Chapter 60. District 14

He endured for a whole day.

Johann was in a very low mood, finishing the noble council meeting in the morning and returning to his office in the afternoon to process documents.

Seraphina had arrived yesterday.

They’re under the same sky of Elmon, but why couldn’t they meet?

Blue veins bulged on the back of his hand holding the quill pen.

“……Jesuf.”

His voice calling the name of his loyal right-hand man was chilling.

He never thought this guy would be so tactless.

<You said you don’t have time to receive greetings every time they come back from undead subjugation, right?>

<When did I.>

<That’s how it’s been for 10 years, why are you suddenly like this?>

<…….>

It was infuriating even thinking about it again.

Johann, recalling yesterday’s conversation, thought it wouldn’t do.

What about Seraphina’s room that was cleaned with such effort? What about the careful hands of the maids who dusted and changed the sheets!

He wanted to jump up from his seat right away, but he couldn’t do that considering Ionia’s fierce gaze.

After all, it wouldn’t do him any good if her patience snapped.

Johann reviewed the documents one by one in a state of extreme irritation. Matters that he would have normally approved and signed off on were now bothering him one after another. Reject. Reject. Postpone. Return.

By the time the mountain of documents was at an end, the sun had already set.

Turning his head to look at the dark night sky, Johann soon rose from his seat. Taking a few steps with his hands behind his back, he opened the windows on both sides.

The air, which had become quite cold, enveloped his skin.

His blue eyes looked down.

One. Two. One. Two. The illusion of Seraphina training while shouting encouragement flickered in his eyes.

As he took a deep breath, the cold air filled his lungs. She must be breathing the same air too. So close, and yet…

There was no justification to go find her.

Johann raised his head to look at the curtain of the dark night. The clear sky with stars densely embedded was transparent and clean. Just like Seraphina’s clear smile.

“District 14……”

When was the last time I went there?

It must have been at least 10 years. Except for when he toured all of Elmon during the city reconstruction, he hadn’t been anywhere near District 14.

“The eyes of Marseus should reach everywhere. I’ve been too negligent.”

As the Emperor, it’s natural duty to look after all parts of the empire.

Johann closed the window where the cold winter air was rushing in. Then, as if taking a night walk, he quietly moved his steps out of the imperial palace.

No escort was needed.

There was no one stronger than him on this continent.

With thoughts that Claude or Mihail would snort and rush to challenge him if they heard this, Johann moved his legs without hesitation.

Seraphina’s home address had already been engraved in his mind from the moment she became an official purifier of the imperial family.

* * *

Even late at night, there were quite a few people wandering the streets. Half of them were staggering, soaked in alcohol.

“Tsk.”

Johann clicked his tongue as he walked through District 14.

All the humans who couldn’t even control their own bodies due to drunkenness looked pathetic. What on earth was in the heads of those who poured alcohol into their mouths until they reached that state?

They would only make mistakes after getting so drunk, he couldn’t understand what they were thinking at all. Well, they probably weren’t thinking at all to end up in that state.

Even at palace banquets, there were always those who got disgracefully drunk. In such a dazed state with clouded judgment, they would do obscene things.

And they call themselves nobles.

As much as Johann disliked drunk humans, he had never given a room in the palace for the nobles’ lewd private lives.

If they wanted to do it, they should go somewhere else and do it on their own.

“How filthy.”

As he entered a dim alley, he spotted vomit on the ground and skillfully avoided it.

They’re not beasts, what kind of behavior is this?

Anyway, nobles or commoners.

They were all the same.

“It should be around here.”

Johann raised his head and looked around.

He had entered the street indicated by the address. He moved slowly, checking the building numbers one by one with his eyes.

As he approached his destination, his long legs moved even more slowly, savoring the moment of his reunion with Seraphina.

Finally, his legs came to a complete stop.

Found it.

In the shadows of the night, the corners of his mouth turned up.

Then he realized he had overlooked one fact and his expression hardened.

“……She’s not sleeping, is she?”

It was late.

It wouldn’t be strange if she was asleep at this hour.

“……”

He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of this obvious possibility until now, when he was right in front of Seraphina’s house.

Johann frowned for a moment and stood there pondering. But before long, he started walking again.

The building was quiet.

Climbing the dark stairs to the fourth floor, he walked along the long corridor. Then he stopped in front of Seraphina’s front door.

Johann’s expression twisted strangely.

‘Not asleep?’

He could sense movement from inside.

