I decided to post Chapter 21 today on a whim. Well, let’s just say it’s a bonus chapter. 😉 As for those from NU website who are currently reading this chapter, no worries ppl! I’m still the same translator, Hana, previously under Blossom Translation. From now on, all my translations will be posted on CG 🙌
Enjoy reading this!
It was uncomfortable to see a tough general like him break down and cry like a maiden. Noah gently patted Kiehland’s shoulder and said quietly, “Don’t cry anymore. You’ve become even more tearful since you turned a hundred years old.”
“Isn’t it because Noah-sama keeps doing things that makes me worried?”
Kiehland’s subordinate, who was standing behind him, quickly offered the crying old man a handkerchief, as if this was a common sight. Kiehland took the handkerchief and pressed it against his nose, blowing it loudly.
He then said, “I asked you to stay hidden, but how could you come out with such threats like that? All of us in the castle are willing to die for the king. Because our lives are for the king.”
Noah lowered his brows, somewhat saddened by Kiehland’s blind devotion. He looked down as if he were a lost child. “I, it’s not like that…,” Noah hunched his back, as if carrying a heavy burden on his shoulders. Yuichiro opened his mouth unconsciously after noticing Noah’s small back shrinking.
Noah raised his face in surprise when Yuichiro called him. It was, after all, the first time Yuichiro had called out his own name in public. Noah locked his gaze on Yuichiro. As Yuichiro returned his gaze, his face gradually flushed. His non-swollen cheek turned pink from the bruise.
In a panic, Kiehland exclaimed, “Noah-sama, did you have a fever as a result of your injuries?”
“—N-No!” Noah retorted sulkily, like a rebellious child. He then approached Yuichiro, his face still flushed red, and said, “T-thank you,… for that time…”
In response to Noah’s words of gratitude, Yuichiro tilted his head slightly. Yuichiro was curious as to what Noah was thanking him for. When Gadelman was about to kill Noah, it should have been Izrael, not him, who saved Noah in the end.
“What are you…” just as he was about to ask, a single cry broke out from the crowd.
“Long live King Noah!”
Once the cry was raised, it quickly spread throughout the surrounding area.
“Victory to the ‘Rightful King’!”
“Glory to King Noah and Goddess, and to Jeweld!”
In the midst of his own people’s cheers, Noah’s gaze wandered in confusion. So, in search of reassurance, he tried to grab Yuichiro’s hand. But, before he could do so, Kiehland had already lifted his body onto his shoulders.
“Noah-sama, please wave to everyone.” Kiehland, who had been crying moments before, smiled broadly and marched toward the castle, Noah on his shoulders. Noah waved his hand at the crowd, depressed.
“Such a pity,” Yuichiro thought to himself as he watched Noah’s figure walk away. Although the young man desired to abdicate the throne, he was unable to do so.
“Excellent work, Captain Ogami.”
Goat and Temeraire were already by his side, unbeknownst to Yuichiro. Goat smiled and looked at him, saying, “Ah~ I’m really tired.”
Temeraire, on the other hand, interjected astutely, saying, “I’ll have them prepare a meal for you, and then you can take a bath.”
Yuichiro nodded, then turned his gaze to Goat. “What happened to the surrendered soldiers?”
“As Goddess-sama instructed, I didn’t kill anyone,” Goat said, mockingly.
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.
In a way, Yuichiro was unquestionably a goddess during his speech earlier even though he was just a middle-aged man in reality. He scrunched up the bridge of his nose at the thought.
“Don’t imprison them. Make sure your subordinates treat them in the same manner as they would treat their own men.”
“I understand, I’ll do as you’ve told,” Goat lightly bowed his head. Yuichiro then added while looking at Goat’s whorl, “I’m sorry. Nikolai has escaped. Not only him but also the 2nd prince.”
