The grand fleet returning from the expedition to the territories began its majestic journey back to the Capital.
When the fleet was still a distant 10,000 light-years away from the Capital Star System, Heydrich, who was leading the fleet, announced that he was relinquishing all his military command.
Thus, as the Supreme Commander of this campaign and a general covered in glory, he simply boarded an unarmed shuttle, alone, and returned to the Capital from the fortress via warp jump.
Nero had kept his word.
He indeed prepared a grand celebration banquet for Heydrich, and with a serious tone, he extended an invitation to Grand Duke Harrison.
The heavy workload over the past few days, coupled with several bouts of induced madness, left Nero looking somewhat pale.
To avoid giving the nobles any leverage at the celebration banquet, he decided to take a day off before the event. He planned to soak in the rose-scented hot spring in his bedchamber and get enough sleep.
However, when he tried to get up, he found that he couldn’t summon his knight.
“Alexei?” Nero’s tone grew threatening, “If you don’t show up now, I’ll drain the water and flush myself away.”
His legs were disabled, and he relied on the White Wolf Knight for his daily needs.
As he grew older, for more private occasions like bathing and toileting, the White Wolf Knight would carefully place him on a special seat and wait outside until he finished, then come in to help him clean and dress.
But since returning from the Temple, Nero had noticed a subtle change in the White Wolf Knight—though he couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was.
If he had to describe it, it seemed the knight’s avoidance of private moments had increased.
Several times, when helping the young Emperor dress after a bath, Nero noticed that he had secretly turned off his eye lights, which explained the messily tied bathrobe sash.
After hearing Nero’s threat, the knight, who had been standing stiffly behind the rose-covered wall, finally came over hesitantly.
Nero squinted his eyes in the steam, observing.
Sure enough, the White Wolf Knight’s eye lights were off again.
The young Emperor deliberately remained silent, watching as the knight cautiously groped his way to the edge of the pool and then fell in with a ‘thud.’
“Clumsy wolf!”
Nero couldn’t help but laugh and curse.
The White Wolf Knight struggled in the water for a long time, finally having to reactivate his eye lights to stand up in the waist-deep hot spring.
Although the Wolf Knight armor was well-sealed and wouldn’t let water in, the knight’s cape and the fur on his helmet were soaked, making him look like a drenched large dog.
The first thing he did upon getting up was look for his little master.
However, when his gaze fell on the figure in the steaming bath, his shoulders and back instantly stiffened, and the wolf ears on his helmet stood straight up.
“Your Highness…” The White Wolf Knight stammered, “Please, spare me.”
“Spare you?”
Nero, both annoyed and amused, pushed his wet silver hair back from his forehead, revealing his still-dripping, stunning features.
“You left me to soak in the hot spring until I almost dissolved, and now you’re asking me to spare you? Are you accusing the Emperor of bullying you on purpose?”
“No, no, Your Majesty… I will carry you out immediately.”
The White Wolf Knight hurried to the pool’s edge, spread out a thick, plush bath towel, and then wrapped his arms around the young Emperor’s waist, lifting him out and placing him on the towel.
But he almost immediately regretted it.
Nero, focused on drying his hair with the bath towel, made no effort to cover himself.
His skin was snow-white and glistening, covered in many crimson rose petals. The dripping water gradually washed them away, finally gathering between his crossed legs, barely concealing his private parts.
The dim yellow scented candles around the bath cast a flickering light on the silver-haired Emperor, making the scene look like an ancient Earth Olympus god bathing—a blend of ultimate beauty and an untouchable innocence.
“Pfft.”
The White Wolf Knight’s eye lights went out again.
Nero: “…Your eye lights have an extremely high malfunction rate.”
White Wolf Knight: “It’s not exactly a malfunction… but not entirely without fault either…”
“Do they or don’t they?”
Seeing him still fumbling on the bank, Nero sighed and handed a corner of the bath towel to him.
The knight immediately grabbed the towel and swiftly wrapped the young Emperor in it. Only when the last bit of white skin was hidden did the knight’s eye lights stop malfunctioning.
“Your Majesty, will you go to the study tonight?”
“No. To the bedroom.”
Nero buried half his face in the large bath towel, stifling a yawn.
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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As he gradually regained control, the amount of political affairs he had to handle naturally increased.
