Same light

On this day, when Alfred returned to the Holy White Tower, Xiu Xiu sat on the soft armchair by the fireplace and waited for him.

It wasn't cold, but the fire was throbbing in the fireplace—naturally, it was a purely luxurious decoration, and the warmth in the room was given by the thermoregulation system.

Xiu lowered his eyebrows and turned over a page of the book. He was wearing a clean white uniform, with a rounded arc protruding from his abdomen, and the warm firelight danced on that arc.

Like a quiet court painting.

Alfred stepped forward silently, allowing himself to join the painting.

"Are you back?" Xiu looked up at him, "Did you go well today?"

"It's okay. Prince Holden came over this afternoon." Alfred said lightly, "I can't spare him these few days, so I broke his arm first."

Prince Holden is Alfred's uncle. In the past few weeks, the other side of the confrontation with the royalist party headed by the Generalissimo has been pushing for Prince Holden to be regent.

Xiu Wenyan didn't even move his brows, as if Alfred wasn't talking about breaking someone's arm, but what he had for lunch.

"His hand wants to touch something that shouldn't be touched, and it will be broken. But you shouldn't do it yourself." Xiu criticized him, "It's not decent for an emperor to do such a thing with his own hands."

Alfred said: "I know, so I didn't do it myself. After he left, he was beaten by some people with 'unknown origins' before he left the Holy Golden Palace. Naturally, the case occurred in the territory of the Holy Golden Palace. I'll be in charge of the investigation—but I'm too busy recently, so I'll check this matter when I have free time."

Xiu nodded and said, "That's right. You've become very thoughtful now."

Alfred paused, not sure if the sentence was a compliment or a hint.

But Xiu seemed to have no other intentions, and asked again: "Has the Federation not tried to contact us yet?"

"Not yet," Alfred said.

"Their political system slows down their decision-making speed." Xiu said, "However, after preparing for such a long time for the first contact and suffering such a big defeat, the response speed will not be slowed down. Wait. Bar."

Alfred gave an "um", a little absent-minded.He approached Xiu's soft chair, half-kneeled on the carpet, and stared at Xiu's stomach.

"What?" Xiu asked.

"There's no place for me..." Alfred muttered.

Xiu's arms were occupied by the growing abdomen.

Xiu laughed, reached out to Alfred, and gently pressed his golden head on his belly.

"Squeeze with them, it's been a few months." Xiu said.

Alfred carefully put his ear to the soft mass, trying to hear if there was any sound inside.

The twins apparently did not chat with each other before birth, and their young father heard nothing.

Xiu inserted his fingers into Alfred's blond hair, stroked his hair one by one, and said softly: "You are like this, it reminds me of your childhood."

"what's up?"

"You asked your chief guard to do your homework for you, and your teacher found out." Xiu recalled, "After the incident, you knew you couldn't hide it from me, so you went back to the Dawn Palace and acted like a baby with me, saying that you were not feeling well. "

Alfred's body in his arms froze.

Xiu stroked his blond hair and said, "I saw the military doctor who came back with you this morning, you already know about it."

Whether it was when he was a child or now, when Xiuzhen wanted to pursue something, acting like a baby obviously couldn't delay his settlement.Alfred suddenly remembered the time when he was caught doing homework for him, and he was punished for a month to complete the homework and not play. Because he did not confess in time after returning home, but tried to muddle through. wait.

He silently withdrew from Xiu's arms.

"The Legion Hospital reported to me."

"Yeah." Xiu looked expressionless, "The military doctor is good, and his mouth is quite strict."

Alfred curled his lips and said, "Isn't it the last thing to say..."

"That's because I want to know. If someone else asks him, he probably won't be able to ask."

Alfred sighed: "As long as it's something my brother wants to know, he will always know it in the end."

"It's useless to say nice things." Xiu said, "Let me see."

"It's almost better..."

"That's not what the doctor said."

"There's really no need to read..."

"Alfred." Xiu called his name, and said without doubt, "Show me."

Alfred was defeated in the stalemate and pulled up his trouser legs.

He had a post-operative scar on his calf, which Xiu had seen as soon as he came back.

"Continue." Xiu said.

Alfred could only continue to raise his trouser legs.

There is also a hideous postoperative scar on the outer side of his thigh—not a broken calf, but a comminuted fracture of the entire leg due to uneven shock waves.This was the real information Xiu got from the military doctor.

