Chapter 47
After the meal, they returned to the office. This time with Raijin—a precaution against whatever schemes he might devise if left alone in his room.
Matching his brother’s tottering pace at first, he soon swallowed a sigh and lifted him up. Though deeply embarrassed, this time Raijin didn’t ask to be put down. He seemed to have learned from his recent accident.
“Put your arms around my neck.”
At his words, arms so thin they felt like mere bundles of clothes wrapped around his neck and shoulders.
“Thank you.”
He placed his brother on the sofa in the sunniest spot of the office and began tackling his backlog of work. Documents had piled up over the past two days.
Ludwig suddenly looked up. His eyes met those watching from the sofa’s direction. That gaze, always following him as if craving affection, seemed to probe his empty mind. He wondered if Raijin had noticed his imperfect memory.
“Um, shall I help? There must be something I can do.”
“Resting is how you help.”
His curt response seemed to deflate his brother slightly.
But truly, no help was needed. Though work had accumulated, his efficiency was proportionally high. His condition was the best it had been since his memories began.
He reflected on the reason for this rare clarity of mind. After losing his memories, his mind seemed irreparably damaged—he couldn’t even sleep properly.
Each passing day compounded his fatigue, his unstable memories making his nerves increasingly raw. Even with the physician’s prescribed medicine, he would constantly wake mid-sleep. Those incurable nights of insomnia persisted.
But now he knew the solution to his affliction.
He had first found deep sleep while keeping his sick young brother nearby, listening to his breathing. During the three days Raijin was bedridden, he had slept soundly, and likely needed to continue this arrangement until he found an alternative or recovered.
How peculiar—a Duke sharing his bed with his grown brother, even if they were family.
If word got out, it would become prime gossip fodder. Even just sharing a bed, doing nothing more, would provide excellent material for embellishment.
The idle rich of Altria and the Empire would use it as entertainment during their social gatherings over tea or wine.
They would spread rumors that the sickly illegitimate child of the ducal family, who had never shown his face at social gatherings, was actually serving as the Duke’s consort. Someone would claim to have heard the sickly brother crying beneath his own brother every night in the Duke’s chambers.
Those who enjoyed adding to vulgar rumors would spread tales that Raijin’s absence from public view was because the Duke had made him his concubine. They would say that bringing home a 12-year-old illegitimate child had implied such intentions from the start.
***
The brief day soon crawled toward the horizon. A red but heatless sunset filtered through the frosted windows.
The Duke looked up at the sofa where Raijin sat. He had fallen asleep. The sunset light flickered across his face and body as he lay half-reclined on doubled cushions.
Duke Izatrix silently rose and approached Raijin. He reached out and placed his hand on his cheek, blocking the red light.
Though unmoved by footsteps, Raijin drowsily opened his eyes at the touch on his face. His unfocused eyes met his brother’s, then half-closed. He smiled reflexively upon recognizing who had approached.
He gazed at his young, sickly brother—who would die soon enough if left alone, yet whom he was destined to kill. Between the ghostly white complexion and pale whites of his eyes, those deep black pupils drew attention with their stark contrast.
Despite matching his pallid complexion, his straight nose and lips below were soft and well-shaped. He recalled pressing his lips completely against Raijin’s the previous night to help him breathe when he struggled. The sensation of their lips meeting, the hot breath…
Raijin raised his hand and gently laid it over his brother’s hand on his cheek.
“Brother.”
[Brother…]
He couldn’t distinguish whether the faint voice in his mind was from when Raijin had collapsed days ago or something else.
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