* * *
I asked him cautiously,
“What were you reading? I’m not interrupting your reading, am I?”
“I was getting bored, so I was about to stop anyway.”
Thud.
He closed the thick book at once and set it down beside him.
“Why? What was it about?”
“A trivial story.”
“If it was trivial to Locke, then hmm… it’s a romance! Right?”
When I spoke with a grin, he stared at me with an expressionless face.
I quickly straightened my features under that cold gaze.
“I mean, I didn’t mean you’re bad at dating. You just seem uninterested in romance, haha… So, the book? What kind of story was it?”
When I hurriedly changed the subject, he blinked for a moment and then slowly opened his mouth.
“I suppose you could call it the horrific end of a monster who trusted a human.”
“Ah! I know that one. It’s a non-human romance, right?”
Among the books that came in as trade goods, there were occasionally novels about love between humans and monsters.
Every one I read had a bad ending, so I hadn’t read much non-human fiction since then.
I hated sad endings.
“I like non-human stories. Tell me more about it in detail. Please?”
Even so, I lied and began to pester him to tell me more of the plot.
There was only one reason: since I was always the only one chattering, I would quickly run out of things to say, and whenever that happened, Locke would silently stand up, bid me farewell, and leave.
I wanted to create an excuse to talk with him a little longer.
Time spent with a newly made friend in this new life was much more enjoyable than watching trashy novels alone.
He didn’t react much to my stories, but the mere fact that someone was by my side and listening to what I said made me feel less like I had fallen into a lonely, isolated world.
As I kept pestering him, Locke’s firmly shut lips opened again as if he were surrendering.
“It probably won’t be very interesting content.”
“I like calm love stories too.”
“I told you, it’s not a love story.”
He arched an eyebrow.
“Okay, okay!”
When I laughed brightly and urged him to hurry up and tell me—be it a tragedy or whatever—he wrinkled his eyebrows and soon began to recite the plot in a pleasant, low-pitched voice.
The novel was about a young ‘Destruction’ who was deceived by twelve wizards pioneering a territory and ended up giving away its own land.
What is a ‘Destruction’?
A being possessing such immense power that humans cannot even fathom it through imagination.
In the world of The Emperor’s Consort, they were referred to as ‘Destruction.’
There was a legend that if a ‘Destruction’ collapsed mentally 666 times, they would gain power so great it was impossible to imagine.
This was called a Great Destruction, and a Great Destruction could blow away a continent with a single gesture.
At that point, even tens of thousands of High Sages couldn’t dare to stop it; it was the apocalypse itself.
I had never encountered such a massive power yet. I hadn’t even heard rumors of it.
So, in my mind, it was pictured as some fictional spiritual creature like a dragon or a phoenix.
Listening to the story, as is often the case, human greed knew no bounds.
They even began to covet the vast magical power of the young Destruction who had welcomed them into its fertile territory.
‘It’s definitely a sad ending.’
When a Destruction turns twenty-five, they gain their full power as a true entity, but before that, they must go through a period of being weaker than even low-class monsters.
That was exactly when the heart, the source of their power, was being completed.
The twelve wizards aimed for that period to kill the Destruction and divide the source of its power among themselves.
Only one of the wizards rejected this dirty alliance.
It was a Barrier Master, one of the twelve High Sages who contributed to the founding of the nation.
He knew the villains’ plan and tried to hide the Destruction within his own barrier to protect it until its heart was complete.
But the cunning humans eventually used this Barrier Master to lure the Destruction out of the barrier.
In the end, the two met a miserable conclusion, unable to protect each other until the very end.
“Whoa, that’s unbelievable. It’s too sad…”
After hearing the whole story, I felt an emptiness as if a hole had been punched through my chest.
“Now I’m depressed.”
“The Young Master was the one who asked me to tell the story.”
“I’m not blaming you for telling it. You know, sometimes your thoughts jump to strange places.”
“Because the Young Master speaks in circles.”
“I never spoke in circles!”
I crossed my arms grumpily, and he still had that listless expression, uninterested in everything.
Since my friend was this insensitive, what choice did I have but for me, overflowing with emotions, to be the understanding one?
“I meant that I wanted you to empathize with this depressed feeling.”
“What is there to be depressed about?”
“The two didn’t end up together, aren’t you sad?”
“It was never going to happen from the beginning, so I am not sad.”
“Wow… is your heart made of ice? Why are you so cold-hearted?”
“What is there to be cold-hearted about? They were different species, and there were no sexual feelings involved.”
I couldn’t help but get worked up at those words.
“What are you talking about? Anyone could see it was mutual! They both loved each other so desperately!”
Locke’s eyes, which had remained unresponsive even to my claim of being depressed, turned toward me for the first time.
I could read a bit of surprise in the shimmering golden waves of his gaze.
