TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 110

TN: Sorry everyone, I accidentally reuploaded Ch 108 as 109. The last chapter has now been fixed!!

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Before Larimar had even finished speaking, countless writhing octopus tentacles suddenly erupted across the beach.

Filled with Larimar’s fury, the monstrous tentacles surged toward the two teenagers clinging to each other on the shore.

The roaring sea also rose into towering waves, ready to swallow the one who had provoked its wrath.

Faced with such fierce and murderous intent, the unconscious Blake reacted instinctively.

He split the raging waves apart, held Albin tightly in his arms, and darted away with agile movements, avoiding the terrifyingly nimble tentacles.

Looking into Blake’s vacant, chaotic eyes, Albin was astonished.

Because he knew Blake would never hurt him, he hadn’t put up any defenses when Blake rushed toward him.

So this is the desire that was released and amplified inside Xiao Hei?

Albin couldn’t help smiling to himself.

He had originally assumed Xiao Hei’s deepest desire would be training obsessively.

Who would have thought it was simply wanting to kiss him?

How adorable.

Seawater crashed down over them while the octopus tentacles tried to pull the two apart.

Snapping out of the strange feelings swirling inside him, Albin realized the situation was becoming dangerous.

Larimar probably thought Xiao Hei was attacking him.

A headache came over him.

In Blake’s current state, there was no way he could properly explain the misunderstanding.

After a moment’s thought, Albin decided to calm Blake down first.

Crimson chains emerged from beneath his cloak and instantly wrapped around the two of them, forming a tightly sealed sphere of chains.

The structure was nearly indestructible.

From the outside, it looked like a giant ball of tangled yarn, making it impossible for anyone to see what was happening inside.

Within the crimson sphere, the two remained pressed closely together.

Blake gradually calmed down now that the murderous intent around them was blocked out.

The only thing that didn’t change was his kiss.

How are you supposed to deal with the mental confusion caused by a siren’s song?

Albin pondered.

He had never encountered such a situation before.

Since he could understand the voices of magical creatures, siren songs had never affected him from the beginning.

If satisfying the desire is enough…

Wrapping his arms around Blake’s neck, Albin cooperated with the kiss and whispered between breaths:

“Xiao Hei… I’m here…”

Like someone dying of thirst, Blake continued seeking him out.

“Xiao Hei…”

Albin gently stroked his black hair and kept calling his name.

“Xiao Bai…?”

Under Albin’s repeated calls, those ultramarine eyes, clouded by confusion and reflected red light, slowly regained their clarity.

The moment Blake realized what was happening, memories of his confused state flooded back.

His face instantly turned red and white.

He hurriedly released Albin, looking so flustered that he seemed to have entered another state of confusion altogether.

Albin laughed.

“I feel like a prince in an opera. I kissed Princess Xiao Hei awake!”

Just a kiss and a few calls of his name had been enough to satisfy him.

That was far too cute.

But Blake hung his head low, his voice filled with guilt.

“I’m sorry. I did something like that without your permission…”

This was different from last time.

The previous kiss had been discussed and agreed upon beforehand.

This time, it had happened completely outside of that context.

Though he didn’t know much about kissing, he knew that touching someone intimately without permission was extremely rude.

Sometimes drunks in taverns would harass waitstaff.

Whenever that happened, his teammate Lina would step in, fiercely scold the drunkards, punish them, and comfort the innocent servers.

“You can punish me however you want.”

There was a hint of self-loathing in Blake’s voice.

Head lowered, he looked completely prepared to accept whatever punishment Albin chose.

Albin rubbed his head.

“I know you only acted that way because of the mental attack. It’s okay.”

“And besides, I don’t dislike it when Xiao Hei does things like that with me. We’ve kissed before.”

Even though Albin said that, Blake couldn’t forgive himself.

Because he knew he had undergone resistance training against mental attacks.

He could have overcome the confusion on his own.

Yet the moment he heard Xiao Bai’s voice, his mind had filled entirely with thoughts of Xiao Bai.

That allowed the mental attack to gain the upper hand.

It wasn’t because he had been attacked.

It was because his own willpower had been too weak.

Because he had failed to control himself.

Seeing that Blake still looked guilty, Albin finally said:

“Fine. Then I’ll definitely punish Xiao Hei properly!”

Smiling, he pinched Blake’s pitiful-looking face and spoke in a serious tone:

“I don’t mind, but Xiao Hei absolutely can’t do this to other people in the future.”

A troubling thought occurred to him.

What if he wasn’t around next time?

Would Xiao Hei just grab a random person and kiss them?

Albin’s expression immediately grew serious.

Come to think of it…

What exactly was Xiao Hei’s deepest desire?

“It won’t happen.”

Blake answered firmly.

“I only wanted to be closer to Xiao Bai.”

“I’d never do that with anyone else.”

