DS Extra 12

When Twilight Kisses the Star City (3)

“I…”

Jiang Jianming was left speechless.

It seemed right, yet somehow not quite right…

Ryann beckoned to him, “Open your wrist device.”

“The Aslan National Library has a third floor, you should know.”

——The Aslan Library was the most comprehensive repository in the entire Empire, with three floors in total. Only the first floor, which was also the most spacious, was open to everyone.

The second floor required identity verification to gain entry, and the third floor was only accessible to certain high-ranking officials and members of the royal family.

Unfortunately, people of that caliber had private libraries in their mansions and basically had no need to come to the library… so the third floor was empty year-round, which was actually quite wasteful.

“Yes, I know.” Jiang Jianming handed over his wrist device in confusion, “What are you going to do? Don’t go through my documents…”

“I won’t.” Ryann directly pulled up his identity file page, then opened a virtual keyboard and rapidly typed several lines of dazzling code.

In less than thirty seconds, the Crown Prince closed the page and looked up, “Now you can freely enter and exit.”

“??” Jiang Jianming stood there in shock, holding his wrist device, unable to react for a long time.

“In the future, I’ll occasionally be on the third floor, right at…” Ryann thought for a moment, then said in a certain tone, “that spot by the window you like.”

Jiang Jianming: “Your… Your Highness…”

Ryann saw that he was completely dazed and unable to move, so he took Jiang Jianming’s wrist device back himself.

His Highness entered something again, then showed him the contacts screen flashing “Successfully Added“: “This is my private communication number. If there’s an emergency, you can call me directly. Though I’m very busy and may not answer every time.”

“…”

Jiang Jianming was completely at a loss for words.

It took him a long while to find his voice, and he asked in a daze, “Is this really okay?”

Ryann: “What do you mean?”

Jiang Jianming: “We’ve only met a few times.”

Ryann: “But you can already recognize me even when I’m wearing a concealment device.”

Jiang Jianming: “But… you’re the Crown Prince, and I’m a commoner. I mean…”

Ryann: “You beat me in that simulation battle the other day, and today you reminded me of a mistake——if we count underage drinking, that’s two mistakes.”

Jiang Jianming suddenly looked up. “Is it that simple?”

“Simple?” Ryann’s tone turned cold, “That kind of statement… are you looking down on me, or looking down on yourself?”

“…”

Jiang Jianming lowered his eyelids. The ceiling light cast his shadow on the corner of the table. He reached out to take back his wrist device, gripping it tightly in his palm.

The military academy student suddenly said in a low voice, “Then, what you said before about taking me to see the Royal Mecha Training Ground, is that real too?”

Ryann immediately said, “Of course, but I’ll need to arrange…”

Jiang Jianming turned his head with a complex expression and said hoarsely, “Do you know that what you’re giving me might be something I couldn’t obtain in an entire lifetime?”

He paused after speaking, then slowly raised his eyes to look directly at the Crown Prince, asking softly, “And now I have it, not because I accomplished anything, but simply because I happened to meet you?”

Ryann suddenly froze.

Outside the window, the night had grown deep. The tail lights of aircraft traced long arcs high above. The wind chimes at the restaurant entrance jingled. Several noble young ladies walked in arm-in-arm, their jewelry reflecting the lights.

“Do you know…”

Inside the private room, the military academy student looked toward the prosperous night scene of the capital star city, the glass window reflecting those gradually unfocusing black eyes.

He seemed about to say something, but in the end he only furrowed his brow deeply and swallowed the words that had reached the tip of his tongue.

The night scene of Aslan Star City was completely different from Purple Silk.

How had he come to be here?

After his adoptive father passed away, he had become a true orphan. Some advised him to enter the welfare home, others advised him to learn a trade or skill, so he could find work after coming of age.

He said he wanted to attend military academy. He wanted to study mechas and join the military afterward. Others didn’t mock him; they just looked at him with pity, saying the child had been broken by the reality of his adoptive father’s sacrifice on the battlefield, that he had gone mad.

You have to move on, the female director of the local welfare home gently urged him. Dad would surely want you to live your own life well, wouldn’t he?

What constitutes one’s own life? Jiang Jianming knew that it would be the life of a disabled commoner. The Empire didn’t shortchange the families of martyrs; if he accepted his fate, he could take the death compensation and live out this lifetime in mediocrity, though also in stability.

But if he was unwilling to accept it, if he wanted to take one more step forward, if he wanted to touch those glorious medals and that distant starry sky…

The gravity of humanity’s nine star cities would press down upon him, wishing nothing more than to force him to his knees, to force him prostrate upon the earth.