Goat’s reacted by having a still smile hanging on his face, and continued in a tranquil voice, “I don’t mind. I’ll get another chance eventually,” his smile deepened even more. At the same time, Goat’s unconcealed obsession was visible deep within his eyes. It was so dark and bottomless that Yuichiro couldn’t even tell how deep it was. Afterward, Yuichiro stealthily averted his eyes from Goat, and walked away. On the way to the castle, he talked leisurely to the man beside him, “You’ve captured Gadelman, didn’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Let him spit out all the names of those traitors. Just tell him that for every name he gives, we will spare one of his relatives who is scheduled to be executed. If he decides to give a false name, let him know that we’ll cut off his limb one by one.”
“If that’s what you want to do, I’ll delegate that to Luca.”
In the corner of Yuichiro’s mind, Yuichiro could picture the medic’s gentle smiling face. He wondered if a man with such a gentle face was capable of torturing people.
“Great,” Yuichiro unexpectedly slipped. Unknowingly, he was already smiling by himself.
“What will you do once we’ve finished making him spit out all the names?” Goat grinned along with Yuichiro.
Yuichiro whistled, “Send their heads flying. All of them.”
This would be Yuichiro’s first decision—all the traitors will be executed. Goat chuckled at Yuichiro’s joyful voice, as if unable to wait for that moment. Temeraire, who stood beside them, muttered dismissively, “This leaves me in a bad taste.”
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Yuichiro collapsed onto his room’s bed after a long bath and dinner, sinking down his body. He buried his face in the sheets and breathed heavily while lying face down. The clean sheets smelled fresh and soft, like the sun. As he took a deep breath, he noticed the scent of gunpowder and blood that he had been smelling fade away from his body.
As the strength drained from his body, his soul sank deeper and deeper into his bed. He vaguely followed the floating, gravity sensation, resulting in the pitch-black sleep.
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It was that dream again.
“Why?! Why did you abandon me? Why did you let me do it!?” Yuichiro cried, yelling, and instantly jumped on the man that had fallen to the ground, beating him with all his might.
Similar to his previous dream, the man that he was currently beating this time around also looked like Oz, who was torn to shreds by hand grenades but in fact, the beaten man was actually a middle-aged man in his late forties. The man was Second Lieutenant Shirai, who had been Yuichiro’s superior.
“Ogami-san! Please calm down!” Akishima, a subordinate was approaching Yuichiro to stop him. Yuichiro’s subordinate, Akishima, was an honest man whom he had trained since the man enlisted. The man had been on several missions with Yuichiro and had even volunteered to be assigned to another country, saying, “Only if Ogami-san going.”
However, before Akishima could grab Yuichiro’s arms, Yuichiro turned his shoulder and slammed his fist into his subordinate’s stomach. The latter backed away, grunting in pain. Yuichiro continued to beat Shirai’s face, which overlapped with Oz’s face, with both hands without even looking at Akishima’s figure.
“Why didn’t you let me know! If I had known, if I had known… I…”
What difference would it make if he had known? Would someone else be willing to fulfill the role instead of him? Would his wife and daughter have survived? Would they have not met such a cruel end?
Yuichiro’s tears flowed like a waterfall, unable to stop. His vision blurred, his voice muffled in between sobs, and his whole body trembled as if he were having a seizure. Shirai groaned, his face swollen, “I, I had no choice. I had no choice but to order you to do it. It was for your sake that I didn’t inform you…”
Yuichiro’s throat let out an agonizing scream. He immediately raised his right arm and slammed down with all his might on Shirai’s face. Shirai’s teeth broke and scattered into the air, splattering blood. Yuichiro could no longer feel his fists. His entire being was consumed by grief and rage.
“Please stop it, Ogami-san!” From behind, Akishima pinned Yuichiro down. Despite being dragged away from Shirai, Yuichiro’s limbs flailed wildly, like a child throwing a tantrum. He then cried, “Aiko! Mana!” referring to his wife and daughter. A wail of inexpressible grief poured out from his throat uncontrollably.
“Why, why, why, why!!! How?!!!”
No matter how many times Yuichiro repeated these words, he could never go back to the past. His voice eventually became hoarse and faded away in helplessness. His heart, on the other hand, sank deeper into unstoppable despair that will never be repaired.
After that, Yuichiro muttered to Shirai, who was lying on the ground with Akishima pinning his own body down, “Is money more valuable than life?”