Albin blinked in surprise.

That was all?

So Xiao Hei’s desire had simply manifested itself as wanting physical closeness.

Albin laughed softly.

“So cute.”

He liked Xiao Hei’s selfishness.

Because he possessed the same selfishness himself.

Lifting Blake’s chin, Albin smiled brilliantly.

“If Xiao Hei ever has thoughts like that, you can tell me anytime.”

“We’re good friends.”

“A small request like that is something I can definitely grant.”

“Kissing or anything else doesn’t matter.”

“Next time, you don’t even need to ask for permission.”

Just imagining Xiao Hei following him with those eyes, approaching him timidly and saying he wanted to be closer, made Albin feel so happy he could barely contain his grin.

Blake locked his gaze onto him.

“Okay.”

Albin released the chains.

The waiting tentacles immediately shot forward and yanked him away.

After ensuring Albin was safe, Larimar launched another attack toward Blake.

Seeing that a fight was about to break out, Albin hurriedly stopped him.

“Larimar! Xiao Hei wasn’t attacking me! It was a misunderstanding!”

“A misunderstanding?”

Larimar let out a cold laugh and showed no sign of stopping.

“What misunderstanding?!”

He had personally witnessed this bastard forcibly kissing Albin.

The entire sequence of events was crystal clear.

What misunderstanding could there possibly be?!

Albin used his chains to block Larimar’s attacks, broke free of the tentacles, and positioned himself in front of Blake.

“Xiao Hei was affected by your mental attack.”

“That’s why he acted like that.”

“And he never hurt me.”

“He just wanted to be a little closer to me.”

“And he’s already apologized.”

Hearing this only made Larimar regret things even more.

It was true.

That brat had been affected by his attack.

But his power merely released the desires hidden in a person’s heart.

It could never create desires out of nothing.

The fact that this bastard had done something like this proved he had been harboring improper intentions toward Albin all along.

The attack had merely exposed them.

Looking at the black-haired boy standing behind Albin, Larimar gritted his teeth.

To him, it looked like an innocent lamb was being lured by a cunning, sinister wolf.

A lamb that didn’t even realize it was about to be devoured.

And that lamb belonged to his family!

He desperately wanted to beat that brat senseless.

Zeman had even told him before that he should properly temper the boy.

Why hadn’t he acted when they first met?

Now Albin was here.

And he was protecting him.

There was no way Larimar could teach that brat a lesson in front of Albin.

He would have to deal with him another time.

Unwillingly, Larimar clenched his teeth so hard it felt as though his sharp siren fangs might crack.

Forced to withdraw his attack, he instead strode forward, shot Blake a vicious glare, and grabbed Albin’s arm.

“Come back with me first.”

“We still haven’t talked about your little runaway-from-home incident.”

Albin instantly felt guilty.

After all, this was his first time running away from home.

The moment a guardian caught him, his confidence immediately shrank.

“Okay.”

There were things he needed to discuss with Larimar anyway.

The moment he agreed, Blake suddenly grabbed his other arm.

Turning around, Albin reassured him:

“It’s okay, Xiao Hei.”

“He’s family.”

“His name is Larimar. I think I’ve mentioned him before.”

“I’ll stay at Larimar’s place tonight.”

“I’ll meet up with you again tomorrow~”

After reuniting with Blake, Albin had told him many things about himself.

Naturally, that included stories about his family.

Seeing the trust in Albin’s expression, Blake knew there was no changing his mind.

Lowering his head, he said quietly:

“Okay.”

“I’ll wait for you.”

The moment he let go, Larimar immediately dragged Albin away.

Before leaving, he shot Blake one final murderous glare.

---

Larimar brought Albin back to his residence.

Larimar usually operated under the identity of a priest of the Sea God, so naturally he maintained a human residence as well.

The moment they arrived, Larimar didn’t even bother discussing Albin’s runaway-from-home incident.

Instead, he immediately fetched the softest silk handkerchief he could find, dampened it with water, and carefully wiped Albin’s lips, as if trying to erase every trace of a certain brat’s presence.

“It’s really nothing. Xiao Hei just kissed me, that’s all.”

Albin couldn’t understand why Larimar was reacting so strongly. He wasn’t hurt at all.

The moment he repeated that dreadful scene, Larimar’s face darkened.

“You absolutely cannot let people kiss you casually!”

Larimar emphasized each word gravely.

Albin replied matter-of-factly:

“Of course I know that. But Xiao Hei isn’t just some random person. He’s my best friend, so it’s fine.”

Seeing Albin’s completely unconcerned expression, Larimar felt like he might faint.

He absolutely could not allow evil humans to corrupt Albin!

He had to make Albin understand how dangerous humans were!

The problem was that Larimar had no idea how to explain it.

Nor did he want to expose his own hostility toward humans in front of Albin.