That year, Purple Silk Star City experienced continuous torrential rains, washing the summer particularly intense and vivid.

When the climbing vines at the door had completely invaded an entire red wall, the sky cleared. A letter arrived from the Imperial Capital.

That year, Jiang Jianming was sixteen, alone without relatives. While his peers were still fooling around under their parents’ protection, he calmly liquidated his assets and left his hometown.

Looking across the Empire’s nine star cities, there was only one military academy where disabled commoners could have a chance at admission.

Kaios Military Academy, also known as the Capital Military Academy, the First Military Academy.

It was a place for noble children to study, a competitive stage for the favored children of heaven. And for commoners, it was the most difficult institution to enter in the entire Empire, bar none.

Everyone said it was impossible.

But he got in.

“——What are you lost in thought about?”

Suddenly, the Crown Prince across from him grasped his forearm. Jiang Jianming instinctively stepped back, his other elbow knocking against the silver fork on the table corner with a crisp clang.

But he couldn’t escape the arrow-like gaze piercing toward him. Ryann said urgently, “It’s because I greatly admire you, because I think you’re worthy, that I’m giving this to you!”

“Happened to meet? …Ha, I ‘happen to meet’ countless Imperial citizens every month, but did all of them receive benefits?”

“Before you, I’ve never treated anyone else this way. Do you think I’m some kind of lottery shop that regularly gives out prizes, hmm!?”

As Ryann spoke, he laughed at himself in frustration, “What, is accepting the goodwill of an Imperial Prince a kind of defilement to you?”

“No…”

Jiang Jianming was cornered at the table edge with no way to advance or retreat, somewhat flustered as he pushed at Ryann’s fingers, “That’s not what I meant, please don’t be angry. Your Highness’s goodwill, I…”

But before he could continue his defense, Ryann interrupted him. “So you have it now because you should have had it all along.”

“If you didn’t have it before, that was a mistake. It’s what this Empire owed you, now it’s just being paid back, do you understand.”

“…”

Jiang Jianming looked up in a daze.

The overhead light dazzled him a bit, making him squint.

“A… mistake?”

He had struggled with all his might to reach Aslan, yet life hadn’t gotten much better.

There was still the discrimination that had almost become routine, and the strange looks from classmates and teachers. Many courses directly restricted disabled people from enrolling, not even giving them a chance to try, only mockery.

“But…”

Jiang Jianming said in a trembling voice, “It’s always been like this.”

Moreover, taking a minor course from another college costs tens of thousands of currency points per semester.

To compete for scholarship slots, he had pulled three all-nighters during the last evaluation season, almost suspecting he would die from overwork. And such days would continue for five more years.

As for the various loneliness of being alone and adrift, that went without saying.

He was actually suffering, suffering so much.

“The entire Human Empire… nine star cities…”

“It’s all like this.”

“——Then the entire Human Empire has been wrong, all along.”

A cold voice rang out. The Crown Prince stated this almost without hesitation, then added, “In the future, we will set it right.”

Jiang Jianming’s eyes suddenly widened. He stared at the beautiful face of the young Crown Prince before him, seeming to want to say something, but when he opened his mouth he choked and couldn’t speak.

He bit his lip and turned away, his thin hand braced against the table corner trembling, as if he was about to cry.

“You…”

Ryann was shocked, his heart suddenly aching, as if it had been cut by an invisible blade.

The Crown Prince said incoherently, “You… don’t be sad. I’ll take you to see the mechas, okay? We can go tomorrow. Do you want to see the Crown of Golden Dawn? The Emperor’s Iron Rose is there too.”

“I’m not… not sad.” Jiang Jianming just shook his head, somewhat frantically grabbing his schoolbag.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had lost his composure in front of outsiders like this; the feeling of losing emotional control was terrible. He pressed his lips together and lowered his head, wanting to walk out, “It’s too late, Your Highness, I…”

But the other wouldn’t let him go. Ryann seized his bag and pushed open the door of the private room first. “It’s too late, I’ll take you back.”

Jiang Jianming suddenly turned around and glared at him. The moonlight from the window fell on those eyes sharp as tempered ice, yet the corners were faintly red with a shimmer of tears.

Ryann froze, his mind going blank, an irrepressible sense of guilt at having bullied a disabled person welling up.

He thought the disabled person would make a scene or shed tears any moment.

He didn’t know how much grievance and bitterness had accumulated in the other’s heart; perhaps venting it would make him feel better, so he waited.

But there was nothing. Ryann watched helplessly as Jiang Jianming’s tightly clenched fingers strained until they turned pale, the agitation in his eyes gradually calming under restraint.

Just a few seconds later, the military academy student had returned to his gentle and composed appearance.

