Chapter 176: Poor Little Wife
Peruth lay on Yu Mo’s bed, and the bloodstained clothes and sheets had already been changed once.
The most critical wound on his body was on his chest, pierced by the Pope’s scepter. The lingering sun energy continued to corrode the wound, leaving burn marks that appeared scorched.
When Peruth arrived at Yu Mo’s estate, he had already used magic to seal the wound, preventing it from worsening further. However, the remaining sun energy still needed to be slowly extracted.
After coming to this estate to see Yu Mo, Peruth was supposed to return to recover from his injuries, but he hadn’t been able to leave after arriving.
“Stay here until your wounds improve.”
When he heard Yu Mo say this, Peruth hid his surprise and quickly agreed with a smile.
He wasn’t insistent on leaving, and if Yu Mo was willing, he was, of course, happy to stay by his side.
After all, his “moon” rarely made such a request of him.
Not only had Yu Mo kept him there, but he even kept him in his own room.
The esteemed cardinal came to temporarily stay at the Cecil estate, yet he hadn’t even gotten a room of his own and had to make do in the estate owner’s room.
Furthermore, everything was arranged by the estate owner, and no one else in the estate knew of his presence. It was as if he had been kept hidden in that room by the estate owner.
Peruth had no objections to this and was quite willing to be treated like a “canary.”
The only regret was that, at night, the owner of the room did not come to admire the sickly canary hidden in his room; he didn’t sleep either but instead went to the basement to make magic potions, leaving him alone in the room.
For the first time staying overnight at the estate and even lying on Yu Mo’s bed, despite the large wound in his chest, the cardinal still couldn’t settle down to rest.
He examined every corner of the room, studied the patterns on Yu Mo’s clothes hanging by the bed, estimated the size of the shoes belonging to Yu Mo by the bedside, and reached out to touch the white roses arranged in the vase next to the bed.
Finally, he picked up a dense book on dark magic theories that Yu Mo had left by the bed as a bedtime read.
As he looked down at the annotations and some symbols he didn’t understand, Peruth realized that Eloren’s progress in magic was faster than he’d ever anticipated.
Eloren’s talent for magic surpassed everyone he had ever encountered; if it weren’t for this, Eloren would not have managed to fully control the Star Society in such a short time and transform it into a new form of order.
Peruth believed that even if he now revealed his identity as the “Moon God’s Emissary,” he would still be unable to reclaim the Star Society from him.
But Eloren remained reserved, rarely showing much of himself. His nature was inherently calm and cool, rarely displaying any fervor.
…
Yu Mo, who hadn’t returned all night, came upstairs with a faint, mixed scent of magical potions on him.
He saw Peruth flipping through his magic book by the bed and, without much reaction, took off his coat and changed into different clothes.
“Eloren, you’re back.”
Peruth set the book down and, half-reclining in the pure white bedding, his striking beauty made him appear as fragile as a glass flower, transparent and pristine.
“You didn’t rest all night. Would you like to lie down here and rest for a while?” Peruth patted the bed, seeming slightly hopeful.
Yu Mo, now dressed, approached the bedside with a freshly made magic potion in hand.
He didn’t respond to Peruth’s words. His expression was cool and indifferent, showing no signs of exhaustion from a sleepless night, as cold as morning dew, even his fingers felt cool to the touch.
The blanket was lifted, and Peruth made no reaction, watching his movements with a smile.
When his shirt was pulled aside, Peruth still didn’t move, though his smile stiffened just a little.
Peruth’s hand twitched at his side, as if instinctively wanting to stop him, but he set it back down, letting Yu Mo pull open his shirt to reveal the gruesome wound on his chest.
The wound and the surrounding skin were a charred red, and through the terrifying hole, tendrils of muscle could be seen twisting and growing within.
Peruth’s body had changed after his first visit to the divine kingdom, making him different from ordinary people.
With such a wound, an ordinary person would have died several times over, yet he could remain conscious, patiently waiting for the wound to heal.
“The healing process isn’t very pleasant to look at—maybe we shouldn’t?” Peruth raised his hand to cover the wound, only to have it gently pressed back onto the bed by another slender hand.
The coolness of those fingers rested on his wrist, then released.
Yu Mo opened the potion and poured the pale purple liquid around the edges of Peruth’s wound.
The skin exposed on Peruth’s chest visibly tightened for a moment under the potion’s effect, then quickly relaxed again.
His Excellency the Cardinal showed no reaction, though he adjusted his overly open shirt slightly.
Yu Mo observed the potion’s effect. “You don’t ask what this potion is or what it does. You just let me use it on you.”
“Aren’t you afraid I’m experimenting on you?” he asked, looking up to meet his eyes.
Peruth laughed. “Oh? Do you need me for that? If you want me as your test subject, I wouldn’t refuse.”
“Do I need to go to your magic lab? It might be easier for you to observe… and then you wouldn’t have to leave me here alone, missing you.”
Yu Mo poured the last drop of potion directly into the wound, and Peruth’s smile finally twisted slightly.
He closed his mouth, quiet for a moment, then showed a hint of surprise as he felt the change in the wound.
