Author: 冬瓜茶仙人 / Winter Melon Tea Immortal
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 212
Charlie thought he was about to choke on the water—he was extremely reluctant to open his mouth and let the dirty green water enter his body, but the instinctive need for oxygen made it impossible to hold on. Just when he was about to succumb, the water around him suddenly vanished, and he fell face-first onto the ground.
He finally coughed, intending only to relieve the discomfort, but the coughing became uncontrollable and increasingly severe. His throat itched, making it hard to breathe. He barely managed to flip over and kneel on the ground, hoping to expel the non-existent dirty water from his throat.
Apparently, his coughing was loud enough to alert someone, as he heard a shout followed by hurried footsteps.
Great, just what he needed—an audience. Charlie thought as he coughed, hoping that among the onlookers there might be a doctor.
To his surprise, not many people approached him—only one, in fact. The person roughly lifted him, pushing his wet hair aside.
“Cough, cough! You… cough!” Charlie raised his hand to wipe the water from his face, but something cool was shoved into his mouth.
A mint.
Charlie stopped coughing and suspiciously looked at the person, unsure if he was seeing things.
“Dwight?” he asked.
Logically, this question shouldn’t have come from him, but the person before him looked different from the Duke he remembered.
The facial contours were still sharp, and the light golden eyes and hair were the same, but the nose and brows seemed slightly different, and his height had changed.
“It’s me,” Dwight said, looking directly at him. “Is that all you have to say?”
Charlie suddenly tackled him, catching Dwight off guard, causing both of them to fall to the ground.
“I don’t know how long I’ve been gone,” Charlie whispered into Dwight’s neck, “but I knew you were waiting for me.”
Dwight grasped the back of his neck, pulling back a bit to look at him, then gave him a wet kiss.
Both were breathless by the end of the kiss. Dwight shook his fingers to flick off the waterweed from Charlie’s hair.
“Where did you go?” Dwight asked. “You smell awful.”
Charlie laughed heartily, then kissed him again before looking around. “Where are we?”
“Where else? Khalif’s secret chamber,” Dwight said sternly.
“No, the magical aura is different,” Charlie said firmly, wanting to look around, but Dwight didn’t let go.
“You had someone make changes, didn’t you?” Charlie asked.
Dwight finally helped him up from the ground.
“The people from the Empire arrived at White Bridge a few hours later. His Majesty the Emperor highly values the Holy Grail’s existence, and there were two Grand Magus in the delegation,” Dwight said. “At that time, Khalif was dead, and Louis had stabilized the remaining members of the Wolf Family. His assistant was quite capable. Although it cost a lot of money, all unrelated personnel were dismissed.”
The Emperor had been prepared to use force to seal the Holy Grail’s history, but the Wolf and Monkey families had torn each other apart, leaving the lesser powers, the Lion and the Fox, to exit early. Their only role was to assist the Duke of Brandenburg in deconstructing Khalif’s magic to bring back the innocent victims.
“Initially, everyone thought you were dead. No one could survive such chaotic magic,” Dwight said calmly. “But then Elena’s magic was suddenly drained significantly, and I knew you were still alive.”
“Kurt said there would always be a return, but the stars couldn’t pinpoint the exact time, so I had the mages move Khalif’s entire basement here.”
Charlie sensed something was off. “What do you mean by ‘moved it here’?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. I dismantled his house, brought every piece of wood and stone back to Lemena, and reconstructed the basement, including the last door’s magic—right where you are now.” Dwight led him out of the room, and they saw the damp hallway and stone steps. Even the humidity in the air was similar.
It was much brighter outside the room, and Charlie finally realized what was different about Dwight.
“You’ve grown taller!” Charlie said in surprise. “So much taller—” Even his build was different. His facial features were still delicate, but now he looked tall and slender, completely different from the lanky boy Charlie remembered. If Duke Dwight before their parting had a fragile, elf-like grace, the current Duke looked more like a majestic Ice Prince, whose gaze no one dared to meet.
“If you had taken any longer, I’d be old by now,” Dwight said irritably. “I already decided that if you returned when I was thirty, I’d beat you up first, then send Kurt back to Doran.”
Charlie: “…So you think thirty is old? How old are you now?”
Dwight didn’t answer, pulling him up the stone steps. At the end of the passage, there was no reconstruction of Khalif’s house. The mages had built the basement under a recessed, gentle slope, and the distant castle was bathed in the soft golden light of the setting sun.