[Were the lives of my wife and daughter insignificant? Is that why they abandoned us?]
Shirai’s mouth remained silent, and he awkwardly averted his gaze from Yuichiro. Yuichiro’s hatred flared up again when he saw Shirai’s reaction. He then bent his body to its extreme, and with the gained momentum, he slammed the back of his head against Akishima’s face.
Akishima let out a dull scream. When Yuichiro’s arms were freed from the man’s grasp, he struck Shirai again, causing a flurry of other members to rush in through the open door. Yuichiro had no recollection of what happened after that.
In addition to attacking Shirai, he fought with other members who were attempting to restrain him and lost consciousness in the midst of the brawl. After that day, Yuichiro realized that there is no God in this world.
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Yuichiro awoke to the feeling of his shoulder being gently shaken. He opened his eyes and felt a warm drop of water run down the corner of his eyes. His cheeks were soaked as if it had rained. He blinked a few times in his blurry vision until he noticed a figure shaking his shoulders. Noah, with a worried expression on his face, grabbed his shoulders.
“Are you all right?”
“What is it?” Yuichiro asked, slightly opening his lips in response to the worried voice. He was so thirsty that a croaky voice came out of his mouth.
“You were having nightmares and crying.”
Later, Yuichiro wiped the tears on his cheeks with the back of his hand, while eyeing sideways at Noah who was agitated.
“This, is not a big deal.”
“Not a big deal, you say.”
“More importantly, why are you here?”
He noticed that the door to his room was closed and that no one could hear him unless he screamed. Given this, Yuichiro reasoned that Noah had entered his room for a reason. When he questioned Noah, however, the young man became visibly upset.
Noah stiffened his body and mumbled inaudibly, “I’m just wondering how you’re doing.”
“As you can see, I’ve been sleeping. I’ve not been able to sleep properly since I came to this world.”
Yuichiro said this as if accusing Noah of waking him up, and the young man immediately looked as if he was about to cry.
“—I’m sorry… I’ll leave,” Noah spoke dejectedly as he rose from the bed. As the person was about to leave, Yuichiro unconsciously grabbed Noah’s arm. Noah blinked in surprise and looked at Yuichiro’s hand, which was grabbing his arm. Yuichiro, on the other hand, was taken aback by his own actions. Why was he keeping Noah here if he didn’t want to see the face of a timid, annoying kid? Yuichiro pondered.
Yuichiro, stunned by his own inexplicable behavior, opened his lips thinly, “Why did you say, ‘thank you’ to me just now?” His lips were naturally leaking out the question. Noah’s words of gratitude had left Yuichiro perplexed. As a result, the question lingered in his mind.
After Yuichiro asked, Noah choked on his words for a moment. “You might say otherwise, but that’s what I really think…” he said slowly as his throat rose and fell.
“Think of what?”
Noah’s cheeks flushed with neither shame nor anger in response to Yuichiro’s persistent question. Instead, his eyes that were averting from Yuichiro’s gaze, looked somewhat troubled. “At that time, you were going to die with me,” he said quietly, biting his lower lip loosely.
Yuichiro immediately caught his breath. He took a deep breath and looked into Noah’s slightly moist eyes. Noah must have been referring to when Gadelman pointed a gun to his head.
“That’s why I was happy. Since I thought that I wouldn’t die alone.”
Later, Noah sighed. Yuichiro could feel the man’s breath trembling. Within that moment, Yuichiro felt compelled by Noah. As a result, he pulled Noah’s hand which he was grabbing previously with great force. Noah’s small figure rolled onto the bed with ease. From above, Yuichiro gazed down at Noah who was perplexed at his current situation.
“Are you afraid of dying alone?”
When Yuichiro inquired, Noah narrowed his eyes wistfully and said, “It’s scary.”
“Is it all right for an old man like me to die alongside you?” Yuichiro had no intention of mocking him; instead, he was genuinely curious. When he looked directly into Noah’s eyes, the man returned his gaze by looking straight into his. The man’s blue eyes, which reflected his own face, were engulfing him.
