Het finally snapped back to his senses when Rou’s slender fingers touched his face. For the High Priest to wipe away his tears—it was beyond an honor, it felt apologetic. Het quickly pulled out his handkerchief and vigorously wiped the High Priest’s thin index finger.
Rou smiled brightly as if it was nothing, but Het couldn’t do the same.
It was hard to believe he had rattled off such content without even realizing it, without any guard up. To the High Priest who had given up the Cana Kingdom and decided to remain in the Empire, when he should have been telling him only the good points of the Empire, he had instead spilled stories about the Emperor’s violent nature.
He felt troubled at his inability to distinguish between what should and shouldn’t be said. If the High Priest hadn’t been incomprehensibly favorable toward the Emperor, Het wouldn’t have been able to stop him even if he packed his bags to flee immediately.
“That… High Priest. His Imperial Majesty isn’t always like this. This time it was also my fault…”
Even if he was a tyrant, he was still the Emperor. Feeling like he’d expressed only negative emotions, it seemed right to belatedly defend him, saying it wasn’t that bad. What if the High Priest came to hate the Emperor because of him?
“That’s true. When you think about it, you let a Queen Bee from another hive drift in, didn’t you?”
“…Yes.”
Fortunately for Het, the High Priest was extremely objective. It seemed unlikely he would hate the Emperor because of him.
“If there are two Queen Bees in one hive, that hive will eventually split apart. Bees who were family to each other will suddenly become enemies and tear each other apart. The sight of a peaceful hive becoming a tomb in an instant is truly horrific.”
“…”
Back when he was still an ordinary-sized bumblebee with ordinary abilities, a newly born Queen Bee had once accidentally entered Rou’s hive. Since that Queen Bee was a young individual whose wings hadn’t even fully spread, Rou hadn’t thought she would destroy the hive so completely.
Contrary to such beliefs, one peaceful day after dropping four drops of honey into the Goddess’s teacup and returning to the hive exhausted, Rou encountered a brutal scene. Though it had been an ordinary day up until morning—collecting honey as usual, transferring pollen stuck to their legs—the place had become a battlefield in an instant.
The sight of his sisters, who had been together since childhood, suddenly becoming enemies and fighting was something he couldn’t forget even if he tried. Rou was male, so he didn’t become a target of attack, but watching the sisters he’d grown up with—who had stolen and shared well-sealed honey together—lose their lives before his eyes was as agonizing as death itself.
Rou’s eyes had grown somber. In a voice slightly lower than usual, he spoke to Het.
“Don’t do that from now on. No matter how much it’s for my sake, you’re a knight who has pledged loyalty to the Emperor, aren’t you?”
“…Yes! Of course. I only allowed him to infiltrate the Imperial Palace because I knew the King of Cana had no other purpose—if he had shown even slightly suspicious behavior, I would have immediately dragged him to the underground dungeon!”
Feeling sorry for badmouthing the Emperor too much, Het had been thinking he should say something nice, but before he knew it, he was defending himself. Sitting across from Rou, in his desperation he had somehow gotten on his knees and was prostrating flat before Rou.
Fortunately, the benevolent High Priest smiled kindly and even praised him for having a good mindset.
He could somehow endure being cursed at by the Emperor or having his life threatened, but disappointing the High Priest was worse than death. When the High Priest smiled beautifully and kindly as always, Het finally felt relieved and wiped away the cold sweat that had formed on his forehead.
“If Brukisel said that, you probably don’t have a proper place to go right now. You’re welcome to stay at the temple as long as you like.”
Rou said while stroking Het’s abundant hair. Human heads were round with thick fur growing on them, which made them pleasant to touch. Het, who had been docilely receiving the patting, suddenly raised his head at Rou’s words.
“Then… in that case… may I perhaps take on the duty of guarding you, High Priest? Protecting you would be for the national interest, so wouldn’t that be in line with my pledge of loyalty to His Imperial Majesty!”
“Hmm.”
“Once you stand by His Imperial Majesty’s side, High Priest, those approaching with ill will are bound to increase. You’ll surely find me useful.”
Het asked with a raised voice to hide his trembling heart like an aspen leaf. But knowing that life on earth was but a moment, Rou, who had little attachment to the act of sustaining life, didn’t really feel the necessity of a guard knight.
Moreover, Rou only had one year left to stay on earth. He could feel that the brief spring was passing and summer—which he could at least endure—was coming. Since he couldn’t be certain he would continue to be here, he wondered if it was right to take on something like a guard knight. He was also a bit worried about Het’s livelihood after he left.
But it did seem like the temple would need a knight even without him. Yan was still a larva in bee terms, and Jes was an aged bee with tattered wings who couldn’t fly. If they brought in someone sturdy like Het, the three of them could cultivate the temple and live cozily together, which seemed fine.
