nebula story

Thinking of the soft, trance-like smile that the prisoner showed at that time, the prison guard's voice became softer, and he muttered: "Actually, he is very obedient and never causes trouble. Even if he has a fever and coughs up blood, he suffers very badly. Just hum a few times."

...Standing there firmly, Fern couldn't say anything more.

However, the prison guards on one side and Chief Guard Wood seemed to feel that there was something in the eyes of the indifferent and stern Emperor His Majesty that people couldn't bear to look directly at.

After a long time, Wood finally stood outside the door and whispered nervously: "Your Majesty, it's already too late. Tomorrow morning, the Ministry of Finance's tax reduction proposal is still waiting for you..."

During the day, the morning internal affairs meeting lasted a full four hours.After hastily finishing his simple lunch, His Majesty the Emperor had already arrived at the Ministry of Finance, and the small-scale hearing for the preliminary review of the tax reduction plan began at one o'clock.It wasn't until after four o'clock that the two parties at the hearing barely stopped their arguing, and the viewpoint of proposing tax cuts to stimulate the economy finally gained the upper hand.

There was no time to change places, and in the same conference room, the video conference started immediately.The routine reports of several chiefs of staff of the military department on the planet Fisher were very concise, but it still took an hour or two - on the distant planet, a new site with large reserves was discovered in the past few days. Large associated mines, the Federation and the Empire are negotiating awkwardly and cautiously.

Files were constantly being handed in from outside the door, and the young and promising secretary carefully sorted out the priorities. Like the head of the guard, Wood, this young man who had just been promoted followed His Majesty around the clock, doing his best to exercise language homework.

I have been working temporarily in the conference hall of the Ministry of Finance, and even the dinner is delivered here.Buried in the thick copy files, the young Emperor His Majesty looked indifferent but stern, and when he accidentally raised his head, there were obvious bloodshot eyes in his eyes.

Is it because of the physical and mental exhaustion last night, or is it because of today's super heavy imperial duties?Waiting silently in a corner of the conference hall, the head of the royal bodyguard, Wood, chewed the simple meal in his mouth, without any appetite.

Finally, the chime clock on the wall struck ten.In the office building of the Ministry of Finance, which had already been off work, it was so quiet that a needle could be heard.

The Emperor, who had been crouching over his desk to review official documents, finally raised his head, put down the last volume and presented it.Stepping forward quickly, Wood handed over the thick coat respectfully, followed His Majesty the Emperor, and stepped out of the conference hall.

Taking a peek at the straight back in front of His Majesty the Emperor, for some reason, although it looked as tall and straight as before, Wood still felt a little stiff.Wei Wei sighed inwardly, and Wood was a little distracted remembering the situation when he saw His Majesty early in the morning.

Sitting in front of the huge and empty dining table in the palace, His Majesty, who was eating breakfast alone, looked at the desserts on the plate and sat quietly for a long time.

It has been almost two years, and two kinds of desserts that have never been changed have silently appeared on His Majesty Fern's breakfast table.On the silver-rimmed enamel porcelain dinner plate, there are coconut donuts decorated with red cherries and dark golden black tea cakes. The color is attractive and exudes the heat and fragrance just out of the oven.

Aisha, the little maid on one side, stood silently, her eyes suddenly turned red, and streams of tears rolled down her cheeks.And when the silent Emperor looked up at her, he was not angry at this obvious disrespect.

"Wrap it for me." He ordered, and waited until Aisha handed over the lunch box containing exquisite desserts in tears, then took it with his own hands, and took it to the car by himself.

……

Sitting in the special car His Majesty took every day, the chief guard, Wood, smelled the faint sweetness from those desserts through his nostrils, and they were quietly placed beside His Majesty Fern, without opening them all day.In the calmly moving carriage, in the dull atmosphere, the smell of desserts is particularly clear.

"Go to prison." The Emperor, who had been silent all this time, suddenly uttered a sentence at a fork in the road.

In the vast night, the royal car made an unexpected sound of tire friction and changed its original direction.

The emperor, who visited again late at night, looked at the electronic alloy door slowly opened, and looked at the person on the iron bed in the corner.

"Bring the cutting machine, as well as wound medicine and warm water." He didn't show any expression, his eyes fell on Chesu's tattered prison uniform, and he added, "There are also comfortable clothes."

The requested items were delivered quickly, and the warden withdrew without a sound, but he was very surprised in his heart—his Majesty the Emperor, who locked himself there alone without calling anyone to operate it, did he want to do these things for this federal prisoner himself? !

... In the quiet space, the small self-generating cutting machine in Fern's hand splashed with flames, and began to deal with the heavy shackles on Chesu's feet.The welded iron chains have no fancy, only the most primitive strength can resist this cold violence.