"It's almost time to rest for a few days." Alfred said, "I'll remove the scar later, it's as if I hadn't been injured."

Xiu's fingertips touched the scar, but he didn't answer.

Alfred held his fingertips to keep him from looking.

"elder brother?"

"Don't you like acting like a baby?" Xiu looked up at him. "When you were at the border, you said that you were punched right after a fight with someone, and your hand hurt. You said it so aggrieved. This time the injury was so serious, why didn't you tell me?"

"This time is different from that time."

"What's the difference?"

"It's really hurt this time." Alfred said with his head down, "You're really going to be sad."

He is naturally happy to use some insignificant things to act like a baby, but it can only be small things, because he doesn't want to be sad when he cultivates.

"I want to know about you." Xiu said, "You know, I have some experience in obtaining information."

Of course, Xiu understood Alfred's psychology, and he didn't say "this is not an example" in vain, because he knew that Alfred would not be persuaded by such a sentence, and next time something like this happens, Alfred Red still does it.

"But I'd rather you tell me yourself, because I care about you, Alfred."

Alfred met Xiu's gaze, and those quiet black eyes that were always invisible to others were so frank at this moment, clearly telling the person who was looking at him, the heartache and concern of the owner of the eyes at this moment.

For a moment, Alfred almost confessed.

He confessed that his injury was much worse than this, and that he knew that he would be found out, so he deliberately left a loophole, and arranged for a military doctor to "disclose the information" under pressure in the future, so that Xiu believed that he only injured his leg.

"...Well." He agreed vaguely, "I know, brother."

Xiu leaned on the armrest of the chair and stood up. Alfred hurriedly stepped forward to help him, but Xiu didn't refuse, which made Alfred feel relieved.

It showed that he wasn't particularly angry.

"Go upstairs." Xiu said, "It's getting late, go to bed early and lie down, you'd better rest and exercise less recently."

Alfred paused, and Xiu looked at him sensitively.

"I..." said Alfred, "I'll send you up."

"And then?" Xiu asked.

"I still have something to go back to the Holy Golden Palace to deal with."

Xiu took a step back, as if he wanted to break away from Alfred's support, but Alfred didn't let go.

"You go." Xiu said with a normal expression, "It's important."

Alfred promised: "I'll come back to have breakfast with you tomorrow morning, okay?"

"No need." Xiu said a little coldly.

He was not angry just now, but now he seems unhappy.

It made Alfred feel as though Hugh really wanted him to stay and spend the night with him.

Just thinking about it made Alfred feel his throat tighten.It was time for him to go, but it seemed that roots had taken root under his feet, and he couldn't move a step.

"I'll stay with you for a while," he said, "OK?"

But he didn't expect that instead of being a little bit happier, Xiu's face completely sank.

"But you won't stay and sleep, right?" Xiu's tone was almost mean, "Why haven't you ever rejected this before? Oh, by the way, I wasn't like this before."

Alfred was taken aback: "What? What kind of look?"

"You don't have to play dumb." Xiu said, "Normal people don't want to sleep on the same bed with a man who is pregnant with his belly up. I look too deformed, and I can understand. You can go, and you don't have to rush tomorrow morning." come over."

When he spoke, he covered his protruding belly with one hand, and that action was not stroking, but covering—he was ashamed of it.

Alfred opened his eyes wide, and said loudly: "This is my child, I begged you to stay! Why do you think I miss you like this? I don't think there is anything wrong with your appearance!"

Xiu smiled sarcastically: "You probably haven't noticed it yourself. Since you came back, whenever there are any intimate movements, you avoid me."

"I..." Alfred choked.

Xiu shook his head, and said bitterly: "Tell me when the wedding date is set, and I will cooperate with you. Don't come."

After he finished speaking, he covered his belly and bowed his head to leave. Alfred grabbed his arm and said, "That's not the case...brother, it's not the case! I dare not sleep with you, dare not sleep with you Too close because I'm afraid you'll find out—"

Seeing Xiu covering up his pregnant belly in such a shame, and being misunderstood by Xiu for his sincerity, he couldn't care less.

"I'm afraid you'll find out that I've got surgical marks all over my body."

Xiu raised his head, eyes full of shock.

"Full body?" he said slowly, "...full body?"

Only then did Alfred suddenly realize vigilantly that the anger and shame just now could no longer be seen on Xiu's face.

He was playing tricks on him, and he had fallen for it.