Time with Layla
“…”
“…”
I could hear the sound of pages being turned from next door.
I, too, flipped through the pages of the book I was reading.
Sitting next to me, shoulder to shoulder, was Layla.
Neither of us had anything to say to the other.
We just read our books.
This was what happened most of the time when Layla and I were alone.
I think that’s what’s good about spending time with her.
With Lefi, we were bickering over trivial things.
With Lyuu, we joked around with each other in silly banters.
With Nell, we rode Rir and hunted in the forest.
And with Layla, we just stayed together and spent our time quietly.
I think that was the most comfortable way for us to spend our time.
Incidentally, I was reading a book that looked like a collection of fairy tales from around the world.
It contained several myths in story form, and was a book that Nell would tell me when she came home from work, saying, “Onii-san, I found a good book!” I would read it to the kids and they would enjoy it.
As a collection of fairy tales, it was easy to read and usually entertaining.
Picture books you read as an adult could be surprisingly interesting, but that’s about it.
Layla next to me was reading a more difficult technical book that I didn’t understand.
Usually, it was Nell who brought books for Layla. However, sometimes, I also did so when I go out, but Nell knew more about the latest research on sorcery and magic than I do, so Nell knew what Layla wanted better than I did.
Also, Nell was the only one who read books in our house as much as Layla did.
So they seemed to get along well, and I had seen them chatting about authors and whatnot several times.
There was also a bookshelf here, but almost all the books were from Layla and Nell’s collection, and they were the main readers.
Oh, Illuna also read a lot of books there.
Enne read occasionally, while Shii did not read at all.
Whenever I approached Shii with a book, she smiled, backed away, and escaped.
Shii, you should work a little harder on your studies, too. You know.
In other words, those who were the smartest in our family were the ones who read books the most.
Enne was also in the smart group…but she didn’t seem to be interested in studying so much.
Or perhaps it was a stretch to say that she was not interested in studying.
She would join Layla’s classes with Illuna and the others, and didn’t reject them like Shii. She was mostly interested in experiments, and topics that required her to use her brain in making strategies, such as chess and shogi.
After all, she was a sword.
She was interested in tactics, strategy, and related things.
“…Books, huh?”
“? Is something troubling you?”
“No…I just thought I’d build a library in the castle, but we don’t have enough books to do that.”
“A library, huh? It would be nice to have one, but books are a bit expensive.”
“That’s true…”
In this world, bookbinding technology was surprisingly advanced, but it was still far from the modern world from my previous life, so books were still reasonably expensive.
And I didn’t have any money.
If I wanted to earn money, I could easily do so, and I could even pay for it with DP… but I think it would take a lot of money to build a library and fill it.
A library with few books would just be too empty.
“But if we have a lot of books, you can read as many as you want… that would be very nice!” (Yuki)
“…I see.”
Layla smiled happily and said so.
…Since she showed that kind of expression to me, I guess I would have to seriously think about it.
“…Speaking of which, the castle of the Rogard Empire probably has a library or something. I’m the emperor, so I guess I can just go and grab some books!”
This was now the land of Shen, not the former Emperor Shendra.
They may even have research books and forbidden books that couldn’t be found outside, and so on.
Yeah, I could build a rack of forbidden books in the library over here and tell the little girls, “Don’t read these until you’re older.”
When they grow up, I want them to read those books and say, “These…are legendary books!”
I really hope they will be interested in reading those books when they are older.
It was a romance.
I must use my privileges as an Emperor in times like these!
“Hmm, but, Yuki-san, the books of the country are the property of the country. You may be an Emperor, but personal property and national property are two different things. Don’t be too unreasonable!”
“…I see. That’s true.”
After being rebuked with such a superb argument, I couldn’t say anything. Seeing me like this, Layla put her hand on my knee and smiled at me.
“Hmph, if I want to read something, I’ll just ask Yuki-san to take me to the Rogard Empire, so, it’s okay!”
“…I see.”
Then we spent some more time reading in silence together.
“–Oh, Layla, you should read this.”
“Me, huh?”
“Oh, I’d love to hear Layla’s beautiful voice. It’s a fairy tale, and it would be perfect for you to read aloud.”
“Okay, then…”
And so Layla started reading to me the book of fairy tales that I have been reading.
Her voice was soothing and relaxing, making it very easy for me to absorb the content.
I felt the warmth of Layla’s skin as we sat side by side and as our skin made contact.
In this environment that was so comfortable and made me feel at ease from the bottom of my heart, my eyelids were gradually closing, little by little.
***
Layla, who had been reading a book to Yuki, found him slowly leaning against her, and that’s when she realized.
Before she knew it, Yuki’s eyes were closed, and he was sound asleep.
Layla smiled at his peaceful, innocent sleeping face and slowly laid his head in her lap.
“–Good night, my husband.”
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