Arc 1, New Moon
Chapter 23

Was this really so rare that it was considered legendary? In every book’s setting, these pairs always met without fail. Rather than it being rare like in reality, it seemed nearly impossible to not meet.

Ernst absentmindedly looked down toward the man. Today might have been a warmer day since he had taken off his thick coat while he trained.

It would be nice if he really did have compatible bodily fluids with that man.

He pressed his cheek to the window. Lately, whenever he thought about that man, his body became hot. The cold stone around the window felt good.

The captain told him something, and the man vigorously pulled off his clothes.

The militia troops cheered loudly at the man’s reveal of his nude upper body, muscular and masculine. Sweat flowed down the raised muscles of his chest and over his tight and compact abdominal muscles, making them glitter in the sunlight. As if admiring him, the captain smacked the man’s abs with his fist.

When Ernst saw that sight, a dark and muddy emotion swirled deep inside his stomach.

He would bring his mouth toward that man’s chest. Touch that hard fabric with his lips. I want to touch his body, he thought, a scathing and bitter feeling rising inside him. Even though the man touched those soldiers with those hands, why did he never touch Ernst with them. For some reason, Ernst’s small body felt like it was doused with dark emotions.

“Lord Ernst?”

This man always met Ernst with an unobtrusive voice, a quiet demeanor.

Weren’t the Grudes supposed to be the kind of people who would do it immediately after they met. Ernst didn’t know since when this man had served in his bathing chamber, but the man had been able to keep himself from touching Ernst for however many years. Was he really a person of Grude, this Dunbertian.

Or did it mean that he actually, in reality, didn’t really love Ernst, after all.

“Lord Ernst…?”

At the man’s inquisitive voice, Ernst raised his head. He peered into those reddish-brown eyes, then raised his body and stuck his mouth on the man’s warm lips. When that giant body grew stiff and unmoving, Ernst let go of his mouth and looked at the man’s bewildered and masculine face from up close.

“I am a man. How can someone like you, who had only ever had women as your partners, say that you fell in love with me, a man? Are you sure that you have actually fallen in love with me?”

Ernst whispered. They were close enough to feel each other’s breath. As if trying to conceal the anxiety in his heart, Ernst tightly clutched the man’s large shoulder with this slender fingertips.

“Lord Ernst.”

Those perplexed and wavering reddish-brown eyes gazed straightforwardly at Ernst. The power of his gaze pierced through Ernst’s blue eyes.

“It has nothing to do with whether you were a man or a woman. No matter which Lord Ernst was, no matter what you looked like, I would have fallen in love with you. Lord Ernst is the first person that my heart has ever loved. And… the last person, as well.”

His muscular arms embraced Ernst, and his hot breath covered Ernst’s lips.

Ernst had felt intoxicated by the man’s tongue. Last night, Ernst had slept with his heart feeling like cotton. That fluffy sensation that had made him feel like he was floating persisted even now.

This was, a person with compatible bodily fluids, was it.

Even so…

Ernst finally arrived at a single thought.

It had nothing to do with being a man or a woman.

That’s right, it already didn’t matter at all to Ernst. Being a man or a woman didn’t matter. Having compatible bodily fluids didn’t matter.

Because he had fallen in love with that man.

Ernst’s feet once again brought him to the library. Now that his situation had come this far, there was another problem on his hands, so he had to turn to some other place for the answers. He still hadn’t yet found a guide for what he wanted to do. In other words, how two men were supposed to do it.

That man had said that he had never taken partners other than women. Ernst was a man, so he didn’t fit. But since the man loved him, that would make him want him.

Ernst looked for everything which had a suspicious book binding. All of the things he pulled out were about men and women. Or beasts.

Ernst felt like he was withering away. Of all of the vast numbers of books he could have chosen from, how did this book end up in his hand. And what in the world was the previous lord thinking when he collected it? Did he read this?

Ernst thought back to the corridor which housed the portraits of the previous lords. Which one of those faces was the lord who was reading about animals and people doing it, he wondered.

Exhausted, Ernst pulled out another book with his thin fingers.

Aah, there it was.

Ernst’s eyes had grown more discerning as of late. Everything about this, as well as its cover, said ‘this is it’.

“Sword and Sword”

What a gallant title that was. If he had looked at it without knowing anything, he might have thought it would be a guide on swordsmanship. But since it had been stored in such a way, this was certainly that kind of book.

Ernst timidly and nervously flipped through the pages. He followed the words.

All of the answers he had been searching for were contained inside.