“…Yes,” Noah muttered, as he exhaled. The voice that escaped lingered with a sweet, raspy sensation that made Yuichiro’s skin crawl. Yuichiro averted his gaze as he felt his skin tingle strangely. He then stepped back and rolled onto his back on the bed, away from Noah. Noah, on the other hand, leaned in closer, snuggling up to Yuichiro’s left side.
“Hey, turn around,” Noah said, as he grabbed Yuichiro’s left arm, coercing him. Yuichiro turned his face toward Noah reluctantly, not hiding his displeasure with the situation. Despite the fact that Noah had forced him to look in his direction when Yuichiro met his gaze, he looked down, embarrassed.
Yuichiro remained silent while observing Noah’s white cloth on his cheek. Noah’s body jerked slightly as he extended his hand and touched it.
“Does it hurt?”
Noah shook his head from left to right, “It doesn’t hurt now,” answering Yuichiro’s question.
“Was this the first time you’ve been beaten?”
After hearing Yuichiro’s words, Noah’s mouth drooped. He muttered, “That’s not true,” with a slightly conflicted expression, revealing a glimpse of his past. The tone of his voice sounded aggrieved at the abhorrent memories. Noah’s bitter-laden voice gave Yuichiro the impression that it didn’t match Noah’s young age.
“Were you beaten by your brothers?”
According to what Yuichiro has learned thus far, Noah was never loved by his two elder brothers, but rather shunned and despised by them. Noah’s face contorted in pain as he heard this.
“I’ve never cared about getting hit by my brothers.”
“Then, were you beaten by someone who wasn’t your brother?”
Noah’s breathing came to a halt as a result of Yuichiro’s direct question. Later, Noah closed his eyes tightly, his eyelids trembling slightly. He seemed to believe that if he closed his eyes, the dreadful memories would vanish.
[Foolish child,] Yuichiro thought.
Whether he closed his eyes or covered his ears, neither the past nor reality could be changed. The only thing he could do was feeling devastated and felt insurmountable grief over what happened. Without saying aloud, Yuichiro murmured these thoughts to himself and slid his palm against Noah’s cheek, caressing his closed eyelids. A faint tremor was transmitted to his fingertips.
“Noah.”
Yuichiro called him in a whisper. The man eventually opened his eyes and looked him in the eyes. Despite his youth, Noah had a very well-proportioned face. It was easy for Yuichiro to imagine Noah growing up to be a beautiful man, albeit slightly different from Temeraire.
Yuichiro believed that when he returned to his own world one day, Noah would surely marry a beautiful princess, and had a child that looked like just the couple. That seemed to be the outcome for a man like Noah, who was a timid, yet pitiful child.
However—
“Yuichiro.”
It would be best for Noah not to stare at an old man like himself with a burning gaze along with a raspy voice, Yuichiro concluded. Noah’s longing gaze filled him with an inexplicable sense of wonder, and as Yuichiro became entangled in his own thoughts, he noticed something soft touching his lips.
It turned out, that Noah’s face was already so close to him, almost to the point of their noses touching each other. Yuichiro vaguely felt, a light, moisture-laden breath sneaking in through the gap between their overlapping lips. After a brief moment of kissing, Noah gently pulled his lips away from Yuichiro. Noah, gazed at Yuichiro intently, as if to discern whether or not the man was in a good mood.
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Translator’s Notes
Next chapter will be full of snu-snu scenes. And…. since the scenes are too long (more than 3k words), I had to split them into two parts in the end. But, no worries! I’ll post both of the parts on the same day, on next Monday. Don’t wanna abrupt ur enjoyment reading those scenes after all. 😎
Oh yeah, just a heads up for u ppl, Chapter 22 also marks the end of 2nd arc.
q/r: Po sbe’gf lcafgfrafv lc gfjvlcu jtfjv, atf jvnjcmfv mtjqafgr jgf jnjlijyif bc ws Bb-ol qjuf.
This novel is unusual but really fascinating… Thank you for the translation!
+1 agreed
+1 too!!
urwc ☺️☺️☺️
+1 yup
oh my..snu snuu
thanks for the chapter!