01.

Allen could hear two kinds of sounds from a very young age he couldn’t even remember. One through his ears, and another through his head. In other words, while he heard the sounds people made with their mouths through his eardrums like everyone else, the thoughts people had were transmitted to his brain.

He didn’t know the principle behind it, but perhaps because they flowed from inside people’s heads, thoughts always sounded slightly more resonant than normal speech. Apart from that, everything else was the same—they became harder to hear with distance and clearer up close.

Others might have envied this ability if they heard about it, but he didn’t particularly like it.

Though it proved useful when negotiating with someone or finding an enemy’s weakness, it was truly annoying at other times.

For example,

「Damn, these hemorrhoids make taking a sh*t so painful lately.」

He would learn useless information he had no desire to know, or…

「I’ll pretend to thrust at his waist but headbutt him instead.」

When he wanted to enjoy an intense sparring match, his opponent’s thoughts would all be audible, making it utterly boring.

In short, he was sick of hearing other people’s thoughts. His ability had only proven truly valuable during the Emperor’s conquest wars. But now that the continent had been unified, the Empire established, and an era of peace arrived, his ability had become practically useless.

At best, he could only use it to root out seeds of rebellion before they sprouted, or to preemptively beat up petty politicians and those who badmouthed them.

It made for a truly boring life. The only fun thing was training, and making knights train until their minds went completely quiet by working them to exhaustion.

Thanks to this, he gained a reputation as a demon commander. But he had no choice—without doing this, his head would ache and itch from all the various voices.

Allen thought these days would continue indefinitely. Unless the Emperor decided to conquer another continent, that is.

But the problem arrived suddenly, starting when he received the title of Grand Duke and was appointed to rule the northern territory as the Emperor’s brother.

“It’s time you take responsibility for a country and got married.”

「Stop torturing knights and get married, you bastard.」

Allen stared dully at his teacup and sighed. Emperor Edner was the only one who knew about his ability. So occasionally, he would speak to him through his thoughts like this.

“I’ve told you before, I have no intention of getting married.”

“Yes, yes.”

「You man-child, stop beating up knights because you’re bored and find a woman, damn you.」

He would express his true feelings using curses he wouldn’t speak aloud to maintain his image.

Was this how people normally acted when they knew someone could read thoughts? Having never met anyone else with this ability, he couldn’t know, but it seemed certain that the Emperor was not typical.

“I don’t want to hear that from someone who has a one-sided crush on Her Majesty the Empress.”

“…It will soon be mutual.”

「This bastard… There are things you can say and things you can’t. Using my pain against me.」

Edner’s smiling face cracked slightly. Allen raised the corners of his mouth while bringing the teacup to his lips.

“I’ve finished my tea, so I’ll be taking my leave now. I should head to the northern land Your Majesty has graciously bestowed upon me.”

“Wait. Since we’re on the topic.”

“I told you before, I will never tell you what Her Majesty the Empress is thinking.”

“…I hear there are many beauties in the north? You should experience suffering over a woman too when you get there. Then you’ll understand how I feel.”

“I’m already suffering because of Your Majesty.”

“You’re no fun.”

“I’ll be going then.”

Edner continued cursing in his mind until Allen left the room. So loudly that it made his head ring, clearly intending for him to hear every word.

At that time, Allen had only snorted at Edner’s final words. He never imagined he would truly suffer because of a woman—specifically, the new vice commander under him.

* * *

The northern territory had originally been a small country. It was also a very isolated place, with a large forest blocking exchanges with other countries. Allen learned of this country’s existence during the war.

When he first set foot on this land, it was truly a spectacle. The country was beyond chaotic—it was collapsing.

The king ruled as a dictator, treating his people like vermin. Under such a king, the nobles were immersed in greed, living luxuriously while treating commoners like slaves and extorting enormous taxes from them.

Whatever arrogance and confidence possessed him, the king who had carelessly created his own paradise in that cold land had his head easily cut off by the Emperor.

The military power was so pathetic that they easily broke through to the center of the castle, making him wonder if war had even been necessary.

At that time, there was one knight who survived alone until the end, fighting and then surrendering. Allen could only see from a distance as he dealt with others and followed the Emperor, but he clearly remembered that knight swinging a sword skillfully with long hair tied in a single braid. Though he couldn’t see clearly, even at a glance the knight was clearly highly skilled. He wanted to fight them at least once if given the opportunity.

‘I heard they were of common birth.’

Originally, this person should have died alongside the former king, but the commander of the Third Knight Division who fought against this knight valued their skills and spared them. Now they had formed a small knight order in the northern territory and were guarding the border.

With Allen’s appointment to the north, this knight would come under his command.

Though he had only seen them during the war, he was secretly excited. Finally, a worthy opponent to spar with.

Unfortunately, that thought didn’t last long.

When he reached the northern border gate,

The moment his eyes fell upon the woman walking toward him in full armor,

Some scene hazily flashed through his mind, then began to appear more clearly.

“Ugh.”

Allen grabbed his head and bent his knee. His head became dizzy and pain struck him. The image becoming clearer seemed too much for his brain to handle, causing his nerves to feel like they were being severed and his forehead to throb.

This was his first such experience.

“Are you alright!”

The woman rushed over urgently as he fully bent his knee.

“Where are you hurting!”

“No, ugh.”

Allen couldn’t look directly at the woman’s face. Every time he tried to lift his head from the ground, something flesh-colored flickered in his vision, accompanied by a strong impact that prevented him from doing so.

‘What is this?’

Something was wrong. When the woman came closer, the symptoms worsened. Allen panted and braced himself against the ground.

‘Could it be magic? Is someone using magic on me…’

Such nonsensical thoughts crossed his mind.

“Let’s get you inside first.”

The woman put her arm under Allen’s armpit to lift him, and at the same time…

The scene in his mind brightened vividly and became clear.

“Ahhh! What is this!”

“Why, why are you acting like this.”

Allen leaned on her but then had a seizure.

He wondered what he was seeing. It was so shocking that his hands trembled for the first time in his life.

“You, what are you?”

“Huh? I’m Lea, who will be taking the position of vice commander of the First Division.”

The woman’s face appeared up close. Her skin was quite pale, perhaps because she was from a cold region, and her blue eyes were deep. And…

“You, what on earth are you?”

“The north is quite cold, isn’t it? Your mouth seems frozen.”

A woman making nonsensical statements with an expressionless face. Normally, he would have scolded a knight for talking too much, but right now he had no presence of mind for that. Certain scenes kept passing through his mind, making his stomach feel heavy and strength gather below.

What he was seeing was a scene of two couples intertwined. He had only seen people intertwined when fighting. When two people were desperate to kill each other in the mud, that’s when the term “intertwined” was used; he had never thought of people being intertwined for any other purpose.

But this—what word besides “intertwined” could define it?

Allen was practically dragged along by Lea in a state of shock.

“How can… how can people…”

Four n*ked people. They formed a circle. With whatever flexibility they possessed, the four were deeply arching their backs, holding and sucking each other’s g*nitals and doing various things. It was a sight he could barely describe, and it appeared so detailed, as if they were right in front of him, that even the shapes of their g*nitals were visible, leaving him utterly confused.

As a grown adult, he knew all about male-female affairs, but this went beyond all bounds. In fact, he wondered if this was even physically possible.

“Did you hit your head on the way here? Why are you muttering in a daze?”

Meanwhile, the woman providing him with these stimulating scenes seemed completely unbothered—even carefree.

“Let, let go!”