Wrong Genre! - Chapter 29.2
At Yuri’s question, Rueg’s mouth shut tightly. His eyes darted around, and then he gave an awkward smile, as if he did not know the answer.
“When are you talking about?”
“……”
“If it was before I turned ten, then honestly, I don’t really know. My memories are a bit hazy…”
More precisely, there were no memories. That was around the time he had entered the body of ‘Rueg Verdic’ at the age of ten.
“I see.”
“…I’m sorry. I ended up asking something strange for no reason.”
“No, it’s fine. Where were we earlier? I think we stopped while talking about that Blessing.”
Yuri immediately gathered the emotions that had briefly stirred within him and continued the conversation.
“Ah, yes… the Blessing…”
“The Blessing is a power given to humans who have received the boon of nature. Some also call it a power granted by the gods. It is the same power possessed by His Majesty the Emperor and the Crown Prince. Those who carry the Blessing have something called a source. The source produces the Blessing and—”
Just as Yuri was continuing his explanation, a loud voice rang out from outside.
“Verdic!”
Startled by the voice, Rueg sprang up from where he was sitting like a coiled spring, then his eyes widened.
“H-His Highness?”
“……”
“…R-Right. I just went outside without saying anything!”
Clutching his head, Rueg hurriedly moved around and shouted toward the door that he would be out soon.
“I’m sorry, Yuri! I have something to take care of, so I’ll go first. I was already working overtime today anyway…!”
Then, just before leaving the bath, he turned back and asked,
“Right, then it’s not a secret that you’re a man, is it?!”
“…I have always been a man. There was never any such secret to begin with.”
At the firm reply, Rueg’s gaze fell on the blackened bathwater.
At that moment, Yuri’s fingertips trembled faintly.
Just as he was about to ask if that part could be kept secret—
“I won’t tell anyone about what I saw today!”
“……!”
“But later, please tell me what the Blessing is. I’m not keeping quiet for free, so don’t worry!”
At the sight of Rueg rushing out after saying that, Yuri let out a hollow laugh.
“The guard’s wig? Hahaha! No wonder someone came chasing all the way to the orphanage. I’ll keep this a secret. Ah, but in return, have dinner with me later. I don’t like eating alone, and I got back late today because of an errand. I’m not asking you to keep it secret for nothing, so don’t worry!”
At that moment, the lively voice that flashed through his mind made Yuri clench his fist.
Even that appearance was far too similar to ‘that child’ in his memories. Yuri stared at the spot where Rueg had been standing for a long time.
The faint ripple in his chest gradually swelled, until it became something he could no longer control.
Rueg’s words tangled noisily inside him. Starting from the question about whether they had met before, to the part about his memories before the age of ten being hazy.
‘Is it related to the fact that he didn’t leave the estate for ten years?’
Overwhelmed by the confusion, Yuri let out a long sigh.
“Let’s stop thinking about it.”
No matter what Rueg Verdic said, he could not be the person from his memories.
The place Yuri had lived as a child was not somewhere a person as noble as Rueg Verdic would ever come.
Unlike the splendid imperial palace and the capital stretching out beneath it, with its colorful rooftops and constant laughter, Yuri’s past was gloomy and dark.
He did not remember clearly, but it was a place where sewer rats roamed and starving people were everywhere.
A place where, even in the biting wind that tore at the skin, there was not a single scrap of cloth to shield oneself, where one could only tremble from the cold. The poorest place, where those abandoned by society lived.
Yuri had been there.
In that filthy place where a high noble like a Verdic would never set foot.
Then one day, by the whim of an unknown noble, an orphanage appeared.
It gathered children who had been abandoned without food, placed meals in their hands, and gave them new clothes.
The only light that appeared in the gutter.
People seemed to call that orphanage exactly that.
In the vague memory of that distant day, Yuri had not trusted them.
Because he believed that nobles would never show such kindness without wanting something in return.
But then, suddenly, one day…
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
