Chapter 376: What Family Means
Rohen’s hands trembled slightly.
He understood from the words that it was because of the subordinate’s behavior, but he could not understand why Qiong Xing was so angry.
The usual Qiong Xing would have probably brushed it off instead of reacting like this, but instead he had told them to leave.
"Oh, you’re back. What, you didn’t get to see Qiong Xing after all?"
"...No."
Still replaying Qiong Xing’s words in his mind, Rohen returned to the castle and was greeted by the captain.
"Hm? You met him, right? Then why do you look so down?"
Rohen clearly looked troubled and Narka tilted his head in confusion.
"Well... I did meet him... but... I was told to leave..."
"What? By him?"
Narka did not seem to believe it at first and asked if it was really Qiong Xing, but Rohen confirmed that it had definitely been him.
"What the hell. Was he in a bad mood or something? Or did you say something stupid?"
Qiong Xing had never once been angry or displeased with them before, aside from minor remarks about working properly.
Confused, Rohen explained what had happened.
Narka grimaced awkwardly.
"Damn... maybe letting him go out was still too early. This is on me... no, it’s not. I was just too naive. Whatever, next time I see him, I’ll just take the scolding."
Rohen understood Narka’s words immediately, but something still did not make sense to him.
"What was he even angry about? Feris’s attitude wasn’t exactly polite, but that doesn’t mean he had to tell us to leave..."
"Anyone would get mad if someone insulted their precious family."
...Family?
"Slaves."
"Did he have a collar on his neck?"
At the question of whether the proof of slavery had been on his neck, Rohen searched his memory, but he could not recall seeing anything like a collar around the man’s neck.
"That’s what I thought."
Narka laughed as if confirming his own conclusion, but Rohen could not understand it at all.
"You don’t think that Qiong Xing looks like someone who buys slaves just to use them, do you?"
"...No. But then why else would he keep a beastman by his side..."
"That’s why he said ’family,’ right? Not as a slave, but as family. That’s why there’s no collar, and why they talk to each other normally. Of course he’s familiar with him. They’re family."
"..."
Rohen could understand Narka’s words, but he could not accept them.
The concept of beastmen he had been taught since childhood did not match the man who stood beside Qiong Xing, and that confusion refused to settle.
"Well, I don’t know the details either. If you really can’t understand it, go ask the prime minister. He’d know more about it than us."
Hearing that, Rohen left the barracks almost as if he had been dismissed, dragging his heavy feet toward the chancellor’s office.
He felt guilty about troubling the man with something personal, but if he left it alone, it felt like something irreparable would happen, so he decided he had no choice but to ask.
"...And that is what happened."
"I see. His anger was justified. So? You don’t understand why he would call a beastman his family and keep him by his side?"
"...Yes."
He had hoped that after listening, the prime minister might understand his feelings, but instead, he too made a bitter expression, just like Narka.
"Do you... hate beastmen that much? To the point where they must remain in the position of slaves?"
"...What?"
He did not understand.
He understood the words, but not their meaning, and froze in place.
"This is something he told me because he trusted me. His partner is a man, and a beastman. I was surprised when I heard it as well, but he does not hide it. In fact, he smiled and said he was happy."
Rohen had heard rumors before that Qiong Xing had given birth, so he had considered the possibility that the partner might be male, but hearing that the partner was a beastman left his mind even more unsettled.
"Because of that, I began to wonder why he never told anyone before, or why he could not. It is only natural that he did not. Anyone would do the same when seeing how beastmen are treated in this country. But I realized that perhaps what we consider ’natural’ is not truly natural at all. And so I chose to accept him as he is."
What was not natural?
He had been taught since birth that beastmen who were inferior to humans were slaves by nature, but was that really true?
Questions he had never even allowed himself to consider began to surface one after another in his chest.
Without even properly excusing himself, Rohen left the room.
A lot had happened, but after that they all finished dinner together while saying how delicious it was.
Then Qiong Xing bathed the children one by one as they played themselves tired, and surprisingly, they all fell asleep easily.
It was a relief.
Everyone had been exhausted, so Qiong Xing and the others also went to bed early.
"...It’s hot."
Early the next morning, unable to bear the heat, Qiong Xing sat up.
The twins who had been sleeping beside him were now clinging to his stomach and waist, and he realized with a sigh that this must be the cause of the heat.
"You two must be hot too."
If even Qiong Xing felt hot, the two beastmen children should have been feeling it even more, yet their arms were wrapped tightly around him as if they had no intention of letting go, and he let out a wry smile.
Normally, Lian was the one who tended to be the clingy one, so the twins were not usually this attached. But with Lian not here, they were probably taking full advantage of the chance to be spoiled.
Unsure of what to do about their tight grip, and realizing he would not be able to fall back asleep anyway, Qiong Xing eventually carried the two of them out of the room.
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