“I’m just going to bed at nine tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll continue working…”
Nero murmured to himself, covering another yawn.
The knight looked down at him and responded gently, “Very well, Your Majesty.”
The cool night wind blew outside the bath, and the White Wolf Knight wrapped the thick bath towel tighter around the young Emperor, holding him more securely.
He walked up to the bedchamber and returned to the bedroom, just about to place the Emperor on the soft, large bed.
As Nero’s fingertips brushed against the back of the knight’s neck, the heavy wolf armor immediately transformed into metallic particles, flowing away like a tide.
“Your Majesty…”
The knight hadn’t reacted yet when the Emperor had already stripped off his armor.
The soaked white cloak dropped to the ground with a splash.
“When I say I need a good rest, you should automatically get into bed.”
Nero, as usual, hooked his fingers into the knight’s collar, but despite pulling for a long time, the knight stood like a statue, not moving an inch.
…Was this still the guy who used to jump into his bed at every opportunity?
Nero looked up at the White Wolf Knight in confusion, noticing that his normally handsome face was now flushed red, even the scar across his brow glowing.
“…Your Majesty, I… I believe you are close to differentiating and will soon become an adult Alpha. According to royal protocol, I… I shouldn’t… I can’t…”
“You can’t?” Nero sounded like he had heard the funniest joke, “I am the Supreme Emperor of the Galactic Empire, and you are my Chief Wolf Knight. I don’t think I need to revise any royal protocols just because I want my childhood friend to sleep with me!”
The White Wolf Knight, hands clasped behind his back like a schoolboy, was sweating profusely, but his gaze kept drifting to Nero’s robe sash.
The sash was loosely tied, but it still cinched his remarkably slender waist.
Yes… he knew his little master had a very beautiful waistline. Especially when that waist was covered in a fine sheen of sweat, trembling like a cat’s arching back…
Damn! Damn it! Damn it, White Wolf!
The knight fell to his knees with a ‘thump.’
“Your Majesty, please forgive my sin. I… I can’t, Your Majesty, I can’t continue like this…! It’s an evil desecration against you and the suffering you’ve endured!”
Nero was initially startled.
After hearing his words, he stared at him silently for a while.
“So, sharing a bed with me is something you need to repent for?”
After a long pause, the young Emperor coldly said, “Alexei, I have always said that in this entire Empire, you are the one person I would never force. If you don’t want to, then so be it. I won’t trouble you anymore.”
The knight looked up sharply. “Your Majesty! No, that’s not—”
“Poof!” A large pillow hit his face, cutting him off.
He hurriedly grabbed the pillow, trying to explain, but saw the young Emperor turn his back to him, clearly unwilling to speak further.
The knight stood there awkwardly, holding the pillow.
He reached out, trying to touch his little master’s shoulder, when the communication signal from the Imperial Science Bureau suddenly interrupted.
The Asimov Collar Decryption Team had priority access granted by him, and a request for an audience signaled a major breakthrough.
“Speak.”
Nero immediately forgot his plans for rest, activating the screen. The knight had already fetched a robe, and Nero extended his arms to let him drape it over him.
“Your Majesty!” The Minister of National Defense and Technology on the screen appeared excited, “The Asimov Collar has been decrypted!”
Nero’s red eyes lit up.
“Details?”
“It was the reward you authorized on the Star Network, Your Majesty! Since the talent recruitment plan began, we received tens of thousands of collar decryption proposals. We’ve been running simulations, and just now, we found that one anonymous submission has a decryption success rate of over 80%!”
What followed was an hour and a half of technical explanation. The Asimov Collar, one of the pinnacle inventions of the Hiram era, was nearly an unsolvable neuro-destructive implant.
However, the Minister described a proposal where the submitter creatively utilized the Empire’s top biological, medical, and nanomechanical technologies to propose a feasible method to remove the Asimov Colar neural implant with minimal brain damage.
Nero had always been interested in theoretical science, but he wasn’t a professional scientist. While he struggled to keep up with the enthusiastic Minister’s jargon, he did not interrupt him.
He quietly listened, carefully evaluating the experimental process and success rate. Finally, the silver-haired Emperor gave his minister a clear directive:
“Sir, continue to optimize this proposal. Only when the experimental success rate stabilizes at 95% or higher can it be applied to human trials on Asaga.”
