren’t you getting treatment?”
The young Emperor looked up, staring at the red swelling on Heidrich’s face.
“Is letting all your soldiers know you got hit part of your leadership technique?”
Heidrich didn’t look at him, his blue eyes respectfully lowered to the ground, speaking in a humble and low voice:
“Any punishment from Your Majesty is a blessing to a subject. Besides, I acted rashly without informing Your Majesty in advance, causing you to worry.”
He hadn’t finished speaking when a cold snort came from in front of him.
Nero averted his red eyes, handing something to him, “Take it.”
Heidrich looked up to see it was an ice pack.
The fingers holding the ice pack were pink, obviously from repeatedly touching the ice pack in the pocket, making the young Emperor’s fair fingers turn red.
He didn’t take it.
Instead, he lowered his eyes and said in an even lower voice:
“Your Majesty, I failed in my duty and deserve to be punished.”
Nero clearly didn’t expect him to be so stubborn, his beautiful red eyes widening.
But an Emperor could never admit fault, so he suppressed his anger and ground his teeth, asking, “Do you want it or not?”
Heidrich: “Your Majesty, I am at fault and should be punished. Your Majesty personally punishing me is actually a benevolence to me—ugh.”
He felt a familiar push on his chest.
It was Nero, impatient with his nonsense, pushing him back with the hand holding the ice pack, making him stumble and fall into the command chair—while grabbing the young Emperor’s waist and pulling him toward himself.
Clearly, Nero’s tolerance was greatly enhanced by the red mark on the man’s face.
Despite almost being pulled into Heidrich’s chest, he quickly steadied himself on the armrest of the chair, standing firmly between Heidrich’s legs and promptly slapping the ice pack onto his face.
Nero looked down at him coldly, “Satisfied? Do I have to do it myself?”
Heidrich looked at the proud profile of the young Emperor, his face feeling the cold comfort, but his icy blue eyes showing rare vulnerability and grievance.
He said nothing more.
He just raised his right hand, slowly pressing the ice pack against his face—while also holding the Emperor’s hand tightly against it.
Since meeting at the Delta Fortress, Nero had rarely seen him show such weakness, which made him a bit uncomfortable.
He looked away, only saying, “My hand is cold.”
His tone was firm, but he didn’t immediately pull his hand away.
Probably because the ice pack had taken too much attention, the Emperor didn’t notice Heidrich’s left hand gently holding his waist.
The young man’s waist was flexible and thin, his skin radiating the heat of youth. Through the commander’s gloves and the thin shirt, Heidrich’s pinky finger seemed to touch a slightly indented spot on the warm jade-like skin.
Without a word, he gently rubbed the spot with his fingertip.
…It turned out to be a sweet waist dimple.
Heidrich realized this was his first close encounter with Nero outside of a dream.
The silver-haired Emperor stood within his arm’s reach, his faint rose fragrance clearly detectable.
With a bit more force, this proud and fierce Emperor, with his slender waist and sweet dimple, would fall into his arms;
Nero would angrily widen his red eyes, shouting and struggling, but be trapped in the man’s embrace, unable to move.
Before the Wolf Knights rushed in, he would hold the young man’s head tightly and kiss his soft rose lips, parted in surprise.
His fantasy involved the supreme ruler of the Galactic Empire; a future top-tier Alpha.
Any rash move would lead to his doom.
The man knew this, but he couldn’t suppress the intense, beautiful, yet cruel fantasy, feeling a familiar surge of heat.
But Nero was right in front of him.
The young man’s thigh, bound with a gun belt, was just half a fist away from his own leg; any slight movement would be immediately noticed.
Heidrich lowered his lashes, hiding the straightforward madness in his eyes, and focused all his attention on the cold ice pack.
“Your Majesty, the annihilated Star Pirates’ fleet included many high-ranking members from major groups.”
He methodically rubbed the waist dimple while calmly speaking.
“I am thoroughly investigating the light brains of over 500 main battleships and cracking their credit accounts, transferring the seized funds into the national treasury.”
Mentioning the treasury immediately caught Nero’s wandering red eyes, which fixed on the man’s blue eyes.
“How much?” Nero asked.
“Not a lot,” Heidrich replied, “an estimated 11.8 billion.”
This amount far exceeded what he had spent during his infiltration.
Nero’s lips curled in satisfaction, but then he remembered that such a huge sum likely came from the Star Pirates’ trafficking of countless people and drugs, and his red eyes darkened.
“The war in your territory isn’t over yet, is it?”
Nero asked, “I see you only brought two mecha divisions and a regiment. Is the main force still engaged with the sector lords?”
Heidrich: “Yes, Your Majesty. Although we temporarily changed the advance route, it won’t delay the war. When I return with this vanguard, we’ll arrive just in time for the Solson Star System campaign, allowing us to encircle the enemy.”
In terms of military tactics, Heidrich’s six-dimensional radar map provided by the Main System showed that he slightly outperformed Nero.
Initially, Nero found this a bit frustrating, but as the number of battles increased, he had to admit Heidrich’s exceptional command talents.
Nero wasn’t the type of ruler to be jealous of capable ministers. His smiling red eyes lowered, and he praised Heidrich with good spirits:
“You are always the General who brings me good news. I hope that under my command, the number of such stellar generals will increase. Otherwise, I fear I might rely on you too much.”
As soon as the young Emperor finished speaking, he felt Heidrich’s hand tighten around his waist.
Only then did he realize that the man’s actions were verging on disrespectful to the Emperor.
Nero narrowed his eyes dangerously, “Heidrich.”
Before he could say more, the other had already let go.
“If it is Your Majesty’s wish,” the dark-haired General said in a slightly hoarse voice, speaking completely against his true feelings, “then I too hope for it. May more generals, better than myself, join to serve Your Majesty and share your burdens.”
Aahhhhahaha it was going great for Heidrich until that last line 😂 Thank you for the updates~ my bedtime story~