A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

"ah--!!!"

Gallan, who had just relaxed his tense nerves, was so suddenly caught that he howled in fright.

If his wrist hadn't been grabbed by the other party and he couldn't stand up, he might have jumped up.

Looking intently and meeting those golden-red eyes, Garlan immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

As expected, people are scary and frightening to death.

Thinking this way, Garlan was about to breathe a sigh of relief, but then he thought something was wrong and took it up again.

The way he was hesitating while holding the dagger just now...could this person have seen everything? He wouldn't have guessed what he was going to do, would he? !

"…What are you doing?"

The boy's voice was already quite hoarse due to the period of voice change, and now it was even more hoarse. The voice was as if it were frosted, making it uncomfortable to listen to.

Gallan, who was already feeling guilty, was heartbroken by the sound.

"I didn't... didn't do anything... I, I helped you pick up the things..."

Garlan stammered and was halfway through his words when Heimos interrupted him rudely.

"Let me ask you, why are you beating yourself?"

The boy asked, breathing heavily.

He was confused just now when he suddenly heard two consecutive sounds, first the crisp sound of metal utensils falling, and then a snapping sound.

When he woke up and opened his eyes, he happened to see Garlan slap him in the face as if he was having a seizure.

He stared at the bright red fingerprints on the child's face, feeling inexplicably uncomfortable.

"This...that..."

Garlan choked up and suddenly felt blessed.

"I, I'm here to apologize. Well, didn't I accidentally slap you yesterday?" He whispered, "Look, I also slapped myself... Don't be angry with me, okay?"

While Gallan was talking, he reached out to please Heimos and touched the face where he had hit him last time.

Heimos pursed his lips and remained silent.

The child kneeling next to him had bright and watery golden eyes, looking at him like this, with his shadow reflected in his eyes. There were red finger prints on his snow-white cheeks, and he was touching them with his soft little hands. his face.

The way she looked at him and coaxed him made even a hard-hearted person unable to help but feel soft.

The young man rolled his eyes.

"I know what you're up to."

"Ah...ah?"

Garlan panicked.

I really just had that thought in my mind when I was stunned for a moment. I really didn’t plan to do anything to you——

Just when Garlan was panicking, he heard Heimos continue talking.

He turned his face away, not looking at Garlan, and said in a stiff tone.

"If you go out with this face, everyone will think that I did something to you - isn't that what you had in mind?"

Garlan: "..."

Breathing heavily.

"No, don't worry, I will explain it clearly." He said quickly, "And when everyone sees that you are so sick, they won't be able to use force on me, right? Ah - that's right."

He was so nervous that he almost forgot that the guy in front of him was still sick and he had to call someone over quickly.

"Wait a minute, I'm going to call someone now."

Garlan said, about to get up. But he failed to stand up in the end. Heimos did not let go. Instead, he tightened his fingers suddenly and squeezed his wrist even tighter. The force was so painful that Gallan almost screamed.

"No..." The boy with a face that was burning red could not even utter a complete sentence. He took a few sharp breaths before saying the last two words, "...need!"

The first rule of thumb for surviving in the slums is to never let others see your weakness. That would be equivalent to exposing your vulnerable throat to others, and then being bitten off by others when they take the opportunity.

The weak will not get any mercy, which will only make people more contemptuous.

This has become Heymos's code of survival. Even when he later returned to his family, even in front of his biological parents, he never showed the slightest sign of weakness.

Now, when he thought about his weak appearance being seen by this child, he felt inexplicably irritable.

"Why? You're sick."

"Together, the card is sent to the Ministry of Education: Like a swan, I'm looking for a aunt, a shun, a sword, a dust, a hairpin, and a wave. I'm jealous of the emperor.

"No need...just...no need!"

He was in a daze, and he didn't know how to control his strength, so he tightened his grip on Garlan's fingers and exerted force.

"I know! Got it—let it go!"

Garlan's mouth twitched in pain as he desperately tried to pry off Heimos' fingers. He felt that his wrist was about to break.

"I won't call you, just let me go!"

After hearing Gallan say that he didn't want to call anyone, Heimos let go of Gallan's hand in a daze.

Garlan took a look, good guy, the entire circle of his wrist turned blue and purple, as if there was a bracelet on it. If Heimos had exerted more force without knowing the importance of it, his wrist would really be broken.

He cautiously moved back a little in case Hermos suddenly grabbed him again, and whispered.

"I can't move you to bed by myself without calling someone."

"It doesn't matter...you don't have to worry about it." Heimos said intermittently, "You...go back to your room..."

he said as he breathed.

Even when he was lying on the ground, he was still dizzy. The scenery in front of him seemed to be distorted. There seemed to be fire burning in his body, as if it was going to dry up all the blood in his body.

"……You go back!"

He forced out a few words from his throat.

The child he chased seemed to be in a daze for a while, then got up and ran out quickly.

Seeing the child's back disappear at the door, it was obvious that he had driven him away, but for some reason Heimos felt a little empty in his heart.

