The Affairs of Those Noble Brothers Chapter 8

Irodel was drifting across the vast ocean atop a massive meteorite. He could go anywhere he wanted. He stopped by the beautiful capital city where the imperial palace was located, and even went to the Shelton coast, which had been noisy lately due to pirate activity, and crushed pirate ships beneath him. When he got tired, he’d hole up on a deserted island, and when he got bored, he’d ride the meteorite out again. Had he ever felt such joy in his life? Even the sea breeze, which had always been unpleasant, felt incredibly refreshing.

That was when it happened. Suddenly, the sky grew dark, and a bolt of lightning struck—CRASH!

“Hey, wake up!”

Before the lightning could split the meteorite, Irodel started awake in surprise. The massive meteorite he’d been riding and the blue ocean were nowhere to be seen—his own face came into view. Was it a dream? Irodel closed his eyes again.

“Why are you closing your eyes again? I said wake up!”

Tibane grabbed Irodel, who was trying to slip back into dreamland, and hauled him upright. Irodel, unable to grasp the situation, sat there blankly for a moment, then lifted his head and stared fixedly at Tibane. His gaze was unusually gentle and naive. Just as Tibane flinched in surprise, a familiar shriek burst out.

“Why are you in my room! Get out!”

“You again… haven’t changed a bit. That’s the first thing out of your mouth as soon as you open your eyes?”

“Get out of my sight, you lightning bolt bastard! You split my meteorite!”

“What are you talking about? If you’re awake, just get up! I heard you haven’t eaten.”

“What business is it of yours!”

Gentle and naive, my foot… It was the same old, hysterical, looped conversation as always. Tibane, now too annoyed to exchange any more words, forcibly lifted Irodel and dragged him along. Servants passing through the hallway saw the two of them, were shocked, and bowed their heads. Irodel, being dragged along without understanding what was happening, belatedly checked his attire and stopped in his tracks. Well, he tried to stop, but he kept being dragged.

“Let go! Let go!”

“You need to eat. Just come quietly.”

“I haven’t even changed my clothes—how can I eat like this!”

“You’re not going anywhere, so what does it matter? Better to just stay put at home like this than wander around uselessly.”

Irodel could confidently assert that he had never once in his life wandered around uselessly. And outside, he always strived to be at least somewhat perfect, always presentable so as not to look lacking. He’d never even walked around like this in pajamas inside the house. It was clear that Tibane, that savage, was deliberately trying to ruin him.

Upon arriving at the dining room, Tibane forced Irodel into a seat. Irodel tried to spring up like a coiled spring, but met a servant holding a blanket to drape over his shoulders and settled back down. There were too many eyes watching.

“I heard you only slept without eating, so I thought you might be sick, but it turns out you can’t even eat unless someone feeds you?”

“Why are you pretending you’re any different? You’re the same!”

Though he was a savage bastard, he was still a member of House Lockperth. Like himself, there was no aspect of his life—from grooming to bathing, eating, and preparing to go out—that wasn’t touched by servants’ hands. It was obvious he’d never even put a biscuit on a plate, let alone cooked.

“Still better than someone who doesn’t even notice time passing because they’re asleep. Hey, bring something soft that even a drunkard can eat, and hurry up.”

So all he could do was give orders? Of course. Irodel snorted.

“I can do that too.”

“If you can, then use it. Don’t just hole up in your room like a depressed old man.”

It wasn’t that he was holed up because he was depressed. He was tired from drinking yesterday, and he had nothing to do today. Of course, he could have gone to the academy or spent time in the newly built lab, but he cleanly ignored those possibilities.

A short while later, plates of warm corn soup, soft bread, and fruit were placed before Irodel and Tibane. Cherries and mangoes seemed to be appearing a lot today. As if spellbound, Irodel plucked the stems from the cherries and nibbled at them before starting to eat the corn soup. Tibane chuckled at the sight. His attitude said it was funny how he’d been kicking up such a fuss but quieted down when it came to eating. It was irritating, but once he tasted the food, his brain recognized his hunger and demanded more. If nothing else, it was important to obey the brain’s commands.

“When you’re done eating, let’s go for a walk. Even if you’re at home, you need to move your body.”

He had thought about taking a walk. But he had no intention of doing it with Tibane. Finishing his meal without a reply, Irodel abruptly stood up and went outside without waiting for Tibane. Since it was late, there were no servants wandering around outside, but there would be escort personnel stationed in unseen places. So it was safe—and so it was suffocating.

Should he just go outside? Go out and drink and play with those noisy, thoughtless guys like yesterday. Play games all night, stagger awake at dawn, go to the academy, and fall asleep to the professor’s voice as a lullaby. There were plenty of guys like that, as numerous as the stars in the night sky. So why couldn’t he do the same?

He knew the reasons, actually. The first was that he was uselessly high-born, and the second was that he was currently dressed only in pajamas with a blanket thrown over them.

After staring fixedly at the main gate for a long while, Irodel sighed and turned around. And he was a little startled. Like a leech, Tibane had followed him again at some point and was glaring at him from right behind.

“Do you want to leave the house that badly?”

None of your business. He was sick even of that phrase, which had become stuck in his mouth, so he ignored it and started walking. But before he’d taken a few steps, his arm was grabbed and he was dragged along. The savage’s tyranny had begun once more.

“Let go! Don’t touch me!”

“Aren’t you tired of saying the same thing every day? Try thinking about something else for once.”

“Let go, you rapist!”

“Damn it. Stop saying that!”

Dazed and being dragged along, before he knew it, they were at the annex. Tibane roughly locked the annex door and shoved Irodel into the bedroom. Irodel, exhausted from the unaccustomed exertion, couldn’t even muster a protest against the rude treatment and just huffed.

Illiterate bastard. Even walking a dog wouldn’t be like this. Of course, if Tibane had been born a dog, it might be different, but even then, he was sure he would be a generous owner who would stop at least once if he pleaded to stop.

Tibane seemed equally out of breath, and rough breathing continued for a moment. He glared at Irodel with angry eyes, then spoke as if chewing on the words.

“I didn’t rape anyone. On the contrary, that was more like me getting hit as I passed by. Is it really that hard for you to understand?”

The person who had become Irodel’s tutor was a slender, harmless-looking man. He was a linguistically gifted teacher, and he’d introduced himself as a beta. Naturally, Irodel believed him without question and quickly fell for the teacher, who somehow gave off a different aura from others. The fact that he frequently took medicine, saying he had asthma, also made him seem fragile and made Irodel want to protect him. Thinking back now, that asthma medicine must have been suppressants.

Why, of all days, did that teacher, who took such meticulous care of his body, have to go into heat that day? He still wondered, but the shock was greater than the question, leaving no room to think of anything else. And after that day, his own thing had broken down, which made it even worse. There was no way he could understand Tibane’s position.

“You said yesterday that yours doesn’t work. I’m similar. Since that day… it’s not that it doesn’t work, but when I’m in heat, rather than sticking it in, I feel the urge to tear anyone to pieces instead.”

“That just proves you’re a savage.”

What was he bragging about in front of someone who was truly broken? If it wasn’t that it didn’t work, then what was the problem? When Irodel refused to engage and turned his head away, Tibane, upset, grabbed Irodel’s shoulder.

“When someone’s talking to you, try listening seriously! Do you really have no intention of understanding me at all?”

His grabbed shoulder hurt as if it would break. Tibane had a similar build, but the muscles all over his body and the strength they produced were incomparable. Being born an alpha—that one fact alone made him superior in every way. And they were twins. Why only this bastard.