Chapter 67
It wasn’t long before Yesi arrived.
The moment he came in, he was startled by the hole in the cocoon. For a second he thought something had happened to the person inside. In his understanding, the cocoon was part of Yomi himself—if the cocoon was damaged, then wouldn’t that be disastrous?
He rushed over in alarm to ask about it, but fortunately Yomi immediately explained from inside, “It’s fine, Yesi. I picked this open myself. I’m completely fine! I could even make the hole bigger!”
“…”
The opening was small, but it was more than enough to see the state of the two people inside.
Yesi pressed one eye to the hole like he was peering through a peephole, carefully checking both their complexions. They looked alright. After that, just as Anxius had asked, he brought over the equipment and gave Yomi a full-body examination.
The results were exactly what Yomi had expected. Picking a hole in the cocoon did not affect his health in the slightest.
“That’s wonderful!” Yesi was even happier than Yomi. Heaven knew how worried he had been, unable to see the patient all day.
Once he got permission, Yomi immediately started enthusiastically burrowing outward like a little mole.
But Anxius wouldn’t allow him to enlarge the hole too much. In Anxius’s eyes, the silk was part of Yomi, and even if it didn’t harm him, that still didn’t mean he could fool around carelessly with it.
The whole time Anxius adjusted the silk around the opening, he was incredibly careful. Every time he touched it, he would immediately turn his head to look at his baby boyfriend, his whole face full of worry.
Yomi: …I really don’t feel anything at all!
The news that Yomi had “broken out of his shell” quickly spread all across the farm.
That very afternoon, Yomi began receiving official visits from his companions through the cocoon opening.
One day apart felt like three autumns. Everyone missed that tiny figure terribly.
The first to come visit were Karl and Linda.
Linda had assisted Yesi the night of the surgery, so she knew Yomi’s condition well enough. But during the procedure, all she had faced was the cocoon Yomi had transformed into. Just like everyone else, she had never actually seen him. Now at last she did, and the little person inside truly looked like a baby lamb, all wrapped up in soft silk, to the point that even the little horns on his head were almost hidden.
The worry in Linda’s heart finally eased. Lovingly, she said, “Rest well in there.”
Yomi replied, “Don’t worry, Linda. You too—please don’t get sick again.”
Then it was Karl’s turn.
The moment Karl’s eyes met the opening, he looked ready to break down. “Yomi! Your Highness… If something had happened to you two, I—I really wouldn’t have known what to do…”
It was the first time the usually steady Karl had ever acted like this. Especially when he saw the little one lying obediently inside, tears immediately spilled down his face.
Yomi wanted to comfort him, but trapped inside the cocoon and unable to reach him, all he could do was say in weak, inadequate words, “It’s okay, it’s okay. Karl, really, it’s okay…”
“Mm, I know. I know…”
Both of them were doing their utmost to keep the other from worrying.
There were still more people waiting in line behind them, and the patient couldn’t talk too long. Karl wiped away his tears, first briefly telling Yomi about the situation on the farm so he could relax, and then passing in a newspaper from Snar Star through the hole—though in truth, it wasn’t a newspaper at all, just the latest Snar Star news Karl had printed out from his communicator.
After that came the four little companions together.
Lynn had come in holding Gousheng. The moment he heard they were allowed to visit Yomi, he’d planned on bringing Gousheng too. But fearing that an animal might carry germs, he and the others had immediately gone and given Gousheng a bath before coming.
Ever since Yomi’s surgery, Gousheng had ignored everything they said outside of herding chickens. The whole wolf had entered a rebellious child mode of I want my mother… except when it came to taking a bath. Then he became unusually cooperative, because he’d heard them say they were going to see Yomi.
Not only had Gousheng cooperated with the bath, he had even found a blanket and wrapped himself in it, lest any fur drift through the air.
Inside the room, Lynn held the blanket-wrapped Gousheng and carefully approached the cocoon. It looked just like someone carrying a swaddled infant to visit a mother who had just given birth… Even Yesi by the door was momentarily dazed by the sight.
For this meeting, Yomi had gone out of his way to dress himself up a bit too. But since there wasn’t much inside the cocoon, all he could do was tie a white silk bow around his neck with the cocoon silk. It looked very formal. Linda and Karl hadn’t even noticed it earlier, but Anxius had been staring at it the whole time.
Footsteps approached. Yomi had assumed he would first see the faces of his friends, but the moment he looked up, he met a pair of puppy eyes—no, not puppy eyes, little wolf eyes!