He took a deep breath to drive away the feeling of loss in his heart, closed his eyes, then gritted his teeth, trying desperately to lift his body up from the ground. But he was too weak now. He just raised his head slightly, and then dropped it again the next second.

He was lying on his back on the ground, feeling that his whole body was empty, he couldn't exert any strength, and his whole body was so hot that he almost lost consciousness.

A beam of moonlight fell on his red-hot face. He lay on the ground and stared blankly at the snow-white crescent moon in the dark night sky.

He seemed to have returned to a long time ago. At that time, he was lying in the garbage pit, alone, surrounded by nothingness and deathly silence, with only the crescent moon in the dark night sky accompanying him.

...He slowly closed his eyes.

…………

Snap, snap, snap.

There is some sound, from far to near.

The boy opened his eyes, and the face of the child he thought had left appeared in his sight again, and his small hand stretched out and put it on his forehead.

Something cold was placed on his forehead, and the coolness seeped into his hot skin, relieving the heat on his head.

Garlan put a wet cloth on his forehead and touched his cheek. His fingers were soft and cool, giving him a very comfortable feeling. When the little hand left, Heimos felt a subtle sense of loss in his heart.

He raised his eyes and looked at Garlan.

The child knelt beside him and looked at him with open eyes.

On that small face as big as a palm, the eyes are big and bright.

Those golden eyes were clearly in the dark night, but they were as bright as a pair of small golden suns. It glows in the darkness, and for some reason it makes people unable to take their eyes away. Even the bright moon in the night sky becomes a phantom background.

…

Garlan lowered his head and took out something from his waist, and took out a small white medicine jar.

Fortunately, when he sneaked over, he thought that Heimos didn't know if there was any medicine, so he simply brought over the ointment that the doctor specially left for him and asked the maid to apply it on him every day.

Now Heimos doesn't know what's going on. He refuses to let him call someone, and he can't just leave it alone. If something really happens, he will be killed after all. Yes.

He won't take the blame.

Garlan rubbed his hands. He had just run out to find the stream outside to wash his hands. He tore a piece of cloth from his body, wetted it and brought it back.

If you don’t wash your hands, how can you apply medicine to the patient? It would be terrible if bacteria got into the wound.

He thought as he applied ointment to the wounds on Heimus.

Unexpectedly, he would one day help his mortal enemy apply medicine with his own hands in this life.

Hey, I hope that good intentions will pay off, and Heymos will let him go in the future because he has helped him at least today.

With this thought in his mind, Gallan, who was concentrating on helping Heimos apply the ointment, didn't notice at all that the young man lying on the ground opened his eyes at some point and looked at him quietly for a while. He closed his eyes again.

After applying the medicine, the half bottle of small medicine jar was almost empty, and the Gallan people were very tired.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked up at Heimos. The young man lay quietly on the ground with his eyes closed, as if he had fallen asleep.

He reached for the wet cloth placed on Heimos' forehead. The wet cloth was no longer cold and had some warmth. He covered Heimos' forehead with his hand for a while, and felt that Heimos' forehead was no longer as hot as it was at the beginning, and his face was not as red.

The young man closed his eyes, and his slender eyelashes drooped down, casting a light shadow on his honey-colored cheeks. Garlan looked at this familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar face. There was no coldness or evil aura in his memory, and there was a little childishness about him. At this moment, he looked very peaceful.

Garlan thought, he was really stunned just now.

The young man in front of him at the moment was only twelve or thirteen years old, just a child.

Even Heimos, who would be called the 'Evil Ghost' in the future, never used any despicable or taking advantage of others' danger when competing with him for the throne. Even if Heimos killed him, every time, it was after defeating him in an upright manner.

And just now he actually wanted to kill a sick child...

If he really did that, wouldn't he be more vicious than the so-called 'evil ghosts'?

…………

Forget it, don’t think about it too much.

Anyway, I have decided not to grab that throne in this life.

Shaking his head vigorously to get rid of the messy things in his mind, Garlan stood up, ran to the bed, took off the thin blanket on the bed, and then covered Heimos.

He knelt beside him, reached out and patted the covered blanket, as if patting a child. After patting, he showed a satisfied look on his face.

"I helped you so much, you have to repay me in the future."

The repayment is very simple, just don't kill me.

After Gallan whispered to the sleeping boy, he looked at the sky and saw that it was almost midnight. He quickly got up and ran away quickly.

However, when Garlan ran away in a hurry, he didn't notice that the eyes of the young man who he thought was sleeping opened slightly.

The shadow of the slender eyelashes fell into the slits of Heimos's opened eyes, making it difficult to see clearly the way he was looking at the child's back.

It wasn't until Garlan's back disappeared under the night sky that Heimos slowly sat up, and the blanket covering him slid off his body.

The body is still a little hot, but the areas where the medicine has been applied feel cool, and even the pain has eased a bit.

Heimos lowered his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking.

After a while, he raised his hand and pressed his fingertips on his forehead.

There seemed to still be a little residual warmth left by that little white hand.