Translator: Ranzan
Editor: ryunakama
Taiyou ran into the school"s nurse"s room and found a pained Youran atop a bed with Kohaku caring for her beside.
「Youran!」
「Hey, don"t shout so, husband.」
She said in a silent, emotionless tone. Taiyou calmed down a bit and groaned without thinking.
He shut the door behind him as he walked inside, stood next to the bed, and looked down at Youran.
「I heard she pa.s.sed out…is she okay?」
「She"s fine. The nurse and a doctor already looked at her, and they said it"s just fatigue. She"ll get better if she rests.」
「Fatigue…」
He whispered, yet felt relieved.
All of the tension that prompted him to burst into the room had dissipated.
「You look relieved, Taiyou. You must have been quite worried.」
「Well, I"m always worried about Youran. She"s the one out of all of you that"s the most tied up by various things.」
「You"re right. She"s got troubles at home and abroad, that she can"t find peace from.」
「At home and abroad?」
It wasn"t a phrase he was used to hearing, so he took a breath and thought it over.
「I know abroad, but what do you mean…at home? She doesn"t have anyone fighting her at home.」
「You"re right about that.」
「So…?」
「She has no enemies here.」
「…」
Taiyou was silent. Kohaku was speaking in a roundabout way again, and he tried to make sense of it.
「Well, fatigue is fatigue, Taiyou. She"s still struggling, so give her a while to rest and she"ll be okay.」
Kohaku said and stood up.
「Kohaku?」
「I"ll take my leave. You should be here, so that when she awakens, you"ll be beside her. That"s the best medicine.」
「I see.」
Taiyou nodded and sat down on the chair beside Youran.
After Kohaku left, Taiyou simply sat in the room, watching over her.
Her graceful face was flushed red, she moaned now and then, and since her brow was wet with sweat, Taiyou wiped it off when he could.
「Home and abroad…huh.」
He gave up trying to figure out what Kohaku had meant by home.
He thought that nothing really serious was happening in his own house, even if anything did.
Kotone, Suzune, Kazane, Kohaku, Youran, Akiha.
And Taiyou.
There was no reason for anyone to feel bad about his family. He thought that nothing would rise to the level of becoming a problem, even if there was an issue.
The problems were all abroad.
「Although if the Juunishimas have problems outside of my family, I"d like to be of help, but…」
He prayed that he could always be a physical way to resolve any problems she might have, as he looked over her.
Soon after that, she opened her eyes.
「It"s…you.」
「You woke…good. Go back to sleep.」
He stopped her from trying to prop herself up, so she just continued lying in the bed.
「I…why…」
「You pa.s.sed out from fatigue.」
「…oh…」
「Do you know why?」
「…lack of sleep.」
Youran quietly answered, as if she accepted the answer.
It didn"t seem that she was lying. When she lied, she seemed much cooler and more composed.
「Lack of sleep? So you have a lot to take care of outside our family?」
「Not really. I mean, there"s a lot to do, but it"s nothing difficult.」
「But you have to take care of all of it yourself.」
「Only the final decisions, I"m not doing all the other stuff I used to…」
Used to must mean before she became one of Taiyou"s wives.
It was a time when she not only ruled over other people, but she would also disguise herself and liked to leave her palace and do whatever she wanted until she was satisfied.
She was a different girl back then.
「But you ended up like this.」
「I"m fine, I"ll be back to 100 percent in a bit.」
「Maybe it"s because you"re working too much for me?」
「…there"s no way I"d do that.」
「I guess you"re right.」
「I told you I wouldn"t.」
「Sure.」
She said it almost as if Taiyou was a child.
It had been a while since Youran had joined the Juunishimas. She had always been with Taiyou.
This girl who was given the great name of Shingetsu no Kami of the Juunishima, as she was number two in the rulers of over a million people in Juunishima, and was a ruler.
Of course she had a ma.s.sive amount of work.
She was the type of woman that was completely focused on her work, so much so that she would get sucked into it, and since she was so serious about the work she wouldn"t let it go, she had hit her limit trying to perform both roles.
It was basically a simple story.
「You should let some other people take over for you.」
「They can"t decide those things unless they"re me.」
「Really? Not even other Juunishima family members?」
「Members?」
「Like Sakura?」
「…Why would you mention her?」
「She"s your sister, though from a different mother.」
He said, and she froze up, angry.
「You"re not going to say anything?」
「No, but I can"t trust her at all.」
「Because she could become an enemy?」
「She"s ALREADY an enemy.」
「Youran…」
「She"s an enemy.」
She turned her face away.
She turned almost as if looking away in complete objection to him.
He sighed a bit and put his hand under her chin and turned it to him.
「Hey, what are you trying to do?」
「You said that you"d make me the king of Juunishima before.」
「…why do you bring that up?」
「If so, then listen to my order, and give more of the work over to Sakura.」
「But…」
「Youran.」
He took on a stronger tone, and looked straight at her.
「Give her the work to do.」
「…no matter what?」
「Yes, at least so that you don"t pa.s.s out from exhaustion, I know you"re overworked, and it makes me anxious.」
「Okay, if you say so…」
She said in a pleading way.
He silently sighed again.
Even though it sounded like he was asking too much from her, it was also clear that she didn"t understand why.
But she still responded as if she did.
「At least, to be honest, I need you to give some things to others to do so you don"t get hurt.」
「Why?」
「Don"t you understand that something bad will happen to you if you don"t?」
「…something bad?」
Youran seemed to wince, and then he said, worried,
「It happens all the time. Like the father that works so hard, when he comes home his own kid asks the mom 『Who"s this old man?』… that"s the course you"re on right now.」
「No way!」
「If it happens in our family, think about it. Whenever one of the wives has a kid, they"re going to ask it about you, right? Kotone, Suzune, Kazane, Kohaku, Aoba, Akiha…all of them.」
「I don"t know anything about those new wives.」
「Ok, then what if Aoba has kids…」
「Um…」
「We all raise the kids together. The kids look at all the wives as her mother. But then they"ll see you as some unknown woman.」
「No they won"t!」
Youran sat straight up.
Taiyou didn"t want to have to say all this, and now Youran"s face was pale.
「And in addition…」
「What?」
「You can spend more time with whoever you give the extra work to.」
Hearing this, her pale face suddenly turned red.