The tiny sparks are like fireworks, and the stars are falling.A few flowers landed on those bare feet, Chesu hummed softly, and shrank his feet uncomfortably—just like the prison guard described, he, who was already quite able to bear the pain, only shrank a little, and didn’t do anything. Too much of a struggle.

With a "clang", the pig iron chain hung down heavily, and the handcuffs and shackles were broken one by one.Sitting on the edge of the bed, Fern remained silent, carefully removing the blood-stained iron rings.

The hot water in the vat exudes curling steam, and the snow-white towel on it is soft and ironed.Reaching out to pick it up, Fern grabbed a foot in front of him, and silently wiped away the blood scab that had coagulated for a long time.The water temperature was slightly high, and after wiping over and over again, the blood stains quickly melted away, revealing fresh wounds.

Suddenly retracting his feet, the boy on the prison bed screamed, the towel was a little hot, and it hurt especially when it touched the flesh and blood.With a pause in his hand, Fern quickly stopped.

Picking up the mild disinfectant on the other side, he lowered his head and began to treat the wound in a standard manner.The field training received in the military academy is rarely used, but it is still familiar.

As if he couldn't bear the boundless silence, he finally spoke softly, but he didn't want to look up into Chesu's eyes.

"The first time I saw you, I locked you in here." The voice of the most powerful man in the empire echoed softly in the empty and quiet cell, "I value you so much, so I hope you will be flattered accept my choice. But even though you are kneeling there, your eyes keep saying, 'No, I don't want you.'..."

Listening quietly, he seemed to feel that the man in front of him was harmless, and the idiot prisoner on the prison bed stopped struggling, allowing Fern to help him apply medicine on the ground gently.

Snow-white gauze wrapped his ankle and wrist layer by layer, and the unsightly wound was taken care of, without the pain that tormented him every moment, Chesu blinked his eyelashes, and unconsciously hummed a few times.

"So I was angry like never before. That night, I lay in bed and I couldn't sleep for some reason."

On the large bed of the Crown Prince's mansion, he who had always slept soundly fell into insomnia strangely.He couldn't help thinking about the scene during the day. Under the eyes of thousands of people, the young man in front of him quietly raised his head, and the imprint of the untouchables on his shoulders was clearly conspicuous.Kneeling in front of all the honorable people, he looked handsome, thin, soft and peaceful.It seemed very humble, but when he raised his head to look at his noble prince, his pretty eyes were full of faint pride.

"I know now that you deliberately wanted to attract my attention at that time—Chesu, you succeeded, you are different from anyone else, the dazzling light made me almost dizzy." murmured Talking to himself, the proud man kept his head down, not looking at the person he was talking to.

The clean towel was already stained with blood, and Fern replaced it with another one, aiming at the more ferocious branded wound on Chesu's shoulder.The place that had just grown up not long ago was torn apart again, and it was not taken care of and treated in time last night, and the coagulated blood flowed all the way to the ribs.

Pulling off the torn light gray prison uniform, Fern wiped the dried blood as carefully as possible.When it touched the right side of the chest, Chesu, who had always been very obedient, suddenly let out a miserable "ah", and suddenly hid behind!

Fern stared blankly at the slightly strange light black patch on his chest.The tiny pinholes caused by the electric probes have healed slightly, leaving only a long-lasting dark color.After narrowing his eyes and thinking for a while, Fern couldn't find a similar scar comparison in his mind.

Carefully leaning over, he looked into Chesu's eyes and said softly, "What's wrong?"

Just touched there again, Chesu has already screamed in misery again, pushing Fern's hand in a hurry.

"It hurts...it hurts..." yelled vaguely, the stupid young prisoner suddenly bent down and coughed softly.It seemed that there was no way to stop at the beginning, and the cough was suppressed and hoarse. Soon, his face turned red and gradually turned blue.

Staring at the bloodshot that suddenly appeared at the corner of his mouth, Fern wiped it off with a towel in his hand with trembling hands.

"It won't be so painful soon...Chesu." He slowly stretched out his arms, embraced the man in his arms, and patted him on the back. His Majesty the Emperor who rarely cared about others, It looks a bit clumsy and heavy.

The heart-piercing cough finally subsided gradually, and Chesu, who was held in his arms, trembled slightly.Feeling the gentle comfort from behind, he became much quieter.

After a long pause, Fern resumed his movements, avoiding the black and dark blue, and fumbled to clean Chesu's upper body with a warm towel.

Stretching out his hand to take off the prison clothes that had already been torn into pieces last night, he looked at the hesitant and evasive Chesu, with gentle eyes like the most considerate lover in the world: "Take it off, and sleep well."

Looking at Chesu's half-naked, emaciated chest that was almost visible to the ribs, Fern felt an unbearable pain in his heart.Without the slightest bit of madness and violence from last night, he carefully stroked Chesu's soft black hair, and whispered softly: "Hey...it doesn't hurt."