The Affairs of Those Noble Brothers Chapter 12

Suddenly, a warm breath touched the hand that was covering his mouth. Goosebumps rose all at once, and he shoved Tibane away. Then he stepped back a couple of paces. Tibane, slowly straightening his posture, and Logan both turned to look at Irodel, as if by prior arrangement.

Facing the two brothers—familiar yet unfamiliar—his arms broke out in goosebumps for no reason.

“Um, well…”

Was this how a herbivore felt standing before beasts of prey? They were just standing face to face, yet his heart pounded anxiously as if he were being threatened. There was nowhere to run, and he felt like he was just waiting to see which of them would devour him first. In that strange atmosphere of pressure, it was Logan who spoke first.

“You two seem to have gotten quite close.”

“Why, jealous? Can’t help it. We’re twins, after all.”

Logan and Tibane’s gazes clashed briefly. It was Logan who looked away first. Probably because of his subordinates, who were breaking out in cold sweat, unable to urge him further.

“Get some rest, Irodel. See you tomorrow.”

“Yes, yes!”

Irodel answered with a look of relief. Logan and his subordinates disappeared through the door one by one. The servants also ebbed away to their duties, and only Tibane and Irodel remained in the lobby.

Irodel let the tension drain from his shoulders, which had been stiff with nerves. Then he glared at Tibane. He had plenty to say about the Orbon kidnapping incident too, but the earlier events had sapped all his energy and now everything just felt tiresome. He told a passing servant to bring dinner to his room and started up the stairs, with that leech of a barbarian trailing beside him. Tibane was a ridiculous sight—his uniform unbuttoned, wearing the wide-brimmed hat Irodel had plopped on him.

“Why are you following me? Go away.”

“Don’t you know my room is upstairs too?”

“I don’t.”

“Of course you don’t. For your information, it’s the room right next to yours.”

It was that close all along? Unacceptable. I’ll have to move rooms starting tomorrow. He hurried up the stairs first and walked down the corridor. Though it was evening after sunset, the lamps made it as bright as midday. Here, once night fell, not only the corridors but even the untouched corners of the garden sparkled with oil-fed flames. It was a luxury seen nowhere except the Imperial Palace.

Irodel walked down the needlessly wide and long corridor and stopped. He’d been aware of Tibane matching his stride behind him the whole time, and it was bothering him.

“You go first.”

He said this as he turned around, and Tibane stared back with wide, startled eyes. His face clearly showed he hadn’t expected that at all.

“Why are you looking at me like that? It’s annoying having you follow behind me, so just go ahead.”

“You… that’s the first time you’ve ever looked back at me.”

So what? Frowning at the incomprehensible words, Tibane started snickering to himself.

“Well, whatever. There have to be days like this once in a while. Don’t wander off—just go straight to your room and behave.”

Tibane prattled on smugly and brushed past, patting Irodel’s head as he went ahead. What an ill-mannered bastard. Of all the things he could pat, daring to touch his older brother’s head. But by the time he could voice his complaint, Tibane had already strode off and disappeared from sight. For some reason, he felt frustrated. Irodel, with a sulky expression, kicked at the floor.

∞ ∞ ∞

It had been raining since morning. Perhaps because he’d fallen asleep with an excited heart, he woke up early. After finishing his meal, he said he was going to the Academy, and Tibane stuck his oar in, but what could someone like him possibly do about it? As always, he rode to the Academy in Tibane’s car. There was no conversation whatsoever. Tibane kept blabbering on beside him, but he ignored it. He’d been thinking lately that he’d been entertaining too much of his pointless chatter.

“The weather’s miserable too, so why do you insist on going out again? Why do you keep wanting to go to the Academy anyway? Did you hide something good there? It’s not like you’ve got someone you’re seeing, is it? Ah, that can’t be it, right? Because you can’t get it u—”

Irodel, gazing out the rain-streaked window, grabbed Tibane by the hair and yanked. He’d intended to ignore him to the end, but if he was going to say that out loud, it was a different story. There wasn’t just Tibane in the car—there was also the driver and a servant who had come along to attend to his umbrella.

