The Tyrant Won’t Let Me Go Chapter 57

 

“I don’t know why…” 

 

Doctor Dalton, who had rushed over from Cedric’s summons, narrowed his eyes and spoke in a troubled voice. 

 

Rukia, standing next to him, also looked at my bandaged hand with confusion. 

 

“I don’t think it will be possible to know the cause right now.” 

 

“Will we know after a time?” 

 

Cedric asked, looking up at Rukia. 

 

Then Rukia opened her mouth cautiously, a puzzled look on her face. 

 

“I apologize, Your Majesty, but as it stands… I don’t think I’ll be able to find anything that will help.” 

 

A dark shadow fell over Cedric’s face at Rukia’s words. 

 

Seeing it sank my heart. He’s usually very attentive to me, but I felt like I’d made him worry. 

 

‘What’s wrong with me…’

 

The last time I went to visit my birth mother in jail, sparks flew when I couldn’t control my emotions. 

 

But I didn’t get hurt that time.

 

When I saw her on the street, I hadn’t originally planned to use my magic. 

 

But when she attacked me in a fit of rage, there was a flash of light. And it was she who was injured, not me. 

 

‘But this time…’

 

Nothing happened. 

 

I wasn’t in a heightened state of emotion, and I wasn’t in a situation where I was being threatened by someone. 

 

In other words, even though I was in a normal state, I hadn’t controlled my mana properly. 

 

Caliberne was startled by the unexpected situation and kept asking me if I was okay. 

 

Even Caliberne, who knows my mana better than anyone else, couldn’t figure out why, and neither could Rukia nor Doctor Dalton. 

 

[Ciel]

 

Caliberne speaks in my mind. 

 

‘Yes.’

 

[Ciel. You’ve been keeping your promises lately, haven’t you? I seem to recall that you’ve been holding hands with the Emperor for at least ten minutes every day.]

 

‘Uh, no, I haven’t missed a day, though there have been some days when I’ve held hands for longer than ten minutes.’

 

Then Caliberne sighed and said, [Oh, you’re driving me crazy… Okay, I’ll come back later.] 

 

And then Caliberne’s voice trailed off. 

 

Then Rukia’s voice spoke next, “Unless we can determine the exact cause, there’s only one thing we can do.” 

 

Rukia removed her glasses and continued. 

 

“As you both know, the only way to do that is to transfer as much of the Captain’s mana out as possible.” 

 

“Exactly.” 

 

Doctor Dalton nodded, looking down at my hands. 

 

“Perhaps you should increase your contact time…” 

 

“It might help to change the way you do it, not the time. Don’t just hold my hand, but, um…” 

 

Rukia crossed her arms in thought before she spoke again, “You know, like hugging…” 

 

Rukia trailed off with considerable hesitation. 

 

As the room fell silent, Rukia’s eyes widened, and she began to fidget, blurting out the words like a rapid-fire cannon. 

 

“Well, I’m not asking you to do that every day, I understand that it’s a lot of pressure, I’m just saying that during times when your mana doesn’t seem to be stabilizing…” 

 

“Um, Rukia.” 

 

I interrupted, and Rukia stopped speaking and looked in my direction. 

 

“Yes, captain.” 

 

I didn’t mind the hug. 

 

As Rukia said, it’s not like we have to do it every day, just occasionally. 

 

But aside from that, I was worried. 

 

“I know I’m supposed to be in contact with His Majesty when my power is unstable, but…”

 

Looking at my bandaged right hand, I said, “Is there any chance I could injure His Majesty in doing so?” 

 

It was a question I had asked Caliberne the other day. 

 

He had assured me it was unlikely, but I was still uneasy. 

 

This time, I was the only one injured, and it was only a little blood, nothing serious. 

 

But Cedric was right next to me. 

 

I realized that if he had gotten any closer, he would have been hurt. 

 

‘Miriam almost got hurt by a spark the other day, too…’

 

It would break my heart if I accidentally scarred Cedric’s handsome face. 

 

Even though he’s my age, he’s like my apprentice since he was twelve. 

 

“Ciel, don’t worry about that. You should be more concerned about your body than me right now.” 

 

Instead of Rukia, I heard Cedric’s soothing voice. 

 

I wanted to reassure him that he had been overly worried about me earlier.

 

I opened my mouth to speak, but then Dalton beat me to it. 

 

“I don’t think you need to worry about that, as soon as the contact is initiated, your mana will be absorbed directly into His Majesty’s body, which will alleviate the overflow somewhat.”

 

So there’s no danger of sparks being released, at least during the contact? 