“Do so.”
Het, whose insides had been burning up because the High Priest looked troubled, finally brightened at the permission granted.
Het felt like he could newly understand why people relied so much on religion. The world was too harsh, fierce, and severe (mainly because of one single person). In contrast, the temple was so warm, kind, and overflowing with affection (also because of one single person).
“Ah, Het. Since you who handles a sword well happen to be by my side, there’s one thing I’d like to ask of you as my guard knight.”
Rou gestured for Het to come closer, thinking this worked out well. Het trembled at the first mission he would receive as a knight. Whatever it was, he absolutely didn’t want to disappoint the High Priest. He nodded solemnly and approached Rou closely.
Rou carefully grasped Het’s ear and whispered something in a very, very small and thin voice. Het looked incredulous, as if doubting his own ears.
“Are you… are you serious?”
“Yes. Please hurry and do it.”
Het looked up at the High Priest with a heart desperately hoping he would reconsider. But the High Priest’s will was firm. With the resolve that if Het wouldn’t do it, he would do it himself, he even reached for Het’s waist.
Het retreated far back even though he knew he shouldn’t dare do so, to prevent the High Priest from grabbing it.
“Het.”
“High Priest. Please reconsider. Don’t you know how sad you’ll be? Can’t you already predict how disappointed that guy Yan will be too?”
“Urgh…”
When the two names came up, Rou hesitated a bit. The reason he had secretly asked only Het without telling those two was along the same lines, but he hadn’t expected Het to bring up their names first.
Seeing the High Priest show signs of contemplation, Het pressed his advantage. What if Sir Jes collapsed in shock? If he collapsed at that age, he would really go straight to the Goddess’s embrace without fail. Same with Yan. Did he really have the confidence to listen to whining all day long?
Het tried to persuade the High Priest with all the sensational words he could muster. Listening calmly to the pouring persuasion, Rou seemed to grow even more resolute instead. Het’s whining was no less than Yan’s, and at this level, it seemed he could endure it.
“Now! Hurry up and do it!”
Rou sprang up from his seat. He straightened his clothes and stood neatly. Het was in a situation where he could neither run away nor refuse. His bronze-colored face was gradually turning pale, becoming ashen.
“Het. My mind won’t change, so hurry and cut it. And I’ve already promised Theodore. I said I’d give him a portion of my hair as a sacred relic to replace Patricia’s Belt.”
Rou said, holding out his hair. Het eventually drew the sword hanging at his waist, doing it reluctantly. He hesitated until the last moment, but when honey-colored eyes turned toward him, he soon cut the hair with tears in his eyes.
The sound of the fine but abundant hair being cut was refreshing. He thought it would be nice if it was cut really short since they were cutting it anyway. Finally being able to escape from this long and cumbersome hair—the sense of liberation was beyond words.
As soon as the sound of cutting hair ended, Rou ran to stand in front of the mirror. A sweetly-looking man with a soft body was looking into the mirror with an expectant face.
“Eh…”
However, expectation quickly turned to disappointment. He had hoped that if he at least cut his hair short, his appearance that looked sweet and kind no matter what might give off a somewhat different impression, but this hair that slightly covered the nape only added a fresh, boyish charm.
Rou stared blankly at his reflection in the mirror. It seemed to be cut to match the length that had been cut off when Brukisel threw the severed sword. Still, this wasn’t worth cutting his hair for, was it? He would need to cut it short like Het’s to look aggressive like a hedgehog.
Rou, who had been glancing at Het’s hair cut short enough to fully expose his nape, carefully spoke.
“Het, could you perhaps make it shorter…”
“Absolutely not! The Goddess will punish me!”
When the Goddess was mentioned, Rou firmly closed his mouth. As he said, if he cut it really short, he felt like he would really get scolded by the Goddess. Since Rou disliked making the Goddess sad more than anyone, he could only sigh and sit back down.
Het obediently placed the cut hair on the table. The hair seemed to shine more brilliantly than Patricia’s Belt contained in the box. He pulled out from under the table another box identical to the one Het had brought and began placing a handful of cut hair inside.
“Oh my.”
The hair seemed to be more abundant and longer than expected. The amount promised to Theodore was sufficient with just a handful by Rou’s hand. Facing the pile of hair on the table, Het felt as if guilt was choking his throat.
Perhaps because he had no great interest in humans other than Brukisel, Rou didn’t notice Het’s guilt and sparkled his eyes, saying he had a really good idea. Rou’s appearance overflowing with vitality was truly beautiful, but Het couldn’t shake off the feeling of wanting to run away for some reason.
“Het, I have one more favor to ask of you…”