“As you command, Your Majesty!”
Nero then opened another screen to contact the Wolf Knight in charge of intelligence: “Investigate the detailed background of the proposal submitter. Check for any criminal records or offenses. If his background is clean, send a private ship to bring him to the Imperial Science Bureau immediately.”
“As you command, Your Majesty.”
This was indeed exhilarating news.
The breakthrough of the Asimov Collar technology not only promised to rescue Asaga and the gladiators but also implied a severe blow to the rampant human trafficking during the rebellion.
Subsequent research on collar technology would also greatly benefit other fields in the Empire.
The more Nero thought about it, the less he could sleep, forgetting even his earlier anger at the White Wolf Knight.
Unable to pace the room due to his disability, he grabbed the knight’s ear, playing with it impatiently.
The knight remained silent, obediently resting his head on Nero’s lap, letting his master play with his wolf ears.
In his heart, he prayed incessantly that his young master would forget the earlier unpleasantness and reconcile with him.
“Any findings?” Nero, growing impatient, urged the knight again, “I want this person in my Science Bureau. Even if he has a criminal record, bring him here. He can work for me in the tribunal’s dungeon.”
“Your Majesty, please be patient.” The knight, sensing his urgency, accelerated his search, “As long as he’s within the Empire’s domain—no, as long as he exists, we will bring him to you.”
But after waiting an entire night and another day, the screen only displayed the crestfallen Wolf Knights.
“… We deeply apologize, Your Majesty.”
The knights exchanged uneasy glances before one of them finally spoke: “We… we seem unable to locate him.”
Nero was slightly taken aback.
“Unable to locate? The Empire’s Star Network is built by the Kaises Royal Family, with root servers and quantum databases in the Capital. How can we not trace his origin through the Star Network?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. By design, anyone logged into the Star Network leaves a permanent trace in the personal AI. It’s impossible to completely erase… unless…”
“Unless?”
“Unless it’s someone with a Kaises DNA key.”
“Absolutely impossible.”
Nero declared firmly.
The DNA key was a secondary biometric identifier for imperial citizens, besides the AI ID.
Comparable to ancient Earth’s fingerprints or DNA samples, it had even stricter standards, requiring extraction from a living subject.
This meant that after the horrific Solar Palace Coup, only Nero could possibly possess the Kaises DNA key.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” The knight bowed to him, “We still have one more chance: when this person claims the reward. Then we can trace him.”
Nero nodded, issuing the decree to release the reward, specifying the anonymous submitter as the recipient.
For some reason, Nero felt uneasy during official duties, unable to focus.
He frowned and reopened The Passion of the Saint.
Convinced that this book foretold the Empire’s fate, he had read it dozens of times.
The problem was, the story in The Passion of the Saint began much later than the present, with most of the narrative focusing on the Saint. Finding the information he sought in the vast ocean of explicit scenes was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
However, on his thirtieth reading, Nero caught a significant detail.
[…
“If not for me, you would still be a shackled gladiator slave.”
Yestin gazed down at the brown-skinned man from the ship.
After the Empire’s fall, life had been difficult for them all. But he knew Asaga, tormented by the aftereffects, would be the first to succumb.
“No need to point the gun at me, Asaga. It’s been four years since we last met.”
He smiled, revealing sharp canines, seemingly amused.
Yet the gaze behind his monocle was cold.
“Since the day you forcibly dismantled the berserk crimson mecha and dragged Nero out of the cockpit—”
“—Get lost.”
Asaga’s golden eyes flared, a storm of anger within them, “Get lost now.”]
… “Yestin…”
Nero muttered unconsciously. Yestin was the name of the yet-to-appear fourth protagonist.
According to the System, this person was the Prime Minister of the Galactic Empire before its dissolution.
But what did ‘if not for me’ mean?
Nero began to reexamine all the scenes involving Yestin.
This character seemed less favored by the author, more like a side character.
Even in non-explicit scenes, his interactions with the Saint were less frequent compared to Heidrich, the White Wolf Knight, and Asaga.
After the Empire’s fall, he didn’t establish his own territory like the other main characters but instead formed a massive mobile fleet, wandering between the old imperial territories, Zergs, and Star Pirates.