At that moment, Hailan happened to pass through the living room.

She was surprised to see Albin there, and Larimar quickly explained the situation, requesting assistance from his older sister.

The moment Hailan heard that Albin had been forcibly kissed by some brat, an even more terrifying aura erupted from her than from Larimar.

Internally grinding her teeth, she nonetheless approached Albin with a gentle smile and sat down beside him.

Her voice was soft as water.

“Larimar is right. Even between friends, you shouldn’t kiss casually.”

“Why not?”

Albin looked puzzled.

“I know kissing is usually something lovers do, but aren’t there many other kinds of kisses?”

The moment she heard that, Hailan knew none of those bachelors had ever taught Albin anything about this topic.

They thought they had created an impenetrable defense around him, keeping anyone with ulterior motives away.

Yet they had never imagined someone would find a loophole like this.

You could guard against danger for a while.

But could you guard against it forever?

Hailan knew very well that Albin’s status was special.

Sooner or later, people would set their sights on him.

It would be better if Albin himself learned to stay vigilant.

Many nobles were eager to marry priests or Holy Sons of the temples.

Not long ago, plenty of self-proclaimed noble aristocrats had eagerly offered themselves as Larimar’s lovers.

But Larimar still despised humans and could easily see through their motives.

Instead of being tempted, he found them utterly disgusting.

Among nobles, maintaining the purity of one’s bloodline required marrying another noble.

But if they wished to “purify” or elevate their bloodline, they would introduce the bloodline of a priest.

Because priests could become vessels for gods, many nobles believed a priest’s children carried divine blood.

They regarded such bloodlines as the finest possible heritage, capable of producing noble and powerful descendants.

Even if the priest had been born into humble circumstances.

Even if they normally despised illegitimate children.

As long as that divine blood was present, they would elevate such offspring above everyone else.

The former king of the Cuckoo Kingdom, for example, had been obsessed with “the bloodline of the gods.”

Every wife and lover he took came from families said to possess divine blood.

Hailan had heard countless stories of noble excess and debauchery.

Indeed, for nobles who matured early, kissing was hardly a significant matter.

At Albin’s age, some nobles might already be engaged—or even have illegitimate children.

But she could not allow Albin to be led astray.

Nor could she let ignorant people covet or deceive him.

Gently stroking his hair, she explained:

“That’s true. Broadly speaking, there are kisses shared between family members, and even kisses associated with betrayal.”

“Customs vary from place to place as well. In some regions, kissing is considered something quite frightening.”

Then she changed her tone.

“However, generally speaking, a kiss on the lips is reserved for one’s lover.”

“It is a special act we give to our lover.”

“It differs from affectionate kisses on the cheek or forehead shared among family.”

“It is a unique kind of kiss that belongs to lovers.”

Albin fell into thought.

Hailan continued:

“If we could kiss anyone we wanted, then how would a lover’s special place and intimacy be distinguished?”

Then she said seriously:

“So in the future, don’t kiss anyone who isn’t your lover.”

“And don’t let others do such things to you.”

“No matter what people say, don’t believe them.”

“You must protect yourself.”

“I understand.”

Albin finally understood her reasoning.

And he finally understood why kissing was generally considered something between lovers.

Yet a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

Does that mean Xiao Hei will kiss someone else one day?

His future lover?

Of course he would.

The thought appeared casually, yet a strange sourness immediately filled Albin’s chest.

He didn’t want that future to become reality.

He didn’t want Xiao Hei to someday gain a lover.

No…

Albin pressed his lips together.

He didn’t understand why such a selfish thought had appeared.

He had always hoped Xiao Hei would build more relationships with other people.

A lover should naturally be part of that.

Xiao Hei absolutely deserved to receive a lover’s affection.

So why was he thinking this way?

Was it because he feared that once Xiao Hei had a lover, he would no longer be Xiao Hei’s closest friend?

Until now, he had somehow ignored the possibility that Xiao Hei might one day fall in love.

Now he was forced to confront it.

What kind of person would Xiao Hei’s lover be?

Albin lowered his eyes.

A tangle of emotions churned within him.

An indescribable heaviness and bitterness lingered in his heart.

The feeling was so frustrating that he couldn’t even put it into words.

After confirming that Albin wouldn’t casually allow himself to be kissed again, Larimar finally relaxed.

Then he steered the conversation back.

“So, what’s this about running away from home?”

Albin snapped back to reality and hurriedly said:

“Larimar, don’t tell my father or my brother yet!”

Even though he still sent them messages every day to let them know he was safe, he wasn’t ready to face them directly.

“But…”

Larimar exchanged a glance with Hailan.

“Even if we don’t tell them, Zeman already said he had business here.”

“He’ll arrive tomorrow.”

Oh no.

Albin immediately jolted upright in alarm.

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