Learning that Otto had another nightmare, Lucien’s gentle expression was stained with a trace of bitterness that was hard to notice without close inspection.
He reached out to wipe the dark circles under his eyes, wanting to say something, but after opening his mouth, there was only a soft sigh:
“It’s been hard on you too.”
Hearing this, Otto’s eyes shifted, and he gripped his hand back, “No matter what, it wouldn’t be as bitter as that damn herbal medicine, right?”
“Ha, it’s still early, aren’t you going to sleep a bit longer?” Lucien smiled faintly and then looked at the early sky outside the window, asking thus.
“No, come keep me company and chat?”
“Chat about what?”
“Um… do you have, you know, someone of the opposite sex that you’re rather fond of?”
“?”
Lucien was shocked by the abrupt leap in Otto’s topic.
“Why did you suddenly think of asking a question like this?”
“Curiosity.” Otto looked as innocent as a child.
Lucien himself wasn’t actually averse to such questions.
He rubbed his smooth chin as he recalled his life, only to suddenly realize that, apart from Kallen, he had never looked at any other woman properly.
They say people only think about many things when they are well-fed and warm; his original world was dying, and the current world required him to raise children, so how could he have the time to think about such things?
As for Kallen… Hehe, haha.
If he really had to say, when he scolded Otto last night, he and Otto’s mother could be considered to have already had a “spiritual communion”.
After casting aside this cringe-inducing thought, Lucien’s mind gradually wandered afar.
A silly yet exceptionally graceful figure appeared before his eyes.
If forced to make a connection, it should be Kiana.
After all, anyone who has truly experienced “Honkai Impact 3rd” can never bypass this heroine and poster girl.
Liking and love couldn’t really be talked about, but if given the chance, Lucien still wanted to meet Kiana.
Suddenly, his thoughts and that snow-white figure scattered together, replaced by a slender blonde youth filling his eyes.
Their eyes met, and for a moment there was silence.
For a long, long time.
Lucien let out a long breath and wanted to rub Otto’s head, but halfway through, he withdrew his hand.
“My whole life is tied down to you and that girl Kallen; I have no interest in messing with anyone else.”
He changed his mind; he didn’t want to meet Kiana.
If possible, he hoped Kiana would never, ever appear!
Otto didn’t know what Lucien was thinking, and the corners of his mouth still curved into a smile. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
The smile was like a murmuring stream, cleaner than the wind.
[Time passed, and half a month blinked by in an instant.]
[Your and Otto’s experiment succeeded.]
[After a month’s time, the first anti-Black Death vaccine was finally developed.]
[The two of you happily high-fived and embraced… you went through nearly every celebration method you could think of.]
[Only then did you remember to call Kallen over.]
[It wasn’t intentional isolation, but Kallen had been extremely busy during this period.]
[Guided by you, she temporarily established a “Holy Cross Association” specifically responsible for the prevention and subsequent handling of the Black Death.
There were far more things to deal with than imagined, and even with her physique, she was exhausted to the point of dizziness.]
[What?]
[What were those higher-ups doing?]
[Like I said, they were born scumbags, so naturally they were doing scumbag things.]
[All in all, you felt heartache for Kallen being busy from morning till night every day, unwilling to have her heart keep worrying about your and Otto’s experiment, so you discussed with Otto to keep the experiment a secret.]
[Now, it could just be presented to Kallen as a “surprise”.]
Indoors.
Lucien, Otto, and Kallen sat around a round table, staring together at the rose-purple liquid reagent on the table.
Aside from silence, there was only more silence.
Lucien and Otto didn’t speak because they had just explained everything to Kallen and emphasized the function of the anti-Black Death vaccine.
Having nothing more to say, they were waiting for Kallen to speak.
As for why Kallen wasn’t speaking, she was accepting and processing this information that looked simple but was actually rather massive.
After quite a while, she widened her tired eyes and spoke in a daze:
“You mean you’ve successfully developed a medicine to combat the Black Death?”
“Mm.” Lucien nodded slightly.
The young girl’s gaze moved back to the reagent, her cherry lips parting slightly.
“Then why not put it into use directly?
Are there any side effects?
Or do you need me to provide any help?”
As her voice fell, she stood up and placed a hand over her chest to show her determination.
As the leader of the Holy Cross Association active on the front lines, she had seen far too many misfortunes and tragedies caused by the Black Death; upon seeing a medicine that could fight the Black Death, her first thought was immediately to put it into use.
But Lucien and Otto had to consider much more.
The man gently massaged the young girl’s temples to relieve her fatigue.
The young girl let out an “Mm-hm” sound, not struggling and letting him do as he wished.
Otto silently watched this harmonious scene of a “talented man and beautiful woman”, feeling it was terribly sweet.
At the same time, his heart was filled with “hatred”.
This wasn’t the first time he wanted to travel through time and strangle his younger self, nor would it definitely be the last.
After a short while, guessing that Kallen’s tensed spirit had relaxed a bit, Lucien slowly spoke:
“The vaccine should indeed be applied as soon as possible, and we are also prepared.
And before the vaccine is applied, there is indeed one thing we need your help with—I hope you and Otto can appear in the public eye together with this vaccine.”
[Such vain fame is useless to you, but it will be of great help to Otto and Kallen.]
[However, the premise of everything is proper utilization.]
[Therefore, some micro-management is still needed.]
As everyone knew, Kallen wasn’t completely stupid; having more or less understood the deep meaning in Lucien’s words, her delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly, and the comfort and relaxation originally hanging on her face turned into hesitation and resistance.
“I didn’t do anything at all; how can I take this reputation for nothing?”
In reality, you are the direct reason why this vaccine came into being.
If you weren’t so kind-hearted, we probably wouldn’t feel any heartache no matter how many people died.
Lucien chuckled lightly, his thoughts entirely different from his words.
“Letting you take on this reputation is indeed partly for your own good.
But don’t be in a rush; if you don’t take this reputation, Otto won’t be able to take it either.”
Kallen: o_0
Kallen wasn’t completely stupid indeed, but making her understand these words was really too difficult for her.
Lucien smoothed her hair indifferently and explained:
“Reputation is useless to me, so this matter is also ‘unrelated’ to me.”
“Although Otto is the son of the bishop, that pair of cheap parents of his aren’t much better than decorations, and too big a reputation would bring him more harm than good.”
“But you are different.
Your father is the head of the Kaslana Family and the strongest warrior today.
With him behind you, it’s equivalent to the entire Kaslana Family standing behind you.
Not only can you perfectly take on this reputation, but you can also bring Otto along to take on this reputation.”
Hearing this, Kallen clenched her fist and struck her palm, acting as if she suddenly understood, and puffed out her small chest as she readily agreed to it all.
The two who had spent many years with her could tell from her expression that she didn’t really understand much.
However, the explanation was originally just to persuade her to agree.
It didn’t make much difference, right…