“Watch your mouth.”

“If you want me to watch my mouth, you should look at me and ask nicely. And let go of my hair.”

Irodel slowly turned his head and glared at Tibane. Just like yesterday, and again today, he was grinning like a loose screw. Tibane always got angry. If that wasn’t enough, he’d get violent, and in the end, he’d resort to physical blows. And he’d be hurt by the words he himself had thrown. All of that had used to happen like a well-orchestrated barter, but these past few days he felt something had changed without his knowing. It was something he had never once wished for.

“Well. Go ahead and say whatever you want.”

Tibane jeered with a smirk, provoking him. Irodel still had a handful of Tibane’s hair. He seemed about to let go, but instead, he brought his lips close to Tibane’s ear. To look at him, you’d think his skin would be cold like his own, but Tibane ran hot. Irodel whispered into that ear, where he could faintly feel warmth, as if sharing a secret.

“Please watch your mouth.”

“What—”

“I can tolerate it when it’s aimed at me, but be careful in front of brother. If you act like you did yesterday again, I won’t let you off easy.”

“…”

In the brief silence, the car came to a smooth stop. They had arrived in front of the Academy. The servant sitting in the front seat hurried out and prepared an umbrella. Irodel slowly released Tibane and straightened up. As the car door opened and he was about to step out, Tibane gritted his teeth and muttered.

“Is that the only reason you haven’t even looked at me this whole time?”

“…”

“Ignoring everything I said too?”

That wasn’t really the reason, but so what? Irodel glanced briefly at Tibane and got out of the car. As his back receded, coarse curses scattered aimlessly behind him. Even on rainy days, beasts knew how to howl.

∞ ∞ ∞

The Academy felt unfamiliar, as if he hadn’t been there in a long time. Irodel told the servant to come pick him up before lunch and entered the lecture hall. Class hadn’t started yet, so there weren’t many people. He briefly reached into his bosom to confirm what he’d brought from the annex—Orbon’s poison. How should he return this, and with what words? Having never once said anything apologetic to anyone outside his family, he couldn’t think of anything to say. He’d just be brazen about it. If he said he’d taken it because he wanted it, what could they do?

Time passed, and students began to gather one by one. Some faces he’d seen last time and vaguely recognized appeared, but Orbon was nowhere to be seen. He wanted to get this over with quickly since he had to return it anyway. Had Orbon always been someone who came late? He’d never paid attention, so he didn’t know.

After a moment’s hesitation, Irodel approached the familiar group. As he drew nearer, the ones who had been whispering among themselves gradually fell silent. He vaguely recognized them from having seen them at the tavern once, but he couldn’t tell who was who. Irodel slowly scanned the young men, who looked visibly tense, and spoke.

“Where’s Orbon?”

“Ah…”

One of them tried to say something but was elbowed in the side and shut his mouth. A peculiar atmosphere flowed. Irodel glared at the one among them whose face he recognized best—the shaggy-haired guy who had explained the rules to him. Avoiding Irodel’s fixed stare, the man rolled his eyes anxiously before finally speaking.

“He, yesterday, he was taken away in an ambulance…”

“Taken away?”

He himself had seen Orbon being carried off by Tibane at the main gate yesterday, but surely that wasn’t what he meant. As Irodel tilted his head with a frown, the shaggy-haired one flinched.

“At the Academy’s main gate, he was collapsed, covered in, in blood. They took him to the hospital, so he probably won’t make it today…”

“What?”

He had no idea what this nonsense was. The Orbon he’d seen in front of the house yesterday had looked slightly gaunt, but he hadn’t been covered in blood. Did that mean that after being kidnapped by Tibane and released, he’d come to the Academy and met with some misfortune?

“…”