It was Brandenburg.
Charlie squinted, unaccustomed to the light. Seeing Brandenburg, he couldn’t help but think of Arnie.
Interestingly, from the time he and Dwight met until their unexpected separation, they never had the chance to see the castle. Yet, half of his brief time with Arnie was spent there.
He looked at the much taller Duke, who had been a small, short-limbed boy with chubby cheeks, easy to carry around. Now, realizing he would never experience that again, he felt a sharp pang of loss.
Dwight noticed Charlie’s strange look. “What’s with that expression?”
Charlie said nothing, accepting a towel from a nearby servant to dry off (mostly Charlie). In the basement, it hadn’t felt cold, but once they were outside, the breeze made him want to sneeze.
Charlie took the towel and laughed as soon as he saw it.
“Of course, it’s you, Shivers.” Despite his wet clothes, Charlie hugged him. “I knew you’d be here.”
Shivers hadn’t changed much in appearance and smiled back. “Welcome back, Charlie.”
“Are you planning to hug everyone looking like this?” Dwight draped the towel over Charlie’s head. Although his tone was less than polite, his actions were unexpectedly practiced and natural. Charlie felt that the smell of water on him was too strong, and sitting in Dwight’s spotless, shiny carriage in such a state seemed like a crime, but neither Dwight nor Shivers seemed to think it was a problem.
The journey back was short. Before getting off, Dwight asked, “Where’s Emerald?”
“It just went back to the castle, so I guess everyone knows by now,” Shivers said, in a good mood. “Shiloh happened to be out, but everyone else is here, waiting for you, especially—”
Dwight lifted his eyelids and gave Shivers a glance, making him stop talking.
But Charlie picked up the conversation himself, “Especially Dwight!”
He said cheerfully, “You came within minutes. You must have missed me very, very much, right?”
It had only been about a month for him since he went back in time, but several years had passed here. Even though Dwight wouldn’t admit it, Charlie could feel his longing, whether from the kiss that ignored the waterweed and mud or from the hand that still held onto his tightly.
Dwight initially had no intention of responding to his boasting, but Charlie was never someone who needed an audience’s cooperation. He persisted in asking several times, “Right? Right?”
Annoyed, the Duke reached out, intending to pull the towel down over Charlie’s face to stop his chatter. Instead, his hand changed course, and he flicked Charlie’s forehead lightly.
“Yes,” Dwight said.
Charlie was stunned.
Partly because the Dwight he knew rarely indulged others’ teasing, and partly because the gesture was very familiar.
When little Arnie was being stubborn, a few people who weren’t afraid of his status would flick his forehead like this. Charlie had seen Alfred do it once, and he later used this method to teach Arnie. After he left, Alfred…
Dwight frowned, wondering why such a small gesture suddenly made Charlie sad.
“We’re here,” Shivers said, pretending not to notice their exchange and was the first to jump out of the carriage.
Charlie was pulled along by Dwight, striding into the castle, through the main hall, the drawing room, and the garden, arriving at the large bath on the first floor.
The antechamber to the large bath was semi-open, with warm mist spreading from the bath and soft towels piled on a couch. Dwight deftly threw the towel off Charlie and started to undress him.
Charlie was a bit surprised by his enthusiasm but thought it was fitting for a grown-up Duke to be so straightforward. So he eagerly stripped down and began to touch him in return.
Dwight grabbed Charlie’s wandering hand and sighed, “I meant for you to take a bath.”
“Aren’t we bathing together?” Charlie asked.
“I don’t mind, but now isn’t the right time.” Dwight stared at Charlie openly, thinking the same as Charlie, but—
“What do you mean, ‘not the right time’?” Charlie said, “You’ve already grown up.”
Dwight jerked his chin towards something.
Charlie realized and turned around to see.
A three- or four-year-old boy was clinging to the edge of the bath, his face steamed red, watching them with wide eyes. Except for the eye color, he looked exactly like Louis when he was young.
“Before I went to get you, I was giving him a bath,” Dwight said lazily. “I didn’t have time to explain—George, this is Charlie.”
The author has something to say:
Charlie: You’ve grown up.
Dwight: That’s because you immediately started stripping.
Charlie: With a child present, what’s the point of growing up? You should have reminded me sooner.
Dwight: No, I wait until you’re undressed to tell you.
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