“This new magic potion… it can heal sun burns as well? That’s one of the hardest wounds to treat, and you figured it out in just one night?” As he spoke, Peruth’s gaze was filled with awe.
Yu Mo set aside the empty bottle. “No.”
He had been researching it for some time, initially to counter the Pope’s sun power.
In a sense, Peruth truly had served as his test subject this time.
After testing the potion, Yu Mo didn’t even bother to straighten Peruth’s open shirt before turning to leave.
Suddenly, he felt a slight tug on his hand.
“Could you stay a while longer?” Peruth, with his wound exposed, looked at him calmly.
He had noticed a subtle change in Eloren’s attitude since they’d met yesterday, and he couldn’t resist testing the waters.
Based on his previous understanding of Eloren, there was a good chance he’d ignore his request and continue with his own work.
Eloren was someone who planned meticulously and rarely altered his course for others.
But now, although Eloren’s expression remained cool, he stopped at those words.
He sat back down on the edge of the bed, reaching to fasten Peruth’s shirt and cover him with the blanket.
“Rest well.”
Peruth was left a bit stunned.
“Eloren, I must tell you, I won’t die from this wound. It’s not as severe as it appears.”
Yu Mo caught his meaning. “A little gentleness, and you’re unaccustomed to it?”
Seeing the cardinal on the bed lost in thought, Yu Mo suddenly felt a wave of drowsiness.
While a sleepless night was usually no issue for him, perhaps his time on the edge between life and death had left its mark.
He removed his vest and stiff outer coat, then lay down naturally beside Peruth on the bed.
The warmth of the cardinal’s body filled the blankets, and Yu Mo even felt he was lying on the other’s long hair, but he didn’t move, simply pressing down on it.
“This time, aren’t you going to use me as a pillow?” The cardinal showed no intention of pulling his hair free.
Yu Mo kept his eyes closed. “You’d better not move around; your chest is still injured.”
Peruth took hold of Yu Mo’s cool hand, resting his head close to Yu Mo’s forehead, his lips and nose seeming to press against his hair.
“All right, I won’t move.”
His breath, tinged with a soft laugh, brushed over Yu Mo’s eyelashes.
Since he was young, Yu Mo had disliked sleeping next to others. When his older brother, Yu Guang, first brought him home, his brother always thought he was scared or had psychological shadows and insisted on sleeping beside him.
But he couldn’t sleep, lying awake until midnight, finally waking his brother with a shake and asking, “Can you sleep in your own room?”
Later, when his younger brother, Yu Yan, first came to the house, he had sleepwalking episodes, often wandering around at night. When their older brother wasn’t home, Yu Mo had to sleep next to him to keep an eye on him.
Even though it only happened a few times, it took a toll on him.
Having another person breathing nearby disturbed his sleep.
Yet, strangely, the last two times he’d slept beside Peruth, he’d fallen asleep easily—perhaps because Peruth’s breathing was so faint it was nearly nonexistent.
“When you lie next to me, do you always hold your breath?” Yu Mo said with his eyes closed.
A soft cough sounded, and the breathing beside him grew more noticeable.
Nonetheless, Yu Mo fell asleep quickly, and just before drifting off, he realized it might not be due to the faintness of Peruth’s breathing.
As night fell, Yu Mo finally woke up.
He had slept longer than expected, and his forehead ached slightly. He hadn’t yet opened his eyes, but his brows furrowed.
A hand touched his forehead, and with a blessing of light magic, Yu Mo was fully awake, feeling refreshed.
Yu Mo raised a hand to push Peruth’s away. “Your wound hasn’t healed yet. Don’t use magic recklessly.”
“All right.” Peruth’s arm rested on him through the blanket.
Yu Mo then realized he was nearly enveloped in Peruth’s embrace.
He sat up at the edge of the bed, glanced at his wrinkled clothes, took them off, and reached for a fresh set.
Peruth, leaning against the bed, watched him change, his gaze lingering on Yu Mo’s back.
Yu Mo noticed but didn’t acknowledge it.
He brought food over and made sure the cardinal was fed, then told him, “Stay here. I’m going to work on the potion.”
Peruth, his platinum hair tousled from being pressed against the bed, leaned back and asked, “Can’t I go with you? I might even be able to help.”
Like a poor little wife stuck in bed.
“No.”
Peruth sighed. “My wound has healed a lot already. I don’t need to stay in bed. Why don’t I get up and take a walk to show you?”
Yu Mo paused, then replied coolly, “It has nothing to do with the wound. I just like seeing you lying here in my bed, waiting for me.”
Peruth: “…”
Of course, Yu Mo knew how resilient the cardinal truly was, and that he wasn’t as weak and delicate as he appeared.
But lying in his bed, staying there obediently when he asked him to wait—that was something he genuinely enjoyed.
Yu Mo straightened his cuff, then leaned down and placed a light kiss on the cardinal’s forehead.
“Wait for me here.”
Having lain in his bed for so long, Peruth now carried his scent.
In Peruth’s eyes, a golden flame burned, capable of melting ice. He smiled. “If that’s what you wish, all right.”