“They did not love each other.”
“Whatever, it was a totally desperate romance.”
“What do you know to be so certain?”
He spoke with his tone rising at the end, as if mixed with annoyance.
I was just as worked up.
“Because it’s so obvious to the eye!”
“Then you saw it wrong. It was a story that didn’t even take five minutes; you must have dozed off in the middle.”
He wasn’t ice.
Locke’s heart wasn’t frozen; it was just iron ore from the Peril Mine in the Hestian territory to begin with. How could he say such a thing after reading this desperate romance?
“You really don’t know love at all, do you?”
“You’re stating the obvious. Monsters cannot feel human emotions.”
I clicked my tongue.
“I’m talking about you, not the Destruction.”
Locke flinched and shut his mouth tight.
“As I see it, you’re the one being certain. Thinking that because the protagonist is a fearsome being called a Destruction, they wouldn’t know love. You don’t know that touching those fantasy-like emotions is exactly the true charm of non-human stories. The two loved each other. And very desperately at that.”
“They did not.”
“They did.”
“I said they didn’t?”
The guy who usually had no interest in anything was being exceptionally stubborn today.
“Why are you getting angry? Are you the protagonist? Did I just tell you that you liked the Barrier Master? This is strange.”
“Because the Young Master keeps insisting when he doesn’t even know.”
“Stating what’s clear isn’t ‘insisting.’ You really don’t know the first thing about romance, do you?”
“Do I have to know?”
Locke tilted one eyebrow as if telling me to keep talking.
I thought I knew why he lived his life buried in work without even having a lover, despite having a perfectly fine body and appearance.
He’s a fool if he doesn’t know.
It was the first time in my life I’d seen someone so completely broked off regarding romantic feelings.
Even my father, who used to verbally abuse me and lay hands on me, loved my mother desperately—how was this guy’s heart even formed?
It was a mystery how he could feel absolutely nothing after reading the novel, even though I could sense their desperate love just by hearing the plot.
I told him ‘fine’ and suggested we just eat cookies.
There was no point in talking further with someone who didn’t even know the feeling of romance; it would only make me frustrated.
I began to untie the ribbon wrapped around the box’s packaging.
It wouldn’t come loose no matter how I tried—I had no idea how they’d tied it—so I was practically tearing it off, when Locke, who had been silent for a moment, spoke to me with a serious expression.
“Can I ask one thing?”
“Uh, sure.”
I spread the ribbon left and right, even wrinkling my brow.
Locke hesitated for a moment before continuing.
“Does saying they both loved each other desperately mean the Barrier Master also had the emotion of love?”
I lifted my gaze from the box.
I could see his prominent Adam’s apple moving slowly as he waited for my answer.
It seemed a proper conversation was finally about to begin.
My heart began to thump.
“Of course. Even facing death, the Barrier Master stood by the Destruction’s side and protected him until the end!”
“If protecting someone is love, the Young Master also said he would protect me—is that also love?”
“What? What kind of horrible thing to say…”
I spoke sternly while rubbing the goosebumps that had broken out on my arms.
“That’s not love, it’s friendship. Friendship and love are strictly different. The Barrier Master liked the Destruction as the opposite sex and wanted to protect him, and I like you as a friend and want to protect you.”
“By the emotion of liking as the opposite sex, do you mean a heart that worships and looks up to a god, or do you mean sexual feelings? And how are friendship and love divided?”
What on earth was he saying?
When conversations with him grew long, I sometimes got confused whether I was talking to a human or a lifeform from somewhere in the distant universe.
“Of course it’s the latter! That kind of love where you want to hold them, want to kiss them, and want to share mental and physical intimacy! Love is what you do with a lover, and friendship is what you do with a friend. If you love a friend, that’s an accident. It’s a big problem.”
“But in this book I read, no such emotional descriptions were written.”
“If you describe and explain a character’s emotions from one to ten, is that a novel? It’s a manual.”
“The Barrier Master pushed the Destruction away with curses, telling him never to come again, even though the Destruction had gone through the trouble of finding him. He was disgusted and repulsed, saying not even to touch his body. Even so, are you certain such feelings existed?”
Locke’s pupils trembled as he looked at me.
It was the first time he had shown active interest in something.
So I wanted to tell him in detail, but for some reason, a mischievous desire arose to see that pleading look in his eyes for a little bit longer.
I purposefully crossed my arms and pretended to ponder, “Hmm.”
“That’s part of the content you didn’t tell me earlier, right?”
“How can I tell you the entire content of such a thick novel in just a few minutes?”
“That’s exactly what I mean. So, about that.”
I beamed at Locke.
A way had come to mind to make this guy—who always found me bothersome and trivial—actually wait for our meetings with bated breath.
* * *