His appearances mostly involved rescuing old allies and the Saint, and he always succeeded.
Third-party perspectives described him as ‘a new type of fleet never before seen in human history…’
When encountering the Star Pirates, it was described as: ‘We’ve been heavily hit by elite Zergs! Wait, no… that’s a human fleet!’
When the Holy Son boarded Yestin’s massive flagship, the background description was: ‘The Noah’s Ark felt very different from any other place he had visited before. Inside, it was like a gigantic hollowed-out cyber-planet filled with high-tech buildings he didn’t recognize. An old soldier in an imperial uniform approached, clearly severely injured in battle, with two-thirds of his body mechanized, yet looking remarkably cool.’
[System,] Nero said, [does Yestin have any hidden settings?]
He called the System twice before remembering it had been forcibly deactivated.
He didn’t want to reveal any weaknesses in front of the System, so he usually had it in standby mode during non-essential times.
However, since the System often complained about being bored during standby, Nero had adjusted its settings: it could stay active, play games, or watch shows in his mind, while continuously monitoring his brainwaves but unable to receive external information.
He explained to the System that he valued privacy, and it quickly understood: [No problem, Host. But don’t get too carried away with your tyrant role. If you get poisoned by an Omega or get beheaded prematurely, that would also count as mission failure.]
Nero: [System, deactivate the block.]
Immediately, a rousing battle anthem sounded in Nero’s mind.
He was somewhat speechless. If he wasn’t mistaken, this was from the currently popular melodrama ‘The Temptation to Return to Earth,’ which he occasionally saw Mimir and Eva watching together.
Nero: [System.]
The System seemed to be sending a voice message to someone, sounding like a stressed middle-aged office worker: [Ugh, this Class B Team, might as well skip it! Standing by for the host 24/7, the Main System just keeps making empty promises. No rewards whatsoever, and if the performance isn’t met, they threaten destruction! No one’s job is as miserable as ours!]
Nero: [System, I can hear you.]
System: […]
The System’s tone instantly turned sweet: [Host, dear, I’m here! What’s the matter?]
Nero: [Does Yestin have any hidden settings? Besides his role as the Prime Minister?]
System: [Who’s Yestin? Oh, the mission target! Let me check.]
After a series of flipping pages, the System’s uncertain voice came through: [Well… I’m not entirely sure, but it seems that besides his full political buff, Yestin has a ‘tech genius’ hidden attribute too?]
[The main text doesn’t mention it, and the author’s notes don’t cover it, but during the chaotic dark period after the Empire’s collapse, he used his ‘Noah’s Ark’ to rescue imperial civilians. He was also the first to find a way to deal with the Zerg in that context…]
Nero didn’t interrupt, only pausing the light screen tapping with his finger.
System: [Yestin is an added character by the author, you know, the kind introduced when the main couples have friction or conflict. Readers demand some angst for the main characters, so a handsome character like Yestin appears, suddenly whisking away the main love interest, leaving the original lovers gnashing their teeth. That’s his role.]
Nero suddenly asked: [Could he be connected to the Kaises Family?]
System, puzzled: [Why do you ask, Host? Is it mentioned in the book?]
Nero: [No.]
System: [Then that’s unlikely. Yestin is probably the most mysterious character in the original work, mainly because the popularity of the Marshal and the White Wolf Knight was so high, and their character development was so rich, the author didn’t bother to elaborate on Yestin’s background.]
[But as one of the main love interests, the White-haired Fox is, of course, extremely good-looking and has a bit of a bad boy charm. Readers who like suave villains would really like him.]
Nero softly: [White-haired Fox?]
System: [A nickname from readers because he also has white hair. But the exact reason for it, I don’t know.]
Nero didn’t say anything more, only checked the Wolf Knights’ communication channel again.
Still no response.
Heidrich’s celebration banquet was about to begin.
Finally, Nero looked away and said calmly to the White Wolf Knight, “Let’s go.”
…
Thank you for the chapters!! This story is so much fun haha
Thank you for the chapter~ wow he’s gotta be related or close, white hair 🤔
im ngl, i have the hardest time picturing the wolf knight armor ( ꩜ ᯅ ꩜;)
HAHAHAHAHAHAH SAME
The 4th ML could be an incest? 💀