Aloof King and Cool (Acting) Queen

Announcement

If this is your first time here, welcome! I’m Ars, translator of another JP BL called “Picked up a Strange Knight”. If you haven’t read it yet, please do check it out! Earlier I received a comment requesting that I pick up this story, so I contacted the previous translator who then gave me the go-ahead! Thanks to BlackMaskedPhantom for all of their hard work—let’s hope their situation gets better and that they can return to translating some awesome stories!

Here is chapter 37. Enjoy!

An invitation to Urie’s wedding ceremony had arrived. Though I unfortunately couldn’t attend, I planned at the very least to send a letter and gifts.

The invitation came with a picture of the couple: Urie and his lover. Urie smiled happily in the picture, and the person between his arms was undeniably a cute-looking boy.

According to the letter Alec had sent, Urie had gone to an orphanage to offer the Knight Order’s condolences. There, Urie had fallen in love with the young man at first sight and seemed to have won his heart.

At present time it seemed that they had gone to Orania to carry out their passionate romance, though that plot twist was something I had only heard from rumor.

When I showed this picture to Leo-sama, his reaction revealed that he believed without a doubt that Urie’s joy must be a lie.

Although you could say that Leo-sama and I had confirmed our mutual feelings for each other, there hadn’t been a sudden change in our relationship.

However, the recently-infrequent “Othello Meetings” had now once again become a daily occurrence.

Those meetings didn’t have the feeling of ‘a battle of wits’ or anything like that. Instead, they had a gentle and calm atmosphere where Leo-sama and I occasionally shared kisses, softly brushing our lips together.

Tonight as well, the two of us went out to the terrace after we’d finished our work.

I felt that the starry sky of this world, which was mostly free of any artificial lighting, was much more beautiful than the stars I had seen in Japan.

Chatting beneath this starry sky was a custom that we had only recently begun.

Today I had prepared some sweet and sour liquor made of citrus.

“I apologize for having made you wait.”

I offered Leo-sama a glass and sat down beside him.

“Thanks. The stars are as pretty as ever today.”

“They are, aren’t they. When I had been in Orania, I had often gazed up at the sky back then as well.”

Back in those days I’d looked up at the stars while feeling homesick and wistful for Japan, but now the loneliness that I had felt was gradually fading away.

“The flowers of Orania are rather beautiful, aren’t they? On that topic, Shane, I know that you’re fond of flowers, but which flower would you consider your favorite?”

My absolute favorite is the wisteria. But... I haven’t yet seen a single one in this world. Even if I tried to describe it with my words, I didn’t have the confidence in being able to convey the uniqueness of this flower’s form—I had gotten up to there in my thoughts, when I remembered the existence of the picture book I had brought with me from Japan.

“I have something nice to show you. Please wait for a bit.”

I hurried back to my room, and returned with the picture book. It had been seven years since I had first come to this world, and after I had opened this book countless times, its corners had become rounded. Even so, the beauty of the pictures was still in good shape. I pointed to the wisteria inside.

“This is the flower that I love the most. It’s called ‘wisteria’, but unfortunately I have never seen it in this place.”

The moment Leo-sama saw this picture that had been illuminated by magic, his facial expression changed slightly—he looked somewhat surprised.

But in the next moment, his expression returned to its usual state.

“It’s a beautiful flower. It has the same color as Shane’s eyes.”

Though he said that, I felt pained to have to lie about the color of my own eyes. Even though there were many things we talked about now, I still hadn’t been able to broach the secret around this color.

If it were known that the Emperor’s Royal Consort bore eyes of such an ominous color, I worried that I wouldn’t be able to stay with him. 1 Though I knew that Leo-sama wasn’t that kind of person, I also understood that he wasn’t in a position where he could decide such a thing solely by himself.

Leo-sama looked at that picture book for a long time. And suddenly, as if he’d resolved himself, he asked me a question.

“Shane, if you’re willing—would you be able to tell me your real name?”

I would never be able to tell him the color of my eyes. That was why, I thought, I hoped that I could at least not hide other things from him.

“That is alright with me, but please don’t be surprised. My real name is actually ‘Haruto’.”

“Really? It’s the same as mine, isn’t it?”

It had surprised him after all. When I saw him like that, I couldn’t help but smile.

“My name has several unique letters with meanings attached to it.”

While saying that, I took some moisture from my glass and wrote the kanji『晴都』on the table.

“This is read ‘Haruto’. Though each letter has its own meaning, its overall significance is that of ‘a land of auspicious days’.” 2

When I explained it as such, Leo-sama grasped my hand while looking a bit joyful.

“What I wish is to make this country a bright land, and with my own hands, change this country that has been wracked with conflict. Would you be willing to create such a ‘land of auspicious days’ with me?”

It had been a long time since I had written my name in kanji, so the letters turned out much clumsier than before. Spoken Japanese was, for the most part, something I could no longer call upon, so bit by bit I had begun to be unable to recall the words. When I thought about how in this way I was gradually starting to forget what I knew of Japan, it would be a lie to say it hadn’t distressed me. Yet even so, I felt that I wanted to do everything in my power to live here, in this country—Leo-sama and I, together.

With our hands connected, I returned a squeeze to his hand and replied, “Yes.”

Translator’s Note

Thank you for reading Ch37!

To be honest, this story is one that’s been sitting in my reading list for a long time so I’m not actually familiar with what happened earlier. If you see any details that are inconsistent with previous chapters, let me know.

Although my main translation priority is Picked up a Strange Knight and its sequel, the chapters of this story are short enough that I’ll probably be able to put out at least one or two each week.

Also, hm... hm? This story, it’s listed as shounen ai on novelupdates, right? The previous chapters, do they not have any smut in them? Then why is it that as soon as I pick up this story, the very next chapter has some X-rated content?! I don’t know if prior translators have mentioned this yet, but the final chapter (not counting epilogue) is R18 too...

Well, the next chapter is only at the level of R15. Be careful about opening it in public, but otherwise, please look forward to it.

The title used here is one I don’t really know how to translate: “皇帝正妃”. The first word is Emperor, the last one is ‘Princess/Consort’. I wasn’t sure how to interpret 正 or the phrase as a whole so I just went with something that seemed it would fit. ↩A more literal translation is ‘a land of fine/clear weather’—as in, nothing ominous on the horizon, everything is clear and fair. There’s a lot of room for poetic interpretation, but I went with something that fits the context. ↩