Chapter 16 (1/2)

This was the third night. Ernst had prepared the largest chair in the manor, but it was still too small for that man.

There was a clear difference between the physique of a Kleber and the physique of a Dunbertian. Even among the Kleber, Ernst, who suffered from a disease, had the unchanging body of a boy. No matter how you looked at it, in this man’s eyes, Ernst could only be a small child.

Or could it be that this man had a preference for children?

“You, do you like young children?”

Ernst asked the question that had risen in his mind.

“I don’t. We men of the Grude Continent have no interest in having family or children.”

“No, not like that. I meant, would you take a child as your romantic partner.”

Once the man understood Ernst’s words, his thick eyebrows knit together, and then, he frantically shook his head.

“No! No! I would never do such a thing! Until now, the majority of my partners had been Grude women. Ah… of course, they had all been mature women. I would absolutely never, with a child…!”

In other words, it seemed he didn’t love Ernst for his small body.

Ernst’s contemplation deepened.

No matter how he thought about it, it seemed impossible for someone else to come to like him when he was shut inside the royal palace.

“In the first place, why were you in the bathing chamber of the royal palace?”

For Ernst, who had never been interested in others, this was the only question he could think of.

“In the beginning, I wanted to become a gatekeeper.”

Aah, that would make sense. Just by standing there, this giant man would make other people hesitate to approach.