Clearly someone moving around…

He should be glad she’s not sleeping, but.

His animal instinct told him. The person moving inside was not Seraphina.

Then……?

Johann was about to knock on the door, his hand curled into a fist and brought to the door frame, but he changed his mind. The hand that was about to knock grasped the doorknob instead. It’s not locked.

That fact determined his next action.

Opening the door silently like an intruder, he stepped inside, muffling his footsteps. It was a stealthy movement, as if melting into the shadows of the night.

The house was small.

Meaning he didn’t need to hide his presence for long.

Swish.

“……Huh!”

A large man was trying to undress the sleeping Seraphina. A fierce and deadly aura flashed in Johann’s blue eyes.

In a split second, Johann quickly scanned the beast-like man from top to bottom. Wet hair. Bare upper body. His hand reaching for the first button of Seraphina’s blouse as she slept soundly on the bed.

Snap.

Something seemed to break inside him.

“If you don’t want to lose your hand, withdraw it immediately.”

“Wh-wh-who are you?”

The man with a mountain-like build seemed to be quite timid. Despite stuttering severely, he obeyed well.

Johann, confirming the withdrawn hand with just his eyes, muttered lowly.

“Name.”

“M-M-Marc.”

……Marc.

It was that mercenary bastard who was Seraphina’s friend. The one who always went to the battlefield with her. The one who secretly gave her horse rides when she had to rush to the imperial palace during the early special training.

But what is this…

“What are you doing to a sleeping woman?”

“It-it-it’s a misunderstanding!”

Marc felt chills down his spine due to the stranger pointing a sword at his back. He was considered quite capable among mercenaries. Normally, he wouldn’t just let someone picking a fight with him get away with it, but.

This time was different.

His instinct told him.

If he made a wrong move, his life would be gone before he even realized it.

“Seraphina vomited on my back, so I just borrowed the bathroom to wash off the v-vomit! It’s true.”

“And?”

“Wh-what do you mean and……”

“Why are you undressing her?”

“That’s……”

Marc trailed off, feeling wronged.

Can’t you see?

Seraphina’s blouse was also stained with vomit.

“I was going to clean Seraphina too… Eeek! I-I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Suddenly, the killing intent vibrating around became frighteningly intense. The sword pointed at his neck also closed in.

Under the pressure that felt like hundreds of huge boulders falling, Marc’s knees weakened. His whole body started trembling.

“Get out of here now.”

In an instant, the sword was withdrawn.

Marc instinctively knew. This was the only chance to escape with all his limbs intact.

He moved his trembling legs, relying on his survival instinct. And just before exiting through the front door, Marc saw.

A man with cold features under silver hair that looked as if the moon had been ground into it.

One of the three heroes…

‘Emperor Marseus!’

To actually encounter in person the being he had only seen in statues and paintings.

It gave him goosebumps.

He fled in a hurry, not even having time to think about putting on his shirt.

And sensing the retreating presence, Johann lowered his gaze to Seraphina. In his mind, he recalled the offensive hand that had tried to unbutton her blouse just moments ago.

“This woman, so reckless.”

Isn’t she too unguarded, having no wariness just because he’s a friend? What made her drink to this point of unconsciousness? All men are wolves.

“The smell of alcohol is overwhelming.”

Johann frowned.

Normally, he wouldn’t associate with such a pathetic human who couldn’t even gauge their own alcohol tolerance, but…

“A towel……”

He looked around. Then, finding a towel, he dampened it with water, wrung it out appropriately, and wiped around her mouth and neck.

And then, just as Marc had done earlier — whose hand deserved to be cut off — he started unbuttoning her blouse.

“……”

This is…

It can’t be helped because it’s stained with vomit.

With a reddened face, he quickly undressed Seraphina and then took out any clothes from the drawer to dress her.

“That’s better now.”

Johann stared down at Seraphina, who was sleeping obliviously. What would have happened if he hadn’t come?

Thinking that Marc might have seen her bare skin, he felt his blood boiling.

Johann opened the window to cool down.

The night breeze was cool enough to help quite a bit.

How much time had passed like that?

As he was calming his impure thoughts while looking at the moon, he heard the sound of someone stirring.

Is she awake?

As he slowly turned his body…

“Thank you, Maaaaarc.”

This woman, really.

“Maaaaarc, I only have youuuu.”

The heat he had just cooled down rose again.

Johann gritted his molars.

Having turned his insides upside down, Seraphina slept peacefully, she was even snoring.