He said politely and softly, “…All right then, thank you.”

….

On the way to Kaios Military Academy, Ryann couldn’t help but glance at him through the aircraft’s built-in rearview mirror at regular intervals.

The disabled military academy student sat in the back seat, initially maintaining a posture of sitting upright in one corner with his head bowed.

Later, whether from mental exhaustion or drowsiness from the flowing night lights outside the window, he hugged his schoolbag, closed his eyes and leaned to the side, quietly curling up even smaller.

Ryann stared for a long while, the place in his chest that had ached earlier beginning to stir again.

He hadn’t expected that the person he had encountered by chance that day would be someone like this. Seemingly strong yet seemingly fragile, as if he would shatter at a touch, yet also incredibly resilient.

Making him instinctively want to conquer, while vaguely stirring up traces of protectiveness.

His Highness thought expressionlessly: If this person is asleep when we reach the military academy, I’ll take him to the palace tonight.

Unfortunately, Jiang Jianming wasn’t asleep.

As soon as the aircraft stopped at the military academy entrance, he got out. Not only was he quite alert, but his emotions had completely calmed down.

He was even composed enough to ask the Crown Prince, “Since Your Highness is special toward me, can I understand that you want to be friends with me?”

“…”

His Highness Ryann struggled to digest a certain enormous sense of disparity.

He was silent for a long while, then said somewhat reservedly, “I’m recruiting you. In a few years, when you graduate from the military academy, you can work for me.”

Jiang Jianming sighed lightly, “Ah, so that’s how it is…”

Ryann regretted it in one second and immediately amended, “——Being friends is also fine, if you prefer that term.”

He hadn’t wanted to mention the word “recruiting” in the first place. The Crown Prince shamelessly shifted the blame: A few days ago, when he was chatting idly with the young head of the Lance family, discussing this disabled commoner who had independently tested into Kaios, Lance was the one who used that word.

“Being able to do this is very difficult, Your Highness. It requires both talent and diligence far exceeding ordinary people to be possible.”

At that time, Audrey had been sipping red wine with emotion, her eyes deep. “I’m planning to observe this person for a while. If he’s truly outstanding, I’m considering recruiting him to the Lance family to be my aide.”

——Of course, at that time Audrey would never have imagined that just a few years later, she would be as anxiously concerned about this disabled young man as she was about her precious younger sister, wishing she could protect him properly.

The current Lance was only thinking rationally as a powerful family head about how to make use of this excellent disabled person.

Too bad Audrey would miscalculate, Ryann thought to himself.

Now this person was his.

“Your Highness… His Highness Ryann?”

The disabled person was calling him. Jiang Jianming stood under the streetlight, tilting his head slightly, “Thank you for your hospitality tonight, see you next time.”

He said “see you next time.” Ryann’s mood improved considerably, hearing Jiang Jianming continue, “Finally, Your Highness, may I ask a question?”

“Of course.”

Jiang Jianming: “It might be somewhat direct, please don’t take offense.”

Ryann: “Between friends, there’s no need to be restrained.”

“Then,” Jiang Jianming asked, “why do you keep looking at me?”

“?”

The Crown Prince revealed a confused expression with some delay.

Jiang Jianming reminded him with an innocent yet sincere expression. “I mean just now in the aircraft, but not only just now in the aircraft.”

“…”

Ryann froze.

“Actually, I knew that day you weren’t watching the mecha competition at all.”

Jiang Jianming continued, “Because you were watching me the whole time.”

Ryann: “…!”

His Highness’s eyes widened in both shock and embarrassment.

“You asked me why I can always recognize you, it’s because the way you stare at me is always too…”

Jiang Jianming pressed his lips together, burying his face in the shadows drawn by the night.

He swallowed the words “too aggressive” that had reached the tip of his tongue, changing to a more tactful phrasing. “Too obvious, that’s all.”

“…”

Inside the aircraft, the young Crown Prince gripped the control panel tightly with both hands, feeling himself burning up from neck to cheeks.

His Adam’s apple rolled awkwardly. A thousand different defenses flashed through his mind, all equally feeble.

This embarrassment made the little Highness wish he could turn into an ostrich and bury his head in the ground.

By the time he had prepared himself mentally for complete humiliation and looked up, he found no one outside the aircraft.

In the night, the military academy student had already walked briskly through the military academy gates, still remembering to wave in this direction before his retreating figure disappeared into the distance.

In the driver’s seat of the aircraft, Ryann couldn’t come back to his senses for a long while, half finding it absurd and half feeling defeated, finally kicking the aircraft’s control panel in frustration.

How did this person…

Become so wicked after becoming friends with him?