The fierce little wolf eyes went wet the instant they saw Yomi through the hole, and Gousheng let out a worried little “awoo.”
Yomi was shocked. “Gousheng?! Why are you here?”
Gousheng: “Awoo!” The cry sounded utterly miserable.
“He’s been especially off ever since you disappeared, so we brought him too. We washed him really clean before coming,” Lynn explained, squeezing his head into view after Gousheng. First he squinted and examined Yomi lying flat inside, then glanced at the cold-faced Anxius beside him—though after only one look, he quickly put his gaze back on Yomi. “Mimi, you look thinner. Do you feel alright?”
“I feel great. Maybe I look thinner because I haven’t eaten in days?” Yomi folded his hands over his stomach and looked shyly at Lynn. “Um… didn’t any of you bring food?”
He wanted to eat so badly.
“…”
Laughter came from Yesi over there. “Tell me later what you want to eat. They’re absolutely not allowed to bring you just anything. No spicy, no stimulating, nothing cold or hard.”
Yomi said, “Okay… then later let me eat some of whatever you all are having…”
Yesi, trying not to laugh, replied, “…No problem!”
After chatting for a little while, Lynn reluctantly waved goodbye to Yomi with Gousheng in his arms, and then it was Meikai, Harvey, and Arlo’s turn.
Meikai had brought Yomi some toiletries he’d made himself. They were all tiny—even smaller than the ones Yomi used before.
Blushing, Meikai said, “These are more convenient for you to use inside the cocoon.”
Yomi: “So small… thank you…”
Harvey brought several books, saying they could use them to pass the time in there.
The moment Arlo came over, he immediately opened his communicator and showed Yomi the video he had specially recorded of the farm. “Look, not a single chicken is missing. The vegetables are growing really well too. There haven’t been many prisoners in the prison lately, but there are lots of people applying to work. The sewing machines in the factory barely have any time to rest…”
Watching the footage, Yomi felt deeply moved. Even though it had only been a few days, it somehow felt like he had been away from the farm for a very long time. While he’d been gone, everyone had managed the farm so well. In order to surprise him, Lynn and the others had even opened up a little flower garden, and when Arlo was filming, Lynn had nervously tried to block it from view… but Yomi had seen it anyway.
How wonderful.
Beaming with happiness, Yomi waved goodbye to his little friends.
It was almost dark outside. Using the washing things that Yesi and the others had brought in earlier, Anxius carefully cleaned Yomi inside and out. Only after making his baby boyfriend all clean and fresh did he wash himself.
At dusk, Yesi brought them a basin of braised beef brisket with potatoes and carrots in it.
The moment Yomi smelled it, he simply couldn’t stand it anymore and hurriedly sat up to reach for it.
Anxius, with his longer arms, caught the basin first. Glancing at Yomi’s limbs all wrapped in cocoon silk, he began mixing the rice with the beef sauce and said, “I’ll feed you. Don’t move.”
Yomi was afraid that moving too much would tear the silk, so he nodded and looked up at him expectantly. “Dear, you should taste a bite first…” Yomi said. “It smells so good.”
Let alone fragrant beef brisket stew with potatoes—someone who hadn’t eaten in days would think even plain steamed buns smelled wonderful. Yomi was already being very restrained.
Anxius mixed the rice thoroughly, blew on the spoonful, and fed it to Yomi’s mouth.
This was Yomi’s food. Even if Anxius spent his days living on drips and didn’t eat, he wouldn’t feel bad about it. But Yomi was hungry, and Yomi had to come first.
Yomi quickly took the spoon into his mouth and ate. The rich meat aroma wrapped together with the rice exploded against his taste buds at once. The thick savory juices and the soft, waxy potatoes spread fragrant warmth throughout his whole mouth, and the meat had been stewed to exactly the right tenderness, melting as soon as it entered.
Yomi nearly cried from how good it was. He gobbled down two more spoonfuls, cheeks puffed out, then hurriedly urged his boyfriend to eat too. “Quick, eat, eat! It’s really so good!”
Anxius tried a bite. Originally he’d felt nothing in particular from the smell, but perhaps influenced by his baby boyfriend’s intense sales pitch, he suddenly also found it incredibly delicious.
With a glance from the corner of his eye at the Yomi who was so enthusiastically eating, he felt both his stomach and heart turn warm and full, slowly swelling with contentment.
He leaned over and kept feeding Yomi.