 

‘If that’s the case…’

 

I mused to myself, bending my bandaged hand slightly. 

 

“Unless it’s some magic, which I don’t know, His Majesty is very low on mana, so a significant amount of magic would be transferred upon contact, and I don’t think that’s going to happen unless you give him that much mana and your body starts producing it again in a surge.”

 

“So, in that case, it’s unlikely that anything would happen on contact.” 

 

Cedric squinted and put a finger to the corner of his lips. 

 

“Yeah. Not unless something happens.” 

 

At Rukia’s words, Cedric went still and closed his eyes. 

 

Still, he gripped my left hand tightly, as if unwilling to let go.

 

⚔️

 

“Your Majesty, I’m really fine now, I wasn’t badly hurt.” 

 

“You’re bleeding.” 

 

The Emperor’s worried, red eyes darted down to my right hand with a pleading gaze. 

 

He’d stared down at my hand wordlessly for a long moment after he’d dismissed Doctor Dalton and Rukia.

 

He seemed to be trying not to show it in front of me, but he looked so upset that I felt sorry for him. 

 

“It’s no big deal for a knight to bleed, it doesn’t even hurt that bad.” 

 

“It doesn’t hurt.” 

 

Cedric said, his voice quite firm, “Anyone who gets wounded hurts. No person exists who doesn’t feel pain.” 

 

His face looked a little bitter as he said it. 

 

“…. You shouldn’t worry about it so much,” I said, turning my head to face Cedric, who was sitting next to me. 

 

“You have a lot of other important things to worry about besides me…”

 

Cedric, as Emperor of the Empire, had a lot of people to worry about. 

 

There were so many people looking for him. I didn’t want to be a burden to someone as busy as he was. 

 

“You have Princess Persephine to attend to, and Ackeletta and-” 

 

“Ciel.” 

 

Just calling my name, but why did it make me feel so much better? 

 

The moment I lifted my head and looked into those red eyes, it hit me. 

 

‘Why are you looking at me like that?’

 

I couldn’t say anything, as the silently burning red eyes only seemed to howl. 

 

“Why would you say that?” 

 

“…”

 

“Can’t you just let me mind my own business?” 

 

Cedric’s face flashed before my eyes as it had when we were younger, when he was twelve. 

 

His face, was cute and delicate and vulnerable, with teardrops at the corners of his eyes.

 

“Your Majesty…”

 

“Please don’t tell me you don’t care about me. It hurts.” 

 

His voice was calm, but his lips were trembling. 

 

“…I’m sorry.” 

 

“No, you don’t have to apologize,” He shook his head and retorted. 

 

Again, he looked down at my hand and leaned back against the back of the couch.

 

With his eyes closed, he laid his head on my shoulder. 

 

“Just let me be like this for a second.” 

 

Under normal circumstances, I would have thought he was joking and would have gotten angry and tried to push him away. 

 

But Cedric’s eyes were closed, and he looked so desperate, I couldn’t push him away. 

 

‘I wonder what you feel about me. ‘

 

I muttered to myself as I draped the blanket on the table over his lap.

 

⚔️

 

Opening my eyes, I saw a luxurious red ceiling. 

 

‘Ugh.’

 

I wonder when I fell asleep. 

 

I must have fallen asleep with Cedric on the couch.

 

Cedric had fallen asleep leaning on my shoulder, and I had fallen asleep in that position, unable to move. 

 

But why did I wake up and find myself in bed instead of on the couch? 

 

‘Did Cedric move me?’

 

Why would he do that too when he could have just left me there? 

 

Thinking I should thank him, I rolled onto the side. 

 

“Huh?”

 

When I turned around, Cedric was kneeling on the floor, holding my hand, asleep. 

 

‘Did you put me in bed, and you slept on the floor?’

 

A knight captain sleeps in front of the emperor and then steals his bed. 

 

I wondered what others would say if they heard about it. 

 

The more I thought about it, the more I laughed at the absurdity of it all. 

 

‘I’ll have to move him…’

 

The emperor, the ruler of the empire, shouldn’t be sleeping on his knees on such a cold floor. 

 

I scrambled to my feet and cautiously untangled our hands to help Cedric to his bed. 

 

That’s when it happened. 

 

Thud—

 

The grisly sound of metal that should never be heard rang in my ears. 

 

At that moment, I almost screamed. 

 

‘Crazy, what is this…?’

 

My lips quivered as I looked at the long, golden chain tied around my left hand. 

 

As I froze in place and busily racked my brain, Cedric opened his eyes and asked in a frosty voice, “Ciel, where are you going?”