Although Yomi was greedy for more, he simply couldn’t finish that whole basin of beef rice, and kept urging his boyfriend to eat.
The moment Anxius saw he was full, he wordlessly finished every last bit of the remainder himself.
Anxius had been the imperial crown prince for more than twenty years. The etiquette ingrained in him was deep to the bone. Even when eating in big bites, he still didn’t devour his food like a starving man—he still carried himself like an aristocrat. Yomi watched him eat and, very sweetly, asked, “Is it good?” as if he had cooked it himself.
Anxius paused, then looked at Yomi with an indulgence so deep even he didn’t seem to notice it. “It’s good.”
After they finished eating, Yesi also brought in lemonade that everyone had made together. It quenched thirst and added some vitamins too.
Holding his little cup, Yomi clinked it against his boyfriend’s. After finishing the lemonade, he was satisfied beyond words, and flopped contentedly against Anxius, feeling perfectly at ease.
Yomi waved one hand and one foot about. “Now we have everything except sunlight. Once I’m all better, I’ll change back, and then we can go sunbathe together!”
In the silence, Anxius didn’t respond immediately. He stared at Yomi for a moment, then answered with a soft mm, and after that he pressed his baby boyfriend down and began giving him a massage.
Yomi nearly moaned from how good it felt: all tingly, so comfortable. Especially the soles of his feet—numb and itchy at once, even his cold little feet gradually warming up under the massage. Thank you, dear~
Anxius thought it felt wonderful too. Several times Yomi laughed and squirmed around, and he almost wanted to bite him hard, but he held himself back. They were both recovering right now. Being able to kiss, hug, and temporarily satisfy themselves by gazing at the plum blossom was already very good.
Ever since the cocoon had gotten a hole, Karl had sent over a lot of everyday items, and now they even had a desk lamp.
Under the lamp, Anxius opened the newspaper Karl had brought and held the drowsy Yomi in his arms while reading it.
The Snar Star royal family had been rather chaotic lately. Yose had still not become crown prince, and had instead been sent by the emperor to a distant base outside the main city to “temper himself.” Yose seemed extremely dissatisfied with that outcome. Even when facing reporters as he left the main city, his face had been black as thunder.
The media all said the emperor was carefully nurturing his heir. But Anxius understood the emperor’s real thoughts better than anyone: the man wanted to remain emperor for centuries. Suspicious by nature, he had first feared the battle machine he himself had bred, and now that there was no crown prince, he had begun fearing his other son as well. In the emperor’s eyes, Yose had already shown he could cooperate without hesitation in murdering his own older brother. Perhaps in the future, in order to ascend the throne sooner, he would also strike at his father.
The longer one lived, the more one could be devoured by the desire for power, until one resembled a true monster. By the lifespan standards of Snarians, in most cases when an emperor died naturally of old age, his son would already be old as well.
Just like the emperor himself. If Brewer had not chosen to withdraw from the royal family after the previous emperor died suddenly, the current emperor could never have ascended to the throne so smoothly at so young an age. In his eyes, brothers and sons were all the same kind of threat.
By the time Anxius closed the newspaper, the Yomi in his arms had already fallen sound asleep, breathing softly. He set the paper down and began simply staring at Yomi.
Yomi’s lips were softly closed, moist-looking. Because he’d eaten well, there was a faint smile on his face. His fair body looked almost translucent in the light, like some little fairy sleeping inside a cocoon, to the point where even the strands of his hair seemed to be giving off cute little fairy bubbles.
Anxius played with a lock of his hair, then adjusted the cocoon silk around his limbs. After that, he rang the bedside bell and summoned Karl to bring water so he could wipe Yomi down again.
By the time Anxius had cleaned him thoroughly, Yomi turned over and instinctively hugged him.
Anxius was dazed for a second, then bent down and kissed him from the forehead all the way to the mouth.
Every second of life with Yomi in it tasted sweet.
The twenty-something years he had once lived like a machine had now all been stitched back together by one vivid little figure.
The next morning, the first thing Yomi smelled when he woke was the rich scent of flowers.
Confused, he slowly opened his eyes. As his blurry vision came into focus, he saw the top of the cocoon at the far end of his line of sight, where someone had stuck yellow roses into the shape of a little sun.
The light from outside shone onto it, giving the round yellow rose-sun a halo, and the light filtering through fell onto Yomi’s body. For one fleeting moment, he felt as though this fragrant little sun had woken him up.
Yomi: …Wow.
Now they weren’t even missing sunlight anymore!
